League of Women Voters of New York State Education Foundation, Inc.
Albany County, NY November 2, 2010 Election
	Robert Domenici Answers Questions Candidate for State Senator; District 46

The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of New York State and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What measures do you support to save existing jobs and create new jobs in New York State?

Improving the business environment is a top priority. We need to get New York State government leaders to see business as a partner and not a target. We need to consider reducing or temporarily eliminating (for a period of two years) the New York State payroll tax so that businesses can invest in hiring new employees and expanding. The benefits of that alone will pay for itself. We need to work to reduce overall business taxes in New York State to create a climate where businesses will want to locate and/or expand here. We need to overhaul our workers compensation insurance program to make it affordable for employers and meaningful for employees. Finally, we need to show business leaders that New York State government is credible and intends to work as a partner with the business community. Restoring the business community's faith in New York State will be critical to getting investment in our State. Today, unfortunately, we are a laughingstock.

2. How do you think New York can best deal with upcoming unsustainable deficit budgets?

The very first thing we should do is cap spending and then work every day to find ways to reduce our spending. There is an amazing amount of waste and duplication in our system and we have to be committed to rooting it out. We have to attack the expense side of the ledger before we can focus on revenues. We should implement a cap on property taxes after we get a better handle on reducing expenses. This will restore people's faith in our government and incent investment which will grow our economy. We should also completely overhaul our arcane budgeting process and look to a system which will allow us to plan better for the future and force our public officials to be more proactive in conserving the people's money.

3. What reforms would you propose to address inadequate campaign finance rules and enforcement in New York?

I support complete and open disclosure of all outside business interests and clients. Elected officials have no excuse for not doing so. Along those lines, I believe state elected officials should hold themselves to a higher standard in terms of disclosure of their own finances. We should, at least, hold ourselves to the standards of our federal office holders. I think it is wrong that elected officials can receive campaign contributions from the very businesses that they are supposed to be overseeing or regulating. We have to put a stop to that practice because it, at least, leads the public to suspect impropriety. We must, and can do better.

4. What reforms would you support for the redistricting process?

I completely agree that an independent redistricting commission should draw election boundaries before the 2012 election. I do not believe that elections should be politicized no matter if Republicans or Democrats are in the majority. Since I would like to also reform the budget process, we should include this in a constitutional convention and reform.

5. Would you support a cap on property taxes and, if so, how do you think school districts can deal with the decrease in revenue?

I do support a cap on property taxes but only after we work to reduce our expense side. We have to put both sides of the state’s financial statements in play. Once we reduce expenses and cap property taxes, our school districts will be able to work with a more consistent stream of revenues and, if we do our job right, we should be able to keep revenues and expenses fairly flat moving forward. As a school board member, I know how difficult it is when school districts are held hostage to Albany's dysfunctional budget process. By giving them better budget certainty, districts will be able to plan accordingly.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 29, 2010 13:26
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