Democratic candidates expect a fight from Faso
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. » Candidates seeking the Democratic line in the 19th Congressional District general election say they expect incumbent U. S. Rep. John Faso to put up a tough fight.
At a candidates forum Thursday at Saugerties High School, David Clegg asserted that Faso will be backed by the same forces that he said manipulated the 2016 presidential race.
“There’s going to be a dark cloud around him,” he said. “There’s going to be dark money coming. There’s going to be a
hurricane coming.”
Clegg, a Kingston attorney, said the candidate with the closest connections to the community will be best- equipped to stand up to Faso.
“I’ve been here for 37 years... (and) that gives me a thousand roots in this community,” he said. “You know what stands up to a hurricane? A tree with a thousand roots.”
Erin Collier, of Cooperstown, touted the need to work with Republican members of the district and understand how rural residents are affected by federal policy I grew up on a farm and ... farming now in New York state is dying and you can’t raise a family that way,” she said.
“I have been horrified by what I’ve been seeing Trump do, by what I’ve been seeing John Faso do, by what I’ve been seeing the Republicans do and I really feel strongly that we need more working class individuals in Congress,” she said. “I feel that Congress is completely disconnected, most Congress is made up of wealthy elites — that is not representative of our country.”
Candidates were also critical of the Trump administration for ramping up deportation of un- documented immigrants, which Gardiner resident Pat Ryan described as a “reprehensible” policy This goes against ... one of the founding principles of our country, that we open our arms to anyone who wants to come here,” he said.
“We need a clean Dream Act right now, today, to address 800,000-plus dreamers in this country,” Ryan said. “We (also) have to figure out a path to citizenship for the 13 million folks here in the country so they can come out of the shadows and be part of our society, be part of our economy.”
Prejudice in employment and resulting in a disparity in arrest rates were also concerns voiced by the candidates.
“We have a mandatory minimum (sentencing) policy in our country that has simply resulted in people spending tremendous amounts of time behind bars for crimes they didn’t need to be jailed for in the first place,” said Jeff Beals, of Woodstock. “We have drug laws in our country for marijuana that essentially amount to arresting somebody if they’re black with marijuana, but, if they’re white, they get off fine.”
Beals said Democrats should not be comfortable that Republicans are being associated with the Trump administration’s approach to racial issues.
“We take these votes for granted, in fact, and this is part of why we lost the last election,” he said. “The reason we take the votes for granted and we don’t do anything is there’s a $45 million lobby for the corporate prison industry. The subprime mortgage victims who were destroyed by the 2008 financial crisis were disproportionately people of color and until we actually (separate) the big money and our politics we’re not going to make a difference on this issue.”
Antonio Delgado, of Rhinebeck, said residents are not wellserved by a member of Congress who is unwilling to take Trump to task for siding with racists. He cited comments made following the death of a woman following a white nationalist rally last year in Charlottesville, Va.
“It’s important to start talking about white supremacists,” he said. “It is real, it is out there, it is a sickness. When you have a congressman like John Faso who does not push against a president who says ‘ both sides are wrong,’ that’s a problem in and of itself.”
Delgado also echoed sentiment of the candidates that Trump has made a mockery of environmental issues by appointing Scott Pruitt to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“We have, folks, right now in Congress, including our own president, (representatives) who refuse to believe that climate change is real,” he said.
“The fact that we have Pruitt, who literally has made it his business to undermine the EPA ... is a crime in and of itself,” Delgado said. “It is important that we put people in Congress who fully appreciate the moral imperatives ... (to) strengthen the regulations of the EPA.”
Education Secretary Betsy De
.“Vos was also roundly criticized, with Kerhonkson resident Gareth Rhodes saying the appointment was a way to undermine education.
“Defending public education and standing up for public school teachers...is more important now, more than ever, given what’s coming out of Washington,” he said. “I will stand up for our public school teachers, protecting Title II (funding to recruit teachers), making sure that here in New York state our public school system is fully funded.”
Rhodes said the current Republican Congress has hurt the education system by giving tax breaks to large corporations instead of helping college students pay for school.
“That tax scambill that passed, you know how much that cost?” he asked. “About $1.5 trillion. You know how big the student debt crisis is in America? About $1.3 trillion. We have the money to solve these problems ... and we can make sure our students get a degree without going into debt that they will never pay off.”
Elka Park resident Brian Flynn was supportive of a Medicare-forall system of health insurance.
“That is how we will insure that people will have the same access to affordable health care and the same health outcomes,” he said. “We have to expand the earned income tax credit that’s been proven to be effective in lifting up the working poor.”
Flynn also advocated for universal pensions that would provide stronger financial resources for senior citizens.
“401K’s have been a complete give away for the financial services industry and...people don’t have money saved for retirement,” he said. “Financial security, or insecurity, is one of the biggest concerns for our aging population here in this district.”
Flynn added that he also supports universal pre-kindergarten for schools, paid family leave, and the Paycheck Fairness Act.
New York’s 19th Congressional District comprises all of Ulster, Greene, Columbia, Sullivan, Delaware, Schoharie and Otsego counties; most of Dutchess County; parts of Rensselaer and Montgomery counties; and a small section of Broome County.
A Democratic primary in the district is scheduled for June 26.
The 19th District seat also is being sought by Green Party candidate Steven Greenfield, Women’s Equality Party candidate Chad McEvoy, and independents Diane Neal and Luisa Parker.