Discussion included marijuana, elections and table tennis?
Never underestimate a teenager with access to the internet.
O’Neill High School senior Davis Yoshitani definitely provided the best moment of his Social Studies class last Thursday afternoon. His class, economics with teacher Jorma Tompuri, had a guest, State Senator James Skoufis.
Skoufis had spent much of the session explaining to the students how the state’s government works, and what he, as a senator does. It then came time for some questions and answers. There were very good questions, about the legalization of recreational marijuana and absentee voting.
Then Yoshitani raised his hand.
“Other than your Junior Olympic medals in table tennis, what is something you are most proud of?” he asked.
You could have heard the proverbial pin drop!
Senator Skoufis quickly recovered, and burst out laughing, praising Yoshitani for the good research he’d done.
“I guess you’ve done a little bit of homework, well done!” he said. “But yes, I was into table tennis for many years, and competed around the world.”
He then went on to answer the question, noting that he is in general the most proud of the fact that “people have put their faith in me in continuing to elect me to this job.”
“Not to put too fine a point on it, but I’m a Democrat that represents a Republican district,” he added. “People crossed party lines on the ballot to vote for me. I am very proud to be able to bring the voice of our Democrats and Republicans, and those in the middle to Albany.”
Skoufis is no stranger to Tompuri’s classes. Since first being elected to the State Assembly at age 25 — he’s now 33 — he has made a point to visit with students annually. While it’s typically done in person, this year it was via a virtual session.
He spoke about the two distinctly different worlds he lives in — being in session in Albany from January through June typically and then working hard locally on constituent matters from here in the Hudson Valley the rest of the year. He explained the committees that he sits on to the students — Labor, Transportation, Finance and Investigations and Government Operations (of which he is the chairman) — and explained how the state’s budget is created in conjunction with the governor.
Back to those student questions, Skoufis told student Marie Gregory that he does have “pretty high confidence” that legalizing marijuana will happen, citing the fact that states around us have done it and there is the possibility of gaining tax revenue from it.
“I am very much open minded to marijuana legalization,” he said. “No one has ever died of an overdose of it.”
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Sheboy was at the meeting as well and asked if Skoufis thought any of the revenues brought in by marijuana would be used to help deal with addiction issues in the state. Skoufis said there are concerns like that which must be addressed — including road safety and the retraining of police K9 officers.
Skoufis did note that he does not in any way support the decriminalization of hard drugs. He said he does, however, expect discussion this spring on the creation of “safe injection sites”, particularly in New York City.
The senator, again in response to Gregory, explained that voter reform will be on the table, noting that allowing early voting and absentee ballots due to COVID-19 was successful this past fall. And, he said he expects the rights of ‘gig workers’ — persons who work on their own schedules for companies such as Uber or Instacart — to be on the table this fall as well. “Right now they are not afforded the same protections as other employees, because they are considered independent contractors,” he said.
Before the meeting closed, Tompuri reminded his students that quite a few of his former students have interned in Skoufis’ office. “It’s a good avenue to help you if you think public service might be something you are interested in,” he said. Skoufis agreed, and said students could reach out to his office if they are interested in the program.
