Patterns & Paradigms | The Pattern Podcast
Patterns & Paradigms | The Pattern Podcast
Season 2 Episode 18 | Newly Elected to the New York State Senate with Michelle Hinchey, Mike Martucci, and Elijah Reichlin-Melnick
In this special episode, we tune into the Delaware Engineering Government Series which explores governing in the time of COVID with regional government leadership to meet newly elected New York State Senators Michelle Hinchey, Mike Martucci, and Elijah Reichlin-Melnick. Each in their thirties, unfiltered and inspiring, these remarkable young State Senators ran and won their campaigns during the COVID-19 Pandemic, shifting from the traditional campaign playbook to all virtual campaigns focused on service. Hear what inspired them to run for office and all about their first few months on the job.
This week's episode features President & CEO Jonathan Drapkin joined by Vice President for Marketing & Communication, Michelle Pfeffer, to host newly elected New York State Senators Michelle Hinchey of the 46th Senate District, Mike Martucci of the 42nd State Senate District, and Elijah Reichlin-Melnick of the 38th State Senate District.
We are experiencing a paradigm shift, a fundamental change in the way we usually do things. We are intentionally choosing to see the silver lining opportunity arises. We can shine a light on the things that weren't working well on those things that weren't really working at all, we can regroup reevaluate and re-engineer it's time to explore new patterns and paradigms those that inspire us to rise above the chaos and explore how the conditions of today can take us to a better tomorrow
Speaker 2:Patterns and paradigms the pattern podcast from Hudson Valley pattern for progress. Your listening to season two episode 18, newly elected to the New York state Senate with your host pattern president and CEO, Jonathan Dropkin.
Speaker 3:Hi everyone. And welcome to another episode of patterns and paradigms on Thursday, April 29th, pattern for progress air the third in our series on governing during the time of COVID previous episodes include sessions with mayors and County executives. This session was with state senators to the New York state Senate representing different parts of the Hudson Valley. There are several aspects of the discussion that made it so unusual that we've decided to air it as part of the patterns and paradigm podcast. So what made it so unusual? First of all, the three state senators were all newly elected. They were first timers. The second thing is that for the first half hour of that discussion, there was not a single mention of a political party. Even though there were two Democrats and one Republican third, their comments are completely unfiltered and unguarded by having spent years in their elected position. And finally there they're all in their thirties and personally, and for many of the people that listen to this panel discussion, they found it inspiring. They found the whole new set of issues that needed to be focused on and a sense that the up and coming generation of elected officials knew exactly where they wanted to go. So let know what you think of this special episode of patterns and paradigms. We're very delighted this morning to have Michelle Hinchey from the 46 district Mike Martucci from the 42nd district and Elijah Rachlin Melnick from the 38 district. They're all in their thirties and they're all brand new to the legislature. And, you know, shout out to all of them for not just having the desire to be engaged in a discussion about how to make life in the Hudson Valley better, but to then have the guts and the desire to want to actually put themselves on the line, run for office and be involved, which, you know, many people have opinions they shared on social media. Very few get to do what these three people did joining me for the first half of the discussion from pattern for progress is Michelle Pfeffer. Michelle is also a 30 something and we thought it would be better and more fun to have Michelle handled the first half of the discussion about how it is that Mike Michelle analyze you got here. So Michelle, I'm going to turn it over to you.
Speaker 2:Good morning, everyone. We're so pleased. You could join us today. And before we get to questions on policy, we want to start off with how you got here today. Why did you decide to run for office and in such a period when confidence in government has been kind of low, so Elijah, you want to start us off?
Speaker 3:Sure. Um, so I decided to run for office. Um, well, first of all, because there was a, the seat was over, uh, the incumbent had been there for 10 years, decided not to run for reelection and to had to attempt to head to Congress, although he was unsuccessful in that campaign. But having worked for two years for state Senator James Scopus, who was another, a young 30 something representing our region, uh, as his legislative director and being able to see the incredible progress that the legislature made in 2019, uh, with the first time that we had a democratic state Senate in a generation or more, um, that was really an inspiration. You know, Albany for most of my life has been the butt of jokes. It's a place where good ideas go to die. It's a perpetual gridlock. It was, you know, decades of the democratic assembly fighting the Republican Senate, fighting various governors, and finally to see an opportunity to do things for people and not just go up there and fight made it. If phenomenal time, we have so many needs in our region, I represent Rockland and Westchester. Um, but throughout the Hudson Valley, there are so many needs from our schools to our infrastructure, um, our business, community taxes, all of these things, which I think we can now make some real progress on. And so to have this opportunity to in the state Senate
Speaker 4:At a time when all of these actually delivering for people was something I couldn't possibly pass out that chance. And, uh, that's why I threw my hat in the right.
Speaker 5:I'm glad to have you there. How about you, Mike?
