Blogger will seek Saland Senate seat
Blogger will seek Saland Senate seat
Hopewell Junction man decries pork
By Anthony Farmer Poughkeepsie Journal
A Democratic blogger from Hopewell Junction has launched a campaign to unseat longtime incumbent state Sen. Steve Saland, R-Poughkeepsie, in the 41st District.
Brian Keeler, a founder of two interactive Web sites focusing on politics and journalism, announced his bid for state Legislature at a press conference at Waryas Park in the City of Poughkeepsie Thursday afternoon.
Keeler said Albany is broken and in need of repair. Keeler said Saland has failed to help change state government and has only focused on handing out taxpayer dollars to local organizations, commonly derided as pork-barrel spending. "Pork does not solve problems, it merely buys complacency and we have been complacent for too long," Keeler said. "The people who have broken the system cannot be entrusted to fix it."
Actor as well as blogger
Keeler was endorsed by the Columbia County Democratic Committee this week and Dutchess Democratic Chairman Joseph Ruggiero said he expects his committee will do the same at its convention June 6. Besides his work online, Keeler has a background as an actor and said he still does some voice-over work.
The 41st District includes the city and town of Poughkeepsie, the City of Beacon and the towns of Fishkill, East Fishkill, Wappinger, La-Grange, Union Vale, Washington, Stanford, Clinton, Pleasant Valley, Hyde Park, Rhinebeck and Red Hook, and all of Columbia County.
Saland, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, has served in the state Legislature for more than a quarter century, first in the Assembly, before being elected to the Senate in 1991. He recently announced he will seek a ninth term in the Senate.
Saland pointed to his accomplishments over the years — rewriting the state's domestic violence laws, negotiating record funding increases to the state's schools, or authoring legislation creating the Hudson Valley Greenway — in responding to Keeler's remarks.
"I'm the person with the record," Saland said. "If the challenger can't distort a record or propose simplistic solutions for campaign purposes, he or she has abandoned the challenger playbook."
But Keeler may face a challenge of his own before taking on Saland in November.
Democrat Kim D'Souza, a Town of LaGrange resident who plans a run on the Libertarian Party line, said he also intends to seek the Democratic line as well, setting up a potential primary between the two Democrats.
D'Souza said in a written statement that he'll offer a more fiscally conservative choice to voters.
Anthony Farmer can be reached at
apfarmer@poughkeepsiejournal.
