139th assembly district

Statement from Assemblyman Steve Hawley:

The results of last Tuesday’s elections in our state and throughout the nation reflect a rejection of overreaching, burdensome policies that stifle economic growth and jeopardize public safety, and a desire for a return to kitchen-table governance. America is a nation of opportunity, and the anti-growth, tax-and-spend policies of the Majority are antithetical to the spirit of entrepreneurship that has made our nation the greatest on this planet. This year, Americans rejected socialism and voted for leaders who believe in hard work and the pursuit of the American Dream, in what I hope is just the beginning of a reclamation of our government by people who believe in our constitution, in our way of life and in our free markets.

Seeing voters soundly reject ballot measures 1, 3, and 4 was incredibly heartening, and an indication that the public has grown tired of political gamesmanship and one-party rule in state government. Our government at the state and federal levels was designed to be collaborative in its deliberations, with a minority party able to check the power of the majority, and these proposals threatened that delicate balance of power. By rejecting these proposals, voters chose a path forward for New York that preserves the voice of rural, upstate New York and maintains reasonable safeguards against our electoral and redistricting processes. 

What people want and expect from their government is simple; attention toward matters that jeopardize the well-being of themselves and their loved ones, and the protection of their right to lead their lives in their own way, follow their passions and provide for their family. By rallying against the law enforcement professionals who keep our communities safe, putting up obstacles to success in people’s careers and businesses, and implementing overreaching mandates that went too far in restricting their liberties, the Majority showed their priorities were not in line with those of the average working New Yorker. That is exactly why I will continue to do everything I can to stand up for our law enforcement, our liberties, and our ability to work hard and change the world through innovation. Our liberties and maintained public safety, which allows us to freely exercise them, are what make America the greatest nation on earth. It is my hope to see that as time passes, as a state and as a nation, we become even greater, freer, and safer than we’ve ever been before.

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) is kicking off a series of visits to local small businesses to commemorate National Women's Small Business Month, starting with a visit to Gilliana's Diner in Batavia. In the weeks to come, Hawley will be visiting other women-owned small businesses in the district throughout October.

Gilliana's Diner is a business opened by local resident Jill Antinore during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hawley will be visiting the restaurant on Oct. 2 at 12:30 p.m. to honor Jill Antinore for her community-minded actions and perseverance in opening her business during a challenging period, all while looking out for her neighbors. They will also discuss her experience opening and operating her business, along with the challenges she and her staff have faced along the way.

“The dedication and generosity displayed by Jill Antinore in opening her business amid a pandemic is truly commendable, and her restaurant is the perfect place to start our celebration of National Women's Small Business Month,” said Hawley. “What she has done for the community, even while working to get her restaurant up and running, is truly astounding. I look forward to hearing from her firsthand about how she managed to do so much for so many people.”

Even as they opened their doors during tumultuous times, Jill and her husband worked through nights and early mornings to prepare meals to donate to the United Memorial Medical Center. Not stopping there, the business has continued its generous acts by donating 30 percent of all take-out dinner sales to benefit the Batavia Business & Professional Women's Club, as well as providing scholarships to local youth, and monetary awards to non-profit organizations engaged in bettering the community.

As Hawley continues with his series of visits to other businesses throughout National Women's Small Business Month, he will continue to highlight women-owned businesses that have overcome adversity, gone above and beyond to benefit their community, or have otherwise become famed fixtures within local areas. He will be announcing more of these visits to businesses in the near future.

“In a year that has been challenging for small businesses throughout the state, I am excited to use this opportunity to highlight the hard work and managerial prowess of women who own small businesses in our district,” said Hawley. “They have worked through a pandemic to continue serving their communities, all while adapting to rapidly changing laws and regulations, and that is something truly admirable.”

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) announced today that he will be holding outreach office hours within his district during the months of October, November and December. During these outreach office hours, residents will have the opportunity to meet with members of his staff to discuss their concerns regarding state government and local issues. 

Genesee County office hours will be held at Genesee Community College in Room T124 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 7, Oct. 28, Nov. 18, Dec. 2, and Dec. 16. 

“I’m eager to use these outreach office hours as an opportunity to get input from constituents on issues they’d like to address who aren’t able to make it out to our main district office,” said Hawley. “With everything that has occurred within our government and in society at large throughout the last year, I look forward to hearing about the concerns of residents during these unprecedented times.”

If residents wish to schedule an appointment with Assemblyman Hawley personally, they can do so by calling his main office at 585-589-5780.

