BY ROBERT H.Harding 

Town of Amherst councilman Dan Ward is a suburban lawyer with rural beginnings. His resume is arguably the strongest among all the Democratic candidates in SD-61. Not only is he a lawyer (graduate from the University at Buffalo Law School), but he has served as Town of Amherst supervisor and as an Erie County legislator. He has also been a challenger for Assembly and for Erie County Executive.

Now he has his eyes set on running in New York’s 61st Senate District.

Ward started off talking about Genesee County, which in his words was “18 percent of the vote but 40 percent of the land mass.” He also talked about his experiences with farming and acknowledged agriculture as an important issue in this district.

“I know a lot about farms,” Ward said. “It’s important to identify with them. If you know the language, that is important. Democrats get a bad rap with farmers. Democrats appeal to blacks, Hispanics and people in inner city areas. We need bring all these people together.”

Ward, who considers himself an avid hunter and fisherman, says he believes in protecting Second Amendment rights (the right to bear arms).He also talked about being the top vote getter for Amherst Town Board FOUR times, which speaks to why Ward is one of the more popular politicians in Erie County.

Ward then talked state issues, especially issues that impact local municipalities.

“Unfunded mandates are quasi-immoral,” he said. “[The state] passes laws and dumps the costs and responsibility on the county.”

A fiscal conservative is how Ward described himself and he said that he’s not afraid to spend money if it’s going to provide results, but we need “smarter spending and laws need reform.” Ward also brought up Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) and Economic Development Agencies (EDAs) and the need to reform those.

“In Erie County, we have more than one,” Ward said. “They compete against each other. While we have jobs being lost here, we need to pick up the tab for some IDAs because they are losing jobs as well.” 

One thing Ward did mention while talking about IDAs/EDAs are the subsidies given to many businesses in many different industries. He argued that the subsidies “should not be for corporate welfare” and that there is a “difference between Republicans and Democrats” on these issues. The Republicans, Ward says, “jump on poor people” and focus on the wealthy. Democrats are the opposite. They focus on the lower to middle class citizens.Being an alum of UB, Ward stressed the importance of utilizing UB as a way to create jobs and hopefully, stimulate the private sector. He stressed the importance of aid to UB and Genesee Community College and helping these educational institutions.

“We should encourage them to develop programs that will help here,” he said.

Ward also said that New York City/Long Island is “not always very respectful” of upstate concerns. While he said he we’re “not going to cut New York City off,” he knows how they operate and he is not afraid of the big city representatives. Ward even referred to Albany as “one big dogfight,” saying that you had to “grab your fair share.” 

When discussing the possible criticism of Ward being a career politician, Ward said that “a fresh face isn’t the problem. You need fresh ideas.” One example of a fresh idea that Ward provided was dissolving the Thruway Authority and put the Thruway (and all roads) under Department of Transportation (DOT) control. In general, Ward called on Democrats to reform these authorities.

“We need the Thruway reformed and put in with the state DOT,” he said. “We also should also look into an enhanced railroad connecting New York City and Albany. This could be a huge economic development tool and boost transportation.”

Ward said that he would stand for many things. He would fight to restore the middle class and bring back an economic and political democracy. He argued that we can’t keep going down the road of the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer. He also said that we have to look at our trade policies and seek fair trade policies.

To sum up Ward, dissolving the Thruway into the DOT and the high-speed train are priorities of his. Also, reforming IDAs and economic development are at the top of the list as well. Regarding the Empire Zone program, Ward said it needed be “seriously overhauled, scrapped or abolished” and that you either needed to close the loopholes or abolish the program.

He also talked of cleaner energy sources like geothermal energy and hydropower. He also mentioned solar power as a resource we should be utilizing.

In the end, Ward made his case.

“You want the best qualified and the most experienced,” he said. “You also want to be able to say you did something to address a problem you sought to solve and at least say you tried.” 

My Take: Ward was a very impressive candidate. He has the resume, that is for sure. He also has experience in his corner. He will be formidable in a Democratic primary should it come to that point.