RSS 2.0 FeedOctober 14, 2010, Bellmore Life
John Brooks vs. Dave McDonough for 19th Assembly District
Candidates vying for 19th assembly seat answer our questions,
What do you think are the three most pressing issues on the minds of your constituents?
John Brooks: Just three? We have some major problems here in the state. We have a problem as far as job opportunities here on the Island, we’ve got a severe problem with the tax situation…and we have the issues with the MTA.
I think we have to really re-examine what’s going on in New York, with property tax being the core problem. The driving force with the tax problem is state aid to schools and the school taxes.
I have a proposal to change the way we fund education to use regional costs factors, which would bring money to Long Island. Unfortunately, this past year the state Legislature passed a budget that cut Long Island state aid by $81.3 million, which is basically going to bring a tax increase to Long Island. At the same time, they increased state spending by 7%, which is totally ridiculous.
Dave McDonough: Property taxes are the most pressing problem, ethics in government is very important – people are distrusting their government now and lost all faith in them – and the overall economy.
Would you vote solely along party lines?
Brooks: No, that is one of the key problems in Albany. People are going to Albany to represent parties and special interests, and I think it’s totally wrong. The core of this campaign is to make sure that the people going to Albany are going there to represent the people.
McDonough: No. I don’t do that. I vote for what is the best possible thing in the vote that I can find.
Do you support term limits?
Brooks: Absolutely. This is one of the cores of this campaign – we absolutely need term limits. I think on the Assembly and the Senate floors all members should be limited to four terms, a total of eight years. For governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller, they should be limited to two terms, which would also be eight years. One of the major problems with Albany today is that people have been there a long time, and they become greatly influenced by special interest groups and the party, and it’s an absolute mistake. We need fresh blood so that new ideas are created and we don’t have situations where people have been in for 20 to 30 years. It’s not what the Founding Fathers had in mind.
McDonough: Yes, I do. I think that term limits are critical, but mostly in leadership. I think the people should have the right to choose their representatives. I would not go against term limits, but I definitely feel that leadership should have definite term limits, i.e. the speaker and the majority leaders.
I would agree to eight-year term limits for governor and 12 years for members of the Legislature. The people who they like that much, they could bring them back on a second vote the next time.
What do you feel are the main problems with state government/Albany?
Brooks: I’ve had an opportunity to work with the people in Albany on a number of issues in my role as Director of Risk Management in Nassau County. One of the greatest and clearest examples is what went on with NYSHIP (the New York State Health Insurance Plan), which is the insurance company that insures all of the state employees, most county, town and educational employees, and the rate increases they were requesting the last two years. The people in charge weren’t really paying attention
But we clearly demonstrated that the amount of the rate increases were producing excess dividends at the end. We got them to roll back the proposed rate increases for 2009-10 with a statewide savings of $350 million.
I think the whole state is not functioning efficiently. People are there a long time, wasting money. This year, as an example, to cut state aid to Long Island out of budget and then to turn around and spend more money statewide in the budget is ridiculous. The rules and regulations we put in place have driven business out. Albany is broken from top-to-bottom. We need to turn over the legislators because it just gets to the point where it’s just part of a system, this is the way we do it and no one cares anymore.
McDonough: One party rule is the biggest problem because there has been no voice from the other side of the aisle in the last two years on the budgets, and the government is spending too much money and relying on too many taxes, which the people can no longer afford. We are the highest taxed county in the nation.
Do you consider yourself to be pro-choice?
Brooks: Yes, I do. I don’t think we should be using a lot of government spending for abortions, but I think the reality is that people find themselves in certain situations where a decision has to be made, and that decision should be left to them.
McDonough: I consider myself on a personal basis pro-choice, because this is a decision that should be made by the individual with support from others such as their clergy, family, etc. I think it is something that is up to the people, and I don’t know that government should be involved in that at all. I think it’s a choice a person makes with their own conscience.
There have been a number of reports saying that special districts create an antiquated, corrupt and unnecessary financial burden on taxpayers in Long Island. What is your opinion of them?
