A longtime fixture of Capital Region politics was honored on Friday, December 27th. Pat Casale, a former seven-term New York State Assemblyman, died in 2022 at age 87. The Republican also served as Rensselaer County Clerk and as mayor and city councilor in Troy.
State and local officials unveiled signage in Troy designating State Route 40 as the “Assemblyman Pat M. Casale Memorial Highway.”
Legislation to rename the roadway was sponsored by State Senator Jake Ashby. WAMC’s Lucas Willard spoke with the 43rd district Republican about Casale and other legislative priorities...
Well, Assemblyman Casale was certainly someone that I looked up to. I never had the opportunity to work directly with him. He was my Assemblyman when I was a kid growing up, and I, in fact, remember him sending me letters of congratulations and notes after, you know, I had a good basketball game, or something else you know going on in our in our lives. And he was just that type of politician. He was that type of leader that looked for the good going on in his district and wanted to recognize people who were going out of their way to make their hometown and in their area a better place. And, you know, that's something that I think we should all strive to do as elected leaders. There's certainly a lot of negativity and things that we are combating right now. And sometimes I think we miss opportunities to look, look to people out there who are really trying to make a difference and make it a better place.
Now, right now, as we're speaking, the new year is just a few days away, and the push is on at the capitol right now for the governor to sign legislation or veto legislation. Is there anything that is still pending that you have your Ian that you either want to see signed or something that you want to see vetoed?
Well, you know, to be honest, the governor just signed Staff Sergeant Alex Jimenez family legacy bill last week, and I can tell you that that was something that we had been working on for years. My office introduced that when we were in the Assembly during the first term, I believe we drafted it, and then I think we introduced it in 2020, or right before and that. That piece of legislation has been kind of a hallmark of what we stand for in terms of bipartisanship and addressing tough issues in in a civil and direct way. You know, what it would do, or what it's going to do now that it's been signed into law, is provide resources for family members of service members who are who are undocumented, the pathway to citizenship already exists for them at the federal level, but there's no state in the nation that provides the resources for them to pursue it. This bill provides just that, and it passed the legislature unanimously four times. The governor vetoed it once before, she did not veto it again this year. She signed it. So, we're really very excited to see this legislation pass, and really look forward to it being implemented, because I think it's going to help a lot of people.
One of the larger measures that the governor just signed was the Climate Change Superfund Act, and that would require fossil fuel companies, other industry, to be held liable for the effects of climate change. How do you feel about this? Do you see any negative consequences from the Climate Change Superfund Act?
Well, I think that what our state needs to focus on right now is affordability and how we are pursuing our energy goals and the direction that we are currently on right now, we are not on track. So, you know this, this dogged pursuit for headlines rather than reasonable policy is going to continue to backfire. And you know, I would hope that the governor would recognize this as our state continues to lead the nation in population loss. And I think this is one of the reasons
Do you have any legislative priorities in the new year coming up?
Of course. I mean, we want to see the Department of Veterans Services be fully outfitted. We want to see property tax reduction. We ultimately want to see New York state again become a place where people want to stay and want to raise their family, start a business. We need to really take a look at what's causing people leaving this state at such a rapid rate and adjust. And you know, this can be done. This is not, you know, this is not rocket science. We can do this. Other states have turned it around. Other localities have turned it around. New York State is really no different in that, but we need to be able to work together as a legislature and with the executive branch in order to make that happen.
The Dunn dump over in Rensselaer has had its permit renewed from the DEC, although there have been some changes to that…reducing the operating hours for when the dump can accept truckloads of waste. And there's been a lot of concerns, obviously, over the last 10 years in Rensselaer. What do you think of the permit renewal for the Dunn dump in Rensselaer?
I think the timing of the decision to come out with that was absolutely horrible, and I don't agree with the decision. Myself and Assemblyman John McDonald have raised numerous concerns with this. We've been meeting with local leaders, DOH and DEC and I understand that there are new restrictions coming down on this, but I think there are still a lot of unanswered questions, and we're going to get to the bottom of that.
Now, I wanted to zoom out a little bit to Congress, if you don't mind, Senator. In the race for NY-21 as Elise Stefanik is President Elect Trump's pick to be ambassador to the UN, there's been a number of individuals who have expressed their interest in the run. And most recently, I think your Senate colleague, Dan Stec, has confirmed that he's looking to run for the position. Do you have any thoughts about the field of candidates that have emerged so far for the 21st Congressional District? Where's your head at?
Well, you know, I think that Senator Stec would make a great congressman, but ultimately, it's going to be up to those committee chairs. And of course, Elise's opinion is, is going to heavily weigh on that as well. So, you know, I think there's, a lot of great candidates out there, and I look forward to the process taking shape and looking to see who it is.
So no endorsements from yourself yet, huh?
Not at this time.
All right, Senator, and anything else that you're looking forward to as we head towards the next legislative session in New York?
I just want to focus on making New York a better state and reducing population loss. And I think there's a host of issues that go into that, in terms of affordability, criminal justice, the regulatory environment, and really the political division that we see, I think, is a large stumbling block. So, we're going to be, we're going to go into this in a determined fashion, as we always do, and really make the best of it.
