Matt Fuller cites business background as asset

ALBANY — Matt Fuller’s K. Fuller & Sons Custom Cabinets business evolved organically over the years. He did some custom cabinet work that people saw and liked, so he started up a business with one other employee.

Now, Fuller and his brother, Jim, have around 25 employees at the cabinet shop and at their Albany-based Fuller Brothers Properties businesses, and Fuller is recognized as one of the bright young business leaders of the community.

Fuller says he wants to put his business acumen to community use as a member of the Albany City Commission. With no political background and, until the final day of qualifying for the Ward II seat, no political aspirations, Fuller said he decided to run for the commission for the most basic of reasons: “I love Albany, and I want to do what I can to make it better.”

“I’d been to some of the meetings downtown, and I was frustrated by some of the things I saw,” Fuller said. “I started complaining about it, but then that made me feel like something of a hypocrite. Why was I complaining if I didn’t intend to do anything about the situation?

“I mean this as no disrespect to the people on the commission, but when I saw some of the decisions that were being made, I said, ‘Wow, these guys need help.’ I’m a fourth-generation Albanian, I have multiple businesses here, my family is here, and I have two small children here. The decisions that are made by the City Commission affect our day-to-day lives, and I thought my business background would be a positive. I just don’t believe in waiting around for someone else to do something about our issues.”

Fuller cites job growth, addressing crime in the community and job-preparedness as crucial issues that need immediate attention in the community, but his ideas for addressing those issues don’t necessarily fall in line with common practices.

“One thing that I think we don’t focus on enough is our young people,” he said. “The youth of our community are going to make or break Albany in the coming years. I’ve talked with several small business owners while campaigning, and one of the things I’ve been impressed with is that a number of them offer internships that give young people opportunities to gain real job experiences. I’m so impressed with this that I intend to do the same thing.

“I look at organizations like the Boys and Girls Clubs, and they do wonderful things for our young people. And then I hear so many people say, ‘I don’t know what I can do.’ What we can all do is provide opportunities to get our future leaders involved. Rather than paying some outside consultant to look into the issues that impact us, why can’t we get a group of Albany State University students involved? It’s really just a matter of planning and prioritizing.”

Fuller cites his business background as his greatest asset as a candidate. And he credits his “commonsense approach” to business as one of the key reasons for his success.

“We have to look at the city of Albany as a business,” he said. “Every vote we take should be a vote that’s in the best interest of our citizens. We also need to acknowledge that some issues are more important than others and should be addressed immediately. What I do every day is make a priority list of issues that I need to deal with that day. If I don’t get everything done, I add the unfinished business to my priority list for the next day.

“We, as a city government, need to make our own priority list and work on it until we get it done. There will be distractions, but we can’t get sidetracked. We have to stay focused.”

Fuller admits that he was a little surprised when one of the other Ward II candidates brought his race into the discussion. (Fuller is the lone white candidate.) But he said that is low priority on his concerns.

“Look, anyone who lives here knows the demographics,” he said. “Yes, there is a larger African-American population in Albany. But I have gotten great response from all the people I’ve talked to in the ward. I’m not looking to represent any one group in office. I will represent all of the people of this city.”