Transcripts For CSPAN2 Public Affairs Events 20161103

Things to all view into and to our viewers at home. Dallas and oregon started arriving in the mail today. Dont forget to vote. Election day is officially november 8th. Thank you for watching. Good night. Long before arizona became a part of United States and is a part of first spanish and later mexicans to norad. Tucson was really the northern most community in the province and later the state of sonora. Commission was peace through deterrence. Our job was to project a credible threat, to be here every day demonstrating to the soviet union that even if they launch a surprise first strike against dance, we will be able to write that out and retaliate quickly and with enough force that we would devastate the soviet union, even if they launch their missiles first. Kkilo chain on h. R. News hosted a debate for New Hampshire where chris sununu is on the ballot against Colin Van Ostern. They were asked about college costs, opioid addiction and health care. This is an hour. Tonight, general Election Debate in New Hampshires crucial race for governor. In our studio, republican chris sununu and democratic Colin Van Ostern battling to the Medicaid Expansion. He said he thinks many to a peer to score political points and apply them against medicaid is an absolute lie. To their highprofile bows. A lot of big issues in front of us at our next governor will have to tackle. Chris and i have had different points of views. These two candidates dont see eye to eye. To compare my business background with collins is comical in s. Are debate begins right now. It is debate night in New Hampshire. We want to welcome the candidates and thank them for taking part in this important discussion of the issues that matter most to you, the voters. The candidates will each be given a question and they will have one minute to respond. At the end of the minute the candidates will hear an audio cue. Your moderators tonight 302nd rebuttals will be allowed. At the end of the debate the candidates will give one minute closing statements and counselor at sununu will go first. Partnering with the open debate coalition, a group dedicated to making debates better represent the people. In an historic first tonight, the debate will feature the top questions posed and rated by more than 120,000 voters in New Hampshire and around the nation. With got a lot of crucial issues tonight. We want to service some of the charges in this increasingly Contentious Campaign in recent days. Counselor at sununu, your efforts to pass six years as ceo of the resort and in a new ad this morning, and you create hundreds of jobs there. Today the state Democratic Party in your opponent signed a recent published report that said they have lost jobs since you and your family took over operation six years ago. They called your ad misleading inertia to take it down. I would like to give you the chance to respond to them. Thank you for hosting. The fact weve created jobs is undeniable. We bought the company from a california driven company and moved the administrative jobs in the state. Weve developed restaurants, sold a lot of those aspects off. We are developing a Workforce Housing project that tomorrow we will close on to provide quality Workforce Housing for employees right in the heart of the valley. Relocated our adapter program that helps those with disabilities partaken recreation activities. Used to be run by a vermont group. Now again with free local ice. When it comes to the valley has created hundreds of jobs. Success is undeniable. The only resort on the east coast expanding. Ive invested 2 million in new trails hired people who create new trails. On New Hampshire contractors and workers. The democrats play games and talk about anything to avoid the real issues. Our success im incredibly proud of it and my team. If youd like to respond. What i think this race is about is how we can move our state forward. There are certainly elements of management at waterville that i think Libby Dutcher bunnell mantle to us in New Hampshire. When his family purchased the scene not in five years ago, since then they lost marketshare and cut jobs. There are 62 jobs now whether its New Hampshire Business Review New Hampshire public radio, you can google and learn more yourself. My concern is less about the jobs. Its one thing to have someone who owns a ski resort opposed the minimum wage. When you have a governor that the minimum wage at all, that is bad for the people of New Hampshire. When you have a ski resort owner to not get them health care thats another thing. When you have a candidate for governor who cuts off funding for Birth Control and Cancer Screenings in annual exams for thousands of women, that does real harm and i think we need to focus on what we can do to move our state forward. Our success is undeniable. The only resort in New Hampshire but on the investing and growing, creating jobs, creating a whole new experience for employees. Colin likes to reference the internet and data points and that is something to look at. But he does not understand business, entrepreneurship or how to truly grow jobs. Politicians like to talk about creating jobs into the tours of the factories and that is all well and good. I create job tonight is the stakeholder experience we need in the Corner Office. Moving forward, in recent weeks counselors sununu has brought up your years as a political operative. Its something you dont talk about on the campaign trail. Why is that . The i like to focus on what matters and other sites and what we will do to move our state economy forward. Im proud of my background. Early in my career i worked in politics. Governor lynch did as well. Senator kelley added that the governor before she ran. Most of my background and professional experience image of New Hampshire 15 years ago in the private sector. When we talk about creating jobs in a help Start College for america there were a dozen employees at the time. Now almost 400. I dont define the test based on how many jobs they create. Thousands of students getting a college to create an accredited College Degree without debt because of the program we built. That is something to be proud of. I think it stands in stark contrast to cutting jobs and holding back people from health care and the mismanagement weve unfortunately seen. Once again, call it has avoided the question. In a short 15 year career, tenure system and is a paid political operative, a professional trained in being partisan and divisive and crafting messages we see on television all the time. Thats the politics we dont need here. When congress was working for change shaking i was cleaning up landfills. When he was working for the Democratic Party was developing a resort for families with disabilities. The question i want to ask colin is when he was 14 for john edward, had explained to the people of New Hampshire and the women of New Hampshire being the spokesperson of someone like john edwards. These are things that are background to be discussed in open transparent way. Counselor van ostern. What we are going to do for them. When i say to the women of New Hampshire is on the other candidates here who has 100 of the time supported planned parenthood. I didnt vote to shut off controlling Cancer Screening in annual exams on the im the one over the past year but past year but the making but past year was in making weapons at the manchester house on her for three weeks to five weeks after the funding was successfully shut out. This isnt about politics. Its about peoples lives. I was raised by a single mom. I notice lately without Health Insurance. This isnt about politics to me. Thank you, gentlemen. As you sit together and i was there last month with the unanimous vote in favor of a 36 million state contract. Days later we learned there could be a large layoffs at the end of this year. Counselors sununu, youve called for the contract to be repaired and called for investigation. Counselor van ostern, you disagree. Its been a big topic. Just today counselor sununu, you brought up the fact that counselor van ostern received 50,000 in Campaign Donations from employees that work there and he seemed to question whether those contributions may have influenced his original vote but also his stances then. Mr. Van ostern coming response. What matters to me is doing right by the patients. The contract we both supported the same reason i did if it means more doctors, more nurses, more beds available to some of our most vulnerable populations. Folks at New Hampshire hospital 7000 gold in the last three years are there because of Mental Illness that makes them a danger to themselves or others. That is not a statistic to me. One of the Silver Lining for the drug crisis as we started to break down the stigma and bring addiction out of the shadows. Ive seen this in my own family. My stepfather struggled with Mental Health for years and in his final months of my many patients was found to be a danger to himself and others. When i was a sophomore in high school he took his own life. The reality is patients and health care professionals, loved ones, doctors, nurses, thats the reality they face everyday and they need to governor to put whats right for patients ahead of the political act. Collin has completely avoided the question. Ive been calling for this contract rebate for months. Red flag after red flag has come out. Employee concerns, major resignation. When moore finally left with little choice but to move forward on it. Only the next day to find out there are potentially 450 layoffs coming followed by resignations and red flag. I learned this morning we have 40 plus thousand dollars of contributions directly from the organization directly to Colin Van Ostern. Why is that the governor and collin are so hesitant to do anything. They sat on their hands while the rest of estimated accountability. This is mismanagement at its worst in the Mental Health system. These are sensitive constituents that need our utmost accountability, they need to make sure we provide a system that is working for them. Again, the governor and collin commissioner have completely failed on this issue. You can sidestep it but eventually the true test to catch out. We need accountability, the contract should be repaired. We need to look into these issues because its not about us. Its the sensitivity and the quality of services for Mental Health patients. For the First Six Months of this year we had a new Psychiatric Care wing embeds the saturn used. Despite the fact we had dozens of people with serious psychiatric conditions waiting in the arson within the cell across the state every single day. Usually 30 to 50 today. We couldnt find us have to fill it. As we move forward towards the contractors hired more more doctors, more nurses. The beds are full on most days and the fact is that counselors sununu is proposing now, remember a month ago he voted like i did in all the coasters take because it does mean better care. What is it just now would be less doctors, less nurses. There was struggled to have the window pane. How would we have less doctors by better choice . One better on the contract is the commissioner, governor would do nothing to provide more choices for us. Choice is a good thing for the people of New Hampshire. Not just in the Mental Health system but every contract we have. The fact you take 40,000 brings in the question of ethics, morality and checks and balances. But we have a governor that puts politics first, dollars in his campaign first. Absolutely not. This is New Hampshire. We need to do at the New Hampshire rate, not the way at washington. We need Campaign Finance reforms and accountability. Im just impressed to deprive other political attacks in the middle of the answer. Im not going to have any mock outrage from chris sununu on this. Hes taken money from the biggest Utility Company in the state always sat together on every solar project. He said he didnt want to penalize the electric utility. His brothers on the lobbying and Public Affairs firm and he votes in favor of their clients. Im happy to cite chapter and verse of them that have been. Once again by brothers are not lobbyists. If you compare a power line to the Mental Health stability interstate in taking 40,000, it is deplorable. Candidates from a thank you. A lot of issues we want to get to. Id be remiss if we didnt ask when the question. This is an election like weve never seen before. The republican nominee donald trump making big news a few weeks ago when the recording from 11 years ago directed towards women. Weve talked about this