Up and Coming in the Empire State
Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:17:00
Their constituencies are often spread across many miles, but that has not stopped the next generation of New York State’s elected leaders from making themselves known and prompting intense speculation into their political futures.
The Capitol has identified five of the most promising up-and-comers in each of the state’s seven regions outside of New York City and will profile each in this ongoing series. Ages were not taken into account in the development of these lists. What matters here is potential, which everyone in this group has in abundance.
REGION DE scri ptION:
The Hudson Valley is one of the state’s most affluent regions, from the rolling hills of Westchester to the riverfront estates of Nyack to the estates dotting Dutchess County. This was the home turf of Franklin Roosevelt, but the area has been one of the most reliably Republican throughout the years in New York— Roosevelt’s 1910 win for a State Senate seat was considered a rare Democratic pickup in the region.
The area has been transformed in the past decades, with country estates and rolling farmland replaced by suburbs lining the Taconic Parkway. Urban areas continue to dot the region from Yonkers to Poughkeepsie to Peekskill, with both Indian Point and West Point on the horizon, though traces of the rural past persist in northern Westchester, around Yorktown, and in other northern and western parts of the region.
Democrats are on the rise in Westchester, taking a veto-proof majority in the county legislature and capturing all countywide offices (not to mention Chappaqua, where a certain political power couple makes its home). The last member of the Spanos, long considered the ruling Republican clan, in elective office, Assembly Member Mike Spano of Yonkers, last year switched to the Democratic Party. The switch was widely seen as helping lay the ground work for a mayoral run—as a Democrat, political observers reasoned, Spano would be a long shot for the job.
Marc Molinaro (R)
Assembly Member
Age: 32
Marc Molinaro had earned his place in state history long before 2006, when he accomplished the all-but-impossible—unseating an incumbent state legislator, Pat Manning, in a primary. Molinaro ranks as the one of the youngest ever elected officials in state history: he was elected Tivoli village trustee at 19 and then village mayor at 20. He is also one of the few recent politicians to hold two offices at once, having doubled as a Dutchess County legislator and mayor for six years.
Molinaro sees his Assembly service as a continuation of service in village and county government. He is quick to point to his work on property tax issues at both of those levels and how Albany needs to address these issues as well. He notes that he worked on open space preservation, economic development, child abuse and public safety issues at the local level and has made them a party of his Albany agenda.
But before addressing many of the issues on his plate, he is intent on changing the state property tax system in an effort to reduce property taxes statewide. This is at the root of many other problems, he said, notably education. Molinaro said he has heard of many school budgets being voted down by senior citizens who oppose local property tax hikes.
Having started his public career at a young age, and unseated an incumbent in a primary, Molinaro is widely considered a future candidate for higher office in the Dutchess County region. He does not do anything to cool that speculation.
What is your biggest accomplishment in office so far? “In my first year as an Assembly member, I was a co-sponsor of the aggravated vehicular manslaughter with regards to DWI. Being a co-sponsor of civil confinement of sexual predators, I am proud of. Over my entire career, I led the reform of child protective services in Dutchess County. That’s a proud achievement.”
What do you want to accomplish in the next two years, governmentally and politically? “Property tax reform. If we can’t provide property tax reform, we have let the citizens down. I hope we can have an open debate on this.”
What are the top challenges facing New York State right now? Property tax reform, economic development, shift fiscal burden off of local government, Make government more efficient, re-evaluate the fiscal structure of state government.
Ed Brancati (D)
Lewisboro Town Supervisor
Age: 32
After working for Rep. Nita Lowey (D-Westchester) for five years as her district scheduler and deputy district director, Ed Brancati was elected as the sole Democrat on the Town Board in a 2006 special election and last year was elected town supervisor, helping to usher in the second-ever Democratic majority in Lewisboro history.
Brancati did not plan on being in town government when he left Lowey’s staff in 2006. He originally planned on challenging State Sen. Vincent Leibell (R-Putnam), but abandoned that race when a stronger Democratic challenger entered. After the only Democrat on the Lewisboro board resigned with 14 months remaining on his term, Brancati reactivated his campaign structure and jumped into the race, winning the term.
