O'Mara issues an apology for outburst

FINGER LAKES--State Senator Tom O'Mara (R,C--Big Flats) issued an apology once a video emerged online of him explicitly yelling at a man who approached his vehicle, following a mostly civil discussion. The incident occurred Dec. 13 and the video was posted last week showing the senator's profanity-laced argument with a man, following approximately four minutes of calm discussion about gas storage in the region.

The video shows an unidentified man approaching the senator and his wife in their vehicle in a dark parking lot. The unidentified man appeared to be recording the encounter without the senator's knowledge. O'Mara calmly engaged in civil conversation with the man for several minutes about the storage of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) in the Finger Lakes.
O'Mara's wife defended her husband's position on the issue, saying "he would never, ever support anything that would contaminate this area."
The man replied "That's interesting." O'Mara then became angry with the man asking "What do you mean, that's interesting?" before exiting the vehicle shouting profanity at the man and telling him to leave. The senator added "I've had enough of you and your kind."
O'Mara later issued an apology for allowing the conversation to get "heated." He said he regretted the words he used and the tone he displayed in the video, but added he was uncomfortable with being approached at his vehicle in a dimly lit parking lot with his wife in the car.