Buffalo’s anointed one: A Q&A with Leah Halton-Pope

Retiring Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes was sure that she wanted her longtime adviser Leah Halton-Pope to succeed her in the lower chamber. So sure, that Peoples-Stokes waited to announce in April she wouldn’t seek reelection, at which point petitioning had closed for the Democratic primary. 

And after a brief backroom Buffalo papal conclave, Halton-Pope was given a clear path to victory and a ticket back to Albany. 

After years working with Peoples-Stokes, Halton-Pope has more recently been leading her own office as majority leader of the Buffalo Common Council, where she’s also been leading the opposition to new Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan’s budget plan for the financially strapped city. 

City & State talked with Halton-Pope in Buffalo on July 29 about advocating for Buffalo, her democratic socialist neighbors and keeping the majority leader role upstate. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

So you don’t have a Republican opponent in your Assembly race – is there a chance that former Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown tries a write-in campaign?

I doubt he will, but somebody else could, and you know this is a democracy, and it’s fine. So I’m open to whatever.

So feeling pretty confident that Jan. 1, you’ll be in the Assembly? 

I’m hopeful. I mean, it’s possible that somebody could win a write-in campaign, or maybe I wasn’t looking at the ballot properly. 

Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes has been a staple in Buffalo and held the seat since 2003. Now you’re her hand-picked successor. What are you going to do differently than her in the seat? 

“Differently” is tricky, because I spent so much time working with her, and I think it’s more about what I’ve learned from her. I have my own unique style and energy, but being diplomatic in just about everything you do, finding the middle ground is really important. I think I worked really well with her because I try to figure out how to solve problems. So that’s me. I’m a hard worker. I don’t stop, and I don’t know that that’s so much different than her. I just have a different perspective on some issues.

Every legislator outside of New York City feels like they have to really advocate to make sure that your area isn’t forgotten. What issues are you going to be bringing to the rest of the Legislature for Buffalo and Western New York?

I think the best thing about coming from (Buffalo) city government to go into the state and being that close to the people is it helped prepare my mind for what we need. With this most recent tax increase, we had some individuals who are struggling right now. They’re doing workshops to make sure that people don’t lose their homes if they can. So a tax circuit breaker would be really amazing if we can pull that off.

The Joint School Construction Board is critically important to the city of Buffalo, so that Buffalo Public Schools can go to market on their own. 

I also really want to deal with food insecurity, and in a perfect world, I’d love to see if there is an ability to create a tax credit for rooftop greenhouses on some of the buildings here, and then that food can be passed on to those constituents who need it.

We still need to deal with housing issues. We have way too many PILOTs, I feel. There are about 7,000 properties in the city of Buffalo that are not paying taxes to the city. We also have a lot of vacant buildings and vacant lots that have been vacant for generations. It creates blight in a community, in a neighborhood, and so I really want to do a progressive tax on those individuals.

You mentioned Buffalo’s budget issues. Do you see that as an approach to help close the balance? 

Yeah. This is self-inflicted. And I don’t believe that we should be trying to get out of it on the backs of our taxpayers, especially those who are vulnerable. So those low-income and generational homeowners, etc. We're not going to be able to tax our way out of it. I do think there are some unique opportunities if we can progressively tax those people until they do something, especially when we're selling lots and putting a time limit on that. Also we’re not fining people, and we have that (as an option) – or, we make an agreement and reduce it significantly. 

The majority leader effectively handed you the seat, dropping out of the race after the deadline to file petitions. What do you say to the critics who say that it should have been an open primary?

I will say they had about a month to get petitions. No, seriously, they had a month to get petitions and to vie for the seat. I can't say she handed it to me. I didn't expect it to go this way at all, to be fair. I’m honored that she would even say my name, but I have one more year left for my city seat, and I love what I do. And so this is a bittersweet move, but it is one that is necessary. Now it’s about making sure that the next person behind me is set up. 

So was it a total surprise, or did she give you a heads up that she was going to retire? 

No, it was a total surprise. The most heads up I got is maybe the day of. 

Across town, there was a competitive Assembly primary. You were with the Erie County Democrats, which supported Karen Hoak. But Adam Bojak, a democratic socialist, won. Have you met with him?

Oh yeah, we’ve talked before. I worked with him on some housing issues and talked through some issues that were important. Actually just saw him Saturday, at an event.

Do you think that this speaks to the growth of leftist politics in Buffalo? Is this the start of a trend, or is Bojak just a good candidate?

I think Adam is probably a good candidate. I think if you’re doing work, I think people will find you and will support you. Sometimes you want somebody who’s fresh and new and not connected in any other way. And to be fair, he’s been vying for a seat for a while. 

Is there a particular committee or issue that you are really eager to work on? 

I think it’s a little different because unlike some freshmen, I actually know where the bathrooms are and have a lot of relationships. So thinking through the committees and knowing what (Peoples-Stokes) had when I first came on board, I have a few on my list that I would like to be on: governmental operations, local governments, because that one is actually the one that deals mostly with municipalities. Economic development, because I care about specifically the cannabis industry. I wrote that legislation and helped negotiate that for the majority leader. So that matters to me. Education – community schools is another item that I actually wrote and negotiated.. I also like tourism, and I'm still playing around. … And then higher ed. I think I've got six big ones. I really want to do it all. 

The majority leader is retiring. Do you think that the office of majority leader should stay upstate? 

Yes. 

And who do you think it should be? 

I won’t say that. (Laughs.) I do believe it should be upstate. Downstate has a huge contingency. But it’s always been an upstate position, so I hope (Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie) does stay upstate.