Democrat Sarah Rogerson faces an uphill battle in her challenge to one of the stalwarts of the Republican Party in the New York State Capitol. The attorney is seeking to unseat state Sen. Jim Tedisco in the 44th District, which encompasses Saratoga Springs and Clifton Park as well as parts of Schenectady.
With roughly three weeks until Election Day, Rogerson sat down with Southern Adirondack Bureau Chief Aaron Shellow-Lavine to discuss the campaign.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Editor's note: this conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Rogerson: Well, it's everything from gas and groceries on this larger national scale, all the way down to the utility bill that comes from National Grid in your mailbox every month, and that's about to get real interesting as we head into January and February.
So it seems like a perfect time for the state legislature to explore additional ways to curb a hike in all kinds of fuel costs from propane, which is sort of like a different system, but there are hidden costs in the delivery charges for that, and that hits our communities who are living in mobile homes.
We have the largest mobile home neighborhoods in upstate New York in this district, so everything from that to affordability also includes things like infrastructure. If it's more expensive to transport things because roads aren't working, or if the electrical grid needs updating, in addition to exploring climate-friendly alternative energy sources, we can do all those things at once. We can walk and chew gum, and we can deal with whatever the federal government is throwing at us, and really obstructing states like New York, who want to care for the most vulnerable and keeping them from doing that. We can elect leaders who are willing in New York State to push back because we have such a tradition of doing that in this state, and so I'm eager to tackle these challenges. They're big, they're thorny, and they go down.
Another thing that I really have to mention that's directly related to affordability is the rising cost of healthcare, and there are so many avenues to protecting the most vulnerable groups among us, while also making sure that middle and working class folks can get ahead instead of having to choose between gas and groceries every month, like they've been having to do for the last several months.
Shellow-Lavine: Housing affordability is one of those things that is always an issue, specifically in Saratoga County in particular. It's hard to find a place that is affordable to live. How would you want to try and address that issue in the assembly?
Rogerson: Yeah, there are. That's another area where there are multiple paths, right? We're looking at lots of different types of housing, looking at things. Carrie Woerner has explored this idea of historic homes in accordance with historic regulations, finding ways to upgrade those homes for habitability with climate friendly energy sources and importantly, union-backed labor. We have to make sure that when we're building housing, we're doing it with experts on site, not the highest, not the lowest bidder and the cheapest labor and imported laborers from who knows where. We really need to focus on shoring up those labor agreements to make sure that any affordable housing units, any new housing units, anything that's built in New York State is built the right way, so that we, as we're growing our housing stock and affordable housing stock, we're not building things to fall apart in 10 years.
Shellow-Lavine Another issue you mentioned it earlier: gas prices and utility prices sort of are interlinked. I know my national grid bill, as I am sure in the next couple of months, going to skyrocket. I'm trying to ready myself for that. As far as protecting New York consumers in this part of the state from these unclear utility costs, how would you want to approach that?
Rogerson: A fascinating thing that nobody's talking about yet, but we'll hear a lot about in February is that more than half of the commissioners who oversee these utility rate hikes, they're up for reconsideration, their seats are up for review, and so I think we have a lot of leverage at this point. If you're paying attention to the inner workings of state government, which is what your elected officials should be doing, that is exactly the type of leadership that we need. That we absolutely have not had in Senate District 44 for the better part of the last 40 years.
Shellow-Lavine: Another hot button issue that is again slowly showing itself right here in Saratoga Springs, throughout this district, certainly a little south of here in Albany and Troy, Flock cameras are a huge issue for constituents as far as personal safety, security, so on and so forth. What kind of role do you see the state playing in regulating this technology?
Rogerson: Like any technology, including AI, which we could spend a whole separate interview on, it's about finding the balance between the benefits of technology for things like public safety and for in the case of AI, the advancement of human knowledge, right?
