League of Women Voters of New York State Education Foundation, Inc.
	Essex, Hamilton, Saratoga, Warren Counties, NY November 2, 2010 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues Member of the State Assembly; District 113

The questions were prepared by the Leagues of Women Voters of New York State and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on Economy, Budget, Campaign Finance, Redistricting, Education Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. What measures do you support to save existing jobs and create new jobs in New York State? Answer from Teresa Sayward: I believe taxes on small businesses should be reduced and or repealed, NYS has always depended on small businesses to sustain our communities and currently the cost of business in NY is one of the highest in the nation, energy costs are high and programs like Power for Jobs must be maintained and expanded to assure affordable energy costs for businesses, NYSERD should be reformed so the funds that they currently are more easily tapped to help businesses become more energy efficient, technology and broadband must be expanded and our infrastructure needs rehabilitation. 2. How do you think New York can best deal with upcoming unsustainable deficit budgets? Answer from Teresa Sayward: Government is too big, there are too many agencies, authorities, political appointments and benefits are way too rich, Albany needs to lead by example and move to computerize the legislature, make all allocations for the legislature equal as is currently done in congress, and budget for only the basic needs of the state, health, education and welfare, retirement benefits are unsustainable, as a start all politicians should be taken out of the NYS Retirement System and put into a 401K type of benefit, no one should be receiving retirement benefits without paying into the system, realistically the deficit will not be addressed until special interests are taken out of the mix, this can happen if there were term limits on all elected NYS officials, 4 year terms, three terms max. 3. What reforms would you propose to address inadequate campaign finance rules and enforcement in New York? Answer from Teresa Sayward: This goes to the last question, term limits, 401K for elected officials and limits on what can be spent on political campaigns 4. What reforms would you support for the redistricting process? Answer from Teresa Sayward: Yes there should be an independent redistricting commission that is not appointed by the legislature or the governor, there should be an election held to elect people to serve 5. Would you support a cap on property taxes and, if so, how do you think school districts can deal with the decrease in revenue? Answer from Teresa Sayward: I believe in a cap on all levels of government not just schools, if there were to be a cap there would also have to be no more state mandates without funding, a cap would be helpful when contracts were being negotiated because when you know there limitations on spending there would be more restraint Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League. The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.