TIS’ THE SEASON-LET THE GAMES BEGIN

This year we will have a new DPS Commissioner, sadly only one has any law enforcement experience.  I guess this is what’s wrong with our government, a person that has no experience has the legislative side of the job along with running,  budgeting for the department and then voting to pass the budget.

Take DPW, another shining example of someone who is not qualified to run DPW and if you look around the City you can tell that this Commissioner has no clue about the job and it is scary that he runs the department and legislate (well at least he doesn’t do the budget for his department, he lets Madigan do it for him so he doesn’t look like a complete dolt).  The question I would like to know is will the Democrats run anyone against him?  The person they run doesn’t have to know a thing about DPW as long as he wasn’t a dog catcher.  He or she should be a native Saratogian and have a lot of friends and be likable.  This seems to be the job description.

I cannot see Mark Baker winning an election, to run for office to get the ‘Baker Garage’ built isn’t a good reason to run and if people think Yepsen should be removed from office for the Hospital issue then Scirocco should be removed for all the side deals he has done.  Baker as of now doesn’t even live in the City, he does own a house here and is trying to get rid of his tenants so he can move back into town.

The other decision that will have to be made by the rag tag Republican Committee and the Skipster is, ‘do they run someone against Madigan’?  Remember 2 years ago Skip promised to work against Republican candidates if they ran the qualified person that wanted the Republican slot, will they cave into Scirocco’s demands this year?

The Commissioner of Accounts now in office is probably the only candidate that can’t be beat.  He’ll only be out of office when he decides he wants out of politics.

The Charter vote will be interesting because there is so much good information out there people should be able to read the documents and understand what change will mean, this is why people were crying not to have a May vote but wait until November to become ‘educated’ about the process.  However, the ones that were yelling the most didn’t want these next 7 months to become ‘educated’ they only wanted to have time to make up more insane stories based not on fear not on facts.

The gang of Remiga 'who needs ya' Foy, Bonnie and Dick Sellers, Carol Joyce, Jane We or Wie and her husband John Kaufman and the rest of the sorry bunch have no real factual argument against change other than they want to live in the past.  I wonder if they still use a rotary phone, they still work, do they still use a horse and buggy?  They will still get you to where you want to go, by the way, I did see Remiga going by Uncommon Grounds in a buggy.  There is no problem if you are against changing this form of government but after reading the draft Charter and looking at the financials you should have questions and then base an opinion on facts.  The crazy adage ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ doesn’t even make sense because we would still be using months of searching for one piece of information instead of using a computer.

Also, if as they say, look at our City it is the envy of the country.  There are a few things wrong with this statement, if this form of government is so good (1) why did it take 60 years to be ‘the envy’ of the country as a City?  Saratoga Springs while a nice town and mobsters ran most of the casino’s and the 50’s through the 70’s you could shoot a canon down Broadway and not hit anyone except in August.  Saratoga was “The August place to be”, remember?  The year round place to be didn’t happen until the late 70’s onward. (2) If the Commission form of government is so good and is what built up Saratoga Springs to what it is today why isn’t every City using it to transform themselves to a Saratoga like city?  We need to move on, but use facts not fear, granted this City may have been fine using the Commission form in the 20’ & 30’s but government has changed and can we really have a dog catcher or librarian running very complicated departments going into the future or professionals who can get the most out of what we have and can get? However, I have to say honestly those who held Commissioner seats had the City’s well being in mind when they  served but the days of running a complex ‘business’ with people who don’t understand the complex situations of today and have to hire outside professionals and a very large amount of money should stop.  

Now, did you really want 6 months to understand the differences between the current form and the possible new form or did you just want to use the 6 months for fear and confusion tactics?

I get my information from watching the committee meetings and interviews with past and current City Officials and a poll that 80% of City Hall employees see the Commission form dysfunctional and not getting much done as far as business goes because of the 5 separate departments, that is the first place to get ‘educated’.