Mediaboss Marketing

Mario Fratto, an attorney and businessman from Ontario County who counts himself as a small-c conservative, is running for the Republican ballot line in the election for New York's newly formed 24th Congressional District. He's attempting a primary challenge on the presumptive Republican favorite, Chris Jacobs, the incumbent 27th district representative from Orchard Park.

The new, rural 24th Congressional District is enormous, geographically speaking. It runs from Lewiston eastward along Lake Ontario, south around Rochester and then north to the U.S.-Canada border, coming to rest near Watertown.

Fratto campaigned in Newfane earlier this week and pledged to return to the area every week to talk with voters in Niagara County. The day after his appearance at a Second Amendment For Ever (SAFE) meeting at Newfane Community Center, he met up with Union-Sun & Journal reporter Ben Joe to chat about his background and his campaign. Here is a partial transcript of his interview with Joe.

Q: Where did you grow up and how did that affect your values?

A: I grew up in Geneva, in Ontario County. Its a small town and a city. ... Small town USA is where the American Dream still exists. You work hard. You do the right thing. You look out for your friends and family and things should work out for you. I think thats what every American wants. ... You dont get something for nothing.

Q: What is your take on your opponent, Chris Jacobs?

A: Ill just speak on his record as a congressman. ... Chris Jacobs was a Democrat. He registered as a Democrat in the '90s ... I think when you have someone of 11 Republicans voting to strip another Republican, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, of her committee assignment, youre not really a part of the majority of the party. Eighty-five to 90 percent of Republicans wouldnt do something like that.

Q: How do you deal with this expanded district?

A: Its challenging and its definitely an advantage for somebody like Chis Jacobs who has basically unlimited funds. ... But I actually prefer grassroots. ... I mean, its easy when you have money and just put out an ad and blast it on the radio or the television. But when you need to do the hard work and go out and meet the voters to find out what their concerns are, its a different ballgame. ... It is more difficult, because of the size of the district. No question. But I think its something thats absolutely necessary.

Q: Tell me about your online channels.

A: During the initial lockdowns of March 2020, I was working at home I felt I needed to be more productive. So, I started a Facebook page called Making the Case." It was geared towards talking about the pandemic, initially, but really became just for President Trumps reelection. ... Then I started to get censored pretty heavily. I had a video on Dr Fauci, (on his opposition to) hydroxychloroquine. but (Fauci) was for Remdesivir and I put out a short video ... about that study and the conflicts involved and that video got 35,000 views. . (Then) my average views (dropped). Everything was better than any channel I could find as far as how good the numbers were, but I was getting no views. So I was getting frustrated with that. ... I ran it through my friends and family and said, What if I ran for office? This is the only way to really get the message out because they cant silence me if Im taking it right to the people.

Q: Explain your take on the economy.

A: I believe in lower taxes, less regulation, a free market economy and I also believe you have to have sound money and you cant have that when you have a printing press running at light speed right now and youre devaluing the dollar. ... So I think we need to roll that back. ... (Also there's) getting our dependence greatly reduced on China. That would help us bring back manufacturing and making products here. ... Wed be helping fellow Americans by creating jobs, but also giving them better products that are available on the ground. Theres a supply chain issue and its hard when you have to import things ... but if they were already on the ground in the United Sates, I think we can trust that we can move those goods as well.

Q: Explain your take on the environment.

A: I think its important to have a clean environment, but ... it cant be to the detriment of the people here now. Everybody wants to preserve and protect the planet for the next generation ... but what are we going to leave them if we dont make sure we have the energy we have now so we have the businesses we need to provide them with opportunities? ... (Also) we cant have countries like China or other competitors that arent following any of these rules we want to implement for ourselves. We want to talk about reducing carbon footprints and using renewable energies, but they arent doing that around the world. ... We cant just transition to wind and solar if its too expensive and its not as efficient.

Q: Explain your take on war, specifically the wars in Ukraine and Afghanistan and subsequent refugees.

A: I dont think these wars around the world should be our responsibility, unless there is direct U.S. interest. . We dont want a no fly-zone that would eventually land us in a war. I dont think anybody wants that. And Afghanistan we shouldnt have been leaving Americans on the ground. We shouldnt have been leaving people who helped us on the ground. It shouldve been handled a lot better. But I also dont think its our responsibility to take in all these refugees. Its great Poland is taking in these refugees, but I dont think Poland has the homelessness problems that we have (and)the opioid crisis thats plaguing this country. So how can we take care of those people when we cant get our senior citizens or veterans that are hooked on drugs and alcohol, who are sleeping on the street? ... What business do we have importing more people that need help if we cant help our own?

Q: What does your candidacy mean for the district?

A: It means that theres somebody in this race that is an everyday American that understands working class people, that is a working class person and who understands their needs and values, and this is an opportunity to send someone to D.C. thats actually a conservative, whos actually going to fight for the people.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

Read the original here:
Running to represent the working class | Local News | lockportjournal.com - Lockport Union-Sun & Journal