>>
WELCOME TO A "VOICE OF THE VOTER" PRESENTATION, A
DEBATE FEATURING THOSE WHO WANT TO BE OUR NEXT MONROE COUNTY
EXECUTIVE.
FOR THE NEXT HOUR, THE TWO PEOPLE WHO WANT TO HEAD UP COUNTY
GOVERNMENT WILL FIELD QUESTIONS FROM THE MEDIA AND FROM OUR
VOICE OF THE VOTER PANEL.
THEY ARE BILL JOHNSON, THE DEMOCRAT AND WORKING FAMILIES PARTY
CANDIDATE, AND MAGGIE BROOKS, THE REPUBLICAN, INDEPENDENCE AND
CONSERVATIVE PARTY CANDIDATE.
NOW HERE IS YOUR DEBATE MODERATOR, MICHAEL CAPUTO.
>> IN JUST OVER TWO WEEKS, YOU WILL DECIDE WHO LEADS MONROE
COUNTY GOVERNMENT FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS.
IN A SENSE, YOU ARE THE EMPLOYERS AND BEFORE YOU ARE TWO APPLICANTS
WHO WANT THE JOB OF LEADING MONROE COUNTY'S ADMINISTRATIVE BRANCH
OF GOVERNMENT.
THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO HEAR WHY THEY OUGHT TO BE HIRED.
"VOICE OF THE VOTEE" BRINGS YOU A DEBATE FOR MONROE
COUNTY EXECUTIVE FEATURING Maggie BROOKS AND BILL JOHNSON.
"VOICE OF THE VOTER" IS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN WXXI,
WOKR NEWS SOURCE 13 AND "THE DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE."
OUR QUESTIONS WILL COME LARGELY FROM A CITIZEN PANEL, PEOPLE
VOLUNTEERING THEIR TIME TO, IN ESSENCE, BE THE HUMAN RESOURCES
TEAM, THOSE CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW PROCESS.
YOU MAY REMEMBER OUR MEDIA COLLABORATION CALLED FIGHTING FOR
ROCHESTER'S FUTURE.
SOME OF THESE PEOPLE HERE HELPED US OVER THE COURSE OF THE YEAR
COVER THE ISSUES AS PART OF THAT EFFORT.
ALSO ON THE PANEL ARE JOSEPH SPECTOR, POLITICAL REPORTER FOR
"THE DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE" AND KATHY Kriz, SPECIAL
PROJECTS REPORTER FOR WOKR-TV.
THEY'LL LEND THEIR EXPERTISE TO THE QUESTIONING.
SO LET'S GET STARTED. THE TWO CANDIDATES WILL ALTERNATE IN ANSWERING
EACH QUESTION AND RESPONDING TO THE COMMENTS MADE.
THAT ORDER WAS DETERMINED BY A COIN FLIP.
Bill Johnson won the coin toss and will answer first.
Maggie brooks will follow with a response and Mr. Johnson will
have the chance for a rebuttal.
EACH CANDIDATE HAS TWO MINUTES FOR THE INITIAL ANSWER, ONE MINUTE
AND 30 SECONDS FOR THE INITIAL REBUTTAL AND 30 SECONDS FOR THE
FINAL REBUTTAL.
BEFORE WE START, LET'S INTRODUCE THE TWO CANDIDATES WHO WOULD
LIKE TO REPLACE JACK DOYLE AS THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE.
MAGGIE BROOKS IS A FORMER BROADCAST JOURNALIST IN THE ROCHESTER
AREA.
IN 1995 SHE TOOK UP POLITICS BY RUNNING FOR AND WINNING A SEAT
ON THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE.
IN 1997 SHE BECAME COUNTY CLERK AND HAS HELD THAT POSITION EVER
SINCE.
BILL JOHNSON WAS THE FORMER HEAD OF THE URBAN LEAGUE OF ROCHESTER.
IN 1993 HE RAN FOR THE MAYOR OF ROCHESTER AND WON.
HE'S WON REELECTION TO THAT POST TWICE THERE AFTER, HEADING
UP CITY GOVERNMENT FOR THE PAST NINE YEARS.
NOW WE'LL HAVE OUR OPENING STATEMENTS AND ALSO DETERMINED BY
A COIN TOSS.
THESE ARE A MINUTE LONG.
Mr. Johnson will begin.
>> good evening.
Thank you for this opportunity to speak directly to the voters
of Monroe county.
I have been a resident of Monroe county for 31 years, actively
engaged in a variety of pursuits in this community.
During that time, we have seen the fortunes of our county take
a slide.
Once we were 39th most affluent county. we're now the 221st.
Our population has been flat.
We were at 711,000 when I moved here in 1972.
We are now only at 735,000.
On average of less than 10,000 per decade.
I would safe that my career as mayor of the city of Rochester,
dealing with some of the moss formidable challenges that anyone
can deal with has been met with a record of success.
We have engaged citizens.
We have developed a very comprehensive plan.
That is the strategy that I will use to put Monroe county back
on the right track.
>> then we'll have the opening statement from Ms. Brooks.
>> thank you.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak directly to voters today
-- tonight.
Clearly, we need a change in Monroe county and the county executive's
race this year is about leadership and about change.
People in our community tell me wherever I go that they're tired
of government leaders who don't work together, who don't speak
to each other.
They feel we're missing out on tremendous opportunity for growth
and moving forward in our community.
