August 31 Leg Act News
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Leg Act News Highlights
Letter to Tom O’Mara - by Mark J. Norton
Senator O’Mara,
Thank you for sending me your Summer 2026 Newsletter. I appreciate hearing from you on important New York State issues. I have a few comments I’d like to make.
Local Roads are Essential
I am in full agreement with you that local roads ARE important. Maintaining our
infrastructure benefits everyone: businesses and people. The 26-27 increase to CHIPS will go a long way towards road and bridge improvements. I am already starting to see the results.
Rethinking New York’s Energy Future
We are all feeling the pinch of increases to heating and electricity bills. I am retired and on a fixed income, so these increases directly affect my basic living expenses, including food. Due to the recent disastrous war in Iran, the cost of gasoline and propane has increased significantly. While I am aware that, as a state senator, you have little impact on federal policies, I believe we can invest in alternative, renewable energy sources to mitigate the cost of oil-based fuels.
While the CLCPA of 2019 sets some very aggressive goals, I believe they are
necessary now and will be absolutely critical in the future. Reaching 70% Renewable Energy by 2030 seems reasonable to me, and we (New York State) are on track to reach that goal. Reaching 100% Zero-Emission Electricity by 2040 might be more difficult, but that is 14 years away. Electric school buses are a good way to show NYS leadership. While we disagree on climate change issues, I personally believe that we should be working towards economy-wide greenhouse gas reduction. We have only one planet, and the trend is NOT good.
Medicaid Spending in NYS
I hope we can agree that healthcare in the United States has significantly deteriorated over the past ten years or so. Costs go ever higher, and the federal government has abdicated its responsibility to care for our citizens. Currently, approximately 32% to 35% of New York State residents are enrolled in Medicaid. That’s 6.3 to 6.5 million New Yorkers. Many of those people will not be able to afford healthcare when the One Big Beautiful Act [sic] is phased in over the next couple of years. Thousands of children will be affected.
Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) is a problem, and it’s an area that we should work towards reducing. Some of this is built into the way healthcare expenses are reimbursed to doctors and hospitals. Fixing that is a very complicated process hampered by federal mandates, but we need to be careful. Let’s eliminate true fraud (versus paperwork errors) in a way that improves Medicaid affordability and access for all NYS residents. The goal is to improve healthcare … not just saving money.
I am against a Medicaid “zero tolerance” policy. Inevitably, it increases the suffering of those who need support the most. While the proposed New York Health Act (single-payer healthcare) has many things that remain to be worked out, I strongly believe that it is a step in the right direction. I call upon you, as my elected senator, to work with others in the Senate to support this legislation because I am very concerned that the federal government is going to continue to make it only more and more difficult for working Americans (including me) to get good healthcare.
Editor's note: I challenge all readers to write a letter. Comment on at least one aspect of O’Mara’s newsletter. Mark wrote an excellent example to follow. Also don’t stop there! Assemblyman Friend and Congressman Langworthy need commentary as well. Let us all increase the pressure on our electeds.
Campaign Corner
Aaron Gies and Andy Fagan Postcards
Postcards are in! They will be distributed in packs of approximately 60 cards according to election districts. To ensure timely mailing, TCDC will distribute the cards ASAP. You are asked to write the script as noted. We expect you to deliver the postcards back to TCDC. The next meeting will be September 22, 2026, and we hope you can deliver them at the meeting. We will set up other times if needed.
Please invite others to help you write. Once completed, if you want to write more, please contact TCDC at tioganydems@gmail.com. If others write the cards, please collect them once completed to return to TCDC.
You are encouraged to stamp your cards because that’s a big help. If you return the cards without stamps, TCDC will stamp them.
Notables
Hegseth Needs to Leave. By Marita Florini
If you follow Heather Cox Richardson’s ”Letters to Americans,” you undoubtedly read her August 31 missive about Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth. If you have not, please look her up and read it. It is chilling.
Military leaders are warning Hegseth that a plan to continue large-scale operations in Iran is unsustainable and is weakening the leaders’ ability to protect U.S. interests in other places, most importantly here at home. The Navy, which has seen the most action in the operations against Iran, cannot sustain the same level of support. There is a severe financial crisis with the U.S. Military. According to The Guardian (Aug. 27, 2026), non-emergency maintenance on shore-based facilities has been deferred due to lack of funds. Creative financing is using payroll money to pay for “overseas contingencies.” (U.S. military and related activities conducted outside the U.S. that meet specific legal and operational criteria, and are funded through a separate budget category from the Department of Defense’s base budget.) Payroll is being backfilled by funds that have not been spent.
It is important to point out that Hegseth has systematically fired or forced into retirement admirals and generals whom he considered insufficiently loyal. Yet, a broad range of military leaders are speaking out against Iranian war plans. According to MSN (Sept. 1, 2026), when Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who has recently resigned, met with President Trump, he explained how Hegseth's sweeping removals of senior officers were hollowing out the Army's leadership and undermining efforts to modernize. Trump was described as taken aback by the scale of the shake-up. (If he knew about this, then he is acting; if he didn’t know this, then who is really running the White House?) MSN also reports Hegseth’s growing suspicion of Driscoll, who had close ties with J.D. Vance. ABC News (Sept. 1, 2026) reports a history of tension between Hegseth and Driscoll, who has warned Trump repeatedly about his concerns.
Hegseth is also attempting to control the narrative about the military. He has fired the editor-in-chief of “Stars and Stripes" and one of the reporters. He has hired right-wing social media influencers as “special government employees,” using taxpayer money to amplify Hegseth’s viewpoint (a classic Project 2025 action) and attack negative commentary. One of the U.S. Army’s lieutenant colonels who is “active military” has been posting pro-Hegseth and anti-Democratic material during working hours, a violation of military protocol (Letters to Americans Aug 31, 2026). Although Hegseth denies plans to run for President, he is clearly doing what he knows best: getting his views out to the public. For now, they are pro-Trump.
Meanwhile, Trump cut down weeping willows at the Kennedy Center, a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy. This was done after he allowed the destruction of over 60 historic cherry trees in East Potomac Park. Destruction and distraction while the country is increasingly in danger. Many believe Trump will declare a state of emergency before the elections in November. Perhaps this is the intent.
Action Alerts
Postcards. Please email your intent to write postcards to TCDC at tioganydems@gmail.com. Please follow all directions.
Write a letter or two to local, state, or federal legislators. Do not let them control the narratives. Make your voice heard.
Legislative Action Committee Meeting on September 3, 2026, will meet at the Coburn Free Library in Owego, 5:15 - 6:45 pm.
Learn to Canvas! Bob Leonard, Aaron's campaign manager, is hosting a webinar on Tuesday, September 8, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on canvassing. Register today at https://www.mobilize.us/.../aarongiesforco.../event/1022308/.
Center for Election Innovation and Research Webinar. Sign up for the September 8, 5 pm presentation at Webinar Registration - Zoom. If you can't attend at that time but are interested, sign up, and they will send you the presentation later.
