Speaker 1: Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 2: It beats listening to nothing.
Speaker 1: My goodness, being Frank, where the only way to be
Speaker 1: is Frank. Hello everyone, and welcome to Being Frank. We're
Speaker 1: the only way to be is Frank. I'm your host,
Speaker 1: Frank Lebuono, and I'd like to thank you for joining
Speaker 1: us on what we like to call the Intelligent Conversation podcast,
Speaker 1: where no conversation is out of bounds, in all points
Speaker 1: of view are welcome. We are going live to tape
Speaker 1: on the ninth of August. We always like to give
Speaker 1: you the date so you have some context of what
Speaker 1: we're talking about. The Harris Walts ticket has supercharged in
Speaker 1: already red hot election season. But how will this new
Speaker 1: injection of optimism within the Democratic Party affect local elections?
Speaker 1: What does support or lack of it at the top
Speaker 1: of the ticket mean to those running for the offices
Speaker 1: that truly impact us the most? And arguably, the dynamics
Speaker 1: of voting, particularly among specific rooums like young, black and
Speaker 1: Latino voters, has changed drastically since the last big election
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty How will that potentially affect the outcome.
Speaker 3: In twenty twenty four? What else has.
Speaker 1: Changed and one of the most pressing issues facing most
Speaker 1: Americans today. Returning to being Frank for some more intelligent
Speaker 1: conversation on these questions and others, is former New York
Speaker 1: State Senator and current Democratic candidate for the thirty eighth
Speaker 1: Senatorial district that includes Rockland and Westchester Counties. Welcome Elijah
Speaker 1: Reichland Melnick. Thanks for coming back. Elijah, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Frank. It's always good to be here and
Speaker 2: always good to talk Frank with you.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that you appreciate the little double entendre there.
Speaker 1: But get let's get into it, and it'll be a combination,
Speaker 1: I believe, of national and local politics, because as I say,
Speaker 1: all politics is local and it's all kind connected. So
Speaker 1: let's do things on maybe in a broader sense. Then
Speaker 1: we'll keep working to specifics of your race here in
Speaker 1: Rockland County. As you know, we go live from Stony
Speaker 1: Point to actually go live to tape from Hudson River
Speaker 1: Radio in Stony Point, New York, which is in Rockland County,
Speaker 1: part of your district.
Speaker 3: But let's get into it. First.
Speaker 1: We have to talk a little bit about President Joe
Speaker 1: Biden and his move to remove himself from his candidacy
Speaker 1: for president, a huge move hailed by most. What were
Speaker 1: your feelings leading up to his I don't know if
Speaker 1: you wouldn't call it necessarily resignation, but his decision to
Speaker 1: drop out of the race. What was your feeling leading
Speaker 1: up to that and did you feel it was the
Speaker 1: right decision?
Speaker 2: So I did feel it was the right decision. I
Speaker 2: was actually one of the only Democrats running or serving
Speaker 2: in the State Senate to put a statement out at
Speaker 2: least a week and I think more like ten days
Speaker 2: or so before he in fact step decide, urging him
Speaker 2: to do just that. I think we all should respect
Speaker 2: the service that President Biden has provided this country, not
Speaker 2: just as president, but as eight years as President Obama's
Speaker 2: vice president and many many years of diligent public service
Speaker 2: in the US Senate. And that said, I think he
Speaker 2: certainly had had many successes as president. He took over
Speaker 2: in an extremely difficult moment when the COVID pandemic was
Speaker 2: still raging. We were losing I think at that point,
Speaker 2: well more than a thousand Americans a week dying of COVID.
Speaker 2: At the time that President Biden toook office, we had
Speaker 2: just come off the January sixth insurrection, the biggest threat
Speaker 2: to our democratic order in probably more than a century,
Speaker 2: and we were a divided country. President Biden had a
Speaker 2: lot of work to do to heal the nation from
Speaker 2: the damage that the Trump administration had left, and I
Speaker 2: think it's widely admitted he did a very good job
Speaker 2: on much of that. Certainly there have been challenges, inflation
Speaker 2: number one among them, but I think there's no question
Speaker 2: that people will look back and really find a lot
Speaker 2: to admire in the policy accomplishments of the Biden administration
Speaker 2: that said, it was clearly time for us, which you know,
Speaker 2: I think there were widespread concerns that I had been
Speaker 2: hearing for months, well before the debate in June, from
Speaker 2: voters around the district just wondering, as much as they
Speaker 2: might appreciate the work he'd put in, whether he had
Speaker 2: it in for another four years, and whether he had
Speaker 2: what it took to beat Trump in this election, which
Speaker 2: so many people believed to be such an important, the
Speaker 2: number one task that we have. And I think the
Speaker 2: debate really brought those concerns to the four It was
Speaker 2: painful to watch, and folks really, you know, just felt
Speaker 2: that as much as they might have felt affection for
Speaker 2: some of his accomplishments, it was time to pass the torch.
Speaker 2: I certainly believe that. That's why I called for him
Speaker 2: to step aside and to have a new nominee. And
Speaker 2: I'm very delight to see that we've got someone who
Speaker 2: stepped up to the plate and seemingly off and running.
Speaker 3: I want to talk about that and talk about the
Speaker 3: new team.
Speaker 1: But before we get to that, how difficult it was
Speaker 1: it for you? I mean there's a lot of pressure
Speaker 1: within the party. I mean we see it. We called
Speaker 1: party politics, and it's funny. In both parties. They'll talk
Speaker 1: a good game of independence, but then when it comes
Speaker 1: down to it, they normally take the party line. That
Speaker 1: seems to be in particular with Republicans, but certainly Democrats
Speaker 1: are not immune to that. So there's pressure to toe
Speaker 1: the line, if you will. Were you feeling pressure and
Speaker 1: how did you deal with that as a Democrat? Because
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people that said, well, that's disloyal.
Speaker 1: He's our guy. We're sticking with him to the very
Speaker 1: end no matter what. So I know there was pressure
Speaker 1: for that. How did you deal with that? And how
Speaker 1: would you deal with it going forward.
