OTSEGO COUNTY (AP) – Republican state Sen. James Seward is being challenged by Democrat Howard Leib, an attorney, in next week’s 51st Senate District election.
Seward, 61, is running on the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines on Tuesday, while Leib, 54, will appear on the Democratic and Working Families lines.
The new 51st Senate District, the result of state legislative boundaries being redrawn this year, comprises parts of Ulster, Delaware, Herkimer, Chenango, Tompkins and Cayuga counties and all of Schoharie, Otsego and Cortland counties. In Ulster County, it includes the towns of Hardenburgh, Olive, Rochester and Shandaken.
Seward has served in the state Senate since 1986. He graduated from Hartwick College with a bachelor’s degree in political science and studied at the Nelson Rockefeller Institute at SUNY Albany. Seward is a former Milford town justice. He and his wife, Cynthia, live in Milford, in Otsego County, and have two adult children.
Seward said his priorities include job creation and economic development, as well as providing more property tax relief to residents.
He said there is a renewed emphasis on job creation and economic development in the state and that he wants to see the Senate’s “New Jobs-NY” initiative passed. The initiative includes targeted tax cuts for manufacturing and small businesses, as well as tax credits for businesses that hire new employees, Seward said. He said it also would further remove state taxes on energy.
New York needs to improve its business climate statewide, Seward said, while locally, he wants to be part of the Ulster County economic development team so he can bring resources from the state to help county initiatives.
“I want to be on the team there locally in Ulster County, as I am in my other counties,” Seward said.
Seward added that he wants to see further property tax relief, on top of the state’s 2 percent cap on raising property tax levies. He said that includes state mandate relief to help local governments reduce expenses.
Seward said the cost of Medicaid, “the mother of all mandates,” needs to be shifted back to the state over time. He said he also wants to see pension costs for local governments stabilized.
Leib is a self-employed attorney specializing in intellectual property and entertainment law. He also works as an instructor at Kaplan University and National Paralegal College. He also owns HDL Consulting.
Leib earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and urban studies from Columbia College and a juris doctor from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Leib and his wife, Marcie, live in Dryden, in Tompkins County. He has two children from a previous marriage.
Leib said his priorities for the district include providing Medicaid coverage for all state residents, raising the minimum wage and banning the natural gas drilling method known as fracking.
As for Medicaid coverage, he said insuring all residents would save money and cut the state budget. Leib also said it would make New York more business friendly by taking over the burden of health care for workers.
An employee who currently earns minimum wage would receive $15,080 for working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks of the year, Leib said. He said he and his wife own small businesses and do not pay minimum wage. Leib said he would like minimum wage raised to at least $8.25 an hour, which he said would be a start.
As for fracking, Leib said the practice is bad for people’s health, the environment and the economy. He said fracking wells only have a usable lifespan of five years, after which any economy built up around the area would go bust worse than it was before.
“We don’t need the gas,” Leib added. “We have a glut of natural gas in this country.” He also said most U.S. natural gas is going overseas at this point.