Tompkins Weekly

Danks Burke Opens Campaign Office


Tompkins Weekly Staff

Leslie Danks Burke, the Democratic candidate in New York’s 58th State Senate district raee, held the grand opening of her campaign headquarters in downtown Elmira’s Mark Twain Building last week, pledging to get to work for a fair share from Albany for the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier.
 
“People are fed up with the excuses and corruption that keeps jobs out of our area, shortchanges our schools, and hurts our farms,” said Danks Burke. “It’s time to get to work and tell Albany we’re not going to take it anymore.  We need a Senator who will work to keep jobs here, fight to see our children to get the same from their schools that the rest of the state gets, and keep our hard-earned dollars for our own bridges and roads, instead of funneling our taxes downstate.”
 
Danks Burke launched her campaign against Albany incumbent Tom O’Mara earlier this year with a whistlestop tour across the five counties of the district, Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben, Tompkins and Yates.  Danks Burke says she chose Elmira for her campaign headquarters because Elmira represents the great opportunity that Albany disregards too often in this region.
“It’s not enough to have pockets of prosperity in a couple of places while every other community is struggling,” she said. “Albany has tried to distract us with years of empty promises and finger-pointing while we get sold out to political interests from New York City and Long Island.  Meanwhile, with corruption on both sides of the aisle and Republicans and Democrats going to jail, we can’t keep making the same choices and hoping for a different result.”
 
Danks Burke has pledged to be a full-time Senator, unlike the incumbent who is a partner in one of New York State’s largest law and lobbying firms.  “It’s a blatant conflict of interest,” she said.  “The Chair of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee makes extra money by working at a law firm that lobbies on conservation issues.”
 
Danks Burke is an attorney, wife, mother, and a regional advocate who has lived in the Finger Lakes for twelve years. She sits on the Agriculture and Infrastructure subcommittees of the Southern Tier Regional Economic Development Council.

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