Democratic activists and
Democratic congressional candidate Tedra Cobb used last week’s 53th anniversary
of the Medicare and Medicaid programs being signed into law by President Lyndon
Johnson to criticize U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik for her votes on those safety net
programs.
About 20 to 25 people from labor
and community groups held a Medicare and Medicaid birthday party rally outside
Stefanik’s office on July 30, according to activist Joe Seaman.
Cobb, in a news release,
criticized Stefanik, R-Willsboro, for her yes vote on House Concurrent
Resolution 71 on Oct. 5. This was part of the discussion of the Trump tax cuts.
This resolution outlined the
budget priorities and would have converted Medicare to a system where seniors
would receive a voucher to purchase insurance in the private marketplace or opt
for traditional Medicare.
However, Stefanik voted no on a
subsequent resolution on Oct. 26, which included Senate amendments.
Campaign spokesman Lenny Alcivar,
in an email, explained that the difference in the second vote was the
elimination of the state and local tax, or SALT, deductions.
Stefanik voted against the Trump
tax cuts because they capped at $10,000 the amount of state and local taxes that
people could deduct on their federal return. This hurts people in high-tax
states, such as New York state.
Cobb does not mention Stefanik’s
subsequent no vote in her release. Instead, she accused Republicans in Congress
of “shutting down Medicare” to pay for corporate giveaways and bailouts for the
richest 10 percent.
“Understanding Elise Stefanik’s
voting record in Congress is easy: follow the money. She has taken hundreds of
thousands of dollars from insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and
lobbyists who profit off the Medicare system,” Cobb said in the news release.
The Stefanik campaign criticized
Cobb for not having a plan for protecting Medicare.
Cobb’s website makes no mention of
Medicare. It does say that she would work to improve Medicaid reimbursement
rates.
Cobb did not return a message
Monday seeking follow-up comment.
—
Stefanik picks up endorsements
Stefanik has picked up the
endorsements from 36 elected and appointed leaders in Fulton County.
Northampton Supervisor James Groff,
who is chairman of the Fulton County Board of Supervisors, said Stefanik is one
of the most hard-working members of Congress.
“She continues to deliver her
constituents tangible results and to fight for our district’s needs. She has
been a strong, transparent and independent voice for NY-21 and I am grateful
for her hard work. She has done great things for our local economy, our military
and our veterans,” Groff said in a news release.
—
New gig for Nelson
Patrick Nelson, a former candidate
in New York’s 21st Congressional District, recently was elected as a member of
the New York State Democratic Committee.
Nelson said he wanted the post to
make some changes at the state party level, including allowing unaffiliated
voters to cast votes in the primary.
“If a candidate excited you and
might bring you into the Democratic Party, you are denied that opportunity in
the state of New York,” he said.
Nelson said his other priorities
are to have more Democrats from more rural areas represented at the Democratic
National Committee level.
“When we have a Democratic Party
that’s becoming rapidly urban and coastal, maybe that’s because all of our
leaders are urban and coastal,” he said.
Other goals are to develop
multi-year strategies for state and local races, and to get corporate political
action committee money out of the process, according to Nelson.
Minita Sanghvi was the other state
representative elected in Saratoga County.
Nelson finished fifth in the
five-member field in the race for the Democratic nomination in the NY-21
primary.
—
Seat still safe for GOP?
New York’s 21st Congressional
District still does not appear to be in play, as far as political pundits are
concerned — despite the amount of attention the race has received from the
National Republican Congressional Committee.
The Cook Political Report still
lists it as a solid Republican district, and it is not one of the races listed
on the Democratic National Congressional Committee’s Red to Blue website.
One might think that the district
is in play, with the RNCC coming right out of the gate with the label of
“Taxin’ Tedra” on the night of the June 26 primary and the release by national
Republicans of the secretly recorded video, where Cobb is heard saying that she
thinks assault weapons should be banned but she cannot take that position
publicly.
The race between U.S. Rep. John
Faso, R-Kinderhook, and Democratic challenger John Faso in NY-19 is one of the
63 competitive races listed on both that website and the Cook report.
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