Two years after a run for Albany County District Attorney, Republican Ralph Ambrosio is seeking to unseat nine-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko. Ambrosio faces an uphill battle in New York's heavily Democratic 20th District. He spoke with WAMC Capital Region Bureau Chief Grant Ashley about why he's running and what he hopes to achieve as a member of the House of Representatives.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Editor's note: This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Ashley: If you're a Republican and you want a easy path to office, New York 20 is not the race to do that in. Why did you want to run for Congress here?
Ambrosio: The New York 20th Congressional District chose me.
Ashley: Tell me more.
Ambrosio: I live in the 20th Congressional District. I'm a lifelong upstate New Yorker. This is my home, and I intend to defend it. I didn't choose. I don't go around looking. Oh, what is a weak spot? What is a mostly Republican spot where I can get a what do they call it? R4s and D7s and stuff like that. This is my first time. If I'm elected, this would be my first elected office. So I'm doing this for love of country, love of the 20th Congressional District. It's been in decline every day that my opponent has been in office, and it's time to stop, turn things around, and I intend to do that.
Ashley: So you know, let's say you win in November, you get in office in January. What's your first priority in Congress?
Ambrosio: When I win, my first priority in office is to seek to reduce taxes and reduce regulations. I seek to employ an all-of-the-above energy policy. I will engage in a discussion that will encourage law enforcement on the local, state, and federal levels to cooperate with one another. Because after all, I am a 23-year New York State trooper, retired. I've been 47 years professional in the criminal justice system. I want all of these levels to be working together. I'm in favor of 287(g). I am against sanctuary cities, and I want to make a government, therefore, that is responsible to the people and not the other way around, Grant.
Ashley: OK, so that was about, I think, three issues — four, OK. So not to make you choose your favorite child. But which of those is your No. 1 priority?
Ambrosio: Criminal justice. It is where I'm the strongest. And the criminal justice system in New York State is failed since the SAFE Act. There are many acts, and they all like to name them. But the SAFE Act that was put into law and into effect Jan. 1, 2020, has been a poison pill to the criminal justice system. And I know one thing: being 47 years in the criminal justice system, there are two immutable issues. One, no community, no person, family, or community can be prosperous or affordable if it's not safe. And the only way to make a person, family, and community safe is to have a criminal justice system that is an ally of your community and not an adversary. My opponent has spent a great deal of time calling law enforcement officers criminals and terrorists for arresting criminals and terrorists. That stops January whatever it is, when I'm sworn in.
Ashley: And you mentioned 287(g) agreements. Could you explain what those are and why you're in favor of them?
Ambrosio: Sure. Every person that's arrested for any consequence other than a traffic ticket, a person who is arrested and fingerprinted, is brought to a station. That person, citizen or otherwise, illegal immigrant or otherwise, has a background check. They check for wants and warrants. I know this. I was a New York State trooper on the road for five years. You check them for wants and warrants, and you check them by fingerprint, so you know that they're what their identity is. If they come back, nothing. And if the person sitting there can't speak English and can't read English, I have a suspicion, and that suspicion is that I may be dealing with an undocumented alien. I'd like to know who that person is. The federal government has a database. I run that person through that database. That's 287(g). I do the same thing for an illegal alien that I do for a domestic person, for a citizen or a person lawfully in the country. That's 287(g), period.
Ashley: Rensselaer County has the jail enforcement model, but then there were other sheriffs that had, like, the warrant service models.
Ambrosio: It's all procedural. It's procedural, not having to do anything with the law so much as it happens to be that the person who's arrested and goes to jail is presenting themselves there, and therefore Kyle Bourgault, who's the sheriff out in Rensselaer County, he has the opportunity to check.
Ashley: You've been out in the district, campaigning, talking to voters. What is the biggest misconception about your campaign that you've encountered out on the road?
Ambrosio: That all Republicans are not Americans. ... It's awkward. And by the way, Grant, you asked the question. It's a very pointed question. Ninety-nine percent of the people that I talk to, even when they disagree with me, are just wonderful human beings. And I was at the Altamont Fair, I think I met 10,000 people. We gave out palm cards. Each box is 3,000, I think. We gave out four boxes, and every person that took them, with the exception of maybe one or two, said, "You know, I'm a Democrat, and I disagree with you on this, but you know, you got a good point on the other." And so on, so on, so on. And I said the same thing back to them. But there are some people who, just when they hear that I'm a Republican or a conservative, they shut down, and I understand it, and frankly, it doesn't bother me. It just gives me an opportunity to talk with them, as I'm talking to you now.
