BY PATRICIA BREAKEY
DELHI NEWS BUREAU
DELHI _ A crowd of about 80 people
gathered at the Delhi Fire Hall on Friday
for U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy’s Congress-
on-Your-Corner meeting to hear
his stance on issues and ask questions.
Murphy, a Democrat from Glens
Falls, said after 10 months in office, he
has cast about 850 votes and has seen
about 350 bills passed in the House. He
serves on the Agriculture and Armed
Services Committees and talked about
his recent trip to Afghanistan.
Katherine Mario of Delhi brought up
gas drilling.
Murphy _ who represents District
20 in New York, which includes parts
of Otsego and Delaware
counties _ said he
would have to know the
water supply was protected
before he would
support gas drilling
using hydrofracking,
a process of pumping
water, sand and various
chemicals into the
ground under tremendous pressure to
fracture rock and release gas.
“If it is possible to do it safely, then
we are into something that has economic
development potential,” Murphy
said.
Murphy added that New York has
a stronger environmental protection
agency than most states, so he questions
whether the federal government should
get involved in gas-drilling regulations
and add another layer of rules.
On the issue of health care, Murphy
said he won’t know how he is going to
vote until the legislation gets written.
“When we get a vote on health care
reform I will read though the legislation
and decide how I will vote,” Murphy
said. “If it will make the system
better I will vote for it, but if I think it
will make it worse _ even if there are
good sections _ I will vote no.”
Murphy said he voted no on the proposed
heath care bill during the summer
because even though it
did a good job of providing
care for people with
no coverage it didn’t do
enough to control the
cost of coverage.
Murphy said he believes
there have to be
incentives added to the
health care system to
control the number and
types of tests ordered to
help keep costs down.
Murphy said he signed
a letter to put a public option
back into the health
care package because he
said he thinks it is a useful
addition.
“I am a fan of the public
option if it is done on
a level playing field,” he
said. “I don’t think we
should have the government
taking over all of
our medical options.”
Some people said they
think it would be useful
to pass a bill and finetune
it later, but he said
he disagrees.
“This is the time to do
it all when everyone is at
the table,” Murphy said.
“It has to be done all at
once.”
Hobart Trustee James
Barr said he had contacted
Murphy’s office
17 times about a bridge
needing federal funding
and has never received
a call in return. During
the meeting, Murphy
gave Barr his personal
cell phone number and
offered to go though the
steps of the funding process
with him.
Barbara Hanselman
of Bloomville brought
up dairy farming at the
event. She noted that
there are only 150 dairy
farms left in Delaware
County, and some of
those farms are beginning
to shut down.
“We are not an area
that is conducive to other
industry,” Hanselman
said.
Murphy reiterated his
interest in agriculture
and said, “Our dairy
farms are a critical backbone
for the area.”
On other topics, Murphy
said broadband development
is critical for
economic development
in upstate New York.
“If we want to keep
our kids here, we have
to help small businesses
develop,” he said.
Murphy’s time was limited
to one hour, which
left a line of people with
unasked questions.
PATRICIA BREAKEY can be
reached at 746-2894 or at
stardelhi@stny.rr.com.
