Primary to narrow field in 21st District race
Five Democrats, two Republicans eye McNulty seatBy KERRY McAVOY, The Leader-Herald
Voters from Albany to Gloversville will have several choices in Tuesday's primary elections in the race for the position long held by U.S. Rep. Michael McNulty.
Seven candidates from the two major parties - including veterans of the military, politics and business - are vying for the chance to represent the 21st U.S. Congressional District.
Democrats Paul Tonko of Amsterdam, Tracey Brooks of Coeymans and Darius Shahinfar, Phil Steck and Joe Sullivan, all of Albany, are in the running for their party's nomination.
Republicans will choose either Buhrmaster Energy Group President Jim Buhrmaster of Scotia or Steven Vasquez of Albany, the owner of digital home audio business ReQuest.
The district includes all of Albany, Montgomery, Schenectady and Schoharie counties, parts of Rensselaer and Saratoga counties, and Gloversville and the city and town of Johnstown in Fulton County.
At the age of 26, Tonko became one of the youngest people ever elected to the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors.
He served as state assemblyman representing Montgomery County for 24 years, leaving the position in 2007 to head the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
Tonko said the biggest issue facing the local counties is job creation and retention. Job growth is key to improving the local economy, he said.
"It enables people to have chance toward a better life and to earn a household income," Tonko said.
For Tonko, one of the main issues locally is the need for alternative energy sources. Tonko said the nation and local region have to be careful about quick-fix solutions and focus on methods that can help reduce the energy crisis.
He said the government needs to find a way to cut the cost of heating homes and businesses.
"We are all impacted by the energy crisis," he said.
Brooks worked as the regional director for U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's office from 2005 to 2008.
She ran for the 108th District Assembly seat in 2002 but lost to longtime incumbent Tim Gordon in a close race.
The biggest issue for the area, Brooks said, is the dearth of good-paying jobs.
With increasing prices across the board, she said "working minimum wage" just isn't working anymore.
"There isn't anything that's not going through the roof except our wages," Brooks said.
She said she would champion making
more jobs available to local citizens.
Brooks attended the May 6 union rally at the Florida Town Hall to protest Beech-Nut's use of out-of-state, non-union labor. Brooks said she does not want to see local and state money being used to pay out-of-state workers.
She said she wants to make sure international companies do not come to New York state to take state money and then moves jobs over sees.
"We need to ensure local and state money benefits local areas," Brooks said.
Steck is a civil rights and labor law attorney in Albany who received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
He was on the Colonie Town Board and the Albany County Legislature for many years.
The biggest local challenge Steck sees is the struggling economy. He said the state needs to reduce costs because it can't succeed with the second-highest operating budget in the nation.
The cost of heating this winter also is a concern of Steck's, with home heating oil prices rising dramatically.
"I'm sure the federal government is willing to step in and make oil available for those in desperate need of it," he said.
Steck said local schools and churches also may need to step in and provide shelter during times of extreme cold.
Steck said the nation needs to find new ways to heat homes, such as tapping alternative energy sources.
Shahinfar served the Albany County Attorney's Office and worked for Democratic U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand of the 20th District.
Shahinfar said the main issue facing the local area is the toll high property taxes have taken on homeowners.
"If I had the vote of every senior who sold their home because of taxes, I would win this election, hands down," Shahinfar said.
He said the state needs to look into a tax cap or "circuit breaker" to give people relief from high taxes.
Shahinfar also sees the rising cost of home heating as a problem in the area. He said the Home Energy Assistance Program will be critical to people this winter, and the program itself is going to be a major issue for politicians in the coming years.
"For the long term, we need to have different ways to fund alternative energy," he said.
Sullivan, a retired Navy captain, said he threw his hat into the ring because he would like to see someone not tied to special interest groups make a real change in Washington.
He said the area would benefit from having someone represent the district with a distinct viewpoint, and he hopes to show young people it is possible to get involved in politics.
Sullivan said he would like to see the Erie Canal and railroads revitalized to help free the nation from dependency on foreign oil.
Sullivan said as gas prices increase and supplies decrease, the country will have to turn to alternative modes of transportation.
Sullivan said he was glad to see Beech-Nut expand, because the project has created local jobs and will retain them. He said it might help local farmers by providing a local buyer for their produce.
"I don't see Beech-Nut running away," he said. "It fits in with the agriculture economy here in the area."
He said he would like to see Beech-Nut expand their product globally to help the United States compete more in the global marketplace.
Buhrmaster is the president the Buhrmaster Energy Group, a business his family has owned since 1913.
He is now serving his second term in the Schenectady County Legislature and is the vice chairman of its Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee.
Buhrmaster said he would like to see more done to create jobs in Fulton and Montgomery counties. He said leaders must work to attract investments in the local economy.
"We've got to do all we can to get jobs here," he said.
Buhrmaster said with longtime state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno leaving the Capitol and McNulty leaving the Congress, the person who takes McNulty's job must fight to get funding for upstate New York. He said there is a possibility of more money going to the New York City and Long Island areas and upstate New York being lost in the shuffle.
"We have to be advocates. We have to be tough to get state and federal funding," Buhrmaster said.
Vasquez said he would like to see taxes reformed in New York before more people leave the state.
He received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy and his master's degree in business administration from the Lilly School of Business at RPI.
"I have seen people move away because of the high taxes here," Vasquez said. "They've gone to the south because taxes are much lower there."
He said the state is losing residents and businesses because taxes are too high. He said getting rid of unnecessary spending and lowering taxes would help retain people and businesses.
"If we're going to reverse the trend, we have to address that," Vasquez said.
The polls will be open from noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday for primary voting.
Kerry McAvoy covers Montgomery County news. She can be reached at montco@leaderherald.com.
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jerrydellabate
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09-08-08 2:06 AM
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What does it matter? They are all crooks one way or another. Right?
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StevenVasquezSupporter
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09-06-08 9:20 PM
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On the Republican side, Steven Vasquez is advocating reduced spending, a sound monetary policy and lower taxes, as well as reversing legislation that has infringed upon our constitutional rights. He wants our government to stop spending hundreds of billions of dollars every year for overseas military installations and operations, and instead focus our finances on restoring the solvency of social security, eliminating the deficit and reducing our overall tax burden. He is a constitutionalist and a true conservative. A vote for him will be a vote well cast.
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Adirondackal
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09-06-08 6:56 AM
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Good article Kerry. The only thing missing is the impact of two of the candidates running on other lines. Simply spoken it means that these candidates Steck and Tonko are in for the full campaign regardless of the outcome of the primary.
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