RSS 2.0 FeedOctober 28, 2010, Merrick Life
Questions for the Candidates: Gordon and Fuschillo
Q&A with State Senate candidate Gordon vs. incumbent Fuschillo.
Q: Why the malaise in Albany, the partisanship in which nothing appears to be getting done? Why is there no trust in government these days?
Carol Gordon: People are not working together as servants of the people. They have forgotten the needs of the people who voted for them, they have forgotten that they are public servants.
And it got that way because many have been there far too long, have become too complacent. It’s more about political maneuvering now, who can top who. If politicians were actually serving the people’s interests, acting as [public] servants, a lot of things would change, or be different.
Member items might be an example of political posturing, because it makes it appear they are targeting special interests. There may be a payback to that grant along the way.
My campaign platform focuses on the people, about setting up community platforms for suggestions, about empowering them to be heard in Albany.
By setting up community committees that focus on such things as education, health, home insurance and affordable housing, I can have my finger on the pulse of what the people need. And I can be proactive rather than reactive. Right now laws are passed that seem to be just reactions to something that's happened.
Senator Fuschillo: In the last two years the power has changed, so now you have a one-party system. The Senate Democrats have just failed in leadership. As much as I have worked across party lines to be bipartisan, we have witnessed rampant corruption taking place among the Democratic leadership. This causes greater dysfunction in Albany.
The inspector general just last week cited Democratic leaders for lying to the attorney general about the Aquaduct project.
[followthrough] You’re blaming Democrats. What about former Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, brought up on charges?
Senator Fuschillo: The Supreme Court threw his case out. But I’m not here to defend Joe Bruno. If he was guilty, he was guilty. Whether it’s a Republican or a Democrat, I criticize both. The way the state has been going with leadership in my house is disgraceful. And I believe it’s causing a greater dysfunction than was already up there.
Also, with Democratic leaders all from New York City pushing a city-centric budget, legislators from both parties, from the suburbs of Long Island and upstate New York, have all been fighting this city-centric budget, and that has caused a lot more gridlock.
When we had two-party leadership, when Republicans held the Senate, we could fight successfully as a block to get record aid and resources for Long Island. Now we all fight a city-centric budget.
Q: Are important bills still being put out, even in this atmosphere?
Ms. Gordon: I’m not in Albany at the moment, so can’t really comment on that.
Senator Fuschillo: I can still get bills out. I helped get Leandra’s Law passed, a ban on drop-side cribs, and I authored Jack Shea’s Law. The rules in our house have changed, though, where you can petition bills out of committee if you feel they are not moving, and you can petition bills to go directly to the floor. This has been a very positive change in the Senate rules.
The Assembly still has its rules, where Speaker Shelley Silver still controls everything. I’m very upset that Governor Paterson has vetoed the autism bill.
Q: What bills still need to be taken up, what bills would you like to write?
Senator Fuschillo: Property tax caps. We have passed it the last three years in the Senate, and the Assembly needs to take it up. It’s the number-one issue. If you set a property tax cap, it will controlspending. I’m hopeful that, whoever the new governor is, that it will taken up. We also need to cap spending at a state level.
[followthrough] What kind of spending needs to be controlled?
The budget is just way out of control. Last year was the first time I voted against the budget because it increased taxes and fees by over $14 billion. The last thing you need to do is increase taxes during a recession. We also need to consolidate departments, such as Consumer Affairs with the attorney general’s office, the Department of Environmental Conservation with the parks department, as examples.
The new administration with have to do a cost analysis to see whether merging these departments are cost effective. The state needs to go after Medicaid fraud more aggressively through the attorney general and district attorneys. New York right now spends about $1 billion a week on Medicaid. There is $4 to $5 billion a year in Medicaid fraud, and the state only recovers half-a-billion of that.
Ms. Gordon: I would work to lower taxes. Also, I would work on laws that improve the quality of life, such as education, health and job creation, all those things that affect people's well-being.
[followthrough] Are taxes and fees and primarily the same?
They are almost the same thing. They pay for services of one kind or another. People become more interested when they are hurting, and they’re hurting now, so they are questioning their taxes. We are taxed out of everything. It’s like a bag of potato chips: You open up the bag and there is more air than chips. And our current Legislature with the same public officials is offering up more air than chips right now. My opponent has [voted for] legislation that has raised taxes 98% of the time, since 2004.
A leader sometimes has to stand alone, and [Senate Minority Leader Dean] Skelos and the Long Island contingent, of which Mr. Fuschillo is part, didn’t stand up to the budget mess until another [grassroots] Long Island contingent stood in front of Mr. Skelos’s house and told him. Talking to people in the community, they wanted him to go back to work. Anyone else staying in their home as long as Mr. Skelos did during the budget crisis wouldn’t have a job.