before it interviews. You call the comments repugnant and disgusting. You continue to support donald trump. My question is how you separate the comments from the man. The comments are disgusting, repulsive. Theres no place place for an attitude like that in the public discourse. I said that from day one. Ive always said to support the nominee. When youre looking at the options come in this election on the president ial side isnt about one person. Its about the fabric of our country, where we go over the next four, eight years. Hillary clinton is none of it. Public trust is one of the most important aspects. Hillary clinton has gone to bed. We have to look at what well do over the next four, eight years when you look at the potential and the Supreme Court to and horrible program psycho baba cared across this country. Big washington spending has pushed its way into New Hampshire, invaded our stay. Those are the things that matter and will affect peoples lives as individuals. Policy affects people and thats why we need to stand up strong in New Hampshire. This is simple. Chris sununu has filled the leadership test every single day that he continues to support donald trump will donald trump insults goldstar and others come entire religions because they got captured and democracy itself. Whats more important to him than all of that is his political party. Whats more important than doing what is right for the people of our country and state is sticking with his own political career. Sometimes leadership takes a back bone of the 31 republican governors from the country, one out of three have said they wont support donald trump. The fact that chris malta what is right for the people ahead of you on politics is the governor held the first day. If anything, donald trump is a fine republican. Hillary clinton is the epitome of the democrat party. Weve seen what shes done. What shes done with her emails were shes violated the public trust. She truly defines the Democratic Party. To say donald trump somehow defines our party we know thats a foolish statement. We need to make sure we create the best government possible not just in washington but here in New Hampshire. I believe we need to push back on washington. We need a governor thats going to stand true to our values. The reason he defines the Republican Party is politicians like chris sununu stick with him like everything he said. Lets get to some other issues. Time to talk about the drug crisis. The executive council which you both serve on record 600 in contracts to provide Business Recovery services. More people are expected to die this year than last in New Hampshire. Can we spend our way out of the problem should do you predict next year if elected to the Corner Office fewer people will die. We have to overcome this crisis. We can not only spend our way out or arrest our way out of this amount. We need to be honest about the fact five years ago we didnt have a harrowing crisis yet but the second level of the Prescription Drug abuse and the Second Lowest treatment per capita. I suggested we need to put forward a plan that comes with both resources but more investments and protection, treatment and recovery services. I support the bipartisan expansion of medicaid which i voted for increased voted against. The nonprofit Nonpartisan Group dedicated to tackling the crisis has a fivepoint plan. One of the key points is baking Medicaid Expansion permanent. We need better prevention and an evidence base. We need to make sure barriers between them and make sure lawenforcement have the tools because theyve been stretched thin. It is a crisis of epic or fortune. My program looks a very aggressive progression in schools. I know my kids will likely be offered to build these drugs in the next couple years. We need to get address of that brings the parents then. They know the tools and Resources Available for them. Women and children in the state. We have an event for hope on haven hill. He provides services for pregnant women dealing with Substance Abuse. We need to champion them. We need to get tough on those that would deal death to her children. Thats what they are doing. Drug users have to be taken to task. When they face seven to 15 years the pills that can kill a child we need to make sure they are getting the to 15 years. We need to get tougher. Vasco keeper kid safe and keep our state moving forward. Another question tonight about the drug crisis comes from brigid and she lives in portsmouth. She wants to notice the state doing enough to help people in recovery who have criminal records because of drug addiction get back into the workforce. Counselor sununu. We are not doing enough. We dont have enough recovery that a lot of young folks. Is that with a young woman 25 years old had twin boys. Three are sold each. Her mother have been watching them. She was on day 20 and she told me her only focus. She was starting to feel good, starting to get it, but are only focus is making sure she had a car to livid when she got out of the 28 day program. She abandoned her friend. Should a criminal record she would never get a job. My program was providing business tax credit for companies to invest in job training for those coming out of recovery. We need to provide the gateway for those back into society. They want to be back to a quote, unquote normal life. He will never leave a normal life with the affliction of Substance Abuse. Make sure we provide the support system all the way through that process over the years. Thank you. Counselor van ostern. We have to attack the problem. One of the most inspiring moments ive had in dealing with this was talking with the waitress. She spends her weekends at the Chester County job counseling other women what life without harewood was like. She told me someone today sober can help someone who is one day sober because they know what the first is like better than anyone else on earth. We all have family members, friends, coworkers and the loved ones who have fallen prey to addiction. One of the ways we can overcome this is by tapping into the resources of those in recovery and the experience they have this extraordinary movie to make sure we use that as part of our toolset for tackling the crisis. We have a lot more to come in this debate for and paid family medical leave to Health Care Prices to College Affordability to kindergarten. Stick with us. Our debate returns in a moment. We will be right back. Back to her Gubernatorial Debate tonight. Were just talking about the in opioid epidemic. I want to turn the page to decriminalizing marijuana. The critics of this i said marijuana is a gateway drug. Gc for merrimac wants to know if you support decriminalizing marijuana and its now is the appropriate time to do that. We will start with you, counselor van ostern. New hampshire should join every other state in new england and decriminalizing marijuana. Having someone derailed their life and career and get kicked out of college of their Student Loans doesnt make sense. We also shouldnt be spending the money it takes to incarcerate people and that can go into Addiction Treatment services. We have a system getting up off the ground in some areas that the direction i like to see for minor offenses like personal possession of marijuana. I think this is one area where colin and i do agree. It is a common sense measure to get more in line with the severity of the crime so to say. The question is followed up with two we support the full legalization of marijuana. I dont believe we are ready to take that stand. We are in of the growers we have with accountability in taking that step for full legalization. I dont believe we are ready to take that step. Its a commonsense measure for the people. Lets Talk Health Care tonight. The Obama Administration confirmed obamacare premiums will grow up an average of 22 in 2017. Freighter hampshire family of four increase will be smaller. An average 2 but still an increase. Suzie has a question about health care. She wants to know what you support laws requiring Health Care Providers . Transparency is one of the most important facets in providing competition with health care. It is a failure. They have driven grades through the private sector. Obamacare was on a onepage document. It wasnt even read before it was passed. The negative implications that program would have understood and businesses. Someone with 800 employees. Weve never had to let go of anybody. We are constantly having because of the dynamics of our business. Sometimes we hire two people to do the job of one. Same thing for thousands of businesses across the state. The state of New Hampshire is set to move the show to 25 hours or less. That is obamas fault and hes thrown this legislation upon our state, even bill clinton said it was a failed program. He even called her crazy. We have to make a change and revoke allies in hampshire. When one of us is elected governor begins in january, he wont be president anymore. We will need to have someone work with the other party to find solutions for health care costs. Here are three ideas we can use to do that. We do need more pricing transparency. The great website called New Hampshire health care costs. Or. Org. A number of procedures you can check out rating across different Health Care Providers expanded significantly. Secondly and critically we need to make sure the successful bipartisan expansion of medicaid continues. This is something i supported that chris repeatedly opposed despite the fact it had bipartisan support. What we found in the states that did expand medicaid unless people are showing up uninsured. Not only did we expand coverage to 50,000 people without raising taxes for middleclass private Health Care Premiums have actually risen at a much lower rate like New Hampshire did. Lets be clear. My opponent wants to make obamacare permanent. When you make washington programs per minute and so control. You cant control the costs. 70,000 people in the state are still uninsured. But prices have gone through the roof. I asked her what to look at the Health Care Prices and deductibles today versus five or six years ago. It is hitting us all in the pocketbooks and affect teen the quality of health care. Its affecting how we do business in the state. It must be repealed to money the governor to push back on programs to make your choices. When it comes to Medicaid Expansion, counselor sununu, next year which you support or look for different options . Ioa said contrary to what colin likes to put out there, great political wordsmith. If we need to take steps to keep it going we should do that. Their good qualities such as helping those with Substance Abuse issues. To make a permanent means we lose all control. We have very different dynamics. We have a lot of folks with Substance Abuse issues. We have more of an elderly population. Those dynamics are different than other states. Some giant homogenize program that we have no control over is not in her interests. Take the best parts of the program, get rid of the waste and bureaucracy and design programs to fit our needs. Over time we can move ourselves towards a more sustainable system for ourselves. My opponent wants to be fair to washington and make decisions for New Hampshire. Vocal control matters. Chris and i have sat next to each other on the table for the last four years. When republicans and democrats are working together to find a bipartisan solution to Bring Health Care coverage to 50,000 people without raising state taxes and thousands were addiction services, he did everything he could to stop that. He said recently he did everything he could to prevent it from coming forward. He voted against the red federal waivers than the exact contracts and is even in this campaign that he wants to repeal it. Thats wrong for the people of New Hampshire. I did vote against a single 292 milliondollar contract as part of a medicaid waiver. We were given the contract is mere couple hours before the meeting. They simply wanted to read it. Im not going to go forward with anything and more important is that people dont get to read it. People cannot been put on them. One of the largest contract in state history that is accepted at the table because they demanded it. This just about reading the contract. Im never going to sign a piece of legislation or approve are per the contract unless we read it first. Thats the washington way of doing it. We need accountability and checks and balances in the system. His friends are running hundreds of thousands of dollars in attack ads based on one though, the vote i voted for it and he voted against to extend medicaid