“Fiscal conservative” is how John Dougherty describes himself.

And, he says, that’s the quality he would bring to Onondaga County government.

“The county doesn’t seem to have much accountability for the way that they spend money,” said Dougherty. “It would be nice to do that, to bring a sense of accountability, and a sense of responsibility back to government.”

In the election on Nov. 3, Dougherty, a resident of Liverpool, is running for the Onondaga County Legislature seat in District 2. The Democratic candidate is Donna Marsh O’ Connor, a member of the Liverpool School Board.  David Stewart is on the ballot as the candidate for the Independence Party. But he has said he is not campaigning and supports Dougherty, the Republican. 

 The winner will succeed long-time legislator Bernard Kraft, a Republican who held the seat for more than 20 years. Kraft died in July. District 2 includes the western portion of the town of Clay, the Bayberry area and the Route 57 corridor.

Dougherty’s Web site describes his platform as cutting taxes, creating jobs, reducing and reforming county government, and bringing more business into Central New York. 

Dougherty and his wife, Heather, have three daughters. He is a long-distance runner.  He and his family, he said,  are frequent visitors to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park, where they are members.

Dougherty was born near Buffalo, N.Y. He is the son of a police officer and stay-at-home mom, he said. Dougherty completed his undergraduate studies with honors at University of Buffalo in 1996.  After graduation he moved to Clay to pursue a career in electrical engineering at Lockheed Martin.

Now Dougherty works for the Syracuse Research Corporation, known as SRC. He is its manager for business development. He does not plan on leaving his job to pursue a full-time career as a politician, he said.“I don’t see that in my future in any way,” said Dougherty. “I love my job at SRC.”

He is a member of Clay First, a local party whose Web site says its mission is “to improve the quality of life in the Town of Clay.”  Dougherty says the party was started to give the Town of Clay a higher profile in the bigger picture of local government.

Dougherty lives in the Bayberry area. For six years, he’s been a volunteer on his neighborhood association. He is deputy chairman of the Clay town planning board.

His neighborhood, he says, has reacted positively to his run for District 2 legislator. “They’ve all been very supportive, they show up to fundraisers, and they’ve donated, and they’ve donated their time,” said Dougherty.

In his campaign, he would like to first cut spending.  In door-to-door campaigning, he said, he finds found voters care about taxes that are too high and job opportunities that are too rare.

“Through reducing taxes, it eliminates a burden on the business owner so they don’t have to struggle to make ends meet,” said Dougherty. “And I think there’s a lot of money left over for expansion and for development. And if taxes could be reduced, new businesses would move into the area.” he said.

If elected, Dougherty says he will focus on:

•Consolidating services in the county

 As an example, he cites the police merger between the Town of Clay and Onondaga County police.

•Cutting county services in order to save taxpayer dollars

 He has not yet specified the services he would target for cuts. He says he will evaluate all programs to determine which are essential.

•Managing spending

He will create legislation that curbs county lending and he wants to cut loans by retiring more debt in the county.

•Creating a business-friendly environment

He calls for creating more jobs and business revenue through attracting more families and businesses. He would accomplish these goals, his Web site says, through lower sales taxes and property taxes.

(Shardé Edwards, is a graduate student in the broadcast digital journalism program.)

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