Democratic candidate for 21st Congressional District visits Massena

Aug. 18—MASSENA — Nearly 40 people were on hand Tuesday when a candidate for New York's 21st Congressional District held a town hall meeting at the Massena Community Center.

Matt Castelli, a former CIA officer and counterterrorism director for the National Security Council, is running for the Democratic nomination against Matthew F. Putorti, a Whitehall native and longtime corporate lawyer. The winner will be the Democratic nominee against Rep. Elise M. Stefanik in November's general election.

He said, unlike Ms. Stefanik, he's making himself available to voters to share his message.

"We're recording all of our town halls. We're going to do a town hall, at least one in every single county of the district. This may surprise some of you who have had Congresswoman Stefanik as your representative for quite some time. I know that she hasn't made herself available in such a way. We're not just going to make ourselves available personally. We're going to post stuff online so that folks can have access to us and hear what kinds of questions and issues are being raised throughout the district," Mr. Castelli said.

He recalled the Jan. 6 attacks in Washington, D.C.

"As you might imagine, a former counterterrorism guy who spent a career trying to prevent things like that from happening in foreign capitals, to see it happen in our own didn't sit well with me. But, certainly to the response we saw from Congresswoman Stefanik, I think she turned her back on our democracy that day. I think she violated her oath to the Constitution, the same oath that I took when I joined the CIA many years ago. And so, not long after that, we decided to launch this campaign in order to honor the same oath that I took to the Constitution, to support and defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The campaign we've been building since then has been off to the races," Mr. Castelli said.

He said he's put more than 35,000 miles on his truck as he makes campaign stops throughout the district.

"I suspect we'll put another 30,000 before the campaign is over. We've done over 250 events. We're building a strong volunteer base that's helping us with this Democratic primary that we're in right now. If any of you happen to be registered Democrats and have not voted yet in this primary, I encourage you to look to the 23rd. On Aug. 23, that's the primary, but we're actually in the midst of the early voting period right now that runs through the 21st. So, I'd be honored to earn your vote in that primary. We're building a strong campaign that can defeat Elise Stefanik, in no small part because we're building a coalition, not just Democrats, but Independents and Republicans as well," Mr. Castelli said.

Asked what could be done to attract "more steady businesses" to the district, he said there needed to be more than offering tax incentives, which were no longer working.

"We've all seen the examples where the economics don't work for them anymore and they leave a community devastated," he said.

Instead, he said, "We need to be making investments in our community. When we do that, we create a degree of resiliency, we create an opportunity for infrastructure. I don't mean just roads and bridges and broadband, which are things that we need. Broadband and cell service, that's a very basic requirement now for small business or education or whatever it may be. We do need to make those kinds of investments, but the kind of investments that attract and retain the talent are child care, affordable housing, the opportunity for an employer to come here and access talent that's going to be useful to help grow your business."

Mr. Castelli said it was necessary to leverage the natural resources of the north country to attract individuals to the area and retain the talent that's been educated here.

"How can we make sure that we're given the kinds of resources that allow people to thrive here? That's what's been missing. We certainly haven't had a representative in the last eight years advocating for these kinds of investments, or maybe even working at least in a collaborative fashion. I'm not asking her to switch parties, but could you work in some sort of collaborative fashion with lawmakers in Albany and the governor to make sure federal dollars do get to come to our state and actually end up in our district," he said.

Mr. Castelli suggested Rep. Stefanik had a poor record when it came to important votes.

"If you look at Congresswoman Stefanik's record over the last eight years, it's pretty poor as a legislator. Two bills, that's it. She's gone from sponsorship to passage into law. A commemorative coin and the renaming of a post office. That's it. I'm sure those are important to some people," he said.

"We hear a lot of complaining. We hear a lot of press releases. But, when you actually look at her record in terms of what she's accomplished, it's poor. But, we also can point out a record of voting against certain things. I think voting against our security. She votes against the investments that will help grow our economy. She votes against veteran's health and education benefits. So, we're going to have to call her out every single time to make sure we're educating voters about what her actual record is, and that's what this race will be about," he said.