CATTARAUGUS COUNTY
Farmers, state legislators meet
GREAT VALLEY — Members of the Cattaraugus County Farm Bureau, meeting Friday in the annual Question and Answer Luncheon with state lawmakers in Great Valley Methodist Church, got an earful about battles fought by their Republican state legislators during the final days of the 2009-10 state budget votes.
State Assemblyman Joe Giglio, R-Gowanda, told the group that Albany is playing a “shell game” based on colonial rules that don’t work in today’s world.
He said the leaders don’t care about upstate communities bypassed by all of the economic recoveries. The audience listened as Giglio championed a suggested bill that would make upstate a separate state — a move that would have to win the approval of Congress and the president, but one unlikely to be placed on the agenda by the Democratic leadership.
“Everything is tilted to downstate but it’s more a function of geography. Until we change our mind-set, things will get worse,” said Giglio.
He said downstate representatives believe Western New Yorkers have advantages because of a lower cost of living. But at this time, the two regions aren’t working together, leaving upstate as an isolated region, he added.
Giglio heaped praise on state Sen. Catharine Young, R-Olean, who remained in Albany to vote on the budget, for an impassioned floor speech in support of a doomed deficit reduction bill. But, he said, we are not going to win these battles, and pointed to the loss of the STAR rebates for the middle class and the prospect of steeper fees and taxes.
Several Farm Bureau members noted that new tax structures will hurt all farmers who gross $250,000 a year and they will be forced to leave the state.
One farmer said he works 17 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week, and questioned the logic of passing “laws against cows passing gas,” referring to proposed regulations curbing methane.
Another farmer urged political leaders to follow the Golden Rule.
“You should think of the country as an oak tree and think of the common folk and the small people who do the work as the roots. The country survives due to those people. You put the fertilizer to the roots, not to the branches. They’re not getting that,” said Chris Andera.
“If they had given every man and woman over 18 and working $75,000, what would happen to the economy within three days?” he asked.
Giglio said the state must change how it does business. He suggested term limits for leadership and a constitutional convention. He was particularly critical of Albany’s “three men in a room mentality.”
Giglio said Gov. David A. Paterson’s budget — although notable for its lack of promised cuts and consolidations — will result in the closing of youth facilities in Cattaraugus County.
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