Upstate senator gets top leadership post
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- January
- 8
Sen. David Valesky, D-Oneida, Madison County, whose name was followed by “TBD” on the new Senate Democratic majority conference’s committee leadership list earlier this week, was appointed today as vice president pro tempore of the Senate. As the highest-ranking senator from upstate New York, he will pay special attention to upstate issues and will serve as an ex-officio member of every Senate committee. He will receive $34,000 on top of the $79,500 base annual legislative salary for his troubles.
Most Senate Democrats are from New York City, Long Island and Westchester County, so being seen as focused on economic development and other special needs of upstate New York is important to the Democratic conference. Most senators who represent parts of upstate are Republicans.
Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens, said in a news release that a priority for the conference is revitalizing cities like Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo so they again become economic engines. Smith was in Syracuse, a stop on an upstate tour following his election as head of the Senate yesterday. He was headed to Rochester and Buffalo as part of his upstate swing.
“Moving forward, Senate Democrats are committed to working with local communities to develop a plan to get Upstate back on track. The task at hand is to attract businesses back, keep our kids here in the communities they grow up in, and a job waiting for them after they graduate,” Smith said.
Some economic-development proposals under consideration for upstate include:
—Using the many natural advantages of upstate, such as open space, diverse agriculture, and waterways, to expand and develop new alternative energies and secure upstate as the green energy jobs and technology hub of the Northeast.
—Constructing high speed rail that would better connect urban and rural communities and foster increased trade.
—Retrofitting existing manufacturing companies to meet the needs of future technology to prevent a further loss of jobs.
—Linking rural agriculture with city consumers and promoting New York-produced and built products in neighboring states.
—Cleaning up brownfields to get these properties back on the tax rolls and available for business.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 12:04 pm by Cara Matthews.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
Pure window dressing. The Governor, Speaker of the Assembly and now the Senate Majority Leader are all Democratic Party office holders from New York City. The big losers in the 2008 election were Long Island and Upstate New York. Now the Democratic Party can concentrate on gaining seats in Upstate and Long Island districts. Afterall, they own New York City where the Republican Party is non-existent and irrevelant.