Archive: News

When New York State Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton came to participate in the opening of the Tompkins County Democratic Campaign headquarters, the Lansing Star got to interview her about her campaign and what she hopes to accomplish if she wins another term in Albany.

See the candidate comparison chart on the Elections page.

Lansing Star: In a nutshell, why do you want to go back to Albany?

Barbara Lifton: Well, I want to continue the fight that I ran to fight in the first place when I ran four years ago.  You know, we had a governor who has been cutting education, not responding to the health care crisis, not creating good jobs in New York in spite of his claims to the contrary.  Certainly not in upstate.  The upstate economy is still sagging, lagging.  So I'm there to fight for the middle class and fight for public schools.

We fought to restore funding for education.  That's why I want to continue running.  To properly fund our schools instead of shifting that tax burden to the local property tax.  To continue the takeover of Medicaid from the counties and take that burden off the county tax.  Fundamentally, also to help create good jobs in upstate New York.  

I've been supporting the Essential New york program that the Assembly created some years ago.  And it's working to create good jobs in upstate New York.  Jobs that pay well, jobs that come with benefits.  That program is responsible for creating something like 9,500 jobs over the last five years.  It's because the focus is to build on the strengths of our region.  Get resources to those companies that are here and are poised to grow.  All they need is some tailored assistance from the State.

We're doing that, it's working, and I'm going to keep working on that as well.

We also need a clean environment.  We need to properly fund the DEC and the Environmental Protection Fund.  I've also done a lot of work, and will continue to be working on making sure we have voting machines that are reliable, transparent, accountable to the public, and that every citizen's vote gets counted.


LS: Would you say that if you had a top issue, that education is it?

BL: You know it's so hard to prioritize, because these are all critical foundation issues.  But, if I had to choose...  you know health care is so important.  How can say that education is more important than health care?  If we don't provide health care for children, they're not going to sit in a classroom and be able to be educated.  So in a sense that's almost the most primary issue.  

That's the first basic right.  The State has an obligation to provide a good education for every student.  As a former teacher education is always going to be important to me.  A top priority, certainly, that we support our public schools and make sure all of our kids get a good education.

LS: I'm sure you're aware that there's been a bit of a tax revolt in Lansing.  People are saying they don't want to afford water, sewer, school projects -- all these things that are happening.  What can you do on the State level to provide some relief?

BL: There's a tax revolt everywhere, and the revolt is against the property tax.  It is an onerous tax which keeps going up, no matter what the circumstances of peoples' lives.  If they lose their job, or somehow get a lesser job... if they go through a health crisis or a divorce or a family crisis... they're still stuck with that property tax if they remain in their home.  So it's a terrible, onerous tax.

And because the state and federal governments have cut back, and told people they are cutting their state taxes, they sort of tricked people into thinking that their tax burden was going to be less, they ended up shifting responsibility to the school districts, to the counties... to pick up things that the State was cutting, or not adding onto in any way.  Staying flat in their funding.

So what I've been doing in Albany -- and with a Republican governor and a Republican Senate it hasn't been a winning race -- but what we've been doing is trying to slow down the race to the bottom, have the State assume its proper responsibilities for education, for health care, and stop shifting it to the onerous property tax.  

So that's what I've been trying to do.  That's what those budget fights have been about every year.  We want a better State budget and we want a fairer tax system that has those with the most shouldering a little more of the burden.  That's my position.

LS: What about state mandates, funded or unfunded?

BL: I think the State sets standards for education, and the money ought to flow afterwards.

LS: From the State?

BL: Sure.  The State ought to be getting more funding to the local districts.  Absolutely.  And keeping with the requirements that we make of them.  Some districts have the money to fund them, and some don't.  That's what the court decision is all about, the CFE (Campaign for Fiscal Equity) ruling says we must get more money.  And now we're under a court order, because it hasn't been done for so many years.

We must get more money to our districts.  And, frankly, it's also about reform, which I strongly support.  We also need school reform.  That's a much longer discussion than we have time for right now.

----
v2i38