One of the most contentious state senate races is on track to be a cutthroat contest featuring a rematch between two candidates looking for a knockout victory.
Cecilia Tkaczyk, D- Duanesburg, and George Amedore, R-Rotterdam, met for their first debate on Tuesday, Sept. 23, at Proctors GE Theater in downtown Schenectady. The debate, hosted by The Daily Gazette, was moderated by Gazette City Editor Miles Reed and had a panel of media representatives asking questions, which included the Gazette’s Haley Viccaro, the Times Union’s Casey Seiler and CBS6 Albany’s Greg Floyd.
Almost every seat was filled at the GE Theater, with a majority of audience members rallying for their desired representative. The crowd was also as lively as the debate, as supporters would erupt in applause and cheering. The bleacher style seating even shook at times when several Amedore supporters stomped their feet as if cheering on their favorite sports team.
Amedore, in his closing remarks, summed up why both political parties are paying attention to the race.
“This senate seat is key of who holds the balance of power in Albany,” said Amedore.
He continued, “We can’t go back to 2009-10 where we had one party rule by the Democrat party.”
Tkaczyk contested she has been a full-time senator and has residents of her district’s best interest guiding her decisions.
“People want someone who understands their struggles — not someone who was handed everything on a silver platter,” she said, which garnered a mixture of boos and cheers. “People want a senator that’s going to stand up and fight for this district and its fair share.”
This divide was emblematic of the candidates and their supporters, with both sides seeing clearly different pathways for the 46th Senate District and the state.
Amedore and Tkaczyk essentially fell along their party line regarding passage of the New York Women’s Equality.
Republicans have been generally supportive of the bill package, but refuse to pass one of the 10 points to the plan that codifies the Roe v. Wade decision in state law. The state’s law regarding abortion was passed three years before the pivotal decision.
“The first bit of business we should be doing is passing nine points of the Women’s Equality agenda,” said Amedore. “It is unfortunate that we have a Democratic party in the state senate, my opponent, who is holding it up because of one radical measure that jeopardizes the health and life of women in the State of New York.”
The Safeguarding Reproductive Health bill, as part of the package, would allow women to get an abortion within 24 weeks of pregnancy or to protect her life, and protect physicians from criminal prosecution for providing such care.
Tkaczyk criticized Amedore for voting against a bevy of bills while he was an assemblyman regarding pay equity, protecting domestic violence victims, sexual harassment protections and reproductive health issues.
“Women are not a second class population,” she said. “We are not a special interest. We want all 10 of those points passed, and you need to stop lying about the last plank.”
Amedore said he would vote against any “bad, one-house, Democratic charged” bill that would not facilitate equal pay for women. He contested the bill would do more damage to business in the state.
“This bill does more than just codify,” he said.
The potential legalization of hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as hydrofracking, has also loomed over the state legislature.
Tkaczyk, regardless of the still unreleased state report, would not support the controversial method of drilling for natural gas.
“I don’t think it can be done safely and don’t think we have the regulations in place that it could be done safely. We frankly have to make sure that we are protecting our environment and our communities,” she said.
Amedore did not outright support it and said local control was needed through a review process for such activities. He said he did not see the issue as readily pertinent for debate.
“Why are we continuing to talk about fracking?” he asked. “This is 2014. The State of New York is not going to be fracking.”
He said the state should be investing in forms of alternative fuel and energy sources, such as making solar more affordable for residents and businesses. He ultimately said experts should decide if fracking should be allowed in the state, not lawmakers.
Common Core Learning Standards have also been a hot button issue and both candidates agreed it was not implemented properly.
“We need to stop it. We need to reform it. We need to eliminate it,” said Amedore. “We need to do everything possible to make learning in the classrooms fun.”
He said the “government overreach” is not needed and educational standards should be locally developed and implemented.
Tkaczyk, while chiding implementation, said the new standards are “raising the bar” and she is not totally opposed to it.
“The most important thing we can do is make sure that our schools have the resources they need to adequately educate every child in that classroom,” she said.
On lighter note, a “lighting round” of sometimes-lighthearted questions provided a pause in the debate. Both did agree during this round that the recreational use of marijuana should not be legal in the state, which was one of the few things they saw eye-to-eye on.