Brancati talks passionately on local issues, including trying to boost cellular phone coverage for his Westchester community and drafting a new storm water management plan for the town. During his 14 months on the town council, he said, he focused on non-partisan issues like storm water management and emergency preparedness, since getting more accomplished on these issues was possible.
Having won three races in a year, Brancati said that while he is flattered to be considered a future candidate for higher office, his focus is only on being a full-time supervisor.
“I have a great job now,” he said. “I want to do this job well and do it right.”
What is your biggest accomplishment in office so far? “The biggest accomplishment is the creation of our emergency management plan and the passage of two storm water ordinances. I have written a draft emergency management plan for the town and we are editing that now. And we have a draft RFP out for cell towers in the town to site them on town land.”
What do you want to accomplish in the next two years, governmentally and politically? “The biggest goals right now are getting the cell tower and getting the emergency management plan in place and getting ADA compliance on town buildings.”
What are the top challenges facing New York State right now? Property tax relief, keeping young professionals in the state, making towns affordable for volunteer emergency services personnel, public education funding, reforming state public authorities.
Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D)
State Senator
Age: 57
After her narrow loss to Republican State Sen. Nick Spano in 2004’s most contested Senate race, Stewart-Cousins won her hotly-contested rematch in the premier race of 2006. Going into her first Senate race as an incumbent, she finds herself in an unfamiliar role: not only is she a frontrunner, but she is a frontrunner without a strong challenger.
Stewart-Cousins entered the Senate following stints as a Westchester County legislator and community affairs director for Yonkers. During her career as a county legislator, she chaired the body’s legislation committee, where she authored the county’s human rights laws. She said she views her Senate career as a continuation of her work in county government, with a focus on education, health care and economic development.
Most expect her to breeze to re-election this year, especially as another rematch with Spano seems ever less likely. Democrats are dominant in the formerly Republican bastion of Westchester, where even Spano’s own brother, Assembly Member Mike Spano, is now a Democrat.
But re-election is her only concern for the moment. Yet to complete a full term in the Senate, she said she has no thoughts of seeking a higher office.
“When I was a little girl I never dreamed of being a senator,” she said. “I grew up in a housing project and could have easily ended up a statistic.”
What is your biggest accomplishment in office so far? “Despite the Berger Commission report, the Dobbs Ferry Community Hospital will remain in service and remains an important piece of a network of hospitals in the region.”
What do you want to accomplish in the next two years, governmentally and politically? “I do want to continue to create economic opportunity in New York State and make sure people have jobs, that the quality of education is excellent and we find new ways to fund education, and that people have access to affordable, quality healthcare.”
What are the top challenges facing New York State right now? Property tax reform, economic growth and opportunity, quality and accessible health care
Greg Ball (R)
Assembly Member
Age: 30
The statewide attention Greg Ball has generated in his two years in Hudson Valley politics—much of it due to his floor speech early last year denouncing the process by which Tom DiNapoli was selected as comptroller—may not help him in the clubby atmosphere of Albany.
But Ball relishes the attention and the infamy his early denunciation of the Legislature and his colleagues generated. He said he was sent to Albany to fight for a change in the culture of government and intends on concentrating on these issues. While this may have caused colleagues to question his sanity at times, he plans to stay on course.
“We need nothing short of a revolution in Albany,” Ball said. “I wasn’t sent here to make friends. I have plenty of friends. I don’t live for the appreciation of my colleagues.”
Ball’s outspokenness spares no one. When discussing an array of federal issues impacting the state, he has no problem taking on the national leader of his own party.
“Outside of Jerusalem, we are the number one terrorist target,” Ball said with regards to homeland security funding. “The president and Congress have left New York out in the cold.”
While Ball passed on suggestions that he challenge Rep John Hall (D-Westchester) this year, he said he is interested in seeking higher office sometime in the future. While declining to specifically announce a campaign for Congress, Ball noted his interest in the international issues that only a congressman can address.
What is your biggest accomplishment in office so far? “I would point to the driver’s license proposal that we killed. The illegal immigrant issue was important to my campaign.”
