This field of candidates for the County Legislature will be the last to run under the current 33-member, 12-district format. As prescribed by the Charter, the document that brought us the county executive and comptroller last year, the legislature will be reduced to 23 members, each of whom will represent a single district. An independent commission will draw those boundaries based on the results of the 2010 census.

It will be interesting to see how the new format plays out. Most of Saugerties lies in District 4, which is represented by three Republicans and a Democrat. But there are more registered Democrats than Republicans in the town, and it broke for the Democratic candidate in the past could presidential elections and last year's county executive race. Will the absence of Town Republican Committee chairman Joe Roberti Jr. in this race, coupled with the single-member district shakeup in two years, mean that Saugerties will be represented by a Democratic majority on the county level?

In the spirit of the new, we decided to first sit down with candidates from both parties who are not currently in office before taking on the incumbents. For the Democrats, that meant the three that weren't Gary Bischoff, and for the Republicans, Mike Sweeney (Roberti's designated successor) and Walter Frey Jr. What would these fresh daisies have to say about themselves and why they're the right pick for Saugerties? Would talking points emerge? A nascent platform?

First off, they're an impressive lot, all around. If the campaign doesn't descend into the negative, it will be substantial and worth following. Like last year's county executive and comptroller races, questions of precedent will be discussed. What's the proper role for the legislature under the new form of government, especially when pared down to a lean and mean 23 members?

In speaking with the three Democratic candidates, Nicole Tucker, Marcy Goulart and Alverta Jones, that topic came up repeatedly. They all agreed that the new format would bring more accountability, mostly due to the executive's position as a full-time elected official, and the county executive Mike Hein was doing a good job so far. They also mentioned affordable housing and economic development as areas of interest.

For the Republicans, the enemy is clear: taxes. Both Frey and Sweeney said area senior citizens are being taxed out of their homes, and pledged to do all they could from the county level to fight for lower taxes. Sweeney qualified his criticism of the county government though, saying that he Republican Party because it had lost its way, "especially on the federal level...I decided to go to the Conservative Party because the Conservatives are mostly the ones that fight these tax increases."

Frey also mentioned economic development as an area of interest, and said the county should look to Greene County for a model of how to formulate a plan and attract business.

So, like opening day, optimism is high. Maybe we'll get a good, clean, issues-oriented (and substantial) campaign this year. Wouldn't it be nice?

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