For Paloma Capanna, it is important just to be running. But she is in this to win.
Capanna, the Democrat candidate for the state Senate's 54th District seat, is running on a platform of issues in which she believes. But she is also running for the sake of good old-fashioned competition, which she said is an important aspect of the democratic process.
“If you don't have a contested race, there isn't even a discussion of the issues,” Capanna said. “It takes more than one person to solve a problem caused by more than one person.”
Capanna is running against eight-term incumbent Michael Nozzolio, who did not face a challenger in the last two elections. Because of this factor, voters will enter the booth Tuesday and have to choose between new ideas and legislative experience.
A family law attorney in Monroe County, Capanna has never held public office. But she did run as a pre-primary candidate for U.S. Congress in late 2005 and early 2006 before pulling out of the race.
The reason she wants to make the jump from the courtroom to the legislative hall? At first, Capanna said, it was about frustration over the policies of the Bush Administration and the irresponsibility of federal spending.
But after dropping out in 2006 to support fellow Democrat Dan Maffei's candidacy, she still wanted to get involved. That was when she realized the state Senate seat had gone unopposed for so long.
“It really is an extension of what we started (in 2005),” Capanna said. “(A competitive election) is the crucial piece to bringing about the change that everyone else says they want.”
That change should come in a number of areas, Capanna said, as she is running on three major issues. She is a proponent of a universal health insurance policy for all New Yorkers. She says restoring a progressive income tax system will bring relief to the
majority of the state by lowering property taxes.
Capanna also is in favor of a developing the upstate economy through green energy programs. She is looking for a “Kennedy-style” green energy program that would be called the American Center for Energy to be located in the region.
There is no reason why the Finger Lakes area can't be considered the Silicon Valley for green energy, Capanna said.
“This is a Kennedy-like change. This has to be an FDR-kind of change,” she said.
But Capanna is not the only candidate proposing change. In fact, Nozzolio says the state is going to simply have to change the way it handles money in the face of recent financial problems.
As the impact from the Wall Street crisis filters into the state's revenues, finding ways to cut costs statewide must be priority number one in Albany, Nozzolio said.
“These concerns take every other issue off the table,” he said. “If not, it will jeopardize the future course of life in this state.”
In order to overcome economic turmoil, the state will have to tighten its belt while cutting property taxes, Nozzolio said. He joined with the Senate and Gov. David Paterson to support a proposal for a 4-percent cap on raising property taxes.
Property taxes in the state are “oppressive,” Nozzolio said, and reforming them should be a high priority.
“If (the Legislature) tries to tax and spend our way out of it, the economy of the state will go into a death spiral,” Nozzolio. “It will be extremely difficult to recover.”
Such times will call for “proven leadership,” which he said he has shown during his two-plus decades in the Senate and Assembly. When asked what he considers his most significant accomplishments in the Senate, Nozzolio pointed to some recent events.
He played an “integral” role in overturning the state's recommendation to close the obstetrics department at Auburn Memorial Hospital, Nozzolio said. He also helped recruit Bass Pro Shops to open its store in Aurelius by seeking state grants and incentives, and he helped spearhead an effort to clean up Owasco Lake, Nozzolio said.
“I've always been willing to work together and cross party lines to get things done,” he said.
Ultimately, Nozzolio continued, the economic issues facing the state can have a positive effect if handled correctly. If New York learns to do more with less money, it will be healthier in the future, he said.
“I believe this crisis will present many opportunities to see reforms in place that would not otherwise have existed,” Nozzolio said.
Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.
Biographical data
Michael Nozzolio
Age: 57
Occupation: State senator,
attorney
Education: Bachelor's degree in labor relations and master's degree in public administration and agricultural economics from Cornell University, juris doctor degree from Syracuse University College of Law
Family Status: Married
Elected office experience: Elected to state Senate in 1992 after serving 10 years in state Assembly.
Name: Paloma Capanna
Age: 42
Occupation: Family law attorney
Education: Bachelor's degree in political science and economic theory, from Wheaton College in 1988. Juris doctor degree from SUNY Buffalo in 1991.
Family status: Married, husband is Peter and stepson is Sam.
Q: Where do you stand on a statewide property tax cap?
Nozzolio: In August, I proudly voted in favor of implementing Governor Paterson's statewide property tax cap. The property tax cap is a good first step that must be combined with a commitment to eliminating unfunded state mandates on local school districts. Working in a bipartisan manner, I will continue my efforts to reform the property tax system and reduce the cost of property taxes in New York State.
Capanna: I support the concept, and property tax relief is a top-three agenda item. The Senate, however, has failed to do anything more than pass a one-house bill, given that the Assembly passed a circuit-breaker bill, without a bill reconciliation committee. With the Senate not scheduled to go back into regular session until January 2008, homeowners will not see any relief this year. In fact, the current Senate bill will expire at the end of session. Once again, the failure of the Senate to work with the Assembly means that a passed bill will expire and we, the taxpayers, will be back to square one.
