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.
Don’t be stuck on the sidelines. Get a front-row seat to what’s happening in politics with Jack! From the issues that affect taxpayers and business owners to the history of the budget process in New York, Jack has the knowledge and depth of experience to cut through the rhetoric and tell you what’s really going on.
Summary of this Episode
Guests
- Robin Lois: Duchess County Comptroller (now NY Deputy Comptroller)
- 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
• Robin Lois, the longest-serving female county comptroller in New York State, discusses her experience running for office and working as comptroller in a Republican-controlled county.
• The role of a county comptroller involves financial oversight, auditing transactions and payroll, producing audit reports, and making recommendations to improve processes and internal controls.
• Lois emphasizes the importance of maintaining a non-partisan approach in her role as comptroller, focusing on competency rather than politics to build effective working relationships.
• The podcast highlights the recent increase in women serving as county comptrollers in New York State and discusses the potential benefits of having more women in leadership positions.
• Advice for first-time candidates, especially women, includes knowing the position and your strengths, listening to constituents’ concerns, being willing to meet people anywhere, building a strong support network, and enjoying the campaign process.
Full Transcript of the Episode
Note: This is a generated transcript. Please excuse any typos.
Joanna Pasceri 00:07
We’re back from the lobby with Jack O’Donnell. This podcast gives listeners an inside look at what’s happening in politics with Jack, a Top New York lobbyist and managing partner of O’Donnell and Associates. I’m Joanna Pasceri, Director of Communications at O’Donnell and Associates. For this episode, another member of our team takes the mic, Alec Louis, Vice President and Director of campaigns. Alec is new to the firm after spending the past decade with the New York Senate Democrats and as a key player in campaigns that have led to back to back super majorities in the Senate. Alec has a special guest, Robin Lois, Dutchess county comptroller here in New York. And they are talking about her current role as the longest serving female county comptroller in the state, and how she got there with Alec as her campaign manager. Hi, Alec and Robin. Welcome to the podcast.
Robin Lois 01:05
Hi, Joanna.
Alec Lewis 01:07
Hi, Joanna. It’s great to be with you. And it’s a special moment to have my good friend Robin Lois on the podcast, I couldn’t think of a better person to help launch what I hope to be a series of conversations with elected officials and key players to help our listeners know a little bit more about some of the nitty gritty of various elected official roles across the state. As background for our listeners. I’ve known Robin since I was her campaign manager for her successful campaign for county comptroller in 2017, where she defeated a two term Republican incumbent in Dutchess County. So, my first question for you, Robin, we talked last week about on the podcast about close races. And that was a close race. We won that one by just under just under 1%. I think 642 votes was the actual margin.
Robin Lois 01:55
You got that number right, yes.
Alec Lewis 01:58
So, Robin, what was it like for you to actually run for office? And can you talk about, you know, our experience working together on the campaign?
Robin Lois 02:07
Well, first of all, working with you was the best. I couldn’t have asked for a better campaign manager, particularly because I was new I didn’t I had run before was my you know, my first experience was just running a county wide running in a county wide race, which is, you know, pretty big deal. So having the right people with me, and behind me, was important. And you my friend, were amazing. You guided me through the whole thing we had fun together. You talked me into doing things I didn’t want to do. But were the right things to do. You pushed me when I was tired. And you pushed me across the finish line. And I couldn’t have asked for a better person to do that with so I think I had Alec withdrawals after it was over. Like where’s Alec? Like, he’s not next to me anymore. So, it was certainly a pleasure. So, and it was, it was, it was challenging. You know, I knew I was the best person for the job. And I felt strongly about, about my desire to win and doing the job. And it was hard when it was close, because I thought it was, we were going to blow them out of the water. But that just goes to show you that when you run against an incumbent in a county, it’s a Republican county that, you know, doesn’t always come down to who’s more, who’s better for the job. There’s a lot of factors that go into it. So, but we pulled it out.
Alec Lewis 03:31
We did. And, you know, I want to talk about what it’s like for you to operate in a Republican controlled County in a minute. But I wanted to ask you, you know, obviously, you demonstrated to the voters that you really were working hard, and they reelected you by a much larger margin in 2021. So, you’re now in your second term after being reelected in 2021. Can you really describe for our listeners, what is what does a county comptroller actually do? And what role do you and your office play in county government?
