Kelly and Hall debate plowshares, not swords

Warwick - The two candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 19th congressional district appeared together publicly for the first time on Monday evening. The Warwick Town Hall was the scene of the candidates’ debate sponsored by the Orange County Farm Bureau, an event called “A Forum on Government and Agriculture in the Hudson Valley.” Republican incumbent Sue Kelly and Democratic candidate John Hall stood at their respective podiums for an hour — through opening statements, answering questions and closing statements. The audience of 200 was attentive, and, for the most part, adhered to the “no applause” rule. One audience member shouted out that there should be questions on the subject of Iraq, and after repeated warnings, was removed from the room by two police officers. “Farmers and growers are part of Orange County’s strong agricultural tradition,” Kelly said in her opening statement. She added that she wanted to eliminate the federal estate tax, which she called the “death tax.” In his opening statement, Hall said a better produce distribution system was needed. “I can’t find any onions or apples in Dover Plains (in Dutchess County) that are grown in Orange County.” Speaking later on the federal estate tax, Hall said the exempt amount should be increased so only the largest farms and estates would be affected. Hall would reform the visa application process to allow documents to be acquired more quickly by immigrant farm workers. He also claimed that a bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives would make criminals of church workers and social workers that help immigrants. Kelly supported measures to secure American borders in order to stem the tide of illegal immigration, would accommodate farmers with a guest-worker program that did not include amnesty and denied Hall’s claim regarding the House bill. Kelly would seek to stop frivolous lawsuits, saying: “They are a great cost to our economy.” Hall said: “I am not for limiting legal recourse to any citizen.” The Democrat advocated for food labeling, both as to where it is grown and for any genetic alteration. Kelly also was supportive of geographic labeling, but did not support labeling for genetic alteration. “This type of alteration has been going on for a long time and it’s hard to pin down,” she said. Kelly supports any anti-trust action that would give our family farmers a fair shake. Hall voiced his displeasure at the lack of anti-trust action, of any kind, by the current administration. Kelly would compensate farmers for crop losses due to weather with a $4.2 billion disaster relief bill. Hall said that any relief payments should not be offset by regular farm program payments and that the relief money should come from the waste in the military budget. In terms of the environment, Hall said he favored increased environmental standards on imports but not in lowering those standards on American soil, while Kelly agreed with the proposition that U.S. environmental rules hurt American farmers. Both candidates said that milk produced with bovine growth hormones should be labeled as such. Both also spoke in favor of allowing farmers to “put away without taxes” profits in good years. Neither mentioned when, if ever, the taxes would be paid. Kelly closed by citing her votes for “real tax relief,” including the child tax credit, elimination of the marriage penalty and ending the federal estate tax. She then turned to Hall and said: “He wants to raise your taxes by government-run health care at the expense of our military.” Hall closed by saying: “In spite of what my opponent says, I am not a taxer.” He cited his opposition to an unneeded waste facility when he was a member of the Ulster County Legislature. Blooming Grove Town Councilman Brandon Nielsen described the debate as “good and spirited, and there was a concerted effort to stay on topic.” Seymour Gordon of Warwick said he was disappointed by the limitations imposed by the debate structure. “It was hard for the audience to ask questions, and the debate was limited to agriculture,” Gordon said. The 19th congressional district includes all of Putnam county and parts of Dutchess, Rockland, Westchester and Orange counties.