Senator Mark Walczyk, thank you so much for joining us here in the studio.

It's good to have you.

- Good to be here.

Thanks for having me.

- Well, I, I wanna dive right in because you've been pretty committed to public service throughout your career.

What took you down that pathway?

What drew you in to public service?

- A community, I think, and this is probably true if anybody really digs down to find where they've found their life purpose.

I grew up in a community, a church, a family that really believed in volunteering.

So whether it was my school community and volunteer opportunities there, or through the Boy Scouts when I came up, or my church or my family themselves, my nuclear and extended family, I really just grew up around a community that believed in surfing.

So looking back, there probably wasn't any other direction that my life was going to take, though I never really thought I would end up where I am today.

- Was there any one person, if you think about back when you were a kid, thinking about maybe leadership opportunities?

Any one person who inspired you?

- I mean, many, but probably my dad.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I would say my dad by by example, he's like a small country lawyer and the kind of guy that if, you know, he needed to do a real estate transaction or a will, and he probably would not appreciate me saying this publicly, but if, if the old lady couldn't pay for it, he would let her pay in pies.

So we'd come home with, you know, Mrs.

So and so baked our family, a bunch of pies, and we knew that meant she couldn't pay the tab.

But just kind of always giving back and in volunteering through our church and in our community as well, I would say probably my dad.

And you can't discount a good pie though.

- No, that's true.

- Some would say - Priceless.

Priceless.

Absolutely.

Some members of your constituency, our audience may not realize that you are in the reserves.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

So tell me how that time spent giving your service in, in the military, how has that sort of shaped your philosophy and, and your leadership style?

- Yeah, so you, I mean, you talk about wanting to be called to or, or about the, the need to be called to serve and what that feels like.

I, I joined a little bit later.

I was like 27 when I joined up.

So I was basically like a grandpa in basic training, but I went to, to basic training in officer candidate school commissioned as a second lieutenant.

I've been in for 13 years now as an engineer officer.

It is, it's one week a month, two weeks a year, plus some bonus time.

But I've really enjoyed that service.

The military is the great melting pot in the United States of America.

I love serving in the Army.

It's cool to bump up against my colleagues both in the reserve, the active duty component and the National Guard.

And you get together, whether it's a, a big training operation or whether it's a deployment I deployed last year to the Middle East, you really see how all Americans come together and get super mission focused.

And I would say that's one thing that I've also carried out of that military experience.

You know, a senate office and politics can get a little crazy and a little confusing, but if you practice good troop leading procedures, you have a good mission statement for your small team, which is your Senate office, and you know what that mission is, and that's serving the people of the 49th Senate district and making New York a better place to live, work, and raise a family for generations.

You stick to that mission and, and, and you're never gonna work a bad day.

- In our chat, before we started the interview, you taught me something, which I didn't realize, which is you have the geographically the largest Senate district Yeah.

In the state.

- Yeah, I'll brag.

Go ahead.

I do.

So there's 150 assembly members and 63 state senators in New York State.

So that's 213 districts.

And the 49th Senate district is the biggest of all of them.

- What does that mean for you practically?

- It means a lot of driving.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it's, it stretches from Oswego County straight up to the St. Lawrence River, down through Lowville into the Mohawk Valley and all the way down to Fulton County.

So Johnstown, Gloversville and straight up into the Adirondack.

So I've got Old Forge and Blue Mountain Lake and gorgeous, gorgeous territory to do a lot of driving - Through.

Yeah.

What, what do those regions, what, is there a common thread?

I mean, you know, it's a pretty sizable stretch in terms of driving, but, but when it comes down to it, what, what do each of those small towns have in, have in common?

- That's it.

It's a hundred towns, 45 villages, five small cities, rural areas in upstate New York.

And a lot of them face similar challenges.

You're, you're talking about access to broadband, access to even cell phone service in a, in a lot of areas that I represent the basic infrastructure to support rural living and give people an opportunity to, to better their family and their situation.

Jobs critically important.

And then we also, you know, as, as I described a lot of those areas, you have the, the prosperity and then the, the sort of decline of a lot of rust belt cities in upstate New York that are looking for that next economic engine to come back in.

And that's what we're focused on.

- You used the word grandpa earlier, you're not quite that age, but I think you have a big birthday coming up this year, if I'm not mistaken.

True.

- Yeah.

I'm turning, I'm turning 40.

Yeah.

- Let's talk about age and how growing older, reaching that milestone, the big four oh, how has that shaping your philosophy and, and how has your thinking sort of matured or progressed over time?

You - Know, probably not age so much.

I'm kind of one of those ages in number.

I've got two little ones at home, so I've got a, a one and a 3-year-old.

And these little boys, I don't know if they're aging me quicker or keeping me younger either way, though.

They're definitely changing my perspective.

I love being a father and, and having them to go home to every night and wake up two in the morning is, is, has definitely changed my perspective.

I've always kind of been a big picture guy that I liked what the, the Haudenosaunee Native Americans in, in Central New York, which, you know, well, their perspective on policy policymaking was we don't lay something down as a policy unless we're thinking about the seventh generation.

And I've kind of always appreciated that big picture and long-term perspective in policymaking.

But there's something very personal about having a next generation in your home to realize that the things that you're doing today will have a direct impact.

- Are they weighing in on your policy positions yet?

- No.

