| Democratic candidate Rick Dollinger and Republican incumbent Sen. Joe Robach faced off tonight in their first debate moderated by 13WHAM, Rochester's ABC affiliate.
I watched the debate after the fact and it was really clear to me who the change candidate was. That was Rick Dollinger. Robach stuck to his pro-business talking points. He even resorted to aligning himself on multiple occasions with Democrats, a clear (or not-so clear) attempt at trying to win over members of the party that make up a larger part of the district. He made a number of references to Governor David Paterson and made at least one mention to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo when he took credit for working with Cuomo on setting up Project Sunlight.
Robach also used the same old Republican talking point about New York City and Democrats over and over again. That was a main theme of his whenever he would answer a question.
Dollinger stuck to his guns. He talked about reforming Albany, which has been a common theme throughout his campaign and he also regularly mentions implementing the Brennan Center report's recommendations.
On taxes, he stressed that he supports both a tax cap AND circuit breaker - an interesting position that he has stood by even when many are split over both of those proposals. He believes (and believes correctly, in my view) that a tax cap CANNOT work without the circuit breaker. Remember - a tax cap won't lower your taxes by itself. It just caps the amount that your taxes can be raised. The New York Times summed it up best:
Under the commission's preliminary proposal, counties, towns and school districts would be allowed to raise property taxes by 120 percent of the consumer price index or 4 percent each year, whichever is lower. Breaking the cap would require approval by at least 55 percent of the voters in a given district. And those districts that increased spending by less than the cap would be allowed to use a portion of the difference in future years.
In other words, instead of being able to raise your taxes by about seven percent a year (that has been the norm), taxes could only be raised up to four percent every year.
My favorite part of the debate was when the candidates asked each other a question. Listen to Dollinger's question to Robach and then listen to the beginning of Robach's response. He says that there is "good change and bad change." That was a bizarre line to me.
Dollinger won the debate. Dollinger is way too intelligent for Robach. Dollinger has a great grasp on the issues and when it comes to reforming Albany, not too many people (including sitting state senators) can match Dollinger's desire to change Albany and his plan for reforming the state Legislature. It's easy to utter the word "change." But it's another to propose ideas. People like ideas. And I think people will end up liking Dollinger and wanting him to be their state senator.
ON THE WEB:
Rick Dollinger's ActBlue Page |
