Walking for a moratorium

Dutchess legislator wants to best Cuomo, tax millionaires

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY — In the view of many political analysts, it’s a foregone conclusion that Andrew Cuomo, the attorney general of the state, will be the Democratic candidate in the race for the governor’s seat this fall. But dark horse candidate Joel Tyner, a four-term legislator from Dutchess County, believes he should be the candidate.

Tyner turned out to the Sullivan County Government Center on Tuesday to begin a 60-mile walk to Delhi to bring attention to his position regarding the natural gas debate raging through the region. In a phone interview, Tyner said he believes there should be a “three-, four- or five-year moratorium” on gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale, and perhaps an outright ban.

He said, “I agree with Sierra Club, Catskill Mountainkeeper, “Gasland” director Josh Fox, and thousands of others, that what is truly needed now is for the NY Department of Environmental Conservation to wait to issue any permitting guidelines for natural gas drilling until the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s fracking study, already underway, is fully completed,” before it issues any permits to drill. “The one-year moratorium that the state assembly is considering may be a step in the right direction, but it is just a tiny step,” he said.

But gas drilling is not his main issue. Tyner is even more concerned about filling the budget gap the state is facing.

Cuomo and Tyner agree that after the $9 billion gap for this year is solved, the state will still face a $30 billion deficit for next three years, but they have different ways of addressing it.

Cuomo advocates for freezing the salaries of state employees, most of whom have contract negotiations coming up in 2011. Cuomo also wants to downsize government, and get control of Medicaid costs. Cuomo has also said that money for education and healthcare programs may have to be cut.

That’s the kind of solution that Tyner, who is also a teacher, does not like to hear.

Tyner said, “I’ve read his 250-page platform, and there’s good stuff there: redistricting, ethics reform, marriage equality, I’m all for that. But the second chapter of his platform talks about money issues, and he’s made it clear that he’s for no new taxes on the wealthy. Well, a poll just came out showing that by a four-to-one ratio, that’s what New York State voters want in order to stop teachers being laid off and programs eliminated, and to prevent school property tax hikes.”

The poll, which was commissioned by New York State United Teachers, surveyed voters in three swing districts, where respondents overwhelmingly supported a one percent tax increase for people earning more than $1 million per year, and a two percent increase for those earning more than $5 million.

Tyner continued, “Right now, millionaires are paying less than a nine percent income tax rate; back in the early ‘70s under Governor Nelson Rockefeller, they were paying more than 15 percent. And as a result of the lower rates, property taxes and sales taxes have all skyrocketed on the local level.”

Another way to raise money to fill the budget hole is with a stock transfer tax on Wall Street. Tyner said there is one in place; it’s been there for years and generates $16 billion in revenue. But, he said, for the past 30 years, the state has been giving it back to “the same speculators on Wall Street who destroyed our economy to begin with.”

To gain attention for his candidacy, Tyner began another walk, a 150-mile trek from Wall Street to Albany on June 26.

Tyner said by proposing to solve the state’s fiscal crises by cuts alone, Governor David Paterson, Cuomo and Republican challenger Rick Lazio are all vying for the title of “Herbert Hoover of the new millennium.” He added, “FDR didn’t get us out of the depression with budget cuts, layoffs and union busting.”