Voters in Onondaga County’s District 7 will have the chance in November to award a fifth term to their county legislator — or hand the seat over to a former Congressional candidate.
James DiBlasi is the four-term incumbent and Republican-designated candidate seeking his fifth term. DiBlasi expresses confidence that he will win re-election.
“It’ll be a normal, regular year for me,” DiBlasi said nonchalantly in a late-April interview.
But Democratic challenger Thomas C. Buckel, Jr., has already begun reaching out to constituents by spending most of his evening at community meetings, getting to know residents and their concerns.
“There has to be a change,” he said. “‘Business as usual’ won’t work.”
On May 24, the Onondaga County Democratic Committee will designate its candidate and has shown support for Buckel so far. The election is Nov. 6.
The county legislature’s District 7 includes the southeast corner of the town of Salina, known as the Lyncourt area, and the northern part of Syracuse. Syracuse is also represented in the county legislature by Districts 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19. The incumbents from these districts are Democrats. Their seats are also up for election.
Here’s an early look at the District 7 candidates:
The Incumbent: James DiBlasi
James DiBlasi had three dream jobs when he was young.
“I always thought about either being a financial officer, a military officer or a politician,” he said.
And he has done all three.
DiBlasi served as a Marine in Operation Desert Storm, the U.S.-led military operation to evict invading Iraqi troops from Kuwait in 1991. He has worked as an investment banker and stockbroker since the mid-1990s. And he became the Onondaga County Legislature District 7 representative in 2000.
He prides himself on being a city voice in the Republican caucus and supporting local business and government consolidation, he said. He plans on running a campaign based on cutting spending, creating a better economic market and making the city and county safer places in which to live, he said.
DiBlasi was born May 16, 1963, in Oswego, N.Y. In 1982, he graduated from the Canterbury School, a preparatory school in Connecticut where he played hockey. In 1987, he earned a degree in history from SUNY Oswego. A year later he married his wife, Heather. The couple now has four children: Blaise, 11; Margaret, 8; Michael, 6; and Stephen, 3.
The summer before graduating from SUNY Oswego, DiBlasi attended Officer Candidate School. He served in the Marine Corps from 1988-1992, as an infantry officer and in Desert Storm.
“It was a good process just to become responsible,” DiBlasi said. “If you made a mistake, people could get killed, even in training. Therefore, you had to make decisions, and you had to go forward. It was definitely good training for life.”
In 1994, DiBlasi earned a master’s degree in business from Syracuse University. He became a branch manager at Tucker Anthony, an investment banking business, and now works as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch.
DiBlasi’s political career began in 1997. He ran for a Syracuse Common Council at-large seat but lost. “I did fairly well considering it was my first time on the block,” DiBlasi said. Two years later, in 1999, DiBlasi ran for the Onondaga County Legislature. He won and took office Jan. 1, 2000.
Ted Araujo, a lawyer at Bodow Law Firm and a former Manlius village trustee, became close friends with DiBlasi around the time DiBlasi was first elected. “He loves all the things a politician has to love in order to put up with the frustrations of being in public office,” Araujo said. “You’re trying to do things to help the community, but you’re buffeted by the individual requests. It takes a really patient person to do it. It surprises me why he does it, because he’s a very successful guy. He just has this drive to serve.”
DiBlasi was re-elected in 2001, 2003 and 2005. This year he is running for his fifth term as a county legislator. DiBlasi chairs the Education and Libraries committee and is a member of the Public Safety, Social Services and Planning and Economic Development committees.
DiBlasi’s party membership and district location are the first things that come to mind when he thinks about his accomplishments in the legislature. “I think the most important think I’ve done is I’ve brought a city voice into the Republican caucus,” DiBlasi said. “I don’t think we should have a legislature where one party rules the city and the other party rules the county. I think that’s just too divisive.”
DiBlasi also prides himself on supporting the Syracuse business community. In 2005, The Salina 29, a coalition of 29 downtown businesses, was under the threat of eminent domain from the city. The businesses’ private properties were going to be taken and used to create the Destiny USA Research and Development Park project. DiBlasi sponsored a bill to prohibit that from happening.
“It killed the use of eminent domain so they can keep their businesses and thrive,” he said.
DiBlasi proudly supports government consolidation. In 2002, the costs of running the city’s forensic laboratory were running high, and it was at risk of losing its accreditation. DiBlasi voted for merging the city and county forensic laboratories. “It’s been quite positive,” he said. “We’ve expanded the scope of services and we’ve expanded the use of DNA evidence.”
In the fall election, the big issues will be cutting spending, creating a better economic market and making the city and county safer places, DiBlasi said. Reducing county spending and consolidating services are long-term efforts that will continue to be one of the important jobs of the legislature, he said.
“We have been very stingy in spending, but at the same time we do deliver the services people want,” he said. “It’s a good government and hopefully we can continue the same trend.”
Creating a better economic market means being proactive with social service programs and adopting a pro-business attitude, DiBlasi said. He promotes employee-development programs such as those provided through CNY Works. DiBlasi is the chair of the CNY Works board of directors and works closely with Lenore Sealy, the CNY Works executive director.
