Breaking down the 41st Senate Seat Debate
The unofficial debate for Senate between incumbent candidate Republican Sue Serino and candidate Democratic Terry Gipson had a different feel than the presidential debates we have been seeing recently. The event was held at the Poughkeepsie Journal building moderated by one their staff members who was able to keep the candidates on topic and discuss many issues that our community faces. Some of the topics brought up included campaign funding, the candidates’ accomplishments in office, their stance on the presidential race, improving the community, pay-rate for elected officials, the minimum wage, and common core.
Both candidates talked about the ethics of campaign funding. Terry Gipson wants there to be more limitations involving donations, while Serino wants both sides to just have the same opportunities. During the 2014 campaign, the Putnam County Democratic Committee was allegedly given a donation of $184,000 from mayor De Blasio that is currently under investigation.
Discussing unusually large donations to campaigns:
@Sueserino4ny. “The worst part of my job is fundraising, I’ve never taken money that has been under investigation” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “The idea that I have ever been connected with NYC politics is absolutely false” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “It’s not unusual to have a large amount of money come into a campaign at the very end” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016, speaking on behalf of an unusually large fund during the campaign
@TerryGipsonNY. “A Democrat will be able to close the LLC cap loophole” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “LLC’s should be limited to only contributing $5,000 to a campaign” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “They are not addressing the root of the issue. The big corporate money that trickles into our political system” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
Next topic of discussion involved the presidential race. While Terry Gipson will be proudly voting for Hilary Clinton, Sue Serino is still unsure what she will be doing on November 8! With Donald Trump’s latest PR nightmare and the leaked “locker room” discussion among many other issues he has faced, it has become increasingly difficult for other Republic politicians to continue their support for him.
Discussion of the Presidential Race
@TerryGipsonNY. “Donald Trump represents everything I’m against” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@Sueserino4ny. “We have two terrible candidates!” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “I’ll be proudly voting for Clinton but I am a Bernie Sanders Democrat” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@Sueserino4ny. “I’ve never come out and publicly supported any presidential candidate this year because I’ve been focusing on my campaign” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
Minimum wage has been a heavily contested topic in the latest elections whether on a national level or local level. With so much at stake regarding increasing the minimum wage, both candidates weighed in on how the increases can affect our community if the bill were to go through for statewide increases. While Gipson would like the bill to be treated on a state level, Serino feels that the because the cost of living varies so much throughout the state especially from places like Manhattan to places in the northern parts of NY its important to take these aspects into consideration when discussing big raises.
Minimum Wage Discussion
@TerryGipsonNY. “Anything less than $15 an hour isn’t enough to support a family or live anywhere in NY” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@Sueserino4ny. “We should have places where adults can go to make more money” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “There’s a way to get the whole state to $15 across the state” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@Sueserino4ny. “Talking to the small business owners there needs to be a gradual increase to $12.50 an hour” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “Minimum wage bill created a divide between down and upstate NY” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@Sueserino4ny. “I govern by listening, most people don’t own small businesses” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
Picking commissioners and lawmakers needs a little reform. Both candidates could at least agree on this much and that there should not be an increase in pay for elected officials. With the cost of living in NY already being so high and having so many elected officials who do not always do their job to the best of their abilities according to the candidates, it would not be necessary to then go around giving raises, and giving people a monetary incentive to take on these important jobs.
Raising pay for Lawmakers
@Sueserino4ny. “The commissioners should be picked in a different manner of form than the way it is now” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “We need to make the process more transparent of how we can appoint people and volunteer” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@Sueserino4ny. “I would against a pay raise of any kind” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “I don’t see how I can in good faith there should be a raise for lawmakers” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
For everyone in New York State the Common Core has become a highly discussed topic since its inception under Governor Cuomo. The test has received significant feedback from students, parents and teachers, with most of the feelings being negative. Serino and Gipson could agree that it has not been the more effective decision made for our education system. While Serino feels that there are improvements being made all the time, Gipson feels students should all be handled independently and that focusing on standardized tests is not the way educators should teach.
Discussing the Common Core
@Sueserino4ny. “Our kids lost their love of learning and teachers lost their love of teaching” #commoncore Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “The Common Core is not the way to go” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@Sueserino4ny. “It sounds like things are moving in the right direction for education” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “I don’t know what the people working at the education department are doing all day…” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “I’m not happy where we are with the education in the state” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “I don’t want our schools to focus too much on standardized tests” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
@TerryGipsonNY. “Common core was many of the colossal mistakes in this state, it went too far too quick” Twitter, 12, Oct. 2016
These were some of the issues brought up in the hour-long debate between Sue Serino and Terry Gipson. Of course there was more but the candidates felt that some issues were more important than others for the future of our community. With such a hostile couple of presidential debates already, this one was much different, reflecting no such characteristics of what we have seen on television. Both candidates remained respectful to one another, stayed completely on topic the entire time and were eager to talk about the ways they think the elected officials can improve the lives and areas of the people they work for.
