The 123rd Assembly District incumbent, Gary Finch (R), of Auburn, is being challenged by Barbara Abbott King (D), of Aurora.
Finch's political interests began in grade school. He's not sure exactly what sparked it, he said, as his family produced no other politicians, but both grandmothers were interested in politics and world events.
“I remember sitting with my grandmother and watching the McCarthy hearings,” he said. “Once I became involved in the community, I realized how much government affects our daily lives.”
Philosophically, Finch believes we all have an innate wish and a duty to help others.
“Like the Good Samaritan, we have an obligation to reach down and help someone who is abandoned,” he said. “I think maybe you have a philosophy that works for you if you can give without expecting anything in return. That seems to be what drives me.”
Finch's political involvement grew from school to town boards and a mayoralty in a small village. It led to working with state and county Legislatures.
But public life sometimes conflicts with private commitments.
“I would like to say that family comes first and I would like to be there,” he said, “but when you make a commitment to a community, I find that to be a conflict for me.”
So, he has to weigh his priorities.
“If it weren't for my family who understands and supports me, I couldn't do what I do,” he said, even though they aren't politically inclined.
Being a funeral director and working with families is his most important accomplishment, he said.
“It's a very unique service,” he said. “I find it absolutely rewarding. Probably the worst thing that can happen is to lose someone you love. It's a disaster for people. In a very short time they have to trust you. It's always those people who are survivors that you have to deal with.”
Organizational skills, empathy and the ability to guide people through grief without directing them are qualities Finch believes transfer from the mortuary to the political arena.
Finch's interest in mortuary science piqued when he met mortician Lester Brew. Now deceased, Brew formerly owned Brew Funeral Home.
“Like most people, you know someone in a profession who makes an impression,” he said. “I happened to be at a funeral as a teenager when I met him.”
Finch later went to mortuary school for 12 months, then apprenticed with Brew.
“Sitting down and dealing with people during stressful times for three or four days, you can't make too many mistakes,” he said. “You don't have an opportunity to do it again. You have to be organized so that things run smoothly. Human beings need ritual to grieve.”
Finch also enjoyed his position on the Cayuga Community College Board of Trustees, he said, because of his inherent interest in education and the opportunity to contribute his talents there.
In the Legislature, survival depends on rewarding and helping people, he said. Minority members have to find a way to work with majority members to survive and be effective.
“We're the last place people call when they are involved with the state,” he said, recalling a man whose check to the state for back taxes on unemployment earnings was stolen and cashed after it arrived in Albany.
After billing the man for four years, the state found out what happened once Finch's office got involved.
“This office prides itself on doing things like that,” he said.
King grew up in Ithaca but moved out to Cayuga Lake. She graduated from Wells College in 1973 with art and music degrees.
She lent her soprano voice to the Wells Choir and competed with Wells chamber singers against ensembles from all over Europe at Christmastime in London, Bruges and Munich.
King studied In Florence for a month with a high baroque art specialist. She also traveled throughout Eastern Europe, motivated by her mother's Croatian roots and her Syrian father's Middle Eastern ancestry.
“I need to be in motion,” she said. “I like to reach out to people.”
King said she's a workaholic and a caregiver. Her nurturing nature led her to farming. As a farmer, she cared for animals and had horses all her life, riding all over the countryside.
Her farming interests led to the Ward O'Hara Agricultural Museum. On the first board of directors, King worked with county legislators to get support for museum events. Realizing how talented local people were, she considered showcasing their talents to revitalize the area.
“I decided to step out of my element totally,” she said.
In 2006, she left a 34-year crop farming business to run for Assembly. She lost on her first try, but she was committed to running again this year.
“An Assemblyperson could promote the area by meeting with people and putting them together,” she said. “I felt I could connect. All sorts of opportunities are at your feet, especially the opportunity to evaluate the resources that we have.”
King is interested in local commerce. She wants to focus on processing products from the farm into the emergency food system through a regional food production system similar to REAP (Research; Education, Action, and Policy on food group) in Wisconsin.
Smaller growers are losing markets for their products, according to King. The number of buyers at auction houses have decreased along with the wholesale market.
King wants a non-profit operation to provide agri-markets for products in the 123rd Assembly District, merging private financing with government. Buyers could buy through state contracts, and products would end up in schools or other institutions as well as emergency food banks. She sees this as a way to get the local economy moving by attracting private investment.
“This area could be the breadbasket of the state,” she said. She has a lot of hope and a positive outlook, she said.
King is interested in the survival of like minds and culture. Growing up in Ithaca, she saw people from many cultures walking the streets. She blamed economic policies for pitting people against people.
“We're all not of like minds,” she said. “We've got to get along. As a legislator the job is to project that people are equal. I really resent this segregating people.
“The nature of the job of assemblyman is to put people together. A lot of codes need to be changed.”