Sealy strongly praises his membership on CNY Works’ board. “He brings something else to the board by having involvement in the community,” she said.
Public safety will also be an area of concern during the fall elections, DiBlasi said. “A safe environment is economically productive and healthy for people,” he said. He plans to create an Onondaga County sheriff patrol in District 7.
DiBlasi shrugs off doubts about his ability to win re-election or keep his campaign promises. “I’m going to get it done for the North Side,” he said. “Guaranteed.”
The Challenger: Thomas C. Buckel, Jr.
In his office at the Hancock and Estabrook law firm, Democratic challenger Thomas C. Buckel, Jr., prominently displays a photo of Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Ronald Buckel, his late uncle who preached in Syracuse.
“Growing up as a kid these were my two heroes,” Buckel said. “I always followed their lead in wanting to serve and being involved.”
In January, Buckel announced his plan to run for the Onondaga County Legislature District 7 seat. “I’ve been working in the community as a volunteer so this is a natural extension of what I’ve been doing,” he said.
He plans on running a campaign based on fixing the district’s problems of crime, poverty and abandoned buildings and modernizing government, he said.
Buckel was born July 7, 1956, to a family firmly rooted in Syracuse. His father, Thomas C. Buckel, Sr., worked at Mutual New York. His mother, Marilyn, worked as a teacher. His Italian grandparents were local grocers and his German grandfather was a sheriff.
Buckel graduated from Bishop Ludden High School in 1974. He earned degrees in history and political science from Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1978. In 1981, Buckel graduated from the University of Virginia Law School and has been a lawyer at Hancock and Estabrook ever since.
In 1984, at the age of 28, Buckel ran for Congress. “I had an absolute passion for that institution,” Buckel said. He won 43 percent of the votes but lost the election.
Tom Taylor, a lawyer at the Green and Seifter law firm, worked on Buckel’s campaign and called it as a success. “Here you had a relatively young guy, barely out of law school, with no name-recognition, without power or money,” Taylor said. “To end up where he did is a great testimony to him.”
Buckel planned on running for Congress again in 1986. But with his first child, Elizabeth, almost one year old, he chose family over politics, he said. The couple’s other children, John and Anne, were born shortly thereafter.
Since running for Congress, Buckel has worked extensively as a community volunteer. He has mentored Syracuse School District students, helped raise money for Catholic Charities’ refugee services program, helped resettle Afghan refugee families and presided over the boards of directors of the 420 Gifford Street Hospitality House for Homeless Youth and Legal Services of Central New York. Buckel is a development board member of the Sisters of St. Francis and L’Arche, an organization that houses and cares for people with developmental disabilities. He also does free legal work for clients referred to him by Catholic Charities.
Community members who have worked with Buckel describe him as a trustworthy and community-oriented person. “He is a very competent, committed, caring guy,” said Brian Walton, the executive director of Catholic Charities. “What he’s been doing for the community is a real plus, and a lot of people have benefited”
When asked why he is qualified to be a county legislator, Buckel refers to the Biblical saying, “You will know them by their works.” Said Buckel: “I’ve had 25 years where I have served some of the most vulnerable and poor citizens of our community and have been relentless in my focus in trying to deal with my community work and the challenges of ordinary citizens.”
Buckel spends most of his evenings attending meetings in District 7. “My purpose is to listen and learn,” Buckel said. On April 11, Buckel attended the Butternut Street Task Force. He took notes between lively discussions and heated debates.
Peter Leone, a District 7 resident, led the task force meeting and praised Buckel for being there. Buckel has attended the meetings for several months, Leone said. “He’s interested in the things that are going on,” Leone said. “It’s very good that he participates in the community. I wish there were more like that.”
For his part, Buckel cites the big issues for the fall election as crime, poverty, abandoned buildings and government modernization.
Little wonder that crime is a priority for both candidates. Within District 7 are some of the poorest areas in the city, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. The north side of Syracuse had more rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, larcenies and motor vehicle thefts than any other area of the city between July and December 2006, Syracuse Police Department records show.
He plans to increase police patrols to curb crime, he said. He also hopes to help people rise out of poverty by supporting local entrepreneurship through offering micro-loans and partnering with car dealers to make low-cost cars available to the poor, he said. He plans to create a program that will condemn abandoned homes and then restore then, he said. Those homes would then be sold to needy families for $1, with real estate taxes being phased in over time, Buckel said.
Reinventing and modernizing government means consolidating government units and programs, Buckel said. He calls it the county’s “monumental challenge.”
The problem now is that the small governments, school districts and special departments in the county compete against each other instead of working together, he said. “That’s the core issue of why is it so difficult in upstate New York to get things done, to develop, to change, to plan, to lower taxes,” Buckel said. He plans to consolidate economic development, transportation and land-use planning into regional functions instead of local functions, he said.
Running for public office is just another way Buckel will try to echo the legacies of his heroes, Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Ronald Buckel. “The time,” said Buckel, “is right.”
(Miyoko Ohtake is an ’07 graduate student in magazine, newspaper and online journalism.)
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