Republican New York Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney is warning voters against supporting Hillary Clinton citing Clinton’s “failed” record in New York state.
“[Clinton’s] failed policies– NAFTA, pay-to-play, corporate welfare– all those things have destroyed central New York,” Tenney told listeners on Breitbart News Saturday. “Can you imagine if she’s President what’s going to happen to the country? It’s going to be terrible NAFTA deals on steroids, pay-to-play, the entire White House is going to be for sale. It’s a nightmare. Those policies have caused this problem right in our area.”
Tenney, who is running for the U.S. House seat in New York’s 22nd Congressional district, explained that Clinton “promised 200,000 jobs when she was running for Senate” in 2000, but Tenney says Clinton failed to deliver. Instead “we’ve lost probably three or four hundred thousand manufacturing jobs out of the state,” Tenney said. “We have the largest out migration of population. We have some of the highest taxes, probably the highest taxes in the nation. We have the second highest energy costs. We are the least free state in the country.”
Tenney told Breitbart that there are “very few manufactures left in central New York” as a result of the trade policies backed by Clinton such as NAFTA.
My grandfather started [our family business] 70 years ago in 1946 right in the heart of [New York’s 22nd Congressional District]… We do pharmaceutical packaging… but our business is a perfect example: we are one of the very few manufactures left in central New York because of NAFTA. We actually lost jobs because of these bad trade deals… We had a customer who was in New York that moved to Mexico because of a Mexico trade deal and now we lost about $800,000 a year in manufacturing on our side… but it’s happening not just to us, but to businesses all over. Every day you read in the papers about somebody leaving for other areas.
New York state, Tenney explained, has become “the home of corporate welfare, we’re the home of crony capitalism, of pay-to-play. I mean, just look at what has happened in New York state… And who is the biggest, croniest corporate welfare, pay-to-play person besides Andrew Cuomo? Hillary Clinton. And she’s running for president.”
Multiple reports have confirmed Clinton’s failure to deliver the type of job growth she had promised her constituents. In August, the Washington Post reported on Clinton’s record in a piece titled, “As Senator, Clinton Promised 200,000 Jobs in Upstate New York. Her Efforts Fell Flat.” The Washington Post wrote:
Despite Clinton’s efforts, upstate job growth stagnated overall during her tenure, with manufacturing jobs plunging nearly 25 percent, according to jobs data. The former first lady was unable to pass the big-ticket legislation she introduced to benefit the upstate economy. She turned to smaller-scale projects, but some of those fell flat after initial glowing headlines, a Washington Post review shows. Many promised jobs never materialized and others migrated to other states as she turned to her first presidential run, said former officials who worked with her in New York. Clinton’s self-styled role as economic promoter also showcases an operating style that has come to define the political and money-making machine known to some critics of the former first couple as Clinton Inc. Some of her pet economic projects involved loyal campaign contributors, who also supported the Clinton Foundation.
The report also highlighted Clinton’s decision to join forces with the controversial Indian outsourcing firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), and help Tata open a a software development center in Buffalo. Clinton, who then co-chaired the Senate India Caucus, “came under fire for aligning with a global leader in outsourcing that relied heavily on foreign workers who were in the United States on temporary visas,” the Washington Post wrote, further noting that:
Clinton defended outsourcing, telling CNN in 2004, “You know, outsourcing does work both ways.’’
Ron Hira, an outsourcing critic then in Rochester, branded the Tata deal an obvious Clinton outreach to “the Indian American donor class.”
“From an economic development perspective, bringing in Tata was just a terrible idea,” said Hira, an Indian American who is a professor at Howard University.
Interestingly, the Washington Post notes that Tata has donated tens of thousands of dollars to the Clinton Foundation: “Although foreign nationals cannot contribute to U.S. campaigns, Clinton has won campaign support from the Indian American community, records show. And Tata has remained friendly to the Clintons. Tata Consultancy Services contributed between $25,000 and $50,000 to the Clinton Foundation, and Ratan Tata, then chairman of the Tata Group, was a speaker at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in 2010.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.