By KIM SMITH DEDAM
SARANAC LAKE — Clyde Rabideau said 10 years hiatus from public office has added perspective to his view of leadership.
Elected five terms as Plattsburgh mayor, Rabideau lost a sixth term by 104 votes to then Republican Councilman Daniel Stewart in 1999. He had run unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor the year before.
Now he wants to be mayor of Saranac Lake, facing off against Village Board member Jeff Branch, who is running on the Republican and Conservative lines.
Rabideau, who has the Democratic Party backing, says it is not a step toward higher political office.
“Heck no. It’s a great opportunity. I’m staying put in Saranac Lake.”
‘DRAWN TO THE PEOPLE’
Rabideau’s construction company began several projects in and around Saranac Lake in 2000, prompting him to move there.
“I was flabbergasted by the number of community organizations that come together over night here,” he said in an interview with the Press-Republican.
The decision to seek political office grew from that affinity.
“I am drawn to the people of this community,” he said. “I’m a student of it. This place is amazing. I take a four and a half mile walk around town on Sunday. If I see potholes or broken up sidewalks, I’ll say, ‘If I was mayor, I’d fix that’.”
CITY VS. VILLAGE
Rabideau said essential administrative differences exist between being mayor of a city with 350 employees and of a village in the Adirondacks with 54 employees.
“Plattsburgh has a form of government where the mayor is the chief administrative officer,” a full-time job paying about $72,000 annual salary.
Saranac Lake employs a village manager, and the mayor’s job is not full-time, paying a stipend of $5,000.
“Whereas in Plattsburgh, a mayor could get things done with an executive order, a mayor here has to be more of a consensus builder or coalition builder,” Rabideau said.
He is drawn to the challenge.
PAST ARRESTS
It has not been all smooth sailing for Rabideau, who has faced his share of controversy, including two highly publicized encounters with the law.
Rabideau was charged six years ago with driving with ability impaired.
The arrest netted Rabideau a fine and a mandatory seat in a course on alcohol use and driving.
“It was a very dumb mistake. I had to take a class in Elizabethtown where you learned about driving, about planning ahead if you are going to have a drink. It was a great class.”
Rabideau said the DWAI was his first and only alcohol-related driving offense.
“Once is enough. I’ve changed my life since then. It was a dangerous thing to do, and I’m very sorry for it.”
Rabideau was charged with assault on April 18, 2000, for allegedly pushing his then-17-year-old daughter down the steps on the deck of his former Plattsburgh home.
Charges in the case were dropped in a plea agreement made by then Clinton County District Attorney Penelope Clute, who told the Press-Republican, “if there was a pattern or some history of this kind of behavior (with Rabideau), then I wouldn't have done it.”
Rabideau says now that the charges were blown out of proportion.
“The case was totally dropped,” he said, calling the public treatment of the case, “a difficult thing for my family to deal with. It’s been 10 years, and we’ve moved past it. But I’ve got empathy for people, and now I always know when I see these stories in the news there are two sides.”
ECONOMIC GOALS
In his bid for mayor, Rabideau outlined three tracks in securing the local economy. The first is to protect jobs already here.
“I would open conversation with our major employers and ask: What could the village do to make your concern more profitable and more stable in our community? Then we go from there.”
The second course of action would be to establish a focus group to meet with the growing number of residents who telecommute and find out what the village can do to make the area more Internet-occupation user-friendly.
“What do they need to be successful here? What more can we do? We already have an incredible quality of life for people who do this type of work; it’s a marketable brand.”
The third track in Rabideau’s plan is focused on sustainability, how best to avail local resources to employ local people.
“One thing I want to do is establish a village economic development corporation to help grow and support new business opportunities.”
He said it is not the task of the local government to decide whether big box stores can make a profit here.
“The big retailers have to make that decision on their own. My job as mayor would be to make Saranac Lake attractive to retailers that fit our village.”
LEADERSHIP
He said trust in leadership, as frayed as it is in the current political climate, is gained by transparency and attention to detail. He finds it unproductive that Republicans and Democrats in New York have become so divisive.
“It shouldn’t matter how you fix a pothole,” Rabideau said.
“I’m a fanatic when it comes to efficiencies. It is about focus and how to focus on one thing at a time.”
Village elections will be held March 16.
E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at:
kdedam@pressrepublican.com
