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The race for the 98th State Assembly District
The 98th Assembly District includes all of Sullivan County,
plus the City of Middletown, the City of Port Jervis and the towns of Deerpark,
Greenville, Minisink and Waywayanda in Orange County.
Election Day is on Tuesday, November 4.
By
DAVID HULSE
Alan Sorensen
By DAVID HULSE
Alan Sorensen says he’s always wanted to be in public
service and that desire has now moved him to run for New York State Assembly.
While that might sound trite in the telling, it is more
Sorensen’s direct way of speaking when you hear him say it.
With a satisfying, well-paying position in hand, a young
family to raise, and no elected political experience, Sorensen was challenged
in early September about why he wanted to take on the widow of a popular
assemblyman. “I think I have something to offer,” he said privately.
Since leaving his $93,000 job as Sullivan County
commissioner of planning shortly thereafter, Sorensen won the endorsement of
the Republican and Conservative parties in Sullivan and Orange counties.
After that, the problem became explaining his role in
everything that happened in Sullivan County over the past seven years. As
planning commissioner, Sorensen took a low profile position behind then County
Manager Jonathan Drapkin and the elected members of the legislature, who after
all, were his employers.
Sorensen the candidate no longer keeps a low profile.
Born and raised on a farm in upstate Otsego County, Sorensen
had become a municipal planner in Westchester County when Drapkin tapped him
for the planning job.
He is married. Alan and Jane Sorensen are the parents of
three children.
Shortly after finding his new office in Monticello, Sorensen
recalled that weeks of day-and-night work began in the preparation of the
“Rebuilding Sullivan County,” initiative, a plan to restart the county’s
then-stalled economy. The resulting document outlined many of the county
programs that have since been undertaken.
With the help of grant funding from Governor Pataki and
Senator John Bonacic’s Catskill Redevelopment legislation, programs like the
main street façade program, a revolving loan program and the incubator without
walls program for new businesses were developed.
Other projects followed in which Sorensen’s efforts were
critical to successful outcomes, including the Emerald Corporate Center in Rock
Hill, county-wide agricultural protection zone re-districting, the creation of
the Upper Delaware Scenic Byway along Route 97 and the state’s approval of an
Empire Zone designation for the county.
“I’ve already worked with many of the people in Albany that
our legislator should know to be effective,” he said.
Aileen Gunther
She’s been a nurse, a nursing administrator,
the office work side of the family business and an Assemblyman’s
wife, but up until now Aileen Gunther has never been elected office
or any other government position.
Now she’s the Democratic candidate to fill the final year of
her late husband Jacob Gunther’s last term. A Bronx native, she married Jake
and moved to Forestburgh. Three children and 26 years later, the Gunther home
is still under construction, she said.
Her decision to try and succeed him after the “bedlam” of
his death in July, followed after discussions with the family.
“The whole family discussed it,” daughter Mary Alice agreed.
Scheduling was not a problem. The children are pretty much
grown; two sons were in college and Mary Alice was living in England before her
father’s death.
None of them ever expected Jake’s untimely death, but Aileen
remembered his practical advice that, she “would have good name recognition,”
if the occasion ever arose.
“I can fill his shoes, maybe not quite as well, but I had a
good teacher,” she said with a smile.
She had always discussed and debated issues with her
husband. “I was behind the scenes. I knew what was happening. I felt I wanted
to continue the work…Jake’s legacy,” she said.
That legacy included Jake Gunther’s repeated efforts to
bring a constitutional amendment for gambling to the voters, a continuing and
partially successful efforts to have the state pick up property tax payments on
state-owned lands, and Jake’s support for ongoing projects in the county like
the corporate park and Alan Gerry’s performing arts center in Bethel. “We need
more jobs, more good jobs. Jobs paying $12 an hour in Sullivan County pay $16
an hour in Middletown.”
For her own part, Aileen Gunther’s nursing and hospital
administration background provide a natural interest in health care issues,
like insurance. Gunther believes that existing state insurance programs like
Family Health Plus, could be “tweaked” to expand eligibility to the low to
middle income uninsured.
Gunther knows she will be a freshman in Albany if she wins
election, but again, “I know how it’s done.” She said she’s also gotten some
advice from senators Bill Larkin and John Bonacic.
Referring to her experience in health care, she said,
“Collaboration and integration are things that make you succeed. When you live
it, you can often do it.”
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