LeBlanc wants to represent new district in Albany

By CARA MATTHEWS
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: June 21, 2002)

Southeast Democrat and Yorktown native Ken LeBlanc said district residents are tired of the "business-as-usual" representation they are receiving from Assemblyman Willis Stephens, R-Brewster.

LeBlanc, in formally announcing his candidacy this week, said voters object to inaction in Albany that includes "allowing overdevelopment without regard to the impact on water quality and traffic congestion" and "allowing our safety and security to be jeopardized."

Stephens, who has been in office for four terms, said the issues LeBlanc is championing are local ones. "Land-use development is a home-rule issue which is dealt with at the county and town and village level," he said.

As for safety and security, Stephens said, the Legislature has passed and he has supported reinstating the death penalty, Megan's Law and other initiatives in recent years.

LeBlanc alleged that Stephens does not do enough work on behalf of his constituents and hasn't produced legislation. "He doesn't do anything," LeBlanc said.

Stephens disagreed, saying he has sponsored approximately 40 bills this year. He is in the minority in the Assembly and often forges alliances with Democrats to get legislation passed, he said.

Stephens, 46, said one of the laws he is most proud of was in 1996, when legislators passed his bill allowing hemophiliacs infected with tainted blood to sue blood companies even if the statute of limitations had expired.

Although Stephens has represented the district for eight years, he has new territory to cover because of redistricting. Stephens has represented all of Putnam and six towns in Dutchess, District 91. The new District 99 comprises Carmel, Patterson and Southeast in Putnam; North Salem, Somers and Yorktown in Westchester; and only Pawling in Dutchess.

About 39 percent of registered voters in District 99 are Republican, 28 percent Democratic and 26 percent unaffiliated.

This is the first time since Stephens' first election that he has faced competition.

LeBlanc said increases in development and traffic in the district point to a need for regional planning. "You just can't build with no regional impact," he said.

A father of five children, LeBlanc, 46, said he is concerned about the increasing incidence of contamination in the region's water supply.

This is the third time LeBlanc is seeking public office, but the first time in New York. He ran unsuccessfully in 1992 for a state Assembly seat in California. The following year in California, he received 6 percent of the vote in a special state Senate election with seven candidates.

LeBlanc grew up in Yorktown, something pointed out by several supporters at Jack DeVito Veterans Memorial Field and Track on Tuesday evening. He spent 12 years in California and moved to Putnam about three years ago.

"He wants the same goals that I think every person wants for their family," said Alice Roker, Yorktown town clerk.

Susan Spear and Robert Bennett, Putnam's Democratic party co-chairs, attended the event. Joseph Apicella, Yorktown Democratic chairman, said the cross-county unity demonstrated at the event would continue.

LeBlanc also has the Dutchess Democratic Party's endorsement, while Stephens has Republican backing in all three counties.

LeBlanc has criticized Stephens for working as a local attorney while serving as an assemblyman. Stephens said the Legislature is a part-time body.

LeBlanc, a vice president at GCommerce Inc., a technology company in Tuxedo Park, N.Y., said he would work in his private-sector job part time and treat the assemblyman position as a full-time one.

The Westchester Independence Party recently endorsed LeBlanc to run for Assembly, although its counterpart in Putnam is backing Stephens.

Frank MacKay, state chairman for the party, said the county in which there was the largest vote for the Independence Party gubernatorial candidate in 1998 has the final say in the endorsement.

In 1998, there was a total of 792 votes for the Independence candidate in Carmel, Patterson and Southeast; 77 in Pawling; and a total of 866 in North Salem, Somers and Yorktown, according to the three counties' boards of elections.

William Sayegh, chairman of the Putnam Independence Party, said Putnam makes the decision since the district did not include Westchester during the last election. MacKay said that's a misinterpretation of his party's rules.

Dhyalma Vazquez, secretary of the Westchester Independence Party, said it's up to her chapter to back the 99th Assembly District candidate.

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