LWV's Debate With Assembly, County Comptroller And Town Council Candidates

The League of Women Voters (LWV) of Smithtown hosted a debate for candidates in NY Assembly District 8,  Suffolk County Comptroller and Smithtown Town Council. The event was moderated by St. James resident and member of the LWV Lisa Scott. The LWV has been hosting candidate debates for decades this event was professional and very informative. Voters can watch the debate on YouTube *

The questions asked allowed audience members an understanding of who the candidates were, why they were running and what they hoped to accomplish.  Ms. Scott began the event by announcing the cancellation of a planned debate with the candidates running for office in  Congressional District 1. Both congressional candidates Perry Gershon and Lee Zeldin had accepted the LWV’s invitation to participate in a Smithtown debate, the LWV was unable to secure a location after a local church declined.

Ms. Scott read the following statement : “We regret to announce that church leaders advised last night that they cannot host the 1st CD candidate event on Oct. 23. Although they strongly value civic engagement and they realize that the League of Women Voters as well as the campaign teams have worked for months to thoroughly plan for candidate dialogue and discussion of positions on issues, they are most concerned that the state of civil discourse and polarization at this time make it impossible for anyone to guarantee that there will not be problems. Since this would have been the first true debate between the two candidates and only 2 weeks before election day, the probable large turnout of candidate supporters outside the church building would have overwhelmed the site and the surrounding neighborhood, even with public safety present.”

The debate was broken-up into three parts; NYS Assembly candidates Michael Fitzpatrick and David Morrisey, John Kennedy and Jay Schneiderman for Suffolk County comptroller, Smithtown Town Council candidates Amy Fortunato and Tom Lohmann. 

PART I

NYS Assembly candidates Michael Fitzpatrick and David Morrissey -

Opening statements - Michael Fitzpatrick is seeking a 9th term in the NYS Assembly he would like to continue the fight for fiscal responsibility, “the hallmark” of his career in government”, stem the population flow out of NYS, improve the business climate which he believes will increase resources which can be used to deal with the opioid problem. David Morrissey is a first time candidate, a software engineer with an MBA in business admin. He is a former Republican who changed affiliation to Democrat 15 years ago. Morrissey’s oldest son William suffered from mental illness and drug addiction before becoming a “statistic”  dying  from a drug overdose.  He is running to address the opioid epidemic, women’s issues, infrastructure and the environment.

Question #1 - Opinion on the loss of the SALT (State and Local Tax Decuctions) deduction. Fitzpatrick -expressed some concern but said most people in NYS will see a reduction in taxes. “In the long term the potential benefit is that it sends a message to states like NY that spend a lot to get their houses in order.” Need mandate relief. Morrissey- Said the loss of the SALT deductions is a big middle finger to NYS and an assault on the majority of Americans who live in largest states. Declaring that Fitzpatrick wants to strangle Albany, he believes Albany is a positive enabler. “We need to ask more from our government to harness it with vision and goals to address infrastructure and opioid addiction.”

Question #2 - New York Health Act(NYHA) Would you sponsor and vote for NYHA- Fitzpatrick - Does not support and called it very dangerous. Fitzpatrick stated NYHA would ban private health care coverage. Competition and the market forces to bring down cost of drugs. Fitzpatrick believes that there is universal support for coverage for preexisting conditions. The cost of covering preexisting conditions would be spread out. Morrissey - Wonderful law. Believes in a single payer system and sees a need to develop systems to simplify administrative overhead that will save money. He would also hold big pharma accountable for the opioid crisis.

Question #3 What concrete steps can be done about MS13?  Fitzpatrick -It should concern us all begins with immigration, illegal, unaccompanied minors coming in. Cannot afford to take care of illegals education and health care passing the NYHA would allow illegals access to health NYS must get tough in terms of penalties. Morrissey - Spanish translating cops and detectives. Cops have a difficult time working with people when they don’t understand what they are saying. We can’t demonize hispanic people. We need to work with hispanics who make up twenty per cent of Suffolk County population. Morrissey believes the first step is to engage in communities. 