Speaker 4:So good morning, Michelle. Um, you know, I, uh, I guess the expression is I, I, I guess really like, like both, uh, Senator hitchy and Senator rifle Melnick, I'm born to the Senate, so I've never, I never ran for public office before. This is the first seat that I held, um, coming to Albany and going directly in the Senate. Uh, my experience is one of having come out of business. I started a school bus company back when I was 22 with one school bus. I was the first driver of the company. I drove a school bus and just as soon as I saved up enough money to buy a second school bus, I did that. And my grandma was my very first employee. And to over the 10 years to follow was blessed to surround myself with some of the most phenomenal people, get support from a business community in the Hudson Valley at large, and built the company from that first school bus to a school, to a company of just shy of 600 employees. So for me, I have the experience of riding in the front seat of the rollercoaster, uh, you know, in terms of job creation here in the state of New York, in terms of, uh, you know, working with our school districts and our communities across the region. So it's something that I always had interest in. I always wanted to run for public office. I never thought it would be now, but in 2018 I had the opportunity to sell my business. And, um, you know, here I sit, I, I think that in my life, I always, I always envisioned this being much later. So I didn't think I'd be part of the 30 something club here, but sometimes things just worked out that way. And, um, that was certainly one reason. I think the second is, you know, I'm, I'm blessed to have a beautiful family at home. I have a wonderful wife and three children. I have a five-year-old son, a four year old daughter and a one and a half year old daughter at home. So my three kids are a lot of my inspiration. You know, I was so blessed to be able to grow up here in New York and the region that I represent and I want my kids to be able to do the same. I think that everyone has the ability, uh, who has the ability should consider stepping up and running for public office, because it really is a very high calling. And, um, I guess finally, just to end with, and sort of answering your question, why did I run at a time, uh, when, when, you know, there's such low faith in government and politics are so divisive, I think the reality here, one of the things I've learned in my first, roughly a hundred days on the job is that, you know, same minds can come to different conclusions. That's okay. You know, I don't always agree with my colleagues here on this zoom. We agree on a lot. We disagree on some and that's okay. And that's what makes government so effective because it really is, uh, our responsibility to use our collective wisdom, to come to conclusions that are in the best interest of all new Yorkers. And we can do that together. And we do that well because we come from different backgrounds in different areas. So, um, I feel really blessed to serve and I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 5:That's a great answer, Michelle, how about you? Hi, thank you. I, I'm really excited to be here too. Thank you so much for holding this forum and for inviting us today. You know, my, uh, pathway here is a little bit different in the sense that, uh, I grew up fundamentally and firsthand, the kinds of positive impacts you can have in your community through public service. Uh, you know, my, my father, my whole life was either when I was very young, he was in the New York state assembly. And then for most of my, uh, childhood and adult life, he was in Congress. And, you know, we, the way we would spend time together would either to be jumping in the car and go travel the district to different events and meeting different people. Or, you know, we'd go back to school, shopping at the Hudson Valley mall and a trip that should have taken, you know, maybe an hour, maybe two would take three, four, five hours because we would stop and talk to him. Everyone who approached him and, you know, so starting at a really young age, starting at six, you know, I heard everything from, please help me. I can't get my veteran's benefits to thank you so much. You helped my mother be able to stay in her home, you know, and that really shapes the way, but you see the world and on the flip side of that, you know, so it's all the negative sides to being involved in public service, you know, the demands on your time and that, you know, you can't make everybody happy and you can have very hearty, good disagreements. I agree with my colleagues, Senator Martucci, uh, but sometimes it's hard to live in that space all the time, especially is as the child of someone who is facing that every time you go out together. And, uh, you know, so I ran from it for a long time. I actually, you know, I'd been asked when I was going to run since I was seven. Uh, so it was always in my mind is something that was in opportunity and an option, which I'm very blessed to have. Uh, but I also saw the negatives. And so it was important for me to see what else was out in the world. And I spent the last 10 years working in communications, uh, in the private sector for technology companies and media companies, and learned a lot and did a lot of really incredible and exciting things. But at the end of the day, for me, I always felt like there was a lot more to do and to give back and to be involved. And, you know, seeing firsthand the kinds of positive impacts you can have when you bring different constituencies to the table and you foster that conversation and you have the tough conversations, really how you can change and make people's lives better. Uh, and similar to my colleagues knew I grew up here born and raised in Saugerties. And, uh, I want to raise my future family here. You know, this is where my friends are raising their families and much of my family still lives. And, uh, when I looked around to see, you know, we need people in office who are young and hungry, right? Who are, who have the energy to show up, especially when you have a district like the 46 that spans five counties across three different regions. You know, you have to make sure that that you're accessible and that you're available and really beholden to the people who elected you and sent you to office. And, uh, I wanted to do that. I wanted to show that that's the kind of representation that we all deserve. It's the kind that I grew up seeing. Uh, we've seen some people are really great at it. There's in, you know, had kind of let that go a bit. And I thought I saw an opportunity, uh, for me to, to step up and try to shape the world that, you know, we all want to live in, especially as it pertains to climate change and job development, uh, and healthcare access, you know, and infrastructure, uh, here in upstate New York communities that often feel, and quite frankly are left behind and left out of the conversation. And I think I agree with a lot of my, uh, again, my, my colleagues comments where, you know, this is, uh, it's always important to run for office, but arguably it's never been more important to run for office to be able to try to build that consensus and to work with people, both in your party and across the aisle, uh, to bring us back to a place where we can have meaningful conversations. And, uh, I think that this is, uh, really one of the most important times to do it. And I thought that, uh, you know, we might as well try it similar to similarly to my colleague, throw our hat in the ring and see if we're able to bring people onto, onto our team and show them what we can do. So you all had to run a campaign in a really unique time during a pandemic. What was it like to run a campaign during COVID?
Speaker 6:Uh, it was a, it was a real challenge because it's very hard as a new candidate. I had been elected to the village board of trustees and Nyack where I live, but that is an entirely different ball game than running for state Senate. And so I knew going into it that there would be an enormous number of people who did not know who I was. I was not a household name. And normally you get to meet people. You go knock on doors, you go to events, you go to local football games. You, you find ways to shake hands to get yourself introduced. None of that was possible after the first few months of the campaign. And so trying to retool and realize this is going to become about, uh, you know, doing these virtual events, trying to find a way to communicate with voters through, you know, through the mail, get volunteers to make phone calls for us and just try to retool on the fly. Um, I have some experience in campaigns, so I thought I had a good idea of what it would take to run for Senate, at least on the campaign side. And that was all out the window. Uh, I announced in December, 2019, so I had about three months or so of a normal campaign and then up into the Apple cart, so to speak. So, um, I think it was a challenge I'm sure for all of us. And, um, although in a way, I guess for, uh, my two colleagues here since their districts are so much bigger, perhaps in some ways it was easier to be able to get to events on the, you know, all the far corners. It takes me about 45 minutes or 50 minutes to get from end-to-end to my district. Uh, Michelle and Mike, I'm sure it takes a lot longer to get from one end to the other. So I would actually just add just on the last question, which I was thinking about, like, why, why now would we want to run? Because one of the things I did notice when I was in Albany and, and Senator, Martucci kind of alluded to this, you don't have to wait. There's a stereotype that, uh, state legislators, particularly state senators should be well into
Speaker 4:Middle age before they do this. And seeing what happened after the 2018 election, when there were a number of new members elected in their thirties and even one or two in their twenties, um, you realize you don't need to wait until you're in your fifties or sixties to run for high office. Um, you know, I'm, I'm at 36, there's probably 10 senators now who are younger than me, which is kind of remarkable to think about. So, uh, we have a youth movement in the state Senate, probably the largest, uh, you know, maybe the largest ever
Speaker 5:Senator Martucci. How about you? What was it like running a campaign during COVID?