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) expressed outrage today as the vaccine mandate for healthcare workers takes effect, forcing countless healthcare employees throughout the state to resign from their positions. Many of these healthcare workers have for months now been on the front lines of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and have been left without recourse in the face of a mandate that does not permit regular testing of unvaccinated healthcare workers

“Taking jobs from healthcare workers who have been working harder than anybody to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is a slap in their face, and I am incensed by the governor’s willingness to cast aside a group of highly skilled people who have saved the lives of so many New Yorkers,” said Hawley. “The valuable experience these professionals have in fighting COVID-19 will be squandered, and the ones who will pay the price for this decision are those who need the highest quality of care possible to save their lives. I am vaccinated and would encourage anyone who wishes to be vaccinated to do so, but I also believe in personal choice, and with no option for unvaccinated healthcare workers to elect for frequent testing, this mandate will only harm our ability to help patients who need care most.”

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) today expressed his relief as news broke that Health Commissioner Howard Zucker has resigned from his position, though his resignation will only take effect when Gov. Hochul puts forward his replacement. 

Hawley has been a frequent critic of Zucker and demanded his resignation on many occasions, deeply questioning the role Zucker may have played in the potential cover-up of the true number of fatalities that occurred in nursing homes during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also spoke out against the mandates placed on small businesses and public institutions that restricted their operations.

“While I am of the opinion that firing Howard Zucker should have been one of the first things Gov. Hochul did after being sworn in, it is better to see him leave late than never,” said Hawley. “Zucker has mismanaged this pandemic since day one, and his highly questionable actions likely contributed to the personal and economic pain of countless people throughout our state. In managing our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to be smart about recognizing the realities people in the different, distinct regions of our state face in their personal lives and careers. A continuation of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to the pandemic, characterized by burdensome, widely-applied mandates, will only stifle our state’s recovery from the pandemic. It’s my hope Zucker’s successor takes a more balanced and reasonable approach with local control, so that it won’t have the same negative impact on our communities and small businesses as Zucker’s mandates.”

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) is joining his colleagues in the Assembly Minority calling on Governor Hochul and Health Commissioner Zucker to reverse the decision to mandate vaccination of healthcare workers. They argue that any public health benefit a mandate would provide would be outweighed by the detriment such a requirement would have on staffing levels within hospitals and health centers, as 20-25% of health workers within New York are unvaccinated. Hawley asserts that rather than implementing this mandate and potentially losing nearly a quarter of the state’s healthcare staff, an option for frequent and regular testing for unvaccinated people should be offered and access to effective PPE such as N95 masks should be increased.

Hawley is also concerned about how the mandate will affect people who either cannot be vaccinated due to their medical circumstances, and those who work remotely like coders and transcriptionists who do not come into contact with patients.

“Losing even a fraction of our medical personnel in this time of need would have a catastrophic effect on our efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, and to think we could lose a quarter or a fifth of our already-overburdened healthcare workers is incredibly troubling,” said Hawley. “We need to be pragmatic about how we fight this virus, and while I encourage anyone to get the COVID-19 vaccine and believe it’s safe and effective, forcing nurses, doctors, and other health staff who have worked tirelessly throughout these last many months to choose between taking a vaccine or losing their jobs is not going to convince any skeptics that efforts to increase vaccine rates are well-intended.”

Press release: 

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) is saddened to announce that his annual Patriot Trip in which he brings veterans to landmarks and historical sites throughout the Washington, D.C. area will be canceled this year due to concerns regarding the spread of COVID-19, especially as new variant cases in both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals continue to increase. All participants who have signed up for the trip will be fully refunded for anything paid toward it.

“Having to cancel a trip that means so much to veterans, their families, and I was an incredibly difficult decision, but ultimately the well-being of veterans and their families has to be our top priority,” said Hawley. “Amidst the spread of COVID-19, it is also very difficult to know for certain that planned destinations will be reasonably accessible. Ultimately, however, the thought of even a single veteran or one of their loved ones falling seriously ill is what caused me to have to make this difficult decision because their well-being is more important than any event.”

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) is standing firmly opposed to legislation being taken up today in a special session of the New York State Assembly that would extend the moratorium on evictions in the state into 2022. Hawley has expressed frustration that this moratorium has been extended multiple times, even as the state government sits on the vast majority of $2.6 billion in federal funding meant to address the issue, having distributed only 10 percent of those funds to tenants and landlords in need.

