The From the Lobby podcast features a behind-the-scenes look at politics and government from New York State to Washington, DC with Jack O’Donnell, an Albany insider and Managing Partner of O’Donnell and Associates, a top lobbying firm that helps clients all over the country cut through government red tape.
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Summary of this Episode
Guests
- Alexander Marion: Democratic candidate for Syracuse City Auditor
- Alec Lewis: Vice President and Director of Campaigns at O’Donnell and Associates
- Joanna Pasceri: Director of Communications at O’Donnell and Associates
Major Topics Covered
• Alex Marion, Democratic candidate for Syracuse City Auditor, discusses his deep connection to Syracuse and vision for the role.
• Marion emphasizes the importance of addressing climate change impacts on city infrastructure and services as part of the auditor’s duties.
• After winning the Democratic primary, Marion is preparing to take office in 2024 by meeting with stakeholders and building his team.
• Marion is continuing to campaign and support other local Democratic candidates while also studying best practices from auditors across New York State.
Full Transcript of the Episode
Note: This is a generated transcript. Please excuse any typos.
Joanna Pasceri 00:07
Welcome back to another edition of From the Lobby with Jack O’Donnell, a podcast that features New York’s top business, political and community leaders with Jack, a Top New York lobbyist and managing partner of O’Donnell and Associates, a government relations firm helping our clients navigate obstacles and reach their goals. I’m Joanne Pasceri, Director of Communications at O’Donnell and Associates. Today we are talking to the Democratic candidate for Syracuse City Auditor, Alex Marion, who pulled off a victory in the June primary and will run unopposed in November. And at the mic once again for Jack is our Alec Lewis, Vice President and Director of Campaigns. Alec was just recently was named to city and state New York’s top political consultants power 100 list. He came to O’Donnell and Associates after a decade with New York Senate Democrats and as a key campaign player and their back to back super majorities. Alec is going to talk to Alex about his work in the community, his approach to the job of being Syracuse City Auditor, and how he plans to finish strong on the campaign trail and get ready to govern. Hi, Alec and Alex and welcome to the podcast.
Alex Marion 01:23
Hello, Joanna. Thank you for having us.
Alec Lewis 01:25
Joanna, thank you so much for hosting. And Alex, it’s great to talk with you. Now for our listeners. Alex, you’re a central New York native who graduated from St. John’s University in Baruch College. You spent a decade now in leading roles at Syracuse City Hall and in the state legislature, delivering results on protecting tenants, improving infrastructure, school funding, and making economic development more transparent and inclusive. You’re also a lifelong Democrat, proud, progressive, and you currently reside in the Strathmore neighborhood of Syracuse. You’ve had an incredible journey. It’s taken you throughout New York State, but it’s always led you back home to Syracuse. Alex, why Syracuse so special for you?
Alex Marion 02:02
That’s a great question. Thank you. I love this community. I’ve spent my life kind of going back and forth across New York state, New York State is always home, I think that we are lucky to live in the greatest state in the country. But in that big and diverse, fascinating state we call home, Syracuse is always home and home base for me. I grew up in this community, I went to college in New York City. And two weeks after I graduated, I came back to Syracuse to work for Mayor Stephanie Minor, who was an incredible, incredible leader. And I learned so much from her. I stayed with her administration until the last day, when I shortly thereafter went back to New York City to work in the legislature to take on some of the same issues we had been working on, but I just keep coming back home. It is a place where I love the people, I love our four seasons, I love the beautiful landscape I get to see here every day. And throughout my life, Syracuse has been the place I come to, to celebrate, to enjoy things that are wonderful and great, and it has been the place I come back to when things are going rough. So Alec because I think, you know, a few years ago, my mother passed away. And it’s kind of in the tail end of the worst of the pandemic. You know, I immediately I was in New York City at the time, but I immediately came back to Syracuse, and I was just surrounded by this incredible sense of community and this incredible group of people. And, you know, I just knew this, this is the place this is the house that I just have to call home. And that put me on the path to running for office this year. And it is, it’s just a remarkable place. And for those who are listening, who are not familiar with all the great things Syracuse has to offer, come check it out. It’s a beautiful place with some wonderful folks.
Alec Lewis 04:01
Well, Alex, first of all, I’m so sorry for your the loss of your mom. I know how important she was to you. And I know how much she also shared a heart for Syracuse. And I want to transition now to talking about your recent primary victory. Now during the primary, you had a letter to the editor that was published on syracuse.com highlighting your views on climate change. In the immediate crisis of poor air quality caused by Canadian wildfires. Now you outline some of your philosophical approach to the role of being Syracuse City Auditor is really being a stakeholder and asking bigger questions about how in this case climate change could impact the delivery of local government services. In that same letter, you committed yourself to conducting the first ever analysis of the city’s climate resilience. Why for you is the issue of climate change, so important related to how you’re approaching the actual job of being Syracuse City Auditor?
