David Stewart
Biographical info (age, address, family, education, employer):
34 years old
Residence: 7719 Ensign Circle, Liverpool
Education: SUNY Cortland, BA political science, 1998; Syracuse University College of Law, Juris Doctor, 2001
Employment: AnCor, Inc., General Counsel
Why are you running for county legislator?
Many of us, myself included, go to work, manage our homes and tend to our families. We only notice the government when we interact with it, but in recent months employment is down, taxes are up, and it is increasingly difficult to support our families. It is no longer okay to leave financial decisions for the county in the hands of elected officials, who either by design or default have become career politicians. In tough economic times, business and family minded people must come to the aid of government, by ensuring that political decisions are not made in a vacuum, but with real world experience and perspectives. Fiscal conservatives like myself have a responsibility to ask "why" when government raises taxes instead of becoming more efficient. This was the role of my predecessor on the county legislature and, with the support of the voters, will be my role in January. In addition, I intend to apply business fundamentals and accountability to the operation of government.
What are the major issues in the second district that you would address, and how would you address them?
I think the people of the second district see the American dream slipping away. For the first time since the founding of our country, my generation believes it will pass on a lower quality of life to our children. Last year, through smart consolidation, the people of the second district and the town of Clay as a whole, realized a property tax decrease. The newspaper has recently reported that those taxes are expected to go back up this year to help balance a budget bloated from state and federal mandates and duplications of services. I have walked through many of the neighborhoods in the district, and what I and my team have heard most is that people want to keep more of there money, to help keep there homes and build wealth. The people are frustrated by the cost of operating government. It ultimately comes down to jobs and housing. They want to be able to find good paying jobs, and to continue to be able to afford to raise their families in this community. These are the things I will fight for when elected.
What are the major issues in the county? How would you address those?
I think the biggest challenge facing Onondaga County, other then the current financial crisis, is a jobs creation. While we still have many manufacturing jobs, we have lost many more. Most recently is the search for a buyer for Crucible. In order to keep young people here, and bring people back to the area, they must be able to find employment. Onondaga County has a highly skilled workforce, fresh water, great recreational facilities, reasonable cost of living, and is a cultural center. These things combined should make it easy to attract new businesses, but the high taxes and red tape give businesses pause. As general counsel for a national design build construction and development firm, I have first hand experience on how difficult it can be to do business in New York opposed to many states throughout this country. Governments must learn that you can not throw good laws after bad. The way to fix a broken regulation is not to leave it on the books and work around it, but to eliminate and replace it. We must market the limited resources of the county to new businesses looking for great locations. We must restore commonsense management of our government and provide a mechanism to cut through the barriers that hold back sensible development for businesses that wish to create jobs in the county.
Why are you the best candidate for the job?
I am the best candidate for the job for all the reasons my opponents will use against me. They will say I have never been elected to an office. That is true. This means I have never voted for a tax increase, I have never missed an opportunity to create jobs and I have never chosen re-election over the needs of my constituents, a trend I intend to maintain once elected. Some of my opponents will say that I have no experience. I am proud to say that I have no experience as a career politician. I do however have real experience creating jobs, managing projects and working in the legal and business community. “Wait and see” reactive politics is no longer what my neighbors want. They want proactive leadership. Both my campaign and my resume is non-traditional, and that is exactly what the second district deserves in a county legislator.
John Dougherty
Biographical info (age, address, family, education, employer):
I am 35 years old. I was raised in Western New York and moved to Clay after graduating from college to take a job with Lockheed Martin on Electronics Parkway. I worked in Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development group until 2000 when I left to take another position with Syracuse Research Corporation (SRC). I am currently employed with SRC as the manager of business development, where I am responsible for developing new business for the company and seeking new ways to market our current line of products and capabilities. In addition to my experience as an engineer, I am also the deputy chairman of the town of Clay's planning board.
My formal education consists of a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from SUNY Buffalo, a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Syracuse University and a master’s in business administration from Syracuse University.
My wife and I have been married for 11 years and have three young daughters, two of whom attend Elmcrest Elementary School. Our youngest daughter will start school next year.
Why are you running for county legislator?
I was on Bernie Kraft's campaign team for several of his past elections. When he announced that he wasn't going to be able to run this year, I was encouraged by Bernie and others to succeed him. My education and professional experience with business development, my years of experience in town affairs and my vision for a consolidated, more efficient government will help prevent another budget crisis like we are currently experiencing in county government.
What are the major issues in the second district that you would address, and how would you address them?
My number one priority in the legislature will be to reduce the tax burden on property owners. I will do this by carefully examining how the county is spending the taxpayer’s money and find ways to reduce it.
Over the past three weeks, I have been going door to door to introduce myself to second district constituents and one message that I hear repeatedly is that their property taxes are too high. While everyone agrees that certain services are absolutely essential, most of the people that I speak with feel that their tax money is being wasted on unnecessary programs and by programs that aren’t being run as efficiently as they could be. My job will be to act as their advocate and make sure that their taxes are being spent as wisely as possible.
What are the major issues in the county? How would you address those?
The biggest issue facing Onondaga County is that the high county tax burden is causing businesses to leave and creating a lack of good job opportunities. There needs to be better job opportunities for young people just joining the job market to prevent them from leaving the area as well as better job opportunities for older citizens so they can raise families, buy homes and eventually retire here. Today, Onondaga County is facing a budget gap of almost $50 million. This is caused in part due to decreased sales tax revenue. To close this budget gap, the county will be forced to raise taxes and layoff employees. This will force even more businesses out of the area, and cause more people to lose their job. This “shrinking pie” effect will cause fewer and fewer people to share the expense of government and cause this cycle to continue.
Local politicians have been saying that we need to do what we can to keep businesses here, but for too long they have been trying to use government as the cure. With only a few exceptions, it hasn't worked. It is time to start approaching this problem differently. We need to force government out of the way so business can grow with smaller tax bills, less intrusion, and less red tape. My goal is to look carefully at each of the county programs and decide which ones can be consolidated internally as well as determine if any of them can be consolidated with the city of Syracuse or any of the local towns or villages. I would also like to look at the possibility of having private businesses provide some of the non-essential government services.
Why are you the best candidate for the job?
I am the best candidate for this job because I am the only true fiscal conservative in this race, the only candidate with REAL experience working in government, the only candidate who has proven he can attract business in Onondaga County, the only candidate with a major support base within the town of Clay and the only candidate with a realistic plan for preventing another huge budget gap in the future and for getting Central New York back on track for job growth. For more information on my candidacy, please refer to my Web site: johndougherty.org.
Sep
11
Candidate profiles: Second district primary
Sarah Hall 09/11/09
CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: Second district, Clay, Dougherty, Stewart, primary
TAGS: Second district, Clay, Dougherty, Stewart, primary