Last night I had the great pleasure of eating a fancy lakeside dinner with Tracy Mitrano, former Director of Information Technology Policy at Cornell University, historian, expert in Internet law, and candidate for Congress in New York's 23rd district, in the Finger Lakes region 
This part of New York should be the "Napa Valley of the east"—it's a gorgeous wine-growing region with easy reach of the New York metro area, dotted with small family farms and with a horse-and-buggy Mennonite population, not to mention the beautiful lakes themselves
But her district is badly underserved. People here can't get the basics—good transportation, affordable health care, or jobs that pay a living wage. And a huge proportion lacks Internet coverage, even though there is dark fiber in the ground waiting to be used
Mitrano is running against Tom Reed, former mayor of Corning, who has voted in line with every Trump policy, but is now running against his own record in the district. So it's a contest between who can run against Tom Reed's record more effectively! That comes down to money.
Reed ended the July quarter with $1.2M cash on hand. Mitrano finished with... seven thousand dollars. Tech companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Amazon have donated generously to her Republican rival, because of course they have.
Not only is Mitrano an information technology expert, but her finance director (on the right) is a former Googler, who moved back to this district to help his former professor win her seat in Congress. We need people in the legislature who understand technology.
(fixing threading) Lastly, if you care about net neutrality and monopoly power in tech, you are not going to find a more spirited or committed advocate, or someone who better understands the complexities and context around this issue, than Tracy Mitrano. This is your candidate.
For all these reasons, it gives me great pleasure to welcome @MitranoForNY23 to the Great Slate! The campaign blew all its money on steaks, sweet corn and delicious wine, and needs your help to get its message out to the people of the 23rd district! Help! secure.actblue.com/donate/great_s…
And if you work for Google, Microsoft, Amazon or Facebook, take a minute to ask your employer why they are spending money against an upstart progressive woman running on health care, rural broadband, net neutrality and better regulation... oh, I guess I answered my own question.
