After both candidates ran unopposed in this year’s primary, Republican Jesse Calhoun will take on incumbent Democrat Patricia Fahy for the 109th Assembly District seat.
The race may be a hard win for Calhoun, as Fahy vies for a second term. She won her bid as representative of the newly redrawn 109th District in 2012 by a wide margin, after originally facing six primary challengers.
“I learned about what it takes to move bills, and what bills or initiatives I want to support,” said Fahy. “I learned the key people to hook up and ally with to try to move those forward.”
The district encompasses the southwestern parts of the City of Albany and the towns of Guilderland, New Scotland and Bethlehem.
Fahy is the former president of the Albany City School Board, as well as a former employee of the New York State
Department of Labor. The incumbent said she helped form a coalition of freshman Assembly members as part of her mission to make sure those new to the Legislature have a voice in decision making. She is also a founding member of the New York State Caucus for Environmental Legislators.
“Oil transportation has been a major issue for us. Two years ago, no one was thinking of oil trains until the major disasters happened in recent years, and now we ended up having some of the first bills on the subjects,” said Fahy.
She co-sponsored two bills having to do with the storage of crude oil during shipping and the blockage of roadways by trains carrying cured oil.
The majority of Fahy’s focus within the past two years has been on education, from fighting for more state funding for Upstate schools to seeking reforms of the state’s new Common Core standards.
“I think I’ve ran as a voice for children and families,” said Fahy. “I am proud of my record. I only made one promise, and that was to work hard, and I have.”
Calhoun has also made education one of his main campaign platforms.
Originally from Ohio, Calhoun moved to Albany seven years ago and considers himself a community advocate. He is also a musician and children’s music instructor.
“I think there’s too much testing” said Calhoun. “I want to stop Common Core, and I want local educators making the decisions.”
Calhoun said he first entered the political sphere last year when he ran as one of five mayoral candidates for the City of Albany, where he and Fahy both live. He launched his campaign after Albany Police held a SWAT training drill at the Ida Yarbrough public housing complex last March.
“People were confined to their homes and threatened with arrest for complaining,” said Calhoun, who conducted interviews with residents. “It was an extreme display of force that happened because it was in public housing. It wouldn’t have happened in my neighborhood.”
After losing the bid for Albany mayor, Calhoun became a very vocal opponent of the plan to install red-light cameras at intersections throughout the city. This summer he released a music video on YouTube that changed the lyrics of “Roxanne” by The Police to appeal to Mayor Kathy Sheehan to not approve the cameras.
Fahy sponsored the bill in the state Assembly to approve the cameras. She said she liked the plan since there is a major problem in the city with drivers running red lights. Calhoun said he found the cameras to be an infringement of civil liberties.
“But I guess that doesn’t matter anymore,” said Calhoun, referring to the Common Council’s vote in favor of the ordinance at the end of last month.
Calhoun said he is also against the Governor’s SAFE Act, while both candidates said they are concerned with high property taxes.
“I think we need to look at rolling back those crazy tax assessments in Bethlehem,” said Calhoun of the town’s recent reassessment project and the outcry from those who saw their assessments increase.
Fahy sponsored the recently passed Conservation Easement Bill in the Legislature, along with Sen. Neil Breslin. The bill allows the town to provide tax exemptions on open space for landowners who commit their land as open space for up to 15 years. The town is now working to codify the program.
“I was happy to do it, and it’s a great issue for Bethlehem, but it was a lot more work than I would have expected,” said Fahy. “There’s a real hesitation, even from Democrats, to give property tax relief.”
Going forward, Fahy said one of her biggest goals would be to get more property tax relief to residents and work to get more aid to municipalities. She also wants to see the Women’s Equality Act passed and plans to do more environmental work concerning the transportation of oil and hydraulic fracturing, along with continuing her education goals. With school-age children, she also feels there is too much testing.
“I think the implementation was a debacle,” said Fahy, about Common Core.
She hopes funds from the recent $4 billion J.P. Morgan housing settlement will also go toward education, infrastructure and environmental efforts.
“There’s a lot of money on the table, and everyone wants piece of it,” she said.
Calhoun said he’s looking to bring some of these issues back to residents and seek more involvement from them.
“I’m running because I feel like the Assembly needs more working-class people to represent them,” he said. “I will thoroughly look at all issues and make … decisions regardless of party lines. I want to make the best decisions for constituents.”
