Dorey Houle, a mother of five and a councilwoman in the town of Monroe, says she is running for the state Senate to make New York more affordable for future generations.
“The biggest complaint that I get from my kids’ friends and from young people that I talk to is that New York state is way too expensive,” Houle told The Epoch Times.
“I would love to keep my kids close to me, but I don’t know that they can stay in New York state with the fiscal direction that we are heading in—it doesn’t have to be that way.”
Houle, a Republican, is challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. James Skoufis in the election. Timothy Mitts, a Monroe real estate investor, is running on the Conservative line.
The 42nd Senate District covers most of Orange County except Newburgh and Montgomery.
Houle, the oldest of five children, grew up in a Staten Island family keen on community service. Her father was a police officer and fireman, and all her uncles worked in law enforcement.
When it was time for college, Houle wanted to pursue a career in teaching, but money was tight with four younger siblings at home. She applied for a student loan but with no success.
“I worked at a lumber yard and did everything but cut and deliver the wood during the day and went to school in the evenings,” she said. “It took me eight years to graduate with my bachelor’s degree, and it was part of how I became this person today.”
After graduation, Houle worked as a substitute teacher in elementary schools while caring for her firstborn son. In the spring of 2001, she became an American Sign Language (ASL) instructor at her alma mater, College of Staten Island.
Later, as program director, Houle expanded the curriculum fourfold and developed the college’s first-ever ASL minor under a vision of interdisciplinary collaboration.
One of her ASL minor program students became a disability law attorney capable of communicating directly with deaf clients, and another a therapist serving the deaf community.
In 2014, Houle moved to Monroe with her husband and five kids for a better quality of life.
Following the move, Houle found that working full time and sending her young children to daycare didn’t make financial sense, so she was a stay-at-home mom for a few years.
“It was tough to live on one income—we didn’t go on vacation, and there were a couple of Christmases that I recycled old toys and a lot of hand-me-downs, but we did it,” she said.
“Luckily, we were in a position that we were able to make ends meet, even with a large family, on one income—not everybody is able to do that,” she said, adding that her personal experience motivates her to drive down the rising cost of living for New Yorkers.
Town and Village Affairs
In 2017, when the separation of Kiryas Joel from the town of Monroe was on the ballot, Houle got involved in town affairs and spoke her mind out at public podiums—a journey that later led her to run for and win a trustee seat on the village board.As a trustee and liaison to the police department, Houle helped negotiate a multiyear contract with the police union and install faster internet service to assist officers with an increased amount of paperwork under a 2019 criminal justice law.
The top highlight for her as a trustee was a meeting where local elementary students presented historic projects in the village and top performers got to form a youth board of trustees.
In 2019, as part of the village of Monroe’s 125th-anniversary celebrations, Houle created a list of local historical properties and invited students to create presentations—such as a photo essay, an art project, or a website—about them.
“We had a fantastic night of 50 students presenting their projects,” she said. “[Top presenters] were elected mayor and trustees and took a motion to adopt a new village budget.
“It was the most wonderful night of my time as a village trustee. I am a teacher—that is what I am, so education comes into everything I do.”
In the fall of 2021, Houle ran for town board and was elected as councilwoman.
Top Priorities
Regarding affordability, Houle said lawmakers should find a way to decrease the state’s reliance on income tax and keep school taxes in line with a focus on core subjects.She also wants to advocate for measures that will help small business owners.
“When you spend $1 at a small business, that dollar gets circulated five times throughout your community; that small business is donating to the little league, using it to help local food pantries, and using that money to eat out,” she said. “When our residents go to big-box stores, we are not circling that dollar the same way.”
Another top priority for Houle is public safety, especially when it comes to repealing or rolling back the 2019 bail reform, which she says makes policing harder and less effective.
“[Through my role as police liaison on the village board], I saw the number of times someone was arrested for the same crime was increasing, and I think one of the most frustrating things to come out of the bail reform was an increase in domestic violence,” she said.
The 2019 bail law eliminated cash bail for most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies in New York state over cases where people stay behind bars because they cannot afford bail. Some provisions of the law have since been rolled back.
Faced with a Democratic-controlled state Legislature, Houle said that electing more Republican lawmakers to both chambers this fall will help restore balance in the long run.
“Once we bring Republicans into the fold, we are going to be able to create really smart legislation and policies that are going to be in the best interest of all New Yorkers,” she said.
