Lewiston’s Wydysh Gains Committee Chairmanship, Seen as Rising Star

One majority lawmaker whose star is on the rise is Lewiston’s Rebecca Wydysh.

The freshman Republican, who runs jury selection efforts at the county courthouse, has impressed her colleagues and party brass enough that she’s being given a portfolio heading the county’s opioid-addiction panel.

That effort, begun by Bradt himself and Wilson legislator David Godfrey, who heads up the legislature’s Community Security and Safety committee, won some favorable media coverage for the majority last year, including several community meetings to discuss the heroin and opioid epidemic and what a unified county policy for deploying naloxone, the potent antidote for heroin overdoses, might look like.

They also unveiled new anonymous drop-off boxes for drugs at police stations around the county.

“Becky [Wydysh] is a really superb legislator, who understands the scope of the current addiction crisis because of her work every day in the state court system,” Bradt said. “She’s also shown the ability to follow things through to get results, and isn’t afraid to make waves.”

Earlier this month, Wydysh and Bradt jointly sponsored a legislative resolution calling on the state to break a legislative logjam that has thwarted the ability of ride sharing services like Uber to set up shop in Western New York. Bradt noted that Wydysh’s research and preparation on that, and other, items had convinced him she was ready for a starting leadership role.

“We want to put people who can get things done out front,” Bradt said.