My platform from the beginning has clearly been about three
things -- economics development, job creation and retention
and forming and creating an aggressive plan to streamline county
governments.
All of this done withholding our commitment, maintaining our
important commitment to property tax owners in this community
that we will not raise their property taxes to get the job done
on the county level.
I believe I'm the leader at the right time in Monday Roy county's
history and I hope you agree.
>> thank you very much.
We will begin the questions now.
First question is from Rosa Smith-Montanaro, it will be on tourism
and development and will be to bill Johnson initially.
>> welcome and thank you for being here today.
Some of our leaders in our community have said that Rochester
has some wonderful resources that can be developed similar to
Cleveland and Baltimore and I agree.
I think Rochester is a great place to live, it's a wonderful
place to raise a family.
My question is, how do you -- what would you like to see developed
as far as our resources?
How would you -- how do you plan on accomplishing this, and
how will we pay for that?
>> we've already started that process.
The city is the cultural, social hub of a much larger region.
We have assets that we've been gifted with over the decades,
an our job is to enhance those assets and to make our community
safe enough that it will attract thousands and thousands of
people, not only from the region but from outside the region.
We started that right here in high falls.
We've expanded that throughout the center city.
We have developed our waterfront, which has been neglected for
too long.
We have begun the process of bringing big development into this
community and the subsequent development of Rochester will transform
this community in a way that it has not seen for many decades.
We will be able to attract hundreds of thousands of people into
our community who normally bypass Rochester because we are off
the thruway, people have no reason to come to Rochester except
if it is their final destination.
We will be able to divert people from Canada, Europe, Asia,
horcoming into North America, from Toronto.
People in the United States who will be going west and north
to get into Canada will be able to come into our community and
it is our job to continue to develop those assets that will
hold a strong portion of them here.
We can't put all of our emphasis just on tourism development.
We have to make sure that we create sufficient jobs out of that
activity, which will help to sustain a faltering economy.
>> well, certainly I agree that we have tremendous resources
in this community and we have a number of important community
projects that have been talked about and our works in progress
and we certainly need to as a community root for the success
of things like the fast ferry, things like the transit center
in downtown Rochester.
I have been vocal advocate of a performing arts center in our
downtown area and certainly that is something that would be
a reasonable goal for us to achieve as a community.
I think what's missing is the cooperative spirit, the cohesive
team can move forward and really go out and get the benefit,
get the resources and the revenues that we need to get these
things done.
I've been talking about aggressively pursuing as a city and
a county livable community initiative dollars.
These are federal transportation dollars that would allow us
to build a transit center and then integrate a performing arts
center, possibly an advanced tech center, that would be an opportunity
to get a number of projects done by leveraging federal transportation
dollars.
Communities across the country are doing this.
El Paso and Charlotte, North Carolina, come to mind.
Certainly we should be aware of those opportunities and be pursuing
them.
Jim Walsh, a new congressman for our area said Maggie, there's
tons of money available for waterfront development.
Other communities ask.
He said Rochester and Monroe county are not asking as aggressively
as they could, so I think that we really all need to come together
and work on making sure that all of those projects become reality
because we can't afford any more failure in the community.
We want to move ahead.
>> well, it is unfortunate that Maggie is so poorly informed
that she would make a statement that she just made.
This community is -- has attracted millions of dollars of waterfront
development, otherwise we would not be in the position that
we are in now.
We would not have the port of Rochester in the shape it is now
if our congressional delegation hadn't brought funds in for
sewage control, had brought money in for infrastructure so we
can build a ferry terminal.
We also have to progress that the federal government and the
state government are in serious financial problems and we cannot
continue to look to them to bring additional money in to this
community.
>> OK.
We're going to get another question now from Kirke White.
Kirke White will ask a question about management and it will
go to Maggie first.
>> election season is filled with promises, but politics
and the reality of events shrink horizons once the winner takes
off.
If you are the next county executive, what one item from your
campaign would you feel compelled to accomplish to conclude
your time in office was not a failure?
>> well, clearly I have been most vocal about the need
to hold the line on property taxes in this community.
Clearly, we need more economic development in our community.
We need more jobs.
We need to retain the jobs that are already here.
And you cannot talk about economic development and jobs, creating
or retaining jobs, an then talk about raising taxes in this
community.
If we continually go back to taxpayers to solve our county budget
problems, we've failed as elected representatives.
I have put on the fable my -- table my plan for an aggressive
streamlining program for county government, taking taxes off
the table and taking cutting services off the table.
There are people who say we cannot do that, but I say that if
we throw our hands up and simply say taxpayers are going to
solve our problems, what is our challenge ever to live within
our means as a government?
And when you talk about streamlining, what do we mean?
Looking for ways to outsource.
What are the things government doesn't do well in looking for
opportunities to reennear the way we deliver services as a government.
I've done that in the clerk's office.
It's proven to save money.
Above and beyond that, we need to continue to work with our
towns, municipalities, our city of Rochester to consolidate
service and eliminate duplication of service.
Those are the things that clearly arow us to be a government
that lives within our means, allows us to maintain the commitment
to property taxpayers in this community and allows us then to
go out and attract business and community, businesses that will
come to a community where there is a reasonable, you know, tax
base.
We clearly overcharge our taxpayers in every sense of the word
right now.
We can't go back to taxes any longer to be the solution to our
problems.