“If we do not do something to help our small landlords in this crucial moment, they may well go extinct within the housing market if forced to sell their property to large conglomerates to escape crushing debts which they cannot collect rent to pay,” said Hawley. 

“More often than not small landlords are retired people with families to feed, tax and mortgage bills to pay, and properties that take time, money, and hard work to maintain. To think we would ask them to continue to absorb the brunt of this housing crisis after holding on for roughly a year and a half now is absurd, especially when incompetency in our executive branch has kept money out of the pockets of the tenants and landlords that truly need it. Had we acted with any reasonable speed or efficacy in distributing the federal assistance that’s been sat on since January, we would not need to be debating this matter now.”

Press release:

A statement from Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) on the inauguration of Gov. Kathy Hochul

 “By swearing in a new governor, I remain hopeful we can use this moment as an opportunity to correct the course set by our former executive. Given her experience in local and county government, I hope that her tenure will be free of the burdensome mandates on small businesses, schools, places of worship, and other institutions which characterized her predecessor’s style of leadership and were so harmful to the people of our state.”

Press release from Assemblyman Steve Hawley:

”Impartial justice is a founding principle of our constitutional republic, and nobody should be above the law. Our public officials should be held to the highest standards possible, and by ending this impeachment investigation the speaker has denied justice to the people of this state and allowed potentially illegal acts to be swept under the rug.”

Press release from Assemblyman Steven Hawley:

“What we heard today should sicken everyone at a human level, and we cannot allow the governor to continue as our executive knowing our worst fears about his actions are true,” said Hawley. “He must resign now, and if not, we must reject his leadership resoundingly to send a message that conduct of this nature will never be acceptable, by anyone. He has abused his power in the most horrific of ways, and the time has now come for the legislative branch to assert itself and do what is right in this critical moment.”

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) is announcing that this year’s annual Patriot Trip, taking place from September 16-19, will be the most affordable ever. Hawley will join veterans and their guests on his annual trip to Washington D.C., visiting various landmarks and historical sites.  

Thanks to the generous contributions of many organizations and individuals, the cost to veterans and their selected guest for this year’s trip will be lower than ever in the trip’s fourteen-year history. The cost to veterans and their guest will be far below the original $475 per person, and includes all food, accommodation and travel expenses required for the trip. Although costs are not yet finalized, Hawley is hoping a cost of $350 or less per person will be attainable.

“Following an outpouring of financial support from the community at large, individuals, businesses and veteran-advocacy groups, I am elated to announce the cost to veterans and their guests for this year’s Patriot Trip will be lower than ever, and I’m hopeful the final cost will be between $300 and $350. With confirmed stops this year at Gettysburg, the Naval Academy at Annapolis, the Veterans Memorials around the National Mall, the National Marine Museum, the Arlington National Cemetery with Wreath Laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and many other landmarks and museums, it’s going to be a trip to remember for all who attend.”

Any interested veterans or their family members are encouraged to reach out to Hawley’s district office at 585-589-5780 or HawleyS@nyassembly.gov to learn more about the trip and to make reservations.

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley has received his committee assignments for the upcoming legislative year, and will be serving on the committees for Agriculture, Insurance, Rules, Veterans’ Affairs and Ways and Means. Additionally, Hawley has also been reappointed as Deputy Minority Leader of the Assembly Republican Conference.

“I am honored to have been chosen once again to serve our conference as Deputy Minority Leader, and look forward to continuing to use my role in our conference to give a voice to the people of the 139th Assembly District, as well as working people and families from all walks of life throughout our state,” Hawley said.

From Assemblyman Steve Hawley: 

I am drafting this letter to thank each and every person that voted for me. This tenure as your State Assemblyman for the 139^th District has been a wonderful experience, and I am proud to continue to serve as your Assemblyman.

And while there is certainly celebrating to do and thanks to go around, I want to assure you that as the new session starts up in January, I am just as committed as ever to making the voice of Western New York heard.

I will continue to fight for local and small businesses that need support from the state following the COVID-19 lockdowns, for their economic success means a strong economy for New York. I will continue to hold the majority party accountable when they try to play fast-and-loose with the laws and the God-given rights of citizens. I will push even further my two-state New York bill, which will ensure that the needs of Western New York are not drowned by the urban demands Downstate thrusts upon the rest of us. I will continue to ensure our law enforcement is defended and uplifted in state government. All of this, and more, I will continue to do. 

And I will continue to give my time to you all, to ensure you have the support you need from your state government. Because of you, I am continuing to fight for you. Thank you.