Health Care Coverage in our state. If you convince one other counselor to the vote the way he did come the 50,000 people without health care. 7000 people would have Addiction Treatment services. Not only that, hes repeatedly voted to grant the executive council. He voted against a repeatedly and a set of human ago he wants to repeal it. Bring in special session back as a political gimmick. The reason they couldnt take it up in their traditional way. That was the gimmick pushed forward by the governor. Again, i voted for three of the amendments. The fourth one i simply wanted to read. Call in with a rubberstamp for Washington Special interests. He said i dont care if we dont get a chance to read it. We need to move forward because the governor says so. That is never the right way to do things. When at the governor will challenge their own parties and make tough political votes. Would need to move forward as well because we could debate this issue all day long but we have other things to get to. We have a lot of questions about paid family medical leave. Christina d. , she specifically would you support it here in the Corner Office. Yes, absolute way. When you look at paid family medical leave, even a broader issue we have to look at. We have folks in our state that dont have the flexibility and time to get to their family during the most critical times in their lives. We have to find ways to support them but theyre making sure folks can have kindergarten in their schools for those on the lower income scale with the ability to childcare to work or find a job. We have not done enough in our state to support families that need our help sick and make better choices in their life and opened the doors of opportunity. Whatever we can do to open those doors for young mothers, family, even children to a better opportunity. Im a big believer in equal opportunity education. Make sure everyone has choices. Weve lost a lot of choice. A lot of families dont have the ability to make the best choice of where their child might go to school with the best path forward for them. We have a governor this due to time because they allow parents to make the best choice for their families. Families first. Counselor van ostern. Every worker should have the opportunity to earn paid sick leave. Our minimum wage is the lowest in the nation. In fact, we are never going to compete with texas. We need to compete on having skilled, welleducated taxes. Chris doesnt think we should have a state minimum wage at all. That is devastated and i know we need a minimum wage. We need to do more to help ensure every family has the opportunity to succeed and participate. Lets be clear. In our state we have the highest per capita income in the country. Thats a very positive thing. At times when its economic or morally suitable that will pick up over time. In my business i have 800 employees. Four or 5 on minimum wage. Those who entered the first two. Increasing the minimum wage dollar would affect 67 of employees and businesses across the state. My opponent is talking about 12, 15. Only one result of that. Loss of jobs and im not going to be the governor that puts forward programs where we end up losing jobs. Theres no gray area. Its a fact. 15 seconds and we live on. Somewhere between where it is right now and 12 an hour would mean more money peoples pockets. Fewer people who work full who work fulltime of that on public assistance. Having the lowest minimum wage is wrong for New Hampshire nuclear difference. Would you support Hillary Clinton . Education we have many more topics to cover tonight. Stay with us. We will be back after a short break. Welcome back. This is the Gubernatorial Debate. We continue with the question on the cost of education here in New Hampshire. New hampshire has the highest average Student Loan Debt in the country at dirty as in dollars and that is up 8 from the year before. Governor for the first time in 25 years has frozen instate tuition. Lewis from panic or wants to know what are your plans to make a decree by unh more affordable. Counts are van ostern. Is a great question one of the central reasons im running. We have to do more to keep young families for new businesses and startups here. Part of that is bringing down the cost of college. Three years ago i left a great job at stonyfield yogurt to launch a nonprofit college called college for america. This past year we enrolled 4600 student, as many as unh and dartmouth combined. 71 are the first of their family to go to college. Must get a degree without dad here thats not the model for reform of higher education. Most are working adults but theres some good lessons working much more closely with the private sector to pay part of the skies using modern innovation to bring costs down. We need to make sure his refund or University System than the levels we had before the recession. We also need to have real Accountability Measures so we know additional funding will be mowers did that, where people graduated into jobs with higher growth. Counts were trained for. For sure years ago my wife and i finally paid off her student debt. It wasnt easy. 278. 3 every single month for 15 years. I understand the burden of carrying that debt and its just getting worse and worse. My program looked at a couple different ways. Number one by programs that if you go to one of our universities and stay in New Hampshire and work in a high demand job areas lacking in work for such as nursing and psychiatry teachers who will help pay down your debt. I dont believe in free college. When you do that you will absolutely a road the quality of unh. I also believe if we are going to invest more money into the system and am open to doubt, the first 5 million into the system provides a thousand dollars reduction to 5002. No administrative costs. Direct saving for the students. We need a governor that it governor that attends the trustee meetings. Our governor has attended one meeting in the past four years. Management is about being involved in understanding the budget so we can all make the best decision together. Counts are van ostern, would you like to respond . On how we ended up criticizing maggie hasan on non. We Bring Solutions forward in order to drive down costs and increase workforce and strengthen work for us. Ive done this successfully. Would you hire someone for a job , a big Job Interview and you are the hiring manager, you need to hear what someones ideas are busy with that done to make you feel confident they can get it done. I have hopes of the nationally acclaimed college of southern New Hampshire University College for america and its good experience for Bring College costs down across ours day. Another question about education. Smarter balance testing is a working into you support keeping it . Counselor sununu. Are the fifth and sixth grader. I am in my kids classrooms and i can tell you, and core while well intended as the road of the quality of local control in our classrooms. It has limited ability to provide quality education as is known. Children that might need it more challenge can be my challenge. Does that make her health can have more help. When my son came home last year, over 20 straight days, 25 days and he said we practice again for the smarter balance test. Theres nothing educational about parking for the test. I dont mind the standardized test. Lets make sure we have a test designed by New Hampshire teachers for New Hampshire kids. Its about doing it our way. Common core has sailed across the country done in washington does not have our interests at mine. Parents and teachers make the best choices in our kids classroom. We need to decrease our reliance on standardized testing and increase projectbased learning. The first state in the country to be doing this successfully worry him full of School Districts have successfully raced half of their task. Instead of every year between grades four through 11, half the tests are replaced within classroom curriculum for design by local teachers. Thats a good step in the right direction. Right now we are holding back other School Districts from taking that step forward. We should allow more to do projectbased learning. Just know a good step is replacing the final year of standardized test that help our kids get onto the College Track and help strengthen the workforce and a better Assessment Tool for folks in the later years in high school. Thank you. Of humor questions of Public Education and a bike to get through these more quickly than weve been going. The three of us all have young children. The state does not have fullday kindergarten. As governor, would you support and more importantly, how would you pay for it . Its a good question. If you like to answer governor may 1st budget will make sure we fully Fund Kindergarten every community in the state. It is vital, the right thing to do for kids in the right thing to do for working adults who want to work. My friend finished kindergarten one of the half the towns in the states. We are 49 in the country in terms of access to a childhood education. We can do better. Two thirds of our kids are raised by Single Parents are raised by two parents who work. We need parents to be able to participate in the economy and get the best education they can. Im a strong supporter of making sure we have fullday kindergarten for districts who want them. The state has to put up their fair share. We can go right back to the last question. Common core cost hundreds of millions of dollars to keep up with the fabulous program. We dont have the ability to decide their own system, creator of system to make our own choices for ourselves. What we need in the state is a governor whose apparent, less kids in middleschool or grade school who understand these issues. I just want to get some clarification. The reason half the town still half the towns dont offer kindergarten is because the state only pays half the cost of kindergarten. Im suggesting and i will as governor fully fund not in my budget. It wasnt clear. Sex education in elementary school. Where is the age appropriate place to start Sex Education . I dont think the politicians can make that decision. Is set to parents and School Boards and professional educators. By the 3yearold and 602 young for that. We agree on this. Its up to the parents and having the local control is vital. Its not up to politicians to make those for families. A question about guns tonight. Gun violence survivors submitted a question. Do you support laws that make it illegal for domestic abusers to access guns . Cabs are van ostern, begin with you. Commonsense rules need to be consistent with the Second Amendment i personally support an exercise thyself. We seen a number of areas where theres more we can do. We need universal background checks. Weve also seen where folks have tried to erode our Public Safety laws. One of the things suggested his vision on the part is where you need a permit. Right now we include local Law Enforcement in the permitting process for Public Safety. People know im a very strong supporter of the Second Amendment. I also support universal that checks. To the point of the question its a very important question when you do with Domestic Violence issues we must be standing up at the local level and state level to protect those in families held at risk. Thats one of the first and foremost responsibilities his health and safety of individual standing up for them, providing support making sure they know we support them every turn. Whether its limited guns and making sure we are those who would commit violence in homes that we are providing correct background checks, providing checks and balances. Thats an port to families in that it comes. Thank you boat. One of the most popular questions on the open debate for them. Alzheimers disease is the leading cause of death in brenda says shes a caregiver to a husband and mother who suffer from it. She went to do with this issue due to support families affected by the alzheimer crisis in New Hampshire. Counselor sununu, we begin with you. Its a very important question. As we know the average status in creasing. We are becoming so great and over the time alzheimers becomes a more serious issue not just for the state that individual families who have to do with the terrible affliction. Im a big believer in solid Home Care Services whether making sure we have nurses available, be the reimbursement of viable grade. Home Care Services have received one race over the last 10 years paid 5 over 10 years. We are drastically underpaid and under servicing those who stay home, take care of family members or provides