Former town of Plattsburgh Supervisor Michael Cashman won a special election in November to fill the term of former New York 115th District Assemblyman D. Billy Jones. Since he was elected, Cashman, a Democrat, has been setting up his regional offices, hiring staff and preparing for the legislative session. In a conversation with North Country Bureau Chief Pat Bradley this week, Cashman says his priority is to make sure North Country voices are heard in Albany:
It's about building relationships. It's about making sure that I'm taking the time and attention to focus on the committee work. I'm on agriculture. I'm on tourism, on veterans and also chairing the New York Canadian Task Force.
You mentioned that you've been assigned to three committees: Agriculture, Tourism Parks and Sports Development and Veterans Affairs. Were those the committees you sought to serve on?
They were. There certainly are other committees that I would also like to serve on and, in time, I hope to be able to secure a seat on some additional committees. So we'll see what happens.
What are those committees that you would eventually like to serve on?
Our district has so many needs. I mean, it's everything from health to aging to local government. I mean, I could go on and on.
House Speaker Carl Heastie appointed you chair of the Task Force on New York Canada Relations. Obviously, having been town supervisor, you understand how important that is for the communities across New York state's border. How do you plan to relate that importance to assembly members who are not near the Canadian border?
Yeah, that's a great question Pat and the work has to be done from an advantage point where it's just not border communities that need to understand the importance of the New York-Canadian relationship. There is an economic influence, but there's a social influence, and I'm hoping that the membership of the task force will be reflective of New York State. So having some folks from New York City, some folks from Buffalo, etc., and that we continue to focus on the needs of, you know, our golf courses and our hotels and our small businesses, but also the social fabric that connects us as friends.
Michael Cashman, you have also been concerned about prison closures across the region, even when you were town supervisor, Plattsburgh town supervisor.
That’s correct.
How do you plan to address that in the assembly and get the governor's office even to realize the implications of prison closures in the North Country?
The way that I look at it is safety should be a lens that we're looking at things. Our correction officers need to have a safe work environment, as well as those folks that are employees of DOT. All state employees need to have safe work environments. So we need to start there. The other part to it is, I hope to have some of my colleagues around the state come up to the North Country and to go to some of the facilities, as well as other areas throughout the district, and do a listen learn, ah, listen and learn tour for those individuals that understand the complexities and the needs and hear it directly from folks.
The session is starting and you already have two bills ready to go. What are they and why are you so quickly submitting them?
Yeah, so it's rather unprecedented that an individual that's coming in from a special election has had the opportunity to get some bills moved forward and the two bills that I introduced address North Country needs and North Country problems. The first bill addresses the electric rates and the infrastructure providing consumer protections and what people are often referring to as the hidden fees. This bill proposes putting caps, providing new auditing mechanisms to hold the companies accountable and recovery costs should we find the companies are not meeting the standard that protect the consumers. The second bill that's being referred to as Rita is a act for regional equity. The inspiration came from the electrification goals for New York State. There is a full recognition by everyone up here that the electrification goals for New York State are unrealistic. The grid cannot meet the goals. The goals of the electric busses are unrealistic, from the cost to the infrastructure to the small rural bridges that the busses would need to go on. So what this bill does is sets for bills to move forward and to take effect the region's capacity needs to be accounted for. And an example is how New York State has approached the minimum wage. There's a minimum wage that is different downstate versus upstate. The North Country needs North Country solutions for North Country problems.
Michael Cashman, the session is starting like less than two months from when you were elected. So I'm curious, as you've been going down to Albany and set your office up, what's the most surprising thing you've learned about the state assembly?
I don't know if it's surprising, but things have been certainly reaffirmed. New York State is very bureaucratic. From my own onboarding as an assemblyman to the process by which we need to get bills filed, etc. I'm really proud to have filed my first two bills. I’ve gotten the committee assignments. There's a lot more work to be done and I promise to be tireless in my approach.
115th District Democrat Michael Cashman served as town of Plattsburgh supervisor for nearly 10 years before his election to the New York State Assembly.
