An Albany resident hopes to become the city’s next mayor, and he’s running with a punning motto.
Democratic Mayor Kathy Sheehan is not seeking a fourth term. Albany City Auditor Dorcey Applyrs was the first to formally jump into the race with an announcement in November 2023, well ahead of the key June Democratic primary this year. The next hat tossed in the ring was in January 2024 by political newcomer Dan Cerutti. And the third Democrat to declare a candidacy came in February: 1st district Albany County Legislator Carolyn McLaughlin, who ran for the post but finished third in the 2017 Democratic primary.
Enter Michael Crook. Neither a Democrat nor Republican, the 47-year-old freelance writer has lived in Albany since 2013.
“Originally, I'm from Southern New Jersey," said Crook. "My wife is actually the reason why I'm in upstate New York. She has family here. After we got married, she wanted to move back here, so we started off in Syracuse, and then we moved to be closer to her parents in Rome. And once my father in law passed away. We looked at Albany because she wanted to go back to school. So we moved in across from the SUNY campus, and her schooling is done now, but we've decided to stay put, because, I mean, for all its flaws, Albany is a wonderful place to live, and, you know, a wonderful place for people to come visit. And that's kind of why I wanted to kind of move, step forward and say, hey, ‘I want to do my part to give back and to see if I can make things better.’ So my background here is I've been here for, we've been here for over a decade, and I love it.”
Crook says with Sheehan's choice not to seek another term, he wants to be part of a plan to improve the city. He admits to having no political experience.
“My political experience is limited to student government in middle and high school. But as actual, tangible real, real world political experience, I do not have that experience. And that would actually be something that I would say is a good point or a good thing for our citizens. That they need or should have somebody in here who doesn't have political aspirations. I mean aspirations towards any given party. I think they need somebody who can look at it objectively,” Crook said.
While Crook says his goal is to make Albany a better city, he has a few unconventional planks in his political platform, including overhauling the police department and common council, cutting the number of city employees and abolishing the parking authority.
“I would certainly look at all departments, all facets really of the operation of the city. So if it comes down to it, yes, the city council might be an option to look at and say, you know, make sure that it's more representative of the city. As far as the parking authority, I feel that, I mean they, they do serve a purpose at this point, but at the same time, you know, it's a real inconvenience for the for the city residents, myself included, which is one of the reasons why I came forward to get into this race. We're having a big problem with neighborhoods having to park one day on this side, one day on the other side. And on my street, there's always the competition for parking spaces, given that you can't park this way on Monday or that way on Tuesday, I think that's very disruptive,” said Crook, who also bemoans the lack of affordable, decent housing. He'd take a close look at city finances including sales and property taxes, roll back the recently-imposed 25 mile per hour speed limit, and temper Albany's status as a Sanctuary City.
“Some people might think it's heartless, but we have to take a look at the people who are here illegally, no matter what their ethnic, racial background, whatever. I think that we need to take more of an aggressive move to, once our police officers encounter somebody in that status, then I think they should be have the ability to contact ICE and let them take over from there.”
Crook says he's looking forward to meeting residents when he begins petitioning and vows he'll be available for any and all debates and forums with other mayoral candidates, including Albany Common Council President Corey Ellis.
Crook said "Hey, what's one more crook in city government?"
Prior to settling down in Albany, Crook gained notoriety on the internet for filing numerous Digital Millenium Copyright Act complaints in the early 2000s. In a statement, Crook says he's moved on from that chapter in his life and is now "trying to turn a negative into a positive by trying to give something back instead of taking.”
