Special election for vacated seat on Tuesday
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Voters will go to the polls Tuesday to select a successor to the 102nd state Assembly District seat vacated last fall by Republican Peter Lopez.
On the ballot are Wes Laraway, Greene County Legislator Aidan O’Connor, and Schoharie town Supervisor Christopher Tague. Laraway is an independent candidate running on The Best Choice party line, while O’Connor is running on the Democratic, Working Families and Women’s Equality lines, and Tague is running on the Republican, Conservative, Independence and Reform lines.
Laraway, 49, teaches high school economics and history in the Middleburgh Central School District. He has a bachelor’s degree in history and master’s degree in reading education from SUNY Oneonta. Laraway has lived in Middleburgh his entire life, aside from the year he spent as a Rotary Exchange Student in Brazil and while at college. He is a registered Republican.
According to his website, Laraway has spent the last 30 years teaching, raising a family, running a farm and operating an animal-rescue facility. He is married to Darcy and has three children.
“My biggest priority is using the experience I’ve learned from 30 years of public service in my community as a teacher, farmer, and animal rescuer to effectively represent my friends and neighbors in Albany,” Laraway said in a statement. “I’ve seen how our lack of rural technology, vocational education, and poor representation of farmers has left a void in our communities, and I hope to use my position in the Assembly to eliminate that void.”
Laraway said the district needs to continue to develop rural technology and clean energy, while creating jobs by supporting businesses and farms. He also said the area needs more skill-based education programs for students who want to earn a living wage to stay in the district.
O’Connor, 30, is the regional business manager for Life Net and also works as a certified paramedic and flight paramedic. He is a resident of East Durham who graduated from Greenville High School and received a paramedic certification from SUNY Cobleskill. O’Connor was elected to the Greene County Legislature in 2016 and currently serves as its minority leader.
Among the issues he says he wants to address are the opioid crisis, rural health care access, cell and broadband infrastructure, fiscal responsibility, and gun safety, according to his website.
On his website, O’Connor said as an assemblyman he would support and continue local programs that keep people alive. He said he would support legislation to hold pharmaceutical companies financially responsible for the heroin and opioid crisis and would also fight to bring in-patient services to the district. O’Connor said the district also needs to enhance its emergency medical service systems, continue to support county public health departments, and find technology that allows individuals to be treated remotely.
On cell and broadband infrastructure, O’Connor said the district needs “to maximize the use of every cell tower, public or private, which means encouraging owners to share their facilities for the common good and overturning current legislation that interferes with such cooperation.”
O’Connor said he supports the state’s 2 percent cap on increases in property taxes at all levels of government and that he supports background checks for gun purchases, prohibiting the 75,000 New Yorkers with serious mental health issues from having guns, and providing strong penalties for the shooting of volunteer firemen and EMTs.
Tague, 48, is the general manager of Cobleskill Stone Products and has been Schoharie town supervisor since 2015. A registered Republican, he serves on the Schoharie County Republican Party and has been its chairman since 2017. He was born and raised in Schoharie and is a member of several community organizations.
“First of all, modernizing our infrastructure is central to my goals for our area,” Tague said in a statement. “First and foremost to this end, is securing a stable and reliable broadband internet connection for all of my constituents.” He added that he would bring in grant money to fix out of date and damaged infrastructure.
As town supervisor, Tague said, he successfully lowered taxes in his first term and has fought against the heroin and opioid epidemic. He said he is also dedicated to providing close support and hosting forums throughout the district to bring together teachers and caretakers for people who suffer from mental disabilities or learning disorders.
“Creating a strong and robust support network for these brave individuals is one of the best things we can do to make their lives easier and give them as many opportunities as possible,” Tague said.
Tague also pointed to agriculture and a need to help local farmers.
“Local agriculture is the backbone of our economy and, having been a dairy farmer, I understand just how critical it is to all our livelihoods,” Tague added. “Giving farmers the latitude they need to operate and reducing state red-tape are central to our community.”
The 102nd Assembly District includes all of Greene and Schoharie counties; the town of Saugerties in Ulster County; the towns of Stockport and Stuyvesant in Columbia County; and parts of Otsego, Delaware and Albany counties.
Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The winner of the special election will serve out the remainder of Lopez’s twoyear term, which ends Dec. 31. They would have to run again in the coming November general election to keep the seat.
Lopez, first elected to the Assembly in 2006, stepped down after he was appointed Region 2 administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in September.
The winner of the special election will serve out the remainder of Lopez’s two-year term, which ends Dec. 31. They would have to run again in the coming November general election to keep the seat.