WELL PETE MADE ME DO IT

I got back from a short vacation yesterday and some fellow posted that everything that has happened in the last 6 days passed me by, but nothing I feel important has passed by in 6 days worth writing about.  This person (who I have named Pete) insists my name is Ric, so I’ll humor him or her for a while, as I said before; I get a chuckle when I hear names dropped regarding who Captain America is, so far nobody has picked the right combo, but keep those cards and letters coming in.

I do read the paper when I am away either on vacation or business so really it’s the same old hash of Shauna hating non Natives etc.  Ken Ivins did make a funny statement that with a 19-3-1 Republican majority on the Board of Supervisors he thinks he should be elected not for what he can do for Saratoga but by adding another Republican, the Board can get more done.  Where did that come from?  Yes, in the last 6 days Skip Scirocco has gotten a challenge from Bill McTygue, but that isn’t new news, that has been in the loop for 2 weeks.  Maybe now we might be able to remove dandelions off the list as Saratoga’s City flower.

I did see Dick Wirth walking down Broadway to meet with his think tank at Uncommon Grounds and he looked very happy as he was bobbing his head up and down (it reminded me of his days at the Council table). 

Mayor Johnson, voted his conscience (with a no vote) a few times tonight (he must have found it behind the bar at Sperry’s), I find it funny, not that he found his conscience at Sperry’s but that he is still not thinking rationally when voting.  He is showing Shauna how to play the mind games with the opposition.

What do you think?  Should we have last call at 2am year round except between 6/1 – 9/15 when last call is at 4am, or do you think we are the hoot toot tootinist City in the good old US of A?

Have you seen the Mayor’s Secret Service detail blending in behind Stewarts, across from the new 11 screen movie plex?  Have you noticed how his detail has grown since he has been Mayor? 

Last night the Council voted to hire 2 more police officers, good job Council.  I don’t think the Charter stipulates that officer’s live in Saratoga, so look for 2 police officers who may be out of a job but are fully trained and can start immediately, now can we restart the DARE program that Wirth eliminated?  We are now one of the leading Cities in the nation of student binge drinking both in Junior and Senior High Schools, a designation we don’t want.  The only no vote came from Mayor Johnson, whose grasp on reality is starting to worry some people.  I think he knew this was going to be his last term in office (he would have been beaten by Yepsen) so he bowed out.  That with some other personal demons is leaving him look dazed and confused.  He also voted no on the gun issue, and the ambulance proposal.

There was some other good news from last nights meeting but it also comes with a question mark.  The DPW appointment of an arborist position was passed.  This was long overdue.  The position will be provisional for 1 year at which time that employee must take a Civil Service test and place in the top 3.  The thing that bothers me about this is a few months ago the idea was brought forth by Commissioner Madigan that the City had the monies to create a FULL TIME in house Human Resource person as called for in the Charter.  The Mayor eliminated the full time position and contracted with an outside firm to work 20 hours a week at $75,000.00 or more for the person’s service.  First of all, our City staff is large enough for at least a full time HR person.  The Mayor, as an excuse, did not want a provisional employee appointed for the HR position reasoning that the position would have to wait until the next Civil Service test then a person from the top 3 from the list, then last night he voted for a provisional arborist.  Then the Mayor stated,  that since he voted against the City taking over the ambulance service he has to be consistent and vote no on the  EMS Operating Certificate motion,   Why the inconsistencies between personnel and ambulance?

ARE THE SLATES SET YET?

Well, it looks like the Republican slate is set to go.  One inside Republican told me that they had asked no fewer than 20 people to run for Mayor with no takers, so they had to settle on Shauna Sutton.  The only slots the Republicans are having more trouble filling are for Accounts and Finance and it seems that by asking so many candidates for Mayor, one would think they would also ask those people to run for these slots but alas, no takers.  The only worry that Republicans have is the race for Mayor.  Again, the Party did everything it could do, to have someone run for office and they wanted to stay as far away from Sutton as they could.  The City can look forward to one of the dirtiest campaigns ever.  Remember, she ran Johnson’s campaign last time and it got so dirty at the end that even the Mayor lost Republican votes, making the race close.  The rest of the slate looks possible, Vietch will win another term, the other race for Supervisor pits former Commissioner of Finance Ken Ivins against a yet unnamed opponent, however there are 2 names floating around.  Scirocco while a long term incumbent, looks like he will have an opponent this year so his unopposed runs might be over.  The problem to look at with Ivins and Wirth are that both are losers in the election businesses and it may be hard to sweet talk the voters they lost last time.

