Constituent work rewarding
Schmitt reflects on his term in Assembly
Colin Schmitt spent a weekend with the National Guard in the midst of his re-election campaign. When he returned, he was eager to describe the physical fitness test he had passed on the first try. He was also surprised at how quickly time was passing. October 19 was just five days away from the start of early voting.
Mr. Schmitt’s first term seemed to pass quickly. The most significant event of the two years was the spread of COVID-19. The new Assemblyman heard from hundreds of people with related concerns. They may have been worried about their health, business or food insecurity.
Mr. Schmitt was glad they turned to him for assistance. “It’s personally rewarding,” he said as we sat in his campaign headquarters in Vails Gate.
“When you help a person, you change their world. If you can help one person each day, you’re living a life worth living.”
Constituent service is just a part of the job. We were interested to know Mr. Schmitt’s legislative priorities. He started with a measure he does not support. He is opposed to bail reform, believing it’s made our streets more dangerous and our communities less safe. He’s also opposed to any reduction in support for the police. “No matter what,” he said, “the first ones to show up are always the cops.”
He arrived in Albany in 2019 as one of the youngest members of the legislature. His goal was to promote “Hudson Valley values and get real results for constituents.” As we spoke further, there was evidence of what that means.
Mr. Schmitt said his top priority was getting additional funding to insure the quality of water. He sponsored the Orange County Preservation Act, which passed the Assembly and is waiting for approval from the Senate. He said the act would give communities “the tools they need to keep Orange County the way we know it.”
The Assemblyman favors a property tax freeze for seniors, a sentiment that was reinforced during the pandemic. He also supports additional aid for education. He said that representatives from New York City are unfamiliar with the problems we face in trying to get a school budget passed while keeping property taxes at an acceptable level. “The Hudson Valley can be easily overlooked.”
The Assemblyman has been calling on constituents – urging them to vote and learning what was on their minds. “COVID is still the number one issue,” he said. “And it takes a number of different paths.
Keeping everyone healthy is a priority, but we need to be concerned about our economy.” Mr. Schmitt is a Republican. He has the backing of four other parties.
Challenger is proud to run
Bhandarkar wants change in education funding
Back in February, Sarita Bhandarkar decided to run for the Assembly. “We’ll help you go door to door,” several people promised. Then the pandemic struck and the first-time candidate had to change her approach. Reaching out was difficult, but she didn’t regret her decision. She was glad she was running.
What made her enter the political arena? Part of the incentive came from professional experience. She’s an attorney focusing on elder law, Medicaid, and special needs planning. She proudly mentions that she started her own practice on Main Street in Cornwall three years ago.
Many of her clients were middle class people who had worked very hard. “It was troubling to see people who could lose everything they have,” Ms. Bhandarkar said. “So I asked myself, ‘How do I get to the next level to help them?”
The attorney answered her own question by becoming a candidate for the 99th Assembly District.
And if she was elected, there was something else she hoped to accomplish. It was related to the changes in her childhood home.
She was raised in Wawayanda when that part of the county was still rural. Today the neighborhood has changed. Most of Sarita’s former neighbors have an unobstructed view of the CPV Power Plant. Some of them welcomed the project, because it would generate tax revenue and help them pay school taxes.
“Schools shouldn’t be funded through property taxes,” the candidate says. It places a burden on people with fixed incomes, and it fosters projects that might otherwise be turned down. (About a dozen years ago a Cornwall committee, chaired by Supervisor Richard Randazzo, reached the same conclusion.)
Ms. Bhandarkar has shared her message on Zoom and will be releasing videos as we get closer to Election Day. While she hasn’t knocked on many doors, she did visit her neighbors on Main Street.
Many small business owners told her they were afraid of another lockdown. They said that, unless money is coming from the government, they won’t be able to survive.
Ms. Bhandarkar also got input from a survey she distributed earlier in the year. People told her that they needed help paying for child care. She cited one example of an autistic son, who was unable to learn remotely, and a father who had to report to an essential job.
If Ms. Bhandarkar wins the election, she will be embarking on her third career. Before she was an attorney, she was a teacher. The experience helped her gain the endorsement of NYSUT (New York State Union of Teachers). She is running on the Democratic and Working Families Lines.