Alex Marion 04:57
So one of the reasons I got into the race to begin with, is because I think the people of Syracuse expect more in demand more of their public officials. And they rightly should. We are living in a city that has a number of incredible challenges and some incredible opportunities. And we should have the leadership that appropriately reflects that level of ambition and that level of seriousness. Now, I came out during the campaign to talk about climate change. And some of my friends gave me gave me a hard time. And they said, What are you get to do audit the clouds? What are you going to do? What’s the city auditor have to do with the climate? But the more we talked about it and more talked about it on doors with folks, the more you kind of saw everyone have that kind of aha moment. Because, look, I know that the Syracuse City Auditor is not going to change global emissions. But what the Syracuse City Auditor can do is figure out how we are prepared as a city to address the challenges climate change poses. So let’s talk about a few of those challenges. Can our infrastructure, for example, our storm sewer system, over 100 years old, handle increased levels of flooding? I know this, as someone who’s just lived here a very long time, it struggles, it struggles as is, let alone, what struggles lay ahead, how do we prepare to do major capital projects that are going to improve the storm sewer system, so that it can handle those, you know, heavier rains and heavier storms that are coming our way? If we have another incident in the future, where there is wildfire smoke coming from Canada, which no one in upstate New York has ever experienced before and didn’t even realize was a choice, no one had that on their bingo card, now, how does that impact city workers who have to be outside like our firefighters or trash collectors? How does that impact kids who have to wait outside for the bus or walk to school as a lot of kids in the Syracuse City School District do? How does that impact our ability to to address workers compensation claims for folks who are going to be outside? What does that mean for folks who are out there waiting for buses, because that’s their main form of transportation. I think when you start breaking down those kinds of big global issues, you see the really hyper local impact that they’re going to have on communities. I think climate change is going to touch so many aspects of our lives, that it’s an important place to start. But that’s kind of my approach to this job, Alec. I’m want to see how big global issues impact our community, demonstrate how we’re ready, and make sure that we have the data and information ready, and that we are making as a city the strongest decisions we can to prepare for our future. Well, the voters
Alec Lewis 07:58
Well, the voters seem to like your approach as well, because you were victorious in the Democratic primary, beating the incumbent City Auditor with 54% of the vote. And you campaigned on providing greater oversight, enhanced Insight, and being an effective advocate for Syracuse residents. Now you’re now running unopposed in the general election and are essentially the auditor in waiting. Now I know you’ve been very intentional about working to hit the ground running on day one. So how are you approaching the remainder of the campaign and getting ready to serve come 2024?
Alex Marion 08:29
Well absolutely. I think if you’re going to be in public service, you can’t do it halfway. And that is a governing question. And that is a political question. So for the next several weeks, I am out there knocking on doors talking to voters across the city of Syracuse, making sure to introduce myself to more people, folks that may not have had the chance to meet already. And also spreading the gospel, if you will, of some of the other incredible Democrats we have running for office in Syracuse. Folks like Bill Kenny, who’s our candidate for county executive, Emily Essi, phenomenal candidate for county clerk Marty Masterpole, who is a longtime friend of mine who’s running for county Comptroller, he’s running for reelection this year. So I think it’s really important to spend the next few weeks doing what we can to elevate turnout here in the city of Syracuse, and get the word out about all the candidates up and down the ticket encouraging people to vote right away all the way. The second thing I’m doing is getting ready to govern. Andcthat is incredibly important. I am not afraid of homework might not have always made me popular in school, but I’m not afraid of homework. I’m not afraid of doing the assignments and being prepared. I’ve been working very diligently to make sure I’m prepared. That means talking to community stakeholders and leaders about what their priorities are how my office can best reflect that starting in January. Starting to figure out what team we can put together in the office so that we have the best people there who can do this work and can lend expertise. And additionally, I’ve spent a lot of time talking to colleagues and government locally, whether folks on our county legislature folks on our common council in the city, as well as people across the state who have experience. I had a great conversation with Tom DiNapoli, our state comptroller about how to do you know how he approaches audits, how to build competence and credibility in the office. I’ve spoken to some of my fellow auditor, city auditor and comptroller colleagues like Dorcey Applyrs in Albany Brad Lander in New York City, I mean, reaching out to folks like Mark Gallagher, the Ulster County Comptroller and Robin Lois, the Dutchess county comptroller. And I’m trying to get as much guidance and insight on how to make the office thoughtful and professional as possible. And I’ve been talking to experts, folks who know their issues, well, attorneys, public finance experts, who can really give some guidance on how to make this office as impactful as possible, from day one. We want to hit the ground running, and get to work providing the oversight, insight that our city needs in the advocacy we all know so important to getting things done in the state.
Alec Lewis 11:20
Well, Alex, that sounds like an exciting plan. And it’s incredible the amount of work that you’re doing to prepare yourself to take office come next year. And it’s been great to hear more about your own perspective on the role of being a Syracuse City Auditor. And I can’t thank you enough for joining us today from the lobby, and I’ll hand it off to Joanna to close out the program.
Joanna Pasceri 11:39
All right, Alec, thanks so much. And Alex, thank you, you certainly are doing your homework, and the city and its residents will surely benefit from that. Thank you for sharing your public service journey, and how you’re ready to deliver this fresh new perspective and leadership to Syracuse. And for more information about Alex check out his website, alexforsyracuse.com. That’s alexforsyracuse.com. And to our listeners, are you receiving our award winning Monday morning memo, Jack’s weekly newsletter on what’s really happening in politics is sent right to your inbox. Be sure to subscribe on our website at odonnellsolutions.com That’s odonnellsolutions.com. And for daily updates, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn threads and Instagram at O’Donnell and Associates. Thanks for listening everyone. We’ll be back from the lobby with Jack O’Donnell.
