Democratic Rep. Paul Tonko is running for a 10th term in Congress. With Tonko facing Republican challenger Ralph Ambrosio in the New York 20th District race, Capital Region Bureau Chief Grant Ashley spoke with the incumbent to discuss why he's running again and what he would hope to achieve in another term.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Editor's note: this conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Ashley: You've been in Congress now since 2009. A lot has changed politically. Why are you still the best candidate to represent the 20th district?
Tonko: Like any profession, experience matters, and knowing the district matters, and having worked on a number of issues, including healthcare, which has been a long, difficult journey. This president has taken us backward in that regard, with tens of thousands taken off of of healthcare insurance, and so wanting to fight those battles to restore cuts and lead us toward a an affordable, accessible Outcome, eventually moving us toward a Medicare for all as a north star. Similarly, with mental health and behavioral health issues, do a lot of work on addiction and mental health accessibility, and working on a clean energy agenda. We look at the war in Iran and how we're held hostage by the fossil fuel industry. We can move to a clean energy economy, not dependent on a disruptive Mideast. A number of things that we're working on. I think there's a very progressive agenda to speak to the innovation economy, to be able to enable us to invest in semiconductor and quantum and emerging technology in an economy that will eclipse us from the past and move us into a high-tech and clean energy zone.
Ashley: So that was a lot of policy goals. You guys are out of session right now. When you return, what would you say would be your number one priority? Especially given that it seems more likely than not that Democrats retake the House.
Tonko: Undeniably, the issues of this campaign are affordability and corruption of this administration, I would say in my lifetime the most corrupt administration. That when that corruption has then translated into higher costs for people, and I think that that affordability issue has got to be addressed. Too many households are hurting because of these policies, and we need to bring it under control.
Ashley: You kind of identified corruption and affordability. Could you tell me a policy proposal you have for each to address those?
Tonko: I think there are loopholes that we need to determine via hearings to get to the root causes of how he's making a record amount of money while sitting in the office of the presidency, and making certain that where the loopholes exist, that they are are addressed, and where I think the accountability, transparency issues can be enhanced.
Let those dynamics go to work so that people are benefited by addressing that corruption. And in terms of affordability, making certain that we end this war with Iran, which is causing pain at the pump, that translates into higher diesel costs, gasoline costs, fertilizer costs, and costs in the list go on and on. And the awkward use of tariffs that have as a tax that he's imposed on people, he's very quick to say these are new dollars that have come into our economy, but they're taxes that have been drawn out of the pocketbooks of American families, and we need to make certain that when these are utilized, tariffs are utilized. It's minimal application and very strategic application, not this haphazard, random use of taxes without the approval of Congress.
Ashley: Part of your affordability agenda that you rolled out this year includes some measures related to clean energy. Your Republican opponent Ralph Ambrosio called that affordability agenda a "transparent election year ploy," and he criticized you for having supported green energy subsidies and for not prioritizing nuclear and natural gas energy, which he says raised utility costs. Is there any 'there, there' to those criticisms?
Tonko: I think what he's failing to share with the public is that let the market speak for these issues. And right now, the market favors clean energy. It's the quickest we can get up and running. It's the most affordable. It's the cleanest. And unfortunately, this president and his administration have underpinned fossil fuels to make them more affordable in the marketplace, and still they're the most expensive. And we're underpinning an industry that is not the go-to in in terms of utilizing that power from the market. The cleanest energy happens to be the most affordable.
Ashley: You've been campaigning, meeting with lots of voters. You've been in the district for a long time. What is the biggest misconception about you and your campaign that you've encountered while out campaigning?
Tonko: The Republicans are quick to criticize that we're big spenders, but when you look at this administration, you know paying people $5,000 to vote, which would cost $1 trillion nationwide, over $1 trillion. There are so many things they're spending money on that aren't impacting favorably the household budget. Instead of focusing on the essentials, they're doing these extraordinary things that are not resolving the affordability crisis. And so, I think it's very clear that my campaign and those of many of my colleagues in the Democratic column are about addressing these costs in a way that are academic solutions that will prove that we can bend that cost curve. And the misconception that we're the party that doesn't get that done is displaced by the track record of this Republican majority in the House and this administration, the Trump administration.
Ashley: What's something voters should hold you accountable for when you're in Congress next session?
Tonko: I pride myself on being available to the constituency that I serve, that I am always willing to network with my constituents, meet with them, be in the district, get to know them, bring government to their doorstep. I think that they should hold that standard, and my performance as a requirement, as I asked for another term in the House of Representatives.
Ashley: Where do you and your opponent Ralph Ambrosio most disagree on? What issue do you think?
Tonko: I'm not certain of his stand on many of the issues. I would think his wanting to keep us dependent on a fossil-based industry, fossil fuel-based industry, and my efforts to move forward with clean energy are a difference. I think that so much of our policy needs to be based steeped deeply in seven generations worth, so that as we address a clean energy agenda, we're putting into play policies that will impact seven generations into the future, so that we're handing an environment to the next generations that's vastly improved, and that enables us to go forward with a sound stewardship of the environment, and at the same time addressing the innovation that is so much possible and required in the energy policy arena.
