| Moderator Robert Ward, after allowing the candidates opening statements and to answer questions on foreign policy allowed each candidate one minute each to answer each of the following questions based on domestic policy. At any time if one candidate mentioned another by name, that candidate would be allowed a rebuttal of thirty seconds.
Bi-partisan groups such as the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, estimate that the tax and spending plans outlined by both Senator Obama and Senator McCain would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the Federal budget deficit over the next five years. Can you tell us a specific area where you would support reducing the budget deficit by spending less than Senator Obama ahs proposed or raising tax revenue in ways that he has not already proposed?
Phil Steck
"Well, certainly, and I've said this repeatedly, the first place that we have to look is the military budget. Our spending on the military exceeds the spending of China, Russia, and all the so-called Bush 'Axis of Evil' countries combined. And I think that we have military bases all over the world that were created in a different era. We are in an era now when, for example, we don't need tremendous numbers of military bases in Germany.
"It is not possible to make any headway in the Federal budget and continue at the same level of military spending that we have had. Also, I think in the area of Social Security, we need to look at...as you may know in Social Security, the...I'm running out of time, but there's a cap on the amount of income that's subject the Social Security tax. So many middle class Americans pay the same Social Security tax as Bill Gates, if you can believe that. And that has to change."
Paul Tonko
"The close of Phil's comment is something that needs to be reviewed, which is $102,000 threshold, I believe, is the cap. In this day and age to not keep pace with the inflationary spiral with regards to how that policy is governed is wrong and flawed, certainly with Baby Boomers coming into the scenario that will require us to be much more accountable for the set-aside for Social Security.
"In addition, if one is to look at any bar graphs on the federal government, it is inordinatly a military budget in our federal budget. And again, if we revamp our military thinking, if we come through with efforts to provide for the withdrawl of the troops in as quick a time schedule as possible, we can achieve some of those things. And in the health care area also."
Darius Shahinfar
"One of the difficult things about a Democratic primary is that you agree with your opponents on most of the issues. I agree with what Phil and Paul just said on Social Security. I think that the defense budget really needs to be cut back, particularly on expensive weapons programs. I think the future of warfare for America in how we protect ourselves is gonna come from greater investment in technology, greater investment in individual manpower, intelligence, and those kinds of things.
"I also think that with respect to the military we have to end the privatization of our military. There are a lot of people making a lot of money off of our tax dollars. They shouldn't be doing that, especially in Iraq, but even here in America as well. And we need to end that privatization. That will save us a lot of money as well."
Tracey Brooks
"It's hard to go fourth on this question. There's not a whole lot left to talk about. I think Darius did a really great job filling in the blanks especially on the...when we talk about what we're looking for going forward and in the future for our military spending. And there are certainly places where we can save money right away with the War in Iraq. It's a really good place we should be looking at in our budget.
"We also...being responsible spending back in our federal government. It was only in the early nineties when Congress required to identify the spending source before passing any spending bill through Congress. We need to get back to that responsibility and that responsible spending by our government. Certainly Social Security, our military budget, but most especially it has to be the discipline of Congress to go back to identifying funding sources as opposed to spending on credit cards like George Bush has for the last eight years."
The rising costs of education, health insurance and fuel are making it harder for the families and individuals in the 21st Congressional District to make ends meet. As a member of Congress, what would be your top priority to help those that are struggling to get by?
There was a big of ambiguity as the illustrative nature of the question, and Paul Tonko asked first if he had to choose from the three examples. Moderator Robert Ward explained they were just examples and there could be other things before Paul answered in full.
Paul Tonko
"Well, obviously, the concerns you hear expressed as you walk the neighborhoods of the 21st are universal health care and affordability, the unaffordability of costs to business, to individuals, and the energy costs. I think some of the priorities there are to push harder for energy efficiency for our automobiles produced in this country. I think that we can do that in concert with the auto workers. I think it is not acceptable to wait until 2030 to have café standards that will have us really out there in a global competitive way.
"And with universal health care, making certain that we move forward with a single-payer plan and reforms that will enable people to cut the administrative costs of over one-third of expenditures with our 2.3 trillion dollars as Americans for health care and avoid it going for paperwork and have it go for care, preventative care, and using a pooled market to get better pharmacuetical costs."
Darius Shahinfar
"Paul raised a very good point on health care. I think health care is a critical to reducing the costs to people....everybody is obviously concerned about the economy right now. And people I'm talking to door-to-door are saying 'What are you gonna do about the economy and to fix it?' It's so complicated and there's so much work that needs to be done over the last eight years that...there's so much out there to do.
"But number one is health care. Number two I think is identifying new ways to fund our public schools. And maybe it's not a federal issue but maybe it's time we started making it a federal issue. Because we are getting crushed by property taxes here in Upstate New York. People are getting crushed by property taxes all around the country, but a particularly bad brush up here. If I had every, the vote of every senior who is faced with selling their home because of increasing their property taxes and they live on a fixed income, I win this election hands-down. It's happening everywhere out there today. And the money that we spend just on interest payments from irresponsible budgeting over the last eight years could almost finance our entire public school system as a whole."
