Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer is running for a third term during this election season. He has been a New York senator since 1998 and became the senior senator in 2000.
Earlier this year, Sen. Schumer voted in favor of the health care reform.
Sen. Schumer has traditionally voted in agreement with the pro-choice view on abortion. He received a zero percent grade from the National Right to Life Committee, which indicates a pro-choice stance.
He voted in favor of the economic recovery stimulus package in Sept. 2008 and of adding onto it in February and July of last year.
Sen. Schumer has historically voted in favor of public education and has been in favor of spending for better education.
The Campaign for America’s Future, which, among other things, supports energy independence, gave Schumer a 100 percent rating or that he was in favor of such.
Sen. Schumer voted in favor of Cash for Clunkers in Aug. 2009. He was also in favor of expanding NATO into Eastern Europe. In the Middle East, he has pressured Arab nations to end the Israeli boycott and condemned Iran for state-sponsored persecution of Baha’i. He has also condemned the Chinese government for violence in Tibet.
Sen. Schumer was born on Nov. 23, 1950 in Brooklyn, N.Y. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1974 and then ran for the New York State Assembly. At 23, he became the youngest member of the State Legislature since Theodore Roosevelt. At 29, Sen. Schumer won the House seat for the New York 9thCongressional District.
Jay Townsend
Jay Townsend is running for New York state senior senator this election season against two-time incumbent Charles Schumer.
Townsend says that he would try to reduce American dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels on the grounds that it leaves America vulnerable to supply distributions that can cause chaos for the average consumer and that it funds America’s enemies in the War On Terrorism, according to his website.
He said that he is opposed to President Barack Obama’s new health care policy and would try to repeal the act that the senate passed in favor of in March of this year.
Townsend would try to increase military spending and the defense budget. He says that President Obama is repeating the mistakes of past European military powers and would oppose the president’s policies in defense spending.
He would oppose what he labels as President Obama’s “spending spree.”
“We are drowning the next generation in a tsunami of red ink,” he says on his website.
Townsend makes it clear on his website that he is an advocate of the Tea Party. He calls it “a good dose of reality” and “history in the making,” which he has enjoyed watching.
Townsend grew up on an Indiana farm as the eldest of five children. He has lived in New York for 30 years as a student at Cornell University, an entrepreneur in New York City and the founder of The Townsend Group Inc. in the Hudson Valley as a consulting and market research firm.
Kirsten Gillibrand
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is running for a second term as New York senator. She originally secured the position after Sec. Hillary Clinton left Congress for the White House.
“Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is a proud New York democrat,” reads her website. “She is running a grassroots campaign to help President Obama fix our economy and bring real, fundamental change to this country.”
The senator has written legislation that would cut taxes up to 20 percent for businesses who hire. She continues to fight to cut taxes for the middle class and tries to help families hit by the recession.
Sen. Gillibrand voted in favor of an overhaul of the American health care system in March of this year, arguably one the important events of the first two years of the Obama administration.
She is also in favor of what she calls “more openness and transparency in government.” She is the first member of Congress to list all of her daily meetings in her Congressional schedule.
Gillibrand is in supports the legalization of gay marriage and she has worked to provide health insurance to 11 million children. She wants to keep funding for public schooling strong and worked to provide $52.9 million in education technology funding.
She is an advocate for laws that protect families from harmful chemicals and poisonous substances that hurt New York’s family. She has also fought for tougher gun control laws.
Gillibrand was born and raised in upstate New York. Today, she and her husband Jonathan have two children, Theo and Henry.
Joe DioGuardi
Joe DioGuardi is running against incumbent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for a seat for the Senate.
He has served as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and member of Congress. He is the first practicing CPA to be elected to Congress. He served two terms between 1985 and 1989.
He is an opponent of the increased spending which he believes to have become a problem in recent years.
He created what he calls a Congressional Credit Card Statement, which would show taxpayers the economic picture of the nation with particular attention on the national debt.
DioGuardi would encourage the growth of small businesses and oppose what he calls “red tape and government interference.”
He believes that Washington is taking the wrong approach on the health care crisis. Instead of mandatory health care, DioGuardi wants to reduce the price of health care. He thinks that the government should step back from the health care system and promote a competitive environment that focuses on wellness and disease prevention.
Despite being a member of the same party as former President George W. Bush, DioGuardi states that the war in Iraq was a mistake. He is in favor of a strengthened intelligence operation coordinated with the help of our allies instead of war as the means for which to combat global terrorism.
He supports the use of alternative sources of energy and opposes dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels. He is also opposed to stronger gun control laws.