Speaker 4:Oh my gosh. So, um, so look, I'll Elijah hit it right on the head. I mean, you know, I think the reality is for me, uh, you know, at first it was a little bit like, what did you do? I mean, you're sitting around during the day and you're saying, Oh, I know I should be doing something. I know I should be talking to people. I know I should be doing something, but when you take out like the campaign book, the what to do, you can't do anything in the book. Right? So for me, where we immediately pivoted was just, how can we help? I think as part of my, my, my attitude in all of this was, you know, I think we all certainly thought, at least initially that COVID was going to happen a lot quicker, if that makes sense. And we thought, Oh, you know what, there'll be a couple of weeks in a month. We'll be back to regular life. And when we get back to regular life, we can do a week. We've got to do. Um, but, uh, but yeah, so I think the first thing was, and, and by the way, I think it worked to our benefit, potentially being all 30 somethings that we got to throw the old book away, because I think the way campaigns were run is they take the old book out, they blow the dust off of it. They'd open it up and say, well, here's how you run a campaign, but the good news is we got the Genesis of the book and we got to figure out a new way to do it. And I think that, you know, what I saw myself doing and telling my colleagues through their campaigns, they were all doing the same thing. What were we doing? You know, we were delivering meals to seniors. We were out in the community, helping folks, um, with, with issues that frankly, we never even considered because of COVID. We were figuring out ways to get kids, Chromebooks and iPads, so they could go to school. So for me, it was just like, what do we do? We just, we revert back to the old, you know, forget if you're a state Senator or forget if you're a, a candidate or be a good citizen. And what is being a good citizen look like right now. And that's what it was. So it, it, a lot of it, wasn't very glamorous. We weren't doing big forums. We weren't talking to groups of 200 people. You know, we were standing on a street corner handing out groceries, but guess what? That's what needed to happen in the moment. It's what we did. And, um, you know, I think at the end of the day, what it really meant was the people that came out to support us on November 3rd, uh, saw that and understood that it's probably the reason that we're here today. So for me, I would say that a campaigning during COVID was really just being a good citizen and it worked
Speaker 5:Senator, I think that's exactly right. You know, we, we had the same mentality, I think as soon as, you know, when COVID kind of overtook all of our lives right. In, right towards the middle of petitioning. Right. And so we kind of shifted everything to, how do we keep people safe and what do we do and all that. It was just calling. And I, again, I obviously, I know my colleagues did the same, you know, how can you, where can you show up? I was just calling people's place saying, hi, can I come help you pack meals? Right. And unpack bags for people and see, and try to do that all over the district to also get a sense of what the needs were too, right. Because if we're running to represent the district one it's to help people and when better to help people then in the middle of a global pandemic, uh, but to, you know, you have to know the problems to be able to go to Albany and try to solve them. And so, you know, we were at a food pantry in Amsterdam, in Montgomery County, and, uh, they usually served about 200 families a week. Um, when I was there, we served well over 700, you know, that was in the beginning of the pandemic. And so to see that scale, I think really set the stage and really set the tone for what we were going through. And then that just drove even further. Exactly like Mike was saying, I mean, how much more we can do, whether it's, uh, you know, doing our own drives, our hygiene drives and food drives being in different places, uh, sharing information, you know, we made a COVID resource guide. We, we business suspended or campaign and just made it a information sharing. So people knew where to go. And we had seen COVID guides popping up in different parts of the state, and we didn't see one locally. And so we tried to compile something for all five counties. It was like, if you need help here, all the resources for food here are the resources for online education for kids. You know, you could go to the met virtually, uh, you know, how do you take a tour of this, other of the national parks, right. You know, what are these things that people are looking for, things to do? Uh, and, and their hands are tied, you know, we're trying to fill in those gaps as best as possible. And I think the other piece too, that was touched on is it really allowed us to be creative. And I think it's right. I mean, with 20, I'm not the best at technology. I'll admit that, but I have some, you know, understanding and, uh, you know, like, uh, understanding with it. And so, you know, we just started holding Facebook town halls and forums, right. And bringing people together, doing a real about a conversation with one of our first responders to talk about what their experience had been, uh, through. COVID what their life was like before, uh, during and in rural communities, what people should be thinking about and trying to bring different leaders to the table, just to help educate people and let them know what was going on and the kinds of things that, the priorities that we were seeing and trying to bubble them up to the top. And so, uh, you know, was a lot of phone calls, not a lot of door knocking, but it actually made it to, to Elijah's point. You know, it was a little bit nice in the fact that we could do a couple of different virtual house parties. Right. And just get to know people, uh, in all over our district on the same day, without having to factor in travel time. And so for a district like ours, where, you know, 140 miles top to bottom, uh, that's really helpful when you can get out to green County and Ultima Canada, Joe, Harry, and Ulster all in an afternoon. Uh, so we made a point to, to do that as, as much as possible while also filling in those other gaps of, uh, helping people and just being present.
Speaker 7:Um, so you, you survive the campaign and you win. And, um, what did that
Speaker 5:Moment feel like, obviously better than losing, um, but was there, uh, well now, what kind of moment for you? I can, I can jump in there too. Uh, briefly, you know, our, we went to teens, you know, we had about 30,000 apps absentees. And so we didn't know officially that we won until almost December, right. At the end of November. And so, uh, there, wasn't kind of a long time to do the, now what it was kind of a, okay, we're here kind of a thing. I mean, we, it was, we won and that afternoon, it was like, okay, so what does our team look like? Where do we look for office space? Two days later, we're on a conference zoom with our colleagues talking about the emergency session. They call it in December, you know, so we were immediately into it. So we didn't actually have, uh, kind of that, that grace period to, uh, let it sink in to kind of reflect on the work that we had done reflect on flipping the, see what that meant for the community and, uh, even be scared about it, right. Or to be nervous about it. Cause we had to go straight into action. So what does that, you know, kind of beneficial because it forced us to do everything pretty quickly, uh, in a great way and, uh, really get a taste of the job pretty immediately and instantaneously Elijah, how about you?