Tracey Brooks
"The one thing we all know for sure is everything is going up, except for our wages and our savings, right? Every one of us has saved pretty flat, and some of us have even dipped below. And so now what are we looking at? Rising cost of our gasoline. Rising cots to heat our home this winter. We were just...I had a family gathering late last night when I got back campaigning. They were talking about the cost of cord of wood versus the cost of oil. It used to be the other way around. It's significantly less expensive now to be heating with wood.
"Energy costs are crippling New York Sate and we need to start innovative in looking at that. Deregulation has absolutely gotten rid of Upstate industry. Paul, you were a champion of deregulation. Once deregulation proved to be a disaster, you fought against it. We need to be looking at investing in robust alternatives, world-class, world-leading technologies that are here in the Capital Region and we can create jobs at the same time."
The moderator prepared to move on to the next question, but there a couple things that needed to be taken care of. First, Phil Steck had yet to answer, and second, because Tracey Brooks had mentioned Paul Tonko by name, he was allowed a rebuttal after the round of answers. Audience chatter clearly indicated that their attentions were turned towards the latter in anticipation of the first actual rebuttal of the campaign. But first, Phil Steck's answer:
Phil Steck
"I think we need to save money in area of health insurance and in energy. In the area of health insurance I've been a supporter of single-payer health insurance so-called where just like Social Security the government raises money and pays medical bills. Ninety percent of our property tax that you pay at the county level here in Albany County goes to pay Medicaid. With a single-payer system, that cost would be eliminated. Also, the health insurance component of worker's comp would be eliminated, helping out businesses. Also, the health insurance component of all insurance would be eliminated, helping everyone in this room.
"Finally, the employee percentage that we all have to pay now of our health insurance premium would be eliminated as part of the single-payer system, helping about ninety percent of the people in this room. Another thing we have to do is reform the Commodity Futures Trading Commission which is supposed to regulate energy speculation and hasn't done so and that's an area that we really want to focus on if we want to get costs under control."
The moderator again wanted to move on, but Paul Tonko reminded him of his opportunity for rebuttal. Moderator Robert Ward allowed him thirty seconds for that purpose...
Paul Tonko: Rebuttal to Tracey Brooks
"The statement made about the deregulation of this state, the fact of the matter, and I appreciate someone's opinion but you can't use your own set of facts. The deregulation of our utilities in this state was done by the Pataki administration under an administrative fiat. It circumvented the Legislature. Our concern all along was if you're going to go into that process, exert along the way, check and see what the impact was on consumers. That was very clear in reports we issued as an energy committee. It was very clear with the Consumer Protection legislation that was passed....so I thank you for the opportunity to respond."
....and Tonko went just slightly over time as the moderator asked him to keep the responses to the time frame. The forum then moved on to the next question:
From 2000 to 2007, more than 1.4 million New Yorkers left the state to move elsewhere. Governor Paterson and others have warned that state faces a "brain drain" particularly among young people who believe that they can find greater opportunity elsewhere. Do you see this as a problem here in the 21st Congressional District, and if so, what do you propose to do about it?
Darius Shahinfar
"It's a terrific problem here. I think one of the problems that need to be addressed here are property taxes. We need to find a way to reform our property taxes through national health care which will knock off 15% of our property taxes and find a way to fund our public schools to cut off about 15% more.
"But more pertinent to this discussion is energy. Because there's so many good things that are going on out here. The College of (sic) Technology in RPI. The green collar job revolution is coming to Upstate New York and we are educating students in our universities here to take advantage of that. That's why we need a national, aggressive energy policy to boost alternative technology not just to clean up the environment and get rid of carbon-based fuels. Not just to lower our gas prices, but to grow jobs here at home because that's the next wave of manufacturing for the future and for Upstate New York."
Tracey Brooks
"The brain-drain has been a problem for quite a while. The Capital Region is a very large importer of college students and a very large exporter of college graduates. Not only is it the cost of living. I mean, that's miniscule compared to the problem of not having innovative jobs for our college graduates at every level to be able to come here for.
"But right now, we have many exciting things that are going on in the Capital Region and the jobs that are about to grow. We have a wonderful opportunity for the Capital Region to be the next location for the international semi-conductor industry. And that's not all we're doing. We have built and grown, organically, our own technology companies. We have world-class, world-leading start-up companies that are about to move to manufacturing. We have the ability to create a whole new level and a sector of workforce. And we didn't do that only in higher ed. We did it with a commitment in the Capital Region to the Tech Valley High School, one of thirty-six schools like it in the country that has proven to the international technology community that we have a commitment in the Capital Region to new jobs."
Phil Steck
"Well, we have been exporting our talented youth out of this area for some time. And other places that we need to learn from that have addressed this problem. One country I'm very familiar with is Ireland. Ireland invested in hi-tech infrastructure and that led to the so-called 'Celtic Tide' has earned tremendous economic growth that that nation had. We are at a point now where we need to do the same thing in the area of alternative energy.
