Candidates for the New York state’s new 44th Senate District faced off Thursday night in a virtual debate.
Jim Tedisco served in the Assembly from 1983 to 2017. The Glenville Republican was first elected to the state Senate in the 49th District in 2016.
Niskayuna Democrat Michelle Ostrelich, who first ran for Senate in the 49th District in 2018, has since been elected to the Schenectady County Legislature. She is now challenging Tedisco in the new 44th District, which includes a portion of Schenectady County and all of Saratoga County.
The League of Women Voters hosted the online debate. Questions began with the economy.
Ostrelich said "We need to fight the causes of inflation. Higher prices are not simply because of supply chain or staffing issues. Companies are making record profits. And we need to expose and fight price gouging. But really what we need to do is raise wages by attracting better paying jobs and careers.”
Tedisco blamed economic woes on excessive taxes, which he says he has authored a bill to address.
"The one thing I hear from people: property taxes are too high, very high," Tedisco said. "This bill would change that. It will double the property tax exemption for both, and do one other thing, allow seniors not to pay their taxes when they reach a certain age. We have to incentivize people to stay here."
The candidates were asked if they would support legislation that would prevent hospitals, including those that receive taxpayer dollars, from imposing religious beliefs that undermine patient reproductive health care. Tedisco said it’s a serious, sensitive issue.
"I'm not going to tell women what kind of decisions to make, I'm not going to make decisions about hospitals, or impact their religious decisions, because every religion has their own type of direction that they take right now,” said Tedisco.
Ostrelich pointed to the merger between Ellis and St. Peter's as an example of religious restrictions imposed by Catholic health care systems.
“I will support a law that requires transparency in hospitals, so they tell us as consumers what's available there or not," Ostrelich said. "And I will support making sure that our hospitals, every hospital, that serves the public, has emergency medical care. Abortion care is health care.”
Abortion was a factor when Ostrelich faced Tedisco four years ago. The Times Union pulled its endorsement of Tedisco on election day, throwing support behind Ostrelich, who accused Tedisco of misleading the paper into believing he supported abortion rights.
Ostrelich and Tedisco appear to be on the same page regarding broadband coverage:
“Right now in some of my districts in the 49th Senatorial District, in a rural district in Schenectady County, this is no exaggeration, almost, you actually need homing pigeons or smoke signals to get an emergency vehicle, if there's a fire that takes place, if there's a break in, in your home," Tedisco said. "So we have to actually put our efforts and our money where our mouth is, and that hasn't taken place.”
Ostrelich categorizes high-speed internet as "essential infrastructure" for residents and businesses alike.
“There was a program that did work hard towards expanding high speed internet," said Ostrelich. "What I've been told is that it faced state made barriers and higher costs. So what we need to do is revisit the program.”
The candidates discussed several other issues including public safety and inflation.
The general election is Tuesday with polls open between 6 a.m and 9 p.m. Early voting ends Sunday.