Speaker 6:So, I mean, somewhat like Michelle, there was, first of all, everything was remote. So with this was not a year when we could have a big, you know, election night party to celebrate or anything like that. And I also had a race that went to absentees, uh, on election, which I had suspected would be needed because there was such a wide partisan breakdown this year of, of who was voting absentee versus who was voting in person, uh, really around the country. And so I finished election day about 3000 votes behind, although I felt on election day, I think my race was not nearly as close overall as, as the two of my colleagues. Um, I felt really good because I knew that we had about 30,000 absentee ballots that I expected to certainly trend in my direction. And so being very narrowly behind, I was reasonably sure I was going to win, but there's this sort of frustrating limbo. And then when you finally win it, it's a couple of weeks after the election, the energy's drained out. So it was more a sense of my God, you know, I'm so happy. This is finally done. We've been doing this for such a long time and it is really exciting. It's an incredible feeling. Um, but without that sort of energy of, of the room full of people and, you know, friends and family, and I think when it was sort of confirmed was there with, you know, with my campaign manager basically. And, um, but nevertheless, you know, knowing how much there was work to do incredibly exciting and, and honestly a bit surreal for a long time to, to get over this, this sense of, you know, this actually happened. And I'm sure that most people who've been in this position, um, you know, unless you come into it with an enormous ego where you just assumed this was owed to you, and
Speaker 4:I don't think too many of us do that, there's always going to be a sense of, you know, incredulity that this could actually have been real. And you know that yes, in fact, I was honored to have won and be in this position to help people.
Speaker 2:Mike, how about for you? What was that moment like?
Speaker 4:So, um, so Elijah, Michelle, he hit it right on the head. Right. Um, you know, I was into the same sort of situation or race that was separated, that was ultimately decided by one person. Um, so, uh, we all lived through an interesting November to say the least, but, um, I think maybe rather than kind of like reiterate exactly what they just said, you know, one of my experiences sort of after everything was final, you know, they, you know, weeks and weeks after her actually election night, uh, what was really kind of a great experience for me, um, was, you know, my phone began to blow up and it was everyone reaching out to me to say, how can we help? And when I say that, what I mean is even people who were on the opposite side of this race during the campaign, um, I'm talking about in my district, Democrat mayors, I'm talking about our colleague, Senator James Goofus. Who's a friend who reached out to me and said, how do I help you, Mike? You know? So that, those sorts of things I think really are emblematic of the approach that all of us take to our job because there's a campaign and then there's our job. Right? And ultimately our job is to work together for the good of the people that we represent. So I thought it was really awesome, frankly, to kind of, you know, after things were set in stone and after things were done, you know, not only to hear, you know, again, from my friends, I say my friends during the campaign, but hear from new friends, people that I'm going to be working with, including some of my colleagues right here on, on the zoom, uh, who reach out and say, look, we're looking forward to working together. Let's get to work. So I think that, you know, for me, uh, you know, there, there was sort of like that wow moment, like, Oh my gosh, the first time somebody calls you Saturday and you're like, are you talking to me? You're talking to me. Um, but then right after that, where you say, okay, you know, now it's time to depart from the campaign and leave that behind and move forward with doing our work. So, um, I would say that that was really probably one of, one of the most, I guess, really, I don't want to say heartening, but it was just, it shows you how much promises here. Right. It was really like a really promising moment. Like I said, to kinda wake up that next morning after everything was official, at least I'll be it. That was not November 4th. It was significantly after November 4th. But, um, and to be reached out by so many people who not only just set it by the way, but who also meant it in terms of, in terms of helping me get off the ground and being productive from day one,
Speaker 2:It's really comforting to hear that. So now that your state senators for all of four months, you said about a hundred days, right. Um, what are some of the things that have caused you to say, well, I didn't know. That was part of the job, you know, have there been surprises that are good or bad? Um, Mike, we can start with you.
Speaker 4:Sure. Um, so liquid shall the answer is everything. Th th I guess what, maybe what I didn't realize was everything is my job. Now, everything I say everything, and I say it jokingly, but it's sort of fun, right? I mean, people call me about federal. They call me about their neighbor's dog barking, too loud. They call me, you know, we have lovely people who we love, who call us refrigerator breaks. What do we do? Right. So I guess the answer sort of is we hear from everyone across the spectrum, Michelle was talking about this, going, going, shopping at the mall with her dad, right. When people would talk to him about everything under the sun. So I think that for me, you know, I thought, well, you know, there's kind of two components to the job is what we do in Albany. And then there's what we do in the district. But I guess I really didn't understand that, you know, the biggest thing and really for me, the part of the job that I enjoy the most is just helping people. And, and what does that help look like? Like I said, it could be helping people with get a prescription medication filled, cause they don't know how to get health insurance. Uh, or like I said, it could be your neighbor's dog barking too loud, or your sidewalks that are uneven in front of your house. I mean, you name it, we deal with it here. So, um, a day does not go by where I don't get a new issue that gets thrown on our plate. And frankly, I say like, I didn't even know that was a problem. I didn't even know that issue existed. Um, so it's, uh, it certainly keeps us on our toes that's for sure.