No, but my, my three-year-old often sends me to work with a toy because he's worried that I'm going to get bored.

Oh.

Which is adorable.

So I'll, I'll have often have a monster truck or a Hot Wheels car in, in my office for the day.

- It's a good reminder.

I have to imagine though, when you see that, that car, that toy who you're working for at the end of the day.

- Yeah, absolutely.

- Your kids may think your job is boring.

Do you ever find it boring?

What, what drives you?

What keeps it exciting for you?

- No, it's always changing.

I mean, you look at the, you look at the New York State legislature and we've got eight to 10,000 bills that get introduced ideas for legislative changes introduced in a single legislative session.

So you really never know what you're gonna get.

There's all kinds of, from those 213 legislators across the state of New York, there's all kinds of ideas that come from all different demographics, all different areas of the state.

And you never really know what issue that you're going to be dealing with when you walk in the door.

And that's just the Albany side of things.

The most important part of the job is serving the people of the 49th Senate District up here, and they get to determine what my priorities are for the day.

So you never know what issue, what town supervisor or county legislator or village trustee is gonna call your office and say, bad news.

Here's where we need your help.

And the job is really to, to jump up and help 'em.

So, no, never a boring day.

- How have you used your experience?

You were a, a Watertown counselor, you served in the assembly and now the Senate.

How have those experiences, how have they scaffolded?

How have you been able to take a, a bit of each to, to to become a better senator today?

Better a, a lawmaker today?

- Yeah, I think so.

I, I certainly, especially the, the local government, I'm a true believer that government closer to the people serves them the best.

And so my experience on the Watertown City Council where, you know, spending time in the, in the diner, people are gonna grab you on whatever city issue or you know, that somebody's gonna pull you aside at church and bring up what they just saw on the news or on, yeah.

I think that government closer closest to the people.

You also had a very small on the Watertown City Council.

It's five member council.

So to have a majority, you just need two members to agree with you.

Pretty easy to get things done with that size of body.

A little bit more difficult as you move up the layers of government.

But I think that was, that was the design.

So I've certainly taken something from, from each layer, and I, I hope that it's making me, making me do a better job today.

- It, we're living through an era of such political divisiveness.

How are, how are you coping through that and, and how are, how are you having conversations with your colleagues on both sides of the aisle to sort of overcome that?

Or maybe you're not, I don't know.

Is it, is it important to have compromise?

Where do you stand there?

- I think it absolutely requires leadership.

You know, it's a, it's a mixed bag.

There's some, there's some legislators like from New York City, for example, and we have a New York state has a longstanding urban versus rural power balance issue, which I think we have to resolve as a state, and we need to bring that balance of power.

But there's New York City members that I couldn't disagree with more on most statewide policies, in political philosophies, but I could still have a cup of coffee with 'em in a great conversation.

We could come to a mutual understanding about the constituencies that we represent.

There's others that have decided that political division is the only route that there's a tyranny of the majority.

If we get elected, then we can make all of the rules.

And so I think as not just legislators and leaders, but also as a society, we really need to, to promote more togetherness and, and see the parties come closer together and see the, the, the people who are elected represent us all soul.

- You said something earlier, and I know this is something that came up when you served in the assembly, talking about your assembly district as America's front yard, front - Yard of America.

- Front yard of America.

- Yeah.

- Why did you coin that term?

And, and as we talk about relations with Canada now, and we have a sizable Canadian audience, I'm, I'm curious your perspective on the front yard of America today.

- Yeah.

Well, here's, so I will, I'll, I'll be in Albany sometimes and talk to members from various parts of the state.

And they've never heard of the thousand Islands before.

If they have, they've never been.

And don't even recognize how significantly amazing this area is.

And it occurred to me, you know, sometimes New York, like by policy treats upstate and, and treats Northern New York like it's the backyard, like, I don't know, throw the shed out there.

And, and instead, we really need to have this perspective because it's the truth.

This is the front yard of America.

This is the first impression that Canadians get when they come over the border.

We need to have the welcome mat out.

We need to have the lawn groomed and the leaves raked and give the absolute best impression because this is the impression of our, our nation and our state.

So yeah, I started calling my assembly district the, the front yard of America.

I, - I, I love that.

Let's talk about the future.

- Okay.

- You know, you've, you've climbed from counselor to as assemblyman to senator.

Is there another step for you in your political career, do you think?

- So by my philosophy, this is climbing down, the more - People you explain that climbing - Down, the more people that you work for, the, the, the lower you are on the totem pole.

So as a, as a state senator, I represent 318,000 people.

I work for all of them.

My staff works for, for all of them.

So I, I view it as actually moving down on the ladder, but I don't know what's in store.

I would say a balance of power in New York.

I know that that's how me and my team are mission focused.

The assembly, the senate, the governor's office, they're all in the same party currently and seem to be pretty focused on, on one party and on urban issues rather than policy that impacts all New Yorkers in a positive way.

So we really, and we've had balance in the past, we need to bring balance back to that power.

And I would say that's what's in my future, is making sure that that happens so that areas like the one that I represent have a, have a bright future in New York.

- Fantastic.

Senator Mark Mark Walczyk, it's been such a pleasure chatting with you, getting to know you better.

Really appreciate it.

- Yeah.

- Take care.

Thanks for joining us.

- Yeah, thanks for having me.