Q: Where should the state look to cut spending?
Nozzolio: As we face the national economic crisis, every state agency and authority, including the state Legislature, must be prepared to face budget reductions. Additionally, I am sponsoring legislation to implement a constitutional state spending cap that would limit the growth in state spending to the rate of inflation. If this spending cap were in effect last year, state taxpayers would have saved $2.8 billion from the state budget.
Capanna: Part one: a 4-percent, across-the-board cut, conducted as “staged deceleration” at 1 percent per quarter during 2009. Part two: a 50-percent cut to the budget of the Senate, particularly to Senators' salaries and benefits. Leader Skelos says it's a part-time legislative body? Then the pay and benefits should also be part-time. Part three: enhance programs that are profitable, such as child support collection; reduce or eliminate programs without proven results, such as member items and Empire Zones. Part four: seek out efficiencies, such as a consolidation of the current 24 different health insurance programs currently offered into one, universal health insurance plan.
Q: What changes would you make to the member-items system in the state Legislature, which allocates most legislator-sponsored grants to lawmakers in majority parties?
Nozzolio: Having served in both the minority and majority in both houses of the Legislature, I understand the challenge facing every legislator to secure state funding for local programs. I am extremely proud of my record of working to support the continued operation of Auburn Memorial Hospital, the protection of Owasco Lake, bringing Bass Pro to our area to create new jobs, enhancing programs at Cayuga Community College as well as supporting local volunteer firefighters, local crime-fighting initiatives, and shelters for battered women, to name just a few. As long as the process is open, transparent and accountable to the public, I will continue my hard work to secure as much funding as possible for local programs.
Capanna: Eliminate them. In April 2008, the Senate took on $85 million in debt to fund $100 million in member item giveaways. These funds are handed out by individual legislators, without oversight or clawback. I will also propose legislation to make it impermissible for a legislator to name or have named after him a project to be named after him/herself that is funded with taxpayer money.
Q: Should state legislators get a pay raise?
Nozzolio: No. I am opposed to pay raises.
Capanna: Absolutely not; they should take a pay cut. Every current member of the Senate has additional employment beyond their Senate job. I've taken a pledge that, if elected, representing you as your Senator would be my only job - and I mean that even with the 50-percent pay cut I propose. Representing more than 300,000 people is a significant responsibility, and I will give it my full-time attention.
“If you don't have a contested race, there isn't even a discussion of the issues,” Capanna said. “It takes more than one person to solve a problem caused by more than one person.”
Capanna is running against eight-term incumbent Michael Nozzolio, who did not face a challenger in the last two elections. Because of this factor, voters will enter the booth Tuesday and have to choose between new ideas and legislative experience.
A family law attorney in Monroe County, Capanna has never held public office. But she did run as a pre-primary candidate for U.S. Congress in late 2005 and early 2006 before pulling out of the race.
The reason she wants to make the jump from the courtroom to the legislative hall? At first, Capanna said, it was about frustration over the policies of the Bush Administration and the irresponsibility of federal spending.
But after dropping out in 2006 to support fellow Democrat Dan Maffei's candidacy, she still wanted to get involved. That was when she realized the state Senate seat had gone unopposed for so long.
“It really is an extension of what we started (in 2005),” Capanna said. “(A competitive election) is the crucial piece to bringing about the change that everyone else says they want.”
That change should come in a number of areas, Capanna said, as she is running on three major issues. She is a proponent of a universal health insurance policy for all New Yorkers. She says restoring a progressive income tax system will bring relief to the
majority of the state by lowering property taxes.
Capanna also is in favor of a developing the upstate economy through green energy programs. She is looking for a “Kennedy-style” green energy program that would be called the American Center for Energy to be located in the region.
There is no reason why the Finger Lakes area can't be considered the Silicon Valley for green energy, Capanna said.
“This is a Kennedy-like change. This has to be an FDR-kind of change,” she said.
But Capanna is not the only candidate proposing change. In fact, Nozzolio says the state is going to simply have to change the way it handles money in the face of recent financial problems.
As the impact from the Wall Street crisis filters into the state's revenues, finding ways to cut costs statewide must be priority number one in Albany, Nozzolio said.
“These concerns take every other issue off the table,” he said. “If not, it will jeopardize the future course of life in this state.”
In order to overcome economic turmoil, the state will have to tighten its belt while cutting property taxes, Nozzolio said. He joined with the Senate and Gov. David Paterson to support a proposal for a 4-percent cap on raising property taxes.
Property taxes in the state are “oppressive,” Nozzolio said, and reforming them should be a high priority.