But among other things, that has to be balanced against the the negative side of these technologies and in Flock cameras in particular, I'm deeply concerned as an attorney about warrantless searches — information that is handed over to the government by private entities, to be clear, that are not regulated in the same way that our public police and public safety officers are. This sort of under- or unregulated transfer of personal information, and people say, 'Well, if you aren't doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about.' That's not necessarily true. We've all heard stories of people being in the wrong place at the wrong times. I'm sure many folks have had to dispute a toll inappropriately charged to their license plate. Imagine if it's more than 57 cents or a buck and-a-half, and all of a sudden, you're an accomplice to something that you didn't even know was happening. So, never mind the public health implications for our neighbor states when we have — New York is a haven for reproductive care — and when we have people coming in from out of state in order to access life-saving treatment in many cases, and then they return to their home states. These Flock cameras in New York State are aiding and abetting unlawful prosecutions in other states like Texas that that are using these tools to punish women, to punish trans folks for obtaining care and gender affirming care in New York State.
Shellow-Lavine: So again, as a senator, what would you try to pursue, or at least be interested in discussing, to try and rein this technology in a little bit, or at least press the pause button on it?
Rogerson: The state legislature functions as a co-equal but separate branch of the government from the executive, right? And we see different times where the attorney general and the executive side is paying close attention. The legislature can play a role in that too, by amplifying the issue that they're hearing from their constituents, collaborating with other like-minded districts who are sharing the same concerns with their elected officials, and then exploring what oversight opportunities are available either through a committee in the state senate to bring in executives and hold them to account to make them answer hard questions about their business practices and data sharing in the in the case of Flock cameras, but also in the case of medical conglomerates that are buying up smaller and more rural care facilities. This is happening in Schenectady. This has happened in Schenectady with the Ellis Hospital and St. Peter's merger falling through, and now St. Peter's slapping non-competes on all of our cardiologists. These business practices are not people-centered, and the state legislature has a lot of power to return the focus back to the people that are directly impacted by these business practices.
Shellow-Lavine: There's this is sort of tangential — I'll make the connection here. A lot of folks who are very concerned about solar farms here, especially in this part of the state, drawing back to what you just said, are raising concerns that what the state is doing is essentially forcing these panels in and really clearing the way for these panels to go where maybe they ought not to, while there are other locations that could be more ideal.
Again, the argument being that they're not as people-centered focused. Folks at the Capitol, like Carrie Woerner, have pitched ways to ease solar panel developments in more already developed areas. Is that something that you're interested in? What else are you approaching the very large issue of solar panels with as we approach Election Day?
Rogerson: Yeah, there are lots of win-win proposals that are out there. Carrie Woerner is certainly championing many of them. We need to look at existing canopies. That's like the term of art. Like wherever we already have built infrastructure that we can put solar panels on top of, we don't have to go into areas like Charlton, where I hear this come up, where there are big swaths of farmland and people, honestly, because of some of the federal government's cuts, who are struggling to keep their family farms afloat, and then they're offered these huge checks by solar companies to come in, and there are a lot of farms that are standing up to these big corporations and saying, 'No, not on our farm,' and that is totally appropriate when there are other places that maybe might be more expensive for these companies to figure out how to build on. But that's their chosen occupation. That's what they're there to do. So there are ways that the state can make sure that these localized concerns are amplified at the same volume as the solar panel companies that are are looking to develop, and I'm not saying that these companies don't have a place in the district. Of course they do, and of course I would be in favor of measures that support additional solar opportunities. The question for residents that I'm hearing from constituents directly is, it really, really matters what the details are.
Nothing makes me more angry as an advocate than when we have state laws passed that don't make sense because not everybody affected was heard in the process, and we like to think it doesn't happen as often in New York as it does in other states, and that's true. But currently, we don't have anyone in this seat who is paying attention as closely to the residents that are impacted by these increased utility costs, and instead is taking money from those utility companies in campaign donations, at exactly the time that we need to really create some distance between us and the profit that's happening in this district, and return some of the voice back to the people.
Shellow-Lavine: Your family has been impacted by gun violence. You have a relationship with the issue at hand. New York already has many laws on the books regulating access to guns, so on and so forth. What's missing currently, in your view, at the state level?
