To the Editor:

I am excited to run to be the next Albany County Legislator to represent District 30, here in the heart of suburban Guilderland. I want to thank the over 500 Democratic voters who signed petitions putting my name on the ballot for the Democratic primary and the volunteers who carried them during this cold, rainy, and windy petition season.

I’m proud to earn the endorsements of Jean Cataldo, Guilderland town clerk; the Working Families Party; and the New England Regional Carpenters Council.

I’m writing to introduce myself and share what I hope to bring to the county legislature if given the honor to represent the 30th Legislative District.

I was born and raised in Scotia, New York, part of a proud, Irish and Polish working-class family. I graduated from Scotia-Glenville High School and then earned my bachelor of arts degree in history and political science at Skidmore College.

Aside from a few months in Boston, I’ve lived in the Capital District ever since graduating. For the past nine years, I’ve lived in Guilderland with my wife and better half, Maureen.

I spent my early career working in health care for a private surgery practice in administration and as a vascular sonographer. That experience gave me a front-line view of the disparity between the incredible care received by patients with quality health insurance by world-class surgeons, and the financial calamity that affected patients without insurance or lacking good insurance.

I had always had an interest in politics and public service but it was my work in health care that focused my professional interests on striving to make my community a better place.

In 2008, I helped start an all-volunteer campaign in the Capital District called Albany for Obama. We opened an office during the New York State primary, making thousands of calls and knocking on doors all across our community, then kept the office up and running to help elect President Obama through the general election.

Managing this campaign while still working full-time was tough, but I fell in love with talking to voters, training volunteers, and learning how to manage campaigns.

That incredible experience led me to forge a career working in advocacy, outreach, and campaign management over the past decade. In New York, I’ve worked for the Alliance for Quality Education as well as managed State Senate campaigns, most recently, Pat Strong’s campaign for the 46th Senate District.

I’ve also worked for Change to Win, a labor federation project, and am part of a proud union family — my wife is a member of the Civil Service Employees Association Local 316, my uncle is retired from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 52, and my father-in-law just retired from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 97.

Over the past two years, I founded and managed NY19Votes. In the wake of the 2016 election with Indivisible, Women’s Huddle, and activist groups forming across the state, NY19Votes was created from the idea that, if we were going to flip Congress and unseat John Faso, we needed to start talking to voters early and often.

NY19Votes ran voter registration and petition drives and supported local candidates by training new and newly active volunteers on how to canvass voters door-to-door. We helped tie together activist groups in the 19th Congressional District and beyond, helping to lay the groundwork to elect Antonio Delgado last November. And from our inception, dozens of individuals, many here in Albany County and Guilderland, canvassed for the very first time with NY19Votes in 2017, then led campaigns and canvasses in 2018.

During my time leading campaigns, I’ve gained experience in managing staff, budgets, and messaging, but perhaps most importantly, I’ve learned how to be a consensus builder, working to bring teams together to solve challenges. I believe my ability to work collaboratively with activists, stakeholders, and elected officials in order to find common ground is one of the greatest strengths I will bring to the legislature.

I also believe that the energy I will bring to representation will result in quick response time to constituent concerns, and rapid dispersal of information to constituents regarding the county legislation, affairs, and issues folks should know about.

I’ll work to bring transparency to our county and town government and energetic communication to my constituents and the wider community. My campaign will be announcing meet-and-greet events leading up to the primary date, and, if elected, I’ll hold neighborhood town halls and work to bring county legislature meetings and meetings with all of our Guilderland legislators here throughout the year.

I strongly believe in sustainable development: tying renewable energy and reduced consumption to new complexes and buildings, strengthening the use of union labor in construction, and seeking every way to support local businesses, create green jobs and reduce our carbon footprint.

Whether it’s acting as an advocate for residents to ensure development is done correctly, looking into community choice aggregation energy policies and making our local government more transparent, we need leaders who have experience in organizing and communicating with voters to pass effective legislation.

I have experience in doing just that. My petition efforts show the energy I will bring to this office, and the over 500 signatures we secured show that I will fight to get results.

Over the next few months, I look forward to continuing the conversations we’ve started, meeting as many voters as I can, learning and listening, then bringing our shared concerns and solutions to the county legislature.

Dustin Reidy

Guilderland