“My biggest thing is health care. If you ain’t got no job, you can’t get health insurance, you know what I’m saying. I just got a medical bill for $6,000 just to get looked at, you know what I’m saying. And I still didn’t get proof, no health care, no nothing. But I got two jobs, you know what I’m saying. My jobs that I got — this one will offer no benefits and the other one, if I do get their health care plan, it’s like they’re going to take my whole check.”
(Hazeon Smith, 28, of Syracuse, two jobs including one at Colonial Laundromat on Erie Boulevard, unaffiliated with a political party)
“The government should help pay for health care. They should step in with the oil companies and take the billions in profits and cut them in half, lower the gas prices and everybody will be happy.”
(Chris Wood, 48, of Onondaga, night supervisor at Colonial Laundromat, Democrat)
“I think the first part would be to improve corporate tax code. I’m not a tax-break-for-the-rich guy. I don’t think the trickle-down effect is sound economic policy. So improving our tax system is going to be, I think, the most important thing.”
(Mike Smiley, 30, of Syracuse, assistant men’s basketball coach at Le Moyne College, unaffiliated with a political party)
“Honestly, the thing with the politics — I’m not stupid — I know nobody’s ever going to be happy. But they need to meet in the middle for both sides. They need to meet in the middle and just come to a peaceful resolution. You may not get everything, but that’s what negotiating is for — is to get some and leave the rest on the table.”
(Timothy Dowdell, 24, of Syracuse, musician, Democrat)
“If you’re going to ask me what the issue is right now, I think it’s people knowing the issues more than and not being led by whatever we’re hearing and reading on TV.”
(Heidi Gitzen, 48, of Pompey, stay-at-home mom, Independence Party)
(Jon Harris is a senior with dual majors in magazine journalism and political science.)
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