Fact check: What the NY-21 candidates got right, wrong during first debate

Oct. 21--WATERTOWN -- Rep. Elise M. Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, and Tedra L. Cobb, her Democratic opponent in the race for the NY-21 House seat, both made incorrect statements Monday during their first debate of this election season.

In the roughly hour-long debate at the studios of WWNY-TV, also known as 7 News, both candidates talked about their own records and their opponent's histories. A number of inaccuracies were apparent.

The candidates were first asked about their opinions on the federal government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In her answer, Rep. Stefanik said she approved of the federal response, and touted a decision by President Donald J. Trump to "ban" flights from China in the early days of the pandemic.

"President Trump made the right, but tough, decision to ban flights from China," she said.

Rep. Stefanik mischaracterized the president's decision to halt flights from China. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar announced a policy Jan. 31 that banned non-U.S. citizens who had traveled to China within the past two weeks from entering the country. But if a non-U.S. citizen was a direct relative of a citizen or permanent resident, they could be granted entry. There were no restrictions on American citizens entering the country from China.

Rep. Stefanik then quickly moved to criticize New York state's response to the pandemic, specifically the decision made early on by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to have the state seize ventilators from across the state and ship them to overloaded hospitals downstate.

"I've been very critical of the governor," she said. "My opponent is a former political appointee of Gov. (Andrew M.) Cuomo, and she was silent when Gov. Cuomo tried to seize our ventilators and ship them towards downstate."

Rep. Stefanik's claim that Ms. Cobb was appointed to a political position by Gov. Cuomo is false, and has been disproven a number of times. In the past, Ms. Cobb herself has also incorrectly claimed she was appointed by Gov. Cuomo to the North Country Healthcare Redesign Commission. On Monday afternoon, she attempted to set that record straight, although Rep. Stefanik insisted she was an appointee of the governor.

"Let me be clear, the governor has never appointed me to anything," Ms. Cobb said. "I was, however, appointed to the Northern New York Healthcare Redesign Commission..."

"By the governor," Rep. Stefanik interjected three times.

"By the commissioner of public health, and I served with two principled Republicans, (state Sens.) Betty Little and Patty Ritchie," Ms. Cobb finished.

Later in the debate, Rep. Stefanik said the governor is the largest donor to the Cobb campaign.

"My opponent, Gov. Cuomo is her biggest campaign donor," Rep. Stefanik said. "He's paying for her campaign offices."

Gov. Cuomo has not made any donations to the Cobb campaign this year. In 2018, Gov. Cuomo Political Action Committee, titled Cuomo Take Back The House PAC, donated $2,700 to Ms. Cobb's campaign.

Stefanik campaign spokesperson Maddie Anderson said Tuesday the New York State Democratic Committee is paying for the Cobb campaign's field operation. Cobb spokesperson Mauranda Stahl said the claim is inaccurate.

In response to a question about the coronavirus aid packages passed by Congress during the crisis and why the next round has not yet been approved, Rep. Stefanik praised the Paycheck Protection Program and said Ms. Cobb had initially criticized the program before switching her position.

There is no record of Ms. Cobb opposing PPP, and on Monday night, Ms. Cobb said she has maintained her support of the program throughout her candidacy.

In response to a question about Rep. Stefanik's record and high level of engagement in the House committees she sits on, Ms. Cobb repeated her accusation that Rep. Stefanik has remained silent on the allegations that Russian intelligence paid Taliban militants to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan.

"115 days ago, we learned that Russia put bounties on the lives of American soldiers, and Elise Stefanik has not said anything," Ms. Cobb said.

Rep. Stefanik has repeatedly spoken about the allegations and has maintained that they are inaccurate, unverified claims. The information was made public after it was leaked to The New York Times, and Rep. Stefanik has said a number of times that she does not believe it's appropriate for an elected official, with a seat on the House Intelligence Committee, to speak about what she's termed "unverified, and frankly illegal leaks."

Ms. Cobb pre-emptively addressed Rep. Stefanik's position that the intelligence is unverified.

"What Elise Stefanik will say is that it's disputed or it's inaccurate, except that she's not telling you that the CIA has clearly said that there is credible evidence there," she said.

"They didn't say that, keep trying," Rep. Stefanik interjected.

According to a report by NBC News, federal officials said in July they had "moderate confidence" in the veracity of the bounty program. In the intelligence world, "moderate confidence" means analysts found the claim plausible, but not certain.