Speaker 2: Well, voters didn't elect me four years ago, and I'm
Speaker 2: not running now in this cycle to represent only one
Speaker 2: party or to represent the party elites or the party leaders.
Speaker 2: I'm running to represent what I believe to be the
Speaker 2: views of the constituents of the residents of the thirty
Speaker 2: eighth Senate district, which I should clarify actually as only
Speaker 2: Rockland now no longer any of Westchester.
Speaker 3: Good, thank you, good, No problem.
Speaker 2: So voter, you know. So my vision and my goal
Speaker 2: is never to represent the party, but to represent the people.
Speaker 2: And this, as I said, I think it was a
Speaker 2: popular position based on all of the conversations I had
Speaker 2: had throughout my time in office, and really in this
Speaker 2: case with Biden running this year, and seeing what voters
Speaker 2: were saying, so I was confident that whatever folks in
Speaker 2: party leadership might think or say, that the position I
Speaker 2: was taking to ask him to step aside was one
Speaker 2: that the majority of Democratic voters and voters in general
Speaker 2: felt to be the right one. And that's rarely where
Speaker 2: my loyalties lie. And I think I were fortunate to
Speaker 2: the Democratic Party we are still a political party, were
Speaker 2: not a personality cult, and a lot of what you
Speaker 2: see on the Republican side is you see the price
Speaker 2: of anybody stepping out of line is either the end
Speaker 2: of their political career or they have to come crawling back.
Speaker 2: And you can look at someone like the Republican vice
Speaker 2: presidential nominee j d Vance, who spent years attacking Trump
Speaker 2: in extremely vicious ways as you know, America's next hitler,
Speaker 2: and calling him like an opiate, you know, for people,
Speaker 2: and saying that the tax on immigrants, you know, made
Speaker 2: him feel sick to his stomach and things like that.
Speaker 2: And of course he changed his tune and came crawling
Speaker 2: back and sort of groveled before Trump, who endorsed him,
Speaker 2: and he won a Senate race and now is the
Speaker 2: vice president. You can see that with somebody like Nikki Haley,
Speaker 2: who had some very courageous sounding things to say when
Speaker 2: she was running against Trump earlier this year and said,
Speaker 2: you know, she could never imagine wanting to support someone
Speaker 2: like that who attacked military members like her husband. And unfortunately,
Speaker 2: there she was at the Republican convention, coming back and
Speaker 2: endorsing him and supporting him. And so I think it's
Speaker 2: important as Democrats we remember it's not about one man
Speaker 2: it's not about the party. It's about doing what's right
Speaker 2: for the American people.
Speaker 3: Let's go there, Elijah.
Speaker 1: I think it's important because for me and most of
Speaker 1: my rational friends, the great majority and you, I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's apparently something obvious to us, and the choice
Speaker 1: is obvious. Yet, how how can you, as as a
Speaker 1: politician get the message across, you know, in other words,
Speaker 1: how I'm finding the right way to We're preaching to
Speaker 1: the choir of One of the criticisms I get about
Speaker 1: this podcast is that I tend to invite like minded people.
Speaker 1: There's no tension, et cetera in that way. That and
Speaker 1: that's not by choice. That seems to be just the
Speaker 1: way it happens sometimes. Yet I guess the point that
Speaker 1: I'm trying to make is that I'm certainly willing to
Speaker 1: engage others who are willing to listen to facts, et cetera.
Speaker 1: But yet we seem to get to a point where
Speaker 1: people refuse to see what's obvious right in front of them.
Speaker 1: And I know I would be frustrated. I am frustrated
Speaker 1: as an individual, as a citizen, trying to deal with
Speaker 1: people who refuse to see what's obviously in front of them,
Speaker 1: so I can imagine what it must be for like
Speaker 1: for someone running for office, and if I might just
Speaker 1: finish to give an example, one of the things that
Speaker 1: I said, you know, goes beyond politics. One of the
Speaker 1: things that struck me early on in the ear the
Speaker 1: first Trump campaign was when he made fun of a
Speaker 1: disabled reporter who also happened to be a Pulitzer Prize winner.
Speaker 1: For me, that was an immediate deal breaker. Beyond that,
Speaker 1: it's like, I don't need to know your politics. You're
Speaker 1: not a good person. I would never do that, and
Speaker 1: I don't know anyone else of my friends who would
Speaker 1: do that. That's why they're my friends. So therefore and
Speaker 1: so in an argument, I said that to when it
Speaker 1: actually presented them with the video that was not doctorate,
Speaker 1: and being a journalist, I could assure that this was
Speaker 1: a live video and yet still.
Speaker 3: Be in denial. How do you reach Elijah?
Speaker 1: Can you reach people of that or do you simply
Speaker 1: write them off?
Speaker 2: I never want to write anybody off, but I think
Speaker 2: we all have to recognize that some people are more
Speaker 2: easily persuaded than others. And so as a political campaign,
Speaker 2: I assume that as much as I might try. The
Speaker 2: majority of people that consider themselves true believers in what
Speaker 2: Donald Trump is selling are going to be a tough
Speaker 2: crowd for me to reach. It doesn't mean I won't
Speaker 2: go somewhere where I think there's Trump voters, or I
Speaker 2: won't talk to people, and I'll always engage people fairly
Speaker 2: and as humans and Americans, because I do think that
Speaker 2: there's a lot that we share, and I try to
Speaker 2: emphasize those common grounds. A lot of voters on the
Speaker 2: right have bought into the spin from Fox News and
Speaker 2: from some of the figures on the right like Trump,
Speaker 2: that Democrats hate America, that the Democrats are communists or socialists,
Speaker 2: or you know, you name the negative thing, that that's
Speaker 2: what the Democratic Party is about. And when I have
Speaker 2: conversations with conservative voters, I do try to talk about
Speaker 2: values because I believe that we agree. I'm not a conservative,
Speaker 2: but I believe in America. I am not a conservative,
Speaker 2: but I believe that we have been, though not perfect,
Speaker 2: clearly a force for good in the world, and that,
Speaker 2: while not perfect, we have been moving this country in
Speaker 2: a positive direction over the course of our history. I believe,
Speaker 2: like you know, I think most Americans do, that markets
Speaker 2: are and capitalism and the free market is a tremendous
Speaker 2: innovation in history and has led to great prosperity and
Speaker 2: wealth across the world, particularly here in the United States.
