Serino, Gipson debate issues at Dutchess Chamber breakfast

POUGHKEEPSIE – Republican incumbent Senator Sue Serino (R, Hyde Park) squared off Wednesday against Democrat Terry Gipson, who is attempting to regain the 41st District seat that he lost to her.
Although each candidate addressed the Dutchess County Chamber of Commerce breakfast on a myriad of issues, including job creation, public education, the heroin epidemic, senior affairs, veteran’s affairs, healthcare and infrastructure, the main subject for debate kept returning to the current campaign practices.
Gipson said he believes the answer to many of those issues begins with leveling the political playing field and combating governmental dysfunction in Albany.
“It’s inexcusable that people are elected and then use their power to enrich themselves, instead of helping the people that elected them,” said Gipson.
He proposes to close the LLC loophole and severely limit the amount of money a corporation can contribute to a candidate.
“That would revolutionize the way that we operate here in New York State. It would allow us to actually do things like change the way that we fund public education, take care of our infrastructure, get serious about fighting the heroin epidemic, and many, many more things,” Gipson said. “We just can’t do that until we change the way that we fund campaigns.”
Serino’s position was quite the opposite. She told the Chamber that her office has been already successfully fighting those issues, citing $189 million in funding for treatment and education of opioid addiction; promoting the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC); and honing in on the testing and insurance issues with regard to Lyme Disease; all without a campaign reform she believes would force constituents to financial support candidates they may not back.
“I don’t expect everybody to pay for my campaign; they might not like me, and that’s actually what it means and everybody would be asked because it would be a tax,” said Serino, referencing a study on a public campaign system, which she said shows the cost to her taxpayers would be approximately $200 million.
“Where would those dollars be taken from?”, she asked. “Would it be taken from our schools, from our seniors, from our veterans.”