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Andrew Vitelli

Maureen McArdle Schulman: Trump Supporter Offers a Conservative Agenda for NY17

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Another first-time candidate for office, Maureen McArdle Schulman is a 61-year-old retired firefighter and Yorktown resident.

She joined the New York Fire Department in 1982, when women were first entering the department. Out of 10,000 firefighters, less than 50 were women.

“You could imagine what that could have been like,” says McArdle Schulman, who served for 21 years in the department. “And I just worked really hard to gain people’s respect.”

McArdle Schulman says she first considered running for office after New York State passed the Reproductive Health Act allowing abortion through the third trimester.

“I actually got sick to my stomach that a woman can have an abortion up until her due date, and that really upset me,” says McArdle Schulman, who says she would make unborn children a federally protected group. “I am very pro-life, which might be a problem for some people.”

McArdle Schulman says she agrees with most of President Trump’s policies, pointing to the strong pre-COVID economy, though she adds that she tries not to pay attention to his tweets. She supports the effort to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border, but would also consider a path towards legalization for some immigrants who entered the country illegally.

“I feel bad for these kids who came here as children and don’t know any other country,” she explains. She highlights the New Way Forward Act, which would remove some drug crimes as deportable offenses, as one initiative that she strongly opposes. “You have to go through a background check. Have you gotten in trouble? Then you’re gone.”

McArdle Schulman says she supports Trump’s 2018 tax reform, though she would like to move towards a flat tax.

“A tax code that encourages home ownership is important,” she adds.

And while she favors cutting waste, she would not make significant cuts to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.

To lower healthcare costs, McArdle Schulman would allow people to shop for insurance across state lines.

The former owner of a small boutique dancewear shop, McArdle Schulman stresses that the economy must be restarted following the COVID-19 shutdown.

“It is killing small businesses,” she says. “We should get the economy going as soon as possible. If there are certain people who need to be protected, let them self-isolate.”

McArdle Schulman says she did not get involved in politics until after she retired. She stressed her honesty – “I am not going to promise things that I can’t deliver,” she says – and her willingness to work with a broad range of constituencies.

“Governor Cuomo is saying that there is no place in New York State for conservatives,” she adds. “I’ve been a New York State resident my entire life. Don’t tell me I don’t belong here.”

McArdle Schulman has been endorsed by the Westchester Republican Committee.

For more information on her platform, visit www.maureen4congress.com.

Yehudis Gottesfeld on Policies she Favors (and those she doesn’t) in a Run for the 17th District Seat

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Yehudis Gottesfeld, a 24-year-old Rockland resident, says her decision to run for office came after a meeting with a policy director for New Consensus, an advocacy group backing the Green New Deal.

As a chemical engineer working on nuclear and environmental issues, Gottesfeld agreed to meet with the group. But she says she was put off by what she describes as their unrealistic views of quickly transitioning to renewables and their flippant attitude towards the cost required.

Gottesfeld went home and reached out to Republican groups including Empower America, a conservative advocacy group, which encouraged her to run.

“I’ve always been involved with the community and given back to the community,” she says. “I never thought I’d run for office. I’ve been involved in policy, not politics.”

Gottesfeld says the most urgent concern facing the country is getting the economy back on track following the COVID-19 shutdown.

“At the end of the day, if you want to recover you need to empower people to get back on their feet, get their small businesses back and running, reopen the economy so people can provide for their family,” she says. “Once the economy is open, we have to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

To ensure that the country’s economy and security is not dependent on China, Gottesfeld supports incentivizing businesses to return production to the US through tax breaks.

Gottesfeld favors a flat tax at a rate that would be revenue neutral against current tax law. While she says she understands the decision to cap the SALT deduction, she said help is needed to alleviate the tax burden residents in Westchester and Rockland face.

To cut spending, she says she would address waste in the federal budget. Gottesfeld points to large omnibus bills as part of the problem, as these massive spending plans impede a sufficient examination of government spending.

Gottesfeld sees competition as the key to lowering healthcare costs and would like to see insurance sold across state lines. To lower drug prices, she favors enacting a “most favored nation” policy which would force drug companies to sell price at the lowest price they are sold abroad.

Gottesfeld also sees the free market as the key to reducing carbon emissions.