Debate moderator and 7 News This Evening anchor Jeff Cole asked the candidates about the designation of Fort Drum as the location for the East Coast Missile Defense System. He said while Rep. Stefanik was able to have Fort Drum designated as a site for a potential missile site, the U.S. Department of Defense has indicated they currently have no plans to build the system, and if they were to build a missile defense system on the Eastern seaboard, they would likely re-evaluate the location.

Rep. Stefanik pushed back against that, saying because the fort is designated as the site for a missile defense system in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2021, the designation is secured.

"It is in the defense bill Jeff, it passed out of the House Armed Services Committee and on the floor of Congress..." Rep. Stefanik said.

The most recent NDAA bill indicated Fort Drum should be used as the site for an East Coast missile defense underlayer, after the Missile Defense Agency submitted a budget request to Congress that showed they were focusing more on developing a regional missile defense underlayer system, to support the larger systems already in place. Rep. Stefanik said in July that as the DOD has reviewed its missile defense capabilities, the idea for a smaller system was developed. Rep. Stefanik said then that she would continue to fight to have the system built.

Rep. Stefanik then said Ms. Cobb has not always supported the idea of developing a missile defense site at Fort Drum, which Ms. Cobb pushed back against.

"If this is built, it should be built here, which is exactly what I have always said," Ms. Cobb said.

That is not accurate. Ms. Cobb has previously said she was unsure of whether Fort Drum should host a missile defense site.

"I can't say I support it," she said. "It's not a yes or no because the analysis hasn't been done."

On the issue of health care, Rep. Stefanik accused Ms. Cobb of "running from her record" of supporting Medicare for All in the past. In 2018, Ms. Cobb publicly supported a Medicare for All program as a viable option, but has since cemented her position of supporting a Medicare public option, where individuals can remain on their own insurance programs or buy into a Medicare insurance plan.

Ms. Cobb misrepresented her history on the issue in Monday's debate.

"I've been really consistent in saying I support a Medicare public option," Ms. Cobb said.

She has been consistent during this election, and has made the issue of health care central to her candidacy, but her answer during Monday's debate seemed to downplay her past support for Medicare for All. Ms. Cobb has explained that after researching the issue after her run for office in 2018, she decided a public option, rather than automatic single-payer health care for everyone, is a better policy.

On the issue of race relations, both candidates were asked to say, unequivocally, that Black lives matter. Ms. Cobb did so, as did Rep. Stefanik. But Rep. Stefanik added that while she believes Black lives matter, she does not agree with the Black Lives Matter movement's goal of defunding the police. She said Ms. Cobb also believes in defunding the police.

"My opponent not only supports defunding the police and (Speaker of the House) Nancy Pelosi's anti-police bill, but she actually voted to defund the police when she voted to eliminate a deputy sheriff's position on the St. Lawrence County (Board of) Legislature(s)."

Ms. Cobb does not support defunding the police, and Rep. Stefanik mischaracterized Ms. Cobb's vote on the deputy sheriff's position. In November 2008, St. Lawrence County Sheriff Kevin Wells requested permission to fill a vacant sheriff's sergeant position. Legislators voted to allow him to fill that sergeant position, which he intended to fill with a deputy sheriff already working with the sheriff's office. The board ruled Sheriff Wells could not fill that deputy sheriff position once the officer was promoted.

Ms. Cobb, along with a majority of the St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators, voted to require that the deputy sheriff position remain vacant. The St. Lawrence County Sheriff's Office did not receive less funding as a result of that vote. The board never stopped allocating funding for that position, and voted to allow it to be re-filled.

Defunding the police in its current context calls for taking funding from police department budgets and reallocating that money to social services programs that benefit the community at large.

The last major contentious question of the night was on the subject of court packing. When asked if she supports the idea of adding justices to the Supreme Court, Ms. Cobb declined to answer, and said the question was only appropriate to ask of a candidate for the United States Senate.

"I'm not running for Senate, so therefore I think this is a great question for the president, and Joe Biden to answer, and for the Senate candidates to answer," she said. "But in Congress, this isn't going to be vote that I will ever..."

Rep. Stefanik interjected, stating the issue is something a House representative would need to vote on.

She is correct. While the Senate does offer its advice and consent to the president's nominees for Supreme Court justices, any move to add more seats to the high court would require a law to be passed through both houses of Congress.

The candidates will face off for their second, and final, debate 7 p.m. Wednesday. That debate will be aired live from the studios of WPTZ-TV, also known as NBC5 News, in Plattsburgh.

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