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Metzger and Martucci face off for State Senate

Matt Shortall - News Editor
Posted 10/19/20

SULLIVAN COUNTY -- In the race for New York's 42nd State Senate District, incumbent Democrat Jen Metzger will face off against Republican challenger Mike Martucci in the November 3 general election.

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Metzger and Martucci face off for State Senate

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SULLIVAN COUNTY -- In the race for New York's 42nd State Senate District, incumbent Democrat Jen Metzger will face off against Republican challenger Mike Martucci in the November 3 general election.

The sprawling district borders two states and includes nearly 300,000 residents spread across all of Sullivan County as well as parts of Orange, Ulster and Delaware counties. Previously represented by Republican John Bonacic, it's one of several swing seats Democrats picked up in 2018 to take control of the State Senate for the first time in a decade.

Running on the Democratic, Working Families and Sam (Serve America Movement) Party lines, Metzger currently serves as chair of the State Senate Agriculture Committee. Metzger and her family reside in Rosendale where, before being elected to the State Senate, she served on the Town Council and chaired the Rosendale Environmental Commission. Metzger also founded a nonprofit organization, Citizens for Local Power, which advocated for fair utility rates and a clean energy economy.

Metzger points to a record of bipartisan achievement, passing more than two dozen bills with Republican and Democratic support, as well as delivering millions of dollars in funds and state grants for local community projects. Metzger says one of her proudest moments in the State Senate has been securing support for veterans in her district, from expanding the Veterans Peer Support Program in Sullivan County to introducing legislation to establish September 22 as Veterans Suicide Awareness and Remembrance Day.

Self-made businessman and political newcomer Mike Martucci is running on the Republican, Conservative and Independence Party lines. He resides in the Town of Wawayanda with his wife and three children where he founded Quality Bus Service -- a school bus company that eventually grew to employ over 550 people before he sold it in 2018. He and his wife stay involved in philanthropic efforts through the Michael and Erin Martucci Family Foundation.

Martucci served two years as president of the New York School Bus Contractors Association, a collection of privately owned transportation companies throughout the state, succeeding Rolling V Bus Corporation President Phil Vallone in that role. As association president, Martucci said he worked with state lawmakers to expand drug testing for school bus drivers and authorized school districts to install stop-arm cameras on buses.

The Democrat recently sat down with both candidates on separate occasions to discuss some of the important issues facing New Yorkers in SD-42.

State Budget

With New York's fiscal year halfway over, Governor Andrew Cuomo's budget office estimates the state's budget deficit stands around $14.5 billion.

“It's been an absolutely challenging time. We're in the midst of an economic contraction because of this pandemic at a time when the needs of our communities are only growing,” Metzger said. “This is not a time when we can afford to make cuts to essential programs and services. At the same time, we absolutely cannot burden our communities with new taxes.”

Metzger said the state needs to find creative ways to raise revenue that doesn't tax already overburdened communities. She cited her bill introduced in the Senate's Budget and Revenue Committee to tax corporate stock buybacks.

“It's a really unproductive form of investment by big corporations that buy back their own stock to inflate its value, rather than investing in their workforce and in their companies,” Metzger said.

Metzger said there are $1 trillion worth of federal funds used for corporate stock buybacks and her bill is estimated to raise over $3 billion annually.

Metzger also cited her support for enabling mobile sports betting in New York, as well as a bill to legalize marijuana.

“This is another potential revenue source, also a potential income stream for our farmers, and it's something we should be looking at enabling here,” Metzger said.

Martucci outlined a two-pronged approach aimed at cutting what he called wasteful spending and then creating the kind of economic climate to make New York businesses competitive with those in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

“When you look at the state budget, there are hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in spending items that are absolute waste,” Martucci said.

Pointing specifically to over $400 million allocated for a Hollywood film tax credit that looks to attract more film production in New York, he said, “This is almost half a billion dollars in corporate welfare that we're handing to an industry absolutely not deserving of our tax dollars.”

