Antonio Delgado For Congress

EDITORIALS Antonio Delgado for Congress

In the race for the 19th Congressional District, ​The Sullivan Times​ endorses Democrat Antonio Delgado over Republican incumbent John Faso. Frankly, we like what we heard from Faso on multiple foreign policy issues in our recent exclusive interview with him. He understands clearly the dangers that North Korea, Russia, China and Iran pose to the United States. He even described Russia as a criminal enterprise. But, his embrace and defense of a President who constantly mocks, belittles and lies is unacceptable. (Trump tweeted out an endorsement of Faso last week).

And Faso’s own failure to reign in what were clearly appeals to racism in Super PAC ads against Delgado was equally disappointing. Faso knows better. He spent his childhood at a prestigious Catholic school in Queens, NY that presumably taught kids about morals. But he also grew up in Massapequa, NY, the same town (and the same time period) as the publisher of this media outlet. And while Massapequa did have a “Happy Days” and “Leave It To Beaver” quality about it, it also prevented people of color from living there until the late 1970’s-- and even then we had so very few. Faso also recently went out of his way in a debate to vehemently attack those who criticized the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh while completely ignoring the allegations and pain of Dr. Christine Ford, which echoed with women across the country who have been raped and/or sexually assaulted.

What’s more, the many domestic policies that Faso also embraces would do the most harm to the most vulnerable in Sullivan County: low income earners and the middle class. Faso has also spent way too much time on his pet “scaffolding law” as a favor to his donors from the construction industry, even bringing it up at Monday’s debate. What his law would do, though, would prevent construction workers from laying any liability on developers if workers get seriously hurt or even killed in a construction accident. That’s not a friend of blue collar workers at all, a group he tries so hard to appeal to.

A member of Congress has to be accessible to citizens. Instead of holding town halls, Faso has mostly hid from public meetings, choosing instead to hold carefully-controlled conference calls that were impossible to sign up for when we tried more than once ourselves. Only in recent months on the campaign trail, has Faso showed up more -- but his campaign rarely announces in advance any of these small meetings with supporters. And his charges that Delgado is not “from here” is disingenuous. Faso moved to Kinderhook from Long Island in 1983 so he could run for an open Assembly seat. Delgado actually grew up in Schenectady, just beyond District 19’s borders as the son of

General Electric employees. And, when Faso accuses Delgado of taking money from outside the district, he needs to acknowledge that Vice President Mike Pence hosted a $25,000 per person fundraiser for Faso - not here in the District -- but in Manhattan just a few weeks ago.

Finally, we quote from Greg David, the longtime editor of ​Crain’s NY Business ​who said this about Faso last week: “​The moderate Republican I once knew now supports President Donald Trump 90% of the time. The 10% comes primarily because he voted against the

Republican tax cut. It would be better to say, however, that the Republican leadership allowed him to vote against the bill because they had enough votes to pass it without him. On the Affordable Care Act, Faso voted for repeal after a cynical maneuver that would have required New York state to pick up the local share of Medicaid. Washington has no business telling New York how to pay for Medicaid, but it would have resonated with Hudson Valley voters unhappy with the way local Medicaid costs drive up property taxes. I guess Faso is merely embracing the tactics Republicans are using, especially in competitive races.”

As for Delgado, he genuinely expresses concern for the working class and middle class who have largely been left behind after the 2008 recession and Republican policies since Trump took office. He favors protecting women’s access to healthcare and is pro-choice. And while there may have been confusion in some circles about where exactly he stood on healthcare, his position is drastically more compassionate than Faso’s, which would give power back to insurance companies and return us to the Dark Ages of kicking people out of healthcare for real and imagined pre-existing conditions. Once Delgado won the Democratic primary over six opponents, he has spent much time in Sullivan County and surely has learned much about the challenges faced by those living and working here. We wish he would have shown up more during the primary season, but he has more than compensated in recent months with multiple visits to Monticello, Liberty, Callicoon and Jeffersonville. He even showed up Sunday for a vigil service (organized on very short notice) on behalf of the victims of the synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh. We are confident that his doors will always be open to all constituents, not just those who support him. He is a person of real substance, a quick study of issues and speaks with compassion -- and that’s what is needed in these turbulent times in our County and our Country.

We do wish that Delgado spent more of his campaign discussing critical foreign policy issues and, in that regard, there are some unknowns. But President Bill Clinton also came into office heavy on domestic policy experience but with very little foreign policy positions - yet he later helped stop the genocide in the former Yugoslavia. As for the recent controversy about Delgado’s comments regarding Israel, we heard Delgado and it’s clear he is a strong supporter of Israel. His view that Israel can only remain a Jewish democracy if it ceases or reduces settlement activity is one that many Jews in Israel and abroad also believe.

Finally, this District needs fresh thinking. Delgado is 41, old enough to have some wisdom but not too young to not have sufficient life experiences to understand the needs of a varied constituency. And the fact that he is a person of color leads us to believe that he has endured the kind of bigotry that Trump and Republicans like Faso continue to promote. Let’s send Delgado to Congress not because he is a progressive Democrat, not because he’s younger, or because of the color of his skin. Let’s send Delgado to Congress to send a message that Sullivan County hungers for a real advocate in Washington who will represent ALL its people before corporations -- and who will be a much-needed check on a President who has demonstrated, day after day, that he remains woefully unfit to lead.