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Democrat Marybeth Melendez, left, and GOP Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis during debate at Fort Hamilton Senior Center in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
(Staten Island Advance/Anthony DePrimo)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - GOP Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis and her Democratic rival, Marybeth Melendez, battled over hydrofracking, Ms. Malliotakis' past employment with Consolidated Edison and the DREAM Act during a debate in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Fort Hamilton Senior Center, Ms. Melendez, a clinical therapist and crisis counselor, said she is opposed to hydrofracking because of concerns over methane emissions.
Ms. Melendez called hydrofracking "incredibly dangerous" and said it could pollute the state's water supply. The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is currently studying the issue.
"Do we really want to rush to judgment?" she said. "Do we really want this to happen in New York? I say no."
She said, "Let the DEC come out with its report."
Ms. Melendez said that at a prior forum "my opponent stated she is for hydrofracking."
She also said Ms. Malliotakis "was a lobbyist for Con Edison" before becoming an elected official.
"Who's the only one who's going to make a profit on this? Con Edison," said Ms. Melendez.
Ms. Malliotakis' said her opponent's broadside was full of inaccuracies.
She said she was never a lobbyist for Con Edison, and that the utility would not make a profit from hyrdrofracking.
"I never said I support hydrofracking," Ms. Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn) said. "The DEC is still completing it study. We need to wait until that study comes out. That has always been my position. We need to ensure that it is safe, and does not affect our water supply."
Ms. Malliotakis' 2010 opponent, then-Democratic Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer, raised the Con Ed issue during the campaign that year.
According to an Advance article at the time, Ms. Malliotakis was public affairs manager of government relations for Con Edison and was listed as a lobbyist along with nearly three dozen other utility employees on the website of the New York State Commission on Public Integrity.
Ms. Malliotakis at the time said that she was "not a registered lobbyist" and did not meet with elected officials as part of her job.
She said that anybody at Con Edison who worked even indirectly on the utility's lobbying efforts - such as preparing research or other information - was required by law to be listed with the commission.
On Wednesday, she said she did energy policy research as part of her job with Con Ed.
Ms. Malliotakis opposes the DREAM Act, which would give state tuition aid to the children of those in the country illegally.
Ms. Malliotakis money should instead go to students in this country legally, including reinstating the TAP program for graduate students.
"That should be the priority," she said.
In supporting the DREAM Act, Ms. Melendez described the students who could benefit as "kids who did not ask to come here. They were dragged here by their parents. When did it become a crime to be a kid?"
Without an education, she said, the children would become a burden on the social services system.
The debate was sponsored by the Bay Ridge Council on Aging.