King said the biggest issue in the 123rd District is the huge natural gas resource and weighing it against the issues of water quality and pollution.
“We have to keep guard of unregulated industries,” she said.
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311, ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
The Candidates
Name: Barbara Abbott King
Age: 57
Occupation: Self-employed agricultural producer of livestock and hay
Education: Ithaca High School, Wells College Class of 1973, B.A. in music and art history, applied vocal, first soprano Wells Choir
Family status: Single, one daughter
Elected office experience: None. In 2006, her first political bid for Assembly District 123 against Gary Finch, carried 41 percent of the vote
Name: Gary Finch
Age: 64
Occupation: Owner and chief operating officer of Brew-Finch Funeral Homes, Inc. since 1970
Education: B.S. in Public Administration and Political Theory, SUNY Empire State College; Simmons School of Mortuary Science; Cayuga Community College
Family status: Married to Marcia Herrling Finch, son Gregory, daughter Amy
Elected office experience: state Assembly, 1999-2007; Mayor of Aurora, 1982-1990; Village of Aurora Trustee, 1979-1982
The Issues
Where do you stand on a statewide property tax cap?
Finch: I fully support the Suozzi Commission on Property Tax Relief. I was disappointed that the Assembly majority would not consider the property tax cap that the governor endorsed and the New York state Senate passed. When I return to Albany, I will continue to work for a sensible solution to property taxes, one that protects our interests in upstate New York and small businesses here. Those seem to fall on deaf ears with Assembly Democrats.
King: I do not support a property cap. Four percent grows geometrically every year, as the budget is not “zero-based.” A tax cap, once imposed is not historically rescindable and has proven disastrous in other states like California and Massachusetts. The Republican majority proposed it this year as a solution to a budget gap. My opponent waffles back and forth between tax cap, “circuit-breaker” and sales tax relief by fighting federally controlled American Indian treaties. I support the “circuit-breaker,” as introduced by the Assembly majority. That is a formula that links and equalizes the percentage that all citizens pay toward property tax. This formula couples the assessed value of equalized property to various income levels. This rate is formulated on a sliding scale of income similar to the current Star program, but replaces the Star programs.
Where should the state look to cut spending?
Finch: Obviously it is going to be a necessity for us to make cuts to the New York state budget. The state Legislature will be reconvening for an extraordinary session on Nov. 18 to make cuts. Some of the areas I will be focusing on for cuts are very comprehensive. It’s time to take a serious look at Medicaid fraud ” an estimated $4.5 billion within the Medicaid system. I call on the Office of the state comptroller to open an investigation into this matter, as we have run out of time to get this under control. I propose to continue the hiring freeze for state employees and call for all state agencies to stop vehicle purchases and travel, unless it is detrimental to the health and safety of New Yorkers. Also, at this point of the year, it is time to investigate the fund balances of state agencies to see what they have spent out of their budget and what they have not spent. Often these agencies speed up unnecessary spending late in the budget year to secure the same amount of funds, plus more, for the next year. It is time to look seriously at promoting a zero-based budgeting system for New York state government.
King: Taking a necessary assessment of all departments’ spending and cutting out duplicities by consolidating is a first measure. Creating transparency of receipts and spending of authorities is on the attorney general’s agenda. Collecting receivables and accounting for past debt should be the work of the comptroller. Stopping back-door borrowing to fund unaffordable projects should cease. Micro-managing, as most citizens do in their home and business budgets, is in order. Libeling the taxpayer to huge, expensive debt might be arguably unlawful. We, and future generations are ultimately saddled with state principal and interest payments. Lenders are lowering the state’s credit rating due to mismanagement of taxpayer money. Curtailing capital projects until the economy recovers would allow current debt to be paid down coupled with austerity spending.
What charges would you make to the member-items system in the state Legislature, which allocates most legislator-sponsored grants to lawmakers in majority parties?
Finch: With this current economic crisis it is absolutely time to change the member-item system in the state Legislature. Right now we have more than $1.2 billion in member-item “pork barrel” monies floating around Albany. I understand that a vast majority of the time member-item funds are not just frivolous expenditures, but we have to tighten up our spending. This is one area that will probably need drastic cuts.
King: I would eliminate the grants of member-items totally. If items are necessary to be funded, the item should be part of the general budget. Political standards need to be changed. People expect integrity from their elected officials more than ever, as we are waging war, and in an economic slump. Many are really disgusted by the current electoral process which smacks of greed and corruption. Special favors are given to special interests and during election time, the incumbents are favored by doing ‘good’ deeds for the community. An end result of giveaway programs to the exclusion of other causes is an erosion of a fair system of government.
Should state legislators get a pay raise?
Finch: No. State legislators should not get a pay raise, especially with the current financial climate.
