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Candidate for Governor releases rural agenda

Abdul El-Sayed

The campaign for Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Wednesday released, what it called, its rural agenda.

During the press conference, El-Sayed expressed his views on environmental justice, agriculture, and affordable housing.

The candidate said the interests of corporations have been over-represented in rural districts.

“They in effect get tax breaks to open up in those communities. They come in with their economies of scale, their economies of scope, and can out-compete any of the local mom and pop shops.”

El-Sayed said often box stores don’t pay the same tax rates and that can hurt local revenue.

He said as Governor he would stand up to box stores and cut the tax incentives that allow them to out-compete local businesses.

El-Sayed said he would also shut down the line 5 pipeline and bring high-speed internet to every rural community.

“If you live north of where your fingers start on the mitten the probability that you have high-quality access to the internet is really low. And having traveled all over the state even your access to cellular signal takes a huge plummet once you go north.”

The agenda was released ahead of a Wednesday evening town hall in Ithaca.