Chris Williams is competing in next Thursday's primary election to determine whether he will become the Republican candidate for Lansing Town Supervisor.

Williams is the brewer behind Stout Hearted Beer, Rogue's Harbor Inn's own brand.  Originally a native of Quincy, Michigan.  He moved to Lansing about five years ago after working as a research scientist for Kodak, focusing on intelligence projects for the U.S. government.  In 1999 he founded Escape Radius, a software and Internet development company,.  In 2011 he turned a passion for home brewing into a second job when he became the head brewer for the Rogue's Harbor Inn's on-site brewery, Stout Hearted Brewing. 

In addition to door to door canvassing, Williams invited voters to tweet or email questions to a live Webcast about three weeks ago, which can still be viewed on his Web site.  He sat down with the Lansing Star last week to talk about his candidacy and why he is the Republican's best bet in the November general election.  The Star asked the same questions of both candidates.  Here is a transcription of Williams' interview.


What prompted you to run for Supervisor now, in this year’s election?


  Going to town board meetings and observing the town for the last several years, I just haven't seen any vision for the Town in the next  5, 10, 25 years.  That concerned me greatly.  I decided to enter the race to bring another perspective and another view, a fresh set of eyes to the Town Of Lansing.  That's the reason I decided to get into the race.


Primaries are about people of one general philosophy choosing a candidate that best reflects their point of view.  But strategically that person isn’t always the one who can beat the opposing candidate in the general election.  Are you the candidate most likely to win in the general election, and why?


  From the beginning I was envisioning the general election as a significant portion, because that's really what puts you in the office.  If you look at the performance and what has been done on the Town Board I haven't seen any leadership and vision for the Town in the next several years.  With a plan and a vision and an idea to move forward... this is what elections are about.

Elections are to a degree about people, but elections are really about ideas.  I just haven't seen significant ideas from the opposition party that would even challenge some of the ideas that I have.  I certainly believe that I can move through the general election and win.


What about your own party?  After all, we are talking about a primary.


  True.  It's largely the same answer.  When I started to consider entering the race I asked, 'what's the agenda, and what would this party wish to achieve in the next four years?'  I couldn't see that.  I don't know what the objective was for the party in the next four years or what their vision is for the future.  Again, without any sort of notion of leadership or a plan to follow... this is the reason I got into the election.


Why should Republicans, specifically, vote for you in the primary?


  The Town appropriates something like four and a half million dollars.  That's roughly the budget for the Town.  That's a very large responsibility.  As a business owner and as an entrepreneur I take that very seriously.  To run a business you're consistently looking for opportunities to reduce costs.  That's an ongoing process.

You bring an engineer's perspective -- as an engineer I used to work for Kodak -- you look at things analytically to understand what technical issues need to be looked at.

And thirdly, as a brewer for the restaurant, my pulse is on tourism.  This is one of the things that came out in the survey of the town residents, that they wanted more tourism.  So I think I have a very unique combination of life skills and professional skills that would enhance the Town in the long term.


What have you done to prepare for the primary?


  First you review the town budget and become well versed in that.  Secondly, the Town Of Lansing is really in the center of New York State energy policy.  With the power plant being the major taxpayer in the Town and the County it's important to understand what the role of energy policy is in the State.  So being well versed in that is something of importance.

Meeting people.  Really, that's what it comes down to.  In preparation you bring your ideas together, you put them on paper, and then you start to communicate with people.  You start talking to people... listening to people.  That's probably the largest preparation, when you talk to somebody be willing to engage them in a dialog and listen to what their concerns are.


And what have you done to prepare for the job if you are elected Supervisor in November?


  When you're elected you basically have 100 days to establish the tone and move the Town in a direction that you've promised to voters.  Everybody in the Town is well qualified to do their jobs.  To a large degree the Town will continue to move forward in all the aspects that it's doing right now.  There will be introductions.  There will be reviews of budgets.  There will be reviews of committees.

Getting over the election and getting into actually managing the Town's operations... the thought in the back of my head is that if elected you become the liaison to other towns.  You become a facilitator of getting things done.  Largely, it's life skills and organization and prioritization that really prepares you for this job.


