Congressional Hopefuls Clash In R’Wood
Turning around the sluggish American economy was the central theme of the Ridgewood Property Owners and Civic Association’s (RPOCA) candidates night forum last Thursday evening, June 7, at I.S. 93 for those seeking the Democratic nomination for the two Congressional seats representing the neighborhood.
All four Democratic candidates for the Sixth Congressional District seat-City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, Assemblyman Rory Lancman, Assemblywoman Grace Meng and physician Robert Mittman-showed up to stump for votes from Ridgewood residents living in the district “east of Forest Avenue,” as described by RPOCA President Paul Kerzner.
Only two of the four Democrats running for the Seventh Congressional District seat “west of Forest Avenue” participated in the forum: City Council Member Erik Martin Dilan and economist Daniel O’Connor. Rep. Nydia Velázquez was unable to attend due to the ongoing Congressional session, so City Council Member Diana Reyna stepped in as her surrogate. The other candidate, professor George Martinez, did not attend.
Following opening statements, the seven participants in the forum answered the same four questions from Kerzner and fellow RPOCA member Joseph Segreti regarding financial conglomerates, the solvency of Social Security, tax increases and the national deficit.
‘Too big to fail’
With the first question of the debate, Segreti asked each candidate about the criminal liability for reckless financial executives who helped precipitate the economic crisis of 2008 and if they support efforts to break up large financial firms considered to be “too big to fail.”
Each of the candidates agreed that Congress and the federal government needed to do something to hold corporate CEOs accountable for alleged malfeasance.
Dilan, a Bushwick-based legislator, stated that he hoped a task force appointed to look into the economic crisis of 2008-which, he noted, includes New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman-would bring forth federal legislation to enable the government to seek legal action against companies and unscrupulous executives.
“What we’ve seen for a very long time is an era of deregulation in and around the banking industry,” Dilan said. “I think a balance needs to be struck. Certainly, we need to allow for our large institution to thrive and to be an engine that creates jobs. … No institution should be too big to fail when we have to inject almost a trillion dollars in capital to prevent the economy from going down, while we left the average taxpayer to figure it out for themselves.”
Meng and Crowley-who are based in Flushing and Glendale, respectively- agreed that banking regulations passed under the Dodd-Frank Act were “a good step in the right direction.” They also denounced the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 2007, which ended regulations which they claimed led to unethical business practices which helped precipitate the economic crisis dubbed “The Great Recession.”
Lancman, whose Assembly district is based in Hillcrest, pointed out that nearly two-thirds of the financial regulations under Dodd-Frank have yet to be implemented.
“Here we are, four years after Lehman Brothers brought down the global economy, and very little has changed,” he said. “Four years on, no one’s been prosecuted. Very few people have been able to recover their losses, and we have not seen a major improvement in reform.”
Reyna noted that Velázquez supported Dodd-Frank and a variety of other pieces of legislation aimed at protecting consumers. She noted that the congresswoman is also investigating the validity of reverse mortgage programs.
Rescuing programs
Kerzner then turned to Social Security and Medicare, asking each of the candidates about their ideas to keep both programs solvent for future generations.
Crowley dismissed the idea of raising the FICA tax-a payroll tax which funds Social Security and Medicare-since she believes it would hinder economic growth. She argued that once jobs are added, more FICA taxes would be collected by the government from more workers, thereby increasing the revenue for both programs.
“We have to do whatever we need to do to protect it,” Meng added. “I also agree that right now, what’s most important is to stimulate the American economy. We need to do whatever we can to increase as much jobs as possible so that more people are paying into the system.”
Reyna noted that Velázquez would, if re-elected, “continue to search for answers and the right balance” toward addressing the longterm health of Social Security and Medicare, adding that if you have less people working, can’t continue on a middle class economy.”
Lancman, however, stated that under current projections, the government would be unable to meet 100 percent of its obligations to the Social Security program in 20 years if nothing is done to reform it. He suggested that the “only way to save Social Security” is to eliminate an exemption from the FICA tax for individuals making over $110,000 annually.
O’Connor suggested that a “very practical and proper solution” is to allow younger individuals to opt out of the Social Security program: “All contracts must be upheld. The federal government has engaged in a contract” with those who pay Social Security taxes, and “all entitlements must be maintained.”
Dilan stated that the government must become more vigilant in finding and rooting out fraud in the Social Security system, while Mittman added that the federal government should work to make sure that all working individuals are paying into the system and aren’t collecting pay “off the books.”
Any new taxes?
From repealing taxes on the wealthiest Americans to slashing military spending, the candidates had various ideas when asked by Segreti if they would support any tax increases in order to close the large budget deficit.
Meng supported the repeal of the tax decreases for wealthy Americans which became law during the George W. Bush administration and also said she would support an increase in the capital gains tax.
Dilan said he supported the repeal of the “Bush tax cuts,” but also argued that a combination of an increase in tax rates on the wealthy, the growth of the economy and surgical cuts in the budget would help “get the budget back in line.”
Both Crowley and Lancman offered their support for the “Buffett rule,” named for billionaire Warren Buffett’s suggestion that the federal tax code be restructured in order to for wealthy and middle class Americans to pay basically the same rate of income taxes.
Lancman also stated that Washington, D.C. could look to New York State for inspiration in resolving its economic woes, explaining that recent budget gaps were closed with a combination of spending cuts, “applicable” tax increases and government reorganization.
Mittman argued that tax increases would be “a mistake,” but suggested that slashing military spending by 30 percent would save the government hundreds of billions of dollars a year.
“We can no longer be the policeman of the world. We have to cut the budget,” he said, pointing out that billions have been spent on nationbuilding in Afghanistan while “five hospitals have closed here in Queens.”
“I’d knock out money to the farmers- it’s not really for the farmers, but to corporations,” Mittman added, also suggesting that he would cut farm and telecom subsidies.
O’Connor took Mittman’s military spending reduction further, offering that the government should slash such spending by 80 percent and close bases around the world.
Commission ideas rejected
Kerzner asked the final question of the debate, in which the candidates were asked if they supported any of the budget-balancing ideas suggested by the Simpson-Bowles Commission in 2010. All of the Congressional hopefuls, but one, rejected many of the proposals offered by the panel.
Lancman stated that the commission’s findings were “very heavy on cuts,” and while its report may be “a good place to start a conversation,” there is “nothing I’d recommend to the president to implement.”
“Although our economy is not doing as well as we would like it to, we’re clearly pulling ourselves out of the recession. Our stimulus package, which really emphasized spending, was able to create jobs and put people back to work, just not at the level where we want it to be,” Crowley added. “I think we need to spend our way out of this deficit, and we’ll create more jobs, put people back to work and we’ll soon have a smaller deficit.”
Crowley added that there were areas in the budget where cuts could be made, specifically with regard to the ongoing operations in Afghanistan.
Reyna stated that Velázquez opposed many of the actions suggested by the committee, adding that the government would need “to look more closely at how we spend every tax dollar.” Meng added that the report was inappropriate, adding that reforming corporate tax loopholes and providing greater incentives toward boosting domestic industry would help improve the country’s economic health.
Mittman added that the commission’s report proved to be “a bipartisan agreement that no one can agree on,” reiterating his earlier points to remove “tax shelters” for large companies and reduce military spending in order to balance the budget.
O’Connor declined to answer questions about the Simpson-Bowles Commission as he did not “know the details” about the report.
The Ridgewood Property Owners and Civic Association will not meet in July and August. Their next session is scheduled to take place on Thursday night, Sept. 6, at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of I.S. 93, located on Forest Avenue between Madison and Woodbine streets.