Speaker 5:You know, any surprises. Yeah. You know, I think that that's exactly right. You know, I had, uh, I kind of came in with my eyes, very open into having the spectrum of things, but, you know, it's never boring. Uh, the calls, we, again, that's what keeps it exciting, right? Because you want, we're here to help people. We're here to solve those problems. And I have the ability to do that. And you had to see the different lives. Everybody is living, uh, is really great. You know, one of the things that kind of surprised me a little bit in a great way was just how much, you know, access and influence we would have as, as freshmen senators. You know, we, our, our colleagues are amazing, you know, and are very welcoming and want to hear our opinions. And, you know, I have arguably the most rural and largest district in our majority conference. And so a lot of the issues that we face are some of them overlap similarly with my colleagues, but many of them are very different and there are different ways of life and there are different constituencies. And so I often find myself being one of the only if not the only voice bringing up some of the issues and concerns that we have, or thinking about something with an angle towards more rural upstate and, uh, you know, that's, I, that's why I ran, I ran to be an upstate voice in the majority conference and to be able to do that and to have my colleagues listen and take what we're saying and really implement that then into either bills that they're working on or other things, you know, specifically with the MRTA, you know, that was a bill that's been around. My colleagues have been working on for nearly a decade. And, uh, when we got here, we were able to say, Hey, some of this language doesn't actually work for small farmers, you know, or what about this hemp piece that actually was left out in regulations, but is critical for farmers to get into this industry. Those were things that weren't really included in the legislation. We brought it up work with a sponsor and they are now law. They are now part of it. And to be able to have that kind of, you know, influence is the wrong word, but to be at the, uh,
Speaker 6:So early, I mean, that was, you know, two months in to being an office, uh, being able to really affect change for the community. It's something, I didn't know how long that was going to take or how accessible, you know, we would be to kind of get into those spaces, especially those that were here before us. Uh, but it's been really wonderful to be able to do that. So actually some of what Michelle said, definitely, uh, I agree with that, that the ability is a fresh, uh, you know, freshman or a first-year Senator to really, you know, take, take a leadership role. They, they majority had a wonderful idea to give each of us the chairmanship or chairperson of a committee. So I'm honored to chair the committee on procurement and contracts, which was a newly created committee focusing on the, the, you know, very large and influential state procurement process that spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Um, but to be in that position as somebody who's just taken office is not something again, which when you think about legislatures, we have the stereotype, I think based on the us Senate, that it's all about seniority, it's all about, you know, you have to have done your time and been there for a decade before you can do anything. And that's just not the case. You know, we are all welcomed in as, as first-year senators to, you know, to these conversations. Um, nobody's telling us to sit down and shut up and wait our turn. Um, you know, which is, which is great. And, you know, I haven't needed to reach out to the majority leader for too much, but when I do, she'll take the call, she'll work, she'll try to help out in the district. I think the one other thing I have noticed is although I certainly having observed my former boss, uh, with the work he was doing, I knew there was a lot to come in, you know, emails and phone calls and meetings and everything else. I could see how busy he was. And somehow you don't quite realize it until you're the one doing that. There is never an end to the meeting requests to the email. I mean, I have four email inboxes now I've got, you know, Facebook to check and this to check and Twitter and all that you could truly spend your life just responding to other people. And so what I have found is really important is to try to set time aside to make sure that I'm not just being responsive, but being proactive about coming up with ideas and solutions and doing what I want to do, not just responding to what other people want me to do.
Speaker 3:All right. So, um, I'm going to jump in here and, um, thanks Michelle for moderating the first half. So two things struck me sitting and getting to listen to the three of you, which is one inspiring. That is a word that comes by listening to all three of you. And the second one is at any year Democrat or Republican mentioned for 30 minutes. And I just, you know, maybe Michelle got the closest being in the, you know, in the majority party, but never mentioned the labels. It was just about the work that you knew that you would have to do. So let's turn to work and let's start with you get elected and, you know, there's a tradition and you know, that Cuomo wanted to have on time budgets April 1st, only, you're now doing it during COVID, you're now trying to figure out how to communicate with your colleagues. What was your first budget like, and Michelle, let's start with you. What was your first budget? Like,
Speaker 5:You know what I actually thought it was great, but you know, I, people say budget starts early. I didn't realize budget started week two. I didn't realize it was that early. You know? So that was kind of a shock where, you know, you have a couple of meetings and all of a sudden, the next week you get a message that says, so you're presenting on your budget and bring it forward. But I haven't even seen a presentation on a budget and I'm supposed to be presenting on one, you know, it starts really early. Uh, but even with that, you know, as, as we were saying earlier and you know, our colleagues are so, uh, inclusive and so welcoming that it's actually much less of a scary thing, uh, to head into even knowing how important it is, uh, and how much there is to do and how we have to fight, you know, for, for what we need, you know, the agriculture budgets, the committee that I chair, uh, is so critically important, it's important to our economy. It's more of a job it's important to our food and our sustainability. It's more in the climate change. Uh, but it's something that, you know, for many reason, you know, doesn't, isn't always front and center in a lot of people's minds. And so it was my job to make the case for that and to talk about why it was so important, which was again, a really early, uh, kind of leadership place to take as a freshmen, uh, in, in a budget that is so large and all consuming for our state, you know, New York is an act state. Uh, but so I think, you know, it didn't realize it started so early doing everything virtually and on zoom is just hard. Uh, you know, it allows us to kind of do those meetings anytime and anywhere. However you miss the in-person conversations, you know, you miss some of that information sharing, you miss some of the fate and the con like the things that you need, uh, to be able to, to really formulate your opinions and move forward, unless you are actively seeking it. Right. And so we had, you know, for myself and my team, you know, we had a checklist every day that was okay, here are our priorities. And let's make 20 phone calls a day to anyone who will answer our call to find out, you know, where these things, Dan, outside of your hour per view, and to put our voice in to say these things are important. And again, here's why, you know, so, uh, it was definitely not the budget experience that I think any of us thought that we would be, uh, heading into, you know, being in the room, it'd be able to really debated and talk it out and figure out strategy would have been nice. I look forward to that, uh, for next year. But I think even with that, you know, we came out with a budget that I know I'm really proud of and I think will help a lot of people. And so we were still able to kind of overcome those challenges and overcome, uh, being thrown into the fire, uh, to be able to do something that I think really helps, especially, you know, incredible small business funding, right? I mean, unprecedented levels, uh, of things for people in upstate New York and things that we need, uh, for the first time ever. So even with the challenges, I think we were all able to really come to the table and have those discussions and, uh, move and here are the priorities and moving forward.
Speaker 3:So Mike experience NEC how are you?
