Mark Dunlea

Mark Dunlea

Green Party

BACKGROUND: Dunlea, 64, of Poestenkill in Rensselaer County, is running on the Green Party line. Born in Lindenhurst and raised in Lynbrook, Dunlea graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a Bachelor of Science in management and obtained his law degree from Albany Law School. Dunlea is the former executive director of the Hunger Action Network of New York State, which represents food pantries across the state. More recently, he was a climate change activist with 350.org, which opposes new coal, oil and gas projects. He currently works as a news correspondent for WOOC Radio in upstate New York. Dunlea served on the Poestenkill Town Board from 1992 to 1995  and has unsuccessfully run for Congress, State Assembly and the Rensselaer County Legislature — all on third-party ballot lines. Dunlea is married with an adult son.

ISSUES: Dunlea wants the state pension fund to divest from companies involved in the fossil fuel industry and would enact a carbon tax on corporate polluters. “We need to take action on climate change,” Dunlea said. “It needs to be immediate and comparable to the effort of World War II if humanity is to survive.” Dunlea said he would repeal the state’s property tax cap and wants to create a public bank for New York State, similar to North Dakota, to provide low cost borrowing for area school boards and credit for small businesses. Dunlea said he also wants to reform the state contracting system, cut waste in the state’s economic development programs and enact a public campaign financing system. “We need an independent fiscal watchdog and someone from outside of the political system to root out corruption,” he said.