U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer seemed to presage the messages Democrats hope to impart in upcoming mid-term election campaigns when he told an audience last week: “I”™m here to talk about three things; jobs, jobs, jobs.”
Schumer, 59, was the guest of honor at a breakfast meeting April 6 of the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce at The Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel. The Democrat from Brooklyn will be seeking his third Senate term in November, having won re-election in a landslide in 2004. But the career politician, who was first elected to the state Assembly at age 23, and entered Congress at age 29 is clearly not taking any chances in his bid to remain one of the most influential Democrats in the nation.
Schumer assured the crowded ballroom that he understands the plight of small businesses because his father was a small businessman, operating an independent exterminator business. “ I know what small business goes through,” he said. “ I know how you struggle.”
Perhaps trying out themes for the upcoming campaign, Schumer began his address by defending the TARP program and Wall Street bailout passed late in the Bush Administration. The measures were taken to relieve pressure on the global financial system that were so severe that failing to act would have led to another Great Depression, he said. “So in a bipartisan way we rescued the financial system.” Absent the bailout, things would be much worse, he said, with unemployment rates that would have approached 25 percent. Unemployment in the Hudson Valley is about 8.5 percent.
Asked later about whether so-called financial derivatives should be traded in an open and public exchange format, as opposed to the private trades that many economists blame for the economic collapse of 2009, Schumer exclaimed, “Oh, I”™m for it,” but noted that most large banks are bitterly opposed to regulating the derivatives market. And Schumer said he opposed any taxes on stock transactions because it would drive financial companies overseas.
“Now our biggest problem is jobs,” Schumer said. “Unless we put more people to work your businesses will not see more customers and the economy will stay flat.”
But he turned optimistic when discussing how to solve the jobs problem. “What is the future of the Hudson Valley?” he asked rhetorically. “It”™s bright.” He said the region should focus on tourism, which he said is a $5.7 billion industry in the Hudson Valley annually. He said it has high profile successes such as the Walkway and underappreciated attractions like the Fishkill Depot, where 1,000 Revolutionary War era veterans are interred.
He harkened to Albany, as “one of the fastest growing job centers” nationally due to the multibillion-dollar AMD chip fabrication plant being built in Saratoga County. He said that New York City is seeing a resurgence of high-tech jobs, citing the Google facility in Manhattan, and concluded that the Hudson Valley will prosper because it lays between two areas of vibrant economic activity. “Given that IBM is here, given the workforce we have here, it”™s a perfect set up.”
Schumer made no mention of The Solar Energy Consortium, a public-private partnership that has brought hundreds of jobs to the region in the last year, with the prospect for hundreds more. A person who answered the phone at Schumer”™s regional office in Peekskill said he had never heard of it, and passed all inquiries to his Washington D.C. press office. A call there was not returned.