Speaker 4:So, um, you know, certainly John is a little different on the minority side. Um, but, uh, so maybe I'll kind of, I'll take you kinda through, I think, budget, you know, from my end, a little different, obviously, because I'm, so when you're in the minority, you play a role in budget, but it's played a little differently. Um, and, uh, you know, for me, what it's about at least initially was getting to Albany, uh, as, as Michelle said, you know, figuring out the lay of the land as quickly as you can. And really from the minority side, the key to being effective is building relationships. And, you know, I would tell you that all the folks on this call, including my colleagues, I don't have the opportunity to serve on either of their committees. So I really can't speak to, um, you know, the work that they were doing, but the process that Michelle just outlined is the process that many of the committee chairs follow as they begin to prioritize budgets. So just as an example, I serve, um, as the ranking member of Senator Kaplan's committee on small business commerce and economic development, I had an opportunity to forge a relationship with her very early. And Senator Capitan was very open to working with me, hearing things, especially from my perspective as a business person, someone who's run a small business in our state about the priorities that should, that should be included in the budget. Um, she had a total willingness to do that, which is awesome. Uh, because again, like I said, kind of at the beginning of this call, it's our obligation to use our collective wisdom and experiences to come up with the best end product as possible. So look, you know, while I am I frustrated with the budget process itself, like the budget PR proper, absolutely. Right. I mean, this is a leadership driven process that unfortunately doesn't involve as much input as I would like to see from rank and file senators. Um, not only of the minority, but also of the majority. Certainly a lot of the final responsibilities are delegated to leadership, but we all have opportunities to put our fingerprints on this process. And if you work hard enough, I certainly, from my side, what that oftentimes means quite frankly, is you have to run a mile, take to pick up a foot, but you have to be willing to do that. And you go, and you meet your colleagues, you talk to them about things that are important, not only to your constituency, because you know, you know, your district with anyone else, but you talk to them about your experiences outside of government, you know, and what good policy looks like from your perspective and what bad policy looks like from your perspective. So there are tons of opportunities to be effective, uh, but from my end, it's all about forging those relationships, um, and being willing to work with others and compromise because, uh, you know, I would say certainly from my experience, at least the senators who I've built relationships with in the majority, they've all been open and willing to talk to me. They've all been willing to, uh, you know, receive feedback and input, which has been huge. The other thing I think I'll just mention about the budget process, certainly I think that was different this year than others, um, where the, um, the, the, the many issues surrounding our governor, right, the governor is sort of CenterPoint through the budget process. And certainly, uh, besides just having to do it this way on zoom and deal with working with our colleagues remotely and somehow forging a relationship like we have having a drink together that stuff's all difficult, but, uh, you know, certainly the, the scandals that surrounded the governor made this year even more difficult. Um, but nonetheless, this legislature did its job in forged through, uh, to work, to, um, to come up with a final budget deal. So I would say that'd be the only other thing that I call out, which was, I think this year was particularly complicated, um, by a set of issues surrounding the governor and, and, you know, certainly moving forward. We hope that that's, um, that's not an issue, but either case, I think that, uh, much like the, uh, the folks that we represent, it's our obligation to serpentine it adapt and figure our way around challenges. And we definitely did that, Elijah. Yeah. So
Speaker 6:I think there's certainly it was aware it was a very weird budget year because of COVID and the fact that there weren't the kind of in-person meetings that there usually would be. I talked to colleagues who've been in the legislature for many, many years, and they said, this is by far the strangest budget year. They'd seen, it was the hardest to get information both because of the lack of in-person meetings and contacts also, uh, I know we've had issues that have been reported in the press, uh, in the democratic conference and the majority conference where discussions keep getting leaked to the media. And so that made it more challenging. I think for leadership to share a lot of information proactively with rank and file members, because there just seems to be time after time, they would tell us something in our majority conference, and then the daily news would have a story about it half an hour later. And that is it's really toxic to the ability to get work done. I mean, you imagine any of your private business meetings and all of a sudden it's on the front page of the newspaper. That is a problem. So we got to work to overcome that as Michelle was sort of saying, a lot of that took the place of having to just reach out ourselves, make phone calls to leadership, make phone calls to people involved at the central level and figure out what's going on. But I felt like as a freshman member, my concerns really did get incorporated and heard. I went into the budget with two big issues that we needed to resolve. Um, the governor had proposed, uh, completely closing and cutting the Rockland children's psychiatric center, which if he had done that, this is the only inpatient facility that serves children with mental health needs between the Bronx and Utica. And they serve a lot of, uh, children, not just from my district in Rockland, but I think orange County has the largest number of kids going there. So these would have been kids with no real options for what to do. We had to fight that and did, and put together a bipartisan coalition and really made clear and leadership heard this, I think from all members who were impacted, we can't allow this to go through in the final budget. Did it, kept it open? Um, and then the school funding was another major issue, which I had prioritized. I know many others did and made that really clear as we are bringing a new revenue to New York, we have got to use it for helping out local school districts that are struggling because of the pandemic. And then not only does that help the district, hire teachers, you know, pay for the services, pay for the building improvements needed. Cause it's, COVID, it's been helping taxpayers because in my, in Senate district, at least more than half of the school districts have now proposed budgets with a 0% tax increase this year because of all the additional state aid that's coming in, you know, and, and unlike the federal aid, which is amazing. I mean, it works what we can provide at the state, but it's a, one-shot nobody expects Washington to send this level of assistance to the school districts year after year. But we have put in place permanent ongoing increases in state funding for education, which I think bear fruit for taxpayers too. So let me use that as a jumping off point then to also ask Michelle and Mike it's difficult as this year was being freshmen. Michelle, did you, was there something that you were happy about that you could bring back to the district?
