NY-23 in 2020: A conversation with Tracy Mitrano

by D.E. Bentley –

The sun reflected off the ice and a large flock of migrating mallards – and a sizable gathering of ice fishers – took advantage of the shift in weather from blizzard-like to brilliant on February 14, 2019, as I joined U.S. congressional candidate Tracy Mitrano for an interview at her Keuka lakeside cottage. “The 23rd is just a beautiful place.” she offered when I asked her what compelled her to continue her race, to remain in and fight for the people of New York’s 23rd Congressional District – her home – at a time when others are calling for a mass exodus.  During an afternoon of at times quiet and at times animated conversation, I drifted away from my prepared questions (and a planned focus on women’s rights) and gained a deeper understanding of Mitrano’s love of the region, and her commitment to its people.   

NY-23 covers the Southern Tier, Finger Lakes and Western New York regions of New York State, including Cattaraugus and Chautauqua counties to the west and stretching across the state to Seneca and Tompkins in the east.  Mitrano’s ties to the area are rooted in family, and in community.  Working in her parent’s Rochester area restaurant taught her first hand what it means to own and operate a small business in New York State.  Despite offers and opportunities out of state, she instead kept her ties close to home, caring for her parents and providing for her children, while pursuing an education, working and traveling throughout the Southern Tier, across the Finger Lakes and into Western New York.  It is through her travels that she gained a greater appreciation of the natural beauty and diversity that has led to her environmental priorities, including the clean up of the West Valley low-level radioactive-waste site (between Buffalo and Salamanca, NY) and her support for the federal Anti-Fracking Act.

One of the points that came up again and again during our lengthy conversation was the difference between our region of New York and New York City – and the need for leadership at the state and federal levels to act in the best interest of all.  For Mitrano, this means bringing economic opportunity back to the Southern Tier, a goal that she believes begins with supporting families, especially working class and middle class families – both those who have lived and worked in the region for generations (the farmers who grow our food; the service industry and factory workers who provide for us) as well as young new families looking to build a better life in our region of the state.   Supporting families includes providing affordable healthcare for all and providing equitable educational opportunities, including tuition support and low interest loans for higher education.

As a teacher who has worked with preschoolers in poverty and youthful offenders behind bars, I heartily applaud Mitrano’s support for universal Pre-K and Head Start.  In addition to these earliest education initiatives, she also believes that we need public schools that offer “a weaving together of basic skills with an understanding of technology and the digital world – encased in an appetite for critical thinking.” As students move into high school, a quality education also includes opportunities for apprenticeships and vocational training in a wide range of trade and tech areas, with up to two years of post-high school paid education and training for all students in their areas of interest and aptitude.  In lieu of free tuition for all, she advocates for an increase in state funding for SUNY schools to their previously funded levels – at least 25-30% of their operating costs.  An open market approach to higher education has historically served to increase the diversity in and quality of higher education in New York State, offering an abundance of in state options for residents, while also attracting more students from out of state.

Twenty-first century education requires twenty-first century tools, and without adequate infrastructure we all lose out on educational and economic opportunities available to more connected areas.  Enhanced communication networks – including rural broadband in underserved areas – and net neutrality are mandatory tools for today’s students.   Other regional improvements in regional infrastructure: improved transportation – restoring bridges and railroads and expansion of public transportation options; growth in renewable energy – solar and wind; and improved infrastructure for extreme weather events, coupled with tax abatements, can attract out of state companies.  All of these factors increase the Southern Tier’s desirability as a place to live, to work, to go to school, to raise a family and to start a business.

Tracy Mitrano’s focus on place-based policy is a far cry from the socialist portrait of her that some have tried to paint.

She defended the idea of corporate rights, while making it clear that the rights and responsibilities of corporations are very different from those of citizens.  “Although corporations have an important role in a capitalist democracy, even an originalist interpretation of the Constitution balances the power of the corporation with the rights of individuals, instead of corporations at the expense of individuals.”  By keeping reasonable levels of tax burden on corporations and shareholders, we can balance the playing field for small, local businesses and reduce the disproportionate tax burdens carried by lower and middle class workers. Small local businesses are, she believes, the anchors for local economies, regardless of where we live and work.   Supporting these businesses requires balancing livable wages with local economies, eliminating burdensome expenses – including employer heath care costs – and creating immigration reforms that allow DREAMers and other non-citizen tax paying workers in high need industries (agriculture, manufacturing and tech) to pursue legitimate pathways to citizenship. We also need to eliminate “capricious and arbitrary tariffs that place undue burdens on manufacturers.”  With a growing number of breweries moving toward canned beer products to expand their markets, the spirit industry’s use of stainless steel and the increased use of stainless steel by vintners for fermentation and aging, aluminum and steel tariffs have the potential to harm our growing competitiveness in the beverage industry.  A slowdown in beverage production also impacts the many tourism-related service and retail businesses across the Finger Lakes region, as well as the farmers that these manufacturers depend on for New York State grown crops. Our policies regarding immigration need to be built on “facts, reason and humanity.”

