His 101st Assembly District extends far north and west into New York’s Leatherstocking Region, but Brian Maher was back in his hometown on New Year’s Eve.

That’s where he took the oath of office for his new job as a member of the New York State Assembly. Orange County Clerk Kelly Eskew administered the oath in front of a large crowd of family, friends and political luminaries at the Most Precious Blood auditorium. VIPs on the dais included Deputy Sullivan County Manager Dan Depew, Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus, newly-elected State Senator Robert Rolison and new Orange County Sheriff Paul Arteta. Other guests included William Michella, his CYO basketball coach at Most Precious Blood and Patricia Larkin, widow of Senator Bill Larkin whom Maher considered a mentor.

Maher succeeds Brian Miller who now represents the 102nd Assembly District, thanks to redistricting. Until Friday, Maher was the Town of Montgomery Supervisor, having served for three years. His meteoric rise in local politics included stints as mayor of the Village of Walden, aide to Senator Larkin and executive director of the Purple Heart Mission.

But it was the Catholic school on Ulster Avenue where it all began.

“Most Precious Blood School in Walden allowed me to have this chip on my shoulder that allowed me to believe that I could do anything that I put my mind to,” Maher said. “For those who do not have that guiding force in life, we hope, and it is our goal, to be that light for people that don’t have that benefit of the family that we have.”

Maher introduced several staff members, including Meghan Hurlburt, Chief of Staff and Kristen Mulligan, Director of Operations.

“We’re bringing the Larkin crew back,” Maher said. “And we’re going to try to build on Senator Larkin’s legacy as much as possible.”

Maher said he would brand everything his team did as being different.

“We are not going to go to Albany for the purpose of talking to crowds of people to pat ourselves on the back and to preach to the choir. There’s a lot of folks that do that. We aren’t going to do that. If that’s what we were going to do, we’d just work in the private sector,” Maher said. “We would make money, we would get out there and we would just be out there for ourselves.”

Maher said that he had requested as committee assignments economic development, mental health and the drug and alcohol abuse committee.

“We are going get up to Albany and we are going to focus on these issues,” he said, adding that he is also the ranking minority member on the Committee on Social Services.

Maher said Larkin had always cautioned his staff to not worry about re-election.

“It cannot just be about re-election,” he said. “It has to be about doing my job and re-election will come.”