Speaker 5:Yeah. Th there was a lot, you know, I'll, I'll touch on them really quickly. You know, the first thing was funding for the catalyst park. You know, when we think about, uh, environmental funding, we always met the Adirondacks. Uh, but the Catskills, uh, are huge and so important. And especially during COVID within state tourism increasing, you know, the first park you get to when you're traveling, upstate from downstate is the Catskills. And so we saw a major influx, uh, in tourism, which is great for our economies and our local economies. And we need that. We want it, we love it, but at the same time, our natural resources, because we don't have the regular funding, we don't have the stewards, we don't have a forest Rangers, we don't have the infrastructure, uh, you know, we're really struggling. And so what we fought for very seriously and we're able to, able to deliver this year for the first time ever was funding for the Catskills park on par with the Adirondacks. You know, we were able to in an over usage fund, uh, in the EPF, we were able to get the Catskills included in that, just split the money with the Adirondacks, which is huge. And we were able to get an additional funding line for the Catskills, uh, to help with stewards and farm Rangers and other things as, as I've said in infrastructure. And so that was critical, uh, and really excited about that. You know, uh, another thing I joke in our conference that I've become known as the broadband lady, because at every chance I get, I talk about the lack of access to broadband. Both affordability is something that's critically important, but access points that people don't even realize that there are communities that just don't have the infrastructure for broadband. Uh, you know, and, and if you live in one of those communities, you knew it was a problem before COVID, but it has been elevated and exacerbated during this pandemic. I mean, people are driving miles and miles and miles to sit in a library, parking lot to get spotty, wifi. I mean, the libraries have been saviors, right? I mean, and it's some of the towns making parks. I mean, in Saugerties, they make canteen field, a public wifi space, you know, that's great, but not everyone can do that, nor should they have to, you know, if you're a family with one car and you have to choose between getting to work or bringing your kid to the library to do their homework, I mean, how do you make that choice? It's an impossible choice to make. And, uh, you know, there was a bill last year, uh, that was vetoed by the governor. Uh, and we made it a, a priority for us to get that included in this budget. It was vetoed because it had a suppose a fiscal. Uh, so we knew the only way to be able to do that was to get it in the budget. And, uh, you know, a number of have made a really concerted effort and it is, and that bill will now for the first time ever get us household level mapping data so that we can understand where the gaps are really. I mean, again, if you live in one, you know, it's one, but we don't have that formally. Uh, and that's what we need to really be able to, to move forward and make sure that we're building out appropriately and working with the providers to figure out how to do that, you know, in both an economical, uh, economic way. That makes sense as well as the way that really works for people in the communities. Uh, another thing I'll touch on too, sorry, but I'm really excited about is the small business funding. You know, we have a billion dollars in small business funding, and those are the, I mean, our small businesses are the backbone of so many of our communities, you know, I mean, that's, we, they're the ones who stepped up during this pandemic to their doors were closed and they were still donating meals. Many of our restaurants, you know, they're the ones that support the little leagues. Uh, so to be able to, to fight for that really strongly, uh, and to see that deliver, uh, in a real way was a really big win.
Speaker 3:Um, and, um, and on broadband, I think it's really important what you folks did because previously, I think it had been measured by census track and, and that was just completely wrong. It gave such a, you know, a, the wrong perception of coverage and, um, it really was very important what you did there, Mike, even harder for you your first year, you're in the minority party, but anything that, you know, you could start to point to, it will, it will build, and I need you to be successful because you're my savior.
Speaker 4:So Jonathan, you know, I, I talked about approach before, so let me tell you, I ran into a very similar issue as, as Elijah. So when the governor's executive budget proposal, he proposed closing the Goshen secure center, which is an OCF secure center, uh, right in the center of my district and Goshen, uh, many, many good paying CSCA and puff union jobs at that facility. This is a budget that you're going to job's first budget and here, our governor is out cutting jobs, this budget. So what did I do? Right? We talk about understanding your role and being effective. I picked up my phone and I called my friend James Goofus, and I said, James, I need help have an issue here. And I know that this is going to be something that you can help me with. And you already say said, Mike, I'm glad to help you. Right. And that's what I'm talking about when I say being effective and working across the aisle on issues that are important so much like Elijah did in Rocklin, where he set up a bipartisan coalition, fight the closure of a facility that provided a great service to young people. I was tasked with doing the same, and I approached it frankly, the same way that Elijah did in terms of putting together the right group of people on this issue. Um, and we pushed back against that closure and successfully, uh, made sure that that facility stayed open. You know, there were four facility closures that were proposed in the governor's executive budget proposal. In fact, two facilities are our state workloads. So what I would tell you about my approach is that the approach was effective if it worked, it was about collaboration. So I think that there are examples that you can point to certainly, uh, even being a member of the, of the, of the minority conference to say, yes, there are ways that we can be effective. There are ways that we can win. And it's all about working together. It's about sharing priorities. It's about working together. It's about putting people first, you do all of those things. You can still be effective. Um, you know, the other piece, I would tell you kind of a little more broadly and globally as being part of a very small conference, we have the opportunity to serve in a lot of committees, which is also a blessing sort of in disguise because we get to wear a lot of hats. And so one of the hats that I get to wear is, um, also as the ranking member of the disability committee, and I worked with Senator Mannion, who's from the Syracuse area on that committee. And, uh, one of the big issues that we hit right out of the gate was a$350 million funding reduction that was made, uh, midstream last year by the governor's budget director, who, um, IDD providers around our state, which was absolutely crippling to them. And, uh, one of the very first things I did when I got to Albany was, um, I entered a bill, which thankfully today is not necessary any longer. That said, if we receive federal aid, the first thing we should do is restore$350 million of cuts to the IDD community. And look, you know, I entered that bill knowing that the bill probably wouldn't pass, but it's a tool that I can use to make sure that we prioritize an important piece of the budget. My colleagues, Senator Mannion shared, uh, the, the, uh, my sentiment on that issue and made sure that that issue was brought to the table and we successfully were able to push back against those cuts, making sure that they were fully restored, uh, with even more resources going to that important piece. So look again for me, Jonathan, I, again, I would tell you a lot of it is about running a mile to pick up a foot, but I come with a lot of energy willing to run hard. And, um, I think that even here for the 42nd district, well, I didn't agree with a large portions of this budget. Uh, I am one of a few Republicans that voted for portions of this budget, uh, because there are certainly were good things in this budget and, um, I was glad to support components of it for sure. And that was just one example. I think, of using the approach that I intend to take moving forward to make sure we deliver
Speaker 8:For people who live here. Thanks. Look
Speaker 3:At one of my concerns is that as fortunately we move past COVID the pandemic, there is some people that will say let's get back to normal, whatever that is, but COVID, I think as Michelle was talking about at least one really good example is broadband. We needed improved broadband for remote work. We needed it for virtual learning tele-health especially in rural areas. So are there examples of things that you got to observe in the last, you know, 14 months that are, you know, either deficiencies or innovations that you as state senators would either take to the budget process or to the legislative process and Michelle, let let's build on, let's start with you and we'll build on broadband or wherever else you want to go.
