The contenders for District 7 have few commonalities, aside from their residence in the area and their interest in representing their neighbors on the Cayuga County Legislature.

On Nov. 3, eight-year incumbent George Fearon, running on the Republican and Common Sense lines, defends his seat against challenger Barbara Abbott King, the Democratic and Independence party candidate.

King does not have elected office experience, but she is no stranger to the issues that affect the county and the seventh district.

King ran as the Democratic party candidate for state Assembly in 123rd district in 2006 and 2008.

Both times she lost to incumbent Gary Finch. But she said she does not view her losing campaigns as failure.

“I don't think I lost, I think I gained ground on communicating,” she said.

This time, she is taking her campaign door-to-door within the district, rather than across the five-county swatch of central New York encompassed in Assembly District 123.

“I feel the conversations that were started in the state level need to be continued on the county level,” she said.

Abbott King said the reason she ran for Assembly was to bring change to tax policy. As a county legislator, she would work to communicate with state and federal lawmakers about how significantly the county is affected by high taxes, she said.

“We're the recipient of a bad policy and the inability of these people in office to understand the severity of the problem and how immediate it is,” she said.

While campaigning this season, she said she has spoken with neighbors who are concerned about being unable to pay their taxes and being forced to move from the area.

In addition to advocating tax reform, Abbott King said she also supports election reform, public education and a single-payer health care system.

Born and raised in Ithaca, Abbott King has owned and operated a small farm in Ledyard since 1974. Her background in agriculture and livestock has given her insight to agricultural and environmental issues that she said are important to the area.

“The watersheds are very, very important,” she said, especially in her district, with a western edge abutting Cayuga Lake. “Our environment has to be maintained.”

Legislator George Fearon agreed that the county's environment is among its greatest assets and said it should be used to promote “economic development that fits us,” such as the Saratoga Cheese Factory.

“Cheese, tourism, the beauty of the area, agriculture - that makes agribusiness a hand in glove thing for Cayuga County,” he said. “It's not like we're going to make diesel locomotives anymore.”

Fearon has lived in the district since 1971, when he and his wife moved to the area from Tulsa, Okla. He has a 26-year history of local politics, having served as a board member in Union Springs and Springport and supervisor of Springport before being elected legislator in 2001.

“I look at it like public service,” Fearon said. “I think when you're on this earth you need to be doing something for somebody besides yourself.”

During his time in the Legislature, Fearon has strongly opposed measures to allow the Cayuga Indian Nation to put land into an untaxable trust and has pushed for economic development.

He served as chairman of the Legislature in 2006 and 2007. Under his watch as chairman, a county employee was convicted of illegally exposing asbestos while replacing a boiler in the county's Board of Elections building. Fearon has denied any wrongdoing in connection with that incident, saying he was not aware of what happened until well after the illegal asbestos removal took place.

King, however, said Fearon should have known about the asbestos concerns in advance and taken steps to ensure it was handled properly.

This will be the last time Fearon runs for county Legislature. If elected, he will have served 12 years at the end of the next term. The county term limit law limits candidates to three terms, but because it was passed just two years ago, Fearon's term limit clock technically started over.

Because the spirit of the law is to limit legislators to 12 years, Fearon said he won't run again.

“If you can't do it in 12 years, there's got to be someone else who has new ideas and is ready to take over,” he said.

Staff writer Sarah Gantz can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or sarah.gantz@lee.net

Name: Barbara Abbott King

Age: 58

Occupation: Sole proprietor of a crops and livestock farm

Education: Wells College, bachelor's degree in musicology and art history

Family: Single; daughter, 32

Elected office experience: None

Name: George Fearon

Age: 67

Occupation: Retired Union Springs School District library media specialist

Education: Oklahoma State University, bachelor's degree in history and education; Emporia State University, master's degree in library science and education

Family status: Married; a daughter, 40; a son, 44

Elected office experience: County legislator (2002 - present), Village of Union Springs board member (1983-85), Town of Springport supervisor (1986-93), Town of Springport board member (1994-2001)

How should the county proceed in its relationship with the Cayuga Indian Nation? Should they be allowed to put land into trust?

F: I'm opposed to land being put in trust. I don't think it's fair to eliminate property tax on land that will increase everybody else's property tax to pay for essential government services such as roads, police, fire protection. I welcome Native Americans to the area who are willing to compete on a level playing field with any other business. I'm not against anybody. They can enrich us with their culture, but as equals.

K: I think it's foolhardy for this county to enter into a very expensive lawsuit with the Cayuga Nation - it goes into fiscal responsibility. Negotiating is a far better avenue of approach. It is up to our federal and state government officials right now. Resolutions on the county level will lead us into an expense that perhaps the constituency will choose to not lead us into in the future. I respect the fact that they are a culture, that they are a religion, that they are a people who have been here for centuries and entered upon treaties with the government that have been upheld in courts continuously.

What would be the ideal position of a manager in county government? Is there a place in the county for a manager?

F: I became chairman on Jan. 1, 2006; my stated goal was we needed to get a county manager. Yes, we could probably tweak the job description - who does what. I think the most important thing is filling the job quickly with the right person.

K: I don't see a need for one. Obviously, the legislative body couldn't communicate with the manager the first time around. Why pay someone when they're not going to use his skills? It didn't work. Why create it again?

How should the county approach service consolidation in a way that is beneficial both to the county and to the towns affected?

F: We need to look at areas where it would be beneficial to the taxpayers to do things differently than we're doing them now. It's like moats and castles in the middle ages, where you had all these little fiefdoms - are people willing to take the moats down and put bridges up to have consolidation?

K: We need to look at the expenses and try to consolidate wherever that can happen, be it manpower, equipment, capital expenses, carrying costs.

Is Aurora the right place for a major area attraction such as the Finger Lakes Museum?

F: I am very hopeful of this museum of the Finger Lakes possibly being located in the Aurora area. I think that would help the entire county in year-round tourism. They don't have a lot of overnight (in Aurora) but Aurora's not that far from Auburn or places where they have the Holiday Inn.

K: It would just be a wonderful resource. I would welcome it. Our area is so beautiful and it hearkens back to the integrity of the environment. I'd love to see it - I am pro museums, I'm pro history. I love showcasing our area.