Source: The Post-Standard
Publication Date: October 17, 2007

By John Mariani
Staff writer

The candidates for Onondaga County executive spent a busy day on the
campaign trail Tuesday, debating twice, and Democrat Bill Magnarelli picking
up an endorsement from an environmental group.

Magnarelli and Republican Joanie Mahoney faced off first at 1 p.m. at Time
Warner Cable's DeWitt studio for a debate sponsored by the Manufacturers
Association of Central New York, the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, the Home Builders and Remodelers of Central New York and Leadership Greater Syracuse.

News 10 Now televised the taped debate Tuesday evening. Replays are
available at the channel's news10now.com Web site and on its on-demand
digital channel 1010.

Mahoney, a former Syracuse common councilor, said she was not a career
politician and offered a fresh start to county government, taking "bold
action" to address key issues. Magnarelli said he also offered change; the
choice facing voters, he said, is deciding whether he, a five-term
assemblyman and former city councilor, or Mahoney was best prepared to lead.

Mahoney criticized Magnarelli when the two answered how they would work to
keep companies from leaving the region. Saying she would seek more
communication with the business community, she chided Magnarelli for not
seeking assurances about local jobs as regulators were discussing a merger
between National Grid and a Downstate utility.

Magnarelli, responding as he had to Democratic primary opponent Ed Ryan,
said National Grid executives and union leaders had told him the region
would gain jobs, not lose them. He said the county needs to try to work with
troubled companies "as early as possible" to find out what government can do
to help them.

Asked whether they supported taking down the elevated parts of Interstate 81 through Syracuse, Magnarelli said he believed it should come down and that a plan should be developed to assure access to nearby hospitals. Eliminating the overpasses would allow the reconstruction of downtown and make it more inviting, he said.

The idea is worth exploring, Mahoney said, but the highway is an economic
development tool as well as an access to downtown and the hospitals. The
impact of taking it down on commuting times and energy costs will have to be examined, she said.

Magnarelli said he supported putting project labor agreements in place on
county projects. Studies already must be done to show the agreements will
save money before they are put in place, he said. The county's Midland
Avenue sewage treatment plant is an example of a successful PLA, he said.

 Mahoney said she is pro-labor, but that a Midland plant worker told her the
project labor agreement kept nonunion workers off the site. "We can be
pro-union and pro-nonunion and provide jobs for everyone," she said.

"I'm not sure if she said yes or no," Magnarelli said.

Mahoney urged government modernization and efforts to cut waste as the best way to cut property taxes. Magnarelli said economic development was the key to sustainable tax cuts, not by trying to lure a big firm with thousands of jobs, but by working to bring ideas emerging from local universities to market.

Asked further about government consolidation, Mahoney said she would work
with the chamber and MACNY to help show voters the benefits to be derived.
Magnarelli recommended building trust among layers of government through
voluntary intermunicipal agreements that would let them experiment with
combining services and back out if the results aren't favorable.

The candidates met again at 7 p.m. at a forum at University United Methodist Church sponsored by the Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse, an umbrella group of faith-based organizations.

Before the News 10 Now debate, Magnarelli picked up the endorsement of the New York League of Conservation Voters.

The political action group said its support was based on Magnarelli's
efforts in the Assembly to get greater state support for the Onondaga Lake
cleanup and biofuel production and research, and securing $23 million for
the New York Indoor Environmental Quality Center, among other items.

John Mariani can be reached at jmariani@syracuse.com or 470-3105.