Independent Perspective #1622

Guest:  Todd Vaarwerk

Topic:  NY State election results to impact programs for the disabled

Duration:  05:48

Published:  November 12, 2020

Host:  Welcome to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living. Our guest today is Todd Vaarwerk, Chief Policy Officer of Western New York Independent Living. And your host is yours truly, Ernie Churchwell. Welcome to the program, Todd.

Guest:  Always good to be around.

Host:  You are our resident expert on all things political, I believe you have some things to say about the elections which has riveted the nation's attention for weeks now.

Guest:  We're actually going to talk about state results today, because the federal results still haven't been decided yet.

Host:  As of this recording anyway.

Guest:  As of recording, yes. The federal results haven’t been decided yet, but all the regular listeners know that, while the federal result being the most popular thing on TV, wasn't the only thing that we cast her ballot on. So, I wanted to talk a minute about the state. Because state results, become critically important when we're talking about things like the state budget, and how, which is basically how much money the governor has to run stuff. The legislature is the one that balances out the executives needs on the budget. Now, I don't think that you'll find it too particularly surprising that most of our state representatives stayed the same. Okay. We do have some changes to announce, however. Sean Ryan, who was a state assembly person, ran for and won the state senate seat. So, we have an additional Democrat, representing us in upstate in the chamber, that is still going to be run by Democrats. So, you know, Tim Kennedy won't be taking all the heat from us for everything that they do. Taking over for him in the assembly is a gentleman named Jonathan Rivera, we know very little about him but as soon as we find stuff out, we're looking forward to working with him on issues. He wasn't a guy that we saw at our Meet the Candidates day I don't think. So, let's start with that. Ernie, do you have any other questions?

Host:  Well, are you all in all hopeful for the future for people with disabilities, with programs as a result of this election or in consideration that the state had a massive deficit even before the additional costs of COVID. Do you still have great concern?

Guest:  The deficit is going to remain, right, and state legislators are going to deal with that crisis the best way they can. I am happy that a lot of our incumbents are staying in office and they'll fight for our rights to be able to get the services that we need. They're known entities who are aware of the issues of people with disabilities but the final solution on that rises to a level that we're not prepared to talk about today because we don't know what the outcome of the federal election is yet. And I can trust that I can tell the listeners that the moment we do, and we can have a conversation about that, we will. Because that is the way that we think the state might be solving some of the debt crisis. And then some of the things that we're concerned about could be handled based on the results of the federal election.

Host:  Regardless of the federal election, do you have any hope that the Federal COVID bailout that has been promised for so long will come and help us out?

Guest:  I think there's definitely a good chance that federal officials will settle on something that will provide aid. We will continue to advocate for that. We know that a lot of the cares act money that has already been gotten is being used locally for a lot of things that people are concerned about; rent relief, child care, access to food, eviction diversion. Stuff like that.

Host:  We're about out of time, if people have questions on particular issues, how can they get ahold of you?

Guest:  You can always call my office at 836-0822 extension 101.

Host:  Thanks so much for being with us, Todd.

Guest:  Always a pleasure.

Host:  You've been listening to Independent Perspective, a public affairs presentation of Western New York Independent Living. Our guest today was Todd Vaarwerk, Independent Living and Individual Support Service Specialist with Western New York Independent Living, and your host was yours truly, Ernie Churchwell.