Brooks: I think we have a series of special districts; some are functional and some are not functional. I think, obviously, the largest districts we look at in terms of expenditures are educational districts. I think it is the opinion of the people here in the county that they want their local school district, and I would agree with that. I
In a funding plan I put together on education, I think we can look at shared services within these districts to reduce costs, and in some cases what I call centralized administration districts, which is multiple school districts operating under one administrative staff. That would be done on a voluntary basis. The individual school districts and school boards would remain in place, but we’d have one superintendent overseeing multiple districts.
In terms of other special districts, I think some of the most important ones that we have on the Island that work well are, for example, the fire districts, which provide both fire protection and emergency medical services.
Some people have questioned the amount of equipment that we have, but having been an ex-chief of the Seaford Fire Department and active in the fire service for more than 40 years, the equipment that we have in the time of major storms, almost 100% of it is used, so I don’t think there is a lot of waste.
Certainly on 911, Nassau sent a number of trucks and ambulances into the city and we were able to help respond to that situation. [Regarding] other districts, probably the most notable are some of the garbage districts. There is clearly waste and abuse going on and they need to be looked at. Consolidation has merit, but we have to look at some districts that work very well…
McDonough: There is a review going on and I think much more has to be done to review each special taxing district to see that, if it is eliminated it would just be a case of those taxes being passed on to the general tax area. In other words, is there a savings that could be created by eliminating those special districts, either through consolidation or total elimination? I would definitely support that, but I think they need to be looked at individually.
Do you think that New York State should allow for same-sex couples to marry or form a civil union?
Brooks: I think there are two issues here. The first is whether same sex relationships should be protected from a legal standpoint, and should those relationships be provided the same legal protections and benefits as what we’ll call a traditional married couple. I think they should.
The second is whether it is a marriage or a civil union. I think that is a question that should not be decided by the state legislature, but rather be decided by the public in a public referendum. So, I would support legislation that would allow same-sex relationships the same level of protection as a married relationship.
McDonough: I believe in the civil union. I’m not yet there on same-sex marriage because of the fact that I am the representative of a district and this is a representative government, and 90% of the responses I get, with members in my district, are against same-sex marriage. Civil unions I am for, it is already a fact in many cases, but remembering that I represent my constituency, I can’t always just use my personal views. I have to take into consideration what they are saying. I think same sex- marriage will come, but I don’t think we are there just yet.
Have you or would you propose to sponsor any new bills?
Brooks: Yes there are a lot of bills that I want to sponsor. One of them that effects our area in particular is what I call the Hurricane Recovery Act. The homeowners’ policies that we have now have a hurricane or wind storm deductible built into most of them at about 5% of the dwelling amount. This would mean, for example, that if you had a home with a value of $400,000, you have a $20,000 deductible on your insurance policy. If you go back to Hurricane Gloria, many of the people on the island would have had no insurance as a result of the wind storm deductible. One of the things I would propose is a Hurricane Recovery Act that would address that situation.
I would also propose that we put a cap on state spending, term limits on legislators, and I would change the way we fund education, which would take into consideration regional cost factors, core cost of education funding on a per student basis.
It would also require the state to provide full funding for special needs students, unlike what’s done today, and allow districts the opportunity to save through shared services as mentioned before. I would have proposals to also address the Nassau County assessment problem and how to properly fund those assessed refunds, and how to make it possible to change the way we do the assessment process over time so there is greater accuracy.
McDonough: I do sponsor a great number of bills, either as a prime sponsor or as a co-sponsor of maybe hundreds of bills each year. I have introduced bills regarding elimination and/or reduction of taxes, criminal sanctions and consumer protection, and very often when I see something that is very important I will go to a member across the aisle and ask them to work with me to help get it passed, since it is a majority-driven assembly. And I have very often passed a bill over to a majority member to say here you take it, I’ll be a co-sponsor.
What steps would you take to make changes to the MTA?
Brooks: Ironically, I think the first thing you have to look at is after all the raises in rates and cuts in services were made, all of a sudden the LIRR has discovered a better way to manage overtime? That’s terrible.
What I am proposing is that we establish a state master plan for mass transit not made up by politicians but by engineers, traffic people and human resources individuals, and look at how the railroad really should be run. The MTA tax should be repealed. It was very punitive for Long Island. Long Islanders don’t depend on mass transit to the degree the city does, and we are being taxed for services that weren’t rendered.
