District 32: Paul Miller and Mary Lou Connolly

Paul Miller

Mary Lou Connolly

ALBANY COUNTY — Paul Miller decided to challenge incumbent Mary Lou Connolly to represent the 32nd District of the Albany County Legislature largely because he disagreed with the way she voted for privatizing the county’s nursing home.

Miller defeated Connolly, who had the Democratic Party’s endorsement, in the primary election, on Sept. 10, with 270 votes to her 200. Fewer than 20 percent of eligible voters turned out.

Miller also believes Connolly, who has been in the legislature for 22 years, has lost touch with the constituents in her district.

“She commented that I couldn’t run in her district because I didn’t live in it,” he told The Enterprise before the primary. “I do live in it; I even circulated petitions for one of her campaigns several years ago.”

Miller also has concerns about the transparency of Connolly’s campaign financing.

He wrote a letter, dated Aug. 18, to the New York State Board of Elections, requesting a formal review of financial disclosure reports.

He stated, in the letter, that Connolly had not filed her 32-day pre-primary report, which had been due on Aug. 10, and also that she did not report expenditures for two mailings on her July 15 periodic report.

Her reports did not reflect that Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy had contributed to her campaign, he said.

Miller also said Connolly had negative account balances from two previous campaigns, in 2008 and 2012.

“This is something I’m really on top of because my background is in accounting and I’ve worked as a treasurer on other campaigns,” he said. “The county has a large budget, and, if she can’t even handle her own money, how can you expect her to handle your tax dollars?”

“If all Mr. Miller has to be concerned about are some small campaign-finance issues, then he is digging deep,” said Connolly before the primary. She owns an insurance company.

Miller grew up in Guilderland and graduated from Guilderland High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in public accounting from the state’s University at Albany and worked as an accountant auditor in the state’s Department of Labor for 34 years; he is retired from the state.

Connolly said she briefly considered pulling out of the race after losing the primary election, but she still has the endorsement of the Conservative and Independence parties, and had a lot of verbal support when she campaigned door-to-door.

“I love doing what I do,” said Connolly. “If I lose even with my two lines, I have other options.”

Miller said he wants to see campaign finance reformed.

“Restrictions on campaign financing should be tightened,” he said.

For example, he said, money can be rolled over from campaign to campaign, giving incumbents a natural advantage.

“I think that needs to change,” he said.

“Let’s get back to the grassroots,” he said.

He said the voters are the bosses, and, if he is elected, that’s whom he will be reporting to.

“I think I’ve done an outstanding job trying to make the lives of people in Albany County better,” said Connolly. “I’ve appreciated being in for 22 years.”

She said she hopes there will be better voter turnout for the general election than the primary election, but, if she loses, she will find another way to serve the residents of the county.

County Charter

Miller said he supports the revised charter.

“I think there may need to be changes made after it is enacted, but that’s better than defeating it and starting all over again,” he said.

Starting from scratch would require a special election and would be costly, he said.

“The charter may not be perfect right now but it would be better than where we’re at,” Miller said.

Connolly does not support the revised charter.

“Personally, regarding the number of legislators, I think if you end up with under 39, you’re doing an injustice to residents,” she said.

Reducing the number of legislators would also reduce the diversity among the representatives, she said.

“The connection with the people in the community and knowing the problems and needs would be very difficult with a smaller number,” said Connolly. “But, it’s up to the people to decide.”

Oil trains

Miller said the safety of oil trains is a federal issue and the county’s role should be to force the federal government to act.

“I think we should put pressure on federal officials,” he said.

“I drive from one end of the county to the other and I stop when the trains are going through and you know it’s pretty scary,” said Connolly. “I think the county has been amazing at knowing what’s going on around us and has absolutely done the right thing.”

Nanny county

Miller said the same for laws that could be interpreted as “nanny laws” as he did for regulations on oil trains.

“They are good ideas but they would be preferable at a state or federal level,” he said.

