Name: Michael Armato
Section: State and Local Politics
Professional Email: marmato@albright.edu
Professional Status: Assistant Professor
Institution: Albright College
Scheduling Preference: No Preference
Proposal Type: Paper
Panel Title: TEST
Panel Description: TEST
Co-author info: Daria Newfeld, Ph.D., Albright College, dnewfeld@albright.edu
Co-presenter info:
Paper Title: The Electoral Impact of Progressive Political Activists in New York's Hudson Valley
Abstract:
This paper will highlight the electoral impact of progressive political activists in New York's Hudson Valley. It will show how they work as candidates and with candidates and voters to win elections. In doing so, it will also account for the intricacies of New York's electoral system, as it is an important force fashioning the behaviors of these progressive activists. The data for this work comes from 64 interviews conducted with progressive activists in the Hudson Valley since June 2018. This is a part of a larger project that will contribute a constitutive analysis of progressives in the Hudson Valley of New York to the literature.

Name: Craig Burnett
Section: State and Local Politics
Professional Email: craig.burnett@hofstra.edu
Professional Status: Associate Professor
Institution: Hofstra University
Scheduling Preference: No Preference
Proposal Type: Paper
Panel Title:
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Co-author info: Sara Bornstein, Hofstra University, sbornstein1@pride.hofstra.edu
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Paper Title:  The Shame of the Towns: An Exploration of How Political Appointments Reinforce Single Party Machine Dominance in Nassau County
Abstract:
We examine twenty years’ worth of election data from Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties in New York to explore the frequency with which elected officials arrive on their respective town council via regular election, appointment, or special election. Overall, we find that officials overwhelmingly gain their seat on the town council by winning a normal election in both Suffolk and Westchester counties. By contrast, almost 50 percent of town councilmembers in Nassau County arrived at their position via the appointment process. Taking a closer look at the data, we discover that two of the three towns in Nassau County — specifically, the Towns of Hempstead and Oyster Bay — are aggressive users of appointments rather than special elections to fill a suspiciously inordinate amount of vacancies. As a result of their appointment, we uncover that the appointees in both the Town of Hempstead and the Town of Oyster Bay enjoy an unearned incumbency advantage in their first election. These results largely conform to our expectations of Nassau County politics, where an Italian-American dominated Republican Party machine has steered politics since its growth as America’s first suburb.

Name: Christopher/Tom Drennan/Mandeville
Section: State and Local Politics
Professional Email: christopher.drennan@clinton.edu
Professional Status: Full Professor
Institution: Cliton Community College
Scheduling Preference: No Preference
Proposal Type: Paper
Panel Title:
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Co-author info: Tom Mandeville, Clinton Community College. Tom.Mandeville@clinton.edu
Co-presenter info: Tom Mandeville, Clinton Community College. Tom.Mandeville@clinton.edu
Paper Title:  Community and Local Government: The Creation of a Local Government Center
Abstract:
Community and Local Government The Creation of a Local Government Center This paper seeks to explore and describe some of the steps as well as the hurdles encountered with the creation of a local government center. It is based on the continuing experience of an initiative first formulated in early 2018 and formally launched in October of that year. Now known as the Center for Governance at Clinton Community College, this paper recounts the development of the Center through the creation of an advisory committee, a mission statement appropriate to the center’s various objectives and the early stages towards the realization of these objectives. The initiative began with the recognition that Clinton County situated as it is along the southern border of Canada and thus far from the politics of Albany, might well benefit from a local government center which could help coordinate and act as a resource center for state politics as well as those of the surrounding counties; Essex and Franklin. Collectively known as the “North Country,” these three counties (Clinton, Essex and Franklin) would become the target area for such a center. At least this was the idea back in 2018 and a quick canvassing of local and state politicians suggested that there was considerable enthusiasm for the proposal. And so, after assembling a board of advisors, on October 2, 2018 the Center for Governance at Clinton Community College was officially launched with a public gathering of roughly 75 interested citizens and locally elected leaders to listen to a keynote speech by the Executive Director of the New York State Committee on Open Government. Also, as part of the strategy behind this initial meeting, the attendees were able to participate, by means of a survey, in shaping several of the Center’s objectives. For example, it was determined that the Center should be active in the area of education by providing training opportunities and resources for local government officials. Again, as part of the survey results, it was apparent that the Center should act as a hub for communication and engagement between local governments and the public. And finally, it was determined that the Center should engage in research addressing issues peculiar to the area which it serves. The Center for Governance at Clinton Community College is still very much in its infant stage and so, apart from sharing our experiences with the creation of the Center, like all infants it’s also seeking whatever guidance may be forthcoming from the participants and audience here today at the NYSPSA 2020 annual conference. Christopher Drennan Tom Mandeville

Name: Jeffrey Kraus
Section: Public Policy & Public Administration
Professional Email: jkraus@wagner.edu
Professional Status: Administrator
Institution: Wagner College
Scheduling Preference: Saturday Morning
Proposal Type: Paper
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Paper Title:  Health Policy in the Empire State: Is the Affordable Care Act affordable?, *Jeffrey Fred Kraus
Abstract:
The paper will examine the evolution of health policy in New York state since the establishment of Medicaid/Medicare in 1965. The paper will focus on simultaneous efforts to expand access while containing costs, and will emphasize how the Affordable Care Act has impacted on health care/costs in New York. The major question is whether the present policies are sustainable in the long term.

Name: Dan Ziebarth
Section: State and Local Politics
Professional Email: dziebarth@gwmail.gwu.edu
Professional Status: Graduate Student
Institution: George Washington University
Scheduling Preference: No Preference
Proposal Type: Paper
Panel Title:
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Co-author info:
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Paper Title: Public-Private Partnerships and Democratic Participation
Abstract:
A significant amount of literature has inspected the relationship between public-private partnerships (PPPs) and state and local government. This literature has focused primarily on how these agreements shape financing, economic development, and public policy measures. There has been no research thus far, however, on how these PPPs may affect civic engagement and democratic participation at the state and local level. There are many reasons to believe that PPPs may raise levels of civic engagement and democratic participation, as they deeply affect state and local politics and shape the socioeconomic development of local communities. This paper fills this gap in the literature by exploring the relationship between the establishment of business improvement districts (BIDs), a form of public-private partnership, and voter participation rates. An original data set is constructed from 18 state assembly districts and 22 BIDs in New York City across nine elections between 2002 and 2018. This paper shows that, even after controlling for differences in income, education, and race across the 18 assembly districts, there is a significant relationship between the establishment of a BID in a community and an increase in electoral participation rates. These findings are compelling, providing insight into the role that PPPs play in the political development of communities and opening a new path in the existing literature that can continue to be built upon.