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Barbara Kidney
Barbara Kidney (Green Party) ran for election to the New York State Assembly to represent District 101. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Kidney completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Barbara Kidney was born in Manhattan, New York, and lives in Hudson Valley, New York. She earned a master's degree from the University of Florida in 1980, a master's degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1983, and a Ph.D. from the University at Albany in 1992. Kidney's professional experience includes being a New York state-licensed psychologist and working in casework, counseling, agriculture research, horticulture, academic advising, and retail. She has been affiliated with the American Psychological Association, Division 48 (Peace Psychology) of the APA, Green Party of NYS, the Women's Caucus and the Elders Caucus of the Green Party of the US, the Climate Action Working Group of GPNY, Hudson Valley Green Party, and the NYS Greens for Peace Action.[1][2]
Elections
2020
See also: New York State Assembly elections, 2020
General election
General election for New York State Assembly District 101
Incumbent Brian Miller defeated Chad McEvoy and Barbara Kidney in the general election for New York State Assembly District 101 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Brian Miller (R / Conservative Party / Independence Party) | 60.0 | 36,620 |
 | Chad McEvoy (D / Working Families Party) | 38.1 | 23,253 | |
 | Barbara Kidney (G)  | 1.9 | 1,153 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 24 | ||
| Total votes: 61,050 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Chad McEvoy advanced from the Democratic primary for New York State Assembly District 101.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Brian Miller advanced from the Republican primary for New York State Assembly District 101.
Conservative Party primary election
The Conservative Party primary election was canceled. Incumbent Brian Miller advanced from the Conservative Party primary for New York State Assembly District 101.
Green primary election
The Green primary election was canceled. Barbara Kidney advanced from the Green primary for New York State Assembly District 101.
Independence Party primary election
The Independence Party primary election was canceled. Incumbent Brian Miller advanced from the Independence Party primary for New York State Assembly District 101.
Working Families Party primary election
The Working Families Party primary election was canceled. Chad McEvoy advanced from the Working Families Party primary for New York State Assembly District 101.
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Barbara Kidney completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kidney's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I'm a native New Yorker; I have lived in the Hudson Valley, and other lovely areas of our state; for the past 18 years I have lived in Ulster county. I've also benefited from having lived in other states (that do not have property taxes & fund their schools and counties more sensibly, to the benefit of all- seniors can afford to retire in those states!)
I've studied and worked in agricultural research (I'm a Cornell "Aggie"!) and also in counseling psychology (Ph.D. from the University at Albany). I've been a licensed psychologist for over 25 years, & my interest in helping people achieve lives of greater self-defined meaning & integrity has inspired me to contribute toward improving socio-political conditions in our state.- Tax reform. Eliminate property taxes on primary non-luxury residences, and pay for public school and town and county expenses via a fair, progressive, graduated income tax, and via fair property taxes on second homes and on luxury residences. Raise the standard deduction for state income taxes so that it reflects the cost of living in one's area. E.g, if it costs $75,000 per year for a family of 4 to afford food, housing, utilties, etc, and to save a reasonable amount for emergencies & retirement, then the standard deduction should be $75,000. A fair & graduated state income tax should begin on income above that amount. I support re-instituting the stock transfer tax- a neglible amout per transaction but it adds up in the state budget.
- Promote public health and a safe, thriving environment. We all need clean water, clean air, and clean food to survive and remain healthy, and our children's and grandchildren's future depend on this. To those ends, I support cessation of any new toxic fuel projects including power plants, compressor stations, and pipelines in our state; the import and or transportation of any fracked fuel product or byproduct in our state (our state DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos has publicly recognized that fracking is a grave threat to public health), and support to community-controlled, green renewable, minimally damaging and maximally sustaining projects for energy, farming, and other endeavors, such as infrastructure.
- In order to increase real democracy in our state, I support instituting Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in our elections. This reform can be most readily done in NYS via the legislature, so it's important to elect legislative candidates like myself who are in favor of this reform. With RCV in place, there would be no so-called spoilers in races that have 3 or more candidates. Instead, voters could, if they wish, rank candidates in order of preference. So if Jo, Mo, and Curly are running, and you want Mo but despise Curly, with RCV you could rank Mo #1 & Jo #2, and not rank Curly at all. With RCV, if Mo is a longshot, you could still vote Mo, & not end up benefitting Curly. Maine & NYC have recently implemented RCV; NYS should too.
The specific areas of public policy that I am personally passionate about coincide with my main positions, or Key Messages, as Ballotpedia terms them. I favor state public policy that would provide for fair taxation only on surplus wealth, and not on basic income necessary to maintain a healthy state of living. Everyone needs a home to live in, so property taxes on a primary non-luxury residence should be abolished, and replaced by fair progressive taxes on surplus wealth, including on the profits of corporations that do business in our state.
We are in the midst of a climate & environmental crisis that devastates human physical, mental, and economic health in many ways: negative impacts on farming, tourism, health (via air and water pollutants, and creating conditions good for promulgation of Lyme disease, for some examples). We need public policy in touch with the reality that human health and wealth depend on a healthy environment and livable climate, and promote these in NYS. Public policy supporting local businesses that promote our well-being (such as local farms) is to our advantage.
I especially admire those who happen to be born into a demographic group that arbitrarily grants them special privileges, but who use that privilege to champion social justice for those born into arbitrarily designated underdog groups.
Along with the above, the ability to think rationally and critically, to not be bamboozled by pseudo-justifications for policies that would in fact bring more harm than good to citizens.
Overall, the legacy I would like to leave is one of service to the public good, to the best of my ability.
For non-fiction, I would recommend two, "The Evil of Banality," by Elizabeth Minnich, which deals with how sloppy thinking can promote general acceptability of harm and injustice, and "Madness Overrated" by Esra Kus, about how the prevalence of sloppy thinking has promoted the acceptability of toxic lifestyles that kill both body and soul. (Yes, both authors provide solutions). OK, here's another helpful book, "Dark Money" by Jane Mayer, about the rise & maintenance of the rule of money-addiction in the US, via "think tanks" promoted by the money addicts. (Maybe it's fitting that they are called think tanks, as they serve to stamp out and roll right over clear thinking...)
In a democratic republic, which is what we officially have, the governance (meaning, decision-making about public policies & legislation) is to be done by citizens elected by other citizens to do that decision-making for a period of time. It would be wise to choose citizen-representatives who are committed to serving and promoting the welfare of the entire human community and the environment that sustains it.
Currently we have a plutocracy, meaning that those with the most money have inordinate influence on who runs for office and who gets elected. Those who are thus elected often mis-use their office to put policies and laws in place that favor millionaires and billionaires whose primary motive is typically making yet more profit.
Some of the wealth of the financially obese is used to research psychological means to get average citizens to vote against their own best interests, to promote average citizens seeing each other as enemies rather than the plutocrats as enemies of the well-being of citizens. Both the Republican & Democratic parties are controlled by the interests of their big donors, whose interests in profit for themselves are often counter to the well-being of the human community & the natural environment which sustains the health of the human community.
Deteriorating climate leads to harmful impacts on local farms, via hot spells in late winter, long cold and wet springs that shorten the growing season and decrease yield, and warm winters that favor agricultural, horticultural and human health pests (e.g., proliferation of mice and ticks). This deterioration in climate also hurts tourism both summer (cooler, shorter, rainier) and winter (warmer on average) & less predictable overall.
Pollutants from fracking, carried in NYS aquifiers and borne in the air from our new toxic fuel stations, pushed by our Democratic Governor, add to cancer and neurological diseases, as well as release of yet more CO2. Synthetic pesticides, banned in Europe but permitted here, poison our water via runoff, and many of us now know about PFOAs.
So as a legislator, I would be very interested in working together with fellow legislators to promote the good of the public.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
