Daniel Reynolds, who has represented Broome County’s 19th district in the County Legislature for the past 10 years, will face off against Binghamton University student Anthony Galli to represent the newly redrawn 4th district — which includes BU and University Plaza — in Tuesday’s election
Reynolds, who graduated from BU in 1988 and Albany Law School in 1991, is running on the Democratic, Working Families and Independence lines.
He said that throughout his tenure, he has advocated for students through decisions on public transportation.
“I’ve been a supporter and big advocate of more busing throughout the county, including the campus, and we now have four buses that come to campus,” Reynolds said. “I’ve been on long enough that I think I’ve been effective in directing public transportation toward students.”
In addition to directing public transportation, Broome County is responsible for a number of services including running the district attorney’s and public defenders’ offices, social services to aid families in need and at-risk children, maintaining the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena and Forum Theatre and running a parks department.
“I voted to eliminate the entrance fee to the parks,” Reynolds said. “Especially in areas where people don’t have a lot of disposable income, we provide nice free parks for families and students to go to.”
Reynolds said he has voted on several countywide environmental issues, including a logging project in Broome County parks that he voted down and legislation regarding natural gas drilling.
“In recent history, the county was very interested in leasing out its park lands and county-owned land for natural gas drilling,” Reynolds said. “I opposed that, I was the chairman of the legislature at the time, and stopped that from happening.”
According to Reynolds, the new Student Voice Party on which Galli will run was created by the Broome County Republican Party rather than students.
“Galli did get signatures, but no other student did; all other witnesses that gathered the signatures were Broome Republican committee people or worked for Sen Libous or County Executive Preston,” Reynolds wrote in an email, referring to Thomas Libous, a republican state senator, and Debbie Preston, who is also a republican. “It’s an attempt by the Republican party to have their candidate run on a line that might attract students.”
Reynolds said he thinks that if Galli were to be elected, he believes Galli would vote in line with the Broome County Republican Party because of his lack of experience.
“I think he would simply be in a position where he would have to simply follow the lead of republicans who are in county government,” Reynolds said. “I think he would be just another ‘yes’ vote… I can’t imagine he would have the background to be an independent voice”
Reynolds said Galli does not have enough experience to successfully represent the district to the County Legislature.
“I was young when I entered politics—but young being 38,” Reynolds said. “I just can’t imagine he would walk in at 21 without any background and be an effective representative.”
Reynolds runs a private law practice in Downtown Binghamton. He lives in Vestal with his wife, a current BU doctoral candidate, and four children.