By Mike Pettinella
For Video News Service
A Genesee County town official believes he’s the right person to end what he calls “the wasteful spending” in New York State.
Carl Hyde Jr., supervisor of the Town of Bethany for the past 13 years, on Thursday morning talked to Video News Service about his desire to run for governor of the Empire State in November of 2026.
On Tuesday night, he received approval from the Genesee County Republican Committee to do just that. Previously, the Town of Bethany GOP committee gave Hyde its blessing.
Next, Hyde, 62, needs to secure a place at the table in front of the New York Republican State Committee. His term as Bethany Town Supervisor expires at the end of 2027.
“I’m in the very preliminary steps to be honest with you,” he said. “I have reached out to the State Republican Party, and they told me that first I have to meet with the Town Republican Committee and get their approval to move forward and I did. And a couple nights ago, I got the unanimous approval at the Genesee County Republican Committee with 70 members in attendance.”
Hyde said he sent an email to Jason Weingartner, executive director of the NYRSC, asking for permission to run for governor.
“I’m waiting to hear back to have a discussion with them about important matters in New York State,” he said.
While noting that it’s too early for him to “do a hard push on all topics” plaguing the state, Hyde mentioned that the New York State Thruway has lost $270 million in unpaid tolls over the past four years and the New York City mass transit system is facing a $33 billion deficit.
“I review the state’s budget every year and the amount of wasteful spending and problems in New York State need to be addressed by someone that’s in a position to understand budgets and knows how to run a municipality,” he said. “I can go on for hours and tell you all the problems with money being spent on wasteful issues and I can also give you the solutions on how to fix them.”
Hyde touted his record as Bethany’s supervisor, stating that when he started the town was close to running out of money.
“So, we made some business decisions, and we made it through the year just fine,” he said. “At that time, we couldn’t even get a loan. They had overspent. Now, sometimes we pay cash for new snowplow trucks. I can get a loan or a bond whenever we want at a very low interest rate now.”
He also mentioned that crews will be breaking ground this spring on a $21 million water district that will service 578 residents.
“That’s Water District 5 with one water tower, two pumping stations and 28 miles of pipe,” he said.