County legislator by day. Sports broadcaster at night.
That’s the life for Danny Liedka, R-East Syracuse, who represents District 7 in the Onondaga County Legislature. He’s running for his second term after first being elected in 2011.
Being a commentator, Liedka said, benefits him in politics by making him a good communicator. “I would say public speaking and being poised in front of the media – it helps me there,” Liedka said.
In the Nov. 5 election, Liedka faces Lorene Dadey, a Democrat from East Syracuse. The race is a rematch of 2011, when Liedka won by fewer than 200 votes. Liedka and Dadey share a long political history. Both were mayors of East Syracuse: Dadey from 2003 to 2005 and Liedka from 2007 to 2013.
In the county legislature District 7 race, voter enrollment puts Liedka at a disadvantage. Democrats outnumber Republicans 40 to 26 percent. That’s 6,610 registered voters to 4,373. Another 25 percent – or 4,162 voters – are unaffiliated with a political party.
In his re-election campaign, Liedka casts himself as effective in the legislature on jobs, crime and taxes. Republican colleagues praise him for his work ethic, his business experience and his political background.
On his accomplishments in the county legislature, Liedka cites working to lower county tax rates. Taxes will decrease about $5 this year on a $100,000 home and will be at the lowest levels in 50 years.
On crime, he offers as an example legislation that lengthens the waiting period before pawnbrokers can resell items. That, said Liedka, gives police more time to check whether items are stolen.
Liedka also expressed pride in the sale of the Van Duyn nursing home to a private company. The Van Duyn Home and Hospital is a 513-bed nursing home, whose costs had become a drain on county finances. As chair of the legislature’s health committee, Liedka played a leading role in the transaction. It will save the county almost $8 million this year, said Kathleen Rapp, R-Liverpool, from District 5.
“Danny’s awesome,” Rapp said. “He’s one of those guys who is more action than talk.”
She also praises his business experience as a benefit to the county. Liedka is a global account executive for Marriott International. His insight into the tourism industry was very helpful during the budget review and throughout his two-year term, Rapp said.
“He is a businessman and he’s traveling the country,” Rapp said. “He is seeing what’s going on in other parts of the country in terms of economic development so he kind of brings that out-of-county business experience.”
If re-elected, Liedka said, he wants to create jobs by sponsoring development projects in the north Syracuse area, rebuilding infrastructure and helping to get a hotel built downtown near the convention center.
Liedka credits his work ethic to his family background. When he was 9 years old, Liedka recalled, his father left his family. By the time he was 12, his mother was bedridden. At 14, Liedka started delivering papers, cutting lawns, shoveling driveways and painting to help support the family. At college age, he spent a year at Onondaga Community College. But he had to drop out, he recalled, after his mother’s death left him facing hundreds of thousands of dollars of his family’s debt.
“It makes me appreciate and understand what some of the people who are less fortunate are going through,” Liedka said. “My upbringing is clearly the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing now.”
In his political background, Liedka was a village trustee and mayor of East Syracuse. The village is inside the town of DeWitt and has about 3,000 people. Between 2011 and 2012, while Liedka was mayor, village tax rates dropped by about $120 per $100,000 in assessed value, according to the county Department of Finance site.
Patricia Derby was the village clerk during Liedka’s six-year term and is the treasurer for his legislature re-election campaign. Derby credits Liedka with working with state officials and coming up with effective solutions to village drainage problems. As part of his work, Derby said, the village received $2.5 million in funding, an unprecedented amount.
“He’s been able to position himself so he can do something,” Derby said.
As a sportscaster, Liedka does on-air commentary about Syracuse University, college and high school sports for Time Warner Cable Sports Channel and the Big East Network. He also has worked for ESPN 360. For a few seasons, Liedka, a big Pittsburgh Penguins fan, covered college hockey for the NHL Network. He considers this career in sports broadcasting a dream come true.
“I enjoy it. It’s a lot of fun, obviously, getting paid to talk about sports,” he said. “It’s a dream job.”
In his re-election bid, Liedka acknowledges he faces a tight race. “I have to work harder, knock on more doors,” Liedka said, “and just educate people on what I’ve done.”
(Sean Farrell is a junior with dual majors in broadcast and digital journalism and political science.)
-30-