King: No. As long as there are people without food, shelter, and health care, let the salaries freeze, so citizens don’t. The notion of raising salaries would be an obscene measure when government workers’ jobs are presently being eliminated.
“I remember sitting with my grandmother and watching the McCarthy hearings,” he said. “Once I became involved in the community, I realized how much government affects our daily lives.”
Philosophically, Finch believes we all have an innate wish and a duty to help others.
“Like the Good Samaritan, we have an obligation to reach down and help someone who is abandoned,” he said. “I think maybe you have a philosophy that works for you if you can give without expecting anything in return. That seems to be what drives me.”
Finch's political involvement grew from school to town boards and a mayoralty in a small village. It led to working with state and county Legislatures.
But public life sometimes conflicts with private commitments.
“I would like to say that family comes first and I would like to be there,” he said, “but when you make a commitment to a community, I find that to be a conflict for me.”
So, he has to weigh his priorities.
“If it weren't for my family who understands and supports me, I couldn't do what I do,” he said, even though they aren't politically inclined.
Being a funeral director and working with families is his most important accomplishment, he said.
“It's a very unique service,” he said. “I find it absolutely rewarding. Probably the worst thing that can happen is to lose someone you love. It's a disaster for people. In a very short time they have to trust you. It's always those people who are survivors that you have to deal with.”
Organizational skills, empathy and the ability to guide people through grief without directing them are qualities Finch believes transfer from the mortuary to the political arena.
Finch's interest in mortuary science piqued when he met mortician Lester Brew. Now deceased, Brew formerly owned Brew Funeral Home.
“Like most people, you know someone in a profession who makes an impression,” he said. “I happened to be at a funeral as a teenager when I met him.”
Finch later went to mortuary school for 12 months, then apprenticed with Brew.
“Sitting down and dealing with people during stressful times for three or four days, you can't make too many mistakes,” he said. “You don't have an opportunity to do it again. You have to be organized so that things run smoothly. Human beings need ritual to grieve.”
Finch also enjoyed his position on the Cayuga Community College Board of Trustees, he said, because of his inherent interest in education and the opportunity to contribute his talents there.
In the Legislature, survival depends on rewarding and helping people, he said. Minority members have to find a way to work with majority members to survive and be effective.
“We're the last place people call when they are involved with the state,” he said, recalling a man whose check to the state for back taxes on unemployment earnings was stolen and cashed after it arrived in Albany.
After billing the man for four years, the state found out what happened once Finch's office got involved.
“This office prides itself on doing things like that,” he said.
King grew up in Ithaca but moved out to Cayuga Lake. She graduated from Wells College in 1973 with art and music degrees.
She lent her soprano voice to the Wells Choir and competed with Wells chamber singers against ensembles from all over Europe at Christmastime in London, Bruges and Munich.
King studied In Florence for a month with a high baroque art specialist. She also traveled throughout Eastern Europe, motivated by her mother's Croatian roots and her Syrian father's Middle Eastern ancestry.
“I need to be in motion,” she said. “I like to reach out to people.”
King said she's a workaholic and a caregiver. Her nurturing nature led her to farming. As a farmer, she cared for animals and had horses all her life, riding all over the countryside.
Her farming interests led to the Ward O'Hara Agricultural Museum. On the first board of directors, King worked with county legislators to get support for museum events. Realizing how talented local people were, she considered showcasing their talents to revitalize the area.
“I decided to step out of my element totally,” she said.
In 2006, she left a 34-year crop farming business to run for Assembly. She lost on her first try, but she was committed to running again this year.
“An Assemblyperson could promote the area by meeting with people and putting them together,” she said. “I felt I could connect. All sorts of opportunities are at your feet, especially the opportunity to evaluate the resources that we have.”
King is interested in local commerce. She wants to focus on processing products from the farm into the emergency food system through a regional food production system similar to REAP (Research; Education, Action, and Policy on food group) in Wisconsin.
Smaller growers are losing markets for their products, according to King. The number of buyers at auction houses have decreased along with the wholesale market.
King wants a non-profit operation to provide agri-markets for products in the 123rd Assembly District, merging private financing with government. Buyers could buy through state contracts, and products would end up in schools or other institutions as well as emergency food banks. She sees this as a way to get the local economy moving by attracting private investment.
“This area could be the breadbasket of the state,” she said. She has a lot of hope and a positive outlook, she said.
King is interested in the survival of like minds and culture. Growing up in Ithaca, she saw people from many cultures walking the streets. She blamed economic policies for pitting people against people.
“We're all not of like minds,” she said. “We've got to get along. As a legislator the job is to project that people are equal. I really resent this segregating people.
“The nature of the job of assemblyman is to put people together. A lot of codes need to be changed.”
King said the biggest issue in the 123rd District is the huge natural gas resource and weighing it against the issues of water quality and pollution.
“We have to keep guard of unregulated industries,” she said.
