For Sam Roberts, cars and legislation have a lot in common.
“If it’s building cars, we’re working for customers,” Roberts said. “In government, the customer is our constituent. So it’s all about making the customer happy and giving them the best product we can.”
Roberts, who retired from General Motors after 30 years, is seeking re-election in November for the newly renamed 128th State Assembly District. It replaces the 119th State Assembly District. The new district includes the towns of DeWitt, Onondaga, Salina, and parts of Syracuse. Roberts, D-Syracuse, is once again being challenged by Republican John Sharon of Jamesville and an Onondaga County attorney. The two faced each other in 2010.
This election is Nov. 6.
Roberts’ his colleagues and friends describe him as a political optimist, a dedicated and a generous friend. He also has a sixth-degree black belt in karate.
In his political career, Roberts served from 1990 to 1999 in the Onondaga County Legislature, representing the 19th County District. From 2007 to 2010, Roberts was the superintendent of the Sen. John H. Hughes State Office Building. Also he has maintained his relationship with the United Autos Workers union as well as education and civil rights committees. Roberts has an associate degree from Onondaga Community College and certificates in labor studies from Cornell University.
Roberts and his wife have four children: one in high school, two in college and one that’s out of school. The time consumption of being an Assemblyman, he said, makes it “tough on the family,” he said. To make up for some of the absences, he said, he has sometimes made surprise visits to his children’s school. Said Roberts: “I have to make sure they know they have a father. ”
Politics started at a young age for Roberts. He even voted before he was 18. “I voted with my mother when I was a kid and pulled the lever,” Roberts said. “I had to reach and she pointed to me and said, ‘That one.’”
For his political philosophy, Roberts downplays the importance of partisanship between Democrats and Republicans. “It’s about people,” Roberts said. “The D’s and R’s, it really doesn’t matter. It’s about getting done what you have to for your constituents and the people you represent. And that’s it.”
Ron McDougal worked with Roberts at the GM plant in Massena, which has since closed. He gives as example of Roberts’ helpfulness the story of a co-worker having legal problems. The co-worker was “a guy in need, real need,” McDougal said. “He transferred in, didn’t have a driver’s license and was living in a motel. He had a brief, not serious traffic matter. But Sam went down there on his own, picked the guy up and took him to court, which is 30 – 40 – miles, and introduced himself to the court and got the whole thing resolved. Now that’s a friend.”
His work in the martial arts shows important characteristics beyond competition, said his martial arts teacher Greg Tearnery. “The discipline. The focus,” Tearney said. “The tenacity it takes to be a martial artist is the ‘never say die attitude,’ that has helped him I’m sure in his political career.”
At one point, Robert’s was ranked No. 1 in New York and top 10 in the United States and Canada.
Roberts also attributes martial arts training with giving him a sense of calmness despite the stresses of Albany politics. “The biggest thing was the turmoil that was down in Albany,” Roberts said. “It was just crazy.”
In his 2012 re-election campaign, he said, his main objectives are the strengthening the economy, creating jobs and aiding education. The state’s budget deficit, he said, also remains his biggest concern.
In two years as assemblyman, Roberts sponsored nine pieces of legislation, five of which became laws. Those included measures to hire an East Syracuse police officer and setting up a protected zone around a funeral home. But Roberts expresses the most pride in dealing with the budget deficit and, as he puts it, “not spreading the hurt.”
(Chet Davis is a senior with dual majors in broadcast journalism and political science.)
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