Army veteran seeking Jefferson County District 12 seat

After getting frustrated with Jefferson County government, Carl J. Disalvatore decided to try to join it.

“I was sitting around the kitchen table and got mad at the county for giving away taxpayer money to developers,” he said. “I told the Democratic Party I would help whoever was running in my district and I was told, ‘If you’re interested, you can jump in.’ If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”

The Democratic candidate for the Board of Legislators’ District 12 seat is challenging Chairwoman Carolyn D. Fitzpatrick in Nov. 8’s election.

“There are so many uncontested races here,” Mr. Disalvatore said. “It’s a failure of democracy.”

He has a long record of service, including as an active-duty Army officer for seven years, until 1985, then another 23 as a reserve officer, rising to the rank of colonel. The years of pragmatic thinking would serve well in the Legislature, he said.

“Because of my legal background, I’m not an ideological statue,” he said. “I can be swayed by evidence — I’m not stuck in concrete.”

But he won’t change his mind on his disdain for government grants to build private housing. And he doesn’t want to see property tax breaks through payments-in-lieu-of-taxes for them either.

“I’m against PILOTs for housing, as well as giving sales tax relief to hotels and housing,” Mr. Disalvatore said. “I would much rather see the county give a sales tax break on clothing than that.”

He also wants to see greater consolidation of offices across the county, including a district court for the entire county, instead of town and village courts.

“Justices, for the most part, do a good job, but they get two weeks of training,” he said. “With a district court, you’d have full-time judges, and they can have all arraignments at the courthouse or jail to minimize transport time.”

The single court system would speed prosecution of misdemeanors and domestic abuse cases and allow the county to address parole violations more quickly, moving inmates from the county jail to a state facility.

“It would be good for the people of the county on many levels,” Mr. Disalvatore said.

He believes the consolidation should stretch to a single tax collection office and assessor’s office and even school district with many schools, though that is outside the board’s purview.

Mr. Disalvatore was born in Plymouth, Mass., to a military family. He came to Fort Drum in 1986, met and married his wife, Linda H., who is a Watertown native, and never left.

“I’ve been fortunate to come into contact with extraordinary people in my life,” he said. “Everybody owes a duty to God, country and family and our primary responsibility is to take care of themselves and the country.”

To see his comments on a variety of county issues, go to the Times’ website at: www.watertowndailytimes.com/section/election2011_legqa?district=12