Meet Jay Gallagher

Jay Gallagher, 56, has been a journalist for 34 years and has been covering Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984. He has been the bureau chief and has written a weekly column on state government and politics since 1989. Before that he was an editor and reporter at newspapers in Rochester, Providence, R.I. and Waltham, Mass. He has a B.A. in government from Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

He is a regular panelist on "New York Week in Review,'' a statewide public-television show, and has appeared on the CNN show "Inside Politics'" and "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer'" on PBS.

Gallagher received the 2002 top award from the National Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors for wire-service beat coverage of a state capitol; the 1997 Walter T. Brown Award from the Legislative Correspondents' Association as the outstanding reporter covering the New York State Capitol; and the of 1993 New York Common Cause award for best commentary on New York state government.

Q&A with Jay Gallagher

The following e-mail interview with Jay Gallagher was conducted by Barry Abisch, online editor at The Journal News in White Plains.

Q. This project obviously is a major undertaking for you and for the Gannett newspapers in New York. What made you decide to do it?

A. I've been covering the Capitol for 19 years, and during that time the two big issues have been the overall decline of New York's economy and the increasingly dysfunctional government. I've written about it piecemeal hundreds of times, but I thought pulling it together in one cohesive package, and getting into it in far greater depth than I've had the opportunity to do so before, might help people understand what's going on.

Q. This is a big project which will be presented in many parts over many months. Is there one overriding theme that will tie all of the various sections together for our readers?

A. The theme is that state government, while often overlooked by people concerned with their daily lives, has an important impact on the economy, and therefore our quality of life.

Q. The title of the series -- State in Decline -- paints a negative image. Will you be reporting on aspects of life in New York that are positive?

A. Yes. We'll be looking later at what is thriving here, what they have in common and what the successes can teach us about what needs to change.

Q. In the last gubernatorial election, only 50 percent of the voting age population in New York went to the polls.Does that low voter turnout have any effect on the way decisions are made, or is there so much inertia in the political process that potential voters are right to feel they can't make a difference?

A. The low voter turnout makes the system easier to manipulate by those who are pushing their interests over what's best for the greatest number. Voter apathy is the key to a dysfunctional government.

Q. As a reporter who also lives and works in New York, you have a personal, as well as professional, interest in the politics and economics of the state. How are you able to maintain journalistic distance -- a measure of objectivity, if you will -- between what you see as a citizen and what you observe as a reporter?

A. Being a New Yorker gives me a passion for the subject I couldn't have as an outsider. A degree of outrage animates what I do -- and is one reason I'm still excited about covering the Capitol after all these years. I don't see any conflict here because what is best for me personally as a citizen of New York coincides with what's best for our readers and the rest of the state.