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Assemblyman John Lemondes is seeking to serve a fourth term in the State Assembly, representing the 126th district.

Lemondes, a Republican from LaFayette, has represented the district since taking office in 2021. In November, Lemondes will enter a rematch with Democrat Ian Phillips, who first contested the seat in 2024. Lemondes emerged victorious then by a margin of 10%.

Lemondes is a veteran with a lengthy and decorated 27-year career in the U.S. Army, from which he retired as a Colonel. The assemblyman also led the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency team in charge of meeting the international treaty obligations highlighted in the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. He was also key in leading the research, development, and construction of a system that was used to neutralize chemical weapons in Syria.

When Lemondes returned to his native Onondaga County, his family settled in LaFayette, operating a livestock farm. He has also served as a board member of the New York State Farm Bureau, and on the board of directors of the Onondaga County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Lemondes’ committee assignments in the Assembly include Banks; Economic Development, Job Creation, Commerce and Industry; Corporations, Authorities and Commissions; and Environmental Conservation and Agriculture.

Phillips is a current union organizer with the New York State United Teachers union who lives in Auburn. He is also a former teacher and Auburn school board president.

The district includes the western and southern parts of Onondaga County, as well as parts of Cayuga County.

Central Current asked the candidates six questions about pressing regional and district issues. Below are Lemondes’ responses.

Central Current: What is the number one thing you think needs to become more affordable for the people in your district? How will you help make it more affordable?

John Lemondes: The number one affordability issue is utilities. Our residential electricity is 62% higher than the national average. All right, commercial energy is 50% higher than the national average. These become forcing functions. At some point there’s an uncle point where people say “I just can’t live here anymore.” There’s an uncle point for businesses that say “I just am not willing to expand here anymore. I can’t. It’s too unaffordable.”

Why won’t the governor and the [Public Service Commission] unbundle the categories on ratepayers’ utility bills so they can see where their money is going as they’re being fleeced? I am the only one in the state legislature that put pen to paper and took legitimate action in suing the governor over energy policy. I initiated legal action against the [New York Power Authority] to ensure that they comply with the Power Authority Act. We believe that they are not. It requires that hydro-generated power be sold to residential and farm customers of National Grid and the other upstate utilities at cost. That’s the key. They’re supposed to sell it at cost. I am alleging that [the Power Authority] is overcharging for hydropower produced at the Lewiston Reservoir.

CC: Do data centers belong in your district? Why or why not?

JL: That is something that should be powered down to the local level where they’re going to be located. The uproar is visceral. People are scared, and and rightfully so until the industry explains to them why you know why they shouldn’t be afraid, what the risks are, what the probability of something going wrong is. I have a lot of experience in this. I ran four chemical neutralization plants all across the country when I was in the Army, so I had lots of meetings with the public about this stuff with federal and state environmental agencies. I understand people’s fear, and the only way that you can satisfy that, and it’s the industry’s job to do so.

One of the things that everybody is scared of is the water use and discharge, and at the end of the day, it’s very simple to me, the best environmental impact is the least possible.

People should also understand the direct benefit to them. Why would I allow you to put this in my community? What benefits does this provide me? That should be clearly evident and made public, and codified and communicated before anything is built.

CC: CenterState CEO has estimated that the region needs around 2,500 new units of housing to accommodate for the growth that Micron is going to bring to Central New York. What will you do to get the region on track to build the requisite number of housing units?

JL: That goal will never be achieved if moving to New York isn’t palatable to people. People are not going to move someplace where they’re going to be charged 62% higher than the national average for their home utility bill. That uncertainty keeps people away. You’re also driving out intellectual capital to other states for college degrees, and usually most of them aren’t coming back. The Democratic majority just can’t keep promising affordable housing while supporting policies that make it more expensive to deliver. People are leaving. We’re the highest out-migrating state in the country.

In my next term, one of the things I want to help with is predictable permitting timelines for development projects. Some of these permitting requirements are so long, they’re so far out that developers are going to Pennsylvania, Ohio, and everywhere else. This comes down to agency cooperation and agency willingness to work together to tighten these timelines and to streamline them and to make them easier. Easy doesn’t mean lowering standards.

Those units should also be homes and apartments options for seniors. We don’t want to leave anybody behind either, we don’t want to displace people.

CC: What is the ideal way of building out our electric grid in a time of increased demand
JL: It’s all of the above [renewable energy, natural gas, and nuclear], without question. I want to dispel the myth too that Republicans don’t believe in green energy. That’s not true. I’ve got a solar array on my house. For three years at one point, I powered all of my water for 40 acres off of a solar array. The bottom line is that I firmly believe all of the above is necessary, especially in our climate, especially with increasing demand.

We don’t have the generation right now that we need.

I met with the energy minister of Ontario… and the bottom line is they have cheap, affordable, reliable power that they can bring online as necessary for their own needs and to sell for the next 100 years. We can do that here, but you have anti-energy zealots that know nothing about business, science, physics, or math, and they come up with these policies that are… restrictive.

CC: With the likelihood that a new nuclear power plant will come to CNY, what role do you see yourself playing in the potential expansion of nuclear power? Will you facilitate and make sure that a new plant brings benefits to your district? If so, how? Or do you see yourself being on the other side of the issue?

JL: I am a proponent of it. Going back to the “all of the above” approach, part of that is nuclear power. When you look at the cost of every kilowatt generated between nuclear and anything else, the difference is enormous.

CC: What role will you play in assisting Onondaga County in having to do more with less federal funding to provide services like SNAP?

JL: What this is is an unfunded requirement. If it’s really mandated and policed and enforced, it makes everything else worse. You can’t put that burden on the counties. That is not the right thing to do. The right thing to do is to stop giving our billions of dollars to illegal aliens, and lower our budget. Now you’re forcing the counties to short something else. The bottom line is, I think that is poor leadership. It will force localities to raise taxes. People don’t need that.

Election day is Nov. 3. Early voting runs from Oct. 24 to Nov. 1.

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