NEVER PLAY POLITICS

Show me a politician who doesn’t play politics and I’ll show you a goat that doesn’t have a goatee. 

Mayor Johnson in a startling announcement last night called for the Council to stop playing politics. After much laughter people got the gist of what he was talking about.  It seems the Council by doing their duty in the best interest of the City and elected by the citizens to do so, upsets the Mayor when they don’t bow down and kiss his ring.

This was the Mayor’s battle cry in his State of the City speech. “STOP PLAYING POLITICS” or in another way what he meant to say was, shut up and stop challenging me.  He has now appointed his Charter Commission, but we don’t know the names, charging them with the task of looking at the budget process and having them strengthen his power over the process.  He also appointed a Comprehensive Plan committee of 11 members.  The Commissioner’s at last Tuesday’s Council meeting cited State law and Saratoga’s past Comprehensive review Committees where the Council combined had the authority to appoint the Committee.  Tuesday night the Mayor would not take part in the discussion and we now know why, he already picked his 11 members, although he won’t divulge their names,(notice a pattern going on over the last 5 years?) thus ignoring State mandate and past precedent and ‘conceded in the speech that as a sign of working with the Council he would meet them half way and let them appoint 1 member each’, well Mr. Mayor, half way of 15 would be you appoint 8 and the Council 7 or you appoint 6 and the Council appoint 5, this is his way of ‘not playing politics’.  The Mayor has been trying to set his position as a strong Mayor under our Charter that was updated 11 years ago since he took office and there are numerous examples, the most recent, the Comprehensive Plan Committee debacle.  We now know why he wouldn’t discuss the legality of his (though process) Tuesday night.  If one compares the pre 2001 Charter, they will find that there were numerous changes made, most dealing with budget improvements which seem to be in fine working order.  Before Mayor Johnson assumed power the updated Charter was humming along nicely, mind you it could be running better with a new form but the people have spoken.  The Mayor then eliminated many [mandated] laws under the current Charter to weaken its effect and the need for those positions to run an efficient government.

The Mayor painted a staggering outlook on the shape of our City, both as a large tourist attraction and as a money generator with low unemployment, lower in fact than State and National numbers, there is no argument there.  He then calls upon Albany to get the casino into Saratoga. 

I feel as many do that since our area is doing so well during these troubled times the Casino will be placed in another area.  There is some growing talk among prominent Saratogian’s as well as us common folks that the casino not be placed in Saratoga but that a perfect destination would be the Catskills.  The area was once a large attraction drawing many of the big acts of its day.  The proximity to NY City is a plus and the low to non existent employment in that area would mean jobs for the area and help to make it prosper again.  Some feel Saratoga has the benefits of a City well run and an income stream that is second to none in NY State.  I personally wonder why the Governor would further advance our City when there are so many areas in the State that desperately need a venue like this to survive.  This may be one reason why we lost the income revenue from the Racino, later to get ½ of the total back.  The thought in Albany was that we were financially better off than most other areas; also remember that Saratoga Springs was the only City hosting a Racino that lost its income because at the time the government perceived us as being a very wealthy City.

So it is, we can’t have our cake and eat it too.  However, if there is a law to run around, our Mayor has proven he is a track star.  More to come on the Speech.