If the laws were statewide, products might disappear from the shelves, whereas, if they are county by county, people could just drive a short distance to purchase them.

“Personally I think they should be legislated on the state level but they sit on their hands and don’t do the job they should be doing,” said Connolly.

She said if Albany County could be the blueprint for what goes on in the rest of the state, then it would be worth it.

“It might take us in the county doing something for the state legislators to pay attention,” she said.

Heroin

On the topic of heroin, Miller said he thinks all agencies with first responders should have a ready supply of Narcan, an opioid antagonist that can reverse the effects of a heroin overdose.

He and his wife are trained to use Narcan and both carry Narcan kits provided by the Albany County Sheriff’s Department.

“If just one person dies from a heroin overdose, that is one person too many,” said Miller.

The key, he said, would be getting people into treatment rather than incarcerating them, particularly if it were a first offense with no other crime in conjunction.

“It would be up to the judge’s discretion,” he said.

The other piece of the puzzle, according to Miller, is employment.

“If people don’t have jobs, it can lead to drug abuse because they have a lot of time on their hands,” he said.

He believes the Department of Labor has a responsibility for getting people into jobs.

“I also think getting kids involved with sports and Scouts tends to keep them away from drugs,” said Miller.

“Guilderland is one of the hotbeds of heroin use, unfortunately,” said Connolly, which is why Sheriff Craig Apple focused on making the Guilderland Police Department the first in the county to be trained to use Narcan kits and to carry them.

The county’s Department of Health, Connolly said, is instituting educational programs for youth about the dangers of heroin use.

“It is a disease of all classes; there are no borders,” she said.

She called the new program “tremendous” and said the saluted the sheriff, the staff at the jail, and the addicts who were willing to appear on television to tell their stories.

“So many people think ‘I’m not going to die from this,’ but how many tragedies have there been in our own communities?” she asked.

Connolly also thinks the state should “step up” and open more rehabilitation facilities rather then sending offenders directly to jail.

Consolidation

In terms of consolidation, Miller said it was important for saving taxpayers’ money.

“It needs to be done in a way that doesn’t cause other problems, though,” he said. “There are reasons why certain facilities are located where they are.”

For instance, he said, in the Hilltowns, it would be hard to have county employees dispatched to do roadwork there in the winter, and people who don’t live in that area may not be able to navigate as well.

“It’s important to make sure there are no layoffs when consolidating,” he said.

Eliminating redundancies would be the most efficient way to handle it, said Miller.

“There are some places where state, county, and town vehicles travel the same roads, but, if they don’t own it, they don’t plow it,” said Miller.

The three tiers of government could work out a system to define who covers which roads and there could be trade-offs, he said.

Connolly said the county has been working on consolidating services since before she was elected 15 in 1992.

“The Department of Public Works is working with the state and towns so the plows aren’t skipping roads and that’s going to save a lot of money,” she said.

The 9-1-1 system was successfully consolidated, she said, so that each call goes to a central hub in the county and is then funneled through to the appropriate municipality.

“That’s been a great example of how consolidation has worked,” said Connolly.

The county is attempting something similar with other services, including health and senior services, so that people who need help can call one number rather than going through a phone tree, or go to one location, rather than visiting several.

In terms of eliminating buildings that may be redundant, such as highway facilities or garages, Connolly said she did not think it would work, because of all the equipment involved.

“Logistically, it wouldn’t make sense,” she said.

Albany County has, during her tenure, managed to cut back on jobs while still providing the same level of services, she said.

Suburban poverty

Children and seniors are the most critical members of society to provide for when it comes to suburban poverty, according to Miller.

“We may need more publicity on the services available for seniors because people might not be aware they are there,” he said.

For the youth, Miller would encourage early involvement in activities, including Scouts and sports.

“Feeding the kids is important, which is why schools have free breakfast and lunch programs,” he said. “We need to figure out how to remove the stigma from that.”

Mass transit in suburban areas could also stand to improve, he said.

