Former Democratic State Senator Carl Andrews represented Brooklyn for two terms starting 20 years ago, he was in far northern New York on Thursday. An aide to then-Governors Spitzer and Paterson, Andrews attended a North Country Chamber breakfast as local leaders from Plattsburgh and Clinton County delivered their annual addresses. In an interview with WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley, Andrews explained what brought him to Plattsburgh: the nascent cannabis industry.
Plattsburgh has a very good power source, the water and the falls and everything, and it has from what I just found out from Garry and the Chamber of Commerce (Garry Douglas, President and CEO of the North Country Chamber of Commerce) the lowest electrical billing in the United States. And when you have to grow indoor in a state like New York because you can’t grow year-round outdoor you need not only a good location but you need a good source of water and power. And Plattsburgh fits all those three boxes.
Would this be the only location that you’d be doing cannabis operations in the state?
No. We’re looking at a lot of locations but this is where we would look at to be doing our growing and processing of cannabis.
Is the closeness to the Canadian border a factor at all? I know that the federal government still considers marijuana and such illegal but this is something completely different. So is the border situation here of interest to you at all?
No and yes. In the sense that because it’s not legal in the United States, federally, we cannot associate with other countries and let alone states outside of the state that you’re working in. But with the anticipation that because a country like Canada has it legal and eventually if the United States figures out how to really take care of the banking component because that’s the major hold up as far as making it legal, plus the fact of changing it from a felony and a Class 2 kind of situation, once those two things are dealt with I can see that the United States will make it legal and then this might even be a better position to be you know be at, a better location to be positioned in.
Mr. Andrews, I’m going to switch a little bit to politics. You were in state government for many years.
Don’t hold that against me now.
Have you been following the Democratic and Republican campaigns and the people that are running for governor?
Yes I have, of course. It should be an interesting year as always in New York state. Governor Hochul has come in and she’s doing a very good job. And I know that the Republican Party just nominated their candidate for governor so it should be an interesting year in New York state and around the country.
Are you going to support Democrat Kathy Hochul?
I will be supporting Democrat Kathy Hochul and as many Democrats as I can around the country.
Why do you believe Kathy Hochul is the best Democrat for governor and not just because she’s the incumbent?
Well she has a long history of working in the state, of working up in the county of Erie County in Buffalo. And also I believe she was a member of Congress for a little while. And also lieutenant governor for several terms. So she has a very clear understanding of New York state. Having also worked for two governors myself, with three governors including Mario Cuomo – Andrew Cuomo’s father, I know a little bit about state government and how hard it is. And when you have somebody who understands and has experience it’s a lot easier for them to transition into that position as opposed to someone who’s totally outside that realm of knowledge and experience.
What do you anticipate from the Republicans this year and do you think they have a chance of taking the gubernatorial seat even though you’re supporting Kathy Hochul?
Well I would tell anyone who is involved in politics and especially anybody who wants to run for any office statewide I remember way back when Governor Mario Cuomo was running for reelection and a young man at the time who was a state senator, Senator, I guess it was Pataki, he was from Peekskill. And I remember one point in time Mario Cuomo was ahead by 38 points in the polls when they first started out. So in politics, in horse racing and in a lot of other gambling, in competitive situations never take anything for granted. And even though this is a democratic state and one would assume that Miss Hochul or whoever has the Democratic nomination will be in a good position to win you still have to get the voters out to vote. We saw what happened in Virginia for example. So you can’t take anything for granted and you must work hard and campaign and ask for every vote from all 62 counties of the state.”
Former New York State Senator and executive branch aide Carl Andrews speaking with WAMC’s North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley.
