Teresa Sayward
Encyclopedia
Teresa R. Sayward is a member of the New York State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...

 for Willsboro
Willsboro, New York
Willsboro is a town in Essex County, New York, in the United States, and lies thirty miles south of the city of Plattsburgh. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 1,903...

 (the 113th district), first elected in 2002. She is a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

.

Career

Sayward was a dairy farmer with her husband Ken for 16 years until 1988, when they sold their farm due it becoming unprofitable. She has also worked as a real estate agent, an antiques dealer and as an interior decorator. After leaving dairy farming she stood for election as the Republican candidate for town supervisor
Town supervisor
Town Supervisor is an elective legislative position in New York towns. Supervisors sit on the town board, where they preside over town board meetings and vote on all matters with no more legal weight than that of any other board member .Towns may adopt local laws that allow them to provide for an...

 of Willsboro, winning on her second attempt in 1992.

Political history

She was town supervisor for 11 years and the chairwoman of the Essex County Board of Supervisors. She was awarded the title of "Outstanding Local Official" for 2002 by the Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board.

She became a member of the New York State Assembly in 2002, replacing Elizabeth Little in a six-way contest in which she won 52% of the vote. Sayward had narrowly beaten Thomas Scozzafava to the Republican nomination, and he stood against her as a Conservative candidate. Sayward spent $112,000 on the campaign. In 2006 she became the secretary of the Assembly Republican Conference.

She ran unopposed, as a Republican with the endorsement of the Independence Party of New York
Independence Party of New York
The Independence Party is an affiliate in the U.S. state of New York of the Independence Party of America. The party was founded in 1991 by Dr. Gordon Black, Tom Golisano, and Laureen Oliver from Rochester, New York, and acquired ballot status in 1994...

, in the November 2008 and November 2010 general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...

s.

Positions

Sayward favors lowering health care costs, workers' compensation costs, and local property taxes, and has argued for extensive state budget cuts. She supported Governor David Paterson
David Paterson
David Alexander Paterson is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of New York, from 2008 to 2010. During his tenure he was the first governor of New York of African American heritage and also the second legally blind governor of any U.S. state after Bob C. Riley, who was Acting...

's 2009 proposal to legalize same-sex marriage in New York
Same-sex marriage in New York
Same-sex marriage in the U.S. state of New York became legal on July 24, 2011, under the Marriage Equality Act, which was passed on June 24, 2011, by the New York State Legislature and signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo on the same day...

 and gave an emotional speech in the state assembly that helped pass a bill for legalization. Her elder son Glenn is gay and she views gay marriage as a civil rights issue; she received significant campaign donations from out of state as a result of her position, but lost the endorsement of the Conservative Party of New York State. She has campaigned nationally for gay rights and is involved with the Log Cabin Republicans
Log Cabin Republicans
The Log Cabin Republicans is an organization that works within the Republican Party to advocate equal rights for all Americans, including gays and lesbians in the United States with state chapters and a national office in Washington, D.C...

. She supported her friend Dede Scozzafava's 2009 campaign for congress. She is a member of the National Rifle Association
National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America is an American non-profit 501 civil rights organization which advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection...

.

Family

Sayward and her husband Kenneth have four children: Glenn (b. 1961), Yvonne (b. 1963/1964), Kyle (1969—2007), and Wendy (b. 1972/1973).

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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