Robin Lois 04:00
So, the comptroller’s office is the oversight branch of the government. So, we are really making sure that there’s accountability with everything that’s transpiring mostly on the financial front. So, we are the audit branch as well. So, we audit every single transaction, every single payment that goes through Dutchess County has to go through the comptroller’s office for approval. So, we’re looking at contracts and numbers and invoices, and backup, appropriate backup, making sure everything’s following proper policies and procedures, best practices. And we also we audit the payroll. And that’s a lot of what we do on a day to day basis. But the other piece that is more public that people see are the audit reports that we produce so similar to what you would see coming out of the New York State Comptroller’s office. We also audit and produce reports on contract agencies that we do business with, or we do audits on a particular department. There are processes within different departments within Dutchess county government. And so that’s really where we try to make positive change. So even though we’re writing about and reporting on items that might have happened in the past, we are making, we’re having findings or recommendations that are supposed to be helpful to the department or the agency to make their processes better, or to improve their internal controls or just to make things better. So that’s always been my philosophy as comptroller is to, you know, I don’t want my audit reports to be a gotcha moment, but more of a learning tool to make things better. So, I take that approach. And I think that that’s been part of my success as well is that people know that I’m not just out there to be a bad guy, but I’m there to help make the county better or to help make our partners better or contact agencies better. And just look for a better, a better outcome.
Alec Lewis 05:58
That makes a lot of sense. And I appreciate you kind of laying out that description for our listeners who may not quite be familiar with that role of what a county comptroller really does, because not every county has a county comptroller or state. But I want to go back to a comment you made earlier, talking about kind of how you operate really in a Republican controlled County. But for our listeners know, your election was the first notable county wide win for Democrats in Dutchess in many years at that time. So how do you navigate operating really, in a largely Republican controlled County?
Robin Lois 06:31
Sometimes it’s hard, you know, sometimes it’s harder than others, if there is sort of, you know, this, get excluded from things, some things, there’s a lot more padding on the back of, of the of the establishment that’s there, and I get excluded from some things. But I would, saying that, I also do have a pretty good working relationship with everyone. I work well with the county executive, all the other elected officials at the commissioners. And I think it’s because A: the comptroller’s office really shouldn’t be a political position. You know, it’s an oversight position. It’s about competency. And that’s, as we’ve said that when we were campaigning, and I’ve, I’ve held to that to that, while I’ve been in the position, I think it’s been evident that what I’m doing is not politically based, so people respect that, and I think have a lot more, you know, they’re more open to having a relationship with me and accepting the things that I’m saying, because I’m not making it a political role. So that’s been, I think, the key in me being able to navigate in this more Republican held area, I have a lot of friends and relatives that are Republicans, so you know, what we try to, we talk about what things we have in common, and try to avoid talking about things that separate us, which is hard to do, particularly in this, this time, where there’s a lot of political strife, you know, in the state as well as the national level but, but in this role, luckily, and one of the things I like about this role is that it is not a political role.
Alec Lewis 08:09
Right, and you’ve really clearly laid out your perspective and how you view the office. But I’m curious if you could answer this question. It’s really more about who you are as a person, you know, first elected, I believe you were the only female county comptroller in New York state at that time. And since your election, three other women, two Democrats, Susan Rizzo and Albany County, March Gallagher and Ulster County, and one Republican Elaine Phillips down in Nassau County on Long Island, have also elected as county comptroller in their respective counties. How does being a woman for you inform your perspective as an elected official? And what’s your take on the growth of women that are serving in this specific role and county governments across the state?
Robin Lois 08:50
I think it’s great. I’m so excited about it. I know March and I know Susan, I saw I actually saw Susan last week at a conference in Albany. And I think it’s fantastic to have more women in the role. You know, I’m a little biased because I am a woman and I think women are really good leaders. I think that we have a certain amount of compassion and openness and are able to, you know, compromise a little bit better, I think on things and have an approach a more listening approach to things. So, I think there if there were more women leaders in politics, I think we’d be better off but particularly in the comptroller’s position. I think it’s really outstanding. It’s interesting because the three of you I don’t really know Elaine, but March and Sue and I have very different backgrounds, although Sue has been more of an accounting background. So, it’s fun and interesting to watch the different approaches that we have as comptroller. We all have different focuses and different ways of doing things. So, it’s been it’s been fun to watch. But I’m excited to have more women in those roles, and I think that’s great.
Alec Lewis 10:03
And finally, you know, we’d started by talking about the campaign and us working together. And I really want to close by going back to campaigns, as we’re wrapping up the petitioning season across New York State, and you have now run twice successfully for county wide office. So, I wanted to ask you, what is your advice to first time candidates, and especially women who are either currently running for office for the first time or maybe women who are thinking of running for local office?
