49th Senate District: Andrew Russo Challenges for GOP-Marie Claudet from Democracywise on Vimeo.
As Andrew Russo sees it, his race for the state Senate is another step in his homecoming to Central New York.
“I started to see people that I grew up along living mostly in other states. I started to see what was really going on economically, I studied those issues and find out why. It became clear that if you want to have a deep impact on the community, you can have it from the state legislature,” Russo said.
Russo is the Republican challenger for the 49th state Senate District. He is running against three-term incumbent, Sen. Dave Valesky, D-Oneida. The 49th District includes Madison County and parts of Cayuga, Onondaga and Oneida Counties. The election is Nov. 2.
The 49th District is a key battleground for the state’s Republicans. They lost the majority in 2008 and since then they have 30 seats, compared to 32 seats for the Democrats in the state senate. In the 49th District, Democrats have a small lead over Republicans in voter enrollment. Of the district’s 364,288 voters, Democrats account for 37.3 percent compared to 32.7 percent for Republicans, and 23 percent unaffiliated with a party.
In his campaign for the 49th state Senate District seat, Russo calls for establishing term limits for legislative office, cutting government spending and lowering taxes. He has won praise from local Republican leaders for his enthusiasm for campaigning. But he’s also come under fire for not voting or attending to local politics until recently.
Andrew Russo, 35, was born in Syracuse. His father, a former catcher for the Phillies, owned a wholesale produce company in Syracuse. As a youngster, Andrew Russo recalled, he briefly considered following in his father’s footsteps to play baseball. But then he discovered the piano.
When he was 4 years old, his grandmother, a refugee from Ukraine after World War II, gave him his first piano lesson. Andrew was hooked. In one of those it’s-a-small-world connections, one of his early teachers was Joseph Valesky, father of Russo’s opponent in the 49th state Senate District race.
“He was one of my favorite teachers,” Russo recalled.
Pursuing his musical career, Russo graduated from the prestigious Julliard School in New York City. For eight years, he lived, studied and played concerts across Europe. In Paris, he met his wife, Natalia.
Even while he lived abroad, he said, he kept connections to Syracuse and Central New York. In 2001, while he lived in Paris, he started a non-profit organization called “Music Journeys,” which is aimed at bringing professional musicians to Le Moyne College and to Syracuse city schools. In 2003, while he was living in Paris, he received an award from The Post-Standard for his community services for Syracuse.
In 2004, Russo and his wife returned to Central New York. They now live in Jamesville and have two children, Andrei and Mila. The children, Russo said, were a reason he left the concert circuit to return to his hometown area. He wanted to give his children the same education his parents gave him, he said, and part of it included having a stable life in a community like Syracuse.
In 2005, Russo started working as an artist in residency for LeMoyne College where he built an academic music program. “It grew from being something that was purely an intramural activity for students to an academic program,” said Travis Newton, director of music at Le Moyne.
In 2009, Russo recalled, he decided to take a bigger step into community affairs. “My thinking at the beginning wasn’t to run for office. My thinking was to get involved so I started calling some people and finding out some candidates I could work for, people I believe in and help,” he said.
One of them was Tom Dadey, a former state senate candidate and now the recently elected chair of the Onondaga County GOP. Dadey recalls being impressed with Russo right away. “We had a great conversation. We talked for several hours, we talked about the issues, about Upstate New York, about our families,” said Dadey.
In the anti-incumbent mood of this election, Dadey portrays Russo’s lack of political background as an asset. “For me, it was not a distraction — especially in today’s environment where people are looking for new candidates and for fresh ideas,” said Dadey. “Andrew fit right into that mold.”
To free up time for the senate race, Russo said, he left his job at LeMoyne College in late 2010 to work for Northwestern Mutual Financial Network as a financial representative. He helps the company’s clients in their insurance decisions and works with a partner on the investment part. He also specializes in financial advising for families with special needs. One of his children has Down Syndrome.
“Having a daughter with Down Syndrome has caused our family to make some adjustments to our financial plan, and I like to help other families who share this experience to understand what they can do to protect their children financially,” he said.
In the campaign, Democrats have sharply criticized Russo’s lack of political background, including not voting from 2001 to 2008. The criticism resonates with many voters as he campaigns by knocking on doors and answering voters’ questions during a tele-town hall conference.
“Hope you’ll vote this year,” a voter from Jamesville said to him on a recent door-knocking campaign.
In defense, Russo attributes his political absence to his physical absence out of the country in his musical career. But, he said he contributed to Syracuse with his community services, such as the music program in area schools and at Le Moyne. “There are other ways to serve your community beyond voting. Looking back, I wish I was doing both. But I was clearly engaged in the community,” he said.
In his campaign, Russo calls for limiting legislative office-holding to no more than eight years. “After six years, if you can’t show some fairly substantial improvements in the life of your community,” he said, “then you need someone else to have a chance.”
On taxes and government spending, Russo argues that to create more opportunities, the government needs “to spend less and to leave more money in the pockets of the people.”
Part of his plan to reduce government spending is to overhaul the Medicaid system, a tax-supported insurance program for the poor and the elderly and disabled in nursing homes. He would fight fraud, he said, and reduce the number of services offered. He would like to install a mechanism in which counties and police would collect fraud. In return, they would keep a portion of what they collect, he said.
Russo said, the state can not afford the cost of Medicaid. “We have to find a balance,” he said, between what we can provide and what we can afford.”
(Marie Claudet is a graduate student in broadcast and digital journalism.)
This article has been corrected with Russo’s residence in Jamesville.
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