At a recent political breakfast, federal, state and county candidates gathered together with members of the Manlius Chamber of Commerce to discuss the issue of small business, mingle with voters and try to gain more votes through an under-three-minute speech.
For the Aug. 12 breakfast that took place at the Cavalry Club, political candidates discussed their ideas for the best solution to increasing New York’s likeability for small businesses.
New York state is failing as a business friendly place; New York is ranked the 48th friendliest state, said Rob DeMarco, candidate for the 127th assembly district. This means New York has been declared one of the most unfriendly states to live and conduct business in.
“Anybody can stand up here and beat up on a broken system. I’m not going to do that. What I think we need to do is focus [on] how can we fix this, what can we do,” Demarco said.
Grants and tax breaks are artificial and are not going to fix the system, but a flat tax break across the board is not, DeMarco said.
“We need to attract new businesses and keep the ones we have,” he said. “The idea that government should be involved in business doesn’t work. The government wants to help? Get out of the way.”
There are three important concepts discussed that need to be accomplished in order to promote small businesses in Central New York. One, increase tax cuts and reduce the tax burden. Two, improve infrastructure by fixing bridges, improving roads and looking at creative ways to deal with the problems such as route 81. Third, to continue the spirit of bipartisanship, incumbent Democratic Congressional candidate Dan Maffei said.
“I think that is what is going to bring us forward — working together, making sure we find consensus where we can, disagree where we disagree, but find those areas where we agree in order to work forward for small businesses and the middle class,” Maffei said. “That’s going to be the key to our success.”
Other speakers included Chris Moss, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor; Gene Conway, Republican candidate for Onondaga County sheriff; Al Stirpe, Democratic candidate for New York State assemblyman; Brian Dejoseph, the supreme court justice who is up for reelection; and John Katko, Republican candidate for the 24th district.
Ashley Wolf is an intern with the Cazenovia Republican. She can be reached at [email protected].