“A lot of companies are going green, and the free market is allowing that,” she says.

In foreign policy, Gottesfeld favors maintaining a strong alliance with Israel and standing up for U.S. interests abroad.

Gottesfeld has the backing of the Rockland Republican Committee, and is endorsed by the Westchester Conservative Party and Rockland Republican Party.

David Carlucci, Congressional Candidate for the 17th District, Touts Legislative Success

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Though State Senator David Carlucci is just 39, has already built a lengthy political resume. He has spent the past ten years in the New York State Senate, where he represents most of Rockland County as well as parts of Westchester including Ossining and Briarcliff. He previously served as town clerk in Clarkstown and, prior to that, worked in Congressman Eliot Engel’s office.

Carlucci prides himself on his willingness to reach across the aisle to pass legislation, saying he has passed more legislation than any other lawmaker in the state of New York this past year.

“I call myself a pragmatic progressive and to me what matters most is getting results,” he explains. “In a Democratic majority, I’ll thrive. In a Republican majority, I will work to bring home resources for the district.”

To some, Carlucci’s can be a bridge too far. After taking office in 2011, Carlucci and three other senators formed the Senate’s Independent Democratic Conference, which caucused separately and allied with Republicans. The IDC has riled progressive for years. In 2018, six of eight former IDC Democrats lost to primary challengers, while Carlucci fended off Julie Goldberg in his primary with 54% of the vote.

Carlucci says he understands frustration over his role in the IDC, but that it was necessary to pass important legislation including gun control, a $15 minimum wage and legalization of gay marriage.

Enacting stricter gun control is Carlucci’s top priority if elected, the senator says.

“We’ve done it in New York,” he says, referring to the 2013 NY SAFE Act. “I would like to see that enacted federally so we don’t have to worry about guns crossing state borders and taking the lives of so many people.”

To expand healthcare access, Carlucci calls for a public option allowing taxpayers to buy into a government-run health plan. He would allow Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs and allow attorneys general to fight suspected price gouging.

To raise revenue, Carlucci says he would repeal President Trump’s 2018 tax reform, raising the top tax rate to 39.4% from 37%. For businesses with more than $100 million in profits, he proposes a surtax with no loopholes or exceptions.

Carlucci stresses the need to spur lower- and middle-class investment. He calls for efforts to expand economic literacy and believes in eliminating capital gains tax for earnings below $100,000 to incentivize investment in the stock market. He wants to eliminate the cap on SALT deductions that was included in Trump’s tax reforms.

“We have to make sure we are fortifying the middle class,” he says. “That is the economic engine that drives our nation that has been neglected and forgotten about for way too long.”

Other priorities include battling climate change, confronting racism and anti-Semitism and passing comprehensive immigration reform.  To follow Carlucci’s campaign for Congress, visit: https://davidcarlucci.com/

 

Congressional Candidate Mondaire Jones Describes his Progressive Platform for the 17th District

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Nyack resident Mondaire Jones, a 33-year-old attorney, calls himself “the only progressive candidate running in this race.”

Mondaire Jones Photo by Laura Brett

Jones, who grew up in Rockland County and graduated from Spring Valley High School, is running on the party’s left flank. He supports a range of progressive initiatives, from single-payer health care and a “Green New Deal” to a wealth tax, $15 minimum wage and student debt forgiveness. His campaign has earned the endorsement of two former presidential candidates, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro.

Jones was born to a single mother, growing up in Spring Valley’s Section 8 housing. He recalls accompanying his grandmother to work cleaning homes because his family could not afford childcare.

“For me, policy is personal,” he says. “You listen to the other candidates, all they talk about is Donald Trump. But even before Donald Trump, this economy was not working for the vast majority of American households.”

Jones sees dealing with the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis as the top priority facing the next Congress. He proposes payouts of $2,000 a month to each adult and $1,000 a month for children for a six-month period in response to the virus.

“People are going to go hungry and die, or get evicted, and have their illnesses go untreated if they do not get immediate cash assistance,” he says. “So that is a fundamental way in which COVID has changed my priorities.”

