State Senators Shelley Meyer and Frank Martha faced off Wednesday, Oct. 26 at the League of Women Voters Forum, engulfing candidates who will be taking part in voting for the 37th state Senate district, which begins tomorrow Saturday with early voting. Reorganization including Scarsdale.
So while Mayer, a Democratic and Working Family candidate and Yonkers resident, is incumbent, she has never represented Scarsdale before. and a challenger for the seat.
In his opening statement, Mursa said he is not a politician and comes from a background in psychology, education and business. He said his training as a psychologist will help him listen with empathy. “My priorities are simple,” he said. your wallet. and your children’s education. ”
Discussing his accomplishments in Albany, Mayer noted that he has served as chairman of the State Senate Education Committee for the past four years. Under her leadership, Mayer eventually funded every school district in the state, she said. What she has done to fight gun violence, tackle floods and climate change, and expand her voting rights. She secures her economy with a good job. and protect abortion rights. “I am a public supporter of a criminal justice system that is fair, impartial and ensures public safety,” she said.
Although the candidates agreed on many issues, their responses revealed some fundamental differences.
Forum moderators asked candidates to name one thing they most want to accomplish as an elected representative.
As chairman of the school board, Mayer said he wants to continue fighting for every child’s education. She transitions into teaching after grade 12. She said there were changes needed post-COVID, and she pledged to work with all stakeholders to achieve results that are “worth the investment.”
“We’re putting a lot of money into it, but we need to hear from people on the ground and make sure we’re delivering real results,” she said.
Mursa focused on public safety. He said, “I think Albany is turning a blind eye to this issue,” and blamed cashless bail, which he described as “releasing dangerous criminals and creating a revolving door for crime.” He suggested that public safety fears were “he’s one of the problems that’s pushing record numbers of people out of the state.”
In his counterargument, Mayer pointed to “changes we’ve made to bail and discovery to reflect the fundamental inequity of our wealth-based system,” and lawmakers have changed bail laws to combat shoplifting. He said he made two substantive changes. “But to simply say that the bail changes we made for non-violent, low-level crimes are the cause of all crimes … is inaccurate and makes no sense.”
Asked about allowing absentee ballots without excuses, Martha said it wasn’t a priority for him. It is best to vote in public.” Mayer said he supported the absentee ballot with no excuses because it led to more participation. “We need more people to vote, not less voters,” she said.
Both candidates agreed that inflation is an international issue. Mayer pointed to actions taken by the state legislature to mitigate the impact of rising prices, such as increasing gas tax exemptions and property tax exemptions. She stands by chasing people who are raising prices. Mursa said she wanted the petrol tax leave to be permanent, and said it was imperative that she “come up with solutions to reduce taxes and cost of living.”
Asked about the Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution, which completed its first passage through Congress this summer, Martha said the bill was a “very fundamental overhaul of how our legal system works and how we interact with government. ‘ said. He said that while diversity, equity and inclusion were key principles, “we need to have different standards” which should be “equality under the law” “when it comes to the law”. He argued that while the state’s amendment was intended to prevent only willful discrimination, “if we assume the results are evidence of factual discrimination, it fundamentally undermines our relationship with the government.” It will be reviewed in the future,” he added.
Mayer objected to his position. she said: New York must protect abortion rights by passing an amendment, she said, adding that “another Congress, and perhaps another governor…may change the content of the law.” is the protection of
Martha replied, “I don’t remember seeing the word abortion on the bill.” He called it “a rather cynical attempt to use something very emotional to scare people on the other side of the aisle into believing their rights are being attacked.” .
When it comes to the phenomenon of mass shootings and what action they endorse on the issue, Martha challenges the premise that mass shootings get the most headlines, but their everyday impact “Most shootings are gang-related and tend to involve mental illness and addiction”; I suggested a workaround. His focus is on gun violence on the streets of New York City and assaults in or near subways.
“There is a gun violence crisis,” Mayer countered, referring to the shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas. “We had to tackle gun violence and did a very good job,” she said, but “unfortunately” the Supreme Court overruled New York’s concealed carry law. “We have a responsibility to stand up and be loud and clear about guns.”
“People are being shot every day in Westchester and New York City, but they’re so close to home that they don’t get any attention… My focus is on the people who live in District 37,” Martha said.
Regarding the role of state governments in reducing crime, especially in urban areas, Martha again criticized cashless bail, arguing it was causing great damage. “If you release violent people over and over again, they will start doing bad things,” he said. “Frankly, I think we have promoted a culture of lawlessness.”
Mayer agreed with concerns about the New York City subway, which she called “a problem in and of itself,” and praised allocating extra money for overtime. But she said bail “somehow has become the whiplash child of increasing criminal activity in all its forms. , I think additional changes need to be made to put certain offenses back on the list where remand can be made.This issue…I advocate for the police to be part of the conversation.” Court administrators and district attorneys.
Asked about affordable child care, Martha said it would give families and parents the chance to get into the workforce and “be able to bring in income to live a better life.” said he supports subsidies for some types of child care, including preschool and single parenting, “especially for those from very disadvantaged families.” I want to do it because when I look at the research on this, the research is very complicated and there are real downsides to parenting.” There are many studies that show that it leads to bad outcomes in terms of
Meyer disagreed. “I’ve been battling this issue since her 1980s. I challenge this theory that parenting leads to aggression.” Provide accessible, quality child care. The state legislature invested $7 billion over four years to expand childcare, she said, including offering those working in childcare “a living wage that reflects the value of their work.” Mayer said she “remains a champion in parenting.”
Responding to a question about the most important political lesson to be learned from the past two years, Mursa said the need for balance in parliament. He noted that Republicans had a majority in the state Senate. It helped dull some of the sharper edges. He said that when the Republican majority became an ultra-minority, “we lost all checks, balances and accountability in government.” He stressed the need for “guardrails” to prevent policy from straying too far in either direction.
Mayer countered with Martha, pointing out that multiple actions were blocked when Republicans were in charge of the Senate. Marriage equality, prevention. The ability to expand voting to ban early voting and absentee voting was blocked, as were climate change laws. “So I don’t think they were a bulwark against extremism,” she said. “They were a bloc against good progressive legislation.”
For Mayer, the lessons learned relate to the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “It was an age of unknown science, and I remember people doing the best they could, relying on scientists whose expertise and judgment we believed in, especially in government. The state relied heavily on the CDC, and while she and other legislators didn’t always agree, she knew the decisions were made in good faith. “People turned frustration and understandable upset [with the virus and shutdowns] uglier, angrier, intolerant, and less empathetic [others] We sometimes have to set aside our own views to make sure they’re safe…and that’s a very unfortunate lesson we’ve learned.
Early voting will take place through November 6 at the locations listed on the Westchester County Electoral Commission website. Voting on Election Day, Tuesday, November 8, will take place only at voters’ designated polling places.
