Valdés Smith Challenges Incumbent Rolison for 39th Senate District Seat

Democrat Yvette Valdés Smith is seeking to unseat state Sen. Rob Rolison in the 39th Senate District, which includes Putnam Valley, Philipstown and parts of Orange and Dutchess counties.

Valdés Smith is a former public-school teacher and a two-term Dutchess County legislator where she currently serves as minority leader. Her district includes the City of Beacon.

Rolison, a retired police officer and former two-term Poughkeepsie mayor, ran two years ago, defeating Julie Shiroishi by more than 6 points.

Rolison declined repeated requests to be interviewed for this article.

Housing affordability is a big issue in the district, and Valdés Smith said it has been raised repeatedly with voters she has spoken to during her campaign.

“This is a huge issue for our struggling vets and seniors,” Valdés Smith noted. “We have to tackle the housing problem in our state. My parents are seniors and we shouldn’t have to worry about if they can stay in their community. Housing is a basic human right.”

Valdés Smith recently met a Putnam Valley homeowner who wanted to set up an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in his backyard for his son who was graduating from college.

“He told me the town is taxing ADUs, which he can’t afford and he is unable to provide housing for his son,” she said.

Although Valdés Smith disagreed with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan for transit-orientated development (TOD) requiring municipalities with MTA rail stations to build more housing, she has maintained she has been a proponent for more housing.

“Municipalities should determine new housing for themselves,” she said. “It is going to be critical for leaders of today and tomorrow to make sure there is enough housing for everybody. We need to work with developers in offering tax credits and incentives to get more into our housing stock.”

Valdés Smith said she supports updating Foundation Aid to public schools in the state.

The decades-old formula used to calculate what districts receive currently sends about $24.9 billion a year to New York school districts, but doesn’t use updated data to match the real monetary need of each district.

“The formula is extremely outdated,” Valdés Smith said. “The Foundation Aid calculates what school districts need by using data that’s over 20 years old. What school districts receive is not equitable. Those in Albany need to be champions in reforming the Foundation Aid.”

Albany legislators voted for full Foundation Aid this year but it still wasn’t enough for some school districts.

“Here at home the initial school budget didn’t pass and the Garrison School District was cut by 44 percent,” Valdés Smith explained. “We see time after time that the formula has to be fixed.”

Valdés Smith said Rolison voted against aid to public schools.

“As a parent and taxpayer that’s unacceptable,” she said.

According to the non-partisan research organization VoteSmart, Rolison voted against state budget bills that provided $934 million in additional Foundation Aid for school districts and $350 million in additional tax credits for families eligible for the Empire State Child Tax Credit.

About a year ago Rolison claimed that homeless veterans were being displaced from local hotels to accommodate asylum seekers who were being relocated from New York City shelters. The story was later found to be false, but Valdés Smith said the damage had already been done.

“The asylum seeker story caused a lot of people to be fearful,” she said. “This is a perfect example of Rolison’s extremism. He and his colleagues jumped on this story without merit and without evidence, which was incredibly reckless. Coming from a family of veterans, I found it to be very offensive.”

Based on the erroneous claims, Rolison introduced legislation last year that would limit migrant housing in local hotels and homeless shelters. He later apologized for spreading false information, but didn’t withdraw his proposed legislation, which has remained in the Senate’s Social Services Committee.

Valdés Smith said many of the 80 single male migrants housed at the Red Roof Inn in Poughkeepsie were all legal immigrants, and to date many have left seeking employment.

“I spoke to many of them in English and Spanish and a vast majority just want to get jobs here and pay into our system,” Valdés Smith said.

Last year the Senate passed a bill that would require a 10-day waiting period for the purchase of any firearm. According to the state Senate website, Rolison, who has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, voted against the bill.

Valdés Smith said the waiting period provides a cooling off period.

“If you can’t wait 10 days for a firearm that means there’s a problem,” she said. “I’m not against the Second Amendment but we shouldn’t ever have to worry about dropping our kids off at school. As a former teacher, teachers in a classroom can’t worry about where to put students if a person came in with a gun. It’s an issue I take personally.”