118th Assembly candidates agree on many talking points

With three international bridges and the border serving as a boundary line, the 118th Assembly District would appear to be a prime destination for Canadian businesses looking to expand into U.S. markets.

But despite having a similar makeup to the 114th district, which extends from Champlain to Bombay, the "river district" has had far fewer recent successes in this endeavor.

Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, D-Theresa, said that's because most of the focus in her first two-year term was on stemming the tide of job losses here.

General Motors closed its Massena Powertrain facility soon after she took office, putting 500 people out of work. Alcoa laid off 113 workers when it idled its East smelter. Gouverneur Talc cut most of its 106-person work force, and a sudden drop in zinc prices caused St. Lawrence Zinc, Balmat, to halt mining.

All this amounted to a St. Lawrence County unemployment rate that's been hovering at 10 percent for more than a year.

In January, the state Department of Correctional Services proposed closing the Ogdensburg Correctional Facility, which employs 287 people. The state Legislature rejected the plan after Mrs. Russell, state Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, and other community leaders aggressively protested the move.

Republican David W. Forsythe, who is challenging Mrs. Russell for her seat this fall, said state leaders are often their own biggest obstacles when trying to spur job growth.

"Everyone is going to preach jobs, jobs, jobs," the Lisbon resident said. "But we've got to start talking restrictions, restrictions, restrictions."

Mr. Forsythe, a St. Lawrence County legislator, said he's heard horror stories from small businesses that feel violated by state agents. An ice cream vendor, he claimed, was written up by a state Health Department inspector for having his spoons facing the wrong way.

The candidate said Hoosier Magnetics wants to add jobs at its Ogdensburg plant but is being hamstrung by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which has cited it for having too much sodium in its smoke emissions. The company doesn't use sodium in its production, Mr. Forsythe said, but it is near a large salt pile.

"I don't know if it's vindictive or the higher-ups are saying, 'Let's generate revenue,' but what it appears is them justifying their business as the cost of small business," Mr. Forsythe said.

He said he'd push for more discretion to be used by state inspectors if he is elected.

Mrs. Russell said she would like to roll back "onerous regulations" that the state has placed on small business. She too has heard from small-business owners about "hostile" state inspectors, such as a local pharmacy that was accused of fraud after repeatedly filling a prescription that inspectors claimed contained ambiguous directions.

While loosening requirements may give existing businesses a breather, Mr. Forsythe and Mrs. Russell agree that the area's infrastructure needs to be upgraded if it wants to attract businesses from across the border.

Both support the proposal to develop an east-west "rooftop" highway to connect Interstates 81 and 87, called Interstate 98. Both also say their role in the estimated $1 billion project, which could bring 27,000 jobs, is mostly as an advocate.

"The four-lane road would be a great economic stimulus for us, but it's going to be a hard sell to someone downstate," Mr. Forsythe said. "Until we get this fiscal house in order, there's just no way the state is going to be able to fund it."

He said he would build a coalition, including the project's most vocal champion, Jason A. Clark, the economic development director for the Greater Massena Business Development Corp. The group could prepare a presentation that outlined all of the potential employers that were lost because the highway was not built.

Mrs. Russell said she'd continue lobbying her federal representatives to push the project into an upcoming budget. She also advocated for coalition-building.

"It's tremendously important to show the consensus and wide-ranging support in order for the federal delegation to move forward," she said.

Mr. Clark agreed, but said his group also needed state representatives to lobby for another important aspect: freeing $6.3 million in federal funds that were given to the state Department of Transportation in 2003 to conduct an environmental study for the project and that are not being appropriated.

While the interstate remains a concept, Mrs. Russell can claim a tangible success in this year's state budget. The assemblywoman, among others, advocated for a $25 million revolving loan fund — and helped carve out $1 million for the exclusive use of small businesses in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties.

Mrs. Russell also pushed the Assembly to approve the North Country Power Authority, a new public authority that will negotiate with National Grid to take over the electrical systems of 75,000 customers in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties.

The project had been in the works for more than a decade.

"Our energy costs are huge and are one of the leading factors when businesses are looking at this area," she said. "This has the potential to transform the economic plight of that territory."

Although it has been approved by both houses, the Senate has not sent the bill to the governor for his consideration. Andrew G. Mangione, a spokesman for Mr. Aubertine, another advocate, said his boss "is working with the governor's office to ensure the modifications made to move this bill in the Assembly are amenable to the executive branch so the bill can be signed into law."

There's also more economic promise on the horizon, both candidates said. The New York Power Authority recently gave $16 million and 20 megawatts of low-cost power to the St. Lawrence River Valley Redevelopment Agency for economic development.

Mr. Forsythe, who owns a hunting and fishing preserve, said some of the money should be used to help boost tourism-dependent businesses.

"There are a lot of opportunities that exist here," he said. "All we need to do is promote it."

Mrs. Russell also guessed that "we'll have better news at Alcoa" regarding its idle plant "if the economy continues to rebound in the next quarter or so."