Cazenovia, N.Y. – With the Nov. 6 General Election weeks away, local candidates for state office faced off to answer the public’s questions and push for increased voter participation.
The League of Women Voters held the candidate forum at the Cazenovia High School auditorium on Thursday, Oct. 18. In attendance were New York State Assembly incumbent William Magee, D-121, and his conservative opponent, Brookfield Town Supervisor John Salka, as well as candidates for the 53rd Senate District, Democrat Rachel May and Republican Janet Berl Burman.
Voters asked a number of questions, from ethics reforms and the Economic Development Purposes grants, to gun control and the Oneida Indian Nation.
“The ethics reform in place right now in our state capital is not working. You have people getting away with everything,” Salka said. “The culture of corruption in Albany is rampant, it’s insidious. This current legislature has done little or none to try to keep that to a minimum.”
“Ethics reform is a major concern of many people in Albany today,” Magee said. “We have been trying to address it and eliminate the LLC companies contributing to candidates. There’s been two or three ethics reform bills and I supported them all. There’s no question, we hear it all too often. But I do think, in some way, we’re making a step in the right direction.”
Salka said he disagreed with Magee and didn’t think the New York State legislature was doing enough.
“The corruption going on at the higher levels is inexcusable,” he said. “We need to tighten up legislation that will stop that corruption. This is costing us real money. You cannot grow in a corrupt environment.”
Burman said the first thing she would do to affect ethics reform in New York is sponsor legislation that prohibits campaign donations from any entity or individual that does business with New York state.
“That is the ultimate conflict of interest that occurs,” Burman said. “That’s going to reduce campaign budgets by at least 75 percent, but you know what? That’s enough money. We need to get rid of special interest involvement in political campaigns. That’s the first step. And for the second step, we need term limits. So many things develop out of the power of incumbency.”
Burman said she didn’t have a specific number for term limits, but would seek a consensus with her fellow lawmakers to find something that everyone could agree on.
“New York has the highest limits of individual contributions for statewide office than any state in the country. And some of the highest for legislative positions as well,” May said. “We can reduce those, but I’m also in favor of public financing of campaigns. I believe New York City, Seattle and a number of other places do it well and they are great models. The thing about public financing, I believe, is that it pays for itself. You pay upfront, but the politicians are beholden to the tax payers, not to the big, deep pocketed special interests.”
On top of that, May said it should be easier for normal people to run and that there’s something of a “incumbent protection plan” in New York state.
“It is so easy to keep your job,” May said.
Burman said she agreed with a number of points May made, but not the means and disagreed with public financing.
“Public financing for campaigns is another expense that we don’t need to place in the state government,” Burman said. “By strictly adhering to contribution bans for do contract with the state and adhering to term limits, we can address all these issues and not raise taxpayer expenses.”
A number of people wanted to know what the candidates thought of the Economic Development Purposes grants by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and whether or not it is successful. Funding from the program is for economic development initiatives and projects that create or retain jobs, generate increased economic activity and improve the economic and social viability and vitality of local communities in New York state.
Magee said there needs to be more done in the economic development projects and that it is too lax.
“It isn’t monitored enough. Money is passed out in large sums and not followed up on to make sure if it’s being used the way it should be used,” Magee said. “We need to do something about that.”
Salka said the economic development initiatives by Cuomo are more of a scheme and should be called the Hunger Games.
“It pits community versus community, and not just on merit but on politics. It’s who the governor wants to reward in different factions through the state,” Salka said. “It’s all up to the governor and it’s a very small select group of people, no matter what your qualifications are or how well you presented your case. We need to reform that and make sure we have an impartial panel that decides on merit, not politics on where billions and billions of dollars go to.”
Salka said his 24-year-old son is currently looking for work and it’s very difficult in the current New York climate.
“We have created an environment in New York state that drives businesses away,” Salka said.
May agreed and said money for those projects should not be decided by Albany and that it should go to infrastructure, not things like a marquee project. For instance, In 2014, Cuomo announced the intention to build a $15 million film studio in DeWitt; however, in 2018, a non-profit corporation owned by Onondaga County took over the studio and re-branded it to the “Greater Syracuse Soundstage.”
