Three seek open 25th Congressional seat
Finger Lakes Times
Jim Miller
October 24th, 2008
Two years ago, a few thousand Wayne County voters thwarted Democrats' hopes of unseating Republican James Walsh in the 25th Congressional District race.
But with the soon-to-retire Walsh out of the picture in this year's election, national Democrats are again targeting the seat and pouring money into the campaign.
Defending the seat for the Republicans is Dale Sweet-land, who is up against Democrat Dan Maffei — Walsh's 2006 opponent — and Green Populist candidate Howie Hawkins, who ran for the seat in 2000 and 2004. Sweetland, the former chairman of the Onondaga County Legislature, has been critical of Maffei's fundraising and his ties to Washington.
"He's spent the vast majority of his adult life working in the halls of Congress," Sweetland said. "We are all products of the life we live. In some debates, Dan Maffei has said I criticize Washington too much. He believes it works well. I don't."
But Maffei, a former press secretary to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and staffer on the Ways and Means Committee, sees his time in the capital as an advantage — an experience-builder that will help him maintain some of the influence that Walsh wielded during his years in office.
"You want the person who can do the job the best," he said, citing his knowledge of national issues and local experience as a reporter.
"I don't believe my opponent would be able to get it done."
He also touts himself, however, as someone who can offer "new blood and a new look at the system," a mantle Hawkins also claims.
A teamster and frequent candidate, Hawkins sees both Democrats and Republicans as part of the problem.
"I'm [someone] independent of the two old, entrenched parties in Washington who will not challenge the military-industrial complex or Wall Street," he said. "I think I could represent the bottom 90 percent in terms of income … and deal with the problems of the economic crisis, the energy crisis and the climate crisis."
Debate over who has the fewest ties to Washington gridlock aside, economic issues have been at the forefront of the campaign. Maffei and Hawkins call for a re-emphasis on manufacturing and the promotion of green-collar jobs, Sweetland for an extension of President George W. Bush's tax-cut policies coupled with spending cuts.
Their metaphors varied, but all three candidates expressed qualms about the recent $700 billion Wall Street bailout packaged passed by Congress. Sweetland likened it to putting the foxes in charge of the henhouse. Maffei said it seemed like Congress gave the fire extinguisher to the same kid who played with matches.
"The problem is, they're going to try to make the working class pay for bailing out the banks that made the wrong bets," Hawkins said. "Government used to catch gangsters that robbed banks. Now they're helping banks rob people."
Sweetland and Hawkins said they would have voted against the package.
Maffei said he wasn't sure. He would have held town hall meetings about it, he said, to get an idea of what taxpayers thought.
"I certainly didn't like the way it was structured, but I did realize something needed to be done," he said.
Some kind of direct economic stimulus package, such as an investment in infrastructure or the extension of farm credit, might have been a better move, he said.
Such investments are a key part of Maffei's strategy for improving the local economy. He wants to promote the region as a kind of Silicon Valley, with an emphasis on green technologies, farm products and high-tech medicine.
He believes he can bring back appropriations to "prime the pump" and act as a kind of regional cheerleader if elected.
"We need to start manufacturing again," he said. "They may not be the same things we made 25 or 30 years ago, but we need to manufacture."
Sweetland believes businesses create jobs, not the government. But he favors the development of alternative energies along with offshore drilling, which Maffei sees only as a stopgap measure.
As for the bailout bill, it should have included a bipartisan commission to study the crisis' root causes and none of the "pork" projects that lawmakers added to it, Sweetland said.
It also needed to include more congressional oversight, he said.
"I'm not accustomed to being part of a legislative body that just says, here's the sum of money, executive side of the government, you go spend it and come back and tell us how you decided to spend it," he said. "I'm used to an executive body that says, we need to tell the executive side exactly what to expect."
Although Sweetland objects to corporate taxes that he regards as burdensome, he does favor some increased regulation for Wall Street.
"Republicans have to understand that some regulation is necessary, and Democrats have to understand that the free market does need to work," he said, paraphrasing recent comments by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "So you can't over regulate, you can't choke it by regulation."
For Hawkins, helping the economy equals helping a working class struggling with stagnant or declining wages and maxed out on credit.
Instead of betting on the ups and downs of the stock market, he wants to build an economy focused on labor and industry. He characterized the bailout bill as the redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top.
Hawkins also favors a more progressive income tax.
"Right now, the top one percent takes home more income than the bottom 50 percent," he said. "We haven't been so unequal since we started [keeping] good statistics. … The last time we were near this unequal was 1928, right before the Great Depression."
