The race for the new 148th Assembly District involves the incumbent from the previous 149th District and Great Valley's town supervisor.
Joseph Giglio is running for re-election on the Republican, Conservative and Independence party tickets. His opponent on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6, is Dan Brown, who is running on the Democratic and Working Families party tickets. The 148th Assembly District encompasses all of Cattaraugus and Allegany counties and the towns of Greenwood, Jasper, Troupsburg and West Union in Steuben County.
First elected in a 2005 special election, Giglio was re-elected in 2006, 2008 and 2010. Prior to serving in the state Assembly, Giglio was a state deputy inspector general in charge of the Western New York Office. As inspector general, Giglio investigated fraud, waste and abuse by employees of various state agencies and those who did business with the state. Giglio's experience in law enforcement has led to a role on the Assembly Ethics & Guidance and Corrections committees. He also serves on the Codes, Aging and Children & Families committees.
''I want the voters to know that I work every day to bring an independent approach to the state Assembly, and I have always represented the diverse views of the residents,'' Giglio said. ''The last several years have been very difficult economic times for taxpayers and businesses in the state of New York, and I have worked very hard to change that economic climate. I will continue to promote and support policies that will hold the line on spending, streamline bureaucratic and burdensome regulations for our taxpayers and businesses, fight for mandate relief for local governments and school districts, and continue to advocate for efficiencies and cost saving measures in the Medicaid program, which is one of the most expensive in the country. I believe that my record is clear ... I've resisted the status quo and have been calling for reform from the top-down."
Dan Brown has been the Great Valley town supervisor for seven years. Brown was a member of the town's Planning Board for many years until he was asked to run for supervisor. As supervisor, he has run for election unopposed and was endorsed by both the Republican and Democrat parties. He sits on the Cattaraugus County Agricultural & Farm Land Protection Board, which reports directly to the county legislators on land uses. Brown and his wife, Marcy, who is a sixth-grade science teacher in the Salamanca school district, own Snow Brook Organics, a dairy farm using the latest technology in food production.
''In the past seven years, Great Valley has adopted a master plan/zoning plan, completed the first-ever revaluation and has seen improvements to its facilities and ball fields. Highway equipment has been upgraded to ensure public safety and our youth programs have more than doubled in attendance. Senior programs now include the towns of Great Valley, Humphrey, Salamanca, Ellicottville and Mansfield. We have been very respectful to the taxpayers of the town, never exceeding our budget and the average increase over the last seven years has been around 1 percent,'' Brown said. ''Our representation has been stuck on the minority side of the Assembly for too long - in order to help our seniors and our children and make our part of New York better - we need to get our voices on the majority side.''
Giglio is a member of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Medicaid redesign team. For the past two years, the team has been dedicated to reviewing the Medicaid system from top to bottom and working to secure savings in the program. Many of the Medicaid redesign team's proposals have been enacted as part of the state budget. The result was approximately $2.5 billion in savings to the taxpayer.
''Administrative costs of the Medicaid program will soon be taken over by the state rather than paid for by local property taxpayers,'' Giglio said. ''The state recently phased in a gradual takeover of the 3 percent local share of Medicaid costs, but I believe that more must be done for local property taxpayers. Counties have no control over the rules or eligibility for Medicaid, but county taxpayers are stuck paying for a significant portion of the cost. That must end and that is why I am supporting legislation to end the county share of the cost.''
Brown said it is very frustrating when one realizes how out of touch Albany is with rural communities. State mandates are crippling the area and the representation has been on the minority side of the Assembly, virtually impossible to make a difference, he said.
''If we are going to make improvements for our children, our seniors, our middle class, we need to get our voice in the majority side of the Assembly,'' he said. ''By voting for me, we can achieve exactly that.''
Brown said the largest challenge facing the state is reforming state policy in order to reduce the budget, and in turn, reduce the tax burden on residents. ''We need to take a hard look at state policy on schools, being married to a teacher I see the frustration every day,'' he said. ''When a teacher spends more time doing state evaluations then teaching our children, that becomes an issues that we can't allow.''
Giglio earned his bachelor's degree from the State University at Buffalo. Giglio and his wife, Ann, live in Gowanda, with their three children, and also have a grown son and daughter-in-law. Giglio has been endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Business, Unshackle Upstate and the National Rifle Association. He was named by the New York State Farm Bureau as a member of its ''Circle of Friends.''
After graduating from Ellicottville Central School, Brown helped his father, Richard, run the family farm and also worked for Holiday Valley Ski Resort as a chair lift mechanic. Upon his father's retirement in 1991, the family business sat idle until 1997 when Dan rebuilt the farm. The farm installed a robot milking system to complement its NOFA-NY organic certification.
d