As part of her three day "tour" of Long Island, Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Plainview Herald and other Nassau weekly newspapers last week and outlined some of the issues she would be dealing with in her campaign for US senator as she answered questions from the press.

The first question asked of Clinton dealt with the issue of education and the possibility of charter schools coming to Long Island. Clinton acknowledged that some of the best school districts in the country are on Long Island and also recognized the fact that Long Island has some districts which are in need of improvement. She noted that there are schools on the Island that are overcrowded and stated that she would like to work with those districts and improve them without having to raise taxes, which she said are "already too high." According to Clinton there are a variety of ways of addressing the problems in some Long Island Schools. She said that she has always been a strong supporter of charter schools but noted that she does not believe that the way the charter school system is set up in New York State is appropriate.

Clinton explained that though she has always been a proponent of the charter school system, she believes the division of power, between the governor and the Regents, in the New York charter school system weakens it so that it cannot be as successful as it has been in other states. She said she also feels that the charter school system should not take money away from public schools, that the concept of charter schools was designed to enhance the school system, not hinder it further. She said that she would like to see the New York State Education Department bring in experts who have already put together a successful charter school system to help design one for this state.

Another aspect of education that Clinton addressed was the idea of vouchers for students attending private or religious schools. She noted that she is opposed to this idea for several reasons, the first being that it violates the separation of church and state. She also noted that it would be hard to draw a defining line between what schools parents would be able to receive vouchers for and which they wouldn't. Would one family get a voucher for an established Catholic school, while another family is denied a voucher for a new school established in their church, which may not be a mainstream church, questioned Clinton. She said setting the government up to make the choices about which schools would be accepted would be an impossible task. "I think vouchers are constitutionally suspect," said Clinton.

There are many obstacles in education today, according to Clinton, who said that she would like to address these obstacles in New York. She said the bulk of her work would be done on the local level. She would work first with families and then with schools, said Clinton, noting that the family is a child's first school so it is important that they are educated properly there. Once the child enters the school system, there is a whole new set of problems, according to Clinton. One problem with schools right now, she said, is that not enough people want to go into teaching because of a lack of compensation and a lack of respect for teachers. Clinton stated that her belief is that 100,000 teachers should be federally funded, as was done with the police. She also said that state legislation should be passed to fund the modernization and refurbishment of schools, without having to raise taxes. Another suggestion Clinton had for improving education was offering students full, four-year scholarships if they agree to teach for four years after they graduate. According to Clinton, the resources that are needed to improve schools should be provided.

Health care was another issue addressed by Clinton, who said that the general problem is that there are an increasing number of uninsured people. These people, she said, usually end up waiting until they get extremely ill and end up in the emergency room. This, she explained, ends up costing the insured, because somebody must pay for these emergency room visits. "The expenses of caring for the uninsured raises the insurance of those of us who are insured," said Clinton.

Steps that Clinton has outlined with regard to health care, include building on the Children's Health Insurance Program, which has covered approximately 500,000 uninsured families in New York; doing more to look at people who are between the ages of 55-65, when often people's health starts to deteriorate as they retire and lose health benefits; and doing more with the Patient's Bill of Rights. Clinton noted that in the last few years the disparity between the treatment of women and men has decreased but that minorities still do not receive the level of treatment that they should. "We need to have a real commitment in our country to address these disparities," said Clinton.

When questioned about her response to allegations that she cannot understand New York issues because she is not from the state, Clinton responded that she chose to live in New York as a mature adult and looks forward to being a New Yorker for the rest of her life. She went on to speak about the variety of issues she has dealt with in her career, including health care and education and stated, "My 30 years of experience working on these issues is relevant to New York. What people have talked to me about as I have been campaigning around the state are the issues I have spent a lifetime working on." Clinton added, "It is more important what you stand for, not where you are born."

Another question asked of Clinton was which committees she would like to be on, if elected. Clinton said, first of all, it would depend on if the Democrats take back the Senate and who is in the White House, but noted that, in her view, New York needs a senator in both the finance and appropriations committees. She noted that the appropriations committee is especially important to New York, because what the state gets comes through that committee and New York currently sends $15 million more to Washington D.C. than what the state gets back. She said that New York has to fight just to maintain the funding we already have, when we should be getting increases.

One negative effect from the lack of funding New York gets back from Washington, according to Clinton, is the lack of affordable housing in the area. She said that she would like to see property taxes in Nassau County lowered, possibly by getting more money returned to New York. Clinton also said that housing policies should be changed to encourage people to build more affordable housing, because currently developable land is being eaten up by housing that is not affordable for the middle class, the elderly, or young people, so many are moving out of the area. She also noted that there is a need for more assisted living facilities for the elderly.

When questioned about the fact that she has never served in public office, Clinton responded, "There are many different ways to serve." She said that she has served on many committees in the last 30 years and has been actively involved in the White House, even prior to her husband being elected president. "I believe my record and experience present a very positive view of what I could do in the Senate," said Clinton. She noted that she has worked in many different venues, from public corporations to not-for-profits, which she feels has given her a broad range of experience.

Clinton was asked what she would do to help the areas in New York that seem to be plagued by cancer clusters, specifically breast cancer on Long Island, especially considering that the age of the cancer victims is getting younger. Clinton responded that she would continue the work that she has done for the last eight years on breast cancer, which included putting into place a national action plan and spearheading a mammography initiative to have the test paid for by Medicare. Clinton said that increasing funding at a national level was also an important component, in order to study the clusters on Long Island, which she feels most have some correlation to the acquifers and the different chemicals and pesticides which have ended up in the acquifers over the years.

The funding of environmental health studies was another issue that Clinton said she would like to work on, in order to not only study cancer, but also to look at things like the lobster die-off in the Long Island Sound. She also questioned why the number of cases of asthma has increased so significantly in the New York area and why there is an increase in the number of cases of autism. According to Clinton, protecting the environment is more than just keeping the beaches from eroding and keeping areas looking nice, noting that it is also about protecting the environment from hazards that would harm New Yorkers' health. "We need to know the answers. We need to protect our environment from the problems we may have caused," said Clinton.

When asked, "Why New York?" Clinton remarked on the opportunities that New York has, and commented that New York has many challenges that she would like to face. She also said that her campaign came as a result of New York Democrats approaching her after she campaigned for Senator Chuck Schumer and Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan announced that he would not be running for re-election, and asked her about the possibility of running for the seat. "The more I learned, the more excited I got," concluded Clinton. "Senator Moynihan retiring is a huge loss to New York and to the country. Senator Schumer is doing a lot, and by working together we can make a huge dent in the problems facing New York."