October 31, 2019
Conversations with UUP members running for public office this year reveal reasons for taking on this often-thankless task that are as varied as the members themselves.
One is running to give something back to his hometown. Others are on the ballot out of a sense of gratitude for having a good job with strong union benefits. Still others believe that if anything is ever to change, you might have to be the one to change it.
Threaded through these stories is a recurring theme: the sense of surprise that comes with doing something that many people talk about, but which very few people ever do.
In interviews with UUP Communications Specialist Darryl McGrath, five first-time candidates—all UUP members—talked about what it’s been like on the campaign trail. The offices they seek would put them on a rural county legislature, the city council of a major upstate city, the governing bodies of two small towns, and the U.S. House of Representatives.
It’s about access
Binghamton Chapter member Angela Riley, above, is fed up with seeing the system work against poor people in Binghamton.
“The biggest issue in our city is poverty,” said Riley, who is running for an open seat on the city council. The city has good agencies and services to help people with career readiness, but too few people know about them, she said. Add the cost and availability of child care to the mix, and “it’s a deadly spiral,” Riley said.
“Overwhelmingly, I’ve heard, ‘I’m getting out of there because I can’t get to work,’” Riley said.
The bleak picture Riley outlines has been documented by U.S. Census statistics, which reveal that the median household income in Binghamton is $31,103, and the poverty rate is 33.3 percent.
Riley joined UUP almost as soon as she started at Binghamton University in February 2016. She comes from a strong union background; many family members are current or former unionized employees with the U.S. Postal Service. At Binghamton, she is an assistant dean and executive director for experiential education at the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
“I realized that the best way to advocate for the population was to have a seat at the table,” she said.
CLICK HERE to view Riley's campaign website.
In it to win it
Many first-time candidates aim for a small local or regional seat. Not Nancy Goroff, above, a Stony Brook Chapter member who is challenging the incumbent for the 1st Congressional District. A political unknown, she exudes confidence in a campaign where she places strong focus on the environment, climate change and health care.
The 1st District election will not take place until November 2020, but Goroff is already three months into her candidacy, which she started planning late last year. She took a leave of absence from her position as a chemistry professor, and she is campaigning full time now.
“I’ve been involved with advocacy issues for a long time,” she said in explaining what galvanized her to run. “Now, I don’t feel like that’s enough.”
A UUP member for 22 years, she says the health benefits she has enjoyed at Stony Brook have only heightened her awareness of how many people struggle to attain decent benefits through their work.
“I do value the union, and as chair of my department, I saw the value not only of my union, but CSEA and the student unions,” she said. “I really saw the value of union benefits. The salary and contractual increases—those things are so important.”
She is not daunted at the thought of another year of campaigning.
“I think the biggest surprise to me is how much fun it has been,” Goroff said. “It feels so right. This is a long haul, but so far it’s been terrific.”
CLICK HERE to view Goroff's campaign website.
Doing it himself
Reynolds Jones, above, has lived in the Montgomery County village of St. Johnsville for seven years, and “the problem is, where we are, the entire area is collapsing,” he said. “There’s been a shrinkage of population since 1950.”
And then some. The Cornell Program on Applied Demographics projects that by next year, the Montgomery County population will have decreased by 16 percent since 1950—from 59,142 t0 49,448.
“The county as a whole, as far as I can see, is doing nothing about this,” Jones, a longtime UUP activist and Empire State College Chapter member said. “When I contacted my [county] legislator and asked him what he intended to do about this, he never responded. So, I’m running against him.”
County District 1, the seat that Jones seeks, is a largely rural farming economy. The district has a sizable Amish population, which Jones sees as a strong asset to the region because those relative newcomers are keeping farms active that might otherwise have been abandoned. Jones knows that if he wins, he will have to develop a plan that will allow the county’s economy to diversify and attract business investment.
Jones is an Empire State College Chapter professional and longtime UUP activist who has been a delegate for 16 years and who co-founded the statewide SOUL Committee, which he chairs.
“I’ve run for union office twice, and it taught me a lot, including the fact that there are certain constituencies you cannot move,” he said. “So, I thought that was a good lesson to learn, and in this election, there are certain people I’m not going to persuade.”
Activist becomes candidate
Rebecca “Bekkie” Bryan, above, believes it’s time for a change in Cortlandville.
And she wants to be that change.
“There has not been a woman on the (town) board in over 50 years,” said Bryan, a Cortland Chapter member and a member of UUP’s statewide Executive Board. “Two years ago, we got the first Democrat elected to the board in over 50 years.
“This is the first time in a long time there’s a full slate of Democrats running against a full slate of Republicans.”
Bryan is running for the Cortlandville Town Board as a Democratic insurgent candidate. Just as she was beginning to think that Cortlandville could use an infusion of new blood, local Democratic leaders approached her to ask if she would consider running.
“At first I was like, ‘Uhhh ... that’s frightening,’” Bryan said. But in leadership training, and in what she teaches students she leads on outdoor expeditions, the mantra is, “not asking others to do what you wouldn’t do yourself.’”
Mobilizing techniques that she has employed in her union life have come in handy in her candidate life. In both personas, you knock on a lot of doors without having any idea if a welcoming smile or a stream of invective will be on the other side.
“We have knocked on just about every door in the district,” she said. “I just want to be part of some positive change. I think we need to get the community involved in what decisions are being made. It’s a little scary, because it’s a big responsibility, but I am excited to take it on.”
Bryan, a California native, has been at SUNY Cortland for six years. An associate professor in physical education, Bryan serves on UUP’s Teacher Education Committee and is the membership development officer at the Cortland Chapter.
Helping your hometown
Marc Buselli grew up in the town of Geddes, Onondaga County, which includes one separately governed village within the Geddes town boundary, and two other hamlets. It has 15,654 residents, many of whom know each other. And unlike many people who grew up in small upstate towns—so many of which have seen a slow bleed of jobs and residents—Buselli stayed.
He and his wife are raising their family in Geddes; Buselli, 32, is a professional at Upstate Medical University and an Upstate Chapter member; he joined UUP a year ago. And now he’s running for a town council seat in his hometown, using a combination of social media and old-fashioned door-to-door chats with his neighbors.
“I’ve been able to do this because I have such a great job, a good-paying job with great union benefits,” Geddes said.
Buselli stands out in his race for a few reasons. He’s a Libertarian candidate in a town that he believes has never elected anyone outside of the two-party system. The board is entirely Republican, but as Buselli knows so many people in town, he thinks it’s feasible to be a third-party candidate.
He’s been a volunteer firefighter and he’s still a Little League coach. And if he wins, he plans to serve only two terms. If he can do that much, he feels he will have come full circle in giving back to his town.
Said Buselli, “You know something? I’ve always wanted to do this.”