43RD SENATE DISTRICT — Major-party candidates squared off Thursday evening in the only scheduled debate before next week’s primary elections in the 43rd Senate District.

The League of Women Voters scheduled two separate debates in the public libray on Putnam Street, the first between Republican candidates Roy McDonald and Raymond Seney and the second between Democrats Brian Premo and Michael Russo. More than 100 people were in attendance.

McDonald said he is running on his record as a state assemblyman and former Wilton supervisor who can get things done. On property taxes, a recurring theme with all of the candidates, McDonald pointed to his record of abolishing townwide taxes in Wilton. He said part of the upstate tax problem comes from the special status of New York City, where rent control helps keep property taxes low but the schools are heavily subsidized by state taxpayers.

Seney turned McDonald’s experience, party leadership support and campaign contributions against him, accusing him of being a captive of special interests and sharing responsibility for New York’s poorly performing government and high taxes.

McDonald rejected his opponent’s “innuendoes and accusations. Nobody tells me what to do,” he said.

Premo, like Seney, was highly critical of state government, saying it needs ethics and other reforms. He was also the only candidate to endorse the 4 percent school property tax cap proposed by Gov. David Paterson, a Democrat, and passed by the Republican-led Senate.

Russo said that the tax cap could result in schools being underfunded and that he prefers the “circuit breaker” measure passed by the Democrat-led Assembly to provide property tax relief to people below a certain income level. Premo said the circuit breaker would not address the problem because it would not curtail school spending.

The candidates are vying to succeed former state Sen. Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, who resigned. The district includes most of Saratoga Springs and other parts of Saratoga County along with all of Rensselaer County.

Christopher Consuello, who is running against Premo for the Working Families Party nomination, was invited to the forum but did not attend. Separate primaries will be held Tuesday for members of the Republican, Democratic and Working Families parties.

Melanie Trimble, director of the Capital Region Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, asked the Republican candidates if they would support abortion rights and the Reproductive Health Act. As majority leader, Bruno kept that bill from coming to the Senate floor.

McDonald said he supports the bill and abortion rights. Seney said he is pro-choice up to the 10th week of pregnancy but after that only supports abortion rights for rape victims or if the pregnancy puts the woman’s life at risk.

Russo said his priorities in addition to property tax relief include job creation, smart growth and health care. He said the region has lost a third of its farms in the past decade, which is a serious problem that must be addressed.

“I am a fighter,” said Premo, noting that he was the only candidate willing to take on Bruno when the Senate leader was still in power.