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean we want no regulation on anything, or
Speaker 2: to let you know, companies run wild and pollute our
Speaker 2: rivers and you know, chuck down our forests and all
Speaker 2: of that. And I don't think that most conservatives, if
Speaker 2: you ask them, do either. And so I think that
Speaker 2: finding these common values that truly I believe, if not
Speaker 2: all Americans, certainly eighty five to ninety percent of people
Speaker 2: except the ones that the extremes share, that's the way
Speaker 2: to try to bridge the divide, talking about how we
Speaker 2: believe things in common, and then we can get to
Speaker 2: the facts, because you know, I can be there and
Speaker 2: I can say. You may think democrats are communists. I'm
Speaker 2: not a communist. I'm not a you know, I don't
Speaker 2: believe any of this stuff, and neither do most people
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: Interesting, right, let's talk about the new ticket and a
Speaker 1: tremendous amount of excitement. It's kind of renewed hope. I
Speaker 1: felt it with my partner, a man who we were
Speaker 1: watching together. It translated well through the television, not seeing
Speaker 1: them live, but talk a little bit about the Kamala
Speaker 1: Walt's ticket and what your feelings are. Are you as
Speaker 1: excited as most Democrats seem to be.
Speaker 2: I'm very excited. I would like to make sure fundamentally
Speaker 2: we have a presidential candidate who's going to win this election,
Speaker 2: because the stakes are extraordinarily high for our future. Well
Speaker 2: nearly every issue you could think about, from reproductive rights,
Speaker 2: to the shape of our economy, to our foreign policy
Speaker 2: in Israel and Ukraine and across the world, it matters
Speaker 2: tremendously who we elect. And clearly Kamala Harris has injected
Speaker 2: a tremendous dose of optimism, of energy, and of hope
Speaker 2: that I think Democrats have been craving. It's been many,
Speaker 2: many years since we have seen the energy and the
Speaker 2: crowds that she's generating, and that is I'm not shocked
Speaker 2: in a way. I mean, it's wonderful to see. And
Speaker 2: you know, a month ago, it was hard to imagine
Speaker 2: how we could get from there to hear. But Democrats
Speaker 2: have been hungry for a fighter. They've been hungry for
Speaker 2: somebody with the energy to go out take the case
Speaker 2: against Trump on the road and do it in a
Speaker 2: way that makes people feel good about the future, that
Speaker 2: makes them feel like this isn't just about a last
Speaker 2: ditch attempt to prevent the rise of someone that we
Speaker 2: all fear, but actually about building something better going forward.
Speaker 2: And I think that what Kamala has been able to
Speaker 2: do is convey that optimistic vision that America is not
Speaker 2: doomed to just be fighting the same battles forever, that
Speaker 2: if we can win, we can actually put the country
Speaker 2: back onto a better track, try to restore as much
Speaker 2: of our prosperity as we can, and hopefully put this
Speaker 2: dark chapter of grievance and anger and the sort of
Speaker 2: you know world of Trump's I think disordered personality behind
Speaker 2: us and move forward in the way that I think
Speaker 2: a majority of Americans would like to do.
Speaker 1: It might be rhetorical question, but why do you think
Speaker 1: it took to Democrats so long? I mean, we heard
Speaker 1: with oh, there's no bench, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: especially with the search for the for the vice president
Speaker 1: prior vice presidential candidate, excuse me, and meeting some of
Speaker 1: these governors and from other states who are incredibly dynamic,
Speaker 1: including the one that was chosen I said, like, wow,
Speaker 1: where have these people been and why don't we know
Speaker 1: more about them until now?
Speaker 3: Why do you think that happened?
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't have a good answer for you,
Speaker 2: sort of because why do we know more about them
Speaker 2: is really a function of how does the national media
Speaker 2: choose to cover statewide candidates. So I guess you know,
Speaker 2: the national media general is not interested in state politics,
Speaker 2: so that's probably a big piece of it. I mean,
Speaker 2: it took a while because it's a very hard thing
Speaker 2: for you know, the president was the president, he is
Speaker 2: the president, and generally if the president incumbent president says
Speaker 2: I want to run for reelection, parties typically don't deny
Speaker 2: their incomb's a second chance at the nomination. There's been,
Speaker 2: I believe, if I'm correct, in the twentieth century and
Speaker 2: on into the twenty first. I don't think there has
Speaker 2: been any instance where an incumbent president wanted to run
Speaker 2: again and was prevented by their party from doing so.
Speaker 2: So that's fundamentally why we got what we got, because
Speaker 2: the president wanted to run and there's no single powerful force.
Speaker 2: As you said, many of these governors seem like they
Speaker 2: are great and they've got a good political future ahead
Speaker 2: of them. But they're not national figures, and so there
Speaker 2: was no national figure that could have stood up and said,
Speaker 2: I don't care if President Biden wants to run, I'm
Speaker 2: going to do it too. Let's have a primary and
Speaker 2: do it. I don't think that had any of these people,
Speaker 2: had Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, Tim Walls, who has chosen
Speaker 2: any of the other governors we've talked about, decided they
Speaker 2: wanted to run last year, that they would have really
Speaker 2: gotten very far. Because Biden has universal name recognition of
Speaker 2: goodwill among the Democratic primary voters, and to be confronted
Speaker 2: by someone who was fundamentally kind of unknown, I think
Speaker 2: wouldn't have led too much of an outcome. And folks
Speaker 2: were worried, rightly so, about weakening an incumbent candidate who
Speaker 2: might then go on to win the nomination anyway, but
Speaker 2: be facing, you know, weakened in the general election against Trump,
Speaker 2: and I don't think people wanted to take that role.
