9th LD Race - 10/20/07

9th Legislative District — Candidates call for taxpayer savings

(As published by Cortland Standard, Corey Preston reporting)

One of the Legislature’s staunchest conservative voices will square off with a Democratic challenger with strong ties to the community in the race for the legislative seat in Homer’s expansive 9th District.

Both incumbent Republican Newell Willcox, who lives on Route 281 in the northern portion of Homer, and Democratic challenger Jeff Currie, who lives on East River Road in the southeast portion of the town, offered ways to save the county and taxpayers money, and stressed that communication with constituents and the community at large were key.

Currie, 37, and an electrician, said he had been compelled to run after he heard numerous complaints from neighbors along East River Road about garbage falling out of passing trucks and littering the road.

“I called three different agencies and I didn’t get anywhere — the third person I called switched me back to the first,” Currie said, noting that he wound up cleaning up the garbage himself.

Willcox, who is 81 and owns Willcox Tire on Tompkins Street in Cortland, said he felt he had represented the 9th District well in his four years as a legislator.

“I think I’ve basically been kind of a watchdog for this Legislature, and I’d like to continue,” said Willcox, noting that, at times he’s been “a minority even in my own party” during his time on the Legislature.

Willcox said he would like to see the Legislature look to cut the county’s budget, either by going line by line or by requiring each department head to cut 2 to 3 percent from its budget.

Currie agreed that spending is a concern, and said that one way he envisioned the county saving money was seeking more energy efficiency in its buildings.

“That’s something I’d be pushing for … if the county really got into energy management and learned to cut some corners, we could save a lot of money,” he said.

Currie was critical of the current Legislature for its handling of the aborted south Main Street land deal, saying more communication with the public from the start was needed.

“I’m not really in tune with exactly what happened there but I think that Newell Willcox probably should have been more in tune with it,” he said.

Willcox has said numerous times that he felt left out of the loop on the project, and that he was not informed of the deal until the project was announced to the public.