"I've spoken of having a windfall profits tax on the oil companies not for the purpose of punishing them, but to raise revenue to support alternative energy projects like the Germans do with solar, and to build new transmission lines that will enhance our ability to deliver wind resource power to the locations where it's needed. GE is a leader in the building of wind turbines and we need to create the infrastructure that will make that happen and therefore create jobs for in this Upstate New York economy."
Paul Tonko
"The area of R&D has been cut time and time again by the administration and by Congress in their budget. And I believe that investing in R&D enables us to be innovative about how we address many sectors of our economy, which can grow a stronger part, not necessarily cheaper because there are other factors that we will probably talk about later in this evening's program. Also with the green-collar workforce.
"I'm an engineer. I'm big on planning. We need to plan with a comprehensive energy policy, not only the traditional infrastructure but the human infrastructure, to make certain that the training done over with the engineer, the inventor, and the innovator has reached out to middle school, high school, BOCES networks to develop the career paths and develop the training. Germany, of which Phil spoke, is big on their solar/thermal parts, just as a niche to talk about. They have taken solar opportunities to do hot water opportunities needs for people in Germany. It is a specific niche in the workforce which is causing a revolution, an energy revolution. This country needs to make major gains in that regard. We can do it by making a smart workforce, keeping the minds here, and using this region as a hub on nanotechnology, as a hub of wealth in public and private higher ed centers, as a renewable center of the Institute from GE. It is ripe with promise. And I believe we can embrace this area as a way to capture young minds and bright minds to stay."
Senator Obama's nomination means that there's a real chance that voters will elect the first African-American President this year. At the same time, many in the African-American community continue to face challenges and inequities ranging from an achievement gap in education to higher incarceration rates for African-American young men. How do you see these issues affecting the 21st Congressional District and what, if any, steps do you think are most essential to improving that?
Tracey Brooks
"Thank you for that question. I'm running for Congress because I started out working in our communities and working in our cities and recognizing and seeing where it is the federal government was hurting the growth of our communities and our families. It is definitely the very heart of your question affects the 21st Congressional District, not only in our urban centers, which is where most of us will be looking for. It's affecting us in every aspect of our life.
"We need to make sure that as we bring these green collar jobs we're talking about, the jobs of tomorrow, the innovation, that our entire community moves at the same time. And we can do that by being sure that we have good sound policies at the same point. It was Newt Gingrich that got me to run for Congress because at the time I was working in our inner cities, his particular policies were damning to our families. He has 'cured' teenage pregnancy, which, by the way, isn't a disease. The humane and human aspects of policy-making is why I'm running for Congress and we together can ensure that our whole community moves at the same time."
Phil Steck
"We recently held a press conference in which we were supported by two African-American city councilmen, also a city councilwoman from the City of Troy and others from Albany in which we announced an agenda for urban reform which, I don't have time to go into tremendous detail here, but a few high points. The Bush administration has vastly cut the Community Development Block Grants which are very important to the revitalization of our urban areas. My wife is an inner city school teacher in the City of Rensselaer. We are very much in favor of funding so that schools can be open, maintain open after hours if you want to escape dismal circumstances and do things like go to the library.
"And finally, we need to do something about guns in our urban areas. With respect to that, I am a supporter of having a human uniform federal policy. People in New York State have lived with very strong gun laws. When guns are brought in here illegally from other states, and that has to change."
Paul Tonko
"Well I think the escape of poverty and these devastating statistics is through education. Let me tell you what I have done. I've fought very hard with networks across the state for CFE, the Campaign for Fiscal Equity and the fair distribution of education aid. Within Upstate districts, many urban cores were realizing better dollars for education. I've been investing in the Carver Community Center which rehabs young people and works closely with them. Have worked with various groups with reading programs, going to Arbor Hill to read to the students.
"$120 billion worth of cuts from the feds on remedial programs and after-school programs is not a healthy outcome. We need to invest from the very beginning. When I was on the Education Committee in the State Assembly and interviewed Regents, potential candidates for Regents, I would ask that invariably 'What are you going to do for minority and female students to capture them with math and science careers?' So that we can build the diversity in the ranks of those professionals and continue to encourage this country to explore, to create, to discover, because no nation that wants to be a world leader can escape those dynamics. We need to encourage the education infrastructure at the very earliest stages and promote concepts like Head Start which has a winning formula not only for children but for families."
Darius Shahinfar
"A rising tide lifts all boats. And every policy we're talking about here tonight is what will positively affect the African-American community as well, and we shouldn't forget that. That being said, as a former juvenile prosecutor myself, I saw the problems of the African-American community with their youth, in mostly in Albany but also in other areas of our region. And the central problem that most families are facing are what to do with what to do with kids after school.
"And a lot of what Phil and Paul spoke about, restoring Community Block Grants, restoring our after school programs, those are things that we can do down in Congress for, really, very little money. To restore that money so that kid won't have to stay after school. So that our schools can serve individuals better in school. And that will enable the family who are working overtime, oftentimes two jobs, three jobs, to care for the community at large."
Following this round of questions, the final forum moved to a climactic centerpriece that would happen once and only once throughout the course of this historic primary: candidates asking questions of each other directly. |