“We need to create the groundwork for everyone who has a business or idea the ability to succeed,” May said. “We need roads and the water infrastructure to gird everything we are trying to build here. We also need to make sure when we have developmental projects going on, they’re hiring local people. Those projects should not be hiring from far away, but actually returning those dollars to the district in employment of local people.”
May said she is also in favor of green energy as a way of not just creating jobs, but reducing costs for people operating homes or businesses in the 53rd District.
Burman said her perspective on economic development should be organic.
“It should allow for businesses to grow, be created and relocate based on the marketplace,” Burman said. “We need to provide the best environment to which they can grow organically. And that includes adequate spending on infrastructure, lowering our taxes and reducing regulations. That’s my focus on economic development.”
Burman said the philosophy of “If you build, they will come” was used to justify the Greater Syracuse Soundstage; however, it did not succeed. Instead, Burman said New York state should look to attract business owners, such as filmmaker Jeremy Garelick, who purchased the Liverpool High School and built a film studio.
“He is developing a sound stage and building a training program so he can employ local people. And that grew organically. And that’s what we need more of in our state,” Burman.
In terms of gun control, Burman, Salka and Magee said they were supporters of the Second Amendment and wanted to see the laws already on the books enforced. But Magee also agreed with May, who said legislation like the SAFE Act is a step in the right direction.
“I don’t believe in gun control. I’m an advocate of the Second Amendment and I’m concerned about the Red Flag proposal,” Burman said.
The proposal, aimed at stopping troubled children from mass shootings, would authorize teachers, school administrators and parents to ask a judge to evaluate a child they believe is a threat to themselves or others. The judge could then order the confiscation of firearms in the child’s home.
“Someone’s guns could be taken away from them in a hearing without them being present,” Burman said. “I think that’s an egregious violation of someone’s constitutional rights. But I do think we are woefully under-funding mental health programs in our state.”
“I do support gun control and I believe the SAFE Act has done a pretty good job, but we also need universal background checks,” May said. “In the city of Syracuse, we have a gun violence problem that’s very severe. We have 12-year-olds killing 13-year-olds. There are too many guns. We can do gun buy back programs and reduce gun trafficking with grants to district attorneys. We need to do something.”
“I’m a lifetime member of the NRA, I belong to the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, I possess a concealed weapons permit, I’m a collector, very sane and there’s never been any violence around my house that has to do with guns,” Salka said. “Let’s take care of gun violence by getting to the root of the issue. It’s not guns. It’s poor people, living in oppression. People who don’t have a way out. People who look at options like selling drugs as a way to support themselves. Put a gun in their hand, illegally, and there’s going to be violence.”
“I believe that mental health is one of the big issues. People with mental health problems get their hands on guns they shouldn’t,” said Magee, who voted against the SAFE Act. “We need to make sure the laws are enforced so they don’t get those guns and cause some of these terrible things, like in Syracuse.”
Madison County and its relationship with the Oneida Indian Nation is another topic on a lot of minds. Attendees at the candidate forum wanted to know what the candidates would do to make sure Madison County receives its fair share of revenue from the state.
Magee said casino gaming revenue is a big issue. In 2016, he sponsored a bill to ensure Madison County receives a share of revenue from gaming facilities within the county, specifically Yellow Brick Road Casino that opened in Chittenango in 2013. Cuomo vetoed Magee’s original bill, but legislation sponsored by Magee was passed for the state budget in 2017 that included a designation as a host community, securing Madison County $2.25 million for 2017.
“We are getting our fair share of gaming revenue from Yellow Brick Road. The town of Brookfield was the recipient of more than $22,000,” Salka said. “In a town like Brookfield, a poor town like ours, it really does something happy. And hopefully, we see more revenue from the casino the Oneida Indian Nation is building in Bridgeport. We are asking for it to become permanent. This could be a dependable source of income, but the state legislature refuses to make it permanent. We’re going to make that permanent.”
May admitted she did not know a lot about the issue and said as far as she understood, the negotiations are done on an ad-hoc basis, meaning there is no standard way to ensure revenue sharing year to year. May said she’d recommend against this and wants to see them permanent.
Burman said she agreed with everything Salka said and the arrangements need to be made permanent.
The 2018 midterm elections will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 6. Polls will be open in Madison County from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