The county needs to bring services into communities where suburban and rural poverty is prevalent, said Connolly.

As the chairwoman of the health committee, she said she brought immunization clinics to places where people may not have access to them otherwise.

As another example, she said, there is a dental clinic in downtown Albany, and that type of service could be brought into suburban areas.

“I think school health officials need to work closely with the nursing staff in the Albany County Health Department to communicate needs,” she said. “We respond.”

Connolly said she is the only legislator who has worked directly with the staff of the health department out in the field doing clinics.

Veterans

Miller agreed that veterans “do have a problem” and said that, on a national basis, there have been scandals that “need to be taken care of.”

“The federal government needs to take care of them,” he said. “It is not really a county problem.”

Miller’s understanding of the Soldier On program, he said, is that there were environmental problems at the Ann Lee Home, the facility where it would be located, and he also believes the house might be too far away from other services.

“If we put all these soldiers out there and they need to get to the VA hospital, that might be hard,” said Miller. “They might want to re-look at housing in the city where it would be easier to access services.”

“I am very proud to have supported Soldier On since day one,” said Connolly.

The county will turn over the Ann Lee Home, the county’s former nursing home, to become a facility for veterans in need of services.

The home has passed its State Environmental Quality Review, she said.

“It will provide rehabilitation and give them a new home of their own,” said Connolly of veterans. “It will give them back their pride.”

Elder care

The county, said Miller, should provide as much help as it can for people to stay in their homes as they age.

“If they are going to keep people in their homes, they need to have support, both for the residents and for the people caring for them,” he said.

Miller said he had a “personal issue” with the Albany County Nursing Home, because he had a friend who had to be transported to a nursing home in Massachusetts due to a shortage of beds in Albany.

“That’s incredibly hard on the families,” he said.

He would not have supported privatization of the nursing home, he said, and he does believe that the new administrator of the home has been successful and the deficit has been brought down.

“We’re on the right track with that,” said Miller.

Connolly defended her support for privatizing the nursing home, backing McCoy while most Democrats in the legislature did not.

“My only goal — and it had been for years — was to keep the Albany County Nursing Home open,” she said. “I didn’t know how we would do it and privatizing was an option.”

She said she drove to Syracuse with McCoy to visit a facility run by the group McCoy was recommending for the takeover, and said it appeared to be an excellent operation.

But, she said, “finally” the legislators were able to sit down and come to an agreement to hire a new executive to oversee the nursing home.

“I supported this,” she said.

Connolly’s husband spent more than 100 days in the county’s nursing home after suffering from a bad fall last year.

“Do you think for one second that I would have insisted by husband go there if I didn’t think it was the best place in Albany County for rehabilitation?” she asked. “He spent his days there with the best staff to be found anywhere.”

The county held its second annual “Summit on Aging” this week and Connolly said the key issue was being able to offer services to individuals to help them stay in their homes.

The state announced a $750,000 grant to make homes accessible to people with handicaps and the county chipped in an extra $250,000.

“Over the next four years, I will continue to push for more and more services,” said Connolly.

Wages

Miller said he supports to recommended increase of minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021.

“I don’t necessarily think having local governments set their own wages is a good idea,” he said. “I think it should be statewide, and set through legislation, not a wage board.”

Counties are intertwined, he said, so that it would be difficult to have different wages among them.

“It would be similar to when sales taxes are different and people drive from one county to shop in another,” he said.

Connolly said the minimum wage should be increased statewide and should reach $15 before 2021.

“It is very sad that people work so hard and can’t earn enough to survive,” she said.

She told a story of a young woman who works two jobs and has a daughter with health problems but makes $20 too much to qualify for subsidies. The woman was evicted from an apartment and sought help to obtain a new apartment, but was turned down on the basis that she made “too much money.”

“That should never happen to anyone,” said Connolly. “Individuals lose their dignity just asking for help and then to be turned down is a disgrace.”

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