Delgado: 19th Voters Ready
To Let Incumbent Faso Go
Thus, Democrat Says, His Campaign Job Interview
By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
RICHFIELD SPRINGS – An independent poll in mid-July showed Democrat Antonio Delgado trailing Congressman John Faso, R-19, by five points, 44-49.
More important, Delgado told a small but rapt gathering in the public library here, fewer than 50 percent of voters in the 19th District that includes Otsego County approve of Faso’s performance in his first term.
“People are looking for someone else,” said the candidate. His campaign, said Delgado, is the equivalent of a “job interview.”
(Delgado’s staff pointed out that a poll prepared by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has shown their candidate ahead.)
Delgado, a son of GE workers in Schenectady who went to Colgate, Oxford (as a Rhodes scholar) and Harvard Law School, began the evening repeating his personal story. He then fielded questions from most of the two dozen audience members, concluding with a declaration his campaign is about “jobs, education and healthcare.”
At several points, the candidate pointed out that the nation’s economy is lopsided, with – despite a booming stock market and dropping unemployment – 80 percent of Americans controlling just 10 percent of the nation’s wealth.
Two-thirds of Americans are living “from paycheck to paycheck,” he said. “A $500 emergency medical bill will put most people in debt.”
He outlined an approach that would encourage the revival of unionsand other worker protections, raise the federal minimum wage – it is still $7.25 – and end the domination of bigness – be it Big Ag or Big Banks – to the detriment of everybody else.
He said he doesn’t support “Medicare for all,” a Democratic rallying cry; rather, he favors a “public option” – people could chose Medicare coverage if they wish, or keep their own insurance.
He’s debated the issue with Andrea Mitchell, the cancer sufferer in his TV ads who famously extracts a promise from Faso that he’ll protect her insurance coverage, only for the incumbent to then vote to end Obamacare. That, Delgado said, “speaks across issues and finds the common ground.”
The evening was organized by Republican Alex Shields, the retired county board member, and sponsored by the Richfield Springs Rotary Club.
Delgado said he is planning to open an Oneonta office, which will have plenty of lawn signs to distribute, by the beginning of September.
Antonio Delgado has an impressive story: working class family, Colgate, Oxford, Harvard, rap artist. If John Faso had sung the same lyrics that Mr. Delgado had sung in his career as as rap performer, would he have ever been even admitted to government service in any capacity? Mr Delgado dismisses those dreadful lyrics as youthful expressions of rebellion now that he is a successful lawyer running for Congress.
Will the real Antonio Delgago take responsibility for his past indiscretions or just try to sweep them under past the voters of the 19th Congressional District.