The Democrats have not yet endorsed candidates yet, although all have had fundraisers so it looks like a given the incumbents will get the official stamp.  The only races they haven’t officially spoken about would be the 2 candidates for Supervisor and the candidate for DPW.  With all the jockeying around it still looks like the Democrats will have a majority on the Council, how large remains to be seen, but rest assured Sutton will be the only Republican who will self destruct, its in her genes, her obnoxious behavior and acidic tongue will be a turn off as soon as she hits the road.  She should bring a pillow with her.

WE’RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD

And if you don’t finish the song in your head, there is something wrong with you.

A tribute to Sutton, she is not even the 2^nd best person running for Mayor.

We’ll we knew for weeks it was going to happen and after asking (as I hear from a committee member)  about 20 people and being declined, Dave Harper chose, yes, another in a long line of Johnsons, sultry Shauna.

I think we all woke up this morning, after the tornado hit and we landed in Oz.  The Wicked Witch of the North was being pronounced candidate to wear the Ruby Slippers.  Funny, the movie ‘The Wizard of Oz’ came out the same year (1939) that Sutton was born.

You would have thought I was pregnant as I had a severe bout of morning sickness after reading Lucian McCarty’s blog announcing The Wicked’s planned fanfare.  Enough of this for now, because there will be so much material for the rest of the year, one has to hold back some.

Aw, gee wiz, ok one more thing.  The best way to beat Sutton is to burn her broom and throw water on her.  It may not melt her but it may improve her conniving face, get it, face.

Honest everyone, this just in, Dick Wirth will name (either before, or if he wins, after the election) that he has tabbed Al ‘The Marlboro Man’ Calucci to be his Deputy; it seems we are turning into Hooterville more and more, every day.

CAN’T CATCH A BREAK

It seems the Republican Party is having a hard time getting candidates to run for office.  They have backed 2 losers in Ken Ivins and Dick Wirth.  When I say losers, I don’t mean it as a reference to their personal character (although that may be one reference, but not now); I mean to say that they were beaten on their records, so it appears that the R. Party will have to back these 2 announced candidates.

There is also a rumor floating around that Shauna ‘of the dead’ Sutton will have to take the endorsement of Mayor because of a lack of volunteers for the position and that she will do so while being backed by  Johnson money.  If this is going to happen, it will all but guarantee Yepsen a victory as Sutton’s husband and family would not vote for her, I am not one for political advice but Shauna, stay in the cemetery.

The Wirth run is interesting.  He was beaten, not so much from his lack of being at meetings (he was there but his mind was in the female officer’s shower room) and his failure to being anything but a pure puppet of John Herrick and Scott Johnson.  It was embarrassing when the Council had to wake him up so he could vote on a piece of legislation.  I think the only reason the Party endorsed him is (a) they had no one else and (b) he said he would run, with or with out Party support.

Wirth’s opponent, Chris Mathiesen, won the election because of the promise’s he would carry out.  He has carried out those promises and more, maybe a little too verbosely but performed as he promised.  His call to turn back the closing hours of bars failed to garner even a look by our County Board of Supervisors but  resulted in the Mayor of Glens Falls to pitch the same idea to the Warren County BOS, who last week voted to do just that, so now the proposition will go to the State with County approval.

Also, shouldn't it be a prerequisite that a candidate announce his or her Deputy before the election?  How do we know that the Deputy will be qualified for the position and not just a politicaly appointed position, heavens knows we have had enough of patronage attempts at the County level

I was wrong in predicting that Ivins would run against John Franck.  The order from Harper came down that he would not get the backing of the Party if he pursued that avenue.  If Ivins runs on his past record as he said in his announcement, he is in trouble from the get go and his statement that more Republicans are needed on a Board that is comprised of 19 Republicans to 3 Democrats and 1 Independence party members, (nothing against Republicans) are needed to get things done at the County level, must have been said after the cocktail hour.

Let us also not forget Johnson’s, Harper’s and Scirocco’s Watergate.  This will be huge at election time.

So, that leaves rumored Democrat Peter Martin to run for County Supervisor, a candidate who has not been named yet as Sciricco’s opponent, Andrew Jarosh a designated hitter for any position and opponents for Madigan and Franck.

The picture should become clearer by the middle of May.