Rogerson: Sen. Bottcher was able to get another law passed that made sure that parents who are gun owners bear more of the responsibility for keeping those firearms safe and in safe storage and away from children or others who might use those firearms for bad purposes.
In my case, it's my nephew who is a surviving victim of the Oxford, Michigan school shooting, and safe storage was directly at issue in that case as well. The parents not only allegedly purchased the firearm for their child, which was unlawful because he was not of the appropriate age or lawful age to to carry a firearm, but also completely failed to store it, left the factory setting on the storage unit, which totally enabled and allowed that child who was not stable and was not receiving the services and care that he needed to take four of his classmates' lives and injure many others, so I side with responsible gun owners on this.
This is an issue, especially in our district where we have a lot of hunting, we have a lot of recreational firearms use. I myself took a pistol permitting class at the Clifton Park Rod and Gun Club — this was a while back — and forked over my money to the NRA because they have a lock on these training programs. But I wanted to learn. If I'm going to speak intelligently about this issue, I need to know the component parts of these firearms and how they operate and what the market looks like. And I think keeping a close eye.
Another issue aside from safe safe storage, which I've been championing while I was on the school board in Niskayuna, and now that information, the Be Smart program goes out to all parents at the beginning of the school year. Another aspect of this is holding gun sellers and manufacturers accountable. When you deal in inherently dangerous goods, you should have a close eye on you in terms of where those are going, where they're being trafficked to, what sort of background checks you're engaging in, and whether you're doing that in good faith. Those are key concerns for me, and there's a lot more that can be done in terms of holding gun manufacturers and gun sellers accountable in the state of New York.
Shellow-Lavine: We're towards the end of my list of questions. I would be remiss if I just didn't throw this one past you. It is hard to ignore, and it's something that we talked about the last time you were here.
Jim Tedisco has been in office in some form or another in this part of the world for I think it's almost 50 years at this point, if not actually 50 years, that's a long time. People know him. People know what he is, what he does. How have you been setting yourself apart as an alternative to the last 50 years of Jim Tedisco?
Rogerson: What the community is reflecting back to me, which is really kind of an honor, is that they've seen me active in the community. I have been focused on the same things that people in this district have cared about for years and years in a meaningful way. They have seen me at large gatherings of folks who are speaking out against, whether it's unlawful business practices, the health industry and preserving our birthing centers, and whether it is on behalf of our immigrant neighbors pushing back against federal overreach that's really impacting U.S. citizens and all of us, in addition to folks with unsettled immigration status, and from gun violence to our schools to funding. I have been in the conversation, so when I talk with folks, they're like, 'Yes, I remember you from this, that, or the other thing.' And when they reflect on my opponent, they say, 'Well, yeah, he was at this ribbon cutting. He supported this little league team.' And there's nothing wrong with supporting your community, but at this moment in history and in this specific time when we have eroding faith in government institutions, we need to see our leaders more visible, more present.
And this situation, for example, between Ellis and St. Peter's has been brewing for five, six years. And I heard this morning at a community conversation overheard that my opponent is now calling for investigations for things to happen. Well, what about the last five-six years in Massachusetts? They passed a law in the state legislature banning non competes in these public health settings. Why don't we have that? Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara in Schenectady, introduced a bill that would do that. We need a fighter on the Senate side who will link up with good friends like Carrie Woerner and Angelo Santabarbara and all these folks who are doing good work in our community and really bring results for the things that people care about, as opposed to taking credit when it's convenient. We need votes in favor of funding. We need votes in favor of social services, not votes against. At the end of the day, that's your one job: is to make sure that the support that's available from the state makes it to your community, irrespective of your personal beliefs. And that's just not happening. Increasingly, we've had 40-plus years of Republican ownership of this seat that hasn't gotten us very far in State Senate District 44.
WAMC has also reached out to state Sen. Jim Tedisco to discuss the race ahead of Election Day.