What do you want to accomplish in the next two years, governmentally and politically? “My goal is to work with local governments throughout the state, to get them signed up for the homeland security initiative to deport illegal aliens and to see the school tax cap become law.”
What are the top challenges facing New York State right now? More homeland security funding targeting first responders, reform Albany, make the state business-friendly.
Noam Bramson (D)
Mayor of New Rochelle
Age: 38
A veteran of Rep. Nita Lowey’s political boot camp for Westchester Democrats, Noam Bramson entered elective office at 26, winning election as a city council member in New Rochelle. After 10 years on the council, Bramson was appointed the city’s mayor in 2006 when his predecessor became county clerk. He later won a 2006 special election and a 2007 election for a full term as mayor.
Bramson has tried to establish himself as a leader for the urban suburbs of New York City. He cites economic development of his community’s downtown and the refurbishment of nine miles of shoreline as top issues and top priorities, while also speaking in depth about the preservation of the character of his city’s neighborhoods.
Bramson is a political veteran already, having been with Lowey in multiple capacities since joining her soon after finishing graduate school in 1992. While no longer on her staff, he currently does consulting work for her. When Westchester politicos mention Bramson, Lowey’s name is frequently mentioned too.
With a long history in Westchester politics and his close connection to Lowey, some have mentioned Bramson as the congresswoman’s eventual successor. Bramson, though, says his focus is on New Rochelle, not Washington.
“I am honored and flattered to be thought of in those terms, but I have devoted no energy to that subject,” he said. “I have been mayor for two years and am focused on our local challenges.”
What is your biggest accomplishment in office so far? “I think we have made substantial progress in the restoration of our waterfront. We are pursuing a 20 acre redevelopment. It will represent the most significant project in New Rochelle’s modern history. It will have a far reaching impact for our quality of life.”
What do you want to accomplish in the next two years, governmentally and politically? “Governmentally, my goals are to continue to strengthen our downtown economy, preserve our environment, protect the quality of life in our neighborhoods and promote public safety. Politically, I will do everything possible to put a Democrat in the White House.”
What are the top challenges facing New York State right now? Property tax reform, education, environmental sustainability.
The Capitol has identified five of the most promising up-and-comers in each of the state’s seven regions outside of New York City and will profile each in this ongoing series. Ages were not taken into account in the development of these lists. What matters here is potential, which everyone in this group has in abundance.
REGION DE scri ptION:
The Hudson Valley is one of the state’s most affluent regions, from the rolling hills of Westchester to the riverfront estates of Nyack to the estates dotting Dutchess County. This was the home turf of Franklin Roosevelt, but the area has been one of the most reliably Republican throughout the years in New York— Roosevelt’s 1910 win for a State Senate seat was considered a rare Democratic pickup in the region.
The area has been transformed in the past decades, with country estates and rolling farmland replaced by suburbs lining the Taconic Parkway. Urban areas continue to dot the region from Yonkers to Poughkeepsie to Peekskill, with both Indian Point and West Point on the horizon, though traces of the rural past persist in northern Westchester, around Yorktown, and in other northern and western parts of the region.
Democrats are on the rise in Westchester, taking a veto-proof majority in the county legislature and capturing all countywide offices (not to mention Chappaqua, where a certain political power couple makes its home). The last member of the Spanos, long considered the ruling Republican clan, in elective office, Assembly Member Mike Spano of Yonkers, last year switched to the Democratic Party. The switch was widely seen as helping lay the ground work for a mayoral run—as a Democrat, political observers reasoned, Spano would be a long shot for the job.
Marc Molinaro (R)
Assembly Member
Age: 32
Marc Molinaro had earned his place in state history long before 2006, when he accomplished the all-but-impossible—unseating an incumbent state legislator, Pat Manning, in a primary. Molinaro ranks as the one of the youngest ever elected officials in state history: he was elected Tivoli village trustee at 19 and then village mayor at 20. He is also one of the few recent politicians to hold two offices at once, having doubled as a Dutchess County legislator and mayor for six years.
