November 3, 2014

Martha Robertson for Congress

Want to make up your own mind? Here's the debate.


This is one of the easiest endorsements I've ever made.

Martha Robertson has impressed me since she first came to my door to ask for my vote in her first run for County Legislature. We don't always agree, but when I ask questions she either has a thought-out answer or takes the time to find one.

I'm jealous of her energy. She's about the hardest worker I've encountered in politics. She reaches out on a regular basis, she takes advice well, and she's good at finding common points among people from very different backgrounds. I hadn't realized she was a kindergarten teacher, which I take to be a good thing. She's learned lessons from that but doesn't talk to people like they're five.

She's been able to tell the difference between her own views and those of the people of her district a number of times, and built bridges the people in her district and the people inside government. That's been especially helpful on Varna-related issues, but I've also found it important on highway issues and the lightning rod of fracking.

She's worked with every level of government, from town through county to state and federal. She's worked with Republicans, including Chemung County Republicans, through the Association of Counties, and fought together with them to make Albany take a saner approach to Medicaid.

I knew Tom Reed growing up, and nothing he's ever done has made me think he should be a Congressman. We share a hometown of Corning, but little else. His politics irritate me, and his campaign strikes wrong note after wrong note. His constant contempt for Tompkins County, where I now live, makes me embarrassed that we share a hometown.

As much as I talk about Upstate New York, my heart is in the Southern Tier and the Finger Lakes. Robertson will make sure we still have a Southern Tier and a Finger Lakes to love, with jobs that last longer than a gas boom and at less risk of being exported. It's an easy choice for me.

Posted by simon at November 3, 2014 7:27 PM in
Note on photos