As rich Republican congressmen go, Amo Houghton’s not such a bad
guy. The former CEO of Corning Glass, Inc., has served a sprawling district in
the southern tier since 1987. Redistricting has added Pittsford and parts of
Perinton and Brighton to his domain, so we wanted to get to know him a little
bit.

            Houghton
signed the “Contract with America” back in 1994. He’s supported funding the
folly known as the Strategic Defense Initiative or SDI (a Star Wars-style
missile defense system), too.

            Yet
Houghton is also pro-choice and has the endorsement of the Log Cabin
Republicans, the nation’s largest gay and lesbian Republican organization. He’s
voted in favor of improving fuel efficiency standards for cars, light trucks,
and SUVs; in favor of implementing the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas
emissions; and against opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil
drilling.

            On the other
hand, he joined his fellow upstate Republicans in supporting the District of
Columbia budget bill that prohibited the use of federal funds for needle
exchange programs and stymied implementation of a DC ballot initiative to
legalize marijuana for medicinal use. He cast a “yea” to use the military for
drug interdiction efforts on our borders and supported W.’s massive tax cut.

            However, again to
his credit, Houghton voted against giving Bush the authority to invade Iraq at
will. “I sadly will not stand with my President, a man I admire so much,” the
ex-Marine said in an October 10 statement following his “no” vote. “Yet as with
literally the thousands of votes cast in this chamber, I’ve found that
following one’s instinct is the most honest, if not always the most politically
popular, approach.”

            Indeed, it would
have been neat to meet Houghton. But sadly, his staff never followed up on
repeated requests for an interview.

            We’ve found that
following our instinct is the most honest, if not always the most politically
popular, approach. So we’re endorsing Green Party challenger Rachel Treichler.

            A
Democrat named Kisun Peters is also in the race, as is Right to Life party-line
holder Wendy Johnson. But Peters failed to return calls seeking an interview,
just as he seems to have failed to actually mount a campaign, and Johnson is
also a more symbolic than substantive challenger.

            This isn’t to say
Treichler thinks she can beat Houghton. As she said in an interview for a
recent City cover story (“It’s not
easy being Green,” October 9), she would consider it a victory if her candidacy
just helped build the Green Party in New York State.

            Treichler, a
51-year-old from Hammondsport, is a lawyer who also operates an online
bookstore of ecologically minded titles.

            Like
Houghton, Treichler’s pro-choice and supports gay rights. Also like Houghton,
she opposes a preemptive strike against Iraq. She says there “might be
circumstances” in which she’d support an invasion, “but not the present
circumstances.”

            Asked how
the US can promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians, she says, “One
thing is to stop throwing arms to Israel. As long as we are giving Israel very
substantial amounts of arms, I don’t think that whatever we say encouraging
them to negotiate with the Palestinians has a great deal of meaning. We need to
put real pressure on Israel to seriously negotiate and to come to a resolution
that recognizes Palestinian rights and gives the Palestinian right of return.”

            When it comes to
issues like privatizing Social Security, covering prescription drug costs
through Medicare, and reforming the tax code, Treichler is short on specifics.
That’s a shame, because she’s certainly smart enough to think those issues
through and come up with fresh, meaningful ideas.

            For the
record, she says, “There are certain ways in which certain aspects [of Social
Security] might be privatized, but there need to be protections for low-income
elderly.”

            If, as
she’d like to see happen, the US sets up a system to provide universal health
care, “one of the benefits might be to bring the cost of prescription drugs
under greater control,” she says.

            And
regarding taxes, she says, “Right now, the income tax system offers a lot of
loopholes to larger taxpayers, and it would be more equitable to have a system
that had fewer loopholes. The rate of corporate taxes has gone down
substantially in the last 30 years. I think that corporations and large
businesses should be paying more taxes than they currently do.”

This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2002.