Speaker 2: So the only primary you really saw was between you know,
Speaker 2: kind of crazy people like Mary and Williamson and you know,
Speaker 2: sort of backbench Congressman Dean Phillips, who nobody has a
Speaker 2: clue still who he is, and I think it's it's
Speaker 2: a challenge to primary president, and the president clearly felt
Speaker 2: that he was up to the job and he was
Speaker 2: ready to go, and he'd beaten Trump once and he
Speaker 2: could do it again, and that I think ultimately, you know,
Speaker 2: had his health been better, might have been true, but
Speaker 2: given the realities of where it seems he's at, is
Speaker 2: not true, and so luckily he made the decision to beside.
Speaker 1: I think you mentioned something interesting too about coverage and
Speaker 1: knowledge of local and et cetera. It seems that, you know,
Speaker 1: synergy needs to be created and it starts at the top.
Speaker 1: So how important are top of the ticket candidates to
Speaker 1: local elections. I mean, we've seen it, generally speaking in
Speaker 1: the big obviously US Senate, presidential et cetera, that local
Speaker 1: elections tend to kind of fall in line what happens
Speaker 1: with the big guys. If you will, do you do
Speaker 1: you feel that that's the case, that it's very important
Speaker 1: that at the top of the ticket does well so
Speaker 1: that it does filter down to the other candidates, the
Speaker 1: local ones.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's extremely important. Over the last fifty years or so,
Speaker 2: there's been a tremendous decline in split ticket voting. Most
Speaker 2: voters these days do not go Democratic for some races
Speaker 2: Republican for another. They will either vote for the top
Speaker 2: of the ticket for president or for governor if it
Speaker 2: was a gubernatorial year, and they'll vote all the way.
Speaker 2: So if they're going to come out and vote for Harris,
Speaker 2: they're going to vote for the rest of the Democratic ticket.
Speaker 2: If they're voting for Trump, they vote the rest of
Speaker 2: the Republicans. That's obviously not one hundred percent of voters
Speaker 2: do that, but in election after election, studies show that
Speaker 2: it's these days eighty five to ninety percent of voters
Speaker 2: do not vote across party lines, and they may not
Speaker 2: vote the same party each year. There are still obviously
Speaker 2: independent voters and folks who in a particular year might
Speaker 2: lean for the Democrats, in a different year might lean
Speaker 2: for the Republicans. But having a strong candidate at the
Speaker 2: top of the ticket is absolutely important for people who
Speaker 2: are running further down the ballot. I'm going to run,
Speaker 2: and I have been running a very vigorous campaign. I
Speaker 2: served for two years. Certainly a lot more people know
Speaker 2: me than they did before I got into the politics,
Speaker 2: but no matter what I do, there's going to be
Speaker 2: a large number of voters that don't pay any attention
Speaker 2: to state politics, and they're going to be out this
Speaker 2: year to vote for Trump or for Harris. And if
Speaker 2: they're voting for Harris, the vast majority of those people
Speaker 2: are going to vote for me too, not even necessarily
Speaker 2: because they know about my campaign, but just because they're
Speaker 2: voting for Harris. She's a Democrat. I'm a Democrat, and
Speaker 2: vice versa. Obviously, the vast majority of Trump voters will
Speaker 2: vote for my opponent, even if they have no idea
Speaker 2: who he is, because he's a Republican. Trump's Republican, so
Speaker 2: strong top of the ticket makes a very big difference.
Speaker 2: Two years ago, it was a huge uphill battle for
Speaker 2: me and other people running in Rockland because at the
Speaker 2: top of the ticket, Governor Hokel ran extremely poorly in
Speaker 2: this area and lost Rockland County, although she won New
Speaker 2: York State, but lost Rockland County by a twelve point
Speaker 2: margin fifty six to forty four, trailing leez Elden. And
Speaker 2: so for me running for reelection in the Senate, needing
Speaker 2: to find several thousand, I mean, about twelve percent of
Speaker 2: the electorate that was voting for a Republican governor. Needing
Speaker 2: to bring them back to vote for a Democratic Senate
Speaker 2: candidate was a tall order. We got a number of
Speaker 2: them and only lost by about three percent, not eleven
Speaker 2: or twelve. But it still means you have to find
Speaker 2: a lot of people voting Republican up the ballot to
Speaker 2: come and vote Democratic down the ballot. And that's hard.
Speaker 2: It's hard for any candidate.
Speaker 1: I want to visit that in more detail after the
Speaker 1: commercial break in a few minutes, but I do want
Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about some of the things
Speaker 1: that you've changed, how you're running a different campaign now
Speaker 1: than what you were at that time. But let's hold
Speaker 1: off on that because a few more things to go
Speaker 1: over there that you mentioned, And there's the slogan, all
Speaker 1: politics are local. I mean, things that are national certainly
Speaker 1: affect us, and I think and i'd like to get
Speaker 1: your feelings on some of them that are certainly going
Speaker 1: to filter down, and you mentioned a few of them,
Speaker 1: the immigration situation, the abortion and civil rights, homelessness, LGBT rights, etc.
Speaker 1: Which our national issues, but certainly affect us so very
Speaker 1: much so here on a local level. So on a
Speaker 1: which of those topics are or issues do you feel
Speaker 1: that you are needed to be addressed on the local
Speaker 1: level as well, certainly in terms of importance.
Speaker 2: Well, I think you said all politics is local, and
Speaker 2: then you kind of clarify that, and I think you're
Speaker 2: right to clarify that, because that was true years and
Speaker 2: years ago, that politics was more local. People knew what
Speaker 2: was going on in their communities, They knew what was
Speaker 2: going on in their state, They knew what their local
Speaker 2: elected officials were up to because there was a robust, independent,
Speaker 2: local media that covered things that were happening in you know,
Speaker 2: the city council or the county or the state legislature.
