Daniel Haley served in the New York State Assembly from 1970 to 1976 representing St. Lawrence County. To date he is the only Democrat ever elected to the Assembly from that district in the history of the state.

In the Assembly, he chaired the Legislature's Joint Commission on Energy, emphasizing the need to develop alternative energy resources. He authored the Safe Energy Act of 1975; this established the NYS Energy Research and Development Authority, which is directed by statute to focus on renewable energy resources.

Haley spent four years writing Politics in Healing, and a good deal of the previous ten years researching for it.