Press release:

The Genesee County Shooter’s Committee On Political Education (SCOPE) recently published their candidate ratings. They gave  Mark Glogowski, Ph.D., Libertarian Candidate for NYS Assembly District 139, a “D” rating. The copy of Scope’s rating document Glogowski received was partially obliterated, but what could be read stated “Glogowski supports the 2nd Amendment but lacks the … (two words unreadable) … in dealing with NY democrats.”

Glogowski said today that the “D” rating SCOPE gave him clearly doesn’t have anything to do with his position on your right to bear arms, nor the enforcement of the 2nd Amendment’s prohibition on governments passing laws infringing on your right to bear arms.

His position on the 2nd, 9th, and 10th Amendments are clearly explained on his campaign website page: www.glogowskiforassembly/the-second-amendment.

Glogowski said that the reason for the low rating is because is willing to vote for bills that protect your rights, liberties and freedoms no matter who proposes and supports those bills, even of those sponsors are Democrats.

The case in point, at the Oct. 12th meeting of Genesee County SCOPE, Glogowski criticized Assemblyman Steve Hawley’s opposition to the anti-SLAPP bill S.52A/A.5991-A. Glogowski emphatically said he would have voted for the bill, a bill that had overwhelming Democratic support and corresponding Republican opposition.

That bill was designed to protect you from the rich and powerful who have launched many frivolous “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation” (SLAPP) intended to stop such activity. According to Glogowski, the anti-SLAPP bill is consistent with the intent of the 14th amendment.

He stated he would have voted for that bill, and now believes that statement was the reason for SCOPE members to rate him a “D”; he will not willingly and blindly oppose Democrats and their proposals. Hawley, a solid Republican, voted against the Democrat-sponsored anti-SLAPP bill.

Glogowski was also very outspoken about the NYS legislators, including Hawley, who abdicated their responsibility to legislate earlier this year and who unconstitutionally transferred their legislative powers to Governor Cuomo.

“No incumbent should be reelected this year. Doing so would be an act rewarding them for their abandonment of their responsibilities,” Glogowski said.

Glogowski stated that he will support any bill, regardless of who the sponsors are, that will: reestablish county representation in the Assembly; end the tyranny of grants; furthers the reduction and elimination of state income taxes and real estate taxes; eliminate unconstitutional budget legislation practices; work to stop wasteful spending; work to overhaul the Election Laws; create line item veto powers for the Governor, Senate, and Assembly; create a balanced budget; decrease state mandates; and protect your rights, liberties and freedoms.

Glogowski claims Hawley’s “A” rating is not related to his position or actions concerning the 2nd Amendment. SCOPE has consistently overlooked Hawley’s vote cast to fund the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, commonly known as the NY SAFE Act.

The SAFE act is clearly an unconstitutional gun regulation law. SCOPE also overlooked the explanation, provided at a New York Revolution meeting held in Genesee County, where Hawley stated that if he did not vote for the budget bill that included SAFE Act funding, he would have lost $28 million allocated for the Western New York Science and Technology Advanced Manufacturing (WNY STAMP) Project.

With that statement, he traded your 2nd Amendment protection against tyranny for $28 million. The question today is why is he still receiving an “A” rating?

"Our right to own property, the right to own the fruits of our labors, both have already been traded for the thousands of dollars each year the government collects in taxes from you," Glogowski said. "What other rights do we have that will be traded for money this way?”

“We need legislators that will fight tyranny, not participate in the tyranny because it is convenient or that there is money in it for them.”

This year, with your vote, you can help put an end to this slide down the slippery slope to the Democrat’s tyranny of socialism or the alternative being the Republican’s tyranny of fascism. This year, Glogowski pleads, don’t make a choice.

Drive a stake in the ground and make a decision, a decision to Vote Libertarian. Vote for Mark Glogowski, Assembly District 139.

After the GOP headquarters opening on Saturday, we spoke with Assemblyman Steve Hawley about his effort to win another term representing the 139th Assembly District.

Mark Glogowski, candidate for the 139th Assembly District, was in Le Roy on Saturday and we conducted this short interview with him.

Thanks to Covid-19, people are being forced to look at the benefits and drawbacks of the public-school systems and compare them to the relative safety of the homeschool options.

The school systems have been waffling over their ability to provide a safe environment. My fear is that parents in New York State will, sooner or later, begin to experience increased limitations on their ability to make educational decisions and soon will be limited to just making choices.

Our governments have created a massive, expensive and ineffective educational system.

