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Published on: 12/28/2007
Last Visited: 12/29/2007
* Kathy Luz Herrera, D-City and Town of Ithaca and Cayuga Heights, has five absences and some committee meeting absences.
* Leslyn McBean-Clairborne, D-City of Ithaca, has missed four Legislature meetings and some committee meetings.
Each of the remaining 11 legislators missed no more than two meetings, with four legislators attending each meeting.
Randall and Herrera both attributed their absences to health-related issues.
Herrera said she missed time from her full-time job as well as the Legislature per her doctor's orders.
Randall attributes his absences to changing careers in the last year combined with untimely health problems.
"I had some health issues over the last two years which necessitated some of that," he said."The combination of those two things hasn't helped my situation, or the Legislature's for that matter.A lot of things happened after I got elected."
Herrera said her work has had nothing to do with her absences as she's been careful to construct her schedule with her full-time employer so she can attend as many meetings as possible.
McBean-Clairborne said her absences mainly have to do with having a full-time job - she's the deputy director of the Greater Ithaca Activities Center - and having a family with both young children and elderly relatives to care for.She recalled that two absences were because her father became ill and died early in 2007.More recently, her ill mother-in-law has moved in to her home in Ithaca.
"I think missing four out of 24 meetings isn't such a big deal," McBean-Clairborne said.
She added that serving on the Legislature is a lot more than meetings of the complete board or committees.She estimated she puts in an average of 30-32 hours of work a week on Legislature matters, whether it's fielding comments and questions from constituents, committee and board meetings, and matters related to her serving as liaison to the Ithaca Downtown Partnership and meetings related to her work with the county's inclusion and diversity committee.
"Someone said, 'Just show for the TV meetings and you're fine.' That's not how I look at it.A lot gets done at personnel, liaison assignments, other committees and in community with constituents," she said.