Official New York State Senate website (archived)
Darrel Aubertine: Democrat has a history of winning in Republican districts
By Charles McChesney
Staff writer
Assemblyman Darrel Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, didn't think twice when he heard Jim Wright was resigning his seat in the state Senate. Aubertine wanted to run.
"Wow," he said, "a free shot.
How can you not want to do this?"
His family had some thoughts: His mile-long Assembly district kept him on the road enough. Who needed a district that ran from the St. Lawrence River to Oneida Lake and then across to Hannibal? He was already putting 40, miles a year on his car.
The pay was the same, they pointed out, whether he served in the Assembly or the Senate.
Darrel aubertine biography of barack State Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine was a dairy farmer for more than 35 years in his hometown, Cape Vincent, New York, before serving in state government. He was elected to the state Senate in a special election in February Lawrence counties re-elected him in the fall of to serve a full term.And, he admitted himself, he could win the February special election and lose the job come fall.
But after discussions with his family at Christmastime, Aubertine announced that he would run.
"I got into this business to make a difference," he said, and in the Senate he would be one of 62 members, instead of oneth of the Assembly.
He could, he said, make a difference for more people.
Aubertine, 55, was the unchallenged choice of Democratic officials in Oswego, Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties shortly after Wright's announcement -- even before he settled on running.
The district leans Republican, and Aubertine, they noted, had won in Republican districts before.
In fact, the Jefferson County Legislature elected him chairman in , even though Republicans outnumbered Democrats 12 to 3.
Republicans were split at the time, said Legislator James D.
St. Croix, D-Watertown, with half wanting to re-elect Chairman Paul Warneck and half wanting to put in a different Republican.
St. Croix sided with those who wanted a change. Another Democrat wanted to keep Warneck.
Aubertine wasn't with anybody. "There were no commitments to either side," he said.
At least not until he got a call from St.
Croix and the two discussed Aubertine becoming chairman. Aubertine talked to his father and reported to St. Croix: "He said, 'I can't very well vote against myself.'"
Gathering in St. Croix's kitchen, the six Republicans and two Democrats worked it out.
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This is an incredible piece. I never knew how disconnected this Barclay guy is from the realities of life. It's something when someones first job is working in a law office or something like that. How does someone with so much wealth understand what real people in the north country are going through? The answer is he can't.At the January meeting Aubertine was elected chairman by an vote.
The next month, the six Republicans apologized to their fellow members of the county GOP. "We are not proud of the outcome," they wrote.
"I think you can probably well imagine the GOP was not very happy with them," Aubertine said.
Farming, not politics, had been Aubertine's work until the s.
The oldest of three children, he grew up on the family's Triple-A Farm in Cape Vincent. At 17, he bought 50 acres within two miles of the farm.
"I was the only kid in high school paying property taxes," Aubertine said.
He and his wife, Margaret, were married in They have three children, Erin, 27; Paul, 25; and Tim, Erin and her husband live in a house on the farm.
At one point Aubertine's farm had head of dairy cattle.
He gave up dairy farming in because milk prices were so low.
"We were eating into our equity," he said. Today, hay is the biggest crop on the farm.
Aubertine said he got recruited into politics by a Republican, the late Cape Vincent Town Supervisor H. Otis Radley. Radley asked Aubertine to serve on the Cape Vincent zoning commission.
From there Aubertine moved on to the zoning board and was elected to the Jefferson County Legislature in
Two years after being elected Legislature chairman, Aubertine ran for the state Assembly. He faced term Republican incumbent H. Robert Nortz, R-Cape Vincent.
Aubertine borrowed $10, from his campaign treasurer and received donations, records show, of more than $, from the state Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee.
New York Commissioner of Agriculture By Charles McChesney Staff writer. Aubertine wanted to run. How can you not want to do this? His family had some thoughts: His mile-long Assembly district kept him on the road enough. Who needed a district that ran from the St.Service Employees International Union Local donated $7, and Aubertine kicked in $5, of his own money. All told, he raised about $, for the race. Nortz, records show, raised about $,
On election day , Aubertine fell short, losing 20, to 17,
Nortz decided against running again in Aubertine ran and raised more than $,, state records show, with the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee again contributing almost all of it.
He beat the Republican candidate, St.
Lawrence County Clerk Patricia A. Ritchie. Records show her campaign spent about $,
"We were certainly outspent," she said.
Ritchie said it was ironic that Aubertine had criticized his Senate race opponent, Assemblyman Will Barclay, R-Pulaski, for suing to get the Independence Party line on the special election ballot.
That's just what Aubertine did in , she said.
He sued and got the line, she said, even though she had gathered signatures from party members in St. Lawrence County.
Aubertine got 2, votes on the Independence line, enough to secure his 17,to, win over Ritchie.
Facing Barclay in the race for the 48th District, Aubertine has again received support from statewide Democratic organizations.
He has received about $ million from the Democratic State Committee, according to his campaign's most recent financial filing. The state committee also contributed its Upstate political director, Cathy Calhoun, to manage his campaign.
"Campaigning like this is expensive," Aubertine said. There are parts of the district in which he is not known and the money gets his name and message out, he said.
And, he said, "clearly, I have the support of the state party."
Contact Charles McChesney at cmcchesney or