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Host of state, federal candidates stump at senior center
By Sasha Austrie
Staff Reporter
Cortland Standard |
http://www.cortlandstandard.net/articles/10022006n.html
On Saturday, candidates vying for state and federal offices came to Cortland to reach out to potential voters at the Port Watson Street senior housing tower.
“I am the antiwar candidate,” said Howie Hawkins, Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate. “I do believe I give a voice to the majority of New Yorkers.”
Democratic and Republican representatives were also in attendance trying to persuade Central New York constituents they were the right choice.
Michael Arcuri, Oneida County District Attorney and Democratic candidate for the 24th Congressional District, has hit the campaign trail hard.
“We have just hit the 24,000 mile mark (on the campaign trail), we have knocked on 1,500 doors and I have been to more than 24 communities,” Arcuri said.
Rachel Treichler, a Green Party candidate who wants to succeed Eliot Spitzer, said she was interested in protecting New Yorkers’ rights.
“We need an attorney general who would fight for our basic rights,” Treichler said. “Protecting our basic rights would be my top priority.”
The candidates, coming from all different walks of life, entertained questions from more than 100 members of the audience.
When asked about a universal health care system in the United States, the majority of the candidates were in favor of national health care. They differed on how health care for all Americans would be implemented.
Hawkins and Alison Duncan, a fellow Green Party member and candidate for lieutenant governor, are in favor of a single-payer system. Hawkins said the single-payer system is one public agency paying for the health care of the entire nation.
Arcuri and Raymond Meier, a state senator and Acuri’s competitor for the 24th District, were both concerned with the single-payer system.
“People should be in charge of their own health care,” Meier said. “Medicaid needs to be substantially reformed.”
Arcuri said 40 million Americans are without health care. He was troubled with the idea that all Iraqis would have “quality affordable care.”
Arcuri said there are “two industrial nations without health care (the United States being one.) We need to do a better job.”
The audience asked a range of questions, from the candidates’ position on same sex marriages to their take on legal immigration.
Treichler said she agrees with those who have filed suit against New York contending same sex marriages are already legal in New York state, that there is nothing in the law that prohibits it.
“I thought it was fantastic,” said Betty Brevett, an audience member. “It was very educational.”
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 *Website by David Doonan, Labor Donated to Hawkins for Senate Campaign* |
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