Speaker 2: And these days, most voters have a better idea what's
Speaker 2: going on in Congress and in Washington than they do
Speaker 2: in Rockland County, for instance. And that's a huge loss
Speaker 2: because we missed that ability to see when our local
Speaker 2: officials are effective and when they're ineffective or even corrupt
Speaker 2: in some cases. So these days I think you almost
Speaker 2: could reverse it. And maybe not all politics, but most
Speaker 2: politics is national. People watch national cable news that covers
Speaker 2: national stories and focuses on the same handful of national
Speaker 2: candidates and issues they find the most extreme and divisive
Speaker 2: members of Congress on both sides put them on TV
Speaker 2: all the time to yell at each other, and that's
Speaker 2: what passes for news. And so when you think about
Speaker 2: how that percolates down, Yes, a lot of voters are
Speaker 2: focusing on these big national issues and not what's crucial
Speaker 2: in their communities. I think the national stuff you asked
Speaker 2: what's relevant. Look, a lot of people are very worried,
Speaker 2: for instance, about abortion rights. We've seen the destruction of
Speaker 2: Roe v.
Speaker 3: Wade.
Speaker 2: We've seen the Supreme Court allow states to enact draconian,
Speaker 2: harsh restrictions where women, even if they've been raped or
Speaker 2: had horrible complications from their pregnancies, have not been allowed
Speaker 2: to get needed medical care. That sort of stuff scares people,
Speaker 2: and I think that that is a relevant issue, even
Speaker 2: in a blue state. And I hear this from people
Speaker 2: a lot that they are you know, they realize just
Speaker 2: because we have a democratic state right now doesn't mean
Speaker 2: you could take that for granted.
Speaker 1: Another issue before we go to the break, I'd like
Speaker 1: to tackle a little bit elige and I think it's important.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the lack of local media coverage and
Speaker 1: it's not just media coverage, it's.
Speaker 3: Lack of local media.
Speaker 1: I had Tina Trast, the editor publisher of the Rockley
Speaker 1: County Business Journals, and it was one of our topics
Speaker 1: how local media outlets are have been decimated and literally disappearing.
Speaker 1: Is there anything you can do, if elected within within
Speaker 1: the state Senate to support local media to I don't know,
Speaker 1: past some kind of laws that encourage more local coverage.
Speaker 1: Is that something that's that's doable within the within your
Speaker 1: realm or your purview as a senator. Because it's something
Speaker 1: you said, it's it's hurt. It leaves a gap, an
Speaker 1: important gap that needs to be filled. How can we
Speaker 1: fill it? What can we do?
Speaker 2: It's very difficult to know a clear answer because the
Speaker 2: forces that have decimated local media are much bigger than
Speaker 2: any single state and have to do with I think
Speaker 2: it's a combined impact of the Internet, probably the biggest culprit,
Speaker 2: because what sustained local media for generations was ad revenue,
Speaker 2: whether on local newspapers or local radio stations and things
Speaker 2: like that. But because people are now able to advertisers
Speaker 2: can reach more people at better rates online, they've fled
Speaker 2: from local media sources and left them sort of starved
Speaker 2: for funds. And then it becomes a vicious circle where
Speaker 2: and also voters of course get a lot of their news.
Speaker 2: They are on social media and look for news there too,
Speaker 2: But it becomes a vicious circle because a newspaper, say,
Speaker 2: doesn't have the ad revenue they once did, so they
Speaker 2: cut reporters, they cut coverage, they stop it, you know,
Speaker 2: they don't cover the local stuff as well, and so
Speaker 2: local voters say, well, what am I really paying for
Speaker 2: and they stop subscribing, and then the newspaper is even
Speaker 2: less revenue, and on and on and on. I did
Speaker 2: very strongly. I mean, at the very least, I stood
Speaker 2: up along with many of my colleagues to support the
Speaker 2: efforts of journalists at Gannet News, at the Low Hut
Speaker 2: and other regional newspapers around here to unionize to make
Speaker 2: sure that they're going to at least get some fair
Speaker 2: wages and benefits because they're doing vital work to keep
Speaker 2: our communities informed. But it's difficult because you don't want
Speaker 2: the government to You can't really have the government subsidizing directly.
Speaker 1: That it's going to be that was that was going
Speaker 1: to be. My question, is there okay, please, Well.
Speaker 2: To me, I think that raises, you know, impartiality question.
Speaker 2: I hear it's done very carefully. Yes, you know, there's
Speaker 2: got to be multiple degrees, you see. Like so, National
Speaker 2: Public Radio obviously or GPS does get federal government support,
Speaker 2: but it has to be done in a way that
Speaker 2: doesn't leave people questioning the media that does this only
Speaker 2: going to be laudatory or complementary of the government because
Speaker 2: they need the money. So it would have to be
Speaker 2: in some sort of fair and transparent way. But at
Speaker 2: the very least, I think the federal government should make
Speaker 2: sure to use the anti trust laws that we have
Speaker 2: to go after some of these monopoly news corporations that
Speaker 2: have snapped up hundreds or even more local TV news stations,
Speaker 2: newspapers and things like that all over the country in
Speaker 2: ways that end up just stripping them for spare parts
Speaker 2: and using the brands and the legacy brands of those
Speaker 2: newspapers or stations to simply make a few quick bucks
Speaker 2: and then get out without any welfare of the local community.
Speaker 1: Well, we'd certainly like to invite people to come to
Speaker 1: Being Frank and join us for some intelligent, non biased conversation.
Speaker 1: I do mean what I said. All points of view
Speaker 1: are welcome here. As I said one of the criticisms,
Speaker 1: and I hear them. I appreciate all the feedback that
Speaker 1: I get. Is to you know, I always like minded people,
Speaker 1: but we're open minded, and I actually put out an
Speaker 1: open call if people want to express their opinion and stuff.
Speaker 1: I'd like to be that forum for that because I
Speaker 1: think it's very important. This is intelligent conversation. I'm enjoying
Speaker 1: it immensely. There's more to go. I'm going to take
Speaker 1: just a brief break. We're going to come back. I
Speaker 1: want to talk a little bit more in detail about
Speaker 1: the things that you're doing differently now from your previous
Speaker 1: campaign and what are some of the most pressing issues
Speaker 1: that you see facing your constituents here in Rockland County.
Speaker 1: So we'll be back with that after a brief commercial break.
