Name: Mike Sigler Announces Republican Bid For State Senate
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Mike Sigler Announces Republican Bid For State Senate

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Skip to main contentYou have permission to edit this article.EditWelcome,HomeNEWSSPORTSEVENTSENTERTAINMENTFLXDININGOPINIONCLASSIFIEDSBEST OF ITHACASPECIAL SECTIONSOBITSIthaca Times NewsletterGood morning Ithaca!Get the the latest local news, weather &amp; arts coverage from the Ithaca Times.Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.Error! There was an error processing your request.Tompkins County Legislator Mike Sigler (R-Lansing) has announced that he will be running for New York State Senate as a Republican, challenging the 52nd District’s Democratic incumbent Lea Webb.Sigler has said that he is running to change the direction the state is headed in and push back on actions that Albany has taken that have undermined local governments. “It’s not really about my future, it’s about the future of the state and where you think the state should be headed,” Sigler said. He continued saying that “the state came in and hurt [Tompkins County]” in their last budget and that he expects more of the same to happen in the future. Sigler added, “looking at state office is really the only way to push back on that.”Similarly to many other County officials, Sigler has taken issue with a new mandate that allows New York State to intercept federal Medicaid funding that has typically been allocated to counties. This has left Tompkins County, and many other counties around the state, with million dollar burdens on their 2024 budgets. Specifically, Tompkins County will be faced with a $1.6 million increase.Sigler has said that one of the most important issues facing the district is crime. According to Sigler, “There’s certainly been an uptick of crime especially in Ithaca.” He added, “People want to feel safe, and that’s everybody, not just Republicans.”During a recent interview, Sigler spoke about a recent conversation he had with a parent of a Cornell student on the Commons saying that Cornell students and parents are getting the message that it's not safe to go to downtown Ithaca at night. “That’s a problem, Ithaca’s really got to handle that,” Sigler said.Sigler continued saying that he was “disheartened” by the pilot camping policy that was passed by the Common Council during a special meeting on September 20. According to Sigler, “It’s not a policy…It’s pretty much camp wherever you want.” He added, “I don’t think it’s sustainable at all.”In regards to taxes, Sigler has said, “Taxes are an issue, but most people living in New York State understand that taxes are going to be high.” However, he continued saying that the state has reached a breaking point where people have less money in their wallets because of inflation and they’re less likely to be willing to accept exponentially increasing taxes.A recent poll from Siena College found that more than half of New Yorkers feel that cost of living is one of their top concerns. When asked how he would address those concerns, Sigler said that he would work to streamline the state's funding process to drive down costs and allow residents to know how their tax money is being spent.According to Sigler, “Democratic leadership always says, ‘we want Medicare for All’…but the reason it never passes is because it’s so expensive…but when you look at what they’ve done to the budget over the last five years, they took it from $179 billion up to $230 billion.” He continued saying, “That’s $50 billion more than it was just five years ago, and I’m pretty sure you could have had Medicare for All for $50 billion — so people are wondering where all this money is going?”Sigler says that part of the problem is that the state is “very top down.” He said that instead of simply funding a program directly, the state routinely chooses to construct programs that outside organizations will have to apply for grants to use. According to Sigler, “there’s all this administration of grant money, whereas why don’t we just directly fund [programs].” He added, “you have to cut out some of the administrative costs, because it's just eating all the money up.”Additionally, Sigler said that wage increases can significantly address cost of living concerns, but that “they’re just not going up as fast to match inflation.” As a result, Sigler says that people are saying the economy is not doing very well because it’s not doing well for them. “Gas prices are hitting four bucks again, all the refineries are changing over to diesel and heating oil, there’s gonna be less gas on the market. I don’t see why prices are gonna go down, I think they’re gonna go up.”At this point in his campaign Sigler says that he is working on gaining the support of people in the party outside of Tompkins County. According to Sigler, “I'm better known in Tompkins than I am in Broome, and I'm better known in Cortland than I am in Broome, so I'm going to spend a little more time in Broome just getting to learn what the issues are down there.”Another focus of the campaign has been on fundraising and Sigler said that he has “already started that process.” He added, “you can’t raise money until you actually file, and this is the year of public financing…so that’ll make for an interesting dynamic of who [is going to] file for public financing.”Sigler says that his campaign will also focus on canvassing throughout the district because, “It’s the number one thing you can do to win an election.” According to Sigler, “whenever you're going against an incumbent, the odds are against you — how do you make up for those longer odds? You do it by face to face contact.”When asked why he chose to run for State Senate instead of Assembly, Sigler said “the Assembly numbers are terrible for Republicans. Anybody that wants to run in that assembly district I give them credit if they are a Republican, the numbers are very difficult to overcome.”Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.Error! There was an error processing your request.Log InThis is a space for civil feedback and conversation. A fewguidelines: 1. be kind and courteous. 2. no hate speech orbullying. 3. no promotions or spam. If necessary, we will banmembers who do not abide by these standards.Post a commentSorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.You voted:Ithaca TimesSuccess! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.Error! There was an error processing your request.Powered by BLOX Content Management System from BLOX Digital.Please help support local journalism by whitelisting this site in your ad blocker. Thank you!

Skip to main contentYou have permission to edit this article.EditWelcome,HomeNEWSSPORTSEVENTSENTERTAINMENTFLXDININGOPINIONCLASSIFIEDSBEST OF ITHACASPECIAL SECTIONSOBITSIthaca Times NewsletterGood morning Ithaca!Get the the latest local news, weather &amp; arts coverage from the Ithaca Times.Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.Error! There was an error processing your request.Tompkins County Legislator Mike Sigler (R-Lansing) has announced that he will be running for New York State Senate as a Republican, challenging the 52nd District’s Democratic incumbent...

Mike Sigler Announces Republican Bid For State Senate

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