Wydysh, Albany and the Art of Political Powerlessness

The Grand Privileges of the Powerless Assemblywoman

Democrats hold 103 of the 150 seats in the New York State Assembly. Republicans hold 47. The Democrats have enough votes to pass legislation and override a veto without Republican support.

Congratulations, voters of the 145th Assembly District. You are about to elect someone new to Albany.

Angelo Morinello is retiring after ten years in the seat.

The 145th Assembly District includes Niagara Falls, towns in western Niagara County, part of North Tonawanda and Grand Island in Erie County.

THE MATH

To pass a bill takes 76 votes. Democrats have 103.

To override a governor's veto takes two-thirds: 100 votes. Democrats have 103. The Democrats don't need the Republicans for anything.

The majority elects the Assembly Speaker. The Speaker controls the Assembly's proceedings. The majority holds committee chairmanships and also dominates the chamber's budget negotiations.

The minority gets a desk, a title, and a parking space. That's it.

WHAT A MINORITY MEMBER DOES

A Republican Assembly member can introduce bills. Most never get a vote. She can give speeches. Nobody listens.

She can vote no on the budget. It passes anyway.

There will be a Citizen of the Year. There will be a proclamation. There may be photographs. The Citizen of the Year will have had a nice day.

Then there are the mailers. A legislator can describe the battles fought, the issues raised, the positions taken. A voter opening the envelope may ask what came of it all.

Being a Republican in the New York Assembly is like being the Maytag repairman. The uniform is sharp, the toolbox is ready. The phone never rings.

It's the girl who bought the dress and never got asked to the prom. What does a Republican Assemblywoman do in Albany?

She reads the bills the majority wrote. She sits through the debates the majority already won. She votes. She loses. She drives home. She gets paid. She does it again next week.

Somebody has to fill the seat. It might as well be someone who enjoys the view. Like the lead dog, if you're not the lead party, the view is always the same. That is the job Becky Wydysh is asking for. A view from the rear of the rear.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

On the other hand, the majority gets money for their town.

Albany distributes money for projects. One source is the State and Municipal Facilities Program (SAM). It can repair a firehouse roof, expand a library, build a youth center, or improve a park. For a town that needs a new roof, this is much more interesting than a speech about roofs.

SAM has received $2 billion since 2013. The governor and legislators allocated more than $72 million in grants during the final nine months of 2025 to projects they selected.

When the money was counted, Assembly Democrats steered about $34 million in SAM grants and Republicans $2 million, a 17-to-1 split.

SAM is one pot. There's also capital money, school "bullet aid," library grants, and more. At every pot, the majority dips in with a ladle. The minority gets a teaspoon.

Consider two Assemblymen from Western New York.

Jon Rivera, a Democratic Assembly member from Buffalo, serves in the majority. His official press releases report the following state funding awards:

$1.4 million for renovation of the Village of Hamburg Youth Center.

$1 million to renovate the Boys & Girls Club clubhouse on Buffalo's Lower West Side.

$350,000 for restoration of baseball fields at Riverside Park.

$300,000 for Cornell's labor center in Buffalo.

$125,000 for the Essex Arts Center.

$125,000 for the Explore & More Children's Museum.

$100,000 to turn a vacant Allen Street lot into a park.

Smaller grants went to the Philharmonic and tree planting.

Rivera's listed awards total more than $3.4 million.

Then there is Angelo Morinello, the Republican who currently holds the seat Wydysh wants.

His Assembly press page includes Valentine's cards for seniors, a summer reading challenge, mobile office hours, and a statement on the Raise the Age law.

It does not announce one dollar of state money he secured for a local project.

That's the way it works. This is nothing against Morinello. The majority member brings home a million for a youth center. The minority member brings home Valentine's cards.

NIAGARA, TALKING TO ITSELF

In 2025, Niagara County had 50,233 registered Republicans and 49,910 registered Democrats, giving Republicans a 323-vote plurality.

You'd never know it from Albany. Republicans represent Niagara County in the Assembly, and Rob Ortt, a Republican, represents the county in the Senate. Both chambers are run by Democrats.

Rob Ortt also leads the Senate Republican minority. An important title, though the word minority does much of the explaining.

WHY DOES WYDYSH WANT IT?

There is a reasonable question to ask about any candidate seeking a minority-party seat. If the majority controls the agenda and all the important decisions, what does the candidate hope to accomplish?

It would be interesting to hear Wydysh's answer.

It can't be the power. There isn't any.

It can't be the money for the district. The majority keeps that.

What's left?

The base pay is $142,000 a year. That's more than five times what Wydysh was paid to chair the Niagara County Legislature, and more than her $116,688 court job.

On top of that, members collect $183 a day for each overnight stay in Albany during session, and $61 for days without an overnight, plus mileage at the federal rate. There are state health benefits. A higher salary also means a bigger state pension when she retires.

She can't do a blessed thing for the 145th District in the minority. But the job can do a great deal for her.

"Ask not what I can do for the 145th district. Ask what the 145th district can do for me," could be Wydysh's campaign slogan.

When the court system told her she couldn't keep her court job and her county seat, she kept the paycheck and gave up the seat. Now she's running for one seat that pays more.

WHAT ARE YOU VOTING FOR?

Wydysh, if she wins, will have a fine view of the people deciding where the money goes. She'll have no say in it, however.

It's taxation without representation.

Everybody in the state pays the same state taxes. The tax laws don't change from a majority district to a minority district.

But the majority party steers more money back to its own districts. It's not just Democrats. When Republicans controlled the state Senate, they did it too.

If her opponent, Nate McMurray, wins, he'll sit with the Democratic majority that writes the budget, picks the bills, and chairs committees.

For the first time in ten years, the 145th would have someone at the table when the Assembly hands out money for local projects.

Wydysh would get the leftovers. 

WHEN YOU NEED HELP

There's another reason. Suppose you have a problem. Say there's radioactive slag in the ground near your house.

Say your kid can't get into an opioid treatment program. Say your town needs a new water line and can't afford one.

You call your Assemblywoman.

If she's a Republican, she'll take your call. Her office will write a letter to the state agency. She might hold a press conference.

The letter goes into a pile. The agency answers to Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat. The bill to fix it has to get past a Democratic committee chair, then the Democratic Speaker. The money has to come out of a budget Democrats write.

If your Assemblyman is a Democrat, he makes the same calls, but to people who need him. He can walk into the committee chair's office, sit on the Speaker's team, and vote with the conference that decides.

When he asks for something, the decision-makers remember they'll want his vote next week. 

You can like Wydysh. You can like her party. But in Albany, being a Republican Assembly member from the 145th is like bringing a bat to a game where only the other team gets to hit.

Voting for the minority is like telling Albany, "We're weak, but that's OK."

Democrats have run the Assembly since 1975. That's more than 50 years. Republicans haven't held the majority since Gerald Ford was president. Anyone waiting for the Republicans to take over the Assembly and finally bring the money home to the 145th has been waiting a long time.

It's not fair. No doubt. But it's one thing to complain that it's unfair. It's another to vote stupid.

The Assembly term is two years. It might not be foolish to give a Democrat a chance. Maybe, at least for two years, it's time to see whether a Democrat in the Assembly, with the chance to bring millions home to the district, might be the little boost the district has been deprived of for far too long.