H. Rose Schneider reports in the Altamont Enterprise that Republican Travis Stevens is not running for re-election for the Albany County legislature’s 31st District this November, but Fran Porter and Jeff Perlee are. The district covers western Guilderland, about two-thirds of Knox, and the northeast corner of Berne. Porter is running on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines, and Perlee is backed by Republicans, the Independence Party, and the Conservative Party. Perlee is the former director of the New York State lottery, and now the president of Lottery Rewards Holdings. Porter directed the New York Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, and helped with Pat Strong’s failed campaign for state senate last year. Perlee says his goal is to keep a Republican in office in the district. “What’s important is that we not go back to the way things used to be,” Perlee said. “Because we would be moving in a bad direction.” Porter wants to join the Democratic majority in the Albany County legislature. “A lot of what happens in that government, especially Albany County, is influential: It affects the surrounding counties and because of the proximity to the state [capitol], it tends to influence the state legislation,” she said. Read the full story in the Altamont Enterprise.