The railroad as it is structured on Long Island goes from east to west, not north to south, so it really doesn’t work in terms of a mass transit system as you would see in New York City. We have to look at it as far as human resources costs and scheduling.
The chairman is receiving a salary in excess of $300,000, plus an allowance for his home, which is incredible. Mass transit just doesn’t work right. It’s off the track.
McDonough: The MTA has a bloated payroll system right now and I have called, along with the rest of my Republican conference for the New York State comptroller to do forensic audits of the MTA, and they have begun that. Their most recent ones show that their overtime was in tremendous excess to the point of almost doubling people’s salaries.
The MTA has to manage its budget much better than they have in their more recent past. Four years ago the MTA was in a billion-dollar surplus, today they are in a $900,000,000 deficit, so I think they have to examine their overtime, which is the biggest single excess of almost $600,000,000. They also have to start cutting from the top, not just the bottom.
What do you think needs to be done to improve education for the people in your district?
Brooks: First, having the opportunity to serve on the Seaford School Board for seven years, I think the Seaford School District does a great job of educating our children. But the real burden for us is funding, and that burden is put on homeowners because we do not have any commercial property tax income.
Within the whole core of education, I think we need to look at the concept of a central administration district and shared services. There are a lot of great programs with education, which may not have enough students in a given school district to run a certain program, but if we do some distance learning programs we can pick up programs with small classes and still [run] efficiently from a course relationship standpoint by using an Internet program.
And we do have to look at bringing down some of the operating expenses to bring that heavy burden down. I think the core educational programs are good but the problem with education now is the heavy tax burden, and a lack of a fair share of state aid. State aid represents 38% of the cost of education statewide, and Nassau County is being funded at about 15%, so there’s a terrible burden placed on us.
Schools are in a situation of trying to take into consideration the tax rate and the needs, and we have to make a lot of cuts that are punitive. In the proposal that I have to fund education, everybody would be treated equally. You are going to have the core cost of education funded, which will make sure that we give what’s required in an educational program without a heavy tax burden on the people. Then, if you want more, those costs would be paid for by property taxes. Now, about 85% of the cost of education in our area is transferred on the district itself to fund, and not the state.
McDonough: We have a very good education system in our district. We have quality teachers. I think what we have to do is look at the cost of the education, consolidation of services, group purchasing, more centralization of maybe payroll processing, all of that. The quality of education is among the best in the state. In Nassau County but we have to somehow reign in the costs and control the spending. That’s why a tax cap, which is on the agenda, the senate has passed twice but the assembly leadership has refused to bring it to the floor for the past two years. And I think we need a tax cap, which the people could override in the case of school taxes if they wanted to, by district.
What sets you apart from your political opponent?
Brooks: My whole platform is presenting solutions to the problems. I’m not interested in going up there and representing any political party or special interest group. I am presenting real solutions; I’m not making excuses that I’m in the minority, or that people have been there for a long time and controlling this and that. We’ve got to fix the state right now.
The whole objection of this campaign is that I am fed up with what’s going on here with taxes and costs, and I’m presenting solutions. Dave is a nice guy. He’s been up there for nine years now but I don’t think he is really addressing the solutions. I have first-hand experience in turning business around, turning county government programs around. I was the one who attacked the programs going on with NYSHIP, in terms of rate increases, and state legislators didn’t even look at it.
McDonough: Independence. I do not vote along party lines, I vote based on what is the best possible situation – what a particular bill will do. I also consider the cost of that and I am very much in favor of reforming state government, cutting spending, a much stronger ethics policy than the assembly has agreed to thus far.
I also have experience and I would stand on my record of every vote that I have ever cast, and then mainly the service that I do here in the community. Through our office, we are able to help constituents on every type of issue – federal, state, county and local government issues – and I stand on my record.
If you could only accomplish one thing during your term, what would it be?
Brooks: New York State is so broken. One thing is not going to solve the issues. I think we have to address creating jobs, reducing the tax burden on people, reducing governmental spending and addressing mass transit. If we don’t make major steps on all four of these things in my first term up there, then we weren’t as successful as we should be. People are hurt and we’ve got to get serious about government.
McDonough: To be able to help achieve a total reform and eliminate the dysfunction in state government, and to help restore the people’s faith in the government. Also, a property tax cap.
