Special election for Stefanik seat to get national attention

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — After President-elect Trump nominated Elise Stefanik as well as other New York lawmakers to positions in his cabinet, speculation boomed around who would run to fill the vacated position in New York's 21st Congressional district.

This week on Empire State Weekly, Morgan Hook the Managing Director for SKDK explained the gradual process of determining candidates for the special election. Hook believes the special election will likely have a high amount of national interest, but the voters who determine the election will have a different focus.

"So this special election is probably going to get a lot of national attention, but for the voters who are actually voting I think they're going to be paying attention to local issues they're going to be paying attention to what people have to say about the issues that actually matter to them because those are the people who are going to be voting at the end of the day." said Hook.

Also this week, a recent public hearing examined the impact of an independent study into the generous tax credits the state gives to entice businesses to do business in the state. State Senator James Skoufis a democrat representing the 42nd District, was a part of the hearing and explained he does not believe the tax credits given are a good return on investment for the state.

"For example with the film tax credit is that taxpayers only received 31 cents back on every dollar that they invest in this program which is woefully inadequate. And so, we just had a hearing to spotlight these issues from the audit we're going to be putting together a response ahead of next session and certainly look forward to better safeguarding the taxpayers through these subsidies and where we can eliminating these subsidies that simply aren't working." said Skoufis.

To see these interviews and more, here is a list of how you can watch Empire State Weekly in your area of New York: