Primary Election Date: 09/11/2012
General Election Date: 11/06/2012

Who Am I?

Dr. Richard Becker was elected to the Cortlandt Town Board in 2007, a town of over 41,500 residents, making it the single largest municipality in northern Westchester County. As a member of the Town Board, Becker lead the creation of the Cortlandt Heating Oil Program (C.H.O.P.), a cooperative home heating oil purchasing program which allows local residents to buy heating oil at significantly reduced costs. The program has become so successful that it has been replicated by neighboring communities throughout Westchester and Putnam Counties.

Becker has practiced cardiology for 28 years as both a practitioner and healthcare administrator. Becker founded the Hudson Valley Cardiology Group, the single largest private practice cardiology group in Westchester County, as well as the Westchester Medical Practice and Hospital Medicine Associates, where he was able to recruit over 50 medical doctors to Hudson Valley Hospital Center. As an administrator, Becker has been responsible for the creation of hundreds of jobs and has experienced firsthand, the difficulties faced by small businesses in this economic climate.

Becker was born in New York and lives with his wife Terry in Cortlandt Manor. Terry, is an MSW and works at the Ossining Children Center. Rich and Terry have two grown children, Lauren 28 and Justin 25, both of whom graduated from the Hendrick Hudson Public School District.

Why Am I Running?

As a doctor, I can tell you the medicine my republican opponent has been dispensing in Washington has been bad for local job creation, bad for our local economy, and bad for Hudson Valley seniors. Right now we have a Congresswoman who is more interested in following orders from the Tea Party than she is helping to create local jobs and protecting Hudson Valley seniors’ healthcare. Her voting pattern has been to follow a strict right-wing ideology which has cost jobs for the district and jeopardizes the health care, not just for seniors but for everyone.

Having created hundreds of jobs in several medical practices which I founded, I know what it takes to create jobs and keep people employed. As a medical office and hospital administrator, I have many ideas to fix medicare, medicaid without destroying the social assurance there must be a guarantee of good health care for seniors, the disabled and the poor. Government should not be seen as the enemy. Government should not be the answer for everything, but it does have an important role to play in helping those in need and preparing for the future.

Hold Me Accountable!

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. NY-19 is unique in many ways and tremendously diverse. But at the end of the day, the problems are very much the same as many districts around the country. People need more and better jobs. Government can invest in infrastructure and in education. Government can also help the private sector in many ways without getting in the way of job creation. Our opponent constantly repeats that job creation is not a function for the government.
Reliable, clean and safe energy. We need to develop ways to have enough energy for the future economic security and prosperity of this region. While there is a clear need for a thorough plan to have enough energy, we must also be careful to protect the district from dangerous and dirty forms of energy production.
Health Care. Health care delivery in America is inefficient and far less effective than it should be. Current models fail to incorporate the advantages of preventative care. There is far too much duplication and waste, especially in the most vulnerable populations. The Affordable Health Care Act should be seen as just a first step. There is much more that can and must be done to make our health care system the envy of the world, as it should be.

My DFA values:

Coming Soon

My Campaign is People-Powered!

It is too early in the campaign to give precise examples of how this campaign will be a grassroots campaign. This campaign will be organized by long-time DFA members and graduates of DFA trainings. We respect the notion that the only way to win a campaign in a swing district like NY-19 is to energize voters through word of mouth, door to door and neighbor to neighbor.