Q: What is your impression of the Tea Party? Is it a valid party, and can anger translate into good governance?
Ms. Gordon: Having stood with Yes, We Can Long Island, against the Tea Party in Merrick last year I found them rather disturbing. Some people were telling me to go back to Kenya, get with my black welfare chief [President Obama] and get back on welfare. I couldn’t understand what they were saying.
And then we were talking about healthcare reform and they were telling me to get off of welfare. To me the Tea Party says it doesn’t want certain people of stature to be in office. But that’s just what happened to me, that’s my experience. I can’t say if they are a valid party or not.
Senator Fuschillo: I went to my first Tea Party meeting recently, and what’s portrayed on the news media is not necessarily what I encountered there. I experienced people ranging in age from 20 to 85 all with one common goal: to stay and live on Long Island, and make it more affordable by lowering property taxes. That was my experience.
[followthrough] What about Carl Paladino, the Republican Party candidate?
I supported Rick Lazio, because he was the designated Republican Party candidate. Mr. Paladino won in the primary, and was elected by residents of New York, but was not the party’s designated candidate.
Q: Do you agree with the new law that makes it easier to dissolve a special district if it is found to cost the taxpayers too much?
Senator Fuschillo: I support the concept that if residents want to consolidate districts a cost analysis be performed first to see if taxpayers would save money. If it does, then they can make a more educated decision if they want to go through with consolidation.
But right now the law is written to let consolidation go through, followed by a cost analysis. The law has to be amended to allow for a cost analysis first, to determine if there are cost savings to be made.
Ms. Gordon: Yes, I agree with that, if it is a means toward lowering taxes. People, though, need to be educated on what they are empowered to be able to do, what they can affect.
Q: Insurance companies are leaving Long Island because of the fear of a dangerous hurricane leaving them having to pay out. In this manner, it gets both harder and costlier to get home insurance. The state is now talking with insurers to rectify this. What would your solution be?
Ms. Gordon: I would agree with John Brooks, who is running against Assemblyman Dave McDonough, that insurance companies must put more into the overall pot, even if it means they have to pass the cost onto consumers.
Senator Fuschillo: After Hurricane Katrina the state passed a law that said an insurance company cannot drop more than 4% of its policies on an annual basis. This is critically important. NYPPIA [state flood insurance program] allows residents within a flood zone to go the state to provide for insurance.
What’s important here is stability. The insurance companies have been trying to cut their losses, sure, but it’s unfair to residents of my district, which borders the water. We have worked with residents to find them alternatives, but not allowing insurers to cancel all policies. But the state needs to continue to provide alternatives, while working with FEMA. FEMA itself just can’t change zones because of maps they read.
Q: Just how badly does the state’s school-aid formula need to be changed?
Ms. Gordon: Most money goes to the city now, and most people in Albany think we are a very rich area because our superintendents make a lot of money and we pay high taxes.
The formula needs to be changed, but it has to be studied more. However, even as city schools get more than we do, I don’t know what their situation is, I don’t know yet if they may need it more.
Senator Fuschillo: The state aid formula is extremely complex, and is driven by pupil population. To change the formula we need to change the regional cost factor. A regional cost factor is paramount to Long Island to drive more resources here because it costs more to do business here, to educate a child here, it costs more to turn the lights on and provide energy to the schools, for example. This factor would add hundreds of millions of dollars to our educational system, because it takes into consideration the expenses of doing business in the region.
The Senate was able to develop a Flex-Aid category, which drove more money to Long Island school districts. The Assembly wouldn’t do it because they’re controlled by the city. But in the last two years, under one-party leadership, they have froze that Flex-aid. With that and the STAR rebate being taken away, Long Island lost $497 million.
Q: What has gone wrong with the MTA? Why is it so hard to cut at the top?
Ms. Gordon: The state has to give back the money it took from the MTA, first of all. But I don’t believe in the MTA payroll tax. That has to end. How much does the MTA want to take from businesses and people, who all have to pay for it. It’s interesting that even public officials are squirming over this one.
