Will you support/oppose NYS Senate Bill S6457B: A bill allowing for automatic voter registration in New York State? *
Other: I agree with the electronic registration, I object to the requirement that the individual is a citizen of the United States. There is no constitutional requirement that every ‘resident’ of the US be a citizen of the US. Residents should be allowed to vote, at least in state and local elections. I would support a law that allowed all residents of NYS to vote.
Will you support/oppose NYS A4987/S1931: A bill to restore voting rights to parolees, to facilitate community reintegration and participation in the civic process? *
Support
Will you support/oppose the amendment to the NYS Constitution to allow for Same-Day Voter Registration? (Previously passed once in January 2019) *
Oppose
Will you support/oppose the amendment to the NYS Constitution to allow for No Excuse Absentee Ballot Voting? (Previously passed once in January 2019) *
Other: I do not believe this requires an NYS Constitutional amendment. All we need to do is to redefine what an acceptable excuse is, which could be that they just want to vote by mail.
Education
The following section seeks to get an idea of your position on several pieces of education legislation that are currently being debated in the New York State Legislature.
Will you support/oppose NYS A1368: A bill to establish a holistic autism spectrum disorder treatment center? This bill requires the out-of-state placement committee to develop standards, regulations, and recommendations for aversion crisis intervention methods and techniques; establishes a holistic autism spectrum disorder treatment center.
Support
Will you support/oppose NYS A6512/S4844: A bill which would mandate that all NYS public schools k-12 implement comprehensive, inclusive, age- and developmentally appropriate, and medically accurate sex education? *
Other: While the intention of the bill, and some aspects of the bill are desirable, the bill will have to be reworded substantially before I can support it. I have great concerns related to prostitution being illegal, genital exposure being illegal, and the conflicts that will result as the child tries to handle the brass, open discussion of sex in a classroom with these standards in public conduct still in place. In general, I support the concept of sex education, but on a practical matter, I believe it will produce much unrest among both parents and children.
Will you support/oppose NYS A5373/S4217: A bill that would provide for the employment of social workers by school districts?
Other: There are other methods of providing this service other than making it mandatory for each school district to incur the cost of full-time employees. Some of the provisions I view as intrusive, while others seem very reasonable. I would look forward to a total rewrite. Additionally, I believe the environment will be totally changed and ‘in-person’ education may be a thing of the past.
Social Justice & Equity
The following section seeks to get an idea of your position on several pieces of legislation regarding social justice & equity that are currently being debated in the New York State Legislature.
Will you support/oppose NYS A2116/S1739: A bill that would establish a racial equity legislative committee to review and prepare a racial equity assessment of all legislation that is reported favorably to both houses of the legislature? *
Oppose
Will you support/oppose NYS A5395/S2380: A bill that would establish three options for sex designation on NYS identification? *
Oppose
Will you support/oppose NYS A866/S2912: A bill that would establish an LGBTQ long-term care residents’ bill of rights?
Other: I support most of the aspects of the bill, however, the forced imposition of sharing bathrooms with members of the other sex is as much an imposition on the ‘straight’ members of society as it is an imposition on the sensibilities of the LGBT to not permit the sharing of bathrooms when the person’s sexual orientation has flipflopped. Perhaps requiring “His”, “Hers”, and “Other” bathrooms in all facilities would be more appropriate. Someone using the ‘Others’ is not an imposition; it is not like residents of these elderly care facilities would not know the person’s sexual orientation. The failure to provide AIDS information to the residents in the facility is unacceptable. The practice will cause the residents to be unknowingly exposed to the AIDS virus. Is the state willing to sacrifice the lives of the other elderly individuals in this way? Will the state assume the liability if others are infected?
Will you support/oppose NYS A8070/S6066: A bill that would require that under the Hate Crimes Act data would be collected on the sexual orientation, gender identity, and racial or ethnic identity of hate crime victims and alleged perpetrators?
Other: While there are many aspects of the bill that I support, I do not support the concept of ‘hate crimes’. I would oppose this bill. A crime should be defined is doing harm to another person or their property. A crime is a crime. One is not more egregious than another just because of race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, uniformed, or civilian – these have nothing to do with determining whether a crime has been committed. They should be equally punished.
Why are you interested in an endorsement from the NASW-NYS PACE?
While there are some issues we will disagree on, especially when it comes to determining who should be making the decisions that impact people (government or the individual) I believe there are many approaches to government that we can and do agree on, especially on whether people should be empowered, how efficient government should function, and the issues of concern that should be before the Legislature.
If elected, how will you uplift and invest in the social work profession?
You have focused on the social work professional being inserted into schools and government agencies and affairs. Social work, to be effective, needs to work on a one on one basis. I would like to see the direction of growth change and have the doors open to promoting individual initiated interactions with social workers, instead of court-ordered or school-initiated interactions. The latter usually start off with a hostile relationship. I believe private enterprise, as a service to the public, would be more effective than beginning a roundabout, massive government program.
Which two social justice issues will you/have you prioritized? *
NONE YET
What role do you believe a social worker could play in your office? *
I am certain, in this environment, many upset individuals will be knocking and asking for assistance.