RENSSELAERVILLE — In his first run for elected office, Ronald “Joey” Bates, a policeman and Rensselaerville native, will have four party lines — Democratic, Republican, Conservative, and Independence Party — when residents cast their votes in November for town justice.

In a town where Democrats make up almost half of all registered voters and Conservative-backed candidates have recently mounted the greatest challenges, Bates, who is enrolled as a Democrat, isn’t expected to face an opponent for the Nov. 4 election.

Timothy Miller, one of two justices for the town — the other is Gregory Bischoff — isn’t running again after five years on the bench.

For the past four generations, fathers in the Bates family have repeated a three-word mantra to their children: “Just be nice.”

Bates, 46, says his upbringing has helped him to be impartial.

“Being nice can also be part of being compassionate, which comes to victims and defendants — you have to be compassionate,” Bates said. “Part of being compassionate is being nice.”

Growing up in the hamlet of Preston Hollow, Bates has lived in Rensselaerville his entire life. He started his 25-year career with the Albany County Sheriff’s Office as a corrections officer, moving on to become a deputy sheriff, investigator, and senior investigator, and then went back on patrol as a deputy sheriff. He was trained as a hostage negotiator and as a fire investigator. His father, Ronald K. Bates, was a deputy sheriff for a quarter of a century and held several positions for the town’s government.

Bates said he has grown to respect many judges through his observations in courts, declining to name them but saying they were all fair.

“It still goes back to me in believing a fair decision for both parties involved,” said Bates.

He said he is a “firm believer” in community service, but, as with all of his answers about the job, it depends on each case.

“Especially if it’s somebody who’s a younger teenager, they would learn ahead by working, to pay off a simple sentence that’s not a major crime,” Bates said.

He said service could be part of an adults’ sentence as well, adding, “There’s no two cases that are the same.”

Bates says he is running so he can continue helping people through the justice system while spending more time with his family. Eligible to retire from the county after 20 years, he said he would do so in November if elected. He currently works part-time as a constable in New Scotland Town Court and owns the West Winds Diner in Preston Hollow with his wife, Wanda, who runs the business.

“As a police officer, I lost time with my own children and I’m going to make that time up with my grandchildren,” said Bates.

An investigator in 2007, Bates was at the center of one of the most high-profile cases for the town when he discovered a suspicious check. It led to embezzlement charges for a former town supervisor, David R. Bryan, who, according to the sheriff’s office, stole more than $300,000 from a local church, library, and two historical societies.

“Keep in mind, David Bryan was a Democrat,” said Robert Bolte, chair of the town’s Conservative committee and a town councilman. “I’m sure that being a former supervisor of the town of Rensselaerville, and then get caught stealing from the churches and the library and everything, and seeing how the county of Albany is predominately Democrat, I don’t think that would be an easy job to do, investigating someone from your own party — but it got done.”

Bolte said he first met Bates when Bates was a young employee at Bryant’s Supermarket in Greenville where Bolte was in charge of maintenance. When he was a teenager, Bates worked in construction under Jeffrey Pine, chairman of the local Democratic committee.

Bates’s uncle, Randall Bates, is the town’s highway superintendent.

When asked in what situations he might have to recuse himself, Bates declined to answer, saying every situation is different.

“When you run for justice, you have to be neutral and unbiased,” he said.

Independence Party Chairman Paul Caputo said his committee isn’t concerned with the affiliations of candidates for judge because the position has to be above politics.

“It’s doesn’t bother me,” Caputo said of a candidate holding several endorsements. “It was done a lot more a couple years ago. It’s actually less now than it was in the past.”

The office of small-town justice is one of the hardest for which to find candidates. In the 2013 elections, the towns of Berne and Knox had incumbent judges running unopposed.

“I think they’re behind it because they don’t have another candidate, along with the quality of the candidate,” Bolte said of the Republican and Independence Party endorsements for Bates. “I, myself, would not go out looking for another candidate when you’ve got someone that good.”

Miller was appointed as a judge when Judge Victoria Kraker resigned in 2009. He won his seat on the bench by a slim margin when his opponent, Myra Dorman, a former supervisor, ran on the Republican line. He won the four-year term in 2010, with 51.96 percent on the Democratic line and 14.52 percent on the Independence Party line.

Pine said Democrats asked Bates to run before; at that point, Bates said, he hadn’t worked enough years to benefit from his retirement insurance and he cannot be a judge and a police officer at the same time.

“He’s been a good Democrat,” said Pine. “He was a committeeman for a while. His background in law enforcement, plus sitting in New Scotland week after week, he’s got a good background, good experience, in local justice.”

“It’s kind of clerk when you think about it,” Pine continued about the position. “You really don’t need any professional experience or degree or anything to run as town justice, so it’s pretty much up to the local committee to look out there and make sure they get somebody with a law background. In a small town like ours, you’re probably not going to get an attorney.”

Victor La Plante, a longtime justice in Rensselaerville, ran unopposed in 2007 for his last term. He held office for 24 years, working as a State Trooper for 25 years before. Bates said La Plante first encouraged him to run.