You talked about vision.  Do you have a vision for Lansing for the next four years?  Are they big dream things?  What is that dream and how do you see it coming to be?


  I don't really think it's a dream.  I think it's an observation.  That's one of the key things.  As an engineer and scientist you're trained as an observer.  The Town has done a lot of work in preparing a comprehensive plan, but it's never actually been brought together and put on paper and said to the people that live in this town, and to businesses that might want to come to this town, 'why should I come here?  And what's the vision for the Town?'

The agricultural community has done a fantastic job.  They've prepared a comprehensive plan for agriculture.  There have been a lot of surveys done of what the residents would like in the Town.  The piece that's not been addressed is an economic preparedness plan.  We had an Economic Development Committee, but that was largely based on a sewer system which nobody wants in the Town.


I don't think it's meeting any more, is it?



  No, once the sewer project fell apart, it no longer exists.  I guess if you're looking for a vision... we understand that over the next administration electricity will either continue to flow from the Milliken Station power plant or it will not.  That's a significant challenge.  So in terms of a vision I think we need to think strategically about how the Town appropriates revenues and provides services.

There is an opportunity.  I mean, the fire department is prepared to come out and put out a fire at your house.  The Highway Department is now prepared in case of a natural disaster.  I think the idea of an economic preparedness plan needs to be brought into the comprehensive plan.  And the comprehensive plan needs to be put on paper and it needs to be completed.  I think, as the chief administrator of the Town, that could reasonably be done in a year.


If you were to become Supervisor today, what would be the top three things on your agenda to accomplish for the Town quickly?


  Number one, the Web site.  There's been talk of a own center.  It's probably not going to happen around the concept that was previously talked about.  I think it is very reasonable to say that we should have an electronic town center.  That should be the Web site.  To better serve the residents.  To communicate with the residents.  If you have a Web site you're in the publishing business.  So that's number one.

Number two, would certainly be the bringing together and moving the comprehensive plant forward to completion.

The third thing would be a proponent and a facilitator of economic development in the Town.  Because this is the challenge.  Everybody wants their taxes lowered.  I'm saying you think 'tax stabilization', particularly in light of the power plant's future.  Those are the top three priorities.


And to be clear, where do you stand on the power plant ?


  I fully support its repowering with natural gas.  I've been studying the New York State Energy Highway.  Delivering energy and providing reliable energy is not a simple task.  There are no simple answers for it.  The grid is to provide electricity primarily to downstate, because they don't have enough electricity in the New York City area.  Of course, they provide service to everybody along the way.

Maintaining that grid, maintaining energy from different sources is very challenging.  I certainly think that the power plant in Lansing has a significant role in that and I certainly support its continuing operation.

The Town Board has been politically split for several years, and it appears that neither side has been interested in compromise on a lot of issues.  If elected, what would you do to persuade Board members of both parties to move important items forward?


  You know, this is an interesting question.  It goes to a kind of a root of why I got into the election.

Without a vision government wallows in its own self-interest.  Everybody needs to get something out of a negotiation.  That's how business works.  That's how government should work.

In fact, if you read a little bit about the history of the Declaration of Independence, that document was not what the Federalists wanted.  That document was not what the Independents wanted.  That document was what had the best chance of passing.  Nobody got what they wanted.  They had a vision of where they were going with it.

So having a vision, finding consensus, and finding out what everybody needs out of a negotiation to get something forward and get something done for the people.  As long as you maintain that vision and everybody buys into that, you get stuff done.


Briefly, what else should Republican voters know about you before the September 10th primary?


  It comes down to 'why are you a Republican?'  I think that's a key part of being a part of the Republican party.  Republicans look for answers.  I think they look for solutions.  I certainly believe that the Republican Party and Republicanism is about independence and the individual.  I'm an independent person in terms of, I'm an independent business person.  In terms of fiscal responsibility and personal responsibility... those are true things that I hold in my heart, and that's what I believe being a Republican means.  Being fiscally responsible, being personally responsible, and doing your best to serve your country.

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