Syracuse, NY – Former Syracuse Common Councilor Rick Guy is seeking the Republican nomination to run against veteran Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli. Reached at his Winkworth Parkway home this morning, Guy confirmed that he planned to make his pitch for the nomination tonight at a meeting with party officials. “I can tell you I think there’s a very strong sense...
Rick GuySyracuse, NY – Former Syracuse Common Councilor Rick Guy is seeking the Republican nomination to run against veteran Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli.
Reached at his Winkworth Parkway home this morning, Guy confirmed that he planned to make his pitch for the nomination tonight at a meeting with party officials.
“I can tell you I think there’s a very strong sense that there’s an urgent need for a new direction in state government,” Guy said.
His campaign theme, “Assembly 2.0,” will focus on the need to use technology to streamline government and make it more efficient, and the need to “restore fiscal responsibility” in Albany, he said.
“You can’t have more business if you keep spending more money,” Guy said. “Every dollar you spend means another dollar in taxes.”
William MagnarelliGuy, 49, was elected in 1989 to represent the 2nd Council District, unseating Democratic incumbent and future Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll. Guy beat Driscoll again four years later for an at-large council seat, serving one four-year term. Then-Mayor Roy Bernardi appointed him corporation counsel in 1999, a post he held until Driscoll succeeded Bernardi as mayor in 2001.
Guy later became a lawyer at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where Bernardi was a top official, working in New York City while maintaining a Syracuse home. He resigned that job three weeks ago and now is in private law practice, he said.
His name popped up meanwhile as a possible candidate for mayor, U.S. attorney and congress.
The assembly seat he seeks, the 120th, has been held by Magnarelli, D-Syracuse, since 1999. It currently comprises Syracuse’s north side, west side, Eastwood, Valley and University neighborhoods plus the towns of Geddes and Van Buren.