This week I interviewed a legislator for Albany County and his conservative opponent. When I was first given the idea to interview the two, I didn’t jump on the opportunity.
I enjoy reading and writing about international and national issues and policy. That’s what I’ve spent seven years of my life striving to learn more about. I could go on for a half hour just summarizing the issues if you asked me to. And I could go on for a half hour talking about what I think needs to be done to fix those issues.
Once again I was proven wrong that just because something is “local” it is not necessarily dull. When I was in high school, I thought the regional paper was dull and almost turned down that internship opportunity.
If I had, I probably would have had an internship in a field that I was not really interested it. But I did, and I got to sit in on an Editorial Board meeting with the lieutenant governor of New York State and a judge who was running for a seat on the State Court of Appeals.
Also, I had the chance to visit the Capitol Building and shadow a political reporter on the same day Vice President Joe Biden and Governor Andrew Cuomo were holding a press event.
During my whole semester I realized the regional paper was anything but a dull paper that reporter on lost cats being found.
This past week I learned what the county legislature does and how legislators can influence life in a county. I went into the interview with a brief understanding of what some of the issues would be, mostly because it was very hard to find anything about issues the county is dealing with, and I had to learn during the interview by questions.
For many people on election days that aren’t mid-term years or presidential years, those boxes for legislator, town supervisor, county executive and more may seem like positions that aren’t that important and you many not really care about anything other than whether you see a D or an R by each name.
We should pay attention to what our local elected officials are doing. There’s a lot that you may not think about that is affected by their decisions. In my experience, these people want to make a difference in their communities, and they want to hear from their constituents.
It may be hard to find information about local politicians, but often it is not too hard to find their cell phone numbers or email addresses. And the meetings of town boards and county legislatures are open to the public so anyone can see what the elected officials are working on and what they have to say.
As was the case with me, if you ask your local officials questions and visit meetings you may learn a lot about your town, city, or county. And your voice should be heard if you want to make sure that your community is moving in a positive direction.
This, and future elections, I’ll ask you not to just check boxes based on political parties. But if you have the time, do some digging and figure out who you think will best represent you.
I enjoy reading and writing about international and national issues and policy. That’s what I’ve spent seven years of my life striving to learn more about. I could go on for a half hour just summarizing the issues if you asked me to. And I could go on for a half hour talking about what I think needs to be done to fix those issues.
Once again I was proven wrong that just because something is “local” it is not necessarily dull. When I was in high school, I thought the regional paper was dull and almost turned down that internship opportunity.
If I had, I probably would have had an internship in a field that I was not really interested it. But I did, and I got to sit in on an Editorial Board meeting with the lieutenant governor of New York State and a judge who was running for a seat on the State Court of Appeals.
Also, I had the chance to visit the Capitol Building and shadow a political reporter on the same day Vice President Joe Biden and Governor Andrew Cuomo were holding a press event.
During my whole semester I realized the regional paper was anything but a dull paper that reporter on lost cats being found.
This past week I learned what the county legislature does and how legislators can influence life in a county. I went into the interview with a brief understanding of what some of the issues would be, mostly because it was very hard to find anything about issues the county is dealing with, and I had to learn during the interview by questions.
For many people on election days that aren’t mid-term years or presidential years, those boxes for legislator, town supervisor, county executive and more may seem like positions that aren’t that important and you many not really care about anything other than whether you see a D or an R by each name.
We should pay attention to what our local elected officials are doing. There’s a lot that you may not think about that is affected by their decisions. In my experience, these people want to make a difference in their communities, and they want to hear from their constituents.
It may be hard to find information about local politicians, but often it is not too hard to find their cell phone numbers or email addresses. And the meetings of town boards and county legislatures are open to the public so anyone can see what the elected officials are working on and what they have to say.
As was the case with me, if you ask your local officials questions and visit meetings you may learn a lot about your town, city, or county. And your voice should be heard if you want to make sure that your community is moving in a positive direction.
This, and future elections, I’ll ask you not to just check boxes based on political parties. But if you have the time, do some digging and figure out who you think will best represent you.