Ashley: What's something voters should hold you accountable for in Washington?
Ambrosio: Just about everything. ... They should hold me accountable to me following my oath of office. I will protect the Constitution of the State of New York. I will protect the Constitution of the United States against [enemies] foreign and domestic. There is no higher calling than that. Of course, I've made promises. The promises I've made. I want to reduce your taxes. This whole schematic of taking our money in taxes in five-gallon buckets and returning our taxes to us with teaspoons full is something that really riles me. I don't think much of getting a $200 rebate for my utilities when I'm spending $4,000 in utility fees. So I'd prefer to keep the money in the pockets of people, and let them contribute to non-for-profits that they want to contribute to, not the NGOs [non-governmental organizations] that government wants to give money to.
Ashley: Where do you most disagree with Rep. Tonko?
Ambrosio: He is a big government, big spending socialist. He has never met a problem that he doesn't feel can't be solved by the federal government spending a lot of money. I, on the other hand, have seen very few problems that can be solved by big government. And the real problem, of course, is when big government metastasizes with big industry. Solar panels, for instance: a lot of the solar panels you see being plastered all over farmland in upstate New York, in the 20th Congressional District, those are all companies that are international. Boralex, for one, out of Canada, and they're wholly owned by some corporation out in Spain, and those corporations are in it to get tax incentives from the federal government. That is a huge policy decision that I completely disagree with. So yeah, he is a big spending career politician who is grifting with lobbyists and fellow career politicians and NGOs to solve problems that I think are better solved by individuals like you and I.
Ashley: And while we're talking about energy policy, you mentioned an all of the above approach to energy. Could you describe a little bit more about what that is?
Ambrosio: Sure. See, we have a lot of water in Upstate New York, right? Where does that water come from? It comes from clouds. When clouds go across the sun, solar panel energy drops. It just does. It's not reliable.
So in a situation where we are in now, where the technological advances are happening one right after another, it is foolish to put all of your eggs in one basket. He [Tonko] has put all of his eggs in one basket, being solar and wind turbines — I refuse to call them solar farms because they're not, they're industrial installations. "All of the above" simply recognizes the fact, the truth, that technology is moving very quickly, and I think the solution here is, "how do we bridge from where we are now to modular nuclear?" I think. I say "I think" modular nuclear because I don't know. Five years from now somebody may discover some colossal breakthrough in batteries. It hasn't happened yet, and in order to make solar and wind work with batteries, you'd have to fill the Adirondack State Park with batteries.
I'm a '70s child. I am a conservationist. I have solar panels on my roof. I drive an electric vehicle, and I do not allow pesticides on my lawn. I am a conservationist. I don't believe in clearcutting old forests to put up wind farms.
I don't believe in plastering solar panels over protected grasslands, like they have up in Fort Edward. I know you're familiar with Alexandra Fasulo on Facebook. She's a real advocate. God bless her. God bless her. You want to put up these solar panels? Put them on parking lots and on people's houses, like I have. But not on farmland and not on protected lands.
So, my disagreement with him is that he's put all of his eggs in one basket. I disagree with that vehemently. I want nuclear. I want geothermal. I want hydro. I want natural gas. There's nothing wrong with pulling natural gas out of the ground, we have to do that to make natural gas cheaper. The more abundant the supply, the cheaper the energy is.
With NYSERDA itself: in a leaked memo about six months ago, NYSERDA, which my opponent used to be the CEO or chairman of, has said we are looking at $4,000 more per ratepayer next year in utility bills in the 20th Congressional District — that's almost a billion dollars out of my pocket and your pocket and the pockets of the people of the State of New York, or in the 20th Congressional District. My opponent, he's the godfather of that. When he was in the State Assembly, he was in the Energy Committee. He was the chairman of this and the CEO of NYSERDA. And then when he went to the feds, he followed with the same thing. He is the godfather of this entire mess. His ego will not allow him to say that he was wrong. So I will say it for him: he's wrong.
Ashley: Well, thank you so much.
Ambrosio: It's my pleasure, Grant. Thank you so much.
Listen to our interview with Democratic U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko. Early voting in New York runs through Sunday, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
