NEW SCOTLAND — The New Scotland Republican Party has announced its candidates for the November election for open seats on the county legislature in districts 38 and 33.

New Scotland Republican Party Chairman Tim Stanton, of Feura Bush, is running to represent District 38 in the Albany County Legislature, and Slingerlands resident Andrew Holland is running for District 33.

Stanton will face Democratic incumbent L. Michael Mackey in District 38, and Holland will take on the Democratic Primary winner of the race between incumbent Herbert Reilly and his challenger, William Reinhardt, in District 33.

Pro-business

Republicans are supportive of businesses coming into the town, Stanton said, but they also believe developers “still need to go through proper channels.”

“We need to do more to get them here, rather than forcing them out,” he said. “Nobody wants to just open it up to anything, but you want to encourage good businesses to come.

“In the past, the town hasn’t been pro-business,” he continued. The process developers faced to put in a Stewart’s Shop in Clarksville took three years, he said.

“That’s the longest ever taken to get a Stewart’s built,” Stanton asserted. “They also did one after that in New Scotland. That one was one where the town [took its time]. In the end, we ended up with a nice Stewart’s.”

Stanton said that, in the “microcosm” of New York, many businesses face so many hurdles that developers ask, “‘Why bother?’ We’re approaching that in New Scotland.”

“Government on this level is not so much party politics as it is taxes, zoning, keeping costs low and services provided. That’s what people in the town care about, not parties,” said Dolin in 2013.

Stanton said this week that many families in town are not represented, and described his reasons for running for county legislature.

“There always should be choice,” he said. “I can’t stand to see people unopposed.

Stanton will face incumbent Democrat L. Michael Mackey in November.

“Mr. Mackey doesn’t represent the majority of people in the town in his rural district,” Stanton said.

Stanton is a farmer who, with his family, runs Stanton’s Feura Farms, in Feura Bush, and Our Family’s Harvest, in Slingerlands. He gave a phone interview while driving a tractor and planting sorghum for a neighbor.

“I think there’s too many lawyers in government,” he said. “I will be representing the people the district covers, and have their interests in mind. I think, a lot of times, the rural parts get swept under the rug.”

Stanton has run for town council twice before, but has not yet won a seat.

“I’ve always had good support in my area of town,” he said.

Safe wells

Albany County Legislator L. Michael Mackey, a lawyer, disagreed with Stanton’s assessment of his work for District 38.

“I think I’ve worked hard to represent everybody in the district,” Mackey said, referring to “a drinking-water protection law I authored.”

He said that many people contacted him with concerns about the gas pipeline expansion across town. Mackey wrote a law that required any blasters to test wells within a one-mile radius of a blast both before the work and after. The law holds a blaster responsible for changes in wells up to six months after a blast, he said. The law passed the county legislature unanimously, he said, and was recently introduced to the state legislature.

“I’m on a well, myself,” Mackey said. “I appreciate having a good well. A lot of town residents are on a well.”

Mackey, 59, is an Albany attorney with 34 years of experience. He grew up on a farm in a small town in northern New York, he said.

“We raised heifers for dairy farms,” Mackey said. Mackey later attended Albany Law School, and now lives on Altamont Road.

He and his wife have three children; one is out of college, one is in college, and one attends the high school in Voorheesville.

In his first term, Mackey has addressed the controversial Albany County Nursing Home, he said. When he began in the legislature, the home worked under a $12 million deficit, he said.

“I was one of primarily freshman legislators who forced a solution to get a new management team in,” Mackey said.

The home runs a $4 million deficit now, he said, and is expected to reduce the deficit to $2 million next year. The year after, he said, the home will break even.

“I’ve enjoyed working on that and being part of the solution,” Mackey said. The home is “a safety net for people without money to get into another nursing home,” he said, calling it “a really good value for the taxpayers.

“I take the job very seriously,” he continued. “I return every telephone call or email or inquiry from any constituent on any issue. I work hard at the job. I hope to continue to work hard at the job.

“It’s important for people to have direct contact with a representative in the county,” he said.

A different perspective

Newcomer Andrew Holland, of Slingerlands, is running for District 33, which includes New Scotland, Voorheesville, and Bethlehem — a district currently represented by Democratic incumbent and former New Scotland Supervisor Herbert Reilly, 79, of Voorheesville, who is facing Democratic challenger William Reinhardt, 65, of Slingerlands, in the primary. (To read about Reilly and Reinhardt, go online to www.AltamontEnterprise.com.)

Holland, 34, lives with his wife, attorney Hannah Moore, and their 15-month-old daughter. Holland practices general litigation, and insurance and malpractice defense litigation in Albany. 

“I grew up in Saratoga Springs. She grew up in Vermont…and Pennsylvania. We wanted to come back home,” Holland said. “We wanted to start a family and end up somewhere we could settle.”

Holland and Moore moved to Slingerlands in 2012. Before that, the two worked as assistant district attorneys in the Bronx for five years.

Asked why he is running for county legislature, Holland said, “In general, I’m dissatisfied with the political climate in Albany County.”

The legislature “is passing a lot of legislation I don’t feel meets the needs of Albany County,” he said. The legislation passed is “agenda-based,” he said.

“People in the district aren’t being properly represented,” Holland said.

Holland has experience advocating for clients, he said.

“I’ll bring those skills to the table, bring a different perspective to the table,” he said. His single voice may persuade other legislators, he said; he wants to “offer my take on it.”

Holland said that he has no specific issues that he is focusing on for his campaign. About the proposed privatization of the Albany County Nursing Home, Holland said he would support privatization “if it were an effective way to help with the struggles it’s facing.”

He said that the Democratic primary race between Reilly and Holland’s fellow Bethlehem resident Reinhardt will be interesting.

“He’s very much aligned with the leadership,” Holland said of Reilly. “He doesn’t properly represent the members of the district. He’s a nice guy and people like him, but what’s he doing for you?”

Holland said that Reilly votes the way the legislative leadership tells him to.
“I’m looking forward to a very positive campaign, meeting as many people in New Scotland, Bethelehem, and Voorheesville, and finding out what’s on their minds,” Holland said.