Nicole Watts will represent the Onondaga County Legislature's 9th District. Credit: Courtesy of Nicole Watts

Editor’s note: If you’d like to read about Nicole Watts’ opponents, you can read about Kenyata Calloway here and Bonnke Sekarore here. Central Current’s election coverage is supported in part by a grant from the Health Foundation for Western and Central New York.

Nicole Watts is a candidate running to represent the Onondaga County Legislature’s 9th District. She faces Kenyata Calloway, who is running on an independent ballot line, and Republican Bonnke Sekarore.

The race became a three-way race after Legislator Palmer Harvey withdrew her bid for reelection this spring. Watts is running on the Working Families Party line. 

Watts is the founder and CEO of Hopeprint, Inc., and previously was chairman of the Refugee Alliance of Greater Syracuse. 

Central Current asked Watts, Calloway, and Sekarore six questions about things they might support in office. Below are Watts’ answers. 

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Central Current: How will you make up for the lack of funding for the aquarium? 

Nicole Watts: Excellent question. So I believe that we’ve already invested enough public money in the project, and that it was communicated when it was proposed that that would be the end of the public dollars that were utilized. And I believe we need to hold to that. And so there needs to be — those who championed the project in the first place need to take responsibility to find the private investments that they said they had in place and would continue to get in place, to be able to underwrite any additional costs, and the ongoing sustainability that I’m also concerned about in terms of its ongoing maintenance and underwriting. 

CC: How will you handle the loss of federal funding to things like SNAP and Medicaid? 

Watts: So I believe that, as a county, we have a responsibility to ensure that the human rights of our people are protected, and that they have access to things such as healthy food that can sustain them and provide for their families; housing, roof over their heads that’s quality and isn’t causing a danger to themselves and their families; and that we need to have healthcare, that the reality is that people have health — we all have health issues, and we need to be able to access dignified health care services in our communities. And so, I don’t believe that it’s at all an option for us to say, well, we don’t have the money, so therefore it’s not our responsibility. And so I believe the county is going to have to advocate as best we can at the other levels of government, particularly federal and state levels, to get the funding that is necessary to meet those needs in our community. And anything that is not met at a federal and state level, we have to seriously determine as a county how the needs of our local residents are met in spite of the cuts that are coming our way. 

CC: The Legislature passed resolutions to transfer land to the Onondaga Nation. As an Onondaga County legislator, do you believe you have a role in facilitating a transfer? Why or why not? 

Watts: I think that in terms of facilitation, obviously anything additional policy, law, or budget-wise, of course falls under the Legislature, and we need to make sure that there is follow through on those commitments, and so if and when there are any things that need to be done that fall under our purview, then absolutely we need to take responsibility for that. I would also say, secondarily, that a huge part of the role of legislature is oversight and ensuring that things get enacted — that we don’t just get headlines in the newspapers, but we actually do the things we say we’re going to do for our people. I believe that we have a significant equity gap in terms of what it looks like for us to be working with our local people. And the Onondaga Nation is — our county is quite literally named after the Onondaga People, and that there is a need for equity and justice and that the Legislature does have a key role in ensuring any commitments we’ve made happen, and that any gaps that are in place between that happening and that coming to fruition need to be carried out. 

CC: In a hypothetical scenario where federal funding for Onondaga County is conditioned on the basis of the County Sheriff’s Office cooperating with ICE operations, would you be in favor of supporting that collaboration? Why or why not?

Watts: Absolutely not. I do not believe that the strong arming of federal — and any level of government on the localities. It goes against our Constitution and how we were structured, with balance of power and representation of the people, and so the efforts that the federal government is trying to make to try to bully and force different levels of government into abiding by issues that really need to be determined at the localized level is an inappropriate leveraging of power, especially when it comes to funding for our people, because the federal funding that they are attempting to take away is money that is first of all paid by our taxpayers that live in Onondaga County. And so it is the responsibility of government to ensure that it is benefitting those taxpayers and secondarily, it’s providing for the human rights of people. We’re talking about funding that has to do with literal — not just quality of life, but people’s actual life. And that, to threaten such things is just an unacceptable way to try and leverage power. And so, I believe that as a county government we have to not cow to that, and that we must continue to stand strong to ensure that our people’s needs are met and that we’re taking the responsibility that is ours to bear, and not playing into the breakdown of power and constitutional structure that was set up in our nation. 

CC: As Micron ramps up, how do you plan to monitor and ensure that Micron lives up to its lofty promises to protect Central New York’s bountiful natural life?

Watts: I believe that Micron is another example of a major issue and commitment that we made to our people and have responsibility of oversight as the government. So I think that, again, whether it’s at the existing committee level and/or a special oversight committee, that there needs to be dedicated energy at the legislator level to paying attention to all those commitments, to the progress, to the environmental impacts, all of those crucial places that are going to have real-time impacts on our community. I would include within that the current housing crisis, and how Micron — as it continues to move forward —is impacting our housing crisis and ensuring that we have proper responses to that. And I think we also, in general, need to take a more proactive and reactive approach to these Micron pieces. We have the opportunity to do so, and we need to make sure we’re taking that responsibility. And then that oversight committee can ensure, as we go each step of the way, you know, that our people, that the water — water is life for all of us as human beings and all the creatures that live on the earth. And we need to ensure that our water supply and our jobs — that we’re ensuring that the economic impact impacts our people first, that [those who] call this community home are ready, and that all of those things need to be really closely monitored. I think the county is really the best suited, in this case, to be keeping a close eye on it — of course in partnership with our state parties and such that have some of the environmental impacts under their purview.

CC: If ICE approaches Onondaga County and requests sensitive information to aid in what it says is a “criminal investigation” – and refuses to provide more details – should Onondaga County furnish sensitive data from a department like DSS to federal authorities with unclear motives?

Watts: No, with unclear motive, absolutely not. I believe there are some cases that have already been established in years past regarding law enforcement, where different levels of law enforcement have to work together to genuinely protect our community and there are some circumstances where that is required. I think that we should be looking to best practices from the past and not be, again, making people vulnerable with information sharing that would have been absolutely illegal in previous iterations, previous seasons of our nation. I do not believe that the sharing of information of things like DSS and things that contribute to the daily livelihood of families, are an appropriate piece of that law enforcement. I don’t believe that they should be used in — at the very least the majority of cases, if any of the cases. And certainly I would need to see very concrete warrants and justification before I would even consider it being something that should be allowed by the county. So I would say no, unless proven otherwise at a significant evidentiary level. 

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Laura Robertson is a staff reporter covering Onondaga County. Prior to joining Central Current, she lived on the edge of the Bering Strait in Nome, Alaska, where she worked as a reporter for a year. She...