>> I'll tick off several points.
First, this county has stabilized taxes for the last dozen years
and yet it has lost thousands of jobs.
It has spent over hundreds of millions of dollars to attract
new jobs.
That has not worked.
Secondly, we can't just be concerned about county stabilization.
Every town and village in Monroe county has had to raise property
tax in order to maintain services.
I wonder why Ms. Brooks never speaks about what can the county
government do to stabilize town and village tax.
Thirdly, she keeps touting her record for efficiency as Monroe
county clerk.
The record is clear -- she has raised fees.
Fees have been raised in her office 66% during the time she's
been in office.
The number of cases, the case load has been reduced by almost
20%.
That is hardly the definition of efficient operation.
>> we've returned a record surplus to the county's general
fund he and every year I've been county clerk an our projection
for 2004 is $1.6 million surplus.
I see that has a success, not a failure.
If you look at the burden being placed on towns right now, what
is the key burden, what is shifting the tax burdens to municipalities?
The declining property values in the city of Rochester because
property values are lower, people in the suburban areas have
to pick up more.
We cannot go back to taxes as the only thing that will solve
our problems in this community.
>> next question comes from the "Democrat and Chronicle"
Joe spector.
>> Rochester's per capita crime rate is the highest in
the state and the number of homicides in the city have continued
to increase since 1999.
Before we talk about economic development and ways to create
new jobs, what is your plan to address the crime rate in the
city and make Monroe county safe for all residents?
>> we have worked on this problem consistently.
I think that the record has to fairly reflect since the time
I've taken office, we have brought the homicide rate down by
over 40%.
Yes, it goes up, and any homicide is one too many, but we have
to consider all of the external factors that are contributing
to this.
Our police officers work hard every day, working with our citizens
to come up with crime intervention strategies, to work with
citizens to try to come up with violence reduction strategies.
We've done that.
And yet we are talking about crime, individual actions don't
reflect the failure of the community as much as it reflects
the failure of family values.
We must continue to do everything that we have done and we have
to count on the support of the county administration as well,
which has not held up its fair share of the support.
It has reduced the amount of money that it contributes to support
the Rochester police department, the almost $2 million, it has
made our jobs much more difficult by reducing the amount of
money that goes to provide drug treatment services.
A lot of the crimes that we see are driven by people who are
affected by drugs and cannot get the proper treatment.
It has not been able to keep up with the increase in probation.
We have a number of people who are committing crime who are
out on parole and probation.
This is a failure of systems that we do not control and we have
too many plea bargains that come out of court.
We find people who are arrested by the police, who are put back
out on the streets, so it is not one system that has failed.
It is the complete system that needs to be over hauled and as
county executive I would work to ensure that all of those systems
are brought to bear on these problems.
>> well, I've talked about a plan and bill Johnson just
listed all of the successful things they're doing.
You know what?
They're not working.
He's talked about all of the positive anti-crime initiatives.
Clearly they're not working.
We've had 43 homicides.
We had the highest homicide rate in New York state right now.
People are concerned about that.
They don't want to hear about the collateral issues that go
along with that.
They just want to know what's being done to make our community
safer.
Without a safe community, it goes against every we're trying
to do with economic development and creating jobs.
People, businesses will not come to a community where they don't
feel safe.
I have proposed a violent strike force that would bring all
agencies from all parts of the county together to the table
to target the small number of individuals who are committing
most of the violent crime in hour community.
This would be a coordinated effort.
Right now we do have things that are operating in a vacuum,
but these organizations and these initiatives are competing
for resources.
There is no cooperative solution or strategy at this point to
target those individuals who are committing most of the violent
crime in Rochester.
It's not just a city issue.
It's a county and community issue as well.
We all need to come to the table and figure out how we're going
to get the job done of fighting crime.
>> Maggie brooks as the wife of a retired Rochester police
Captain does a grave disservice to the people horout fighting
for this problem every single Dave.
She also continues to show her lack of knowledge about what's
going on.
Just a few days ago in county court, judge marks brought together
at our assistance, in the city, all of the violent paroleees
are out on the street and everybody was sitting there here with
this problem.
We are dealing with this problem every single day.
>> the next question is going to come from Kathleen Albertini.
It's going to be on finance and taxes.
The first question to Ms. Brooks.
>> thank you both for your service to the community over
the years.
As a business owner struggling to keep my business viable, I
have to make some difficult decisions.
And I don't have to look all the way to California to see difficult
situations.
We have buffalo.
You've presented a very different picture of the county's financial
situation, each of you have, so let's look forward.
The election is over, it's your first day in office, the county
has a deficit.
What are you going to do to help businesses and control the
deficit?
>> well, I think I've been very clear about my plan and
it's an important question.
Number one, whoever takes office on January 2 in hearts whatever
jack Doyle leaves on the table with his administrative team
this year for 2004.
Neither one of us will be able to control or you know, have
input into what's left on the table.
So a new county executive, number one, I would do a top to bottom
review of the county budget, line by line.
What's on the table.
What is going on, what's coming in?
And when you have that information in front of you, then you
can put together a strategic plan.
How are we going to maintain our important commitment to property
taxpayers in this community?
How are we going to preserve the services that has a county
government we are required to provide to our citizens in need?
And at the same time create a government that lives within its
means.
I have long said that a lot of the things that we've seen in
the past are band aids.