Not only are students not receiving the education needed for today’s technological society, many are not even receiving the basic education needed to be functional in normal business.

If the educational system pursued a business quality standard for education, and achieved the business standard of Sigma 6, they would have just one person out of the last 100,000 students to pass through the school system not graduate with a functional high school education.

We are not coming anywhere close to that standard. 

The school systems, and our government, need to proactively promote efficiencies in education. They should be working to aggressively use and adopt the educational technologies and opportunities that private enterprise has developed and now offer.

They need to figure out how to stop consuming resources on old practices that have proven to be ineffective at producing a sigma six quality educational product. Because of the effectiveness and efficiencies involved, homeschooling will be commonplace in the future, much more so than it has been even in the recent past.

When elected to office, I will work:

• to remove the barriers to homeschooling;
• to eliminate funding inequalities between home-school and public-school;
• to create a functional educational environment that addresses our technological needs;
• to support efficiencies in education, and;
• toward the goal of ensuring taxes collected for education are used wisely.  

My ultimate objective is to eliminate the real-estate-based school tax.

Read More about my thoughts, research and positions on this and other subjects here.

Mark Glogowski, Ph.D.

Libertarian Candidate for NYS Assembly, 139^th Election District

Hamlin, NY

(Photo courtesy of Mark Glogowski.)

From Mark Glogowski, Ph.D., Libertarian candidate for NY State 139^thAssembly District:

One of the most important issues I believe we face is the unconstitutional tyranny of our current taxation situation. Having an ally in your Assembly is crucial to correcting this. Being realistic, it will take time to unweave the tangled interrelations between government agencies and departments that have been created since the 16th Amendment was ratified, but it is doable. It will take time to get our obese government trimmed down to be lean and efficient, and with a lower appetite for taxes, but it is achievable.

There are several ways we can begin this process. The first is to get the state to operate within a balanced budget by cutting spending, not increasing taxes. We need a legislature that is aware of and pursues nongovernmental options when issues are being considered. A legislature that is willing to hear and apply Libertarian solutions, thus eliminating the need for the wealth of the people to support the government’s involvement.

Here are just a few places and activities we could proactively begin:

• Permit our governor and legislature to take control of expenditures by providing both with the equivalent of the "line item" veto ability;
• End the practice of legislation being placed in budgets (it is unconstitutional);
• Remove barriers that prevent local governments from spontaneously working cooperatively together again. The discussions recently between Genesee and Orleans counties regarding a shared jail is a good example. Unfortunately, no matter what they agree on, the barrier now in place is that the state government has oversight of county governments (instead of the other way around) and the state has in place barriers that prevent spontaneous intragovernmental cooperation;
• Allow all local governments (county, city, town, and village) to put more of an emphasis on sales taxes and less on real estate taxes and real estate based service charges;
• Eliminate real estate taxes all together. They effectively cause you to not actually own the property you paid for. As with any property tax, if you don’t pay your real estate taxes you will be evicted by the Government and will lose your property.
• Dismantle the Industrial Development Agencies and the Economic Development Zones (famous for setting up competition for existing businesses with taxpayer money and dictating to counties, towns and villages what they can and cannot do);
• Initially reduce the immense number of grants, and then eliminate grants altogether. Grants are nothing more than acts of tyranny, where government takes money from you and gives it to companies and individuals for projects that are not economically viable (such as putting up 640 ft windmills) and companies with poor business plans (like the local yogurt company that disappeared shortly after state funding ran out), and grants to pay for studies to find out where new grants can be issued (as happens in such projects as the Finger Lakes Forward initiative). Government is going out of its way to find something worthwhile to do with your hard-earned money rather than letting you keep it and invest as you see fit.

Let’s put a stop to government wasting your hard-earned money. If we are successful we will see more activity by private enterprise to help spur the economy and build a better community, such as the grant program set up by Heritage Wind.

All these barriers were placed by generations of Democrat and Republican politicians. You cannot employ the same thinking to change as was used to create this mess.

Support my efforts to become your NYS Assemblyman and I assure you, restructuring our financial (tax) structure, rescinding the 16^thAmendment, and restoring financial barriers to taxing will be among my top objectives. As your Assemblyman, I will work to initiate a call to rescind the 16^thAmendment and will seek the support of the Assemblies in 35 other States. I will work to give you back control over your wealth and possessions.

Vote Libertarian

Vote for Mark Glogowski for Assembly, District 139

Read more about my positions on other important issues at:   www.glogowskiforassembly.com