A sit-down with our new Congressman

Political prodigy graduates to the national stage

By Jack Dusenbury-Dalto | Manor Ink

Livingston Manor, NY – It would not be exaggerating to say Marc Molinaro has been involved in politics his entire adult life, having first been elected to public office in 1994 at age 18, as a Village of Tivoli Trustee. A year later, he was elected mayor, the youngest in the country. He went on to serve six terms, followed by a long stint in Dutchess County government and time in the New York State Assembly.

On Nov. 8, he moved into national politics when he won the election to represent New York’s 19th District in the United States House of Representatives, which includes the hamlet of Livingston Manor. Following recent redistricting, the 19th now encompasses the counties of Sullivan, Greene, Columbia, Chenango, Delaware, Cortland, Tompkins, Tioga and Broome, along with portions of Otsego and Ulster. House Congressional terms are two years and elections occur every even year.

We caught Molinaro while he was briefly in New York between Congressional orientations – ”Like summer camp without the fun part,” he joked – and asked him about his political career, goals and policy positions.

A love of politics early on

Molinaro’s interest in politics was sparked early on, in public school. “I was a junior in Redhook High School in 1992 and wasn’t terribly sure what I wanted to do when I grew up,” he said. “I had a great Government teacher, Steve Sutton, who encouraged me to get involved in Student Council and mock trial.” Sutton helped Molinaro attend a student government program in Washington, DC, “And by the time I came back, I sort of fell in love with it.” He continued, “I began interning for my state Assemblywoman Eileen Hickey, who I didn’t share party affiliation with, but she really encouraged us to get involved and to help others.”

From there it was a tough four-way race for trustee and a slightly less tough first race for mayor. “I ran unopposed in 1995. If you run for office, the best way to do it is to not have an opponent,” Molinaro laughed. “I’m not sure how that happened. But nevertheless, it did. And it was the greatest opportunity that I could ask for.”

Molinaro explained, “I loved being a trustee and being a mayor. But I always started from the position that I was the least informed. I always convinced myself, no matter how prepared I was on an issue, that I needed to be more prepared; because everyone else had life experience, professional experience, or even more information than I had. And all that meant was most of the time, I ended up with more information and more prepared than others, because I worked that much harder to kind of earn my place in the room.”

The former mayor took Molinaro under his wing, but the responsibility of being mayor was still a bit of a shock. “You know, when you’re a village trustee, if something bad happens, you can always say, ‘Well, I got to talk to the mayor.’ When you’re mayor, there is no one else to talk to. But because of it, I was just able to help people and to focus on projects every day,” Molinaro said. “When you serve at that level of government, you learn a couple of things. First, when the roof leaks, it leaks on both Republicans and Democrats, the job of the village mayor is to fix the roof, not to blame other people.

“In a small village and in local government, you learn that you can’t really lie to people, because they figure it out pretty quickly,” Molinaro explained. “And in local government, you realize that the decisions you make have real impact on real people, because you see it. And those life lessons, if you want to be in public service, I think are really important.” He continued, “You know, it’s easy in Washington to make a decision and not necessarily know or even care how it affects others. But when you’re at the local level, you see it and you feel it, and you interact with your neighbors. You begin to realize how important it is to be honest about the work you do, to be honest about trying to solve problems, and to recognize the choices you make as an elected official have real impacts on real people.”

Molinaro is moderate and conservative in his political positions, and believes in somewhat limited power for the federal government. “The federal government cannot impose its will on states,” he said.

But, perhaps belying his long career in local government, he tends to buck current trends in political discourse by eschewing strong ideological stances in favor of steering the conversation toward the nuts-and-bolts of workaday policymaking. He often seems to view his job in starkly pragmatic terms.

A practical, problem solving approach

A good example of Molinaro’s more practical approach comes when asked about the current student debt crisis. Molinaro favors tax exemptions rather than debt forgiveness, but focuses more broadly on the effect the federal government has on tuition with its no-strings-attached approach of uncapped loan guarantees while simultaneously subsidizing colleges. “If the federal government would simply stop doing that, tuition would begin to come down. And that is important. I don’t think anybody should have to assume the kind of debt that we’ve seen in order to access college. I think the federal government should make clear to institutions, we’re not going to subsidize you to raise tuition.”

As another example, when asked about abortion access, the Congressman said, “I don’t get to decide what the Supreme Court does. Once they’ve decided, this is now a matter that states have to legislate.” How does that affect recent controversial decisions like Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned constitutional protection for abortion access?

“What that means for me is, the federal government cannot impose a national ban, it has no right to do that. So for the states that preserve access, whether it’s in New York, which has broad access, that has to be preserved. The federal government doesn’t get to limit that. I do think that in states where there is limited access, the federal government should ensure that women have the medical support necessary, regardless of the choice that they make.”

He continued, “That is different from my personal belief. I am personally pro-life, but I think as an institution, we ought to preserve access.”

This focus on valuing constituency over personal interests comes up again when we discuss family. “I don’t make my decisions as an elected official based on what’s in the best interest of my family. My job is to make decisions based on the best interests of everybody. And sometimes it does put me at odds with what my family thinks is right. And having a healthy relationship, being able to talk it through and explain it, is important. It’s important with the people you love and it’s important with the people you represent.”

When asked about Sullivan County’s biggest current challenge, Molinaro was quick to respond. “In Sullivan County, or more broadly locally, the opioid epidemic is the crisis of our lifetime. It is a national problem. It is a state problem. But it is obviously as close as our brother, sister, mother or father.” And greatest problem in the larger district? “Beyond that, throughout upstate New York, it is cost of living and opportunity. High property taxes, high cost of goods and services. And how those costs are pushing out families. They break up, move to other states that are more affordable.” He added, “Or it keeps businesses from expanding and so job opportunities become fewer and fewer.”

Is there anything Molinaro would like to add that hasn’t been touched upon? “We are living in a time where there are whole populations of people not receiving the care and support they deserve. These are populations that I care about deeply. Too often, we don’t hear that. There are intellectual, physical or developmental disabilities that keep people from entering the workforce, or getting access to housing. Or it could be an individual living with mental illness who just needs the right support in order to live a healthy life independently.” He continued, “We don’t spend enough time trying to find ways to make sure that the most vulnerable among us have the support that they need. And that’s something that I care deeply about and will always carry with me.”