Saland and DiCarlo Vie for Republican Nod for State Senate
One vote changed the course of two men’s lives. When state Senator Stephen Saland (R-Poughkeepsie) cast his vote last year in favor of same-sex marriage, he knew there would be repercussions.
“It was obvious that no matter how I voted someone was going to be disappointed,” said Saland, who has served in the legislature for 32 years. “My office got so many calls on both sides.”
On the floor of the legislature Saland said it was the hardest vote he ever had to cast. “I am a very traditional person,” he said. “In the past I had thought civil unions would be adequate to the task and as I read all of the items that changed. My parents brought me up to be tolerant and respectful and to always think in terms of equality. I think that was the deciding thing for me.” Saland knew his vote would provoke a primary.
As March rolled around and the re-districting lines had been drawn, Saland who represented most of Dutchess County and part of Columbia County was now be running for a district that no longer covered Columbia County. Instead it would pick up the towns of Philipstown, Putnam Valley and Kent in Putnam County.
No one other Republican from within the district challenged Saland’s candidacy, instead Neil DiCarlo of Southeast threw hit hat into the race.
“I saw that Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who was named ‘America’s most dangerous mayor’ by conservative magazine ‘Townhall,’ has been manipulating upstate assemblymen and senators for some time through orchestrated fund raising which recently netted over $450,000 for Senator Saland alone,” said DiCarlo. “Senator Saland’s deciding vote on homosexual ‘marriage’ is a perfect example of such manipulation. I recognized that since no one was willing to challenge Senator Saland’s betrayal of traditional family values and Mayor Bloomberg’s continued interference in upstate politics, I had to step up and fight when no one else would.”
Saland, who has been a state senator for 22 years and was an assemblyman for 10 years prior to that, is a practicing attorney. He is married and lives with his wife in Poughkeepsie. They have four sons and four grandchildren.
Saland currently serves as vice chairman of the Senate Majority Conference and chairman of the Senate Codes Committee. He has previously served as the chairman of the following senate committees: education, children and families, majority steering and was deputy majority leader for state/federal relations.
Saland has authored over 350 laws including the Family Protection and Domestic Violence Intervention Act.
DiCarlo, who in 2010 unsuccessfully ran against Nan Hayworth for the Republican nomination to serve as part of the New York Congressional delegation, is chief compliance officer for Advanced Equities Services Corp. on Wall Street.
If elected, DiCarlo wants to pursue mandate relief.
“With hundreds of existing mandates driving up property taxes to the highest in the nation, mandate relief is absolutely essential if New York’s economy is to recover,” he said.
DiCarlo would also do everything in his power to repeal the legalization of same-sex marriage.
“I will fight to bring a constitutional amendment affirming marriage as only between a man and woman before the people to decide,” said DiCarlo, who is married and has six children.
If re-elected Saland wants to rein in the spending of the MTA and have a complete repeal of the MTA payroll tax.
Registered Republicans who reside in Putnam Valley, Philipstown and Kent can cast their ballot to decide who will be the Republican candidate Thursday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at various polling places.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