Molinaro sees his Assembly service as a continuation of service in village and county government. He is quick to point to his work on property tax issues at both of those levels and how Albany needs to address these issues as well. He notes that he worked on open space preservation, economic development, child abuse and public safety issues at the local level and has made them a party of his Albany agenda.
But before addressing many of the issues on his plate, he is intent on changing the state property tax system in an effort to reduce property taxes statewide. This is at the root of many other problems, he said, notably education. Molinaro said he has heard of many school budgets being voted down by senior citizens who oppose local property tax hikes.
Having started his public career at a young age, and unseated an incumbent in a primary, Molinaro is widely considered a future candidate for higher office in the Dutchess County region. He does not do anything to cool that speculation.
What is your biggest accomplishment in office so far? “In my first year as an Assembly member, I was a co-sponsor of the aggravated vehicular manslaughter with regards to DWI. Being a co-sponsor of civil confinement of sexual predators, I am proud of. Over my entire career, I led the reform of child protective services in Dutchess County. That’s a proud achievement.”
What do you want to accomplish in the next two years, governmentally and politically? “Property tax reform. If we can’t provide property tax reform, we have let the citizens down. I hope we can have an open debate on this.”
What are the top challenges facing New York State right now? Property tax reform, economic development, shift fiscal burden off of local government, Make government more efficient, re-evaluate the fiscal structure of state government.
Ed Brancati (D)
Lewisboro Town Supervisor
Age: 32
After working for Rep. Nita Lowey (D-Westchester) for five years as her district scheduler and deputy district director, Ed Brancati was elected as the sole Democrat on the Town Board in a 2006 special election and last year was elected town supervisor, helping to usher in the second-ever Democratic majority in Lewisboro history.
Brancati did not plan on being in town government when he left Lowey’s staff in 2006. He originally planned on challenging State Sen. Vincent Leibell (R-Putnam), but abandoned that race when a stronger Democratic challenger entered. After the only Democrat on the Lewisboro board resigned with 14 months remaining on his term, Brancati reactivated his campaign structure and jumped into the race, winning the term.
Brancati talks passionately on local issues, including trying to boost cellular phone coverage for his Westchester community and drafting a new storm water management plan for the town. During his 14 months on the town council, he said, he focused on non-partisan issues like storm water management and emergency preparedness, since getting more accomplished on these issues was possible.
Having won three races in a year, Brancati said that while he is flattered to be considered a future candidate for higher office, his focus is only on being a full-time supervisor.
“I have a great job now,” he said. “I want to do this job well and do it right.”
What is your biggest accomplishment in office so far? “The biggest accomplishment is the creation of our emergency management plan and the passage of two storm water ordinances. I have written a draft emergency management plan for the town and we are editing that now. And we have a draft RFP out for cell towers in the town to site them on town land.”
What do you want to accomplish in the next two years, governmentally and politically? “The biggest goals right now are getting the cell tower and getting the emergency management plan in place and getting ADA compliance on town buildings.”
What are the top challenges facing New York State right now? Property tax relief, keeping young professionals in the state, making towns affordable for volunteer emergency services personnel, public education funding, reforming state public authorities.
Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D)
State Senator
Age: 57
After her narrow loss to Republican State Sen. Nick Spano in 2004’s most contested Senate race, Stewart-Cousins won her hotly-contested rematch in the premier race of 2006. Going into her first Senate race as an incumbent, she finds herself in an unfamiliar role: not only is she a frontrunner, but she is a frontrunner without a strong challenger.
Stewart-Cousins entered the Senate following stints as a Westchester County legislator and community affairs director for Yonkers. During her career as a county legislator, she chaired the body’s legislation committee, where she authored the county’s human rights laws. She said she views her Senate career as a continuation of her work in county government, with a focus on education, health care and economic development.
Most expect her to breeze to re-election this year, especially as another rematch with Spano seems ever less likely. Democrats are dominant in the formerly Republican bastion of Westchester, where even Spano’s own brother, Assembly Member Mike Spano, is now a Democrat.
But re-election is her only concern for the moment. Yet to complete a full term in the Senate, she said she has no thoughts of seeking a higher office.
