Stephanie Miner | Veteran Democrat pushes 50-point plan for Syracuse, starting with education

On childhood weekdays, Stephanie Miner went to school, played with toys and hung out with friends. But on weekends, she spent time with politicians.

Her grandmother was Betty Cooney, a political legend in Syracuse. In 1976, a 6-year-old Miner went to a politician's party with her grandmother. The party's host was then-Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter. Shortly after the party, Cooney received Carter's trademark thank-you gift in the mail - a bag of peanuts.

"My grandmother was very active in politics, and as a kid I used to spend a lot of time with her," Miner recalled. "And that's what I did when I was with her. She did that with all my brothers and sisters. But with me, it stuck."

Now, 33 years after Carter's party, Miner is running for mayor. If she wins the election, Miner will become the first female mayor of Syracuse.

On Sept. 15, Miner won the Democratic primary with 4,040 votes. She is running against two candidates: Steve Kimatian, a veteran TV executive, is the Republican and Independent Party candidate. Otis Jennings, a former Syracuse Parks, Recreation, and Youth Programs commissioner, is the Conservative party candidate. He lost the Republican primary to Kimatian.

Miner has been an at-large common councilor for eight years. In her campaign for mayor, Miner is running on a detailed agenda of proposals and a reputation as an independent spirit who challenges even members of her own party. She has been the city's most outspoken critic of tax breaks for the Destiny USA, a mega-mall and hotel expansion to Carousel Mall. Destiny USA was championed by Mayor Matt Driscoll, also a Democrat. Driscoll can't run for a third term because of term limits.

If elected mayor, Miner has promised to focus on three areas: improving education, modernizing government and invigorating neighborhoods.

Miner was born in Syracuse and grew up in Cortland, N.Y., as the oldest of five siblings - four girls and one boy. She graduated from Syracuse University in 1992 with degrees in political science and newspaper journalism. In 1999, Miner graduated from Buffalo Law School and joined Blitman & King, a labor law firm in Syracuse.

After graduating from SU, she jumped into Democratic Party politics. She moved to New Hampshire to work on former Sen. Bob Kerrey's presidential campaign and later Geraldine Ferraro's New York Senate campaign. In the 1990s, she worked as a Central New York regional representative for Gov. Mario Cuomo, who was defeated in 1994.

In 2001, Miner ran for Syracuse councilor-at-large and won. In 2005, she was re-elected. She can't run again for that office because of term limits.

Miner has not been shy about what she plans to do if elected mayor. On her Web site, she lays out a 54-page agenda, called "50 Point Plan for Syracuse." In it she outlines her goals for the city because, Miner said, people deserve details of her plan. "They want to know what it is that you are thinking about and what you want to do," she said.

In her mayoral platform this year, Miner stresses her top priority as education. Syracuse has a graduation rate of 51 percent, according to New York State Report Cards, which she calls unacceptable. Part of the solution, she said, is the Say Yes to Education program.

The program gives city high school graduates free college tuition to participating colleges if the students have been in the school district for at least three years. Miner calls for expanding the program to younger students to keep them in city schools.

Miner also calls for technological and organizational changes to modernize local government. She said she would update phones and computers in the city administration, and change the culture of City Hall. "We've had a revolution in technology that has not come to City Hall," Miner said.

Updating the city's infrastructure is also high on Miner's priority list, said Andy Maxwell, Miner's policy director. Roads and highways, an aging water main system and street lights are some of the city's infrastructure Miner would modernize, Maxwell said.

Neighborhoods must change, too, Miner said. Snow plowing, sanitation and public safety are all city services that could be improved, she said. She also would expand city parks and recreation programs to bring more people into the parks, Maxwell said.

Miner has been vocal about her views. In 2006, Miner led Common Council opposition to a tax break agreement for Destiny USA. Miner led several councilors in a challenge to Driscoll's payment-in-lieu-of-taxes-agreement. Miner lost the protest and Destiny is still under construction with its tax breaks.

Miner's sharp disagreement with Driscoll about Destiny led many of her critics to describe her as a maverick. But longtime friend, and fellow Democrat, Tom Buckel said Miner will do what she believes.

"The greatest urban legend is that she gets in the way and is anti-development," said Thomas Buckel, an Onondaga County legislator for District 7. "That's a perception that was developed because she was tough enough - had the guts enough - to oppose a bad deal."

One of Miner's critics is another Democrat, Bea Gonzalez, who soon ends her term as president of the Syracuse Common Council. Gonzalez had also considered a run for mayor but dropped out of the race because of family health problems. In the Democratic primary, she threw her support to Joe Nicoletti. Now she is distancing herself from Miner as the party's nominee.

In an article in The Post-Standard last month, Gonzalez sharply criticized Miner. Miner does not always treat people with dignity and respect, Gonzalez said.

"I've seen how she behaves in public and in private, and I'm concerned," Gonzalez told The Post-Standard. "Am I going to actively support someone I have limited confidence in? No."

In response to Gonzalez's criticisms, Miner said: "I think it says much more about her than it says about me. I was endorsed during the primary by the vast majority of my colleagues who have worked with me in the past eight years on the Common Council."