Martucci also pointed to $100 million set aside in the budget to publicly fund political campaigns.

“I don't want taxpayers to be paying for junk mail and robocalls,” Martucci said. “Before we raise taxes on any New Yorker - which I don't support at all - we need to be cutting out this tremendous waste that exists in the state budget.”

Broadband

The deficiencies in rural broadband that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic have only been highlighted by the large number of students, employees and small business owners who've had to adjust to a more digital form of life over the past six months.

“In the modern age, it is absolutely essential to education, employment, healthcare and just about every aspect of daily life,” Metzger said.

Metzger's bill, which passed the state legislature earlier this summer with broad bipartisan support, directs the Public Service Commission (PSC) to study the availability, affordability, and reliability of high-speed internet and broadband access in New York State and produce a detailed access map on its website that indicates internet service by location. This map, in addition to public hearings to be held throughout the district, will be used to prioritize broadband access for those areas with the highest economic or social impacts.

Here in Sullivan County, Metzger said her office was recently working with Spectrum to wire Bethlehem Road in Callicoon, and she is currently working to secure $400,000 in funding for the county's broadband initiative.

“We're working on this issue on multiple levels,” Metzger said.

For his part, Martucci has vowed to allocate more money in the state budget to address the broadband gap in Sullivan County and other rural areas of the district.

“At the end of the day we have a $180 billion state budget, which from my perspective is a bloated state budget, and our senator didn't secure one nickel for a project she claims is a top priority project,” Martucci said. “She's interested in commissioning a study, what I'm interested in is getting state funding here to start addressing the problem.”

Metzger has countered that it would be a mistake to throw money at broadband projects without accurate data about where to most efficiently direct that money. Martucci argues that the state often gets in the way of efforts to increase broadband access. He points to a state tax on fiber optic cable installers included in the 2019 state budget as a disincentive for companies looking to expand rural broadband networks.

“Not only is there the component that the state needs to get out of the way in the form of this new tax, but also allocate real dollars toward [broadband],” Martucci said.

Bail Reform

Bail reform measures that went into effect in January continue to be a source of fierce debate among voters. Martucci has placed the issue at the forefront of his campaign.

The original law was aimed to reduce pre-trial detention by eliminating cash bail for the most non-violent crimes. Amendments to the law passed in April sought to expand some judicial discretion and provide more situations where judges could impose cash bail.

Despite somewhat limited data on the impact of reforms, Republican lawmakers and police unions across the state have been overwhelmingly critical - characterizing them as anti-police and crediting them with increasing crime.

“This is certainly the number one issue on the minds of folks as I go around and talk to them,” Martucci said. “Bail reform in its original form, which was jammed in the state budget, put families at risk in a tremendous way. Even after being given an opportunity to fix bail reform the Democrats that control the legislature made only a set of cosmetic changes. They took a couple of crimes off the list but didn't address the real concerns with respect to bail reform.”

Martucci admits there were problems in New York City with individuals sitting in pre-trial detention for long periods of time, but argues it was not a problem facing upstate communities.

“This is just another example of a New York City agenda item that was jammed on communities that has had negative effects. Even our rural communities have not been exempt from the dangers of bail reform and what that means,” Martucci said.

Metzger defends the principle of criminal justice reforms while maintaining that she was the one who co-sponsored the bill which amended the bail law to allow judges to consider public safety in pre-trial detention.

“I've been very disappointed that there has not been an honest conversation about criminal justice reforms generally,” Metzger said. “It's been a victim of political positioning and partisan politics. Any time crime occurs, it is blamed on bail reform. The criminal justice reforms were meant to address a basic unfairness in the system - how much money you have should not determine whether you await your court date at home or in jail.”

Metzger pointed to a July article in the New York Post which found the NYPD's own data seemed to contradict claims that bail reform has been the main factor leading to a spike in gun violence.

In terms of support for police, Metzger pointed to her efforts to help secure more funding for local law enforcement agencies, county sheriffs and district attorneys to help defray some of the cost of reforms.

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