The Empire Page

Background: In our continuing series of interviews with candidates for statewide office in New York, we interviewed Jay Townsend who is running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Chuck Schumer.  Townsend received enough votes to challenge Jay Bernsten for the Republican Party nomination in the September primary.  He has received the endorsement of the NYS Conservative Party.

E.P.:  What motivated you to run for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Chuck Schumer?

Townsend: I am disgusted with the course of our nation and the direction of New York State. Senator Schumer supported a pork laden $800 billion dollar stimulus bill that has proven a colossal waste. Nearly one million New Yorkers are still without a job. The Senator has vowed to allow the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 to expire, which will require New Yorkers to pay even more in income, capital gains and dividend taxes, all of which will accelerate exodus of the job creators and innovators from New York. It will become even more difficult for businesses and companies that remain to invest and create new jobs. Moreover, the Senator is supporting spending policies that will drown the next generation in a tsunami of red ink--$13 trillion over the next decade--a level of borrowing and debt that will inevitably erode the value of the dollar and rob all Americans of their purchasing power. 


E.P:  Senator Schumer has a big advantage given that he's not only an incumbent and has lots of money, but he also has tremendous name recognition.  Defeating him will be a long-shot for whomever is the GOP candidate in November. The NYS GOP endorsed Gary Berntsen for that seat.  Why not support Berntsen instead of trying to force him to spend time and money on a primary?

Townsend: I defeated Mr. Berntsen by a 5-1 margin on the first ballot at the Conservative Party Convention. I will have the Conservative Party line in November.  We essentially tied on the first ballot at the Republican Convention at 40% each, the only ballot that mattered. No Republican has won a statewide race without the Conservative Party line since the 1970's. I am the only candidate running for Senate or Governor who is not from Long Island, Manhattan or lower Westchester; the only one who was raised on a farm; the only one who has lived upstate who understands the culture and values of the upstate communities that are an essential part of the Republican coalition. I think is essential that the Republican Party nominate the only candidate who can win in November.

E.P.:  Where do you differ from Berntsen on the issues?

Townsend: I know very little about Gary's views on anything. He has little issue material on his website, and to date has been very reluctant to appear with me on the same stage or at forums to which we have been invited. I recently read in the New York Times that he favors the execution of the detainees at Guantanamo. While I do not favor civilian trials for suspected war criminals, I do believe they are entitled a trial before a Military Tribunal.


E.P: New York is a large media-driven state.  How do you plan on getting your message out to voters?

Townsend: When the message is right, the votes and the money will eventually find the candidate, as they did Scott Brown in Massachusetts. This election will be a referendum on the state of our economy and Senator Schumer's tenure in office. He will not fare well.

 

E.P.:  You've identified New York's economic problems as a primary focus of your campaign.  If you had been in the US Senate in 2008 would you have voted for the Bush administration's policies dealing with the financial crisis?  Would you have voted for Obama's stimulus program?

Townsend: No and No.

I don't believe in notion of "too big to fail." And anybody who has ever taken a course in economics (I earned two college degrees in that subject) knew from the get-go that the pork laden stimulus bill would not work.

The cancer that caused the housing bubble was generated in the bowels of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two quasi government entities that have cost taxpayers billions. Politicians lined their pockets with campaign contributions from both, and then protected both entities from audits and the kind of scrutiny that could have prevented the housing crisis.  The politicians complicit in this crisis should be indicted.


E.P.:  Do you support the Health Reform legislation passed by Congress this Spring?  If not, what would you vote to repeal?

Townsend: No. And yes, I would vote to repeal the entire thing.

We can and should pass a health insurance reform bill. We can increase access to affordable health insurance without creating a new entitlement that will force this nation to borrow trillions, increase taxes on job creators and cause the cost of health insurance premiums to skyrocket. I have proposed a detailed plan which is on my website at www.TownsendForNewYork.com.

E.P.:  What do you want the voters to know about you as a person?

Townsend: I was the eldest of five children raised on a farm, and learned early some of the small town values that have served me well as a father, husband, business owner, community volunteer, entrepreneur and leader in my church.

It was at the age of nine when I learned one of life's great lessons.  It was a cold and miserable day in February of 1963.  Dad was gone, and I decided I did not want to do the chores in the pouring rain after school.

I was in bed that evening when I heard my mother answer the phone.  She shortly appeared at the door with a message from Dad.  Said she, Your father says if you have not done your chores you need to get out of bed right now and hop to.

So in the pitch black of night, drenching wet, flashlight in hand, I walked down the road to the barn to feed the livestock, water the pigs, and lay fresh straw in the pens. At the time I did not fully appreciate the lesson I was being taught---but it was this. The survival of that farm and our livelihood required that everybody do their part to keep it together.  That lesson I learned about responsibility and accountability lives with me to this day.

Responsibility and accountability starts with us. This is the greatest country in the world and it is up to us to keep it. This was once the greatest state in the union and it is up to us to lift it off its knees. We live in the world's greatest democracy and it is up to us to use our God-given right at the ballot box to prove that it can work.