Jobs is job No. 1
Syracuse Post-Standard
Mike McAndrew
October 13th, 2008
Candidates in 25th Congressional District outline economic plans.
After 20 years in Congress, Jim Walsh believes that the quickest and most effective way to create jobs is not by changing the nation's tax code or funding new billion-dollar programs.
A congressman's best tool to stimulate job growth at home, Walsh says, is the earmark federal money targeted at specific projects at local businesses, colleges and nonprofits.
"Earmarks create jobs. There's very few other tools that a federal representative has to create jobs," said Walsh, R-Onondaga, who secured $900 million in earmarks for Central New York over two decades.
But the three candidates hoping to succeed Walsh, who is retiring from the 25th District, are pushing other strategies.
Democrat Dan Maffei, Republican Dale Sweetland and Green Populist Howie Hawkins didn't even mention earmarks when The Post-Standard asked them to cite their best ideas for creating jobs in Central New York.
Because of Walsh's seniority in Congress, none of the potential successors is likely to immediately secure earmarks worth as much as Walsh's.
Sweetland believes Congress should eliminate earmarks. He told a crowd of 65 business leaders Friday that "earmarks are a product of a system in Washington that I see that builds seniority, power and greed."
Government can best help create jobs, the Republican said, by "getting out of the way of the private sector."
Sweetland wants to stimulate job growth by cutting the federal corporate income tax rate, eliminating capital gains taxes and providing incentives for vocational training.
Maffei is pushing modified rules for existing federal empowerment zones, so that more businesses in Syracuse could benefit from tax-exempt bonding and an income tax credit of $3,000 for each qualified employee.
He also said he'd seek to close loopholes in the corporate income tax code that encouraged manufacturers like Carrier Corp. to avoid U.S. taxes by moving their operations overseas.
Hawkins said Congress should pay the city to run public works programs that would be required to hire anyone who wants a job and can't find one in the private sector.
By sharply slashing the military budget, Hawkins said, Congress could invest at least $300 billion per year in solar, wind and biofuels projects and create millions of new jobs.
Walsh was critical of most of those plans. Hawkins' ideas would just produce bigger government, he said. Reforms to the Syracuse empowerment zone - which Walsh helped create - probably would not create significant numbers of job, he said. Most of the other suggestions don't give the 25th District any advantage over other regions, Walsh said.
"It's the New York state taxes that are killing jobs here," Walsh said. "New York state taxation and regulation and energy costs have driven businesses out of the state. And there's not a darn thing a member of Congress can do about that," Walsh said.
"There's very little they can do about that as a federal representative unless they bring home earmarks to help businesses grow. The rest of it is just talk," Walsh said.
Interviewed separately, Syracuse University economics professor Michael Wasylenko - who has researched government tax incentives and economic policy - agreed with Walsh's criticisms.
He said tweaking Syracuse's federal empowerment zone program is likely to produce "a few jobs."
Even if Sweetland could reduce federal corporate tax rates, that would not stimulate job growth in Central New York more than it does elsewhere, said Wasylenko, a senior associate dean in SU's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
Wasylenko said it's unrealistic for Hawkins to expect to trim the military's budget by $300 billion per year, especially while America is fighting two wars.
But investing in green energy projects - which Maffei and Sweetland support in smaller dollar amounts - is a good job-growth plan because of the nation's dire need for cheaper, cleaner energy, the professor said.
Eight years ago, while campaigning for the Senate, Hillary Clinton pledged to create 200,000 new high-tech jobs in Upstate New York. That unfulfilled promise is still fresh in voters' minds.
Maffei and Sweetland declined to predict how many jobs their plans could create.
"We have had a whole gaggle of politicians who will gladly give you (job-creation) numbers in the thousands," Sweetland said. "They are being less than honest."
Citing a study by the Apollo Alliance, a San Francisco-based coalition promoting clean energy, Hawkins said investing $300 billion annually in green energy projects would produce 3.3 million jobs nationally and 7,586 jobs in the 25th Congressional District.
As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, Walsh succeeded last month in winning $37 million in earmarks for local businesses and for the Air National Guard's 174th Fighter Wing at Hancock Field.
Walsh said his earmarks created local jobs fixing up Syracuse's run-down housing stock, cleaning Onondaga Lake, running the military base, and engineering and manufacturing new defense-related products.
But this year, earmarks are getting a bad rap - and not only from the Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain.
Friday, at the congressional candidates forum co-sponsored by the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Association of Central New York, Maffei defended the earmark system and Sweetland attacked it.
Still, both of the major-party candidates said that if they are elected they will try to secure earmarks because they can create jobs.
If earmarks are to continue, Sweetland said, "There needs to be a better way to evaluate earmarks so we can avoid 'bridges to nowhere' and pet projects of legislators just to gain votes in their districts."
Maffei said, "I think earmarks are an important component. I can't rank whether they are the best or not the best (tool for creating jobs). I'm going to fight hard to maintain the appropriations that Syracuse and Onondaga County has. Things are changing, so we also have to be creative and look for other ways."
Mike McAndrew can be reached at mmcandrew@syracuse.com or 470-3016.
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