OSWEGO, NY – It’s for the people, Amy Tresidder said of her bid to become state senator.
The Oswego County Legislator went home Thursday to make her big announcement and then made her way back home to Oswego to make the announcement in the city that’s been her home for more than three decades.
She began her day with her announcement in Canton at noon, then in Watertown and on to the finale in Oswego.
The Democrat spoke to a packed house of lively supporters in the banquet room at Bridie Manor shortly after 6 p.m.
She was introduced by fellow legislator Mike Kunzwiler, Minority Leader, and Oswego’s current mayor Tom Gillen and his predecessor Randy Bateman.
Kunzwiler described the announcement as “an historic occasion.”
“Working with Amy has been an honor and a privilege,” he said. “Amy has been such an asset not only to the (Democrat) caucus, but to the entire legislature. Why? Because Amy is not afraid to ask the question; she’s not afraid to find the information to make a good, smart decision. Unfortunately, in Albany, you don’t see that a lot. Unfortunately, people put politics before their constituents. I have never seen that from Amy from day one.”
“Amy is going to prove once and for all that we can send somebody to Albany that’s going to do what they say they’re going to do,” he added.
Bateman said in her time as a legislator, Tresidder has done a great job.
“Her constituents always speak highly of her and I know Amy’s going to go down and help dissolve the dysfunction in Albany,” he said. “We need somebody who has common sense and is going to do the right thing for the average person, not the big corporations, not the lobbyists, but the average working person.”
“Amy is not a ‘politician,’ she is a genuine human being,” Mayor Gillen pointed out. “What you’re going to get with Amy is a decent hard-working person who understands the problems we deal with and will represent us as well as she can.”
Tresidder said she was asked what qualifications does a homemaker have to be a state senator?
“What that tells me is that we’re not being trusted to pick the right person. It’s usually somebody tells you how things need to be done. I don’t believe that. Being a homemaker or not is a personal choice. We need to start valuing everyone’s choices.”
No one came to her and asked her to run, Tresidder told Oswego County Today.
“When you’re not happy with a situation, what is the best way to deal with it? You try and fix it, right?” she said. “I wasn’t approached by anyone. I decided to do this on my own. I don’t think we are being represented the way I want to be represented.”
Tresidder is a native of St. Lawrence County.
“We drove up there this morning. It was a drive I have made a lot of times. We’ve lived in Oswego for 33 years. So it was a trip home this morning and then a trip home tonight. It’s overwhelming to see everybody here and I’m just thrilled,” the candidate said.
One of her goals as a member of the Oswego County Legislature has been “to answer to the people and to ask questions … to make sure we were accountable to the taxpayer,” she said.
“The sad thing today is people are losing faith in their government. When we start to lose faith in our government, what are you going to do about it?”
she continued. “If we have a government and the people believe that the institution of government has become more important than the people it represents – we’re in trouble; we’re in big trouble.”
The people who live in this area live her because they love it, she said.
“They want jobs; they want jobs that fit,” she said. “They want the jobs that fit their communities. They don’t want to be told what they need. They want their input to be listened to. They want somebody in Albany that hears us, hears whet we think.”
She said the taxpayers need someone in Albany that is going to question things, someone who will ask why … what is that about?
“One person can make a difference, just by asking a question,” she said. “If I find something that I don’t understand, that I can’t figure out, I have to assume that if I don’t get it, you guys don’t get it, either. And, if I ask the question – you’re going to hear the answer! I think that’s important.”
It’s time for candidates to be selected by the people – not political parties or “big money,” Tresidder added.
She vowed to be honest, do her best and to always care about people.
“Those are the values I was raised with, and those are the values I’d bring to the senate seat,” she said. “That is the promise that I make.”
This race is about people, she pointed out.
“It’s about people and the passion and the pride that they take in their community, their villages and their towns, their cities, their county. That’s what this is about,” she said. “We’ve gotten away from that – we’ve gotten away from listening to the people and caring about what they need. And you know what? When I am asked what the issues are, I’ll tell you what the issues are; the issues are people trying to pay their bills, working hard to make their money, putting a roof over their heads, heating their homes and buying their groceries. All they want is a littler extra to enjoy their life. And, when you pay your taxes, you deserve something for that. You deserve somebody who cares where that money is going.”
Tresidder said she isn’t alone in this, “because we are in this together. We are all going to do this together.”
“This is our race. This isn’t somebody else’s race. This isn’t someone else telling me where I am going to go and what I’m going to do. This is you and I. We’re going to do this together and we’re going to show New York State that we’re making a statement. We’re telling them we have had it with other people spending the money and pulling strings and deciding who is going to represent us.”
‘This is a journey that we are on. We are going to go back to basics. Government is not simple, but it doesn’t have to be that complicated, either. We’re going to go and we’re going to do this together and it’s going to be about you and I think you’re ready for it!”
The Hannibal Democratic Committee got her campaign off to a strong start with a donation of $1,300.
For more information, contact the candidate at [email protected]