Speaker 5:I'll talk about broadband all day, but I think that's, uh, you know, I think that, I mean the first step for us there is this mapping study because you're right, it was done by census tracks, which for rural communities does not work. Uh, and so this is the first step to change that. And I do think there has been a full conscious shift to understanding that we need is no longer a luxury. Uh, broadband is necessity. It's a, basically a utility at this point, right? Like every everyone's expected to have it, we gotta have it. So this is the first step in doing that. And we are closely monitoring that timeline and all the things we need to do after we get that data back to make sure that we, we, uh, we drive that out. One thing I think was a really beautiful thing to come out of COVID, uh, that we're working on. And I was hopeful that it would be in the budget, but we aren't, we pass it as a, uh, one house. And we're hoping that it will be, uh, that the assembly will pass two is the nourish New York program. Uh, you know, what we saw during COVID, as we all know, and, and, uh, you know, president Biden touched on this, uh, in his remarks last night, you know, no matter where you lived, there were lines of cars or people on sidewalks looking for food. Uh, food insecurity is real. And as I said earlier, New York is an ag state. The fact that we have such high food insecurity in this state is atrocious. Uh, and that's because of lack of investment in agriculture and lack of real understanding that we have to have locally sourced, healthy food here in our state. We can't be dependent on bigger farms in the Midwest because when those supply chains break, as they do, they're highly fragile, you know, what are we left with? You know, and we saw that firsthand during this pandemic and what the nourish New York program, uh, did, was it connected, upstate farms with food banks and food pantries across the state, especially in New York city and downstate in the boroughs, because that's where the food insecurity is the highest, uh, and it basically paid, we all saw the pictures of farmers dumping milk. I'll say it was day 55 when we finally addressed that, uh, in the comments, which day 55. But, uh, finally we were able to, as a state purchased surplus food from our farmers and bring that healthy food to people in need. Uh, that's a program that is an incredible program. It shows how much stronger we are as a state. When we all work together, it's a bipartisan program. Uh, it brings upstate and downstate together. It shows that our needs are complimentary to each other and we can really work to strengthen them. Uh, and so we had a, we have a bill, uh, that with, uh, copra, my Senator Borello, uh, by the ranking member on agriculture and, uh, carried by assembly woman, Catalina Cruz in New York city, uh, to make that program permanent, you know, and, uh, we think that that would be a beautiful thing. And to make it even outside of just surplus foods, to purchase food from farmers and to deliver them regularly to food banks and food pantries. Uh, and so we are hopeful. We pass that in the Senate. We are hopeful that the assembly will pass it as well and make that a permanent program. And that's something that came out of COVID. Um, a lot of Asia, something that you've observed that you'd like to translate into either legislation or program,
Speaker 6:I think, well, it talks a little bit about education and, and the need, especially, COVID kind of underlying just how we're weird and ineffective. Our education funding system has been where we ask local property tax payers to just pick up a huge share of it, rather than having the state kick in what I think we want to be doing to help equalize that and particularly help out higher tax regions like knots and Valley. So certainly ongoing state level support for education, um, which can I think, spread the burden much more, fairly across New York, rather than asking our region to pay such a disproportionate cost is key, but the other area is in the healthcare realm. One of the things COVID underlined is we have a huge shortage of healthcare providers in many of our communities. We have a nursing shortage, both in hospitals and a nursing homes. Um, you know, there's, there's, you know, COVID has driven people out of that business too. You know, I've heard so many stories of nurses who have just been so burnt out by the last 15 months that after this is, you know, pandemic ends, they're retiring, they're getting out. And I think there are not as many people seeing what the medical profession went through and this unending year plus of nonstop, you know, emergency shifts, they're not going to want to get into the field. So I actually have a legislation which I'm sponsoring with your assembly woman, uh, alien Gunther, a former nurse, uh, the nursing shortage correction act to really, uh, work with schools of nursing and figure out ways that the state can encourage, uh, nursing schools could encourage more people to get into the field and incentivize that to happen because otherwise we're going to have an absolute crisis a few years out. And some of our more senior nurses retire and particularly rural areas,
Speaker 4:Um, you know, people aren't there to take up the Slack.
Speaker 3:All right, Mike, what, what may you have observed that you want to say, we've got to fix this.
Speaker 4:So, Jonathan, I think, you know, there are a couple of things certainly that, uh, COVID has magnified and really put in the forefront and put on our table to address, um, you know, like Michelle, I represented a very rural district and I think that some of the, the technology pieces, um, you know, I certainly Michelle addressed the broadband piece. Um, so I think I'm going to point to some other things that I think that we, as a legislature in general have a ripeness to address. I mean, certainly we've seen, uh, the importance of tele-health in the video health in terms of accessing very rural communities, folks that don't have good access to healthcare for a lot of the reasons that Elijah just talked about, um, you know, a lot of rural schools don't have the ability to have STEM or AP engineering type programs in their schools because there are school districts, like where you're from in Sullivan County of 800 students K-12, or, you know, 1200 students K-12, uh, not, not the larger schools like religious from. So, you know, when you look at technology's ability to bring programming to rural students, not something that we have to be pushing moving forward pre-K was a huge portion of this year as a state budget was made a huge priority. Uh, but when you look at a lot of early intervention services that are provided to kids, you know, our speech therapists when online for the first time, you know, to provide services to kids. And while I completely understand that it's not the same as providing in person services, we have families that don't have access to reliable transportation to drive a child 30 miles one way to get speech therapy or OT. So these are opportunities as we move forward. From my perspective, especially for regions, like I represent where those services are not regularly available to go and pick some of the good things that have come out of COVID. I look, I'm not a big fan of a lot of the executive orders. I'm not a big fan of most of them, but there are some, um, that allow like for reimbursement, for example, for a lot of our providers in these sorts of environments, that should need to be preserved because it does provide services. Folks who ordinarily wouldn't have access to them or easily wouldn't have access to them. So there are certainly good things that we can point to. And I feel good that this legislature has a, again, a right this to really address these things now, uh, for the good of all new Yorkers. And I guess a little selfishly, especially for Michelle and I, the good of rural new Yorkers, which I think a lot of these will provide a specific benefit.
Speaker 3:So we're out of time and I want to thank Michelle and Mike and Elijah, your energy is infectious. Um, and, and may that be something that we can, um, uh, pass on to other residents of the Hudson Valley to say, get involved. There's so much work that needs to be done. And thank you all for participating this morning.
Speaker 9:Thank you for tuning in to patterns and paradigms the pattern podcast. For more information about this episode, visit our website pattern for progress.org forward slash podcast.
Speaker 1:[inaudible].