We need to look out into the future.
We took a very significant step when we had the blue ribbon
commission come in and bring in an independent look at the budget
and make some recommendations.
17 recommendations were made in that report.
Eight of those were included in our community action plan that
we have on the table as part of this campaign.
I think there's a lot of value in revisiting some of those recommendations
and seeing what can we apply to the county budgeting process.
It's not going to be easy, it's not going to happen without
short-term pain, but I truly believe that we need to be challenged,
to streamline government and hold our commitment to stable property
taxes.
>> that is just useless rhetoric.
It is too late to wait until the first day we take office to
deal with the budget that we will be stuck with for the entire
year.
There's very little done to change.
We should right now -- Ms. Brooks has stated on more than one
occasion that she has been honored to be a part of jack Doyle's
team.
That's on the record.
She said that.
Why is it that she's not now sitting down side by side with
jack Doyle as he plans this budget.
After all, there's a 50-50 chance that she's going to have to
implement that budget next year.
I'm on the outside and we are raising all kinds of questions
about the assumptions on which this budget is being built.
To wait until January 2 to begin asking the tough questions,
to wait until January 2 without trying to steer the legislature
to a much sounder ground on which to place this county's financial
footing means that we are going to have one more year of misery
and pain and I don't think this community can afford one more
year of misery and pain.
>> Mr. Johnson already has his solution on the table.
He's going to raise your taxes.
That's how he's going to solve the county budget problem.
Clearly bill Johnson from the start has wished that he could
run against jack Doyle and what he just said there is clearly
an indicator that he wishes jack was sitting in this seat.
I control one budget in the county of Monroe.
The county clerk's budget, by has been submitted and reflects
a $1.6 million surplus for 2004.
So I carried out my budget responsibility.
I'm not going to speculate about what jack Doyle will leave
on the table or in jack's politics into this process.
>> next question is going to come from Steve Rodriguez,
it's going to be on the economy.
Steve, it's for bill.
>> thank you.
I'm not a native to Rochester, but have always thought of this
area to be a great location geographically, culturally and historically.
For me to remain here, I need to be gainfully employed.
As Monroe county executive, what specifically will you do to
entice potential employers to come here and to retain businesses
that are here already providing jobs for the community?
>> the very same thing I've done as mayor of the city
of Rochester.
We have documented bringing 10,000 new jobs in the city.
We've helped keep 20,000 jobs.
I'm talking about companies like Blue Cross-Blue Shield, high
falls brewery, which was poised to close.
I'm talking about companies like paytech, I'm talking about
companies -- I could just go on and on and name for you that
we have brought assistance to.
We have to develop a strategy that concentrates all of our efforts
on putting forth the best case possible to differentiate Rochester
from every other community that's out there trying to attract
new jobs and new investment.
We're not alone.
If you saw the story about GEICO, yes, they're considering Rochester
as one of several communities.
We have got to put together a coordinated case and we can do
that, but before we can do that, we will be in a weakened position
as a county, with a county government that can hardly pay its
own bills, cannot bring the financial resources to bear that
are so necessary to make companies come and to keep companies
in this community.
So I do did I ever with Ms. Brooks on this -- differ with Ms.
Brooks on this point.
She believes the county budget is not a crisis.
I submit to you, if we cannot get that problem solved, we will
be very handicapped in our ability to put forth the best case
possible, bringing the power and resources of Monroe county,
which means dollars.
They don't have the dollars now, because they are struggling
to get things to maintain things like parks, libraries, emergency
services and the like.
>> well again I'll just remind bill Johnson that jack
Doyle is not sitting here and I am.
We've talked very plainly about what we need to do to create
jobs in this community.
Number one, we need to recognize that we're no longer just a
manufacturing community anymore.
We need to build on our high tech resources, our biomedical,
our research resources.
We have to build on all the positive things that are going on
at our colleges and universities and work aggressively to connect
young people with local opportunity.
These are the type of things that deal with the strength that
we have now as a community.
We need to diversify.
Clearly if we are a more diverse community in terms of the jobs
that we have here, we will be better prepared to absorb down
sized workers from Kodak into our community.
We also have to be able to work with companies like Kodak because
you know what?
We put the negative spin on people who are leaving Kodak.
We should look at those individuals as clearly a resource for
the he future.
Companies can come here now.
We can attract manufacturing companies and show them that we
have infrastructure already available and set up for manufacturing.
That we have highly skilled workers that may not work for Kodak
anymore that may be a resource for a manufacturing company that's
coming here.
Those are the things that we have to look at as strengths as
we move forward and clearly diversifying what we do with jobs
and economic development will make us, if there is such a thing,
por recession-proof in the future.
>> I am puzzled by this continued reference to jack Doyle
not sitting here.
Certainly he's not sitting here, but he's here.
He's developing the budget that will guide Monroe county for
-- Monroe county for the next 12 months and for Ms. Brooks to
continue to ignore that fact as though she can walk in on January
1 with a clean slate suggests to me a level of inexperience
that I think this community cannot afford.
We have to deal with the hand that we're dealt and the hand
that we're going to be dealt is going to cripple this community
for a long time.
>> Kathy Kriz from news source 13 has the next question.
>> this is a health care question.
There's a petition on the Monroe county web site that calls
for Medicaid reform in New York state.
The site says that our county spent almost $3 million a week
on Medicaid expenses.
