(from votefordavidstott.com)
Thirty inches of human waste helped David Stott get elected in 2007.
“People had raw sewage backing up into their basements,” recalled Stott, a Democrat from Salina. Old sewage pipelines caused wall-to-wall sewage to flood the homes on Floradale Road in Liverpool. Stott stood with the homeowners in front of the Onondaga County Legislature as they described how their basements were flooded with feces and urine from the county sewage system.
In November 2007, Stott won the District 4 seat for the legislature, only to lose it two years later by 138 votes to Republican challenger Judy Tassone of Liverpool.
Now the two face each other again in a fierce rematch. The 2011 election is Nov. 8.
District 4 is in the central region of Onondaga County, including Geddes, the western part of Salina, Liverpool and Onondaga Lake. The district has a slight Democratic majority with 34 percent of the district registered Democratic and 32 percent registered Republican. A total of 15,509 residents are registered in District 4.
As he campaigns to regain the seat, Stott and those who know him well, say the Floradale-sewage episode illustrates his commitments to the nitty-gritty concerns of constituents and his passion for politics.
This year’s race has already turned ugly. Stott and Tassone are engaged in what The Post-Standard called a “Sign War.” Stott placed campaign signs accusing Tassone of voting for a 48 percent tax increase in the county, while Tassone responded with signs that say, “Not true.”
Stott grew up in a political family. His father, Ron Stott, held multiple offices throughout the ‘70s, including mayor of North Syracuse, county legislator and state assemblyman. Ron Stott encouraged his children to follow in his footsteps. “When I was in the state assembly, David was 7 or 8 years old, and I used to bring him to Albany,” Ron Stott said. “I brought all my children to Albany, and I’d let them spend the day with me.”
But David is the only one of three siblings and one stepbrother to follow his father into politics.
In 2009, shortly after David lost the District 4 seat, Ron Stott was diagnosed with leukemia. Ron remains a mentor and confidant, both Stotts say. David now takes his father to dialysis each week and says his father’s illness has taught him a lot about helping people.
“I look at my father, and here’s a man who would give turkeys at Thanksgiving when they had nothing,” recalled David Stott.
David Stott’s own political career began in 2002, when he first ran for the county legislature against then-incumbent James Farrell, a Republican from Liverpool, and lost. In 2004, he ran for the Salina Town Council and served two consecutive terms from 2004-2008.
From his entrance into local politics, Stott’s attracted praise and criticism for focusing on the constitutents’ concerns, say his colleagues and friends. He supported minor traffic changes and butted heads with Salina Town Council members over the construction of senior housing on Buckley Road. Sometimes, he sought out more things to do.
“It’s amazing what you see when you just look,” said Stott. “I would get up sometimes. I’d go for a run and go for a drive and just literally look around.”
For example, his neighbors Jeremy and Sara Masterangelo had underestimated how much time and manpower they would need to move into their home on Driftwood Drive. Enter David Stott.
“He just came over and helped us move our stuff into the house,” Jeremy Masterangelo said. “Dave is one of those people who genuinely cares about his neighbors.”
He also wins credit from his legislative colleagues for taking on these projects:
- Requesting that the state reprogram EZPass to make tolls on the Thruway from exits 36 to 39 free for Onondaga County residents.
- Putting a traffic light at the corner of Buckley and Hopkins roads in Liverpool.
- Proposing to extend the legislative term to four years to allow for what Stott said would be more creative legislation and problem solving in non-election years.
In the county legislature, he was known for speaking out often and strongly, say his colleagues. “He was passionate — even emotional — about issues,” said Martin Masterpole, D-Syracuse, of county District 17. “David had a fire-and-brimstone approach.”
But he also sometimes reached across party lines. In the legislature, for example, Stott worked with Kathleen Rapp, R-Liverpool, on legislation to change traffic lights in the county to blinking red and yellow during low-traffic times in the middle of the night. The proposal lost. It would have cut driving times and saved gas, both say.
“People were sitting at lights for no apparent reason,” said Rapp.
Stott also joined with Republican legislators to consolidate some local government services. He supported consolidating local police forces when the town of Clay decided to integrate into the Onondaga County Sherriff’s Department.
His experiences with the Floradale Road sewage backup, Stott said, inspired his call for consolidating a countywide sewer agency. The homeowners’ basements eventually were cleaned up, but Stott says the county could have done more.
“I really don’t think it was ever fixed the way it should have been. I think the home values are not where they should be,” Stott said. “Sometimes you need to stand on up. You need to know how to make other legislators feel uncomfortable to get things done or else things get swept under the rug.”
(Beckie Strum is a senior majoring in newspaper journalism and Middle Eastern studies.)
-30-