“If (the Legislature) tries to tax and spend our way out of it, the economy of the state will go into a death spiral,” Nozzolio. “It will be extremely difficult to recover.”
Such times will call for “proven leadership,” which he said he has shown during his two-plus decades in the Senate and Assembly. When asked what he considers his most significant accomplishments in the Senate, Nozzolio pointed to some recent events.
He played an “integral” role in overturning the state's recommendation to close the obstetrics department at Auburn Memorial Hospital, Nozzolio said. He also helped recruit Bass Pro Shops to open its store in Aurelius by seeking state grants and incentives, and he helped spearhead an effort to clean up Owasco Lake, Nozzolio said.
“I've always been willing to work together and cross party lines to get things done,” he said.
Ultimately, Nozzolio continued, the economic issues facing the state can have a positive effect if handled correctly. If New York learns to do more with less money, it will be healthier in the future, he said.
“I believe this crisis will present many opportunities to see reforms in place that would not otherwise have existed,” Nozzolio said.
Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.
Biographical data
Michael Nozzolio
Age: 57
Occupation: State senator,
attorney
Education: Bachelor's degree in labor relations and master's degree in public administration and agricultural economics from Cornell University, juris doctor degree from Syracuse University College of Law
Family Status: Married
Elected office experience: Elected to state Senate in 1992 after serving 10 years in state Assembly.
Name: Paloma Capanna
Age: 42
Occupation: Family law attorney
Education: Bachelor's degree in political science and economic theory, from Wheaton College in 1988. Juris doctor degree from SUNY Buffalo in 1991.
Family status: Married, husband is Peter and stepson is Sam.
Q: Where do you stand on a statewide property tax cap?
Nozzolio: In August, I proudly voted in favor of implementing Governor Paterson's statewide property tax cap. The property tax cap is a good first step that must be combined with a commitment to eliminating unfunded state mandates on local school districts. Working in a bipartisan manner, I will continue my efforts to reform the property tax system and reduce the cost of property taxes in New York State.
Capanna: I support the concept, and property tax relief is a top-three agenda item. The Senate, however, has failed to do anything more than pass a one-house bill, given that the Assembly passed a circuit-breaker bill, without a bill reconciliation committee. With the Senate not scheduled to go back into regular session until January 2008, homeowners will not see any relief this year. In fact, the current Senate bill will expire at the end of session. Once again, the failure of the Senate to work with the Assembly means that a passed bill will expire and we, the taxpayers, will be back to square one.
Q: Where should the state look to cut spending?
Nozzolio: As we face the national economic crisis, every state agency and authority, including the state Legislature, must be prepared to face budget reductions. Additionally, I am sponsoring legislation to implement a constitutional state spending cap that would limit the growth in state spending to the rate of inflation. If this spending cap were in effect last year, state taxpayers would have saved $2.8 billion from the state budget.
Capanna: Part one: a 4-percent, across-the-board cut, conducted as “staged deceleration” at 1 percent per quarter during 2009. Part two: a 50-percent cut to the budget of the Senate, particularly to Senators' salaries and benefits. Leader Skelos says it's a part-time legislative body? Then the pay and benefits should also be part-time. Part three: enhance programs that are profitable, such as child support collection; reduce or eliminate programs without proven results, such as member items and Empire Zones. Part four: seek out efficiencies, such as a consolidation of the current 24 different health insurance programs currently offered into one, universal health insurance plan.
Q: What changes would you make to the member-items system in the state Legislature, which allocates most legislator-sponsored grants to lawmakers in majority parties?
Nozzolio: Having served in both the minority and majority in both houses of the Legislature, I understand the challenge facing every legislator to secure state funding for local programs. I am extremely proud of my record of working to support the continued operation of Auburn Memorial Hospital, the protection of Owasco Lake, bringing Bass Pro to our area to create new jobs, enhancing programs at Cayuga Community College as well as supporting local volunteer firefighters, local crime-fighting initiatives, and shelters for battered women, to name just a few. As long as the process is open, transparent and accountable to the public, I will continue my hard work to secure as much funding as possible for local programs.
Capanna: Eliminate them. In April 2008, the Senate took on $85 million in debt to fund $100 million in member item giveaways. These funds are handed out by individual legislators, without oversight or clawback. I will also propose legislation to make it impermissible for a legislator to name or have named after him a project to be named after him/herself that is funded with taxpayer money.
Q: Should state legislators get a pay raise?
Nozzolio: No. I am opposed to pay raises.
Capanna: Absolutely not; they should take a pay cut. Every current member of the Senate has additional employment beyond their Senate job. I've taken a pledge that, if elected, representing you as your Senator would be my only job - and I mean that even with the 50-percent pay cut I propose. Representing more than 300,000 people is a significant responsibility, and I will give it my full-time attention.
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