NFA grads Jacobson, Manley vie for 104th Assembly seat

Oct. 20--NEWBURGH -- Frank Skartados' death from pancreatic cancer in April ignited a scramble among candidates seeking his state 104th Assembly District seat, which has been in Democratic Party hands since 2012.

Longtime party activist and City of Newburgh Councilman Jonathan Jacobson bested a field of five Democrats in a Sept. 13 primary and will face Scott Manley, a Town of Newburgh councilman, former police officer and moderate Republican who supports the National Organization for Women's issues platform, including gay and abortion rights and fair pay.

The diverse district includes three urban cities -- Beacon, Newburgh and Poughkeepsie -- and three towns -- Lloyd, Newburgh and Marlborough. As of April 1, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly two-to-one, according to the state Board of Elections.

One of several issues on which the two Newburgh Free Academy graduates agree: reforming how the state funds public education to reduce the amount of taxes property owners must pay.

"Obviously taxes are number one, number two and number three," Manley said. "I'm not saying cut the funding of schools; we need to find an alternative way of funding schools."

Jacobson's resume includes being counsel to the late Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink and leading the Orange County Democratic Committee for 22 years. His campaign slogan is "Experience Counts," and he believes he can be "effective on Day One."

Like Manley, Jacobson wants to see the state assume responsibility for funding education. His proposal calls for a statewide income tax to fund education instead of property taxes.

"If we don't change how we fund schools, people are going to vote with their feet and leave," Jacobson said.

In response to assaults from the Trump administration and congressional Republicans on clean water protections and the Affordable Care Act, Jacobson would like the state to strengthen its environmental rules and bar health insurers from discriminating against people with pre-existing illnesses.

He is also calling for the state to codify abortion rights out of fear that Trump's two Supreme Court picks will be enough to overturn Roe v. Wade.

"No matter what happens in Washington, we're protected," he said.

Manley joined the Town of Newburgh's police department in 1983, retiring as a sergeant in 2008. In August 2015, the town council chose him to fill a seat left vacant when former Councilman George Woolsey died in June of that year.

Manley won the seat outright in the November general election that year.

His mother, Anita Manley, is a former Newburgh Evening News reporter who later worked for the Civil Service Employees Association, co-founded the Town of Newburgh Friends of Seniors and started groups for cancer survivors and parents of gay and lesbian children.

"I was raised to get involved when you see something that needs to be done, instead of complaining," he said.

Like Jacobson, Manley advocates for more state aid to help municipalities repair and replace aging infrastructure and increasing funding to combat the unprecedented rise in opioid and heroin addiction

His other issues include protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual people, promoting local farm products and protecting the right of women to have an abortion.

Skartados had a "great relationship" with Town of Newburgh officials, said Manley, who is undaunted by running in a heavily Democratic district.

On his Facebook page is a John F. Kennedy quote: "Let's not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer. Let's seek the right answer."

"We don't need someone who can walk in the job and do business as usual," Manley said. "We need a person who can work with all parties and people and actually get things done."

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