Republican Senate candidate Jay Townsend is on the campaign trail and wants to listen to people talk about local issues and hear what is on their minds.
“There’s a great frustration with the economy in this country. Everywhere I go I’m hearing, ‘Do something about the economy,’” he said Wednesday during a stop at The Times office. “We have close to one million people who can not find work. We have to create jobs.”
Townsend has received the endorsement from the Conservative Party and will face a Republican primary against Gary Berntsen in September.
The two are trying to unseat incumbent Democrat Charles Schumer.
“I got into this race because of my disgust with the course of New York and the course of this country,” said Townsend, 55, president of the Townsend Group, a marketing and advertising firm he started in 1983. “The economy will be the hot button issue of this election, and I am here to say that the stimulus package has not helped the country and has not helped the people of New York.”
Townsend said for every dollar the citizens of New York send to Washington, New York receives less than 80 cents in return. He said the federal tax code is ruining the state’s economy, which already has the nation’s second highest state and local tax burden, and is the principal reason that more than 1.5 million people have fled New York during the last 10 years. He said as the entrepreneurs and job creators flee New York, other states are growing and the tax base in New York is shrinking.
“New York state was one of the first states to fall into this economic recession, and it will be one of the last to come out,” he said. “The answer to the economic malady confronting our nation and our state lies not in higher taxes or additional levies on the wages of our workers. Rather, it is a federal cap on spending, tied to the rate of inflation and population growth, and pro-growth tax policies that encourage the free-flow of capital and increase private sector investment.”
Townsend said he will work towards repealing the health care reform bill, calling it an “entitlement” that the country cannot afford. He said the bill will swell the ranks of the jobless, raise taxes on those who can least afford them and cause health insurance premiums to skyrocket.
“In New York state, we will see the skyrocketing rates in our health insurance plans,” he said. “The quality of health care will not improve and I expect that it will decline tremendously.”
Townsend’s plan for reform includes allowing the sale of insurance across state lines, allowing Americans to purchase a la carte health insurance and eliminating the “one size fits all” mandates imposed by states. For those who have pre-existing conditions or difficulty obtaining insurance due to chronic health problems, he said high risk pools could be funded by modest fees on premiums.
“I don’t oppose health insurance reform. I oppose the way it was done,” said Townsend. “We should encourage our free market to work. Let’s allow the sale of health insurance policies across state lines. Let’s give individuals the same tax breaks as those who work for large employers. The small business owner should have the same tax breaks as someone working for IBM. Let’s allow people to purchase health savings accounts and what they use will come out of their health and savings account.”
Townsend believes the country can and should increase domestic supplies of energy by making more federal land available for oil exploration and by drilling off the coast. Because of advances in technology, he said it is possible for companies to drill in ecologically friendly ways. He also said that the regulatory red tape that has reduced the use of nuclear power should be cut.
“We also must make it a national priority to use our technological superiority to develop renewable forms of energy,” said Townsend. “We need to use clean coal technology and promote research and development of solar, geothermal, wind, hydroelectric, biofuel and other clean energy alternatives. The way to do this is to unleash our scientists and entrepreneurs from unnecessary restraints and regulations, and to foster an economic climate that rewards the risk takers and innovators.”
Townsend earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Purdue University in 1976 and 1982. He resides with his wife, Rebecca, and their sons in Cornwall-on-Hudson. The eldest of five children raised on an Indiana farm, he has lived in New York for nearly 30 years.
Townsend will be on the Conservative line regardless of whether he wins the Republican primary, and said he would continue to offer the conservative viewpoint during the campaign.
Berntsen is a retired high-ranking CIA officer, the author of several books and owner of The Berntsen Group, a defense contractor that operates mainly in the Middle East.
Herkimer, N.Y. —