If you're elected county executive, what would you do to rein
in those costs?
>> certainly we have to continue to lobby the state of
New York because any meaningful Medicaid reform has to start
at the state level.
When you look at the structural deficit in the county budget
right now, that's what you're talking about.
You're talking about those unfunded mandates in the Medicaid
area that take 49% of our county budget out of the control of
whoever is county executive.
I think we've seen some positive things in the past week that
recognizes that the state is finally willing to sit down and
talk about these important issues and the burden that Medicaid
places on counties statewide.
We have a Medicaid task force right now that's been established
by the senate.
We have a local representative on that panel, David Klein, Blue
Cross-Blue Shield is going to be a member of that.
We saw several counties within this region come together, and
form a cohesive team that can be a unified voice that will strengthen
our lobbying effort when we go to Albany and talk about the
burdens that are being placed on local communities.
This is a problem that has to be dealt with, we're one of three
states that has a local share of Medicaid.
We can't continue on that path as case loads go up, the burden
becomes more and more.
I believe that if we can stimulate the economy and provide for
jobs to people, certainly the need for some of those mandated
services goes down, but that's not enough.
We really have to have meaningful reform.
I'm currently on the governor's task force for local government
reform.
That's one of the issues that the state initially took off the
table.
They didn't want us to discuss it and there were those of us
in the room who said you're crazy, how can you not discuss these
things that you puss the most burden on counties -- puts the
most burden on counties with it's budget time.
We also as an organization, as a group are putting together
some recommendations for change in the area of Medicaid, a burden
on counties,, and hopefully our document will not become a shelf
document and the legislature will look at our recommendations
as well.
>> the problem is a state problem because the state continues
to increase the benefit and therefore requires every county,
not just Monroe county.
Monroe county is not the only county which is affected by this
problem.
I think the short term solution is what other counties are are
doing.
They are upholding their responsibility.
Onondaga county, a county executive more conservative than jack
Doyle, republican, for the second year in a row, reluctantly
imposed property tax increases because he knew he had to meet
that mandate.
At the same time he argues that we need a new coalition that
can go to Albany and restrain Albany from continuing to add
to the benefits package, which is going to cost money hand to
continue to stop using Medicaid like it's a Christmas tree.
I think that has to happen.
But the first and foremost responsibility is that we have an
obligation to honor our commitments for the benefits.
We're talking about senior citizens, middle class people who
are in nursing homes that are relying on Medicaid to pay for
those enormous costs.
We've talking about families, working families who are too poor
to have their own health insurance, employers don't provide
it.
Their children are being covered under Medicaid.
We have to ask ourselves, what kind of a community are we going
to be?
Are we going to be heartless and kick our grandmother's out
of nursing homes, poor children out of health clinics?
Or are we going to try to find a way to rein in these costs
across the board.
That's the kind of debate that we need to have.
We need to have that debate.
I will be a part of that debate because state government needs
to be reformed not just there but in so many other ways so we
can rein in the escalating costs of state budgets.
>> well, I do agree that on some levels, Albany has truly
given away the store in certain circumstances, sweetened the
pot if you will, and the counties have to pick up the burden
for that.
I certainly don't see any examples statewide or locally where
we're kicking senior citizens out of nursing homes and those
types of things.
You know, when we talk about raising taxes as was cited as an
example in Onondaga county, that doesn't help our seniors or
our families or those in need in our community as well.
So I don't think raising taxes is the answer to the Medicaid
burden.
>> next question comes from Melanie buck, it will be on
education.
>> hello.
As a graduate student in education, I visit many classrooms
within the urban and suburban districts in Rochester and in
the Rochester area.
And I've noticed that some rooms have laptop centers while others
have one computer while still others barely even have any kind
of technology within the room.
Knowing that many of the more lucrative jobs within the Rochester
area are based on having a wealth of technology skills, my question
is what will you do to decrease the disparities in technology
education that the schools have within their classrooms?
>> they're very little formal power that the county executive
has, but I will tell you that the county executive can play
a very significant role, bring together the -- all of district
forces from the private sector and the public sector to determine
that we get more equitible and efficient use of the money that's
already spent on our schools.
City of Rochester in my opinion does not suffer from a fiscal
cry sills.
It expense $552 million a year to educate about 36,000 kids.
What it suffers from is the fact that they are drawn away to
deal with some of the extraneous problems that have nothing
to do with education, so there has to be a basic reform of how
we are using existing funds.
I devoted my entire career, 31 years in this community, trying
to assure that children who live in Rochester by either choice
or by accident because they can't afford to live in more affluent
communities, that that does not disqualify them from getting
the same quality of education as every other child in Monroe
county.
A child who lives on Jefferson avenue in Rochester with a school
just around the corner from their house should not have to ride
a bus to Jefferson road in Pittsburgh to be properly educated.
We need to use the resources we have to bring the very same
quality, the very same assets, the very same equipment into
these schools and the school districts have to be unemcumbered
from a lot of the things that they're doing.
They provide extra dietary services, they are social workers,
they are mentoring kids.
We need to get these schools back to where they are educating
children and use the pony that is there for education to bring
every single service that you just cited in to these classrooms.
>> well I think we agree on this issue.
Certainly when you look at the burden that teachers have today,
they're not just teachers, they're police officers, they're
social workers, they're ministers, mentors.
