Issue Position: Jobs

Issue Position

There is no bigger issue in this Assembly race than good paying jobs in the North Country.
With our current Assemblyperson, St. Lawrence County has consistently had the highest
unemployment rate in New York State. Jefferson County has an unemployment rate higher than the State average even thought it's home to the State's largest single-site employer, Fort Drum. Mark Walczyk is endorsed by the NY Business Council, Unshackle Upstate, the National Federation for Independent Businesses and many small business owners. We need to send Mark Walczyk to the New York State Assembly if we expect the business climate in Albany to change.

Reduce taxes by cutting spending in Albany.
Start with cutting the "Start-up New York" television advertisements which have spent nearly $100million of your tax dollars just to tell businesses to move here and even when there's great incentives attached, the program has resulted in less than 1,000 new jobs statewide. Our current Assemblymember has said the program needs a "serious rethinking" -- then proceeded to vote to spend the money each year anyway.

"I'm not running for Assembly to make friends in Albany," Walczyk said. "We need someone
who's ready to make waves, stand up, and fight for businesses of Northern New York, not play
games and pick winners and losers."

10 years ago, our Assemblywoman ran on a promise to create an "Alternative Energy
Technologies Center." This was featured at the center of her "jobs plan" right here in the North Country. It sounded good but that's all it was, talk, another empty promise. We've seen zero follow through.

Cut red tape.
Red tape has been crafted over time, worked on, and "perfected" by bureaucrats in Albany who have never worked in the private sector and who believe their job is to find the reasons why you can't. New York's unfriendly business climate isn't magic - it's built by broken methods that leave innovation behind and defeat the entrepreneurial spirit. Cutting red tape and working though agency regulation is a big part of the job and we need an Assemblyman like Mark Walczyk who's not afraid to stand up and fight for businesses of the North Country. We need a watchdog.

The State's winner-take-all crony capitalism model has not only wasted your money, it's
produced few jobs and has been a breeding ground for corruption. Billions of your tax dollars
have been taken, and given to private companies under the banner of "economic development" but Northern New York is not feeling the vitality and there is no proven return on investment. It's time to stop the games and end the corruption.

"New York State should have to prove itself capable of fixing our roads, bridges, water and
sewer infrastructure before it plays games with the free market," Walczyk argues. "We must
stop supporting terrible programs by trying to "fix' them while continuing dipping into the pockets of our hardworking taxpayers. We need to get government out of the way and allow free thinkers, business owners and capitalism to grow our economy. I will fight for the success of the North County, our small businesses, and our taxpayers. The difference is, I will follow through."

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