services to leon out the best quality of life we can provide is when we are in our homes with their families all the way through these terrible afflictions. Its a great question and i have to think the woman named Heather Carol who came to a house party we had on sunday for my cam paid in nashua as a home hosted by dr. Ted spires, former republican state senator who led the endowment for health care. A woman named heather is an advocate for alzheimers has specific ideas. Part of that is start with allowing people to reach of their homes wherever possible. You often get higherQuality Health care problems can save money folks age of their homes. We need to include nurses and assistants. Right now a shortage of the reason its so to bring down the cost of college to strengthen Workforce Development and health care is because the Workforce Needs moving forward. And the Attorney Generals Office has started doing a better job of cracking down on ct scans of thats one of the areas we need to make sure we look out for seniors in New Hampshire. Shifting gears we are in the middle of a drought. Weve got some rain lately but not nearly enough. This week the state started asking people to take shorter showers. If you are governor right now, would you favor stricter rules, maybe statewide fines on people who use too much water. Voluntary reduction and voluntary restrictions are the right way to go. We need to prioritize Safe Drinking Water for human needs first. We also need to realize the drought has had a serious impact on our farmers particularly Dairy Farmers from folks i used to work with a at stonyfield yogurt within this up close and personally. I believe we are still at a point for voluntary reductions made out of town by town basis. Parts of our state that have more severe and less severe drought implications depending which watershed bearing. We need to continue to monitor the situation as well. As someone in the ski Area Business i can tell you water is vital. Too many businesses when you talk about farmers for recreation. The North Country in the southeast part of the stated that affects everybody. Local control is important when making decisions. I dont believe it finds the voluntary programs to make sure people reduce consumption until we get through the temporary drought. I was an environmental engineer. I was cleaning up contaminated groundwater across this country. Its an important issue of what we see where we have contamination and put people at risk. We need a governor with real front line experience making sure we provide the best quality water for our kids moving forward. I went to get some a really quick. Energy costs a big issue of this day. It is not would you support the project as this . 1100 megawatts of Clean Renewable Energy that will lower rate payers cost 80 million per year for the state of New Hampshire is a quality project i hope goes forward. There were seven of us to read for governor in the sides of the aisle. Six of us had some level of concern. Only when candidate wants to write to the biggest Utility Company after 10,000. I dont think the current version is good enough. Timeout for closing statements. Counselor sununu. Things for being with us tonight. New hampshire is a great state a great state that we can and must do better for our communities, people, businesses that power our economy. Ive traveled the state of the state and listen to the needs of constituents and ill bring my experience as an environmental engineer to make sure we provide the best solution for the people of New Hampshire. Im passionate about education. My wife is a special ed teacher. Ive affected excreta. The kids are in school. Im in the classroom. We need to make sure parents have the ultimate say in the best choices for their kids. We have a very aggressive heroin crisis that needs to be tackled. Providing accountability treatment and rebooted robots that exist and recovery area. We have a clear choice this election. We can put up the path of the washington programs, losing control or elected governor of that police were New Hampshire people do it to him shes way, we do it better than everyone else. I hope for your supposed to liberate that i hope were ready to make a change. Thank you. Counselor van ostern. Thank you. I run for governor to help our state take its next step forward to help businesses have started for our state. For me this is focusing on what is best for people in getting past the old outdated political interests. When we talk about funding plan parenthood afterward in a governor who will support that 100 of the tie that siebel time that siebel is looking for the young booties access to a Cancer Screening and cant get it anywhere else. The Energy Projects weve supported and looking for the orange partner has built a Solar Finance can be. The importance of experience is also a young woman in addiction Treatment Recovery because of the successful expansion of medicaid. The worst day forward in a bipartisan way and that means was looking out for people. That is said for a Gubernatorial Debate. If you want to watch it again, head to our website or face the page. The action continues tomorrow night. Governor maggie hasan debate the topic. Go to our website and give us your suggestions and questions. 8 00 tomorrow night. We hope to see you then. Have a good night. Got back. Mac and actually went to the library. A lot of Internet Research to find more like facts and data and statistics about employment of those with developmental disabilities. To see really what was going on. Most of the information that i got off the internet came from governmentfounded websites. So that is how i knew most of the information that i was getting was legitimate. This years theme . Your message to washington, d. C. Tell us what is the most urgent issue for new president and congress to address in 2017 . Our competition is open to all middle school or High School Students in grades six through 12. 100,000 awarded in cash prizes. Students can work alone or up to group of three to pick a fiveminute documentary. The 100,000 in cash prizes will be awarded and shared between 150 students and teachers. The grand prize of the 5,000 will go to the team with the best overall entry. This years deadline is january 20th, 2017. Mark your calendars and spread the word to student filmmakers. Go to our website. Studentcam. Org. Freshman congressman john katko represents new yorks 24th Congressional District which includes the city of syracuse. He recently debated democratic challenger, come lien deek cone. The regional director of senator gillly brands office. Im nick ryce man and im jeff bennett. This seat changed hands every two years since 2008. It is held by republican john katko. Running against him come lien deacon. She previously worked for u. S. Senator Kristin Gillibrand and the syracuse mayors office. Each getting a minute for Opening Statement and a minute for closing statement. They will be asked questions about local and national issues. Those answers are limited to one minute. Rebuttals limited to 45 seconds. Rebuttals will be allowed at the discretion of the moderators. Those are limited to 30 is beings. Lets get started. The order of Opening Statements was chosen earlier. First is colleen deacon. Deacon thank you, nick and geoff. For the last sick years i worked in senator Kirsten Gillibrands office. Ive been rolling up my sleeves, building relationships, solving problems and fighting hard for the people of this district a long time. I grew up here in syracuse. I was born and raised in the city. After i graduated from college i had a son who i didnt have option of health care or, and i had to quit my job a few days before he was born. I know how hard it is for so many families struggling across this district. I want to be a voice at the table where there hasnt been a voice before. I want to go to congress to protect Social Security and medicare. I want to go to congress to fight for working class and middle class families across this district. No one will work harder than me, no one will be stronger than me and no one will abettor representative for the 24th district than i am. I look forward to the discussion. Thank you, congressman katko. Katko thank you, good evening and thank you for watching to night. Good evening to you, colleen. Two years i left my job as federal organized crime prosecutor and ran for congress. Like many of you out there i was sick and tired of partisan gridlock that gripped institution. I respect if you wily submit over last two years that is exactly what i did. Ive become one of the most independent members of all of congress. Over last two years i passed 15 bills and had six of them signed into law by democratic president s that more bills passed than any freshman in his first term. I worked major issues endemic to new york. Heroin epidemic in. Lead negotiator on highway bill. Worked on National Security issues and rolling back the common core mandate. There is so much more i want to address. With your vote on november 8th, i hope i can do that. I look forward to the discussion tonight. Thank you, congressman katko. Lets head to question and our first question is for ms. Deacon. Like many other cities syracuse had black lives matters protests and marchs, Peaceful Demonstrations to call for police reforms. Do you think changes in policing are needed and do you think the black lives mat are movement is helping those Reform Efforts . Deacon thank you very much for that question. I look at it like this. As a mother of a 13yearold son i cant imagine what it is like for so many parents who have worry about their child going to the store or riding in a car with friends but also as a mother i cant imagine what it is like to have my son put on the uniform every day and serve in the line of duty. It must be very, very hard for parent to have to understand this is a real situation and we have to address it. We cant just retreat to our corners and stand by our thoughts. We have to come together as a society, a community, to Work Together to address the issue for good. We need to have a conversation that includes everybody. Really is an open dialogue. We need to do more on the federal level to provide resources so we can help our Police Officers, provide them with training that they need. By them resources to hire new people so they learn about the communities that theyre policing. I think that a discussion is absolutely needed so we can address this issue moving forward. Follow up before i go to congressman katko, should the resources include body cameras worn by Police Officers . Deacon absolutely i would love to go to congress to provide resources including body cameras to be able to hire more officers. Anything we can do help solve problem and im supportive of. Thank you. Congressman katko. Katko i ran the Syracuse Gang Violence Task force. I had a birdseye view of problems that playing our city like every urban area across the country. Extreme poverty and officers being asked to impossible jobs. Are there things Police Officers can do better of course they are. We can always learn from them. Every time incident Police Officers have job retraining. One of the big things i think we can do for sure, i agree with miss deek deacon on this one. I support ad Grant Application to Syracuse Police department to get body cameras. I think body cameras might solve a lot of narrative out there. As far as black lives matter, raising issues and poverty and Law Enforcement i guess that is okay i want to make sure there is respect for Law Enforcement across this country. Not just black lives matter. All lives matter. Police officers lives and lives of citizens, together we should work to make the problem better. Follow up very quickly. Youre a former federal prosecutor but there are questions whether local prosecutors are best equipped to handle cases which police are involved in the death of unarmed civilians. Do you believe prosecutors on the local level should be handling those cases . Katko i think casebycase basis. If there is federal jurisdiction get with the local prosecutors like i did for 20 years. You decide where the best place to bring the case. I continued to work with local prosecutors on the cases i did on. For the good of the case and good of the jurisdiction where the case should go. It really depends on casebycase matter. Thanks, congressman. On going unrest in the middle east given opportunities for terrorist organizations like Islamic State group to gain strength. Question is, what more should the Obama Administration be doing to defeat isis overseas . Deacon we have to make sure