Jones sees this cash assistance as a temporary solution, and does not favor a permanent Universal Basic Income, or UBI. But his platform comprises a host of ambitious and costly proposals. He is the only candidate calling for single-payer health care, or Medicare for all, under which the federal government would cover virtually all costs for the $3.6 trillion health care sector. He calls for a one-time forgiveness for all college debt, which totals close to $1.6 trillion, and free public college, which has been pegged at around $2.2 trillion over ten years in similar plans. Universal childcare has been estimated to run another $70 billion per year.

Jones acknowledges that taxes would go up for the majority of taxpayers but says that for 95% of Americans the tax hike needed for single-payer healthcare will be more than offset by savings on healthcare costs. On net, he sees single-payer resulting in lower total costs. Experts are split on this – the Urban Institute estimated single-payer would increase total spending by $7 trillion over a decade, while economist Gerald Friedman estimates savings of more than $6 trillion over the same period.

Jones echoes Warren’s call for a wealth tax of 2% on savings over $50 million and 3% on wealth over $1 billion. He also believes capital gains should be taxed at the same rate as ordinary income.

In addition to calling for a Green New Deal, Jones supports legislation to phase out large factory farms.

“The way factory farms are run present safety issues for workers and consumers, and sustainability issues for our environment,” he says.

Finally, to combat police brutality, Jones calls on his website for a range of reforms including an end to qualified immunity for officers.

“We must honor the memories of people killed by the police by listening to the demands of their family members for justice, ensuring that law enforcement officers are held accountable, and moving towards a society where the institution of policing plays less of a role in black and brown communities,” he states on the site. 

For additional information and to follow Mondaire Jones’ campaign, visit: https://mondaireforcongress.com

Browde Among Five Democrats Seeking Assembly Seat

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PHOTOS BY CAROLYN SIMPSON, DOUBLEVISION PHOTOGRAPHERS

While Kristen Browde has the backing of the New Castle Democratic committee, she is running against a crowded field for David Buchwald’s 93rd Assembly seat.

Bedford Supervisor Chris Burdick and White Plains resident Jeremiah Frei-Pearson, a civil rights attorney who ran in 2012 but dropped out to endorse Buchwald, are two leading candidates. Alex Roithmayr, Buchwald’s chief of staff, and Greater New York Chamber of Commerce President Mark Jaffe are also seeking the nomination.

“White Plains seems to be coalescing around Jeremiah, and they certainly have a lot of votes,” Jane Silverman, co-chair of the New Castle Democratic Committee, says. “Women and the LGBTQ groups are really behind Kristen. So right now, I don’t necessarily think there is a frontrunner.”

In 2017, Browde challenged New Castle Supervisor Rob Greenstein for his seat, lost but still garnered 47% of the vote in the heated race. The contest was closer than some expected, according to Silverman.

Silverman points to Browde’s work for the New Castle Democrats as well as her work on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Love Makes a Family council to legalize gestational surrogacy and her experience as a trustee for the $2.5 billion AFTRA Pension Fund.

Kristen is a force to be reckoned with,” Silverman says. “When she wants to get something done, she will get it done.”

Tim James, chair of the White Plains Democratic City Committee, says he thinks Frei-Pearson is the favorite. But he acknowledges that without polling there is little information to go by. He touts Frei-Pearson’s service on the city Democratic Committee as well as his law practice.

Burdick, meanwhile, has the support of the Bedford, Mount Kisco, and North Castle Democratic committees. He was elected supervisor in 2013 after serving on the town board.

Browde has thus far trailed in fundraising having raised just under $18,000, according to public records, while Burdick has raised more than $66,500 in the same period. Frei-Pearson’s fundraising totaled more than $163,500 including a $150,000 contribution to his own campaign.

Though the primary is sure to be a battle, the nominee will be favored to win the general election. The seat has been in Democratic hands for all but three years since 1993. The only Republican elected to represent the district over this period was Robert Castelli, who won a special election in 2010 and was re-elected later that year in a Republican wave election. For every registered Republican or Conservative, there are roughly 1.6 Democrats among active voters in the district.

As of press time, North Castle resident Sarmad Khojasteh, a partner at Kasowitz Benson Torres, confirmed that he was being considered as a possible candidate on a Republican ticket. Khojasteh, who serves on the Town of North Castle Assessment Review Board and on the Iranian American Bar Association’s New York Chapter Board of Directors, entered the race for the 37th Senate District in 2018 before dropping out and endorsing GOP nominee Julie Killian.