Congressional Democratic candidates speak

Posted 8/21/12

WHITE LAKE, NY — There are at least six Democrats who’ve expressed interest in running for the New York 19th Congressional District, currently held by Republican Chris Gibson, who has said he …

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Congressional Democratic candidates speak

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WHITE LAKE, NY — There are at least six Democrats who’ve expressed interest in running for the New York 19th Congressional District, currently held by Republican Chris Gibson, who has said he will not run for a third term this year.

Three of the would-be candidates turned out to a forum sponsored by the Democratic Women of Sullivan County at Sorello’s Restaurant in Kauneonga Lake on January 20. The space was packed as the speakers addressed the crowd.

First up was Zephyr Teachout, who ran in the Democratic Primary against Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2014. Teachout, an associate law professor at Fordham University, said she hadn’t quite made up her mind, but she was 95% there. (She announced on January 25 that she was definitely going to run). At the dinner she said, “If I decide to run for Congress, you’re going to hear me talk about a lot of policy, about a lot of economic development, about a lot of corruption.”

She said one of the reasons she ran against Cuomo was related to corruption. She said, “Albany had become private service rather than public service.”

She also said she was deeply interested in education. She said, “I’m a strong opponent of Common Core, a strong advocate for funding that kids need for arts, for sports, for counselors, all of the things that actually allow a child to truly flourish.”

After Teachout, Will Yandik took the floor. Yandik is a fourth-generation farmer from Columbia County, and a member of the Livingston Town Council. He stressed the need for Democrats to find someone who can reach across the aisle.

He said, “It’s hard to believe, but of the 435 congressional districts there are only about a dozen that are competitive. We are one, [and if we win] we’re likely to win by 51% to 55%. We need to find a candidate that can play offense; we need to find a candidate who can go out into farm bureau halls, veterans associations, feed stores.”

He said, “We have to have someone that understands that as gerrymandered as we are, we are united by a common challenge: how do we use the market opportunity of New York City without being changed by that city, without losing our rural landscape and our rural heart? We need a farm bill that does something for the Northeast.”

On the subject of fossil fuels versus renewable energy, Yandic said energy companies are “building as many transmission lines as they can throughout the state, before the party’s over and they can’t get subsidies for them anymore.” He said many of these projects are not needed, and that money could be redirected to pay for rural high-speed Internet.

He ended saying, “We can’t win by energizing progressives alone.”

Next up was Elliot Auerbach, the Ulster County Comptroller, and a former mayor of Ellenville (he announced on January 25 that he would not enter the race.)

He said he raised three kids in Ulster County, and that he had noticed that many Millennials were choosing to move back to the area. He said, “It’s about quality of life, in the 19th District.”

He said the question he asked himself when thinking about running was, “Can I serve the 700,000 people because I’m a small-time guy?”

The others who are also considering running for the office are Julian Schreibman, who ran against Gibson in 2012; Dan Ahouse, who was Congressman Maurice Hinchey’s chief of staff until 2010; and Dutchess County resident Margo Miller.

On the Republican side, those who’ve expressed interest are former state Assemblyman John Faso of Kinderhook, Dutchess County resident Andrew Heaney and Delaware County resident Bob Bishop.

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