Hoping to become the 51st District’s newest state senator, Don Barber rolled into Cobleskill Saturday to kick off his campaign.
Literally.
The half-hour stop at Grapevine Farms was the second on a whirlwind chartered bus tour that ferried supporters not only to Cobleskill, but to Catskill, Little Falls, Oneonta, Sherburne, and Cortland, before wrapping up in the Town of Caroline, Tompkins County, where Mr. Barber is serving his sixth term as supervisor.
Schoharie County Democrats were on hand to welcome the bus; about 60 people total listened as Mr. Barber, who is challenging longtime Republican Senator Jim Seward of Milford, laid out his campaign.
Mr. Barber said he’s spent 12 years working on “practical solutions to real problems” as Caroline’s supervisor and he wants to do the same thing in Albany.
Mr. Barber said it’s important to create more job opportunities in New York State “so our kids can stay here.”
Reducing property taxes goes hand-in-hand with that,” he said, as do the need to protect the environment and address escalating health insurance costs.
“Those things aren’t being done,” he said.
“It’s been reported that Albany has the most dysfunctional Legislative system in the nation. Do we deserve better? Yes.”
Mr. Barber criticized Senator Seward, a 21-year veteran, for concentrating on his re-election at the expense of other issues; Senator Seward, however, has yet to kick off his own run, saying his focus now is on passing a state budget.
Mr. Barber, 58, grew up on a dairy farm in Danby, going to earn a BS and a MS in ceramic engineering from Alfred University before working as an engineering manufacturer for Corning Inc. from 1973-83, when he started his own construction firm, Sunny Brook Builders.
He was a Caroline councilman from 1994-97, when he was elected supervisor.
He and his wife, Rita Rosenberg-Barber, director for field placement for teacher education at SUNY Cortland, own and operate a 65-acre farm with draft horses, an operation they’ve scaled back because of his State Senate run.
Mr. Barber spoke to the importance of agriculture during Saturday’s stop.
“Schoharie County is perfectly positioned to lead the resurgence of agriculture in the upstate economy,” he said, touching on SUNY Cobleskill’s plans to build a Bio-Energy Center, and local farmland—and farm—preservation efforts.
Speaking afterwards, Mr. Barber said it’s past time there was a change of leadership in Albany.
‘The economy’s down and health care costs are up,” he said. “I have to win. We can’t just keep going on the way we are. I’m proud of what I’ve done on the town level and it’s time to take what I’ve done there to Albany.”
Local Democrats welcomed Mr. Barber and his bus of supporters with balloons, hot coffee, and bursts of applause.
Richmondville Mayor Kevin Neary introduced Mr. Barber to the crowd and said he thinks he has what it takes to make a successful campaign run.
“He worked on my Assembly campaign. He knows the 51st District. He’s a hard worker and we’re glad to have him in the race,” he said.