They're doing a lot of things other than just educating our
children.
And if you look at some of the state mandates that come down
now for things that schools have to provide that really impacts
the amount of instructional learning that teachers are providing
students every day.
Certainly there are conditions above and beyond the classroom
issues that we don't have any control over as a community or
as a government because those are things that we would hope,
you know, the family support network would be providing some
of those things that our children in the city of Rochester need.
It really is a community issue.
If the city of Rochester cool district fails our students on
any level, I think we all fail as a community.
We need kids who can graduate, who can read and write, who can
go out and get gainful employment, who can be a resource for
companies that exist here.
So we really do have to be a huge supporter of our educational
system throughout Monroe county.
The county government now provides a generous amount of sales
tax to the school district and we should continue that.
That's an important commitment.
But I agree that it's not -- we don't need to throw more money
at the problem of education.
>> let me just add that the state was successfully sued
by a group called citizens for fiscal equity in the highest
court of this state is now requiring the governor and the legislature
to examine funding formulas for schools, to look at the disparities
that currently exist, so I think that we will see a reform effort
coming to New York state.
Maybe this is the way to get Medicare relieve, -- relief, somebody
needs to sue the state to take care of all those mandates as
well.
>> next question comes from jack Murphy, asking a question
about the economy.
>> thank you for joining us this morning and sharing your
views with us.
Over the past year from the media, business groups, city and
county government, various studies, etc., there has been a heightened
attention to the economic health of the Rochester metro area.
However, the past indicates to me that the region is long in
studies and short on execution.
Bold moves and risk taking need to be done.
My specific question, what is your strategy to improve our economic
health and what will the community look like two years down
the road under your leadership?
>> well, certainly I've focused a lot today here during
this hour on economic development and jobs.
I think that we need to streamline our economic development
efforts local live.
I believe a great first step would be to combine the city and
county economic development department so that we're not competing
for resources so that we don't have separate visions for the
city and for the county.
I really believe if we can have one message, one unified voice,
we would have a better result with attracting business and opportunity
to this area.
Clearly we need one government entity that can work in partnership
with greater Rochester enterprise, Rochester business alliance,
and other positive initiatives that are going on in the community
because, you're right, we have studied it to death and we know-how
to get the job done.
We just need to do it.
What's missing right now is the government leadership that connects
the dots with all these positive things that are going on.
I'm a firm believer that G.R.E. was born out of government dysfunction.
The business community said we're tired of this and we want
to make a difference and form G.R.E.
The city and county are part of that but it's not enough just
to be at the table.
I think government needs to be an aggressive facilitator to
bring all these things together so we can move forward.
At the end the of two years under my administration, I would
love to see a community that has an aggressive marketing program
so that we can bring business and opportunity here.
We would have a lot more jobs.
We would have a more diverse job base as I talked about a few
minutes ago.
These are all things that as a government, we can be a part
of to make positive change for the community.
Right now government is not at the table.
And that's very inappropriate because we have the incentive
programs, we have the packages to close the deals once businesses
are identified.
You know what?
If they can't get to the government leaders and they can't get
one unified simple message from government, they're going to
leave, so we really do have a critical role as a government
to play in economic development and job creation and retention.
>> well, I don't think you got an answer to your question.
You got disinformation.
Government is at the table and I would submit to you sometimes
government's role is inappropriate, particularly the way Monroe
county practices economic development.
They use it as fund raising.
They trade jobs for contributions.
As county executive, I will immediately eliminate -- the county
executive's office will not be for sale and we will open up
the process so we will rely on every single institution in this
community that can produce jobs.
Ms. Brooks wants to add more layers.
Read her book.
She talks about task forces, she talks about creating a new
umbrella.
I want to use the umbrella that's already there, greater Rochester
enterprise.
I don't have any problem with letting the private sector lead
this.
Why are we going to spend time having a government bureaucrat
trying to sell technology when we have people in the business
sector.
I'll name you one, the C.E.O. of Bausch & Lomb who worked
for General Motors.
Why not let him be the lead in persuading General Motors to
relocate some of its fuel cell capability here.
Why have a government bureaucrat do that.
Do not forget what I just said.
I will eliminate the policy of selling off favors in order to
get campaign contributions.
>> well, I'm not going to respond to that statement because
clearly jack Doyle must have entered the room again and bill
Johnson is not sure if he's angry at me or if he's directing
this at me or at jack Doyle.
So I'm going to just leave that alone.
But I will tell you that, you know what, government has to be
at the table, and that's what's wrong with our economic development
strategy now.
We have positive things operating in a vacuum.
We don't have government leadership that brings it altogether.
That's clearly necessary if we're going to move forward as a
community.
>> I'm going to take the next question and it's going
to go to you first.
Kodak announced a shift a couple of weeks ago that eventually
is going to change perhaps -- well certainly it's going to change
what they do and change its relationship to Rochester.
They have basically said we're going to compete, you have to
compete for our transformation, our new business.
My question to you is as county executive will you put all your
eggs in that basket?
Will you try to convince Kodak to stay, whatever it becomes,
or will you shift that finite amount of money you have as tax
breaks and incentives to other businesses?
>> well, we got over that a honk time ago.
Kodak has been repositioning itself in this economy for the
last 15 years and we know that we take nothing for granted.
But I'm not going to sneer at 20,000 jobs.
Certainly I want to be making the best case possible to keep
Kodak in this community.
