Because today is Halloween, this is the perfect day for a Halloween horror story. Next Tuesday November 6th is Election Day. For those who follow politics, the fearful story in Central New York is the race for the 22nd Congressional district. The last polling has the race between incumbent Claudia Tenney (R) and challenger Anthony Brindisi (D) in a statistical even match-up. This race is said to be the conscience of upstate dividing those who are ‘for’ and ‘against’ President Trump - a man who is either Satan incarnate or the savior of America.

However, the real frightening story the people in Central New York should be paying attention to is the New York State Senate races. Currently our state senate is controlled by the Republicans, who are usually more ‘Upstate friendly’ than the Democrat dominated Assembly. The Republicans hold the power in the senate by a razor’s edge thanks to Senator Simcha Felder, a Democrat from Brooklyn who sides with the Republicans. Having our Assembly and Senate led by opposing political parties helps with the political balance, the yin-and-yang, in New York (except for that time in 2013 with the SAFE ACT).

Those within delivery distance of this paper will undoubtedly see incumbent Republican state senators Fred Akshar and Jim Seward easily re-elected. The races which are worrisome are the toss-up state senate contests, particularly those in the lower Hudson Valley and Long Island – those are the races we should fear. The downstate areas of New York State have fewer voting Republicans that could cause the balance after Election Day to tilt so both houses of our legislature are led by a single party – along with the Governor.

Some might wonder, “How bad could it be if the state senate turned blue?” Here are some reminders from the last time the Democrats held all the cards in the Assembly, Senate and state house during the 2009-2010 time period. In 2009 more than 98 different taxes and fees were approved which totaled around $14 billion out of the pockets and paychecks of all New Yorkers. State spending on Medicaid more than doubled in two years from $6.2 billion to $13.6 billion allowing more unecessary procedures and coverage than any other state in the country.

When one party ruled the state a decade ago $3 billion in property tax rebate checks were discontinued with that money, our money, distributed to other pet projects. At that same time New York was spending millions per week in public assistance, the state senate thought that would be a good time to discontinue anti-fraud measures such as; fingerprint checks, recipient asset research, residency checks, and in-person interviews between applicants and fraud investigators.

In basic economics, a monopoly is a lack of business competition. A monopoly is almost always a bad thing for consumers. Without competitive business rivals the consumer pays a higher price and can be assured poor service. Why would this be any different with state law makers?

If you happen to be in the agriculture industry in a rural New York area be wary of urban influences upon laws impacting your way of life. Last week Patrick Hooker was the guest speaker at the Chenango County Farm Bureau annual meeting. Mr. Hooker was the state’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets, and is now on the governor’s staff as the Deputy Secretary for Food and Agriculture.

Mr. Hooker is a Madison County native, so he knows the difference between a cow, a horse and a deer. He also knows there are elected officials from the metropolitan areas that don’t know those differences. While Mr. Hooker was ever so diplomatic with his words about the legislative situation, we all knew how to read between the lines. There are some people who actually believe food originates in a grocery store and the methane produced by livestock should be considered a felony. Amazingly, there is no rule preventing any of these people from running for office.

If the result of the 2018 state senate election allows only one republican seat switching to a democrat, the balance of power tilts to the left. With that list to the port side, New York will be a Democratic trifecta state along with these other states; California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, and Delaware. All but the last, Delaware, is notorious for their high taxes. It’s hard to believe New York’s taxes and business climate could get worse, but it might happen - frightening.