Question #4- What single legislative action could you take to reduce gun violence in NYS? Morrissey - The Red flag law preventing firearms in homes with domestic violence where spouses are at 20 times more risk for gun deaths.  He believes that the public has no business carrying assault rifles, there should be no reciprocity, no concealed carry in NY and guns should not be brought into schools. Fitzpatrick - Red Flag law was too rushed to be supported and needs to be improved. Possible problem with double jeopardy The problem is not law the abiding who own guns for protection and hunting or the wealthy people who carry gun for protection.

Question #5 A Drunk Driver hit a boy scout who died. what kind of offense is drunk driving, is it considered murder? Should NYS make Drunk Driving law stronger.  Morrissey - Not sure of a legal aspect. I am a person in recovery, vehicular homicide is horrific for the victim’s family. He said that alcoholism is no excuse and that treatment must be available in jail. Fitzpatrick - I am not an attorney. In addition to having to live with this crime those who get caught will be prosecuted with penalties that are severe. 

Question #6 NYS is 46th in voter turnout, do you support early voting.. Morrissey - Supports early voting pointed out that some people are unable to get to the polls. Wants to make it easeier for college students to vote. People need more time to vote which is a privilege and a right. Supports early voter registration. Fitzpatrick - No excuse absentee voting “early voting costs a lot of money” two day voting and Sat. or Sunday voting. Request online absentee ballots. Political parties already work to get college students to vote. 

Question #7 School Financing Is there a more equitable way to finance schools position and opionion on charter schools. Morrissey - Current system guaranteed to keep social inequities. Charter schools do not adhere to same standards and are select students. Money that is spent on charter schools could go to improve education for all students. Fitzpatrick - We spend record amounts in aide to education $26 billion for schools which is threatened by NYS senate becoming Democratic in the election and the city delegation gains control. Property tax because you can’t depend on income tax. On charters parents deserve choice in education. 70,000 people in NYC waiting to get into a charter school.

Question #8 - NYS’s government has been found to be one of the most corrupt and unethical and ineffective governtment in the country. Why run and how can you clean it up? Morrissey - One problem is conflict of interest. Pay legislators more to avoid conflicts, require transparency and legislators must recuse themselves when there is a conflict . Fitzpatrick - “You can’t legislate morality. Some very, very smart and bright and ethical people in the legislature on both sides.”Get every elected official out of defined benefit pension the mustard seed from where this all comes. Elected officials must go into a 401K program. 

Morrissey used the two minutes alloted for closing comments to say that part of the problem in government are leaders who stopped representing the public’s interest. He then went after Fitzpatrick’s record saying he voted against women’s right to privacy with doctor, equal pay, red flag law, he said Fitzpatrick sides with insurance companies and big pharma, Wall St. over Main St., supports coupling tests scores with teacher evaluations. He stated that he hasn’t heard anything Fitzpatrick had done proactively to address the opioid crisis, called him out on Kings Park sewers and local infrastructure. 

Fitzpatrick used his time to make closing comments to criticize Morrisey’s closing calling him “full of crap” which drew a negative response from the audience. Fitzpatrick focused on Democrats who he said needed to answer to charges of corruption. ‘I am proud of my record. I have been a lone voice advocating for change in Albany to stop the flow of people out of NYS. They are leaving because of policies put in place by Cuomo, Spitzer through Democratic controlled Assembly and the NYS Republican Senate which leans too far to the left.” Fitzpatrick said that Morrissey’s account of his record was wrong and mentioned his support for an opioid task force and stated that he supported a lot of things in the budget that have brought money back for the district.  “I have served this town admirably.”

*Listen to complete questions and answers on LWV YouTube page

Monday Part II Suffolk County Comptroller candidates