By ALLISSA KLINE
Business First

Congressional candidates Chris Lee and Alice Kryzan have a few things in common.

They both built their careers in the private sector. They support affordable health care and alternative energy. They believe Western New York's economy could rise up through the creation of green-collar jobs.

And when it comes to political office, they're rookies.

In what has become the most heated local race of this year's election season, Lee and Kryzan are vying for the 26th Congressional district seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Rep. Thomas Reynolds, a five-term Republican from Clarence. Both candidates believe their private-sector backgrounds make them well-qualified for a public-servant job.

Lee, a Republican also running on the Conservative and Independence lines, cites his 20-year career in manufacturing.

"I've actually had to go out and run a small business in this country," said the 44-year-old former manufacturing executive, who lives in Clarence and previously worked at Enidine Inc., a family-owned business sold last year to ITT Corp. for $395 million. "I know what it's like to do payroll and deal with regulations."

Sixty-year-old Kryzan, who trumped two other candidates in September to secure the Democratic line and is also likely to get the Working Families endorsement, highlights her longtime job as an environmental attorney.

"I've spent 30 years in this community working as a lawyer, bringing people with diverse interests, backgrounds and points of view together to solve problems, and that's a skills set," said Kryzan, who lives in Eggertsville and was the first female partner at Phillips Lytle LLP in the early 1980s. "I'm a lawyer, and Congress drafts legislation."

In less than two weeks, voters must decide which candidate will lead the 26th district, which includes all or parts of seven counties between the northeastern suburbs of Buffalo and the western suburbs of Rochester. It's a Republican-leaning part of the state where industry ranges broadly from manufacturing to the agriculture and education sectors.

Both campaigns are getting costly. As of Sept. 30, Lee's campaign spent $1.06 million, according to Federal Election Commission data. Kryzan's campaign spent nearly half that amount - about $528,000, FEC records show. As for personal contributions, Lee has loaned at least $620,000 to his campaign, he said. Kryzan spent $160,000 of her own money during the primary race, she said.

It's hard to predict who will succeed Reynolds, even though it's a heavily Republican area, said Raymond Rushboldt, a Fredonia State College political-science professor who does not live in the 26th district.

"There could be a surge of voter turnout from the Democrats because of the economy," Rushboldt said. "On the other hand, there's still a dominance of Republicans in that district."

The two candidates spar on key issues. Lee wants less federal regulation of the markets. He supports drilling for oil and does not want to raise taxes for any group.

Kryzan wants more federal oversight. She does not support offshore or U.S.-based oil drilling, and she believes wealthy Americans should pay more taxes than middle-class Americans.

Lee's supporters say he understands what it takes to operate a successful business. That means he knows which policies encourage and deter job growth, said Mark Hamister of The Hamister Group, an assisted-living and health-care-management company based in Williamsville.

"He has created jobs, and he's had to worry about payroll from week to week," said Hamister, who has donated $4,600 to Lee's campaign and serves on Lee's campaign-finance committee. "He has a unique grasp of what it takes to create a job, create a product for the marketplace and meld the two together."

Kryzan, meanwhile, knows how to bring different parties to the table to reach an agreement, said Jeffrey Hirshberg, a self-employed CPA who's known Kryzan for 10 years and serves as her campaign treasurer.

"The way government seems to work best is when different sides are brought together to hammer out mutually agreeable and effective decisions ... and working with others to form new regulations and incentives and policies to effect new change," said Hirshberg, who donated $1,500 to Kryzan's campaign as of Sept. 30. "Alice has worked on both sides of many different important issues."

Neither candidate believes a lack of political ties will hinder their efforts in Washington. In fact, it's an advantage, Lee said.

"I can make decisions that are right for this country," he said. "I can come in with fresh ideas to make change."

Kryzan expressed similar convictions.

"To me, it is time for somebody to go to Washington who is an independent thinker," she said. "I'll bring a fresh set of eyes, experience, intelligence and a capacity to work with people."