Ken Dow, Democratic candidate for the New York State Senate, 41st District (northern Dutchess and Columbia Counties), is running because “for the last several decades, the strains on regular working people have grown greater and greater, with no serious progress toward their resolution.”
Ken, now living in Mellenville, Columbia County, with his wife Betsy Jacks and their infant daughter Ellie, grew up in small town New Hampshire with his three brothers and loving parents, who provided their sons with every opportunity their modest incomes would permit. His boyhood experiences encouraged Ken to “respect each person, regardless of their individual circumstances.” His father is 90 years old now and Dow describes him as “one of those old time, New Deal, FDR Democrats” who inspired Ken’s personal political priority -- “that each person deserves a realistic chance to thrive and no person should be left to bear an unfair burden.”
Following graduation from Harvard in 1983 with a concentration in government, Ken worked in the financial markets for many years before turning fully to public service, politics, and law. Recently, at the age of 47, Ken graduated magna cum laude from Albany Law School, where he focused on everyday issues such as state and local government and taxation, land use, labor law and law vis-à-vis children.
Ken has already gained practical knowledge and proven his serious intent by serving, from 2005 through 2007, while in law school, as both Chairman of the Columbia County Democratic Committee and as Columbia County Commissioner of Elections. He has also acquired experience in the Governor’s Office of Regulatory Reform and with the Democratic Counsel in the State Senate.
Why has Ken committed himself to contending for a seat in a legislature he and others have judged “the most dysfunctional in the entire U.S.”? Because he would like to help change that perception and give New Yorkers a fair break. He knows that the overriding issue in this state with so many issues is, “What’s wrong with Albany?” He knows also that “in Albany the rampant partisanship and self-absorption of perpetual incumbency has smothered the ability, and even the desire, to get serious work done.”
As an example of the pervasive dysfunction, Ken cites the instance of Stephen Saland (incumbent occupant of the seat in the 41st) who, with other Republican senators, introduced a bill “that purports to address the property tax crisis but is more a bad joke than serious legislation.” It would allow school districts to opt out of property tax funding for schools, with the forgone revenue to be made up by the state. If enacted, this legislation would lead to a $9 billion shortfall in school funding statewide, but “the proposal does not even hint at how the state would come up with the promised $9 billion.” Dow cites this bill as an example of the practice described in a New York Sun op-ed piece, which observed that “Republicans in the Senate routinely pass laws that would actually be devastating if enacted – but that their leaders understand from the get-go will never win the approval from the other chamber required to become actual laws.” Dow believes that on a matter of such importance as property taxes “we should expect more from our senator than to put forth a bill that is so deficient as to be of dubious sincerity. This kind of legislating explains a lot about why our state is struggling.”
“The chronic inability in Albany to resolve serious problems is making it increasingly difficult for families to prosper and give their children the opportunities that they deserve,” Ken says. “We live in too competitive a world to accept political leaders who cannot or will not move our state forward. I’ve been able to bring together people of differing outlooks in order to achieve common progress, and in my public capacity have earned the respect and trust of people of all political affiliations. I believe that as your State Senator I can bring a new level of energy and determination to get New York moving forward now.”
Ken’s candidacy has been endorsed by:
Dutchess County Democratic Committee
Rhinebeck Democratic Committee
Town of Poughkeepsie Democratic Committee
Columbia County Democratic Committee
City of Hudson Democratic Committee
Working Families Party