Staff writer Kathleen Barran can be reached at 253-5311, ext. 238 or kathleen.barran@lee.net
The Candidates
Name: Barbara Abbott King
Age: 57
Occupation: Self-employed agricultural producer of livestock and hay
Education: Ithaca High School, Wells College Class of 1973, B.A. in music and art history, applied vocal, first soprano Wells Choir
Family status: Single, one daughter
Elected office experience: None. In 2006, her first political bid for Assembly District 123 against Gary Finch, carried 41 percent of the vote
Name: Gary Finch
Age: 64
Occupation: Owner and chief operating officer of Brew-Finch Funeral Homes, Inc. since 1970
Education: B.S. in Public Administration and Political Theory, SUNY Empire State College; Simmons School of Mortuary Science; Cayuga Community College
Family status: Married to Marcia Herrling Finch, son Gregory, daughter Amy
Elected office experience: state Assembly, 1999-2007; Mayor of Aurora, 1982-1990; Village of Aurora Trustee, 1979-1982
The Issues
Where do you stand on a statewide property tax cap?
Finch: I fully support the Suozzi Commission on Property Tax Relief. I was disappointed that the Assembly majority would not consider the property tax cap that the governor endorsed and the New York state Senate passed. When I return to Albany, I will continue to work for a sensible solution to property taxes, one that protects our interests in upstate New York and small businesses here. Those seem to fall on deaf ears with Assembly Democrats.
King: I do not support a property cap. Four percent grows geometrically every year, as the budget is not “zero-based.” A tax cap, once imposed is not historically rescindable and has proven disastrous in other states like California and Massachusetts. The Republican majority proposed it this year as a solution to a budget gap. My opponent waffles back and forth between tax cap, “circuit-breaker” and sales tax relief by fighting federally controlled American Indian treaties. I support the “circuit-breaker,” as introduced by the Assembly majority. That is a formula that links and equalizes the percentage that all citizens pay toward property tax. This formula couples the assessed value of equalized property to various income levels. This rate is formulated on a sliding scale of income similar to the current Star program, but replaces the Star programs.
Where should the state look to cut spending?
Finch: Obviously it is going to be a necessity for us to make cuts to the New York state budget. The state Legislature will be reconvening for an extraordinary session on Nov. 18 to make cuts. Some of the areas I will be focusing on for cuts are very comprehensive. It’s time to take a serious look at Medicaid fraud ” an estimated $4.5 billion within the Medicaid system. I call on the Office of the state comptroller to open an investigation into this matter, as we have run out of time to get this under control. I propose to continue the hiring freeze for state employees and call for all state agencies to stop vehicle purchases and travel, unless it is detrimental to the health and safety of New Yorkers. Also, at this point of the year, it is time to investigate the fund balances of state agencies to see what they have spent out of their budget and what they have not spent. Often these agencies speed up unnecessary spending late in the budget year to secure the same amount of funds, plus more, for the next year. It is time to look seriously at promoting a zero-based budgeting system for New York state government.
King: Taking a necessary assessment of all departments’ spending and cutting out duplicities by consolidating is a first measure. Creating transparency of receipts and spending of authorities is on the attorney general’s agenda. Collecting receivables and accounting for past debt should be the work of the comptroller. Stopping back-door borrowing to fund unaffordable projects should cease. Micro-managing, as most citizens do in their home and business budgets, is in order. Libeling the taxpayer to huge, expensive debt might be arguably unlawful. We, and future generations are ultimately saddled with state principal and interest payments. Lenders are lowering the state’s credit rating due to mismanagement of taxpayer money. Curtailing capital projects until the economy recovers would allow current debt to be paid down coupled with austerity spending.
What charges would you make to the member-items system in the state Legislature, which allocates most legislator-sponsored grants to lawmakers in majority parties?
Finch: With this current economic crisis it is absolutely time to change the member-item system in the state Legislature. Right now we have more than $1.2 billion in member-item “pork barrel” monies floating around Albany. I understand that a vast majority of the time member-item funds are not just frivolous expenditures, but we have to tighten up our spending. This is one area that will probably need drastic cuts.
King: I would eliminate the grants of member-items totally. If items are necessary to be funded, the item should be part of the general budget. Political standards need to be changed. People expect integrity from their elected officials more than ever, as we are waging war, and in an economic slump. Many are really disgusted by the current electoral process which smacks of greed and corruption. Special favors are given to special interests and during election time, the incumbents are favored by doing ‘good’ deeds for the community. An end result of giveaway programs to the exclusion of other causes is an erosion of a fair system of government.
Should state legislators get a pay raise?
Finch: No. State legislators should not get a pay raise, especially with the current financial climate.
King: No. As long as there are people without food, shelter, and health care, let the salaries freeze, so citizens don’t. The notion of raising salaries would be an obscene measure when government workers’ jobs are presently being eliminated.
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