Speaker 1: My guest is Elijah Reichman Melnick. He is the Democratic
Speaker 1: candidate for the thirty eighth New York State Senatorial District,
Speaker 1: and we'll be back with more of his intelligent conversation
Speaker 1: right after these brief commercial messages. I'm your host, Frank Lobono.
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Speaker 1: Welcome back to Being Frank the Intelligent Conversation Podcast.
Speaker 3: Thanks for sticking with us.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Frank Lobono, and we'll be joined by
Speaker 1: our guest, the Democratic candidate for the thirty eighth Senatorial District,
Speaker 1: Elijah Reichlan Melnick. Elijah, Before the break, we teased that
Speaker 1: we'll talk a little bit more about your campaign. We
Speaker 1: were talking a little bit about your running for reelection.
Speaker 1: You were elected the first time you lost a reelection.
Speaker 1: Bit in your back out again, what's different today and
Speaker 1: what have you learned today contrary to what happened the
Speaker 1: last time.
Speaker 2: Well, thanks. I think the biggest shift is the one
Speaker 2: that we talked talked about a little bit before the break,
Speaker 2: and the energy from the top of the ticket is
Speaker 2: extremely important. It's important to get voters motivated and to
Speaker 2: get people out. And what we saw two years ago
Speaker 2: was that a lot of Democratic voters were not engaged,
Speaker 2: they weren't encouraged. We did everything we could to engage
Speaker 2: and encourage people in my campaign, and I think the
Speaker 2: evidence was that it helped at least somewhat because, as
Speaker 2: I mentioned, I was able to come much closer than
Speaker 2: Governor Hokeel did in Rockland, come much closer than the
Speaker 2: congressional candidate Sean Patrick Maloney did. But fundamentally, it is
Speaker 2: a challenge when you're running for a statewide office like
Speaker 2: senator Assembly to get people quite as excited as it
Speaker 2: is for governor or for president particularly, and so the
Speaker 2: results were that many Democrats didn't come out young voters,
Speaker 2: particularly if you looked at neighborhoods like Haverstraw and Spring Valley,
Speaker 2: which have many Latino or Black voters. The turnout there
Speaker 2: two years ago was also down quite a bit from
Speaker 2: four years ago, and so having someone like Kamala Harris
Speaker 2: to head our ticket makes a huge difference at getting
Speaker 2: people out. I certainly think the biggest difference about this
Speaker 2: race before compared to two years ago isn't even also
Speaker 2: so much on my side, but on my opponent's side,
Speaker 2: because two years ago he was somebody without a record.
Speaker 2: He had run for office multiple times. He'd run at
Speaker 2: least three times in Ramapo, lost each one of them.
Speaker 2: Ran in twenty twenty for Senate, lost that one as well,
Speaker 2: was running for a fifth time against me in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two, but there wasn't ever any actual record that
Speaker 2: he had because he had never been in office, so
Speaker 2: he could say a lot of things and portray himself
Speaker 2: as some reasonable, moderate guy, and there was. Of course,
Speaker 2: we argued strenuously that was not accurate, and I think
Speaker 2: now it's clear that we were right and it was
Speaker 2: not accurate. Since he's been in the Senate, I think
Speaker 2: he's voted just like any other pretty dream Republican that
Speaker 2: you might expect he's voted. We have an Equal Rights
Speaker 2: Amendment on the ballot this year. We talked about Roe v.
Speaker 2: Wade before the break and New York needs to stand
Speaker 2: strong as a sanctuary state for abortion rights for women
Speaker 2: to make this choice. Look, you know, it's not my
Speaker 2: job to tell a woman have an abortion, don't have
Speaker 2: an abortion. That's her decision, not my job, and not
Speaker 2: the government's job. And so I was proud when it
Speaker 2: came for a vote in twenty twenty two to vote
Speaker 2: for the Equal Rights Amendment. When it came up back
Speaker 2: up for its second required vote a year later, my opponent,
Speaker 2: Bill Weber voted against it, and he voted against the era,
Speaker 2: which not only has we should be clear, not only
Speaker 2: has protections for reproductive rights, but adds important protections to
Speaker 2: the state constitution for the LGBT community, for people regardless
Speaker 2: of nationality or immigration, and for anybody with people with
Speaker 2: disabilities who are often discriminated against in horrific ways in
Speaker 2: New York State. And so I think it's a real
Speaker 2: problem that he voted against that and voted against a
Speaker 2: lot of other important policies and funding for our district.
Speaker 2: So he asked me, what's the biggest shift. I think
Speaker 2: he was able when we ran two years ago to
Speaker 2: say anything you don't like in the world, it's Elijah's
Speaker 2: fault because he's in office. And the reality now is
Speaker 2: that my opponent has been in office for two years
Speaker 2: and he would struggle to point to one thing he's
Speaker 2: done concretely to make Rockland County a better and safer
Speaker 2: and more affordable place to live.
Speaker 1: We would certainly offer him the opportunity to come on.
Speaker 1: Being frank as well, I'm sure you'd have no issue
Speaker 1: with that either. It's an open forum, of course, so
Speaker 1: we can extend the invitation at this point. But you know,
Speaker 1: I want to talk also a little bit about money
Speaker 1: and how important money is in elections. And I remember,
Speaker 1: in particular with Mike Lawler, the Republicans poured millions and
Speaker 1: millions into his campaign in an effort to turn a
Speaker 1: blue area red, which they accomplished, and most people said,
Speaker 1: a big part of it is the fact that the
Speaker 1: Republicans thought it was so important that they poured so
Speaker 1: much money into it, which buys ads, etc.
Speaker 3: Etc.
Speaker 1: So how important is money in politics and should it be?
