By: WIBX 950 am | Keeler in the Morning

Martin Babinec speaks openly about his concerns on the presidential candidates, his commitment to education technology and his stance on political attack ads on Keeler in the Morning.

NY Congressional District 22 candidate, Martin Babinec, has a transparent discussion on Keeler in the Morning opening our eyes to many of his key positions. At the top of the discussion, Babinec confirmed his win of the Reform Party ballot line and his team’s success in gathering the minimum number of petition signatures needed to qualify the Upstate Jobs Party on the ballot line in November. Here’s a few more questions and answers from the radio interview.

Question: Does Martin Babinec for have chance in November?

Let’s take a step back and look at the difference between this upcoming election and years past. The climate is significantly different. The level of frustration that voters have shown with both major political parties is very clear. Not only with the resurgence of Donald Trump on the Republican side, but with Bernie Sanders crushing Hilary Clinton in District 22 on the Democratic side. Those results, coupled with voters embracing non traditional candidates like myself, shows that if there was ever a time voters are ready to look a different way instead of just pulling a party lever out of habit, 2016 is the year. When we look at the history of people who have been elected to this office, and have held this office for a number of years, the profile of what type of candidate voters have continually supported has traditionally been a fiscal conservative and someone maybe a little bit more to the center on some social issues. I’m the only candidate in this race that fits that profile, and who has been so successful for this district over the years.

Question: Are you ready for potential attack ads from Assemblywomen Claudia Tenney?

I’m not worried about it. I believe voters are tired of negative campaigning, and you’re not going to hear me dishing out negativity on my opponents. I will seek to compare and contrast where I have differences in some of things I stand for, but you’re certainly not going to see me engaging in personal attacks.

Question: What about the Oneida Indian Nation’s attack on Tenney. Do you support that?

I’m not in position to control what anyone else is going to do, only what I do, and my message is very clear. I believe that what is important to the voters in this district is creating more opportunities for jobs. And I’m sick and tired of the politicians that keep saying they are going to create jobs, yet they keep repeating the same things they’ve been doing for the past 30-40 years and expecting a different result. I have a track record for results and jobs is the most important message that I get across in my candidacy.

Question: Who do you support for president?

At this point I’m like a lot of voters who are still sifting through what I see because there are concerns I have about both candidates. I think we’re going to have to wait and see through the convention process, and also see who exercises the kind of leadership that I believe is going to make the best impact for the voters in this district. It’s too important of a choice to make the call to early when, again, I have concerns about both candidates.

Question: Are we really preparing our kids to enter into the workforce?

We need to do better. I have complete respect for our teachers and the hard work that they do, as well as the people who volunteer on school boards. It’s a difficult job, but when I think about where we can do better in education, we have to adapt to the changing times, and education has lacked in that process. Too many of the people who graduate from our high schools are not as equipped as they need to be with the skills and understanding, particularly in what we call “innovation industries.” So the commitments I have made, including to my local school district in Little Falls, is to help accelerate the process of advancing the digital curriculum – having teachers become more equipped to take advantage of a lot of things in education technology that can help them do a better job in using technology in the classroom and engaging students in a very different way, interactive way. High school student are digitally savvy, and they learn better when guided properly with teachers who are digitally advanced. In regards to the Little Falls program, it’s not just about dollars, it’s about bringing in the right people to run the process. The school district ultimately made the decision to which techniques were best to use. It’s a combination of expertise and a little bit of funding, as well as committed leadership that we are seeing in Little falls where good things are happening.

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