My Position on Important Issues for our District

• Reforming state government
• Reduce the tax burden for average people
• Keeping and creating jobs
• Protect and value our farms and agriculture
• Education is the key to a more prosperous future
• Better and cheaper medical care
• Maintain our infrastructure
• Protection for all New Yorkers

Reforming state government

No one in New York State needs to be told that our government is broken. We see it every day, on the news and in our communities. But in order to have real change in Albany, we need to make a change in the people we send there. As the only non-politician in this race, I’m running not because I want to be part of the system, but because I want to change the system. Western New York can’t afford more of the same failure that we’ve dealt with for decades.

The list of changes we need to make in state government is huge. We need tougher campaign finance laws, so that representation, and not re-election, is always the most important concern of legislators. Today, the campaign contribution limit for a statewide office is $37,800, more than most people in my home town make in a year.

I favor strict ethics laws to keep legislators honest, and to insure that embarrassments to our state like Joe Bruno and Pedro Espada never again have the chance to try and defraud this state. Government business has to be conducted in a completely open and transparent manner, and this new ethics law also has to have real teeth when a legislator tries to break the rules, putting an end to slaps on the wrist for major misconduct. And ethics enforcement has to be independent from the Legislature; Albany has proven it cannot police itself. Finally, legislators must make public all their outside sources of income, including who hires them.

Legislators need to take their jobs seriously and professionally, which is why I pledge that if elected, representing my constituents will be my only job: no businesses on the side, no private off-the-books deals, nothing but working for the people of this district. And if work as important as our state budget can’t be accomplished when it’s supposed to be, then legislators shouldn’t get to leave Albany until it is, nor should they be paid until the budget is passed.

Just as important for the future is an independent panel to handle redrawing election districts, so that voters pick their elected officials instead of politicians picking their voters. Running to represent a gerrymandered district that stretches from the shores of Lake Erie all the way into the Finger Lakes is the strongest reminder I could ask for that the task of drawing sensible districts which keep communities together should never be treated as a political football.

Last but not least we need term limits, to make sure that we have a constant infusion of new people and new ideas into state government, preventing Albany from returning to stagnation and inside politics.

Reduce the tax burden for average people

New York State, and upstate in particular, is overtaxed. We need to reduce the tax burden on average New Yorkers by making state government more efficient and less expensive, without cutting the vital services that people depend on. A fiscally responsible budget is as critical for New York State’s future as it is for any family. In order to bring the budget deficit under control, the Senate needs to exercise its responsibilities to oversee the state government, and make sure that our tax dollars are being spent wisely. That includes going through the state budget, line by line if need be, in order to root out wasteful or outdated programs, unnecessary spending, fraud, and unfunded mandates.

I want to end wasteful spending such as “member item” pork, and insure that lawmakers’ pet projects are no longer being put on the public tab. New York state must have a cap on property tax growth, to prevent further tax increases from taking money out of the pockets of families, farmers, and small business owners. The roughly 640 “public benefit corporations” in New York—which are responsible for over 90% of New York’s outstanding debt, and have little or no oversight—have to be audited, and unneeded ones shut down or consolidated.

As a village trustee, I’ve had to deal with the importance of providing vital services on a fixed budget. And most importantly, to do so without over-burdening taxpayers or wasting our money. Balancing the budget without putting it on the backs of New Yorkers is not just a goal to me, it’s a necessity.

Keeping and creating jobs

Anyone who lives in Western New York knows that our area suffers from economic hard times that have made it difficult to find a job that pays a living wage, and offers the benefits that help a family stay on its feet. We need to create new economic development in our area, which will revitalize our communities and give our young people an opportunity to stay in western New York and still have a good job. Western New York has great economic potential, ranging from alternative energy production, to agriculture and agri-tourism, to telecommuting.

One of western New York’s biggest opportunities is in the development of cutting-edge “green collar” jobs, producing clean energy for our country to run on. We can balance the potential economic value of alternative energy, such as wind power and biofuels, with the need to avoid disrupting our environment and our way of life. From extracting energy out of composting cow manure, to making ethanol out of otherwise fallow fields, we can take advantage of new technologies and new ways of doing things to make our area both cleaner and more prosperous. We also need to leverage the presence of higher education institutions to help us seize these opportunities.

But we need someone in Albany who is going to aggressively go out and bring those jobs home: by lobbying companies to set up here in WNY, by advancing pilot programs for green energy, and helping create public/private partnerships to work together toward a better and more prosperous future. At home in Warsaw I’ve worked with local businesses to help renovate old buildings, encouraged growth in existing industries, and lobbied businesses to set up in our area. I know that we need to retain local companies, because jobs which leave don’t come back. We need to make smart investments in new and emerging technologies. We need a permanent Energy for Jobs program to help this region. And real economic change means making sure that job retraining is available for people who are looking to enter new industries.

Protect and value our farms and agriculture

Coming from a family with farming roots going back 100 years, I know up close and personally that agriculture is upstate New York’s most vital industry, employing tens of thousands of New Yorkers and feeding people all over America. We must preserve our farms and our farming communities, with protection against urban sprawl, stopping unfair property tax assessments, and helping farmers who want to diversify into more profitable crops, such as organic food. Our farms are the lifeblood of many of our communities, as well as stewards of the land itself, and, by protecting them, we protect the homes and the way of life that we want to be able to pass on to our children.
That’s why I support fully funding university outreach programs like Cornell Cooperative Extension, working with the Farm Bureau so that farmers always have the most up to date information available to them, and getting the direct and personal advice of farmers on the ways state government affects them.

Education is the key to a more prosperous future

The better our education system is, the better our children’s future and the future of western New York will be. This means we have make sure that our schools are properly equipped to teach children the skills they’ll need in the information age, particularly in rural areas where children often don’t have the same opportunities for exposure to new technology. It means offering early childhood education, to make sure kids aren’t at a disadvantage when they do get to school. And we have to work to reduce the high-school drop-out rate in our area, as well as make college more accessible, both for our young people and for adults seeking to learn new skills.

Better and cheaper medical care

New York spends 69% more per person than the national average on Medicaid, but that money doesn’t bring us better results or healthier people. Like the rest of state government, Medicaid needs to be overhauled and modernized, taking advantage of the new cost savings created by insurance exchanges, and by leveraging the bargaining power of state government to negotiate better prices. We also have to remove the burden from overstretched county governments, so that rural counties don’t bear an overwhelming share of the costs that come with caring for an aging population. We can provide better healthcare to those who need it, while saving money through making the system simpler and less wasteful.

Maintain our infrastructure

Repairing and strengthening the roads, highways, and rail lines that make up our infrastructure is a win-win: it creates local jobs, helps stimulate regional trade, and makes it easier for people to get where they’re going. Today we increasingly need to consider the new infrastructure of the 21st century economy: broadband internet lines bring the advantages of information, education, and even jobs to the doorstep of rural areas. Telecommuting lets skilled workers find jobs anywhere in the country from right here at home, and distance learning makes it easier for our children to get a better education for a lower cost.

Protection for all New Yorkers

I believe making government work means making it work for everyone. That means not just putting state government back in the hands of regular people again, instead of the wealthy and the well connected, but also ensuring that all people have the full protection and benefits of equality under the law. That’s why I support guaranteeing equal pay for equal work, the full protection of labor laws for people who work hard jobs to make a living, the freedom to marry for all New Yorkers, and the right to not be discriminated against in hiring based on gender, race, sexuality, or any other criteria except fitness for the job.