Hi everyone. This is Patricia Maher, the Democratic candidate running in NY-2 against Peter King. The campaign has been going very well and before I answer the questionnaire for why the Daily Kos community should endorse me, here are some of the highlights of the campaign so far:
1. We hired a finance director last month. Lewis Cohen, who used to be the finance director for Democracy for New York City and worked on both the Dean and Kerry campaigns in 2004, has been an invaluable asset for us and has helped organize our premiere fundraiser on Columbus Day, October 13 (Jacques Rosas Art Studio, 528 W. 39th Street in Manhattan between 10th and 11th Aves from 6:30-8:30, VIP Reception at 6, you should really come down and join us!) We will post the official invitation on here soon. In the meantime, you can donate here at: https://secure.actblue.com/...
2. Voters have been very receptive to our message of expanding Social Security, ending free trade and the outsourcing of American jobs, cutting the red tape on Hurricane Sandy relief, and federal aid to small business to revitalize downtowns and the economies of the local communities. This is a winning economically populist message that just as good in substance. We recently held a rally to speed up aid to Sandy victims that was covered by local media (Newsday and News 12).
3. Our Facebook page currently has five-times as many likes as did the candidate who ran against King in 2012. She won 41% of the vote, and 47% in Suffolk County, in an election just days after Hurricane Sandy that depressed turnout.
4. We know that we can build on this showing for a few more reasons. The Cook PVI index for NY-2 is R+1, and that's being generous to King. We have had consulting firms and other campaigns come to us and say that their internal numbers have our district at D+2 or 3. Obama won the district in 2008 and 2012, more than the other Long Island Congressional districts. And take a look at King's Facebook page: 90% of the comments are negative against him. That's because he's been attacking Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, the libertarians and the Tea Party any chance he can get.
Without further ado, here is my endorsement questionnaire (my yes/no answers are bolded):
1. Do you support the Medicare You Can Buy Into Act (H.R. 4789, 111th Congress), which would allow all citizens or permanent residents to buy into Medicare?
YES NO COMMENTS:
From my website, patriciamaher.com:
Like Social Security, Medicare is an earned benefit that millions
of senior citizens rely on. It is far more efficient and effective than private
healthcare plans. But with Baby Boomers beginning to retire, we need to
strengthen the program so that people are able to get the care they need at a
lower cost.
I support allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug
prices with pharmaceuticals to improve access while drastically lowering costs.
This would save Medicare $14 billion annually.
I also want to close the Medicare Part D doughnut hole
earlier than 2020, when it is supposed to be closed by law.
I am staunchly opposed to privatizing Medicare. However, my
opponent voted to privatize the program, which thankfully did not pass. This
would have created a voucher system that would increase out-of-pocket costs for
senior citizens, forcing them to buy more expensive private insurance plans to close
the coverage gap.
2. Do you agree that any immigration reform bill should:
a) Contain a meaningful path to citizenship for law-abiding undocumented immigrants currently in the United States that does not include overly punitive fines or a touchback requirement;
YES NO COMMENTS:
b) Ensure that expanded legal permanent immigration, rather than expansion of temporary worker programs, serves as the United States' primary external answer to workforce shortages; and
YES NO COMMENTS:
c) Maintain current caps on the total number of non-agricultural temporary worker visas issued for any non-agricultural temporary worker programs, and also include a meaningful prevailing wage requirement keyed to the Service Contract Act and the Davis-Bacon Act?
YES NO COMMENTS:
3a. Do you support the Strengthening Social Security Act (H.R. 3118 / S. 567, 113th Congress), which would increase Social Security benefits and strengthen the program's finances?
YES NO COMMENTS:
Expanding Social Security is one of my main campaign planks, and my plan is modeled in part after the Strengthening Social Security Act. Here is my policy statement on Social Security from my website:
Social Security is a highly effective and efficient program, with an
almost $3 trillion Trust Fund surplus. Since its inception in 1935,
Social Security has helped to reduce the elderly poverty rate by over
forty percent. The program currently averages an annual benefit payment
of $15,000 for retirees, keeps 20 million Americans out of poverty, and
puts almost $775 billion into the economy.
But the retirement deficit, which is the difference between what
Americans have saved for retirement and what they need to maintain their
standard of living in retirement, is $6.6 trillion. In a time of
stagnating wages, high income inequality, and eroding pensions and
personal savings, Social Security should be expanded, not cut.
I support changing the cost of living adjustment (COLA) to a higher
measure of inflation, from the current CPI-W to CPI-E. With this shift,
retirees would see an average increase of $70 a month in benefits, good
for roughly $800 more annually. This accounts for the fact that seniors
spend a greater proportion of their income on healthcare, whose costs
have risen greater than inflation.
I also support increasing benefits for divorced spouses, widows and
widowers, and reinstating the Student Benefit for those in college or
vocational school with retired, disabled, or deceased parents.
Currently, children with retired, disabled or deceased parents only
receive benefits until they are 18 years old.
To pay for these benefit increases while also ensuring that Social
Security is fully-funded in perpetuity, I want to scrap the payroll tax
cap. Payroll tax is the only tax in the country with a cap, making it
extremely regressive. Eliminating the cap alone would cover roughly 80%
of the projected long-term shortfall in the Trust Fund.
To cover the remaining shortfall and then some, I support raising
payroll tax rates by .85% on those paying at least that percentage in
income tax. Income taxes should then be cut by the percentage of payroll
tax increase on those making up to $250,000 to make it tax-burden
neutral, while putting more money in people's pockets.
3b. Do you oppose each of the following changes to Social Security and Medicare:
a) Raising the retirement age;
YES NO COMMENTS: Simpson-Bowles, the so called "Grand Bargain" commission that proposed raising the retirement age, did not account for the fact that there are disparities in life expectancy based on socioeconomic status.
b) Eliminating or reducing the cost of living adjustment, including implementing so-called "chained CPI";
YES NO COMMENTS: Another proposal from Simpson-Bowles that would increase the already large retirement deficit because the chained-CPI constitutes a .25% annual benefit cut from the current COLA measure, the CPI-W. The chained-CPI also is almost certainly not the right index for retirees, who spend a disproportionate share of their income on health care.
c) Directly reducing benefits;
YES NO COMMENTS:
d) Means-testing recipients; and
YES NO COMMENTS: Means-testing would cut benefits for middle-income Americans, undermine support for the program, and open the door for future cuts. Social Security is social insurance and an earned benefit, not a welfare program. Means-testing would violate the essential purpose of the program.
e) Privatization, so-called "personal accounts," and vouchers?
YES NO COMMENTS: Privatization sidesteps solving the long-term funding issues of the program, ignores the successes of the program under the current system, and as shown with 401 (k)'s, would have high administrative fees and would not have guaranteed returns.
4. Do you support the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 1409 / S. 560, 111th Congress), including the provision known as "card check"?
YES NO COMMENTS: The rights of workers are under attack nationwide. This measure would help workers exercise their rights to organize unions and collectively bargain, while helping to strengthen and expand the middle class to counter immense income inequality. I also oppose right to work and would fight to repeal that provision in the Taft-Hartley Act.
5. Do you believe that all adults should be allowed to legally marry another adult of their choosing, regardless of that person's sex?
YES NO COMMENTS:
6. If elected, do you pledge not to join the Blue Dog Coalition or Third Way?
YES NO COMMENTS:
7. If elected to the Senate, do you pledge to restore majority rule to the Senate and both work and vote to end the filibuster?
YES NO COMMENTS: I'm running for the House, but sure!