To the Editor:

This election season is a perfect time to elect a candidate for New York State’s 46th Senate District who has the vision and knowledge to lead our communities.

Michelle Hinchey is just that person.

Despite the handicaps brought to her campaign by the limitations of the coronavirus, Michelle has kept a keen ear to the ground and a finger on the pulse of what our communities have been going through. She has not missed a beat.

The result has been a response remarkably sensitive to the wants and needs of our municipalities and rural areas.

Michelle hears people’s concerns that access to affordable and comprehensive health care is under attack by the current administration in Washington. She is poised to fight for affordable and quality care for everyone, including, and so importantly, our first responders.

Too few of us know that private ambulances in the 46th Senate District are rapidly failing or barely hanging on for lack of financing. This should not be so and creates multiple stressors for a population stretched to the max.

Additional costs for personal protective equipment as well as skyrocketing costs for constantly disinfecting public and private areas equates to a growing and constant need for an adequate governmental response.

Michelle is tuned in.

Michelle will fight for small business owners.

Too many households in the 46th lack fast-speed internet. This stark reality prevents talented and essential business owners and would-be entrepreneurs from starting new businesses or expanding.

This should not be so and Michelle believes everyone, whether rural or urban, should have equal access to online resources and opportunities. Michelle will help local business owners by making sure they have online access to tools they need to compete and support their families.

Michelle, very importantly, will fight for our schools, which, in many locales, are fighting for their lives.  They, too, need not only the online technologies but also the ability to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for their students.

This means extra funding because school systems have had to essentially rewrite the rule book for how they function. This pandemic brings its own overstuffed grab bag of expensive complexities and demands. It is crucial our schools get the financial resources they need from the state in order to teach our children and keep them safe while in the classroom.

The problems facing the 46th District are many but Michelle Hinchey believes they are manageable and looks forward to a partnership with the residents of this senate district. Joining with all of us, none untouched by this wily contagion, Michelle believes, together, we can surmount and create a future where we all work in unison to find solutions.

Her website, hincheyforny.com aptly addresses the multiple concerns facing our neighbors and friends as we move into a future created by hope and commitment to a better tomorrow for all of us.

Betty Head

Altamont