About this series: Several state Senate and Congressional candidates have been invited by Cornell's Office of Government and Community Relations to meet with faculty and staff at a series of informal luncheons on campus. The Chronicle will publish profiles of these candidates leading up to the Nov. 4 election.

Candidate: George Phillips

Party: Republican

Seeking: New York's 22nd Congressional District. (The district includes all or parts of Tompkins, Tioga, Broome, Dutchess, Delaware, Sullivan, Ulster and Orange counties. The district ranges from the Hudson River, through the Catskills, across the Southern Tier and up to the Finger Lakes. Its cities include Binghamton, Ithaca, Middletown, Kingston, Newburgh and Poughkeepsie.

Opponent: Incumbent Congressman Maurice Hinchey, a progressive Democrat now serving his eighth term.

BACKGROUND

Birth date: March 5, 1976

Education: B.A. history, Villanova University, magna cum laude, 1998; M.A., education, University of Notre Dame, Alliance for Catholic Education teacher training program, 2000.

Employment: Currently a teacher in the Binghamton area, working on both the high school and community college levels. He previously worked as a high-level congressional aide for U.S. Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey -- then (2001) chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee and vice chairman of the House International Relations Committee -- and was a teacher in Louisiana and Washington, D.C., Public Schools.

QUOTES

On running against Hinchey: "Our intention was to really give voters a choice here. I'm on unpaid leave from my two teaching jobs, so things are tough."

On the economy: "Trying to help small businesses in the community here would be a good start. Small businesses should be empowered to keep some of their taxes.

"The corporate tax rate is 10 percent in Ireland. The corporate tax rate here is 25 percent. It just makes it hard to do business here.

"Federal spending has gotten out of hand, and I say that as a Republican, and we have had a Republican congress.

"If elected, I will write to the [next] president ... if we are going to try and be more fiscally restrained, we need to send a message, hey, we are going to cut back on political appointments. I think a country that continues to spend beyond its means like this needs to take a serious look."

On drilling for oil and developing alternative energy sources: "I think we should be doing both. I do feel strongly that we should be using the [domestic] oil we have here. I also think we should be trying to save energy. I think it's important to develop geothermal energy, wind and solar, but I am less convinced about ethanol."

On the economic bailout: "I was tremendously concerned with the hype … I have real concerns over this government action at this time. I am just not convinced that this is the right action at this time. We should still work on other private-sector solutions … I'm more comfortable with a loan rather than public purchasing … I have said I would vote against the bailout."