Faso
Teachout
KINGSTON – Familiar Kingston faces dotted the crowd at Temple Emmanuel in Kingston Thursday night, as congressional candidates John Faso (R – Kinderhook) and Zephyr Teachout (D – Dover) held their sixth debate together, vying for New York’s coveted 19th District.
The contest is considered one of the nation’s closest political races, in a hard-fought presidential season. Faso braved hecklers in the openly Democratic city, while fighting off zingers from his opponent.
Faso is endorsed by retiring Congressman Christopher Gibson, who is leaving after three terms. Teachout, in turn, has the endorsement of Maurice Hinchey, Gibson’s predecessor.
Sporting a wide grin and cheerleader-like demeanor, Teachout did her best to contrast the differences between herself and the opposition, despite similarities both share on several issues.
Both candidates say they do not trust Iran with nuclear weapons or North Korea for that matter. And the two agree on opposing additional barge anchorages along the Hudson River shoreline. Gloves came off however in the follow-up.
“We have a great difference on fracking and pipelines,” Teachout observed, indicating Faso was a spokesman for the Constitution Pipeline. “I believe we can move towards renewables, grab hold of the future, not get paid by fossil fuel companies to defend the past.”
“Ms. Teachout, once again, misrepresents the facts, and she’s very deft at that,” Faso retorted. He explained that most local officials support the pipeline, which brings natural gas to western counties. “Ms. Teachout who just arrived from Brooklyn, doesn’t understand the issues,” he argued.
Regarding Social Security, Faso is dead set against removing the income cap, and said he would like to see experiments with privatized accounts for young people. Teachout, responded “We cannot allow our seniors to be subject to the whims of Wall Street.”
