GUILDERLAND — Mickey Cleary, who is running for the Albany County Legislature in District 32, is in his 20th year on Guilderland’s planning board. He will step down from the planning board when he wins his seat in the legislature, he said.

His only opponent, Paul Miller on the Working Families Party line, has announced he isn’t pursuing the post.

Cleary explained why he decided to run in the first place: “Paul Miller stepped down,” he said, referring to the Democratic incumbent. “And everyone encouraged me to go for it. It was another challenge, something interesting to do where I can help the county, the town of Guilderland, and my district of McKownville, Kennewyck, and over by the country club.” 

Cleary ran against Miller in June’s Democratic primary, which was so close that, when the absentee ballots were opened and counted, Cleary was victorious by two votes. 

Miller had initially planned not to run for re-election, because his stepson was ill, he told The Enterprise earlier. Miller’s stepson improved, and Miller changed his mind about running, but by that point, Cleary had invested in his campaign and did not want to back down.

Even after losing the Democratic primary, Miller still had the working Families Party line, and his name still appears on the ballot for that line. However, Miller announced in The Enterprise on Sept. 24 that he was ending his campaign for the seat. 

Cleary has the endorsement of the Independence Party, which he said he wanted because he supports many of that party’s ideas.

Cleary tried to get the endorsement of the Working Families Party, he said, but Miller got it instead.

Since 2001, Cleary has worked in the Unified Court System, doing operations as administrative assistant in the administrative judge’s office. His work involves administrative support for the courts and the drug-treatment courts throughout the seven counties of the Third Judicial District, including hiring court reporters and coordinators.

Cleary also sells real estate. 

Earlier, Cleary worked in the county executive’s office for about 18 months as a policy analyst for public safety, he said, when drug courts were first being launched. Each drug court had a coordinator, and Cleary worked as a temporary coordinator with Judge Stephen Herrick in Albany City Court. 

Cleary also spent two-and-a-half years as a legislative aid in the office of the legislature’s majority counsel. Before that, he worked for 13 years for the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District, he said. 

On the issue of homelessness, Cleary said he thinks Sheriff Craig Apple’s plan for using empty space in a separate section of Albany County’s jail to provide transitional housing is “very innovative.” 

He said, “It’s not really about parolees. What I read about it, it’s about the homeless, who could be tons of different things, including parolees.” 

Cleary went on, “Anything we can do to help the homeless, and definitely get them off the street in the winter.” He added, “If we get a grant, it’s using space that’s not being used right now.” 

Cleary said that he was not sufficiently educated on the topic of emergency medical services to comment, particularly on who should fund it. For now, he does not have an opinion one way or the other. He said, “I’d have to look into it.”  

He noted that the town of Guilderland had taken over the ambulance service in part of the town, and he thought that was good. One of the town’s two not-for-profit ambulance services, Western Turnpike Rescue Squad, has closed, but the other — Altamont Rescue Squad — continues. 

Cleary supports a ban on plastic bags, stirrers, and straws, but said he thinks any ban should be done on a statewide basis, since stricter regulations in Albany County than in surrounding areas could discourage businesses from coming here. 

Cleary supports paid sick leave. “Paid sick leave is a good thing; it just depends on how it’s implemented,” he said. 

When modifications are made to the bill, he would “have to look at it at that time,” he said, adding, “I do support paid sick leave.” 

Cleary said he will be much better educated on what Albany County is doing to fight suburban poverty once he gets into office and starts working. 

“I know they’ve opened offices in the HIlltowns, which is a good thing,” he said, saying that he thought the county had started to offer mental-health and social services there. 

“If they don’t already have it, they need to reach out to those people in the suburbs,” he said. 

On the subject of opioids, Cleary said the county has a variety of treatment courts including a drug-treatment court and a driving-while-intoxicated court, both with Judge Gerald W. Connolly; a family-treatment court with Judge Gerald E. Maney in Family Court; and a juvenile-treatment court. 

Opioid courts are starting up now, he said. “There’s one right now in Troy, and the rest of the Third Judicial District is looking to open them.” 

Cleary thinks the county does a good job now in terms of these courts, which seek, he said, to get people off drugs and get them an education, a job, and services. 

“The county supports that very well,” he said.