Speaker 2: So I'm going to give a little bit of a
Speaker 2: contrarian take is that that money is of course important
Speaker 2: in politics, but it's not quite as important as people
Speaker 2: think there are. There is a baseline level of funding
Speaker 2: that any serious candidate needs to run, and that baseline
Speaker 2: level there's no magic number, but it's going to be
Speaker 2: higher for a race like Congress that covers a broader
Speaker 2: geographic area, and lower for a race, say like a
Speaker 2: town council seat that only covers one town. You don't
Speaker 2: need hundreds of thousands of dollars to run for a
Speaker 2: town council race in Orangetown, for instance, because there just
Speaker 2: aren't that many voters that you need to reach. And
Speaker 2: keeping in mind that most voters in any election are
Speaker 2: very partisan and will vote no matter what. You could
Speaker 2: spend eight million dollars in Orangetown and most voters are
Speaker 2: going to vote either Democrat or Republican if you hadn't
Speaker 2: spent a dime, because that's what they do. So you
Speaker 2: need money in order to get your message out, and
Speaker 2: money pays for the basics, the yard signs, the mailings.
Speaker 2: If you're running an expensive race, TV ads, things like that,
Speaker 2: you need to hire staff to help recruit volunteers, contact
Speaker 2: voters et cetera, et cetera. But once you've done that
Speaker 2: and again for a bigger race like Congress, it could
Speaker 2: be millions of dollars to do that, there comes a
Speaker 2: point of diminishing returns. There was between Lawler and Maloney
Speaker 2: about and the outside groups that supported them two years
Speaker 2: ago about twenty million dollars spent on that congressional race.
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody would say that at a certain
Speaker 2: point that all all that money was necessary. If one
Speaker 2: side is spending twenty million dollars on the other side
Speaker 2: spending nothing, that's going to make a big difference. But
Speaker 2: you could even go and look at it at some times,
Speaker 2: depending on the district, it won't every year the people
Speaker 2: running against Marjorie Taylor Green and Georgia, who's, of course,
Speaker 2: the extreme not so Republican congresswoman from a very very
Speaker 2: conservative part of North Georgia. Every year the Democrats running
Speaker 2: against her raise ungodly amounts of money because they do
Speaker 2: run ads on Twitter and Facebook and all of that
Speaker 2: and say, oh, don't you hate Marjorie Taylor Green, Send
Speaker 2: me one hundred bucks, send me fifty bucks. I'm going
Speaker 2: to beat her. And everybody hates her so they send
Speaker 2: her money, and they send these people money, and they
Speaker 2: spend and they outspend her. They spend millions and millions
Speaker 2: of dollars, and they lose in a landslide because no
Speaker 2: matter all the money in the world, isn't going to
Speaker 2: make a district that votes sixty percent Republican or seventy
Speaker 2: percent Republican vote for a Democrat. And conversely, people run
Speaker 2: Republicans run against AOC every year and they raise millions
Speaker 2: upon millions of dollars to do that, and they lose
Speaker 2: in a landslide because AOC represents a district that's eighty
Speaker 2: percent Democratic. And so I think, you know, is it
Speaker 2: good to have money? Yes, all else being equal. If
Speaker 2: you have two candidates in a fifty to fifty district
Speaker 2: and one of them spends a lot more money, they'll
Speaker 2: probably win. But most elections aren't. All else being.
Speaker 3: Equal, Should there be a cap?
Speaker 2: I think there should be. The Supreme Court gutted the
Speaker 2: campaign finance system back in twenty ten with the Citizens
Speaker 2: United decision and struck down as unconstitutional lots of federal
Speaker 2: limits on donations, and we've been seeing the consequences ever since.
Speaker 2: There's still caps on what you can give to a
Speaker 2: candidate directly. But there's now packs that are out there
Speaker 2: political action committees that can raise unlimited amounts of money,
Speaker 2: don't need to disclose who's donating, and so you see
Speaker 2: these billionaires nationwide setting up super packs and funding it
Speaker 2: with a handful of mega rich people who can then
Speaker 2: outspend real campaigns with very few limits on what they
Speaker 2: can and can't do that. The only thing you can't
Speaker 2: do legally is sit down with the candidate and coordinate
Speaker 2: directly and say, okay, we'd like to do this, and
Speaker 2: you do that. That's not legal, but people find ways
Speaker 2: around it, and it's and it's it is very corrosive.
Speaker 2: I'm more familiar with the state level, where you know,
Speaker 2: you don't usually see packs spending huge, huge, huge amounts
Speaker 2: of money like that. But at the federal level packs,
Speaker 2: you know, you get multi billionaires who are putting in
Speaker 2: here's one hundred and fifty million dollar donation to some pack.
Speaker 2: That's that's a problem. I mean, I would love to
Speaker 2: see both the individual limits restored. The rules around packs,
Speaker 2: which the Supreme Court has gutted clearly should be restored.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's healthy to be in a position
Speaker 2: where a handful of mega rich people have such an
Speaker 2: influence over our democratic system.
Speaker 1: What would you say is the cornerstone of your campaign?
Speaker 1: What's the bedrock?
Speaker 2: The bedrock for me is putting Rockland first. I was
Speaker 2: born and raised in this community. I grew up in Rockland,
Speaker 2: and except for college, I've been two years after I
Speaker 2: was a teacher. I've been here my whole life, and
Speaker 2: so putting the county first means when I was elected,
Speaker 2: I didn't go up there too. Again, I think I
Speaker 2: said this before. I didn't go up there to work
Speaker 2: for the Democratic Party per se. I went up there
Speaker 2: to work for people in Rockland, of all political persuasions.
Speaker 2: I didn't go up there to just do things that
Speaker 2: were going to work for New York City or for upstate,
Speaker 2: but for the suburban communities in Rockland that I represented,
Speaker 2: And that's what I'm fighting for. It matters that you've
Speaker 2: got a senator there who actually knows the county and
Speaker 2: knows how to get things done in Albany, which my
Speaker 2: record shows I was able to do. I was the
Speaker 2: most active freshman of any member of the state Senate
Speaker 2: in the two years I was there, passing introducing and
Speaker 2: passing more than ninety bills through the state Senate to
Speaker 2: tackle really important local issues and state wide issues, whether
Speaker 2: it was things to keep kids safe from gun violence,
Speaker 2: from lead exposure on household products, give funding for vital
Speaker 2: early intervention services for kids with speech or other developmental delays,
Speaker 2: and then talking about money to actually successfully bring state funding,
Speaker 2: our tax dollars back to Rockland County for projects that
Speaker 2: make a difference. And you can look around Rockland and
Speaker 2: there are dozens upon dozens of communities and projects that
Speaker 2: have been funded because of money that I was able
Speaker 2: to secure directly. You go to Orangeburg Veterans Park. There's
Speaker 2: a beautiful new splash pad for kids and families there
Speaker 2: that was paid for by about eighty percent with a
Speaker 2: grant that I was able to get from the state
Speaker 2: through one of the capital programs, more than two hundred
Speaker 2: and seventy five thousand dollars coming in for that. Go
Speaker 2: down to Piermont the Fire Department, there is new equipment
Speaker 2: for their dive team. Go up to West Nayak and
Speaker 2: Jermon's Park, there's new pickle ball courts for seniors to use.