Opioid addictions not only result in deaths, but also contribute to the breakdown of families and an increase in crime.  Like many in our area, Mitrano is angry and saddened by this national epidemic, and places the blame – and the responsibility – on the corporations that caused the problem.

“We need to go after the pharmaceuticals for the fraud, the deadly fraud they have perpetrated on the youth in this country, and use the money from these lawsuits to provide treatment.”

As with so many things we discussed, her position on this was unshakeable; it was obvious she had thought about it often, and wanted to find real solutions to the underlying social and economic factors feeding addictions.  This led to a discussion of the need for careful, thoughtful regulations to manage our growing alcohol, and anticipated marijuana, tourist trade, to allow responsible recreational use by adults – with the corresponding potential for economic benefits across the state – while avoiding harmful consequences, including an increase in abuse and accidents and violence, particularly among our youth.      

My meeting with Tracy Mitrano marked the one-year anniversary of the killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018.  After this recent mass killing, as with past ones, an immediate call for action is often followed by inaction.   Tragedies such as this make it clear that current gun control legislation is inadequate.  Mitrano believes that the federal government can and should require and manage robust background checks for gun owners.  She also believes that gun manufacturers have a legal responsibility to provide adequate gun safety measures with their products.  She disagrees with provisions of the Safe Act* that arbitrarily group and ban gun ownership from targeted groups of citizens – such as those with mental health diagnosis and criminal records.  And even with gun control, place-based policy applies; “there are regional differences in firearm uses – including historical uses such as those of hunters – that are best left to the discretion of states and municipalities.”

Tracy Mitrano is an historian, lawyer and cyber security policy expert, and I was interested in hearing her views on electronic voting and election reform, and its role in change for our region. She started our discussion by recognizing recent changes in New York State that have the potential to increase voter turnout, including a nine-day early voting period – running until the Sunday before Election Day, and a single primary day in June.  Although she does not believe that online voting is currently feasible in our area due to security concerns, a larger concern is the further disenfranchisement of rural voters – many of whom lack the needed Internet infrastructure.  She does advocate for a vote by mail system that would allow all citizens to easily cast their votes.  Our discussion around election reforms inevitably drifted toward the proliferation of negative campaigning and the use of social media to manipulate voters.  During round one in the fight to take the NY-23 representative seat from Tom Reed, she sidestepped vicious personal attacks, intended to villainize her.  These negative campaigns are counterproductive and draw attention away from the core issues that impact our day-to-day lives.  Rather than hearing criticisms about the “others,” I prefer to hear concrete and logical steps toward change.  This is why I focused my conversation with Mitrano on gaining a better understanding of how she will in 2020 bring about the positive changes she advocates.

In reflecting back on the beauty of the Finger Lakes and Western New York, Tracy stressed that the foundation for change is already here.  The beauty of the region includes the physical landscape – there are so many beautiful areas – but is more about the diversity and strength of the people; “hardworking people, dedicated people who believe in New York.”  Having lived and worked here my entire life, I could not agree more.  I resent this vibrant and enchanting area being called a ghost town by Trump; and as a business owner, I resent the call from him, and others, for New York’s businesses to flee the area.  This is home – for me, for you and for Tracy Mitrano – and we are all in this together.

It’s sometimes easy to think of our elected representatives as outsiders – too far removed from their constituents to take an interest in the day-to-day lives of citizens.  Some of this view was shattered for me in the mid 1990s, when Mary Luster, then Assemblyman for the 125th NYS Assembly District, fought for the extended unemployment insurance benefits that enabled me to complete my teaching degree, as a single mother, at SUNY Cortland.  Tracy further shattered that view through her thoughtful, honest and heartfelt call for change, reminding me that there are still politicians who understand the economic realities of our region and are open to meeting and working with communities to bring about positive change.

*See www.owllightnews.com/gun-control-and-the-safe-act-part-two-mental-health-providers-and-the-mentally-ill/ for a related Owl Light piece from Len Geller.