On Tuesday, November 3, citizens in NY’s 17th Congressional District will vote to replace long-time Congressmember Nita Lowey. Josh Eisen is running as an independent, on the Education. Community. Law. Party (E.C.L.) line.
Eisen explained, “I was running originally as a Republican, but I was running as a different brand of Republican.”
Eisen clarified that the Republican Party will not nominate someone who takes the positions that he took. “I was running on a pro-union platform. I don’t believe that life begins at conception; I think there is room for pregnancy terminations, certainly the Plan B pill. Legalizing marijuana, pro-union or the abortion positions are things that no Republican elected official can publicly talk about. For these reasons, I did not primary on the Republican line. ”
To get an independent ballot line, Eisen sued Governor Cuomo. When the petition period was extended, he had double the number of signatures for his E.C.L. line to qualify, Eisen said. “These are three words representing what we stood for. Without one there really aren’t the other two. You need education to have a community, you need a community to house education, and you need laws to govern education and community.”
Eisen added, “Generally, I am running as a fiscal conservative, who is open to the realities of the place where we live in, and that is where I stand ideologically.”
Eisen states that COVID is currently the most important issue facing the district. “After COVID is the SALT tax deduction. Now there is a cap of $10,000 where there used to be no cap. If you are just a working person, and you own a home, your property tax is over $10,000, you are not getting your deduction on your income.” This loss of income trickles down into other reinvestments into the district, such as home improvements from local contractors, or spending money at local businesses.
Eisen also believes that the federal government should fund a new rail line that would cross the district’s Mario Cuomo Bridge. “Instead of the state paying for it and borrowing money, saddling taxpayers for generations, I think the federal government should pay because millions of people are going to use the bridge.”
Rather than stimulus money being given directly to people, Eisen suggests it should have gone to infrastructure projects to employ people. Additionally, “even before COVID, there should have been an investment in drone infrastructure, allowing this to happen within the purview of the U.S. Postal Service. It would restore its original mandate to democratize the delivery of mail and small parcels. Right now, it is far from democratized when wealthy people can spend $10 on FedEx. For poor people, $10 is unaffordable and they have to go to the U.S. Postal Service, waiting four times as long for their item to get delivered. This investment would be a game changer and only the government can control drone traffic.”
Eisen continued, “I want drone testing in our district. This can result in $500 million to $1 billion coming to the district. I can come up with a plan and craft it into legislation and then work on getting support. The job of a member of Congress is to represent the district, not come up with idealisms or national planning. A good member of Congress simply brings home the bacon, facon for me.”
“It is important that representatives actually represent their districts. In my district, Jewishness is a factor because this is the third-most Jewish district in the country. I will not forget who I am, where I grew up and the schools I attended. I know well all my family and friends from SAR who now live in Israel.”
Eisen described BDS as “a joke to anyone who is intellectually honest. It’s ironic that it’s disproportionately propped up on campuses and by academics. BDS is a pathetic creation of an angry cadre of left-wing academics who have alienated or have been alienated by the communities in which they grew up. They then found no true community and lived in the illusion of a community that a university campus offers.”
Eisen, a graduate of Columbia University, NYU and Queens College is a father of three, a business owner and lifelong New Yorker. Eisen’s father survived Auschwitz, slave labor and the Communist Revolution in Hungary before immigrating to the United States. According to Eisen, his “experience as the child of immigrants has inspired his love of community, pride in his heritage and commitment to ensuring that the American Dream isn’t blocked by big government intervention in our lives.”
Eisen concluded, “I hope to be someone who represents what the district values and what the district is all about.” To learn more about Josh Eisen, visit his web site at https://eisenforcongress.com.
By Judy Berger
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