Robin Lois 10:29
Well, I feel like we can have a whole podcast just on that question. I’ve learned so much I really have in the time that I’ve been running, and I, I love when people ask me my advice, and how I can help because I really feel like after you’ve been in it twice, you have a lot to, to offer. But I think one of the first things in most important things is knowing your stuff, right? You got to know the position that you’re running for, and you got to know yourself and what you bring to the table. Because essentially, when you’re running a campaign, you’re selling yourself, really you’re marketing yourself and why, and trying to explain to the public why they should be voting for you. So, in order to do that, you really need to know why you’re the best person and in sell that to the people and explain that to them. And the more that you know that and the more that you are sure about that, the more confident that you’re going to come across as well, which is important. People want to know that their elected officials are confident in what they’re doing, and are sure that they can deliver to you what they’re promising. So, I think that’s really important. I think, listening to the concerns of your constituents and understanding what their what they care about is and so that you can also work that into the reasons that you’re running and the things the changes that you might make, or the way that you’re going to make things better. People want to know that you’re listening to them, and that you’re going to address their concerns. So that’s really important. I think when you’re on the campaign trail, also, being open to going to anywhere, I think that was one thing that you and I we were successful, we would go to anything to meet anyone at any time in their place, you know, because that’s important to people, they want you to come to them, it’s particularly for you, they don’t know you, when I first ran, I did not no one knew who I was, except for, you know, my own social circles and business circles. But when you meet one person and make a good impression on that person, that one person may tell 10 people or 12 people or 20 people you don’t know. So, it’s really important to have those one on one. Discussions and, and don’t feel like you’re wasting your time, if you’re only talking to one person, because it really does matter. I think that’s important. Campaigns are tough. You know, there’s a lot of aspects to it. There’s the marketing pieces, there’s the event pieces, there’s, you know, surrounding yourself with good people, like I did, people that are advised you well, people that are going to help you move forward and tell you where you need to be what you need to be doing is important. And it really does take an army, you need a lot of people, you know, you just mentioned petitioning, you know how many people you need to do petitioning and you know, more hands, make ladder work. Having that army behind you and getting those people fired up to send your message is important. Again, I can go on forever, which I won’t, but I’ll wrap it up by also just saying, enjoy the process. You know, I had fun when I was campaigning, I loved meeting people I enjoyed going to events, yeah, you get tired, you know, after a while and at different things, but enjoy what you’re doing and enjoy getting to know people and learning about the role. And being excited about winning in the end because you have to have that positive energy and, and positive thought that you’re going to win in the end. So yeah, I thank everyone that does run, it’s hard, it’s a lot of work. It’s you need a lot of support, and you’re gonna be exhausted at the end. But it’s worth it. And anyone that that puts themselves out there, like that deserves a lot of credit for doing that, particularly in this tough political time. So, thank you to everyone who’s considering it, but it’s worth it, and you can make a difference.
Alec Lewis 14:20
Well, Robin, thank you for your perspective on it. And I want to share in closing, you know, walking the streets with you and knocking doors and pushing you with doors when you didn’t necessarily want to has definitely been a formative experience for me. And it’s something that I take pride in doing with our current candidates that we’re working with here at O’Donnell and Associates because, you know, part of our brand that we’re trying to build is that we walk with our candidates every step of the way. So, I can’t thank you enough for joining us today and being a guest from the lobby.
Joanna Pasceri 14:53
Thank you both for that. That was very interesting. I just have one question for Robin. I read that you had a wonderful career before you went into public service, why go into politics?
Robin Lois 15:05
It really felt like the next natural step for me. To be honest with you, I had been in every genre of accounting, I was in public accounting, I was in corporate accounting, I am a small business owner did my own accounting. And I just had this sense of what’s next for me that’s going to utilize my skills. For a better good part of that story is also my father was a public servant in a lot of ways. And I wanted to kind of do what he did. And I think I was ready at that point in my life in 2017, is to take that leap and say, Alright, I think it’s time for me to now use my skills to get back to the public.
Joanna Pasceri 15:47
Interesting. And Alec, one last question for you. I wanted to know your perspective on how you thought that Robin was able to win in a largely Republican controlled County?
Alec Lewis 15:57
Well, we talked about expectations. And Robin clearly, and a lot of people had the expectation that she was in she was and clearly was the most qualified candidate running for office. But I just knew with every fiber of my being, that when you’re running against an incumbent, especially a two-term incumbent that it’s going to be very difficult to beat them and that the margin was going to be very close. So, I really worked with Robin to prioritize getting up on doors. And when you look at the margin of victory in 2017, we talked about elections are increasingly won by close margins, you can really make the case that Robin herself, made that the difference in the actual people that she herself talked to on ground. And I think that was the most impressive thing to me to see someone who clearly was not as comfortable with it initially work through that, like respond well to coaching. And between the two of us we built an effective partnership where, by the end of it, she was really comfortable knocking on doors and wanted to keep going. So, it was really great to see that in further really reinforces the importance of candidates who are really doing the work knocking on doors, talking to voters and to Robin’s point selling themselves and telling their story.
Joanna Pasceri 17:12
Thank you so much Alec and Robin for sharing that experience. It was very interesting and also for your important work serving our public. For the latest on what’s happening in Albany and DC sign up for our Monday morning memo sent right to your inbox. Subscribe on our website at odonnellsolutions.com That’s odonnellsolutions.com. And for daily updates. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn at O’Donnell and Associates. Thanks for listening, everyone. We’ll be back from the lobby with Jack O’Donnell.
