Three vie for Walsh's seat
Brighton-Pittsford Post
Alex Bauer
October 28th, 2008
http://www.mpnnow.com/news/x1157500047/Three-vie-for-Walsh-s-seat
Bloomfield, N.Y. -- The one thing voters in the sprawling 25th U.S. Congressional District can be certain of come Nov. 4 is that they'll be represented by someone new starting early next year.
Democrat Dan Maffei, Republican Dale Sweetland and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins are vying for the seat held by retiring Congressman Jim Walsh, R-Syracuse, who was first elected to represent the district in 1988. The winner will serve a two-year term and earn an annual salary of $165,200.
Walsh is a Syracuse native, and the three challengers all hail from that neck of the woods.
Seventy percent of the 25th District, redrawn in 2002, encompasses Onondaga County. It also includes about 60 percent of Irondequoit, Webster, part of Penfield, Wayne County and the northern tip of Cayuga County.
Maffei entered the race with some name recognition. He opposed Walsh in 2006, coming within a few thousand votes of unseating the long-term incumbent.
"Right after the election, Walsh started holding town hall-style meetings again for the first time in 10 years and re-evaluated his position on the war," Maffei said. "After he made all those changes, I was sure he was running again."
Sweetland has experience not only as a three-term (six-year) supervisor of the town of Fabius near Syracuse, but also as a 14-year Onondaga County legislator. He was chairman of the county Legislature his last five years in office.
Both Sweetland and Maffei said what the district needs is a representative who will listen to and tackle their issues.
Hawkins has also opposed Walsh in the past. Democrats had challenged the validity of signatures on his petitions, but the state Board of Elections determined he had more than enough to be on the ballot.
A California native, Hawkins moved to Syracuse in 1991, is a member of the Teamsters Union and works for UPS.
A brief look, in alphabetical order, at the three candidates follows:
Hawkins
Raised in California and a former Marine, Hawkins lived in New England for 20 years before moving to Syracuse to become director of CommonWorks, a federation of cooperatives working for an economy that is cooperatively owned, democratically controlled, and ecologically sustainable.
He now works unloading trucks and rail cars at UPS, where he is a member of Teamsters Local 317 and active in groups like U.S. Labor Against the War and Teamsters for a Democratic Union.
He also ran for mayor of Syracuse in 2005 and has run on the Peace and Justice Party line with Ralph Nader. He was a co-founder of the Green Party in the U.S. in 1984.
Hawkins says this election is about "the people versus giant corporations."
"The basic issue is whether Congress will begin to support average people or continue to look after the interests of the super-rich and the giant corporations," he said. He promises to be an independent voice in Congress.
Maffei
It was just four years ago, Maffei said, "That I sort of looked at the world and saw a war I didn't really believe was making us safer, but thousands were going over there. I also saw an economy that was sluggish and factories moving out ... and felt I really wanted do something."
Maffei has a bachelor's degree in history from Brown University and a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. He started his career in broadcast journalism in Watertown and Syracuse, but eventually returned to school to study government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
He is the senior vice president of Pinnacle Capital Management, LLC, a financial firm in Syracuse.
Since he was raised in Syracuse, where he attended Nottingham High School, Maffei said he is familiar with his district.
"My grandmother had cousins in Irondequoit ... I knew Seabreeze (amusement park)," he said.
His issues are "fixing" tax and trade laws that prompt companies to move, focusing on promoting small business and job growth, and making connections with the many universities in the district.
If elected, he said he will strive to stay in touch with constituents and that he has no aspirations for higher office.
Maffei turned 40 this year and was married in July.
Prior to running for office, Maffei spent 10 years working in Washington, D.C. for U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey and the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York. He also worked for Congressman Charles Rangle as a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee staff.
"The next Congressman is going to have to hit the ground running," he said. "I see my time in Washington as an asset."
Sweetland
After working for 25 years as a dairy farmer Sweetland in 1997 went to work managing a division for an insurance company. He now does consulting work for the crop insurance industry.
He said he's running for Congress to tackle "big issues" like energy, the economy, health care and education.
"None of the current crises occurred overnight," he said. "Congress just avoided them."
He'd like to see rules of the House changed. For instance, he says congressmen shouldn't have the ability to add "pork" for their own districts to legislation that is not theirs.
He'd also like to see the U.S. drill for and use its own oil and invest in alternative, renewable technologies.
When it comes to education, he would like to see that all college credits are "wholly transferable" and create a national standard.
He also advocates "a guest worker program that makes sense" for farmers.
"I'd like to see Congress lead us in a direction we've never been led before," Sweetland said. "Government has to reset its priorities."
He says his experience at the county level of government would be a benefit in Washington.
"I don't think congressmen pay attention enough; they live in their own world," Sweetland said.
"They're more concerned about reelection than serving the people they represent."
A native of Fabius, Sweetland, 59, attended SUNY Cobleskill. He and his wife of 36 years have a 32-year-old daughter and 30-year-old son.
Includes reporting by Messenger Post staffer Mike Maslanik. Contact Linda Quinlan at (585) 394-0770, Ext. 350, or at lquinlan@messengerpostmedia.com.
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