Is It Time For Otsego County To Reclaim Seat?

3-26-10

It’s been a long dry spell since Congressman George W. Fair-child of Oneonta represented Otsego County.  Or the Wilbers of Milford, dad and son.  Or George Van Horn, buried in Cooperstown’s Lakewood Cemetery.
Since U.S. Rep. Mike Arcuri, D-24, is now – his “nay” vote on health-care reform disqualifies him – unlikely to be reelected, maybe it’s time for Otsego County to again send a son or daughter to represent it in Congress.
Recent elections have proved if we would, we can. 
When county voters, Republicans and Democrats alike, lined up behind Michael V. Coccoma, they provided the margin he needed to win election as state Supreme Court judge in a 12-county Southern Tier district.
In fact, it was Otsego County that provided Arcuri with the margin of victory when he ran for a second term in 2008.  He lost his home county of Oneida and its neighbor, Herkimer.

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As of today, Arcuri’s likely to be beaten because, one, he almost lost last time.  His margin of victory – 10,000, a fraction of total voters in the 24th – means only 5,001 of his 2008 backers need to stay home.  If the Republican surge that may or may not materialize this fall does happen, that’s all she wrote.
Republican Richard Hanna, who almost beat Arcuri last time, is running again.  He may be a professional businessman and a professional philanthropist, but he’s an amateur politician (with a temper, too). 
Say what you will about the skills to be a politician – in our view, they are considerable – but not everybody has the patience and temperament to do it.  If you need brain surgery, you go to a brain surgeon, not a tree surgeon.
OK, you say, here’s an inconsistency:  Arcuri, in voting against health-care reform, was acting like the politician this editorial just said is needed in the job.
Sure, but remember “Profiles in Courage.”  Every once in a while a politician is called to show guts, and Mike Arcuri, in this historical case, didn’t.

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State Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford.  Perfect.
He’s ably represented Otsego County for a quarter-century, rising to top leadership roles in Albany.  After years in the majority, he finds himself in what may well be a permanent Republican minority in Albany; not as much fun.
His district includes much of Arcuri’s 24th, so Seward is known, liked and a proven vote-getter from here to the foothills of the Catskills to the foothills of the Adirondacks.
His family is grown.  He’s in his late 50s, with experience behind him and years of public service ahead.  Arcuri is the first Democrat to represent the 24th District since the Harry Truman sweep in 1948.
On the Democratic side, it looks like at least one primary challenger, from Chenango County, may surface.  So why not an Otsego County one?
Everyone agrees former Oneonta mayor Kim Muller, now a SUNY Oneonta administrator, has a future in politics. 
Mike Arcuri, by his own actions, opened the door.  Seward or Muller should walk through it.