Speaker 2: Thanks to grant funding, I was able to secure Valley
Speaker 2: Cottage Library. He's got a new roof paid for in
Speaker 2: part by money was able to bring home, and you
Speaker 2: could go around Rockland and find dozens of things like that.
Speaker 2: None of that has occurred over the last two years
Speaker 2: because the senator we have there is unable or unable
Speaker 2: to do that, and so that that funding that comes
Speaker 2: back for local communities simply isn't coming now. And I
Speaker 2: think that's so important that voters realize that and what
Speaker 2: it means to have a senator with the capability to
Speaker 2: deliver those resources back to the communities.
Speaker 1: If you had the power to change one thing, what
Speaker 1: might that be?
Speaker 2: I could change one thing, I would love it if
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm going to give a cliched answer on this,
Speaker 2: but Rockland is one of the highest taxed counties in
Speaker 2: the country. I would love it if I could stab
Speaker 2: my fingers find a way to reduce that dramatically. It's
Speaker 2: we have an enormously high cost of living, and it
Speaker 2: makes it a challenge for people who grew up here
Speaker 2: to stay and for people that might want to move
Speaker 2: in here and enjoy some of the beautiful area. I mean,
Speaker 2: Rockland is an beautiful part of the country. We have
Speaker 2: the River, We've got mountains, Harriman Park, Rockland Lake, all
Speaker 2: of these wonderful amenities. We're close to the city but
Speaker 2: not too close. We're close to upstate but not too close.
Speaker 2: But it's very expensive to live here. And so if
Speaker 2: I could fix one thing, it would be to find
Speaker 2: some way to get that cost of living down to
Speaker 2: a more reasonable place for middle class and working families.
Speaker 1: I hear you, I tend to agree was on my
Speaker 1: list of things that need to be addressed.
Speaker 2: If we're just talking locally, that is probably the number
Speaker 2: one issue that I hear from people, even if it's
Speaker 2: not There might be other things that come up day
Speaker 2: to day. But day in and day out, year in
Speaker 2: and year out, it's taxes. It's the cost of living.
Speaker 2: And I know I had arguments with some of the
Speaker 2: Democrats and albody about that because they would say, well,
Speaker 2: you know, talk about taxes all the time and cutting taxes. Oh,
Speaker 2: that's what the Republicans do, And I'm sorry, it's not
Speaker 2: just a Republican position. That is a Democratic position, or
Speaker 2: certainly should be. It's my position. And taxes, you know,
Speaker 2: Democrats believe in making things easier for the little guy.
Speaker 2: For people that aren't mega rich. And if you're rich,
Speaker 2: you're paying more in taxes in New York, but you
Speaker 2: can afford to if you're middle class or a working
Speaker 2: you know, working class family. It's a killer, it's a killer.
Speaker 2: And property taxes are regressive taxes because as a share
Speaker 2: of your income. You know, somebody living in a small
Speaker 2: starter house is paying an enormous share of their income
Speaker 2: towards local property taxes compared to somebody who's fortunate to
Speaker 2: earn millions of dollars.
Speaker 1: Well, we want to thank Democratic senatorial candidate in the
Speaker 1: thirty eighth New York State Senatorial District, Elijah Reichland Melnik,
Speaker 1: for always your intelligent conversation. We appreciate you being here
Speaker 1: and for your candor. We know we can always count
Speaker 1: on you.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Frank. It's always good to be here,
Speaker 2: to be Frank and to talk Frank with you. So
Speaker 2: look forward to coming back sometime soon. And I hope
Speaker 2: your listeners are following the elections this year and planning
Speaker 2: to come on out in November.
Speaker 1: I appreciate that and we have you know, I always
Speaker 1: closed with a slogan and from one of my another
Speaker 1: one of my favorite philosophers, very underrated Thomas Paine, and
Speaker 1: we'll give that in just a second. But I also
Speaker 1: too want to extend an invitation, as I said to
Speaker 1: your opponent, your a publican opponent, Bill Webber, in fairness,
Speaker 1: because that's what it's about. It's intelligent conversation. And as
Speaker 1: they said in the beginning, no conversation is out of bounds.
Speaker 1: We appreciate all points of view as long as it's
Speaker 1: done in a respectful manner.
Speaker 3: We got to get back to that.
Speaker 1: So another thing, I want to make a correction. Last
Speaker 1: week I massacred to Brian Thomas Schmidt's name. I called
Speaker 1: him Brian Michael. His name is Brian Thomas. So I
Speaker 1: want to apologize for that and correct him. He gave
Speaker 1: us last week's topic, so we appreciate that. And now
Speaker 1: to the quote from Thomas Pain and he says, to
Speaker 1: take away voting is to reduce a man to slavery.
Speaker 1: So simple. So let's get out there and vote, folks.
Speaker 1: The only bad vote is the one you don't use,
Speaker 1: so keep that in mind. We've got some great music
Speaker 1: for you as well from Rea Vogel and the Scoop.
Speaker 1: Raise up your hands in the meantime, remember we offer
Speaker 1: fresh topic every week. You can catch us wherever and
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Speaker 1: we can continue to bring you great shows like this
Speaker 1: one for our engineer, the mailman, mister Neil Richter. I'm
Speaker 1: your host, frankle Bono, and we hope to see you
Speaker 1: on the next Being. Frank, thanks for joining us.
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