“When I was a little girl I never dreamed of being a senator,” she said. “I grew up in a housing project and could have easily ended up a statistic.”
What is your biggest accomplishment in office so far? “Despite the Berger Commission report, the Dobbs Ferry Community Hospital will remain in service and remains an important piece of a network of hospitals in the region.”
What do you want to accomplish in the next two years, governmentally and politically? “I do want to continue to create economic opportunity in New York State and make sure people have jobs, that the quality of education is excellent and we find new ways to fund education, and that people have access to affordable, quality healthcare.”
What are the top challenges facing New York State right now? Property tax reform, economic growth and opportunity, quality and accessible health care
Greg Ball (R)
Assembly Member
Age: 30
The statewide attention Greg Ball has generated in his two years in Hudson Valley politics—much of it due to his floor speech early last year denouncing the process by which Tom DiNapoli was selected as comptroller—may not help him in the clubby atmosphere of Albany.
But Ball relishes the attention and the infamy his early denunciation of the Legislature and his colleagues generated. He said he was sent to Albany to fight for a change in the culture of government and intends on concentrating on these issues. While this may have caused colleagues to question his sanity at times, he plans to stay on course.
“We need nothing short of a revolution in Albany,” Ball said. “I wasn’t sent here to make friends. I have plenty of friends. I don’t live for the appreciation of my colleagues.”
Ball’s outspokenness spares no one. When discussing an array of federal issues impacting the state, he has no problem taking on the national leader of his own party.
“Outside of Jerusalem, we are the number one terrorist target,” Ball said with regards to homeland security funding. “The president and Congress have left New York out in the cold.”
While Ball passed on suggestions that he challenge Rep John Hall (D-Westchester) this year, he said he is interested in seeking higher office sometime in the future. While declining to specifically announce a campaign for Congress, Ball noted his interest in the international issues that only a congressman can address.
What is your biggest accomplishment in office so far? “I would point to the driver’s license proposal that we killed. The illegal immigrant issue was important to my campaign.”
What do you want to accomplish in the next two years, governmentally and politically? “My goal is to work with local governments throughout the state, to get them signed up for the homeland security initiative to deport illegal aliens and to see the school tax cap become law.”
What are the top challenges facing New York State right now? More homeland security funding targeting first responders, reform Albany, make the state business-friendly.
Noam Bramson (D)
Mayor of New Rochelle
Age: 38
A veteran of Rep. Nita Lowey’s political boot camp for Westchester Democrats, Noam Bramson entered elective office at 26, winning election as a city council member in New Rochelle. After 10 years on the council, Bramson was appointed the city’s mayor in 2006 when his predecessor became county clerk. He later won a 2006 special election and a 2007 election for a full term as mayor.
Bramson has tried to establish himself as a leader for the urban suburbs of New York City. He cites economic development of his community’s downtown and the refurbishment of nine miles of shoreline as top issues and top priorities, while also speaking in depth about the preservation of the character of his city’s neighborhoods.
Bramson is a political veteran already, having been with Lowey in multiple capacities since joining her soon after finishing graduate school in 1992. While no longer on her staff, he currently does consulting work for her. When Westchester politicos mention Bramson, Lowey’s name is frequently mentioned too.
With a long history in Westchester politics and his close connection to Lowey, some have mentioned Bramson as the congresswoman’s eventual successor. Bramson, though, says his focus is on New Rochelle, not Washington.
“I am honored and flattered to be thought of in those terms, but I have devoted no energy to that subject,” he said. “I have been mayor for two years and am focused on our local challenges.”
What is your biggest accomplishment in office so far? “I think we have made substantial progress in the restoration of our waterfront. We are pursuing a 20 acre redevelopment. It will represent the most significant project in New Rochelle’s modern history. It will have a far reaching impact for our quality of life.”
What do you want to accomplish in the next two years, governmentally and politically? “Governmentally, my goals are to continue to strengthen our downtown economy, preserve our environment, protect the quality of life in our neighborhoods and promote public safety. Politically, I will do everything possible to put a Democrat in the White House.”
What are the top challenges facing New York State right now? Property tax reform, education, environmental sustainability.
