Published: August 22, 2008 12:45 am      

ELECTION 2008: Lee outlines agenda for fiscal responsibility

Congressional candidate Christopher J. Lee made a stop Thursday in Lockport and presented his agenda for fiscal responsibility in Washington, calling for less taxation and less red tape for small businesses.

Lee, a Clarence business executive, is running for the Republican line in the race for the 26th Congressional District in New York. The seat is currently held by Rep. Thomas Reynolds, who will be retiring by the end of the year.

Lee has been endorsed by Reynolds and is the consensus candidate of Republican committee chairmen in the seven counties in the district.

Lee’s plan calls for lower taxes, simplifying the tax code, less regulation on small businesses and ensuring members of Congress are working toward these ends and not their own pet projects. Lee said he wants to cut down the amount going to Washington and bring the money back to Western New York.

“One of the most important things we can do to restore the American people’s trust in Congress is prove that we can be effective stewards of their hard-earned money,” Lee said. “Western New Yorkers, and all Americans, deserve a government that can better live within its means.”

Lee said his experience in business was something that separated him from the other candidates. He said when it comes to having a budget, a business shouldn’t spend more than it takes in.

“It’s a huge advantage when you try to meet a payroll, you can understand the type of regulations that can impede your business,” Lee said. “Some of the other candidates don’t have that level of experience.”

Lee outlined four key steps toward his plan of fiscal responsibility in Washington: Reforming the “earmark” process, reducing regulations on small business, cutting taxes and simplifying the tax code.

Lee wants to promote transparency and accountability with earmarks, which are parts of legislative bills that allow money to be designated for a special reason. He said lawmakers should not use taxpayer money for certain projects but should have to justify how the money will be spent and why it is a good use of money. In fiscal year 2008, some 11,510 earmarks in appropriations bills cost American taxpayers more than $16 billion, Lee said.

He said he wasn’t totally against earmarks, when it is beneficial to the community by generating revenue. Lee mentioned the Flight of Five locks as a example, saying the project to put the old locks back in working order would drive tourism and create jobs.

The second point of Lee’s plan was removing roadblocks for small business. Lee said small businesses created over 80 percent of the jobs in the past decade. Current regulations are costing the businesses a lot, more than $7,000 per employee Lee said, and stand in the way of growth.

Tax cuts must be tied to cutting wasteful spending so that even larger deficits are not created, Lee said. He said the tax cuts from 2001 and 2003 are set to expire, and if they do, he said it would be the largest tax increase the country has ever faced. That would lead to economic hardships for a lot of people, he said, which is why he wants to keep the tax cuts.

“The more money you give Washington, they will spend it and they won’t spend it properly,” Lee said.

Lee said a complex U.S. tax code is itself an enormous cost to taxpayers. According to the Tax Foundation, in 2008, American taxpayers will pay an estimated $310 billion simply to have their taxes assessed and administered. A simplification will save billions, Lee said.

“Americans are frustrated,” Lee said. “They can no longer trust Congress to look after their tax dollars.”

Lockport Mayor Michael Tucker attended the press conference and was supportive of Lee.

“I loved when you talked about the Flight of Five,” Tucker said to Lee.

On the Democratic side of the race, Iraq War veteran Jon Powers is running against Akron industrialist Jack Davis and Buffalo environmental attorney Alice Kryzan. Powers has been endorsed by the Democratic committees in all of the district’s seven counties.

Contact reporter Joe Olenick at 439-9222, ext. 6241.