Senator Fuschillo: The MTA has become unmanageable under the current MTA board. They came to Albany and lobbied heavily that if they didn’t get a payroll tax they would have to raise rates by 25%. I voted against the MTA payroll tax, it is a job-killing tax. It was also a party-line vote, 32-30. Now, the MTA is also getting a 25% rate increase as well. What they did when it came time to negotiate contracts is punt and went right to arbitration. If they had frozen salaries and asked employees to contribute 4% of their pension rather than 1-1/2%, 4% rather than 2% of their health benefits, they would have saved $200 million. If they had eliminated overtime, they would have saved another $600 million. If they changed the retirement age from 55 to 62, they would have saved another $200 million. Right there is nearly $1 billion in savings, and the MTA payroll tax is bringing in about $1 billion.
They could have found more savings from within. Right now they tax school districts, hospitals, even governments with this payroll tax. The MTA is doing less with more. Reverse the MTA letters, it’s ATM. Long Island is the MTA’s personal bank.
Q: Are member items representative of participatory government? Doe the majority party get more member items than the minority?
Ms. Gordon: No, I don't think so. There is not enough money to give out, so the money that is given out is that which the official thinks he or she will get the most back from in support. Even the money they do give is never enough, it may only be a Band-Aid.
The same groups will come back for more, and perhaps come to depend on it. That may not really be helping the people. If the money went back toward state aid or for tax relief that might help a lot more people.
Traditionally, the majority party gets more money than the minority. The first time I ran I was told by some people that they would vote for my opponent because he was in the majority and he could bring more money into the community than me. But look what’s happened, he’s in the minority now.
Senator Fuschillo: Member items, or community-based grants, have changed over the last two years. Because the split is so much closer, there is more equitable distribution in the Senate. Not in the Assembly, though. Part of our job is to bring funds back to our district. A few years ago I got grants for my school districts for solar energy. It’s important to fight for our districts. And yes, it’s true, the majority party will get more member items.
Q: If business is stockpiling money, getting low-interest loans and still not spending to hire, can a business tax credit, such as the one that Senator Fuschillo proposed, spur consumers to spend?
Ms. Gordon: I guess he threw it out there because he got support from small business. A tax credit to hire unemployed might be good, but what’s really needed is more job creation to create jobs. Right where his office is there are several empty stores, including a car dealership, how will a tax credit help there?
Senator Fuschillo: I think a business tax credit is critically important, because it can help businesses hire new employees to take them off the unemployment lines. But it also freezes any fees they pay to the state over a five-year period. It would make business more affordable, and make products cheaper to make. If products are cheaper, it would make them more affordable and spur consumer growth.
Q: Do you support a state health care bill that provides for pre-existing conditions?
Ms. Gordon: I was in Washington, D.C., recently for the [Democratic] rally, and have been on several committees in support of such a provision. I think it’s excellent. To contain business costs we could also offer lower-price health care options that still offer high quality, all of which businesses could afford.
Senator Fuschillo: Health care in this state is very complex. We need a system that is affordable and accessible, and if residents have pre-existing conditions, they should be able to get them treated. We can’t lose sight that human lives are at stake here, that’s why I am so upset over the governor’s veto of the autism bill.
Why should a family have to go into debt to take care of their child, or anyone else for that matter? Regardless of the cost-of-business factor, human lives must be the number-one factor here.
In free mammography services I provide through the hospitals for women without health insurance, when a woman is detected with breast cancer, we provide for treatment. God forbid if these services wouldn’t be available if they didn’t have health insurance. Too much about economics is made over human life right now.
Q: What needs to be cut in state spending to achieve the desired savings and balance the budget?
Ms. Gordon: We could say discretionary spending is first. And, over and above all the consolidation that needs to be achieved, the communities I represent would have to determine what also needs to be cut. Cutting from one community could hurt another community, and vice-versa. What is cut could affect people for years to come, such as cuts in education.
Senator Fuschillo: If the state had a cap on spending, the budget would be $4-1/2 to $6 billion less. A 4% property tax cap would allow the schools to then go to the residents and ask them to vote on whether they wanted to spend more for more services. I noted earlier what else could to be cut.
Q: What makes you the better candidate?
Ms. Gordon: I feel that I could make a better public servant. I believe in coalition building, getting people to work together. I also feel my district’s discomfort more than my opponent does.
I would like to see the government facilitate personal value creation through job creation, better training and education, and empowerment. I believe the government can attract businesses and entrepreneurs to help in creating a better community.
We can also set up a state bank like has been done in North Dakota, where all banks with surplus put into that state bank and people can borrow from it at 0-2%. The state bank of North Dakota is the only state bank with a surplus. Even students could borrow from the bank. Such opportunities at the government level would empower people to choose their own destiny.
Senator Fuschillo: Experience and commitment to my district. This is not a time for on-the-job training, with the economic challenges we face. I’ll continue to fight hard for the residents that I represent, as I have for the last 10 years.
