https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Special-election-candidates-on-the-issues-12844168.php
Assembly special election candidates on the issues
Hopefuls weigh in on guns, health care and more
Updated 9:13 pm, Wednesday, April 18, 2018
ALBANY — On Tuesday, voters will get a chance to reshape the Capital Region's representation in the state Assembly.
Republican Chris Tague and Democrat Aidan O'Connor are vying to fill the seat previously held by Peter Lopez of Schoharie, and Democrat Cindy Doran and Republican Jake Ashby are facing off to succeed Steve McLaughlin of Troy. The special elections mark a turning point for both districts: Lopez served for more than a decade before being appointed regional administrator for the federal Environmental Protection Agency, and McLaughlin won his Assembly seat four times before winning the post of Rensselaer County executive.
The 107th Assembly District
Doran and Ashby are starkly divided on the best way to expand access to affordable health care in the district, which includes parts of Rensselaer, Columbia and Washington counties.
"Everyone from children to the newly retired should have access to a doctor when they need it," said Doran, who supports instituting a single-payer system — a proposal often referred to as "Medicare for all."
Ashby argues the single-payer model doesn't work: "The keys to decreasing the cost of health care, while enhancing its accessibility, is to promote private practice and deregulation," he said.
The Democrat-dominated Assembly has for several years annually approved legislation that would create a single-payer system in New York, but the GOP-led state Senate hasn't brought such a measure up for a vote.
The candidates also have different ideas on how to keep schools safe from potential mass shootings, like the one that devastated a Florida high school in February and reopened the national debate on gun control.
Ashby wants the state to support local district-based solutions to promote school safety, and suggested the state could fund active-shooter training and school resources officers.
"Armed guards should be utilized if a determination is made by the district to retain armed guards," he said.
Doran's approach to school safety is focused on keeping guns "out of the wrong hands." She supports expanding the ban on assault-style weapons, extending waiting periods for background checks, allowing courts to remove weapons from people who threaten to harm themselves or others, and prohibiting domestic abusers from having guns.
When it comes to the state's role in reducing property taxes, Doran wants to ensure the flexible 2 percent tax cap remains in place; Ashby would see the state do more to provide mandate relief to local governments.
The district includes areas that have been afflicted by PFOA contamination. If granted discretionary state aid for his district, Ashby said, "I would give every cent to projects aimed to ensure clean drinking water."
Doran also identified water infrastructure as well as neighborhood revitalization projects and road repairs as top priorities for any funding she could direct to the district.
102nd Assembly District
Tague and O'Connor are split on what the state's minimum wage should be in upstate New York.
O'Connor endorses the regional minimum wage structure, adopted in 2016, that is scheduled to bring the upstate minimum wage to $12.50 by 2021 and subsequently increase to $15 at the direction of the state Budget Division. Tague contends that the minimum wage increases imposed by the state are hurting small businesses; he believes expanding the state's earned income tax credit would be more beneficial for low-income New Yorkers.
Access to health care services is a critical issue facing the 102nd Assembly District, which includes sparsely populated rural areas.
Tague supports legislation that incentivizes doctors to practice in underserved areas and wants to fund tuition assistance for nurses willing to work in New York.
Like Doran, O'Connor advocates for a single-payer system of health care in New York. In the meantime, he stressed the importance of investments in emergency medical services, community-based health models and telehealth options.
Both Tague and O'Connor support improved mental health services and armed resources officers to make schools safer.
"I think it's important for Republicans to understand that keeping dangerous people with a track record of violent crime and mental illness from getting their hands on firearms is good stewardship of the Second Amendment," Tague said.
O'Connor would like to see existing gun control laws property enforced.
Both candidates will be focused on the expansion of high-speed internet throughout the district. O'Connor said he will oversee the state's broadband investments to make sure they're benefiting the region, and pursue federal grants for improving speeds or serving areas not benefiting from state assistance.
Tague supports tax credits to incentivize more private sector options and wants to invest more state funding.
