Danny Liedka
In the money campaign, County Legislator Danny Liedka is far ahead of his competition and his colleagues in fundraising.
As of April 24, Liedka, R-East Syracuse, had raised more than $7,300 in the past year, according to campaign finance reports to the state board of elections. That’s nearly twice as much money as any other candidate for the Onondaga County Legislature.
Liedka attributed his fundraising to concern over a potential challenger from the Democratic Party. “They’re going to definitely be coming after me and I need to have the resources to retain my seat,” he said.
Until April 26, Liedka was running uncontested to retain his seat on the Onondaga County Legislature from District 7. District 7 includes a small portion of the city of Syracuse’s northeastern neighborhoods, most of the northern and western parts of DeWitt and all of East Syracuse. The Democratic Party has a strong advantage in voter enrollment in District 7. Of the district’s 16,412 registered voters, 40 percent – or 6,610 – are Democrats; 26 percent – or 4,373 – are Republicans; and 25 percent – or 4,162 are unaffiliated with a political party.
On April 26, Democrat Lorene Dadey announced she is challenging Liedka to a rematch for the 2013 election. Liedka defeated Dadey in the 2011 County Legislature election to begin his first term.
The election is Nov. 5 election. All 17 seats in the legislature are up and, as of April 27, only four are contested. Those with two candidates running are the District 11, District 9, District 7 and District 4. In District 16, voters will likely first have to choose between two Democrats in a primary before November. Monica Williams, the incumbent and staffing coordinator at Rosewood Heights and administrative organizer for 1199SEIU, and Carmen Harlow, former deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Works, have said they are both running for that seat.
After Liedka, the next largest fundraiser in the Onondaga County Legislature is Judith A. Tassone, R-Liverpool, who has raised just over half of what Liedka has raised over the past year. Tassone will face Democrat Carol L. Sinesi for the District 4 seat.
For Liedka’s fundraising, campaign finance reports show:
- 74 percent — or $5,175 — of his contributions have come from named individual donors.
- His largest donor is Patrick Barrett, who gave $1,000. Barrett is the former New York state Republican Party chairman and chairperson of the state’s Olympic Regional Development Authority. This donation is more than all but five candidates for county legislator have raised over the course of the past year.
- As of April 24, Liedka had spent just over $3,200.
- According to his January 2013 filings with the board of elections, he has $3,683.10 on hand.
Before being elected to the County Legislature, Liedka served for six years as mayor of East Syracuse. He has since given up his position as mayor, opting against running in last month’s mayoral election. But inn his first year on the County Legislature, he held both seats.
He decided against pursuing re-election as the East Syracuse mayor, he said, to focus on the County Legislature. “I loved my years as mayor. It was an incredible experience,” Liedka said. “I certainly miss it already. But I’m on to bigger and better things.”
Liedka is a recognizable face around Central New York, something that he said has helped him as a public official. He is a business development manager for Marriott International and football and basketball color commentator for ESPN U and Time Warner Cable Sports. Liedka estimates that he covers about 90 to 100 games each year, earning him exposure in the community.
“Without question it’s given me a lot of name recognition,” he said.
He downplays the role of his public persona in his early fundraising. “There’s a pretty good feeling that I’m going to be a targeted race,” he said. “I felt I needed to get out a little bit early and start getting the resources together for a really tough race.”
Said Liedka: “I’m not going to get a free pass.”
(Heather Norris is a graduate student in magazine, newspaper and online journalism.)
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