Those 20,000 jobs or 20,000 that we will not have to replace,
but at the same time I want to step up our efforts.
We have over 20,000 other employees in this community and there
are a lot of small companies and medium-sized companies that
don't get the ink, they don't get the media coverage, but they're
out there every single day, employing 100, 200 people, and if
we could just help them stabilize and if they could grow their
employment base by 10% or 15%, if we can put money into or have
money directed into new ventures that are coming through biomedical
technology, we have a lot of ingenuity in this community that
we are invested in.
We have the highest number of patents per capita, and yet very
few of those ideas end up in the marketplace.
We have a lot of potential here.
I think it is up to us to use every resource, government, I
didn't take it off the table, the private sector, it needs to
be more enhanced to go and bring the state into this equation,
to bring venture capitalists back in to this equation.
I think that we have the makings here of a great success and
we can build on these emerging companies that have already demonstrated
success.
Companies like that which people don't roll off of the lips
of people.
I'm telling you, there are hundreds and hundreds of these possibilities
already people embedded in hour community.
>> well, I agree and talked about it earlier that we need
to diversify and build on existing resources.
We need to recognize where our strengths are now as a community
and certainly move in those directions.
We need to update our government incentives that for a long
time have been clearly directed at manufacturing and kind of
shift those so that we are able to support emerging technologies
and new types of business and small business especially because
we mentioned that that's where the job growth is.
I think one thing we do make a mistake of doing in this community
is that for a long time a lot of people have made eastman Kodak
the poster child for anything wrong with the economy and with
there is a downsizing, something going on at Kodak that shows
they're trying to reinvent themselves and compete in the global
mark place, we point the finger and say that's why things aren't
moving in Rochester, so I think we have to get away from that
mentality because we have to remember that there are thousands
of people who still work there.
These are people who live in this community, invest in this
community, spend their money in this community and contribute
greatly to our local economy.
So we can't just walk away from Kodak and say you're the reason
for our problems and not support that company as it goes through
efforts to compete globally.
Certainly there are things we can do with incentives to help
with Kodak, as Kodak downsizes out of different facilities.
There are things we as a government can do to help them, maybe
connect other companies with those buildings that have the infrastructure
that I mentioned earlier.
We need to help the people who are downsized from Kodak become
a resource for future employers in this community.
So we have a lot to build on.
>> I can't add much to that.
Again, as I say, I just think we have to remember, we're not
a one-company town and people sometimes forget that.
We're not a two-company or three-company town.
We're a 20,000 company town and that makes us a lot different
than a lot of communities our size and that's an asset that
we need to explore.
>> next question is going to come from Joe spector.
This is going to be directed to Maggie brooks.
>> this follows up on some of the discussion earlier.
As you both know, this week the county officials are trying
to reconcile what is projected to be a $40 million to go million
dollars budget deficit next year.
As county executive, you could, if you exhausted all your efforts
to consolidate services and streamline government and still
face a budget deficit, you might be in a position where you
have to either raise taxes or cut services.
What would you do?
>> well, Joe, since the beginning of this campaign, you've
been trying to get me to say I'm going to raise taxes.
And I've taken it off the table and that's where it stays.
Again, I believe that as a county executive, we have an elected
responsibility to maintain that important commitment to our
property taxpayers that we will hold the line on property taxes,
that we will streamline government so that we don't have to
cut services.
It is very, very doable.
And I have made that commitment, it is a commitment that I will
continue to maintain until, you know, 9:00 p.m. on November
4 and well beyond.
That would be a part of my platform that I would not waiver
on.
We simply cannot go back to the deep pockets of taxpayers every
time we have a financial or a budgeting crisis in Monroe county.
Clearly, let's look at bill Johnson's record of raising taxes
38% in the city.
What has that tax-raising philosophy done in the city of Rochester?
Under his watch, 10,000 jobs are watched.
The office vacancy factor has doubled.
City spending has increased 30% at a time with we are giving
more and more each year as a county to the city in the form
of sales tax.
That's very appropriate.
I agree with that sharing formula.
I think it should continue.
We are one of the counties in this state that does it, not all
counties do, and I think that's an important commitment.
I think above and beyond that, we need to get to the point where
we are working in partnership with the business community, to
strengthen the economy.
We need to work more closely with our not for profit communities
so that the dollars that we are mandated to spend in social
service areas are getting us the best value for our county dollar.
You know, we hear a modest amount.
You won't even notice it, just a little more every year.
I haven't heard the figure that we would need to raise taxes
to accommodate the deficit that we may face next year in this
county.
I'd like to hear that figure.
>> we've been waiting for that figure.
We've been waiting for the county executive, he's already two
days late in putting out his budget so we know that what figure
is.
But I just think that Ms. Brooks has -- is campaigning on the
fact that she's going to be a different kind of a person.
She's going to unify us.
If you just listen to her last response, she continues to follow
the same old strategy, dividing the city from the county.
The city is a part of the county.
Those 10,000 jobs are are part of the county, not contained
within the city.
We are a vital part of this community.
And she would want to campaign on healing that belief at the
same time that she is making it wider.
It seems to be lost on Ms. Brooks that if she wins this campaign,
she's going to have to work with me as the mayor of the city
of Rochester.
I'm going to be the mayor if I'm not the county executive.