that were keeping america safe. That is our number one priority not only at home but abroad. Work with allies on the ground and Coalition Partners to make sure they have the tools and training they need to not only contain but eliminate threats of isis. Under the Obama Administration there has been 14,000 airstrikes. Weve been able to reclaim 45 of the land that isis has taken over. Weave been able to take out the number one online recruiter that isis has been using to recruit people to in the terrorist organizations. We have to work with our partners on the ground, work with Iraqi Security forces an kurds so we make sure they have everything we need to finally eliminate the threat of isis for good. Congressman, do you have the response . Katko here is the fact. Obama administration was when we pulled out in 2011 in iraq left no forces behind, isis take hold of territory and iraq and syria. Obama has been a disaster on this issue. So was Hillary Clinton. Because she was secretary of the state at the time. Ive been appointed a head of a Foreign Fighters Task force to deal with the issue. I issued a detailed report as freshman congressman, 52 recommendations not just what to do with isis but the middle east here at home and in western europe. More than half have become law in addition to becoming law. I agree we need to increase bombings in the middle east. Take the gloves off a little bit. Work with our partners. Get our partners to trust us again. We need to continue on the pact over there, training their forces to do a better job than theyre doing now. Are there any circumstance which you would favor deploying significant numbers of Ground Troops, not special forces but Ground Troops to syria . Katko not unless the generals told us that is exactly what they need. We need to continue what we are doing. I was over there two years ago in baghdad, yearandahalf ago as part of this task force. I spoke to the actual generals in iraq. I saw plumes of smoke in the distance where isis was launching mortars towards baghdad. They tell me what they need training troops, troops to train iraqi forces to do themselves. Were never going to ticks the problems in the middle east by going over there to intervene with ourselves. Get them to fight for themselves and support them like we do now. I have not heard one general say we need fullfledged invasion of u. S. Forces. This is sometimes very personal to me as well because i have a 20yearold son who is serving in the army right now. He is senior at gene ceo. I take that very seriously. Before we have boots on the ground make sure we exhausted all the options. Ms. Deaning con is there any scenario you would support boots on the ground in the isis scenario. Deacon we have to make sure we solve the problem before we deploy anybody over there in middle east to solve this problem. My father was a veteran. My two uncles were in vietnam. I saw firsthand what endless wars do to families. We cant do it now with the current situation. I wouldnt be supportive of anything unless it was the last possible option that we had on the table. You know i think we should knock on the door before we kick it in. That is where i stand. I think america can do everything we can to work with our allies, work with our generals, get the intelligence that we need and continue to help solve this problem before we put anybody over there in harms way. Question about the homegrown threat. The fbi says there are active isis related investigations in all 50 states. New york state alone, 18 individuals have been charged with isisrelated offenses. According to the George Washington University Center for cyber and homeland security. Congressman katko, how should state and federal officials address that specific security challenge, the one here at home . Katko im glad you asked that. I was the head of the Foreign Fighter Task force which investigates the isis in the United States. I was head of the tack force and had four republicans, three democrats working with me in a bipartisan manor. That report provides a blueprint what we should be doing locally. We should work with our local and state count every parts and Regional Task forces across the state and nation. There is more we can do together to have a more seamless transition of the information. Lets not forget, this is the seminal threat of our time. During the course of the campaign i made that issue with my opponent, she has seemed not to make it priority during the course of her campaign. Go to her website right now there is still nothing on this issue on her website. That is something the American People should take into consideration deciding who they want to work for them in congress. Isis is most existential threat we have facing this country today. Were at highest threat level since 9 11. On new years eve down the road in rochester, isis plot to shoot up new years eve revelers was disrupted. You need someone in congress and im very proud of the work weve done on that. Quickly invoked your name and platform. Can you respond . Deacon absolutely, funny that john katko that i havent made it priority since he selectively edited a tape of me talking about National Security about isis and in 2015 something ive been talking about a year on the campaign. Its a little foolish i dont make this priority in my race. I wanted to add to your question. John katko is basically just said nothing about keeping america safe. I think we should enact, no buy, nofly legislation which congressman katko does not support. By partisan piece of legislation which means youre on the nofly list you should not be able to purchase a gun. Common sense policy we can act to keep americans safe here at home. So important that we implement everything we can at our fingertips to make sure everything we can to help terrorists not infiltrate our communities and not have situations that can occur on our soil. Congressman katko to respond to the no buy, nofly list issue earnings to suggest im light on crime and light on gun crime is absolutely preposterous. I draft ad bill nofly, no buy six months before the orlando incident. If anyone thinks im soft on crime, ask 14 people violent criminals serving mandatory life sentences that i prosecuted. Ask 160 gang members in syracuse i took off the streets menacing our streets with guns and murders. Im one of foremost leaders of Violent Crime prosecutions in the country. Ive been decorated by democrat and republicans on my efforts. Preposterous that i would think on this that issue, vote for a i will about, would you vote for a bill that would restrict people who are on that terror watch list from obtaining a firearm. Katko like i said i authored one bill. Very minor difference between the two. 72hour waiting period. Internet 72hour waiting period. If they try to apply for gun on terrorist watch list they can not get the gun. You know what . Lets keep in mind, ted kennedy was on a nofly list. And there is thousands upon thousands of americans mistakenly on nofly list. Mine assures in 72hour period we make sure we got the right guy. I cosponsored and wrote a bill. For her to is a i wouldnt support nofly, no buy is propros. Deacon can i add to that . Go ahead. Deacon you said yourself less than 1,000 citizens on the nofly list you rather protect 80,000 foreigners we want to get on a plane but you want them to purchase a gun. That makes no sense. Katko absolutely not. Im it happens every day. I my time on tsa subcommittee and homeland security. I know from briefings i get in daily basis in the base of the capitol it is a problem theyre trying to fix. We have move on unfortunately. This for congressman katko. Utility ratepayers in new york see increase in their bills. This is partially because of the state is moving to bolster Nuclear Power. The move is also helped preserve hundreds of jobs in Fitzpatrick Nuclear power plant. Should taxpayers be bearing responsibility for shoring up Nuclear Power in new york. Katko need cost benefit analysis. Given this situation, i think yes, not just hundreds of jobs that are being saved in new york state, there are thousands. My district, our district, has second largest number of Nuclear Power plants of any district in the country. If you do the math, those couple thousand jobs at those power plants generate over 200 million a year in salary alone. That does not include hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue and spinoff jobs which are related to it. If those, if Nuclear Industry evaporated in new york state you would have a huge problem and huge gap and cost expose nextly more in increase in rates to new york state. By putting Nuclear Power on firm footing not only insures the jobs are protected which i did and fought hard for keeping fitzpatrick open it insures we have clean energy. If we want to get to clean energy, leave the environment a better place our parents did until renewables get to the point theyre sustainable on their own, Nuclear Power should be part of the component. 100 carbonfree emissions. That is what we need to think about. What do you to say to businesses potentially move to new york, look what their utility bills might be under this agreement and say its too expensive to move here . Katko i understand. That is legitimate concern. You know what . There is ton of waste anton of abuse in the ton of fraud in new york State Government as we know. Like we do with the federal government. Before we pass any bill now we always make sure we find someplace to pay for it. They should do the same in new york state. You can find savings in other programs. Lord knows we have bloated bureaucracy in new york state and lord knows we find savings elsewhere. Putting thousands of people out of jobs in hardpressed area of the country where you have carbonfree emissions from Nuclear Power plants doesnt seem like a good idea to me. Ms. Deacon. Deacon i dont think we should be putting taxes and burdens on the back of middle class families or our businesses. When i work in the Senators Office there was discussion about how one of our Power Companies was going to be charging an extra rate hike during one of the warmer months because they felt they didnt collect the money during the cold months and i, as senator wrote ferc, federal Energy Regulatory commission to investigate into this whether rate hike was legitimate rate hike and if something consumers actually should have had to pay. That is the kind of person i want i want to be to go to confess. Make sure were doing everything we can, people who use energy, heat their homes have their air conditioners on, arent paying exorbitant rates so we can balance one over the other. Do you consider nuclear pow ear clean energy . Do you think one falls under this rubric of being Renewable Clean Energy . Deacon we have Nuclear Energy here in this district. I dont support building any new Nuclear Energy but i do agree until we are able to transition off of fossil fuels into Renewable Energy we should be using Nuclear Energy right now. The issue with Nuclear Energy, after the power plants close, then you are left with the waste material. And that is something we need to address. But currently right now i think it is something we need to have on the grid to be able to provide energy for people. So if youre in congressman katkos position at time fitzpatrick facing trouble it was, would you supported some sort of a agreement that would have provided subsidy . Deacon yes. The bottom line were talking about 600 highpaying jobs and were talking about Energy Source we can not afford to loose. Coupled together we had to Work Together to get something done to keep the plant open and keep jobs in place. I would have been very hard had i been in congress and had i been representative for this district making sure we bring every idea to the table, every sew solution to the table to fix this moving forward. Congressman katko. Katko the fact of the matter she was a representative in this district. She was point person for senator gillibrand six years prior to deciding to run for congress. During that time the issue of solvency Nuclear Power plants came up as issue. She didnt do anything about it. I went to rallies up at fitzpatrick. She was noticeably absent. I havent heard her talk much about it. I worked with fitzpatrick employers and company and Governors Office on daily base. I got them to come together to at the table and played a key role in keeping plant open and keep the jobs in very impoverished area of our country. Im very proud of that. Nuclear industry is part of what new York State Energy fabric should be. Congressman, i want to move on, ms. Deek conyou want