Name: Bruce Blakeman
Age: 54
Party Affiliation: Republican
Occupation: Attorney
Decision To Run: For the first time in 100 years, the current generation of Americans is predicted to do worse than the previous one. The recession has cost us more than 8 million jobs and the unemployment rate is 10 percent or worse in many parts of New York. Washington has a deficit approaching $1.4 trillion and our national debt is nearly $14 trillion, much of which is owed to foreign governments including China and Saudi Arabia. My opponent, Senator Gillibrand, has supported every Washington spending bill and believes the way out of the recession is to tax and spend. In doing so, my opponent has weakened our country and mortgaged the futures of our grandchildren and great grandchildren. I’m running to restore your faith in government.
Major Issues: New Yorkers do not want a monument to radical Islam in the shadows of Ground Zero. I lost my nephew on 9/11. He was an Army Veteran and a Court Officer who was evacuating people from tower two when it collapsed. A Mosque, built where he and thousands of innocent Americans were murdered is wrong.
New York is one of the most overtaxed and over regulated states. Taxes and regulations are choking small business owners. As Washington imposes more taxes and regulations on small businesses, they are less likely to grow and invest in technology, equipment and new employees and more likely to move out of state or off shore. Reducing taxes and simplifying regulations will have an immediate positive impact on small businesses.
Top Priority: The country is failing and it needs CPR.
C- Cut Taxes, Cut Spending, Create Jobs
P- Protect the Borders, Protect our Homeland
R- Repeal the Bad Deal – Repeal Obama care
Name: Gail Goode
Age: 52
Party Affiliation: Democrat
Occupation: Attorney
Decision To Run: I elected to run for the United States Senate because I have been an advocate for the city of New York for 24 years. As a public service attorney representing 8 million New York residents, I am fully abreast of the issues facing a diverse multicultural city. My opponent, the unelected junior senator hails from a small, homogenous, conservative congressional district. Thus, her values do not reflect the values of most New Yorkers. Moreover, I have always been a socially progressive, fiscally conservative democrat. Unfortunately, the junior unelected senator cannot make the same claims.
Major Issues: The major issues affecting New Yorkers are a sluggish economy and because of an uptick in crime, gun control.
Top Priorities: I would focus on the economy and jobs for New Yorkers
Name: Joe DioGuardi
Age: 69
Party Affiliation: Republican Party/Conservative Party
Occupation: Certified Public Accountant
Decision To Run: Washington is addicted to spending and borrowing. While Main Street suffers, Capitol Hill continues to spend money we don’t have, which forces us to borrow from countries, like China, that don’t share our values. These choices in Washington are dramatically affecting the bottom lines of all taxpayers as well as the entire Empire State economy. New York cannot afford to maintain the status quo.
Major Issues: A lack of jobs is the number one issue in New York – and America for that matter. Nearly 1 million New Yorkers are unemployed, and in June, the Empire State lost more jobs than every other state, but one. We need to let the private sector do what it does best – launch new ideas, products and services, which, in turn, create a higher demand for a more robust workforce. Without private sector growth, job creation won’t occur, and consumer spending will continue to decline.
Second, Washington’s debt is hitting New York’s bottom line and the residents of Queens. About 30 percent of our state budget comes from the federal government; so, when Washington can’t pay its bills, New York schools, police forces and other public services suffer. Since entering office, Senator Gillibrand has repeatedly put added pressure on the federal bottom line, voting for the ineffective “stimulus” package, so-called healthcare reform, and the big-government financial sector overhaul.
Top Priority: Jobs. I will promote public policies that put New Yorkers back to work. I will lift that burden from the shoulders of small businesses, entrepreneurs and innovators by working to reduce taxes, ease regulations, promote initiatives that create a pro-growth environment, and get the banks we bailed out to process badly needed loans to small businesses around the state.
Name: Kirsten E. Gillibrand
Age: 43
Party Affiliation: Democrat
Occupation: I am currently a U.S. Senator for New York. Previously, I have served as a U.S. Representative from New York’s 20th Congressional District and as Special Counsel to U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Andrew Cuomo, in the Clinton Administration.
Decision To Run: It has been an honor and privilege to serve New Yorkers in the U.S. Senate. I want to continue to fight to create jobs for our middle class families and ensure New York gets its fair share from Washington.
Major Issues: As I spend time in all 62 counties across the state, the number one issue New Yorkers say they’re concerned about is the economy and jobs. My top priority is creating good paying middle class jobs right here in Queens. With almost 9 percent of Queens residents currently facing unemployment, we must get the economy moving again. I have proposed cutting taxes for the middle class, increased tax breaks for businesses that create new jobs and easier access to loans from credit unions and community banks for the city’s almost 200,000 small businesses.
I also believe that Queens residents deserve greater transparency in government. Everyday people are not being heard because too much business is happening behind closed doors. My reform agenda aims to clean up Washington by making government more transparent and making members of Congress more accountable to the people back home.
Top Priorities: I will continue to focus on my first priority since day one – turning this economy around and creating good paying jobs for New York’s middle class families by cutting their taxes and increasing lending to small businesses.
