Balance of Power

SE: This job is very overwhelming, yet very fulfilling. There is no better feeling than being able to accomplish something. In just the first couple of months of my first term, I had major accomplishments in the state budget and the fight for securing funding against hate crimes. There’s no better feeling than being able to help a constituent, whether it be with a bureaucratic agency or with a utility company.

The accomplishments that I was able to make in my first year included qualifying summer camps for security funding under the grants program Securing Communities Against Hate Crimes. I got my first piece of legislation passed in both chambers — in the Summer Youth Employment Program exempting the money earned from families’ annual household income, to ensure their families would not be disqualified from other aid programs. That affects thousands of people in our communities.

Having said that, it comes with an enormous amount of responsibility — walking around in Albany with a yarmulke on your head and a long rekel. The responsibility is on me to make a kiddush Hashem, because people will look at the way I conduct myself as a reflection of a larger community.

But to answer the specific question of if I want my son to run for office, the answer is: absolutely not.