Like Maffei, he wants massive investment in a green economy. And to him, that idea and America's foreign policy are directly linked.
"The core of my program is cutting down military spending [by] withdrawing from the military empire of over 700 military bases in over 70 countries, including the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and redistributing those resources on the scale of at least $300 billion a year to building a green economy," he said.
Hawkins thinks the withdrawal must be complete. Terrorism should be fought through intelligence-gathering and special forces, not through invasions, and a strike on Iran should be off the table even if it develops nuclear weapons, he said.
Emphasizing negotiations with Iran over confrontation should move its people away from nuclear weapons and strengthen the secular middle class, he said.
"How can we tell them not to develop nuclear power when we've got 100 plants here, and we have nuclear weapons?" he said.
Maffei and Sweetland both favor diplomacy and see military action against Iran as a last resort, but neither would take it off the table. Both also favor a continued presence in Afghanistan, but they differ on the best course to take in Iraq.
Sweetland said he's very encouraged "that we are getting to a point where we can pull our troops back" and encouraged that the Iraqi government agrees. He said the U.S. should turn things over to the Iraqis as quickly as possible but that immediate withdrawal isn't feasible because of the time needed to clean equipment.
Maffei, however, favors an immediate withdrawal as long as it can be conducted safely and responsibly.
He criticized the decision to attack Iraq, in part because it took the attention off Afghanistan.
"If you think about it, if this was World War II, it would be 1948, and we still haven't completely engaged the Japanese Navy," he said.
The United States needs to work with international support to capture Osama Bin Ladin and break up his terrorist network, he said. He wants to avoid unilateral action, particularly in regard to Pakistan, where the new government has been relatively helpful but where elements of al Qaida are thought to be hiding.
Sweetland expressed a similar view about Pakistan and said Afghanistan worries him because of its mountainous terrain and history of turmoil. He said he respects the judgment of military leaders but isn't convinced that a surge-type strategy would work in Afghanistan.
OTHER ISSUES
ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Hawkins:
Favors alternative energies and wants to abandon nuclear power. He sees global warming as the second-greatest security threat that the nation faces.
Maffei:
Wants to protect the area's water resources and promote a green technology zone between Rochester, Syracuse and Ithaca. He believes the country should abandon the use of fossil fuels by the mid-2020s in favor of alternative energies that could create a boom in the local economy.
Sweetland:
Believes there is no silver bullet and favors the use of all forms of energy, including wind power, solar power and offshore drilling.
HEALTH CARE
Hawkins:
Supports a single-payer national health care program, with free choice of doctors and hospitals.
Maffei:
Favors affordable and comprehensive health coverage for everyone through programs that would allow people to choose between their current plans and new public insurance programs.
Sweetland:
Concerned about a government-run program. He likes the idea of a health-insurance tax credit and said the country needs more competition among insurance companies, with fewer regional monopolies and "portable insurance" so people don't have to choose jobs based on the benefits.
IMMIGRATION
Hawkins:
Favors a path to citizenship for otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants here in search of work. He believes farmers and growers have been hurt by recent crackdowns and favors coverage of farm workers by the fair labor standards act. He considers illegal immigrants "refugees of NAFTA," which he favors repealing.
Maffei:
Thinks farmers should not be forced to choose between running their farms and breaking the law. He said he favors some kind of guest worker program when domestic labor isn't available but called amnesty a mistake. Maffei believes immigration raids don't serve as a deterrent but instead scare families without alleviating the overall problem. He said he might support an earned path to citizenship for those already here.
Sweetland:
Opposes both amnesty and a path to citizenship but favors a guest worker program. He said farmers are having a hard time finding labor but that the borders need to be secured.
ABORTION
Hawkins:
Pro-choice.
Maffei:
Pro-choice.
Sweetland:
Opposes abortion rights.
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
Hawkins:
Favors "marriage equality."
Maffei:
Opposes use of the term marriage and stopped short of endorsing civil unions but said he favors equal legal rights for all citizens.
Sweetland:
Opposes both same-sex marriage and civil unions.
TAX POLICY
Hawkins:
Favors a progressive income tax. He wants to repeal President George W. Bush's tax cuts on the top 2.5 percent of earners.
Maffei:
Wants to leave the Bush tax cuts in place for now but review them for those earning $500,000 a year and up. He said he favors closing corporate tax loopholes but lowering the corporate tax rate after that's been done.
Sweetland:
Wants to cut taxes and scale back bureaucracy.
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