Q & A with candidate Max Della Pia

Tompkins Weekly Staff

 

The upcoming June 26 Democratic primary for New York’s 23rd congressional district is a crowded one. Tompkins Weekly has sent this Q & A to all of the primary candidates and will be printing them in the order received.

 

Tompkins Weekly: What makes you qualified to be the Congressional Representative for NY 23?
Max Della Pia: I have a broad life experience in both the military and in the public sector. I am a former defense attorney, litigator, owned my own law practice, and worked for Lockheed Martin in business development. I know first-hand the impact that legislative cowardice, corporate greed, and government waste has on our country and I intend to call it out and work for change. Most importantly, I know how to govern. Too many politicians get to Washington and aren’t ready to do the important work they were sent there to accomplish. I have first-hand legislative experience as a Brookings Fellow for Senator Levin, and was responsible for a 93 million dollar budget as an Air Force Commander. This has given me unique experience with the nuts and bolts of governing. In a time when so many families urgently need help, of all the candidates, I know I can be an effective legislator from day one.

 

TW: Why are you running for Representative of NY 23?
MDP: I took an oath when I was 17 at the US Air Force Academy to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Special interests are a domestic threat to the Constitution and I feel duty bound to run on that basis alone. But, this is a high stakes election—so many issues are under consideration that matter a great deal to my family, your family, everyone in the district, and our nation. I will work to: expand economic opportunity; support education, provide solutions to educational debt and the opioid crisis; advocate for Medicare for All; protect our environment; defend our social safety net; reassert Congressional oversight on National Security; and embrace diversity of all kinds as a strength.

 

TW: What do you offer to the residents of Tompkins County that the other candidates running in the primary do not?
MDP: Congressional Experience: I am the only candidate in the field who has experience working in Congress. I was a Brookings Fellow on Senator Carl Levin’s (D-MI) personal staff and worked for the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Air Force in Air Force Senate Liaison. I have not only worked constituent services and as an advisor on defense issues, but as an AF Senate Liaison Officer, I also successfully advocated for real people who were denied active military benefits, based on their status as Reservists.

In both the House and Senate, I went door-to-door, not with bags of money to contribute to campaigns but with a passion to help people and ideas that were compelling enough to convince both sides of the aisle that something needed to be changed. To their credit, they worked the issue through the Committee process for the Defense Authorization Bill, clarified their legislative intent, and retroactively changed the effect of the law on those Reservists, their families and all who followed and were similarly situated. It was a highlight of my career. I know I can do the same for the people of New York’s 23rd District, but I must first gain the trust and support of voters, across the district.

Veteran: With that in mind, I am the only military veteran among the candidates. This allows me the ability to continue a conversation that would otherwise end. When I tell a non-Democrat I am running as a Democrat, they often turn their head and hand me back my card with an extended arm. We are so polarized that unless a candidate can appeal to someone’s respect for military service, the conversation will often end. “Wait a second, I spent over 30 years in the military defending this country as a commander and pilot in the Air Force, defending my family and yours, isn’t it about time we start looking for solutions as Americans, instead of party?”

They generally apologize, say they don’t vote straight ticket anyway, and thank me for my service. Then we can have a conversation. Unless a candidate is able to continue with that conversation, it will be difficult getting them to vote for a Democrat.

Leadership and Team Building: I was an Air Force Airlift Wing Commander who was responsible for over 1260 airmen and women, a $93 Million annual budget and 14 C-130 aircraft. No other candidate has that experience. Coupling that experience with my experience in Congress will allow me to be a leader in the freshman class in Congress. That can be a force-multiplier for our district and for the other new members of Congress who are not satisfied with the way things are done in Congress.

 

TW: What is your plan to stimulate job growth in the NY 23?
MDP: Having started my own law office, I know how hard it is to start and build a business, and I know the pressure of paying bills and making payroll. Small businesses are the generators of jobs in the economy and it is the government’s job to help them succeed, not work against them. This will take many forms—revitalizing our crumbling infrastructure, making sure we have broadband Internet across the district, tax policy that helps small businesses get off the ground, Medicare for all so small businesses do not lose the workers they train to larger employers, and funding for education and technical training programs to improve and ready our workforce.

Infrastructure needs across the nation are estimated to be between $2 T and $4 T. Prioritizing infrastructure will help make our businesses more competitive and generate 25,000-30,000 good jobs for every billion dollars spent. Jobs we can bring right here to our district.

 

TW: Where do you stand on Safe Injection Facilities?

MDP: I support Safe Injection Facilities as a courageous approach to a difficult, intractable problem. While it may appear radical to some, it’s been done at over 100 sites in 62 cities around the world, but in only one other place in the US. In Ithaca’s case, it is being financed entirely by donations, not government money. Yet, it still must be approved by NY State before it can begin operations. As a concept, safe injection facilities increase entry into drug treatment by some 30 percent. It will also reduce fatalities due to drug overdoses, reduce infections, and increase the rates of recovery from addiction.

 

TW: The heroin and opioid crisis has had a major impact in this region. How do you plan on addressing the crisis?
MDP: This problem is killing people, destroying our communities, and harming our families. We need to address it head-on as an illness and destigmatize its treatment.

Expand economic, education, and technical training opportunities to eliminate the economic despair that makes some of our communities vulnerable to addiction in the first place.

Hold Big Pharma accountable and make them part of the solution. Big pharmaceutical companies knew what they were doing when they started a campaign to expand sales and increase the writing of prescriptions for opioid painkillers that they knew were highly addictive and not particularly effective for managing pain.
Change the paradigm. Long-term incarceration for non-violent crimes is expensive and not effective. The objective is providing healthcare treatment options for addictions that will help addicts overcome addiction and return them to society to become productive, tax-paying citizens who can care for themselves and their families.

Provide resources to fight addiction: multi-disciplined programs that include residential treatment programs, more therapists, more social workers, more parole officers, and more judges, that can address problems of housing, mental health, jobs, health and alternatives to law enforcement are what is needed.

 

TW: What do you want the residents of Tompkins County to know about you?
MDP: My campaign is driven by the urgency of the moment. Whether it’s my youngest son, who struggles to afford healthcare working on a farm in the district, my oldest son, who serves on an Air Force base overseas, or my daughter, a trans woman, who fears for her safety, I’m in this election because I’m a father, a husband and a lifelong public servant. My family, and so many others across the district, depends on honest, dependable representation in Congress.

In such a chaotic political moment, we need to select a candidate who can bring an honest message of public service to every corner of this district, and cut through the political divide that has long prevented us from receiving the representation we deserve. I’ve spent my life in service of my community and my country, and I firmly believe that I am the person who can deliver that message. That’s why I am the only candidate to have been endorsed by a former Democratic nominee in this district, Martha Robertson, who ran against Tom Reed in 2014. I promise to fight every day for just, compassionate solutions to the problems our country faces, and would be honored to have your support.