17th Congressional District: Lowey vs. Carvin vs. Morganthaler
The newly redrawn 17th Congressional District for the U.S. House of Representatives is a mix of communities on both sides of the Hudson River in Westchester and Rockland counties. The debate at this level mirrors the differences between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. A third voice in the District 17 race echoes many stances from the Tea Party.
The redistricting was done to accommodate population changes highlighted in the 2010 census. Rep. Nita Lowey, the incumbent Democrat from the former 18th Congressional District, faces Republican challenger and Rye Supervisor Joe Carvin and independent candidate Frank Morganthaler.
Joe Carvin
Carvin, 57, was elected Town of Rye supervisor in 2008. He is taking the leap from local to congressional politics because he believes the nation is at a crossroads. As a hedge fund manager with a financial business background, Carvin described himself as a fiscal hawk and a social moderate.
“I believe that anything the private sector can do, it should do,” he said. “We need to reduce the size of government, and make better government.”
Carvin would support repeal of the Affordable Healthcare Act. He said the Obama Administration shouldn’t have pursued health care reform.
“I would like to see universal health care, but we have to be able to afford it,” Carvin said.
Carvin, married with two daughters, also believes the Medicaid program is broken with many doctors not bothering to charge for services because it costs them more to collect than they are paid. Similarly, he contends there is need for tort reform to relieve doctors from the burden of overly expensive malpractice insurance.
For Medicare, Carvin argued that vouchers would give individuals a choice and the insurance companies will have to keep up. He would also raise the retirement age for social security.
While Carvin supports the idea of economic stimulus, he would have backed a different package that invested in the country’s infrastructure.
“The fiscal crisis has become a jobs race. We should have a new Tappan Zee Bridge by now, complete with mass transit, that would have created jobs,” he explained.
Carvin said the proposals made by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform co-chaired by Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, should be the starting point for serious economic discussion. He has called Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan his hero because “he has the courage to put forward solutions at great political peril.”
Regarding the issuance of a new 20-year license to run the Indian Point power plant, Carvin maintains the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will make sure it is safe.
“We will lose 2,000 jobs if it closes and every business in our vicinity will become less competitive because electricity costs will go up,” he said, adding that no one has offered a reasonable alternative. “Every homeowner will pay more for electricity and we will have blackouts. We will go to a Third World status and ultimately lose jobs because of our lack of competitiveness.”
In the international arena Carvin maintained that American policy must understand “there is a civil war in Islam today and the people being hurt are the modern Muslims. We have to be absolutely fundamental in our support of Israel,” he said.
Carvin added that the perceived distance between the United States and Israel is damaging.
Carvin founded an organization called One World United and Virtuous in 2008 that promotes the idea of global citizenship.
“I don’t agree with Romney’s approach to Russia and China,” he said. “I don’t think we should be yelling at these people. We need to help them understand they have a stake in the global system. We need to bring them into the global fold.”
As a Republican, Carvin said he is steadfastly in the Romney/Ryan camp although he disagrees with Ryan’s contention that the legality of abortion should be determined state by state.
“I would fight any effort to make abortion illegal,” he maintained.
Nita Lowey
Since 1988, Lowey has been elected to Congress 12 consecutive times. She is the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations and a member of the subcommittee on Homeland Security and the subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies.
Lowey said her top priority is creating jobs.
“I want to focus like a laser beam on helping people help themselves. From my perspective when I look at how do you create jobs, I focus on the small business.”
Lowey supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and said it was a mistake that an additional stimulus was not passed. She also voted for the Budget Control Act to reduce the national debt by $2 trillion over 10 years. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, she claimed to have identified $37 billion in possible spending cuts.
Lowey is concerned about what she terms a dysfunctional Congress.
“I have never seen it so bad,” she said. “It’s really very unfortunate because you could put together a long-term plan, but you need cooperation.”
Lowey supports parts of Simpson-Bowles, but considers deductions of state and local taxes too important for New Yorkers. Other elements of the proposal need further scrutiny, she said.
Lowey backs the Affordable Health Care Act and said rather than repealing it and starting from scratch, changes can be made. She agreed there is much waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare.
“But you don’t turn Medicare into a voucher program over it,” she said responding to proposals put forward by the Romney campaign and supported by Carvin.
Lowey similarly views social security as a critical program that must be preserved for future generations. Raising the age limit is something Lowey said is not as straightforward as it may seem. For example, there is the difference in retirement age for a laborer and someone with a desk job.
Regarding the high cost of gasoline, Lowey contends there is no scientific explanation for it. “There shouldn’t be a $4 billion loophole for the oil industry when they don’t need it and are making such large profits,” she added.
As a proponent of reducing the United States’ dependency on foreign oil, Lowey said domestic drilling is necessary, but she does not want to sacrifice precious lands.
“There has to be a balance and you have to invest in the whole range of energy including wind, solar and bio fuels,” she said.
Regarding the relicensing of Indian point for another 20 years, Lowey takes the strong position that a nuclear power plant does not belong within a 50-mile radius of New York City. She would accept a license of shorter duration so alternatives can be sought.
Lowey would like to see bus rapid transit on the new Tappan Zee Bridge and will work to bring the $5.1 billion the state has requested for the new span.
The congresswoman wants to see the nation leave Afghanistan as soon as possible. While sanctions against Iran are working, it needs to know military options are on the table, she said.
Lowey, 75, is married with three children and eight grandchildren.
Frank Morganthaler
Morganthaler’s campaign literature refers to him as the “Real Republican and Constitutional Conservative” and puts Carvin into the same category as Lowey–“both like-minded liberals.”
As a Vietnam veteran, having served with the United States Marine Corps, Morganthaler, 64, is sensitive to veterans issues and has volunteered for many veterans organizations.
Morganthaler sought the Republican endorsement, was knocked off the primary ballot and is running as an independent on the We the People line. He carries pocket versions of The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. He is happy to be referred to as the Tea Party candidate and wants to show that campaigns don’t have to spend millions of dollars.
“The president bypasses the constitution and rules by executive order,” Morganthaler contended, “and Congress doesn’t stand up to him. By signing the United Nations Arms Treaty he [Obama] circumvented the second amendment.”
It’s the second amendment that protects citizen’s rights to bear arms, and Morganthaler said he is against gun control and an assault rifle ban.
“Everybody looks at the gun,” said Morganthaler, who is married with one daughter. “Every day there are stabbings, but we have not seen anyone call for the seizure of knives. Everyday there are fires, but we don’t see a ban on gasoline.”
Morganthaler, a retired New York City fire lieutenant who is now a private investigator, said the gun laws in place are sufficient and should be enforced. He views violent television shows and video games as the instigators of violence.
As for the economy, Morganthaler said government spending, borrowing and regulations are killing the country. These include regulations established by the Environmental Protection Agency that prevent drilling and exploration for gas and coal.
Morganthaler wants money collected by the Medicare payroll tax to go where it belongs, into paying for medical services people need. He also said the social security retirement age should rise and there is no need to dismantle the health care system to fix it. He also strongly opposes cutting the military.
On abortion, Morganthaler is the Right to Life candidate and would vote to repeal Roe v. Wade.
