For the last seven years I have been a member of the New York State Assembly, currently representing the 122nd Assembly District, which is encompasses towns in Herkimer, Madison, Oneida and Otsego counties. Previous to this term, I represented the 101st Assembly District, which encompassed parts of Oneida, Herkimer, Otsego, Delaware, Ulster, Sullivan and Orange counties. I am pleased to have announced I am running again for the 122nd Assembly District. I am excited to hit the ground running and continue our work. I REMAIN wholeheartedly committed to public service.

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Previous to my work in the Assembly, I spent over 36 years as a mechanical engineer, during that time, I also continued my profession as an apple grower. My time as an engineer really solidified my foundation of thinking - which consists of analyzing problems, getting to the root of those problems, and coming up with ways to solve those problems. That is something Albany has been missing for a long time and, as my experience during the last seven years has taught me, it needs a lot more of.

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I served eight years as the Bridgewater Town Supervisor and another 16 years as a member of the Oneida County Legislature in the 16th district. During my tenure in the County Legislator, I was Chairman of the Public Works Committee, Assistant Majority Leader, member of the Ways and Means Committee, member of the Region 6 Fish and Wildlife Management Board. While in the Assembly I have fought for tax relief, a reform of the state’s ineffective economic policies, ethics reform, historic investment in statewide infrastructure funding to repair our crumbling roads, bridges, and sewer systems, and full funding of our school districts. I currently serve on the Assembly Committees on Agriculture, Consumer Affairs and Protection, Higher Education, and Transportation while serving as the Ranking Minority Member on the Real Property Taxation Committee and the Vice-Chair of the Steering Committee.

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When I am not in Albany for the Legislative Session or traveling the district meeting with constituents, I can typically be found with my family, hunting and fishing, or traveling to see my son play on his college baseball team.

 

People in this state are tired of your typical politician who does nothing but sling mud, play partisan politics, make false promises and play the blame game. They want a regular person who thinks and feels like them to represent them.

 

I have built a reputation over these last seven years of being willing and able to work in the middle, while putting partisan politics aside. I know there are issues that both sides will never agree on, but I also know that there is a great deal that can be accomplished in the middle and that is what I focus on for the betterment of our state. I work regionally with Assemblymembers and Senators, both Republican and Democrat, to address local needs and concerns.

 

In Albany, I Co-Sponsor legislation offered up by members of both parties if I believe it will improve everyday life for our residents. Partisan politics have no place in the Legislature. These qualities are what people want in an elected representative. In fact, that is what is asked of me by my constituents. I genuinely enjoy listening to my constituents and will always hear what you have to say and give you a chance to teach me something I didn’t know or hadn’t considered.

 

Right now, a massive issue is how to help our state’s economy make a full recovery from the aftereffects of COVID-19. We are still experiencing the blowback from this pandemic and we will feel it for years to come. The state lost millions of dollars in tax revenue, seemingly at the snap of a finger, when COVID-19 hit us and we were forced to shut the state down. There is no easy way to get that back.

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What we need to do now is go through the state budget, line by line, and eliminate all of the wasteful spending in it. Our budget is and has been overinflated for far too long and there is a great deal of that wasteful spending in it. Addressing that issue is step one. To be clear, I’m not talking about slashing budgets either. We cannot make up a budget deficit on the backs of our students by slashing school aid. We cannot make up the deficit by increasing taxes on our residents who already suffer one of the heaviest tax burdens in the nation. We need to cut wasteful spending, get our local businesses back online to boost our local economies, and then focus tax dollars where they belong.

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For years, we have seen the state’s economic development policies fail. This system of creating competitions that have winners and losers, coupled with hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars being spent to lure out-of-state businesses to New York has crashed and burned. It has also wasted years that our state needed to be seeing significant investment in our economy and significant growth.

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To get our economy up and running again, we must invest tax dollars in local businesses that have invested in our economy. Helping these businesses get back to work and helping them grow will create more local jobs while providing the boost to our state’s economy that we are longing to see. Economic gardening instead of the state’s current policy of economic hunting.

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If we continue to tax our way out of situations, more residents will follow, and soon there will be no tax base left. I will be an effective representative in the same way I have been for the last five years. I will focus on local issues. I know this district very well. I fight for increased funding to improve our dilapidated roads and bridges. I fight for increased school funding and adequate levels of that funding to ensure our school districts have what they need to serve their student population. I work with legislators at the local level to bring their needs and concerns to Albany so that they can be addressed. I also work with legislators from the other side of the aisle and from all regions of the state to bring serious issues to light and come up with solutions.

 

Most importantly, when residents call my office or pull me aside in the store to talk to me about their concerns, I hear what they have to say, and I do everything I can to help them. I’ve had people call our offices who don’t even reside in the district and we help them too. That has happened quite frequently during the pandemic with Unemployment issues. Working for the people and working together is how I do my job and that is how to serve as an effective representative.

 

I am running for my seat once again in the New York State Assembly. I know my constituents and my constituents know me. I am the only candidate running for the seat who has any experience as a legislator, and I have built strong working relationships with legislators and administrators at the state and local levels that help me accomplish things for our residents. Those relationships take years to build. I have a record of putting partisan politics aside to address the needs of our residents.

 

It would be my honor to CONTINUE to represent you in the New York State Assembly and be a ‘common sense’ voice in Albany. My door is always open.

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Most Sincerely,

 

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