to respond . Deacon sure. When the fitzpatrick situation happened that was my last week of work. Congressman katko has his fact as little bit wrong, which is a little little a wrong i hope he doesnt take a lazy stance take accusing me of doing something. I dont remember congressman cat he coreaching out to me working an this issue. Somebody who claims to be so bipartisan or worked with me or tried to get me to attend any of these meetings. Well move on. Miss deacon the next congress will play a role in fixing Affordable Care act. Democrats including president obama acknowledged the law has serious problems. Yesterday the Obama Administration announced doubledigit price hikes for some plans. The question is obvious one. What should be done to fix it . Deacon i do support the Affordable Care act. I think it wonderful that we have 19 million more americans who have Health Insurance. As somebody who did not have Health Insurance at time. I know how hard it can be to not have Health Insurance. We need to do more for people to get Preventative Care that we need. Affordable care act is a great start. Im happy to see if we can improve it. Knot canceling insurance on those with preexisting condition. Allowed students to stay on their parents insurance until 26. They provide ad marketplace for people to buy insurance. We do need to make it better. We need to make sure it is affordable. Thateople get safe, Quality Health care that they deserve. Yesterday when they talked about the hikes that theyre going to be, part of the other part of the story is that the federal subsidies will also increase with those hikes. We need to make sure those do in fact rise as hikes rise. Make sure it is after possibilitiable for everybody. Congressman. Katko she didnt tell you how to fix it but i will. Bottom line it is broken system. I agree with my opponent it is good thing 19 more millions americans have Health Insurance. We cant go back to the time where americans dont have Health Insurance but dont have option for Health Insurance. Lets face it obamacare is not working. It is anything but affordable. I had a part in forcing proposal come to the table. I stood up against my party time and again when they had foolish bills repealing obamacare without a replacement ready to go. I gladly stood up to them. That is what leaders in congress do. The proposal is basically have a more marketbased solution, allow Insurance Companies to compete across state lines. You fund highrisk pools. You fund things that will make a big different reps in the way obamacare is working and making more solvent. We need to work with Prescription Drug rates, because that is another Major Driving of economic cost. Face it, obamacare is not working in the current form. We need to fix it. Move on to congressman katko. Planned parenthood funding is once again an issue in this race. Were also seeing more talk about abortion in a president ial race as well. Donald trump says he will appoint prolife judges to the Supreme Court and he ultimately expects the issue to go back to the states. Hillary clinton wants to keep roe v. Wade in place. It is also calling for the repeal of the measure that blocks the use of medicaid funding for the procedure. So, congressman, you voted to defund planned parenthood despite saying you would not do so back in 2014 when you were running. Can you explain that vote and tell us why new york, what new york should do if roe v. Wade is actually overturned . Katko im glad to have opportunity to talk about this there have been hundreds of thousands of dollars spent trying to scare woman on this district about my position on this. When i went to congress i was presented with evidence of possible wrongdoing by planned parenthoods nationwide. Based on the evidence i saw i voted to temporarily shift funding, not defund planned parenthood, to shift funding to communitybased Health Clinics so Womens Health care could continue. Ive been someone who has been a champion for Womens Health care rights, a champion for increased Womens Health care issues. My mother, for example, is suffering from breast cancer. For anyone to suggest i would not be for funding Womens Health care is reprehensible. That is what those commercials suggested. As far as the Supreme Court i dont think we should have litmus tests. That is part of the problem with the Supreme Court pros test. We should nominate people that have integrity first, integrity second, integrity third. That is what qualifications should be for the Supreme Court. Is donald trump wrong suggest he should be appointing prolife judges . Katko i think having litmus test is wrong and in both cases it is wrong. Having litmus test is the problem. It polar rises people having integrity is the issue. If roe v. Wade is repealed should some measure in new york would preserve abortion rights . Katko i think up to the majority of the votes of people. That is what it is. Majority rules, right . Whatever the majority of people feels appropriate for their district, period. Miss deacon. Deacon i think you know it is pretty obvious john katko, when he ran in 2014 he promised he wouldnt vote to defund planned parenthood. Since he has been in office he has done that four times. For him to tap dance around this issue he was presented with videos, some false evidence that was completely, not real, and the actual gentleman who did Record Videos is now indicted for doing what he is doing. He based his evidence on false material. I think it is, somebody i dont want as congressman who cant look at the evidence presented and wait for a decision to be made before they decide to defund planned parenthood. He wants to take away Health Care Rights for women. He voted four times to defund planned parenthood. I think this is serious issue and women need to know he went back on the campaign promise. He said heavy integrity is key. Having inegg grit on this issue is key as well. I want to go back to congressman katko. Do you support rehe will pooing the Hyde Amendment . Deacon i do support repealing Hyde Amendment. I think it negative i impacts pr and low income women. We need to make sure that women have health care they deserve no matter what their income is. Congressman katko. Katko thank you very much. You can beat the drum all you want, but i told you what my position was. She is trying to scare you. I made sure funding for for Womens Health and i always will. That is the bottom line. Period. Okay. We are going to move on. Next question is for ms. Deacon. Cities like syracuse struggled to maintain aging water and sewer infrastructure. One solution to call for local government consolidation. This is a solution that would make local government more affordable . Deacon im glad you brought this up. I think infrastructure is one of the biggest issues we face. Ive been talk about this on my entire campaign. Our roads, bridges, water, sewer pipes are crumbling everywhere, not unique to the 24th district. When boy to congress im excited for opportunity to vote on a package that includes a Huge Investment of infrastructure. Well be able to put people to work. I think its a great opportunity for us to be able to fix what we have, and provide opportunities for people as well. As far as the citys infrastructure, and consolidation i did read the draft consolidation that came out back in the spring and i dont think it had enough detail to be able to say what would work and what didnt work. There wasnt any numbers. There wasnt any dollar figures that were matched to what the proposal were until we have more information that i can make a decision on what would be best. If that would actually work and that would help be able to fix our infrastructure. Again when i go to congress i want to fight hard to making sure dole lars back, bring infrastructure into the city of syracuse and other parts of follow up, how should we spend the money on infrastructure . How would we get the money . Through raising taxes or debt . Some statements trillion of dollars needed nationally. Deacon right now you can borrow money historic oh interest rates. Look at it as far as putting investments into our country. Putting hundreds of thousands of people to work which will add dollars to the economy. It will pay for itself in the long run. That is what is wrong with john and Republican Party. They doesnt look at investments as a way to provide jobs and opportunities for people to work. They look as spending bad and in fact it would be great investment for the future. Congressman . Katko i talk, get involved in spending. She must have missed fact i was lead negotiator on highway bill. First longterm fix in the highway bill 10 years. After 35 shortterm extensions i went to congress. I asked to be on transportation and infrastructure committee. I managed to get myself as lead role as first long term highway bill in the decade. That highway bill increased spending by 10 over previous highway bills. It funded billions of dollars to states to fund highway projects. For example the interstate 81 project. I advocated that not only part of the bill but high priority corridor because of my advocacy. That put thousands of people to work right away. Youve seen some fruits of the highway bill. A lot more is coming. With respect to water and Water Infrastructure i supported state Clean Water Revolving Fund and we should find ways to plus it up. Increased spending in the highway bill and funds for Clean Water Revolving Fund were found by finding cuts in other programs. Instead of borrow money find cuts and be official went the money and highway bill and Clean Water Revolving Fund. To follow up, can cuts go far enough . Is there revenue need to be raised through bonding borrowing or raising taxes . Katko when 19 trillion in debt it should be absolute positive last resort. Were not at last resort yet. I think we should plus up the Clean Water Revolving Fund given to the state in block grants, allow states to have more money to use for clean water, clean water funds. We can find it from other areas of cutting government. Until such time you saw there is no nor fraud or waste in the government, we should find he have piece of fraud and waste we can until we resort borrowing money. Before we move on, closing the loop on this, going back to miss deacon, this is kind of a yes or no answer or wait and see. The county in syracuse should push merger and consolidation . Deacon we need to have more data to be able to decide. I read the draft report there wasnt enough information to say if this was good decision or not good decision. I didnt know if services would be consolidated or money saved. It didnt have any information at all. Congressman . I completely agree with her on that one. Miss deacon, congress battled legislation to combat the heroin and opioid epidemic. There are questions whether the federal lawmakers striking right balance treating problem as Public Health endemic and Law Enforcement issue. House republicans urged more focus on police cracking down on heroin distribution. What is the right approach . Deacon im glad you mentioned this. I think its a Health Epidemic. We need to make sure were addressing it as a Health Epidemic as it is. No i am community is i am newspaper from this terrible, terrible drug. We have to do everything we can to make sure were providing resources to help people. We should be working with our Law Enforcement agencies, making sure they have the training and the tools and the ability to deal with people who are overdosing, having narc can on them, that they are doing everything we can to get the drugs off the streets. But at at same time we need to work with the medical community making sure they have guidelines in place that they do not overprescribe these drugs. Be proactive not reactive to make sure more people are not becoming addicted. We need to make sure we have the Treatment Facilities available for those who are addicted. Here in new york state we have 90 methadone clinics, only 10 of them are uptodate. 