And I really have not seen in any of her remarks any of the
kind of healing gestures that are part of her rhetoric that
are going to help us bridge this gap.
We have serious problems and to maintain that we haven't solved
those problems, we have brought tremendous improvements in this
community.
It may not be as good as people would like, but let me tell
you, in the absence of the things that we have done, it would
be a lot worse.
What we need out the county executive's office is not a kick
in the pants but an arm wrapped around us to say we will work
these problems out together.
>> since day one I've been talking about bringing people
from all parts of our community together to move us forward,
and clearly in this campaign, I have talked more about the health
of the city of Rochester than bill Johnson has.
I know what we need to do.
We need to bring everybody together.
What you've seen in this community the past few days is clearly
an example of what we've put up with for eight years.
We've had the count executive and the mayor going back and forth,
competing press conferences.
It is time for a change and I represent that change.
>> we've got time for one more question.
It's going to be about three minutes for the answers, so we're
going to give each of you a minute and a half to respond.
The question initially will go to Mr. Johnson, coming from Kathy
Kriz.
>> for the undecided voters, and there are so many of
them out there that could sway the outcome of this election,
what is the one most critical thing voters understand about
you and your platform that sets you apart from your opponent?
The one thing that you want them to take in with them to the
polling place as they get ready to vote?
>> look at me as a person who has a record of progressive
experience.
In all of my 31 years in this community, it has been an area
of public service.
They will see a person who has worked against tremendous odds,
working with people of different racial and ethnic background.
Working with people from different political backgrounds.
Look at my record at the urban league of Rochester, with where
we work with a county administration that was republican, a
city administration that was democrat.
I was able to work with both the chief elected officials.
We worked with rich and poor.
We served the interest of the poor.
We've taken a city and brought people together who were alienated
from government, gotten them involved on a regular and consistent
basis.
We've reached beyond the boundaries of Monroe county to bring
resources in to this community.
We work with a governor and a state legislature which is a bipartisan
group to bring millions of dollars into this community.
I'm talking about a record.
I'm not talking about a promise.
I'm talking about performance.
I'm not talking about a promise.
I'm talking about what has been done against tremendous odds.
And I just say this to the voters who are undecided.
They need to weigh, is this a situation that calls for on the
job training or will they put their faith in the hands of someone
who has demonstrated record?
>> well, I'm hoping that the undecided voters do examine
the record because I think I have a clear advantage when they
do that.
I have worked since 1997 as the Monroe county clerk.
I've operated a $54 million business each and every year we've
returned a record surplus to the county's general fund and that
is the fund that's used to maintain the commitment to hold property
taxes stable, it's the fund that is used to finance areas of
county government that may not otherwise be financed if we didn't
have those surplus dollars.
People have had a unique opportunity to watch me at work very
publicly since 1977 when I joined the media here in Rochester,
so they know what I'm about.
They know what my work ethic is and they know that I can get
the job done in every avenue I have pursued as a career.
I've taken the most bureaucratic branch of county government
and made it work.
People appreciate that and preexpect it and know I've done it
because I've been innovative, been able to think out of the
box, work very much in a bipartisan way with different levels
of government, so I have that ability to bring people to the
table, to move us forward as a community.
We desperately need change and I think when undecided voters
look at the record, they will see that I'm the candidate who
can facilitate that change in our community at this time.
>> thank you.
We will now allow each candidate a minute for closing remarks.
Mr. Johnson will go first.
>> I think this debate has done a very powerful and positive,
I think it has demonstrated clearly the very different approaches
that each one of us will take.
What we did not get to is beyond the rhetoric from Ms. Brooks
in providing specific, specific responses.
I think we need to know she's not going to raise taxes, she's
not going to cut services, and how will she close a $50 million
gap?
This is voodoo economics at its height.
This is strange business here.
And I think that the voters cannot allow themselves to be duped
like they were in the 2002 gubernatorial campaign when neither
candidate, neither candidate discussed the real problems that
faced the state of New York, and now here we are stuck with
a $12 billion deficit and climbing.
Look at the record, ladies and gentlemen, an then decide whose
hands you want to place the fate of this county in.
>> this campaign is about leadership and about change.
We've mentioned that many, many times.
I represent the individual who can bring everybody to the table
and facilitate change.
What you've seen in this community in the past few days, democrats
fighting republicans, the mayor fighting the county executive,
competing news conferences, you know, politics as usual has
got to change.
It's absolutely crazy.
We cannot move forward as a community without change.
I have clearly talked about my platform, economic development,
creating jobs, streamlining government.
Rochester business alliance has endorsed my economic development
and jobs creation plan.
The greater Rochester association of realtors has endorsed my
plan for stable property taxes.
Clearly I am the candidate for change and I am the leader that
we need at this time in our county's history.
I hope the voters will agree on November 4.
>> thank you very much.
>> OUR COUNTY EXECUTIVE'S DEBATE IS COMPLETE.
NOW IT'S UP TO YOU AS EMPLOYERS TO HAVE A SAY IN WHICH OF THESE
TWO PEOPLE WILL BE HIRED.
TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY AND VOTE ON NOVEMBER 4TH.
THE VOICE OF THE VOTER PARTNERSHIP INVITES YOU TO JOIN US ON
OCTOBER 23 FOR A DEBATE BETWEEN THE TWO DISTRICT ATTORNEY CANDIDATES.
PLEASE JOIN US THEN.