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SD-1: Meet Regina Calcaterra, Candidate For New York State Senate

by: robert.harding

Mon Dec 14, 2009 at 12:52:59 PM EST

This fight for the Senate will have many battlegrounds and one of those battlegrounds will be Long Island. And for Regina Calcaterra, the 1st Senate District will be one district where the incumbent will face a serious challenge.

Calcaterra is a corporate fraud lawyer who has been involved in a number of high-profile cases, including the fraud cases involving Merrill Lynch and WorldCom. She has protected the pensions of employees whose futures are threatened by the fraudulent actions of Wall Street.

She also is the Democratic candidate challenging Republican Senator Kenneth LaValle in the 1st Senate District.

"In 2008, there was only one candidate on the ballot for the state Senate's First District - a 32-year incumbent who had experienced only nominal opposition during his entire tenure," Calcaterra said. "With so much at stake in state government, and with growing dysfunction in the Legislature, I decided to run for the seat in next year's election."

Calcaterra's childhood is, in itself, a profile in courage. She experienced homelessness and poverty growing up and credits a certain group of people with making her the person she is today.

"Through the help of very hard-working people in government - teachers, social workers, librarians, police officers and even crossing guards - we got through it," she said. "They inspired me to take the path that got me here today, through public school, college and law school, and convinced me that government can absolutely do a better job than we see today."

Calcaterra took time to answer questions submitted via e-mail about her candidacy, where she stands on important issues and provided a general idea of what her platform will look like.

QUESTION: You make it a point on your website to list "Prosecuting Wall Street, Protecting Main Street" as, if I may presume, a priority. As it pertains to your district, why is protecting Main Street a high priority while ensuring that Wall Street is regulated?

CALCATERRA: Our current economic downturn might have been avoided had regulators been more vigilant and those on Wall Street were held to higher standards of transparency and honesty. Big companies like WorldCom and AIG took investment dollars from the pensions of hard working people like cops, firefighters, teachers and other civil servants. My job as a corporate fraud lawyer is to fight to get that money back so those hard-working people or taxpayers aren't out hundreds of millions, or even billions, of dollars. I have done this effectively on behalf of retirees and New York's taxpayers.

It shouldn't stop there, though. We've learned many lessons from what happened on Wall Street to cause the economic meltdown and a lot of it can be applied to Albany. Quarterly agency and authority budget reporting, certified audited year end agency financial statements, investigations that include legislative subpoena power, and agency head accountability can get government to work effectively again for everyone.

Q: After the defeat of marriage equality, you appeared at a pro-marriage equality rally. Your opponent, Senator LaValle, voted against the bill along with the whole Republican conference. Is it safe to say that you would be a "yes" vote for marriage equality? Why do you support marriage equality?

CALCATERRA: I will vote for marriage equality without hesitation. I do not believe in "separate but equal" treatment of any group in society, as Sen. LaValle proposed with favoring civil unions over legal marriage. I also believe we should not discriminate against families - - any families, any children - - for the reasons marriage equality opponents like Sen. LaValle suggest.

Q: Property tax reform has been an issue in the past that is still largely unsettled. Governor Paterson and other advocates have supported a property tax cap that would cap taxes at a certain percentage rate. Others have supported a circuit breaker, which would set your tax rate based on the money you make. Do you support either of those proposals or do you have other ideas for property tax reform?

CALCATERRA: Long Island has a deep problem with property taxes that can't be solved overnight. A major step toward fixing high property taxes has been taken by allowing voters the option of consolidating local government and getting rid of some unnecessary special benefit (and tax) districts at the local level. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo proposed that legislation last year, the Legislature passed it and Gov. Paterson signed it into law. It is unfortunate that Sen. LaValle voted against this measure; the first step toward reducing property taxes is reducing waste and redundancy in local government. Residents now have that opportunity in spite of Sen. LaValle's opposition.

If these efficiency and consolidation measures do not address the problems in the near term, a property tax cap should be part of the discussion. However taxpayers must be assured that schools and localities would receive adequate funding so it does not have the effect of forcing school districts to fire teachers, or municipalities to lay off law enforcement officers.

The ultimate tax cap is the voters' ability to hire new legislators who will force government to be efficient and effective.

Read more from Calcaterra about reform and analysis below the fold.

ON THE WEB:

Regina Calcaterra's Campaign Website

Regina Calcaterra's ActBlue Page

CALCATERRA: The Brennan Center has proposed straightforward and acceptable reforms. An example of how this can work to everyone's advantage can be found in the debate over marriage equality that recently took place.

Even though the proposed legislation was defeated, it was important that the bill was sent to the floor of the Senate for a vote. It was crucial to have all state Senators on the record on that proposal for the benefit of all voters - - so we can all make informed decisions at the ballot box based on where the incumbents have stood when the roll was called. For decades, legislators in Albany have been protected by a self-imposed veil of secrecy which prevents voters from learning where their members really stand on most issues.  

An effort to lift the veil and push for transparency is to adopt the Brennan Center reform proposal regarding strengthening the committee process. This proposal will allow committee members to force a timely and public committee vote on a particular bill, even if the Chairperson objects. Voters need their senators to have the power to move all legislation before them, while also having the ability to learn where their legislator stands on each and every issue. Also, other proposals that should be adopted are those that end the iron grip that leadership has over bills getting to the floor for a vote and the formal establishment of conference committees, similar to those established by the US Congress.

But we also need reforms that provide for stricter campaign finance rules and rules that provide complete transparency when it comes to extra-political fundraising entities, like the Hiram Monserrate Legal Defense Fund and the Joe Bruno Legal Defense Fund. The voters should have access to the names of all those who have contributed to their legal defense funds, especially if it is one of their legislators. Furthermore, the rules of each house should be amended to rid the legislature of members convicted of crimes, such as Hiram Monserrate. Rather than wasting taxpayer dollars on committee hearings, investigations and lawyers fees to try to find a way to remove him from his seat. The voters of New York deserve better, they deserve a legislature that functions to their benefit, not the benefit of long term incumbents and convicts.

But we also need to see reforms that prevent the type of corrupt behavior that was revealed during the recent trial of former state Sen. Joseph Bruno. Legislators should not use their staff as valets or private business assistants, and the self-dealing needs to come to an end.

If voters allow for it, 2010 could be the year of the reform candidate. Based on the answers given here and her resume, Calcaterra fits the mold of a reform-minded candidate. The issues in Albany are not limited to members of one political party. There are corrupt Democrats. There are corrupt Republicans. There are Democrats who stand in the way of reforming Albany. There are Republicans who stand in the way of reforming Albany. A huge factor is incumbency. In the case of Calcaterra's opponent, he has been in Albany for over three decades. He has been in Albany so long there is a stadium at Stony Brook University named for him.

When incumbents get comfortable and feel they can do whatever they want, that's when we suffer. The challenge Calcaterra is mounting is a tough one, but the right one.