Browse > Home / News / No congressional bid for Schenectady mayor

No congressional bid for Schenectady mayor

February 12, 2008

The field of candidates vying to succeed U.S. Rep. Michael McNulty got smaller Tuesday with Schenectady Mayor Brian U. Stratton announcing he won’t seek the congressional seat his father, Samuel S. Stratton, held for 30 years.

With Stratton’s announcement, the race in the 21st Congressional District is shaping up to be one featuring relative political newcomers. The only candidates who have officially announced their candidacies are Hillary Rodhamn Clinton’s former regional director, Tracey Brooks, and Albany County Legislator Phillip G. Steck, both Democrats.

McNulty has announced he is retiring after 10 terms.

“It’s surprising that to date there has not been that big name announcing,” said Assemblyman Ron Canestrari.

The Cohoes Democrat, who is the Assembly’s majority leader, wouldn’t rule out running for the seat, which has been controlled by Democrats for upward of 50 years. But he said it’s a pretty far notion at the moment.

Canestrari speculated that veteran politicians like himself may be opting out of pursuing an open congressional seat because they’re older and enjoying their current careers.

“In politics and in life, timing is everything,” Canestrari said. “If it were 10 years ago for me, I would have made an announcement weeks ago.”

State Sen. Neil Breslin of Albany echoed Canestrari’s sentiments, saying that being a state politician here means you don’t have to travel — a hard bonus to give up.

“I think in my case it was quality of life,” said Breslin, a six-term Democrat who announced in December that he wasn’t interested in succeeding McNulty.

Stratton, who got 71 percent of the vote in his mayoral re-election bid last year, said Monday his decision was purely professional: He wants to continue his efforts to revitalize Schenectady.

“I could have mounted an aggressive and winning campaign, but my decision is to remain mayor,” Stratton said.

Any concerns about support in Democrat-heavy Albany County or the possibility that former Democratic Assemblyman Paul Tonko of Amsterdam might run had nothing to do with the decision, Stratton said. From his own inquiries, he said, he would have received great support outside of Schenectady County.

While Tonko has not confirmed his interest in the seat, Stratton said Tonko told him he was considering entering the race. Since last summer, Tonko has been Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s appointee as head of the state Energy Research and Development Authority.

County Legislature Chairwoman Susan Savage, another Democrat, also announced last week she won’t run.

Brooks on Monday earned the closest thing possible to an endorsement from the incumbent. McNulty has said he will not endorse any Democrat until the party nominates a candidate, but his sister — Green Island Mayor Ellen McNulty-Ryan — joined Brooks’ campaign on Monday as its chairwoman.

Brooks, who lives in Coeymans and grew up in Clifton Park, has said she has Clinton’s blessing as well.

Steck, of Loudonville, has been endorsed by more than 20 local Democratic officials, including Colonie Supervisor Paula Mahan and Watervliet Mayor Mike Manning.

Darius Shahinfar, an Albany attorney and staffer for U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, is seen as another Democrat who could announce his candidacy in the next few weeks.

Source: Times Union Read the full story here

Related Articles

Written by NY Politics · Filed Under News 

Comment on this article