100 people attend Congressional candidate Brindisi's town hall

NORWICH – Assemblyman and Democratic candidate for New York's 22nd congressional district seat Anthony Brindisi (D – Utica) held a town hall discussion at the Norwich Family YMCA on Wednesday night, where attendees asked the candidate questions relating to his stance on issues such as gun control, the struggling agriculture industry, tax reform, the opioid crisis, border security, and more.

Roughly 100 people attended the meeting as Brindisi introduced himself as a candidate who vows to listen to his constituents regardless of their political party––should he be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November.

"I think regardless of political party we're all pretty sick and tired of the politics that's happening in Washington, D.C., and we're sick and tired of people on the extremes really driving the conversation," said Brindisi. "We want to get back to a place where we have more people who can actually get things done."

Gun control

After introducing himself, Brindisi invited attendees to ask him questions. The first question pertained to Brindisi's plan on gun control. The speaker noted that Brindisi was among the few Democrats who voted against the SAFE Act, but expressed concern Brindisi was attending rallies for organizations opposed to the second amendment. He asked, "If you're elected to Congress, will you ban AR-15s?"

Brindisi initially responded yes, but clarified on Thursday he was just acknowledging the end of the question and not responding he would ban AR-15s. Brindisi clarified he does not plan to ban AR-15s.

Brindisi said he thinks there needs to be common sense gun reform to expand background checks, and implied something should be done about the smuggling of firearms into New York State from other states with more lax requirements to obtain a firearm.

Brindisi said he supports the second amendment, and added, "I'm not so much on bans. I think what we have to do is [consider] how do we keep guns out of the hands of criminals, how do keep guns out of the hands of the violently mentally ill, how do we keeps guns out of the hands of people who are convicted of domestic violence?"

On struggling farmers

Another speaker said they were a struggling dairy and beef farmer, and he would like to know what Brindisi would do about the price of milk and beef. "Because rural America is a fabric of our community and it's just ripping. And no one in D.C. seems to have an answer at all," said the farmer.

Brindisi responded Congress needs to speak up against big corporations like Walmart, and provide a louder voice for small and medium farms in Washington, D.C. He said that New York's economy is reliant on agriculture as its number one industry. "Not only is it going to put the farm out of business, it's going to have a ripple effect through the entire community," he said.

The man then asked the candidate what could be done about the issue. Brindisi said, "Corporate farming is out of control...We're letting Walmart own basically everything from the cow up to the bottle into the store where they're charging $1.98 for a gallon of milk. It's $4.50 for a gallon of orange juice. That's got to change."

On tax reform

One question asked Brindisi if he planned on raising taxes on business and the public, and if so, how does he expect that to help the communities? Brindisi said he doesn't support raising taxes on small business or individuals, but he thinks that we should have bipartisan tax reform in the country.

"I have no doubt that we need to do corporate tax reform, we need to do repatriation to bring more money from overseas back to this country, however, I don't think we should have went as far as some did to bring major windfalls to corporations that frankly didn't need it," said Brindisi. "The investment should be focused more on small business, on farms, on individuals in the middle class and working families, that's where I would like to have seen the bulk of the tax breaks."

On the opioid epidemic

A man in the audience said upon his return from the Navy, six of his high school friends had overdosed on heroin. He alleged the bulk of the heroin entering the United States comes from Mexico. He asked Brindisi how he would respond to the opioid crisis and border control.

Brindisi highlighted the opioid epidemic, and said he learned from the Oneida County Sheriff's that seven-out-of-10 inmates in the Oneida County Correctional Facility had admitted to using heroin or abusing opioids. "What we need to be investing in more are treatment programs. We have to be investing in prevention. One of the biggest problems we have throughout the congressional district is access to treatment. So if you are suffering from opioid addiction, the nearest treatment center might not be close and it's harder for people to get that kind of treatment programs."

Brindisi was asked about his stance on a border wall. Brindisi said he is not in support of a wall along the entire border but said he is in support of implementing walls, "...where it makes sense."

On debating Representative Claudia Tenney

A man in the audience asked Brindisi if he had any plans to debate Representative Claudia Tenney (R – New Hartford), the incumbent candidate who currently holds the seat in New York's 22nd Congressional District.

Brindisi said, "Neither of us have made a request to each other to debate, but I am certainly happy to debate." He added that he expects there will be several debates this summer and leading up to the election in November.

More information about Brindisi's run for Congress can be found at www.brindisiforcongress.com.

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