MAKING THEIR PITCHES
Democratic candidates discuss roots in race against U.S. Rep. John Faso
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Candidates seeking the Democratic ballot line to run against Republican U.S. Rep. John Faso for the 19th Congressional District seat on Tuesday pitched why they believe they are best rooted in the community to unseat the incumbent.
The forum Tuesday evening was sponsored by and held at Congregation Emanuel, on Albany Avenue.
Having a hometown with similar demographics to Faso’s Kinderhook residence allowed Cooperstown resident Erin Collier to contend she has the deepest roots in a significantly Republican part of the district.
“My family is actually half Republican, so I grew up debating issues across the dinner table with Republicans my whole life,” she said.
Collier, who works as an economist for the U.S. Agency for International Development, said being from an agricultural community is also important for understanding how people feel about hard work.
“I grew up really poor...and I know what it’s like to go without,” she said. “My entire life all I’ve done is tried to help other people. I’ve dedicated my personal and professional life to that.”
The debate about roots in the district comes as the Democrats want to avoid the carpetbagger tag that has dogged a number of Democratic candidates in the district over the years, including Zephyr Teachout, the party’s candidate in 2016 who lost to Faso.
Candidate David Clegg, of Woodstock, dated his ties to the district to a family member who came to Kingston in 1675, but also noted that, as an attorney, he has represented people who have been harmed by corporations.
“The skills that I’ve honed as a trial lawyer are the kind of skills we’re going to need against John Faso,” he said. “In addition to that, I’ve got all the contributions to this community that ... (I’ve) done because I love this community. That’s something that John Faso can’t match up with. So when we talk about the dark money behind John Faso and the (campaign) hurricane that’s coming, ... it’s the person with a thousand roots that’s going to be able to stand up to that hurricane.”
Brian Flynn, an Elka Park resident and business owner, also touted his upbringing, in his case in deeply Republican Greene County. He drew the largest applause of the evening as the only candidate that dared to state the belief that impeachment is needed.
“(Special counsel) Bob Mueller will get us the evidence we need to impeach not only Donald Trump, but ( Vice President) Mike Pence, as well,” he said.
Flynn, a former government employee, later added that Trump has eroded the United States leadership position in the world.
“We are fighting against the formation of true fascism right here in our country,” he said. “I had the opportunity to work on the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, which was part of the reason we were able to get Iran to the table to negotiate the Iran deal. That is how...we achieve justice and security through negotiations and sanctions, not invasions and not ill- conceived foreign policies.”
Gareth Rhodes, of Kerhonkson, a former press aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, said he has made a point of visiting each town in the congressional district. He said the needs of district residents are very much the same regardless of party affiliation, as demonstrated by one person who said they have never voted for a Democrat.
“I said ‘ at least tell me what your issues are, what keeps you up at night,’” he said. “He said ‘at my fire department, we can’t find any volunteers, all the young people have left this community. Our school is merging with the next town over ... and our snow plows are too big to plow the streets, so every year we have to rebuild the sidewalks and keep on paying more and more money.’ I said ‘what part of that (makes) you not want to vote for a Democrat?’”
Patrick Ryan, a business owner and Gardiner resident, said being raised in Kingston will keep him from being considered an outsider. He noted that students in the district are leading the charge in calling for a change against elected officials such as Faso who are unwilling to overhaul gun laws.
“One of the hardest statistics for me to stomach, we just crossed this line, in 2018 there ( have been) more young people killed in school violence than American soldiers killed in combat in 2018,” he said.
Ryan, a West Point graduate and Army veteran, said the issue of gun violence with militarygrade weapons needs to be taken seriously in Congress.
“We have to understand that these weapons are designed with no other purpose but to kill human being en masse,” he said. “So we know what the policy solutions are on this. Reinstating the assault weapons ban, universal background checks, closing gun show loop holes, repealing the ... (federal law) that doesn’t even let us study this as the health epidemic that it is in this country. But what is lacking is moral courage.”
Jeff Beals, a Woodstock resident and teacher at the Woodstock Day School, said Faso not only lacks an understanding of the working person, but actually sides with corporations who have gotten tax breaks under the Republican Congress.
“This country has made an immoral deal with large corporations that have built enormous fortunes on the back of low-wage labor,” he said.
“I would submit to you that immoral deal is at the root of the crisis we have in this country and the real thing we have to break,” Beals said. “I would submit to you all that, if only one executive from a big bank had gone to jail for the massive heist of 2008, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now.”
Rhinebeck resident Antonio Delgado, an attorney, described growing up in a household where clipping coupons was part of weekly life on his way to working within a culturally diverse community. He said attending Harvard Law School and Oxford University were only slightly less beyond his parents’ comprehension than his work in urban communities.
“Going off to L.A., working with young kids in the hip hop community, which ... confused my parents, and then coming back to New York and working as a litigator, I’ve had to over the course of my lifetime navigate diverse spaces and learn how to find common ground,” he said.
Delgado added that his experience working closely with people in various communities has shown him how much bad federal policies can harm people who are struggling with issues like health care. He said changes are needed to make insurance affordable as part of major changes in a system that currently puts profits over people.
“We have a congressman ... who promised (a constituent) three times ‘I will not take away your health care’ and then turned around and voted for a bill that does just that,” he said.
“We’ve got to get the profit motive entirely out of our health care system” Delgado said. “We certainly have got to make sure that we treat health care like the human right that it is and we’ve got to fight toward a Medicarefor-all system. ... I think there are achievable concrete steps that we can take immediately — (even in the) midst of a divided government — and that is introducing a public option allowing folks to opt into Medicare.”
The candidates will be on a June 26 primary ballot, with the winner facing Faso, a first-term congressman, in the Nov. 6 general election. There also are two minor- party candidates and two independents in the race.
The 19th District comprises all of Ulster, Greene and Columbia counties; most of Dutchess County; and some or all of seven other counties.