Dem hopeful Brian Flynn touts D.C. experience
Brian Flynn among six Democrats seeking to run against congressman
This is one in a series of profiles of the Democratic candidates seeking the party’s nomination in New York’s 19th Congressional District.
Brian Flynn says one of the things that sets him apart from the other Democrats seeking to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. John Faso is that he has experience with the federal government.
“I’ve been to Washington and gotten legislation passed,” Flynn, 48, said in a phone interview Friday.
Flynn said he spent years marching the halls of Congress following the death of his brother, who was killed in the December 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. He said that experience has given him insight and experience into getting things done in Washington.
Flynn said that, combined with his track record of supporting Medicare For All, fighting for education and acting as an environmental advocate, makes him the most formidable of the Democrats seeking to face off against Faso, a Kinderhook resident who is serving his first two-year term in the House.
Flynn, of Elka Park in Greene County, is one of six Democrats seeking the party’s nomination to challenge Faso in the Nov. 6 election for New York’s 19th Congressional District. A Democratic primary is scheduled for June 26.
The other Democratic candidates are Jeffrey Beals of Woodstock. David Clegg of Woodstock. Antonio Delgado of Rhinebeck. Gareth Rhodes of Kerhonkson and Pat Ryan of Gardiner.
The 19th District comprises all of Ulster, Greene, Columbia, Sullivan, Delaware, Schoharie and Otsego counties; mot of Dutchess County; parts of Rensselaer and Montgomery coun-
ties; and a small section of Broome County.
Flynn pointed to job creation, health care and the environment as his priorities.
“I have a bold, inclusive economic plan to rebuild our communities and revitalize this district by putting the needs of everyday people over the ultra wealthy and corporations,” Flynn said in a prepares statement.
By phone, he elaborated on what he called his “Marshall Plan for the American Worker.” Flynn said the plan starts with offering training and retraining opportunities to create workers who able to do the types of jobs available today.
Flynn said he has experience as a blue-collar job creator and that in the private sector over the past 10 years, he was able to create more than 400 jobs in the United States and raise wages by 40 percent through training.
The second component of his plan, Flynn said, is investing in infrastructure. That includes transportation infrastructure, but also digital infrastructure, such as broadband, and housing.
The third part is health care, which is the largest employer in the 19th Congressional District, Flynn said. He said he has been advocating for “Medicare for all” since 2004, not just because it is the right thing to do, but because it is an economic driver.
Flynn said the nation also needs to invest in renewable energy sources, enact antitrust legislation against big agricultural businesses to eliminate disadvantages for the district’s small farms, and do more to support women in the workforce. He said that includes a paycheck fairness act, universal prekindergarten and childcare support, and providing for elder care because that task overwhelmingly falls to women.
Flynn received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Georgetown University in 1991. He is a self-employed entrepreneur and small business owner who has lived in Greene County for 15 years. He is married to Amy Scheibe and has two children who attend Hunter Tannersville schools.
He serves on the Hunter Foundation board and the Onteora Theater board and is part of the Greene County Council on the Arts.
On the topic of health care, Flynn said it is not a privilege for people who can afford it, but a right. He said Medicare for all would create jobs and also “uncouple health insurance from a person’s job, provide better coverage and decrease the financial burden on small businesses.”
Flynn said health care currently is a “very bloated and inefficient system” and that reforming it would save money. Flynn also said he believes opioid addiction should be treated as a medical issue, not a criminal one.
On the environment, Flynn said a stable climate is critical for the economy. He said he would work to fortify and empower the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; bring back some of the critical protections removed recently, like the Stream Protection Act; work to pass a revenue-neutral carbon tax; and invest in green collar jobs.
Flynn also said the nation’s criminal justice system needs to be reformed and that private prisons and mandatory sentences should be stopped.
He also said the federal earned income tax credit should be expanded to encourage working people and that unearned income should be taxed at a higher level than earned income.
Flynn also said the nation needs to remember that immigrants are an important part of the economy and that there needs to be comprehensive immigration reform that gives a path to citizenship to so-called “dreamers.”