42 counties in new york state dont have access to clinics. Every county is not immune. We need to make sure we have places available for people. On federal level we need to provide resources so families can deal with the issue and really tackle it for good. Congressman, really quickly, miss deacon follow up on that, safe injack shun sites . What do you think of that . Deacon i know this has been talked about. I want to see how it works before i comment on it. They havent been in use here in new york state but until we do, lets see how it goes before i have a thought on that. Sorry, congressman go ahead. Katko thank you. For 20 years like i said i was federal organized crime prosecutor. During that time i saw all manor of drug prosecutions going after cartel level drug traffickers in the great land like ours. I never seen like heroin. It is killing kids at records pace. Not just inner cities but all over the place. When i got into congress i held six detailed drug town halls on this so i could get educated. I went to congress and i was instrumental having a key role in the the comprehensive addiction and recovery act. They lost their son to heroin over dose. You hug them and look at page in their ice. I would walk through walls for them and anybody going through the terrible epidemic. What do we do . Threeprong comprehensive approach. It is prevention, and enforcement. Part of the drug package was Law Enforcement. This is a good first step. There would be more money flowing to communities. More beds for people for treatment. More money for prevention as well. But we have to have Law Enforcement component as well and thats what were working on. It is not a perfect bill but a darn good start and im proud to be part of the solution to the problem. Follow up on that, there is concerns raised about march narcan, people overdosing revived and sometimes they overdose once again. Is narcan become too much of a problem on this issue . I know its a lifesaving thing but also come under some scrutiny. Katko it is never a problem when youre saving someones life or reviving someone who overdosed. Youre absolutely right. Speaking to Police Officers in auburn, for example, where they issued someone narc can and gone back several hours theyre at it again. That is stunning. It is by no means the magical elixer. It is end means to resolve reserve someone who is he had did. We you had should not eliminate it but make sure we have all the things my opponent and i talked about. Prevention and treatment but also the Law Enforcement component which i talked about. Next question, moving right along to congressman katko. Outside groups spent heavily on this race as well as other con expressional races around upstate new york. A lot of it is because the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. Should a constitutional amendment be approved that restrictses or at least greatly diminishes role of money in politics. Katko yes, absolutely. I think based on what the Supreme Court has said, not just Citizens United but in other cases there is, they believe that donating to campaigns is essentially First Amendment right. So, without it constitutional amendment well not be able to fix the problem. Ive been very honored i about the support ive had in this race not just from traditional groups you might think are republican but labor unions for example, and environmental groups. I had support across the board. Im honored and humbled to have that support. But i also recognize that is the problem. There has been a lot of money coming in on my behalf. There has been a lot of money coming in on my opponents behalf. Part of todays modern politics. I think my opponent would agree with me constitutional amendment is way to go. To be clear, you think giving money to Political Campaign falls under free speech and false under First Amendment protection . Katko under current iteration and current decisions in the Supreme Court i read, no question it is free speech the question we want to have an amendment to fix that and you think we have to. Miss deacon. Deacon i absolutely think we need to get money out of politics. Special interest money, dirty money coming in this district alone, attack ads out there, this isnt how you elect representatives with all of this whoever has the most money to be able to say whatever they want. Ive been talking about this since ive been on the campaign trail. My opponent is somebody might say we should have constitutional amendment but he doesnt support any bills introduced on this subject. He is somebody, he is the 7th highest recipient of pac dollars and special interests dollars in congress. I mean i mentioned the no buy, nofly piece of legislation earlier. The reason he doesnt support it because he received thousands of dollars from the gun lobby, so he doesnt support the bill they doesnt support. I think it is very obvious that we need to get money out of politics. Weed into to have donors disclosed who they are. And not have secret money, special money coming into any district. Congressman i do want to get back to you but first, ms. Deacon do you agree or disagree with any of the things that some of the superpacs running ads on your behalf been saying about congressman katko . Deacon everything we put out on my campaign his words. He said donald trump has good principles. Superpac ads, the ads run on your behalf but your campaign deacon were not affiliated with those ads. Ones ive seen, uses congressman katkos words. Congressman katko says donald trump has good principles. Congressman katko says he only cares about his race to be concerned with donald trump. It is just message getting out there using his own words to let voters know who he is. Congressman, go ahead. Katko when youre weighing what she said with respect to the Campaign Finance laws an money coming into the Campaign Keep in mind one immutable fact. I was incouple bit here, right . You think i have the advantage. She outraised me past quarter. That is part of the deal when we factor in the mix. Raised more money than me last time and a lot of it from outside groups. Bottom line we need constitutional amendment to get this up control. I absolutely 100 believe that as for outside ads you know i have never endorsed donald trump for example. Those are my words. I never endorsed him. Never said i would vote for him. Im not going to. Despite spite her ads and ads from colleagues are trying to say otherwise. You know, just keep in mind, i have great faith you will sift through the nonsense and understand what this campaign is really all about. Congressman youve been on the record saying you dont support donald trump who are you going to vote for . Katko i havent decided yet. I know it is not going to be Hillary Clinton. Not going to be donald trump. I think two very seriously flawed candidates. I picked up paper today and county executive said the same thing. She doesnt know who she will vote for yet. I dont think were alone in that position. I think a lot of americans are out there going is this the best we have . Theyre frustrated like i am. Right now i havent decided. Will you skip over the race entirely where you may not vote at all . Katko no, i will write in candidate or vote for third party candidate. Miss deacon, anything you like to respond to. Deacon i think it is very clear john katko receives a very high amount of special interest money. He likes this money coming in. Frankly he has very false, misleading ads about me on television right now. I mean he selectively edited a portion of my words to make it sound i was saying something i wasnt which is very dishonest. Misleading voters. I think voters deserve better. Have somebody in congress who actually wants to run on his record but instead is just attacking me. Congressman, we started with you, can end with i on it topic. Katko it is a fact she has not been able to articulate she would not break from the party on. Those are her own words in interview with this very television program. She couldnt articulate any plan with respect to isis and details with respect to isis. She sid say, isis i dont have a plan. Those were not edited by some magical thing. I will let you people judge whether those words are authentic or not. Miss deacon you served for six years as top aide in Central New York for the states senator, kirsten gillly brand. This is your first elected office. Why should voters trust you in that role . Deacon their. I appreciate the opportunity. I worked in the district last six years rolling up my sleeves in her office and six years before that in the mayors office. I know the challenges we face but i also know the potential we have here. I worked with our Small Businesses to help them cut through red tape. I worked with hvac company to get them a waiver they deserve to continue to produce their product here. I worked to stop bad trade deals from happening. Nucor steel in auburn was facing steel dumping from other countries where they couldnt compete. We worked to help investigate this an stop it. I worked with veterans to connect them with local job opportunities. These are things ive done here on ground. I want to continue to fight hard for the people of the district. I understand the needs of the community. I was actually down at Southwest Community Center talking about the fema flood maps. These are issues ive been involved in. And i will continue to be involved in, throughout my time when i am in office. As somebody who has face ad challenge or faced a struggle i know what it is like for some families. I want to be a voice at the table where there hasnt been a voice before. Somebody who just paid off my Student Loans i know what it is like for some people graduating from college with student loan burdens on their backs and limited job opportunities. I want to go to congress and fight hard to be a true champion for the region. Congressman, you have been among a handful of republicans split with Party Leaders on roll call votes. If Many Democrats increase their standing in the next congress as polls suggest they might, your vote might become more important than ever and pressure increase on you from gop leaders. Why should voters in the district expect and trust that you will not break under pressure . Katko because i stood up to the most violent criminals this world had to offer. I had to move my family out of my house. I had to move my family out of port reek he cowhen i was special prosecutor down there. Despite all that i never waivered in doing what was right in the cases. I never backed down. It is easy to back down, but assistant up to my party rather, no, this is the way i will vote. I done it repeatedly. That is why im one of the most independent voices in all of congress. Keep in mind one immutable fact. My opponent has been in politics pretty much her entire adult career. Ive been involve in politics in two years. Ive been more in politics on things in local level on tourism a medical device tax repealed. Research and Development Tax made permanent to stimulate business. Make sure highway bill generates thousands of jobs in Central New York. Making sure the trade bill does not con to rhine us with the nafta deal an manufacturing jobs. I have a proven track record. My point you have hope, maybe, you have some possibilities but you have with me a proven track record. My question to you, why change that . Just heard indictment of your resume. What is your response. Deacon i dont even know how he quantifies what he is seen saying. I got a lost accomplished in the distribution. When he talkses about legislation im not in congress. I was not a Congress Person from this district. For him to say i havent gotten anything done is completely false. I mean like i said, i worked on the ground. I have worked with fema when they had issue with school district, had issue with relocating a school an fema not allowing them to build in a new location. I worked directly with fema to get waiver they needed so they could rebuild with fund after they deserved after flood. I worked with the city of syracuse to make sure they had funding they needed for lead paint issue in the 24th district. Ive been working on ground a long time. I worked to make sure biders eye workers after the bird east eye factory closed we secured tiaa funding, trade assistance funding. For john to say i dont have a proven track record is completely false an dishonest. Katko i would like to respond. Okay. Katko with respect to the led paint thing. They lost funding in the county, in this state rather. Now i had to help them prop up that mess supporting grants and advocating grants. County got one coming back to the city. We supported citys grant and didnt get funding this time. Well continue to work on that. Regarding fema, all of sudden laid at my lap about the last minute, fema flood mapping and city of syracuse. You have been there 10 years nothing happened. It continued all of sudden magically it is my fault. Youve been doing it for 10 years. Fema flood mapping issue going on 10 years you didnt nothing about it. You did nothing about it now at my feet or you tried to do something about it you failed. Either way it didnt happen. Congressman, to follow up on that. Katko sure. Excuse me really quick, working in a regional rep in District Office