Barbara J. Fiala is the former Commissioner of the

New York State Department of Motor Vehicles The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (NYSDMV or DMV) is the department of the New York state government responsible for vehicle registration, vehicle inspections, driver's licenses, learner’s permits, photo ID cards, and adjudicati ...

and

County Executive A county executive, county manager or county mayor is the head of the executive branch of government in a United States county. The executive may be an elected or an appointed position. When elected, the executive typically functions either as a ...

Broome County, New York Broome County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the county had a population of 198,683. Its county seat is Binghamton. The county was named for John Broome, the state's lieutenant governor when Br ...

. Fiala also served as Broome County Clerk from 1999 to 2004. She was the first female County Executive of Broome County and served as President of the New York State Association of County Executives. On July 30, 2015, Fiala officially announced her candidacy for the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

's 52nd district. The seat became vacant after then-Senator Thomas W. Libous was convicted of a Federal felony of lying to the FBI. Fiala was defeated in the November election by

Fred Akshar Frederick J. Akshar II is an American Republican politician from the State of New York. Since November 2015, Akshar represented District 52 in the New York State Senate. Since January 1, 2023, Akshar has served Broome County, as their Sheriff. ...

, the Republican nominee.

Political career

Broome County Executive

Fiala served as Broome County Executive from 2005 until 2010, when she was appointed Commissioner of the

. She was elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2008. During her tenure as County Executive, the Greater Binghamton Transportation Center was developed, the George Harvey Justice Building was refurbished, and a number of small business development programs were launched. Fiala touts bipartisan cooperation as the reason for her accomplishments as County Executive.

Commissioner of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles

Fiala was appointed Commissioner of the

in 2011, and served until the end of 2014. During her tenure, the state placed a higher priority on online services. The DMV website was redesigned and many motor vehicle transactions were added to the website. Additionally, the DMV launched lifetime adventure licenses for hunting, fishing, skiing, and boating. The adventure license offered New York residents a chance to list all adventure licenses on their drivers license, and the adventure licenses do not expire.

Campaign for New York State Senate

Upon the conviction of former New York State Senator Thomas W. Libous, Fiala announced her candidacy for the vacated senate seat. She launched her campaign for the November 2015 special election in July promising to bring jobs to the Southern Tier. Fiala said, "The one major issue here in the Southern Tier is jobs, good-paying jobs." In November 2015 Fiala was defeated in the State Senate election by Republican Fred Akshar.

Electoral history

References

External links

Barbara Fiala's Official Campaign Website
1944 births Binghamton University alumni County executives in New York (state) Living people New York (state) Democrats Politicians from Binghamton, New York Women in New York (state) politics 21st-century American women {{NewYork-politician-stub