Arquiett Seeking County Legislature's Brasher Seat

WINTHROP - Democrat Anthony J. Arquiett says his experience working with people and his love for the North Country make him an ideal candidate for St. Lawrence County Legislature.

Mr. Arquiett, former president of United Auto Workers Local 465, Massena, on Saturday will announce plans to run for the District 13 seat held by Republican Thomas R. Grow. The district covers the towns of Massena, Brasher and Lawrence.

"The experience I had in organized labor gave me the ability to hear what's on people's minds and ultimately be a voice for their concerns," Mr. Arquiett said Wednesday.

Mr. Arquiett, a former General Motors employee who now works for the New York Power Authority, said he sympathizes with workers who have been forced to look for work outside the county. After being hired at GM in 1985, he said he had to leave the North Country in the late 1980s for 10 years to work at another plant when the automaker slowed production in Massena.

As union president, he said he spent a year and a half in Detroit trying to convince GM officials to revive its Massena operations.

"I have personally seen the devastation that comes along with uprooting families to pursue livelihoods that can only be found outside our region," he said.

Mr. Arquiett said if elected, he wants to focus on economic development and job creation. Part of that effort, he said, is continuing the push for a four-lane interstate between Watertown and Plattsburgh.

He said St. Lawrence County faces a long road to economic recovery and some tough financial choices ahead, but said he is not sure how he feels about continued calls by some lawmakers to raise the county's 3 percent sales tax.

"I'll be doing a great deal of research on that subject. I'll have to see how my constituents feel about it," Mr. Arquiett said.

He is a 1983 graduate of St. Lawrence Central School and attended the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., before returning to the North Country. He said he wishes Mr. Grow, who lost his ability to speak after suffering a stroke Feb. 3, a speedy recovery.

"Tom's a good guy," Mr. Arquiett said. "I very much wish him good health."

Mr. Arquiett will formally announce his candidacy at 1 p.m. Saturday at Erin's Isle Restaurant and Irish Pub, Brasher Falls.