as you know a lot of this job is constituent services. How what miss deacon has done working with constituents not preparing you for the job of being a member of the house of representatives . Katko it would be preparing you for job got a lot done. Economy got worse period of time. Fema flood mapping issue rearing its ugly head. Lead paint problem going on. Those are a few of examples. She cant have her cake and eat it too. Cant say im qualified to run for congress ive been a point person for senator gill brand. Before that i worked in the city of syracuse. For twelve years, basically professional until to ticks. Ive been in politics two years i got a lot more done. Easy to talk about what youre going to do. Look attract record. Look at her track record when she was working as in the Senators Office. For example, the watershed issue is huge thing. Weve been meeting two years on issue. She is nowhere to be found. All of sudden shows up has a press conference saying i hadnt been involved. Shows she didnt know i was involved in two years working with farmers in the area on manure issue hand watershed. Deacon can i respond. Quickly, john did you do a Google Search before you made claims. Fema flood map is perfect example. Senator gill brand i brought her down here to look at sites how impacts our communities. We worked with very hard with fema get them off the maps. You cant point to random things you think you might have had input on when you didnt. You havent been paying attention to bluegreen algae issue. Im not in congress. I dont have the ability to do anything. I want people to know i have been fighting for them last six years. I will continue to fight when imin congress. Because you didnt do anything on this issue is not mine we have problem. Katko briefly live. If you are working on fema flood maps 10 years werent able to change it you failed. If youre working on bluegreen algae issue, for all that time you would have known weve been working on it since ive been in congress, period. Move on please. Well go to transportation. This question is for congressman katko. Future of interstate 81 will be made by new york. Whether it elevated high war or boulevard it will be impact on community at large. Do you think one option is better than other . What would you do to make sure future infrastructure decisions benefit city and suburban residents . Katko good to have a change of pace on these questions here. Im very proud to be part of the highway bill. Like i said, i was lead negotiator on highway bill that brought first longterm highway bill in generation in a decade. As part of that i was able to get, insure thousands of jobs generated from rebuild of 81. Like my opponent i agree with her when she says, lets see what the community says. Thats what i think. I want to see what the Community Rallies behind. It is not my job to pick a thing. My job is make sure the process fair and complete. That is what ive been doing since i came into office. That we considered tunnel option and recessed highway option. Now were down to the two options, viaduct or boulevard, what needs to happen is more discussion, in outlying areas. I advocated and sent letters to department of transportation to make sure dewitt and auburn and south towns are part of the occasion. If boulevard option happens, 481 becomes interstate 81, what impact does that have folks on dewitt an folk on route 20 cutting through from the north, west and south. Therefore we need to make sure, look into all of the things that they are, that may impact our areas. Pace of how this is going so far . It has been talked about for a re long time at this point . Katko yeah, i mean im not going to criticize the pace. I speak to mayor driscoll. Meet with him a lot on issue. He is head of department of transportation now. Im not criticizing him at all. Were talktalking over a billion dollars. Face it, 60 years ago im not sure it was best idea. Not sure we got it right 60 years ago. If we spend more time to get it right that is okay. Miss deacon. Deacon as far as 81 goes i said throughout entire campaign we have to make sure were not just thinking about tomorrow but bold for future. This 75, 100 years down the road. It is bottom up approach. Public input is considered. Right now i know theyre doing Due Diligence with the Draft Environmental Impact statement, looking at data but theyre looking at it more than just a transportation project. Theyre looking as far as economic development, neighborhoods, community development. Theyre reaching out to communities, having events, forums so people can learn about where we are in the project. I think that is what really matters. We make sure every voice is erred. In the 50s, it was not bottom up approach. It was a topdown approach. I think that was the wrong approach to take. To be clear do you have one preference over another . Deacon no. I want to make sure we look at all the data and we hear directly from the people of this community what they think is best. I will add when i get into congress i make sure i will fight hard to get the money that is needed to make sure we have the funds in place to do whatever project is decided. Okay. Question about the transition of you power at the president ial level. Republican president ial nominee donald trump said last week that he will accept the results of next months election if he wins, that caveat could still cast doubt on legitimatety election niche till said during the final president ial debate he might not accept the president ial Election Results at all. If reelected in november, how would you you help insure the american tradition of peaceful, orderly transition of power. Start with you congressman katko. Katko to say youre not honoring the results in advance is ridiculous. To say our system is, manner which you go about tabulating votes is incorrect is ridiculous. To me i have great faith in this country. I have great faith in the American People. If there is any wrongdoing, it will be exposed but to say up front youre not going to accept results if you dont get what you want is ridiculous indictment on our system that is not warranted. I think, what i will do, what ive done since ive been in congress. I will be independent voice. I will reach across the aisle. I will endeavor to work with both sides. That is what we should be in congress. Thats why i have 15 bills passed more than any freshman in congress. Every single one of those bills i have a democratic cosponsor very first cosponsor. Six bills passed into law by a democratic president. That doesnt happen unless youre independent voice. I work with everybody to insure the integrity of the process. Tell you one quick story. Standing at back of the house when we had transition of power speaker of the house, it dramatically affected me. John boehner spoke. Came to the back. House. I happened to be standing near me. Paul ryan got up to give the speech, acknowledging he is elected house of representatives an when he acknowledged boehner, boehner said okay. My time to go. I saw him walk out the door into history. Watch that happen, watch that peaceful transition inspire me to make me realize how great this country is and how much of an honor it toys serve. I will do everything i can to protect the integrity. Institution an protect it against ridiculous comments saying process is rigged. Congressman to follow up, what do you tell supporters of mr. Trump who remain convinced or deeply concerned that there will be some sort of fraud, the election, as he calls it rigged . Katko i think unless there is evidence to that extent i would tell them, i just, what i say you said when i came into office. John, i think crime has been committed. I say show me the evidence. That is what i say to them. Miss deacon. Deacon just proves again donald trump sun fit to be president to be saying things like election is rigged that he wont accept results except he wins. This does not have judgment and scary to think this man having access to nuclear codes. As far as transition of power, weve seen it over the history of United States and when i win i will go to congress to make sure were doing everything we can to have a seamless transition. My goal an my focus is the 24th district. As long as it benefits people of this district, as long as things impact us in positive way im all for it. That is what my concern is going to be. That is what i care about an what im going to do moving forward after this he can are shun in november. Okay. We are getting one more question in before we go. This question is directed to miss deacon. New yorks dairy industry is benefiting from a boom in greek yogurt but over the past year Dairy Producers in the United States had to dump millions of gallons of milk due to oversupply problem. Congress is set to write the next farm bill for 2018. What role would you play as member of congress to make sure new york agriculture is protected . Deacon thanks for asking me that question. I dont know if voters know, my mother grew up as dairy farmer in rome new york. My grand water as dairy farmer. I know how hard our farmers are working and how important the Agriculture Sector is for new york state. The county is the Largest Dairy producing county in new york an agriculture is big industry here. I said in interviews i would love to be on the ag committee to help draft the farm bill in 2018. Theyre starting to work on it in 2017. It is so important making sure small farmers, medium farmers and big farmers have a voice that theyre getting a fair shot. It is fair and equal footing all over the state, and all over the country as well. So i really would like, get specific like how can Dairy Farmers still be able to sell their product at a profit and consumers can still, boo i that product at reasonable price . How do you achieve that balance . We have to Work Together with the dairy community. With our farm bureau to make sure were doing everything we can so they get adequate price for the dairy they are producing. Looking at formulas they have in place. I dont know if youre familiar with, very formulaic process how you pay for milk. Lets see more of our dairy industry boom with the greek yogurt industry. When i was in the Senators Office we worked to help get yogurt into school lunch as protein. Started as pilot program. It became a Permanent Program to provide more opportunity for yogurt industry of the those are ways we can help. Congressman katko. Katko to answer the question directly you have to expand markets for Dairy Farmers. What were seeing lately, another disasterous effect of socalled freetrade agreements. Nafta is one of them. Canada is restricting ability for new york Dairy Farmers to sell their milk in canada. Dairy including milk ingredients are two main producers of milk around here. They have major dairies supplying them. Canada is restricting their access to that market. As Technology Developed i visited the places around learned that technologies are developing to allow shelf life of Dairy Products to increase dramatically. That means we can ship these things farther and farther away from upstate new york. We need to increase markets for them. We cant wait for the next fiveyear farm bill which is still several years off. We have to work now. I did. I sent a letter to many others protesting canadas unfair trade practices with respect to this. I also supported measures to help expand markets for milk access nationwide. Unfortunately we have to go to closing statements. First up is congressman katko. Katko thank you, on november theth, day after this election which happens to be my birthday one of two deeply flawed president ial candidates will be president elect. The question i have for you is who do you think will have more independent ability to stand up to whomever is the it white house . I respectfully isnt not only that who do you think will be act in more bipartisan Manner Congress . I went to congress because i said things were broken. I went there to try to fix them. I became one of the most independent members in congress. I did so having guts to stand up to my party when i felt it was right. I did so making tough choices on votes despite being politically expedient for to do otherwise. We accomplished much this term but there is so much more i want to comply. I will continue to work on jobs and economy. Continue to work night and day make you safe, feeling safer as american. I want to continue with many other programs. With your help and vote on november 8th, i would be able to do that would be nice birthday present for me too. Thank you very much. God bless you. God bless the United States of america