Dale Sweetland - Who is he?
The Post Standard had a lengthy article about Dale Sweetland - his background and all that. Dale Sweetland is the GOP candidate running for the NY-25th against Dan Maffei to fill the seat currently held by the retiring Jim Walsh.
Most of the article was about Dale Sweetland the farmer. How being a farmer and having to sell his farm in 1997 somehow qualifies him to be a Congressman. Look, nothing wrong with farming - but it isn’t about your previous job - it is what values you will bring to the table and how these values influence the positions you take.
Sweetland doesn’t often talk about the gut-wrenching experience of selling the farm.
But in one of the most hotly contested congressional races in the country, he often touts his experience running the farm and selling crop insurance as reasons that voters should pick him over Democrat Dan Maffei.
“From my own business experience, you get an idea of the effect government has on business people,” Sweetland said. “One change in legislation can mean thousands of dollars in expenses to a business.”
When you own hundreds of acres of farmland, even a small property tax increase can be big.
Great business experience and I like this quote,
From my own business experience, you get an idea of the effect government has on business people
So does this mean Dale Sweetland is the businessman’s candidate - I mean are there any other types of constituents out there? Are we electing a Congressman or representative of the people?
Like I said - it is about the values you bring to the table and how these values influence the positions you take.
The article also talks to Dale Sweetland’s legislative background. Here are some highlights - the details are below the fold.
There was regret about long term tax break for a Mall. You know how I feel about tax breaks for retail, but to regret a vote because the proposal would have gone through anyway?
Today, Sweetland said he regrets that 2001 vote more than any other because it appears Destiny USA will be built and will benefit the region’s economy.
So how does opposition now turn into regret? Since when does doing the correct thing become remorseful?
Then there was opposition to Pesticide notification laws:
It should be their responsibility to notify neighbors and not the obligation of the people who they hired to do the job
Um - dizzy from the circular logic? A pesticide user hires someone to spray. The business they hire to spray only knows WHEN. Who is in the best position to notify neighbors?
Like I said, more details below the fold
Pesticide notification
he was against pesticide notification
Sweetland also helped block bills in 2001 and 2006 that would have required lawn-care workers to give 48-hour notice when spraying pesticides on residential lawns.
Sweetland voted against the pesticide notification bill despite a plea for its support from Willard Lipe, the former Republican leader who talked Sweetland into running for the Legislature in 1993.
Lipe, a farmer from Fabius who blamed his serious health problems on exposure to pesticides, died in 2007.“I thought there was a better way to get it done,” Sweetland said, explaining his opposition to the notification bill. “It was consumers, individuals deciding to use pesticides on their lawns. It should be their responsibility to notify neighbors and not the obligation of the people who they hired to do the job.”
Tax Breaks
Then there was this regret about not supporting Tax breaks for a retail business:
Sweetland also made news in the Legislature as one of 10 to vote against giving the Pyramid Cos. a 30-year tax break to expand Carousel Center mall into the proposed Destiny USA complex.
Today, Sweetland said he regrets that 2001 vote more than any other because it appears Destiny USA will be built and will benefit the region’s economy.
“The way it was presented, at the time, I didn’t think it was the best deal the county government could get,” he said of the payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with Pyramid Cos.
Gas Cap
Sweetland is best remembered by colleagues for being the driving force in 2006 behind placing a cap on the taxes collected by the county on gasoline sales. It was an effort to give consumers a break from escalating gas prices.
The Republican-controlled legislature lifted the gas sales tax cap earlier this year after concluding that it cost the county $8 million per year in revenue while motorists were paying as much for gas in Onondaga County as they paid elsewhere.
Sweetland insists the gas tax cap saved consumers money. In his campaign for Congress, Sweetland has called on the federal government to suspend its own taxes on gas as part of a multifaceted energy plan.
Yeah - looks like in hindsight the gas cap didn’t work yet Sweetland is moving forward on something similar at a national level.
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this is a good piece highlighting this important race. this is also interesting because the district includes webster. you may remember when bill saucke ran for supervisor a few years back, the repubs said he wasn’t qualified because he bankrupted his business. well, let’s see how they feel about sweetland bankrupting his farm. if we send him to congress he will bankrupt our government. oh, wait, the republicans already did that…
Good find.
Fortunately, Sweetland has no chance of winning. He’s as bad a fundraisier as you’ll ever see and the RNCC has given up on the race.
noun, verb and farmer
“Sweetland has no chance of winning”
On paper the argument is sound and your points are valid - however, Maffei needs to run hard all the way through November. Still a long way to Novemnber.
relentless.
Yes, and one way is to portray Sweetland as a no-hoper. Which that article kind of does, inadvertently
We must not have read the same article. I saw an article that was generous to Sweetland.
Read it again and tell me that it sounds like a candidate who has any shot. I’m not saying the article deliberately makes him look bad, but his stuff about being a farmer is a weak narrative.
Not that people don’t respect farmers, but voters like success stories, not sob stories.
Look exile - you are politically plugged in as am I and our readers on this blog. The article was generous to Sweetland there was feel good things and heart strings. For some people who don’t read beyond that is good enough.
This is not worth arguing over.
They took a picture of him in front of a farm he no longer owns wearing a polo shirt. Voters will love that.
Who is Sweetland? A guy who is (hopefully) less than two months away from being destroyed by Dan Maffei.
Like I said Exile we must have read two different articles (my bold)
My point again is to take nothing for granted.
[...] the DCCC also has an attack ad going against Maffei’s opponent Dale Sweetland. You might remember the Post Standard’s interview with [...]