Skip to main content

Candidate for District 61 wants to help reform Albany

By Howard B. Owens

seamanssenateannouncemay2018_0.jpg
There are too many Republican votes in the State Senate that are holding back important reforms that will move New York forward and Joan Elizabeth Seamans would like to replace one of them.

She's got her eye on the District 61 seat currently occupied by Michael Ranzenhofer.

"It is time that we (Democrats) get another vote in that Senate so we can have sensible laws and things that benefit our community," Seamans told a group of activist women gathered for a political workshop at the Dibble Family Center in Batavia.

"We have high taxes. It's a Republican problem and I'm going to tell you why. As long as we keep having corporate welfare and sending money downstate to luxury developers and not investing in our people we have a problem."

Seamans said she is one of nine children from her family and that they grew up poor. At 13, she had to start earning her own money to buy clothes for school. She has been in business for herself her whole life and has served in various political and civic groups.

The issues she raised today included early voting, the opioid epidemic, health care (she favors single payer), criminal justice reform, and bail reform.

She said New York needs sensible gun laws and criticized Ranzenhofer for voting against bipartisan legislation that would bar people convicted of domestic violence from possessing guns.

"This is is what sensible gun reform is," she said, "yet my opponent voted against this legislation. His no vote is obscene and demonstrates a voting record that is not only out of touch but it is anti-woman."

The biggest reform Albany must tackle, she said, is campaign finance, particularly the LLC loophole, which enables large donors to establish multiple limited liability corporations to make donations to political candidates at the $60,000 limit for each.

She said a "luxury developer" downstate has donated $100,000 to Ranzenhofer.

"That corporation has received hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks," she said, and then added, "This is why we need campaign finance reform, because we have corporations supporting candidates who give tax breaks to the wealthiest down state when we when we need those resources back here in Western New York."

Kyle Slocum

Is Joan Elizabeth Seamans aware that the people she needs to convince to vote for her are actually aware that NYS is, and has been for a very long time, run by her party?

That corporate welfare has been part of the crony politics of the NY Democrats for a long time?

That Andrew Cuomo is running the NYS Senate, if not the Assembly? It has been an open secret that Cuomo is using the Senate to keep the Assembly from going Full California. Cuomo thinks he has a chance at the White House (LoL) and he knows if he lets the Assembly go Full California he will never get elected President.

Does Joan Elizabeth Seamans know that the people who she needs to get to vote for her are also very aware of the Lautenberg Amendment? Lots and lots of us are law abiding gun owners and we know the FACT that it has been against Federal Law for 20 years for a person convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor or any felony to possess or purchase a gun.

We know how this works, Ma'am. You will not get our votes by lying about the world we all live in. We happen to actually be here too.

May 13, 2018, 4:36pm Permalink

Authentically Local