November 7, 2005
District 13: Vote for Martha Robertson
County Legislator Martha Robertson has brought tremendous energy to her job, whether she's speaking at a Town Board meeting, collecting information from constituents to improve road safety, or developing new ideas for lowering the cost of healthcare in Tompkins County. I've wished for a long time that I had nearly her energy level, and I'd like to see her returned to office tomorrow.
County Legislator Martha Robertson (right) talks about TompkinsRx.
Martha doesn't seem like the kind of legislator who should be fiscally conservative - she has lots of projects she'd like to get done. Despite all of those projects, however, the tabulation of last year's budget votes shows her as #10 of 15 on the spending list, making her tighter-fisted than her Republican colleagues. One of her larger achievements, the TompkinsRx card that gets residents discounts on prescription drugs, cost the county nothing.
Martha is passionate about her work - there's no doubt about that. She understands the value of county government and the possibilities that working together on that scale allows. She also watches the interactions between different levels of government closely. Looking toward the local level, she worked hard on keeping the Recreation Partnership going. Looking toward state issues, she lobbied state government (along with legislators from a broad coalition of counties) when it was clear that the state government's effort to shift costs to the counties was driving property taxes inexorably upward. She worked as part of a group that got results, as the "soft cap" on Medicaid's impact on this year's county budget and the previous budget demonstrate.
I'm especially interested in her work on traffic issues. She's been pushing on the prospect of a park-and-ride near the 13/366 intersection, and has also become very familiar with the state Department of Transportation's rules for speed limits, helping lower the limit on Route 79 through Bethel Grove from 55 to 45mph. Natan Huffman, Chief of the Varna Volunteer Fire Company, spoke highly of her work on adding new signage to the intersection of Ellis Hollow, Turkey Hill, and Quarry Roads.
Martha's combination of energy and attention to detail would be very hard to replace. Keep Martha Robertson working for us.
Posted by simon at November 7, 2005 5:05 PM in politics (local)Note on photos