Regional Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, November 4, 2010
Senator Breslin wins another term
By Anne Hayden
ALBANY COUNTY — Incumbent Democrat Neil Breslin will serve another two-year term representing the 46th District in the state senate.
This will be his eighth term. In a three-way race, he garnered 54 percent of the votes. Republican political newcomer Robert Domenici received 40 percent, and Michael Carey, running on his own Reform Party line, got 6 percent of the votes.
“I’m very happy with the margin of victory,” Breslin told The Enterprise on Wednesday. Going into the election, he was confident that the voters were comfortable with him during this “difficult time,” he said.
“It’s a very, very difficult time with people out of work and taxes rising, so there is a tremendous amount of responsibility on the legislature to lower taxes and create jobs,” Breslin said. He is in favor of a tax cap integrated with a system that takes income into account, and making sure local and community colleges train students for work at Global Foundries and affiliated industries.
Domenici, a retired Army lieutenant and local business owner, said he was running because he believed both the Republican and Democratic parties had failed New York, and he wanted to work toward reform.
Also calling for reform was Carey, who ran on a third party line and said he worked extremely well with all legislators, after he successfully got eight bills passed into law to help protect the rights of the disabled. His autistic son, Jonathan, died in 2007, while under state care.
Though the unofficial results show the Democrats retained the senate majority, Breslin said he thinks it will be weeks before the official majority is declared.
“I expect there will be re-canvasses in at least three districts, and maybe individual vote re-counts,” he said. Breslin told The Enterprise last month that he thought the senate would face gridlock if the majority were to become Republican.
“I would have been happy with a margin of one,” Breslin concluded. “I think the margin of victory was great given the political climate.”