Already involved in community groups like the scouts and the League of Women Voters, Slaughter became increasingly concerned with local political and community issues. She was involved in a local environmental group, the Perinton Greenlands Association, which promoted recycling and opposed development of Hart's Woods. Slaughter decided to run for the Monroe County Legislature, winning on her third try. In 1975, while in the county legislature, she accepted an offer from then-New York Secretary of State Mario Cuomo to serve as his regional coordinator in the Rochester area. When Cuomo was elected lieutenant governor in 1979, Slaughter stayed on as his Rochester regional coordinator.
