Issues

We need progressive and energetic leaders in Albany who can transform our problems into opportunities for positive change.  I was raised in a family that placed the highest importance on commitment to the community, and where I was taught that integrity is the paramount component for implementing good governance.  The guiding principles of honesty, tolerance, and patience should be at the heart of our every endeavor. I firmly believe that, together as a community, we can work to change the disasterous choices that have been made on behalf of our region, and bring a new and fresh vision for the Hudson Valley. I offer all my energy, inspiration, hard work, and my highest aspirations for this wonderful part of our state, and I respectfully ask for your support.

~Jonathan B Smith

Leading the New Energy Economy

I have been an active, concerned environmentalist for a decade and a half. Finally, the hard truths about what we have been doing to our environment are becoming known. The effects of global warming, and of toxic substances threatening our personal health, are in the forefront of the news around the globe. In this time of transformation in the Hudson Valley, as in the world, it is crucial that our towns and local governments are given the incentives and tools to shape economic growth towards clean, sustainable and renewable technologies. Our region is capable of developing and sustaining its own energy supply, reducing our need to rely on foreign imports. The growth of clean energy technology will be a driving force in the economy of the future and I believe that New York can take an active and profitable role in its development. Long term, renewable growth is to the advantage of every member of our community.

Supporting Affordable Health Care

New York State must move towards a more fair and equitable system of health care. Far too many seniors in our communities have to choose between the basic necessities of life and life-saving medicines. Even though state law mandates that all children be insured, the fact is that far too many underprivileged children fall through the cracks in the system. We need a system in New York that ensures that all New Yorkers are covered and we need insurance reform. I pledge to make this a priority in Albany.

A Fair and Just Tax System

New Yorkers are desperate for real tax reform. Because of serious flaws in the state budget process and entrenched resistance to reform over the past decades, many New Yorkers have been forced to give up their homes, homes that in many cases have been in their families for generations, because they cannot afford the oppressive taxes. Citizens on fixed incomes, and members of our society who are least able to pay, are facing a higher percentage of the burdens of taxation than those who can more easily meet those obligations. Young people who cannot afford to buy property in our state are leaving in droves, and with them will go the promise of our future. This is a tremendous injustice that must be addressed - we must stabilize the tax system in our state and make it fair for all who live here. A fair plan will not only relieve the over-burdened, but can be a stimulant to economic development in our region and state.  We need to move to an income-based system of funding education, and the first step in doing so should be the "circuit breaker" approach. The "circuit breaker" protects those who do not earn enough income from higher taxes than they can afford.  To offset this loss in revenue, we must institute a progressive income tax for people making over $250,000 a year. Such a system will allow working families to keep their homes and still raise over $3.9 billion in new revenues to fund education.

Working for Our Children

I believe that the burden of unfunded mandates from our state capitol, particularly in education, should be restructured and more fairly addressed in Albany. Certainly we face severe problems. In certain school districts children learn in packed classes operating at 130% capacity. Other schools in the district teach in temporary classrooms built out of trailers. Yet, in 2005, State Aid as a percentage of public school budgets fell to a 50 year low and the gap between resources allocated for the richest and poorest school districts is the largest in the country. This is not the type of leadership and governance that our children will require to become the bright stars our region and our nation so desperately need. Our children deserve better.