12/10/07 - County leaders to be decided

With a slim Democratic majority in the county Legislature, it is unclear who will fill leadership positions

(As published by Cortland Standard, Evan Geibel reporting)

There’s plenty of wheeling and dealing left before the county Legislature picks its leadership positions for 2008-09 at the beginning of January.

The Democrats have a slim 10-9 majority, and whether they can all rally behind a single member of their party for the chairmanship will determine how the Republicans play their hand.

The organizational meeting to vote on the leadership positions — including the chairman, majority and minority leaders, clerk of the Legislature and county attorney — has been scheduled for Jan. 3.

Two Democrats, Carol Tytler (3rd Ward) and John Daniels (Cortlandville) are actively pursuing the chairmanship while a third, Sandy Price (Harford and Virgil), hopes for a leadership position as chair or majority leader.

Last week, Daniels said he had spoken with both Democratic and Republican legislators and said they had been “supportive.”

Daniels said he believes Republicans would be willing to support his bid. “I think I can work better with both parties,” than Tytler could, Daniels said. “I believe that you have to listen to all parties before you can make a decisions … I know a lot of the Republicans have ideas that they’ve brought forth, and I think that we should be looking at those.”

While Tytler chose not to respond directly, she did say she thinks she has demonstrated strong leadership skills on the ad hoc land use committee and the planning sub-committee on flooding, and that she worked within a bipartisan framework in both instances.

“I would say my hat is in the ring,” Tytler said Monday. “I have been talking with my fellow legislators, as well as the legislators that are going to be coming in.”

Her energies are focused on the chairman position, and Tytler said she has talked with both new and returning legislators about goals for the next Legislature.

The Democrats have yet to hold a caucus to discuss the leadership positions, Price said, and that will dictate her actions in the future.

No caucus dates for the Democrats have been set.