OSCAR NIGHT

Saratoga Springs has an evening of celebration for Oscar night.  This year’s movies up for best of the year are:

WATERGATE – A small city, having water problems of their own really sinks when the City’s Mayor and Commissioner of DPW sells it’s water to an adjoining town in a possible back room deal that future developed land of 170 acres may be supplied with City water.  The tag line throughout the movie is ‘follow the money’, stupid, or see where the water flows.

COMPREHENSIVE – The Mayor of a small City decides he will hand pick the entire Committee of a 10  year Comprehensive Plan Committee which will determine the path the City will follow in growing, building and keeping green space which the City is fast losing.  The real drama comes when the Mayor nicknamed “Little Napoleon” leaves the other 4 Commissioners out of nominating a candidate, (3 of which do not live in the City and 3 or 4 others who have no vested interest in the City as they pay no taxes, a banker that handles all City money and a good local developer).  The Mayor tells the Commissioners that they can choose one of his picks.  THIS MOVIE IS IN THE COMEDY CATEGORY.

WHAT, NO BUILDING PERMIT? – The story of a small City Mayor, who for reasons unknown fails to issue a building permit to the developer of a 3 story parking garage for the City (yes, the City must issue a permit for any City project).  After 3 months of work, when asked, the developer said the City is responsible for supplying the permit and after the developer discussed this with a local blogger, just like magic a permit was on site the next day.  Something should also be done to the Good Olde Boy’s Network fellow Tom Roohan (see how I used the old fashioned Olde, has a nice look doesn’t it) as no permit can be found on his building which is undergoing reconstruction work; the lack of a permit is a pivotal scene if it involves a new office for Tamara Valentine.  If so, this movie critic would vote this for movie of the year. THIS IS A DEEP DRAMA MOVIE.

RECREATION CENTER – In a small City miles from any land that could be used  for recreation, the small town Mayor builds a Recreation Center on a piece of land that was used for recreation, spending $7 million dollars.  The dark side of this horror flick is that when the Mayor of this small town promises that the City will make large amounts of money after the first year, the taxpayers are being bled to death just to keep the doors open.  The Mayor also plays the bongos at his private club nightly.

These are the four movies up for the award for best whatever.  You choose.

In WATERGATE, the director wanted Harvey Korman & Tim Conway as the male leads, but with one dead and the other not available he chose one who looks dead and one who is not available in Johnson & Scirocco.

 In COMPREHENSIVE the director wanted TaToo from Fantasy Island, but alas he’s dead so they choose Scott Johnson.

In WHAT, NO BUILDING PERMIT? Shauna Sutton stars as the Mayor who can’t find the 3 level parking garage.

And last but not least, in RECREATION CENTER – the director wanted Don Knotts to play the Mayor but since he expired guess who got the part?

Rumor has it that Mayor Johnson’s wife Julie will present the Best Actor award.

MAYOR PLAY'S DOA ON COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

One may ask why is it so easy to pick on Mayor Johnson’s crazy way in how he runs the City.    The reason could be because it’s so easy or because he operates outside the City Charter and he is fodder for anyone, well, almost anyone that would print it.

This time we have yet another example of Mayor Johnson’s favorite statement “you’re making this political”, whenever he doesn’t get the votes to pass whatever he wants. 

The Mayor should be giving the Council the authority granted to them by the Charter to choose members for a committee, except those mandated by the State that only a Mayor can do like the Planning Board, Zoning Board, two that I know of, except every chance he can, he skirts the rules and decides to do it “his way”, he must be a Sinatra fan.  The latest example, which had been mentioned here before has some new information that came to light.

Regarding who picks the members of the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee:  Johnson made several statements at many Council meetings that he searched the records to see how previous Mayor’s chose these Committees, he made note that under former Mayor Keehn she allowed the Commissioners to choose 1 candidate.  In a recent blog authored by Lucian McCarty, it was stated that Mayor Keehn informed him (correcting the information Johnson gave the Commissioners as to why he (Johnson) is allowed to choose the Committee, by saying that after talking to the whole Council, that each Council member would appoint 2 members each and she would appoint 7, that’s Commissioners 8, Mayor 7.  The article further stated that Mayor Klotz who formed a committee in 2000, appointed 5 members and the Commissioner’s appointed 1 each, Mayor 5 – Commissioners 4.  Mayor Klotz also stated that this was based on previous precedent.

Mayor Johnson’s Committee’s make up – Mayor’s appointments 13 – Commissioner’s 0, you must also remember that 3 of Johnson’s appointments do not even live in Saratoga and 1 of the 3 does not even live in Saratoga County.  Is that politics anyone?  Do we hear the Mayor stomping his feet and pounding his fists on the table because the Commissioner’s didn’t get a choice in the matter? 

It is just too easy to find the points that an opponent can use this fall, oh yeh; he did say in the paper “I don’t pick my opponents, I just beat them”.  Two Republican Committee members had told a friend that he (Johnson) has become an embarrassment not only to the Party but around the State as the leader of Saratoga Springs.

One other item disturbs us.  Why did the McCarty article only show up on his blog and not as a newspaper article?  How much longer is the Saratogian going to protect Mayor Johnson?  If you needed facts you had them from the Mayors.  You could have checked with the Committee members and asked them who appointed them.  If you can’t find Keehn’s document, check his shredder, his Council was supposed to vote yes or no on the Plan or did he feel that it was DOA when it was time to vote on it?

WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHY?

Let’s look at some decisions here and see how they tie together and who benefits from them.

First, let’s take the Comprehensive Plan Committee. The upmost concern regarding this committee should be fair and equal representation for the future path our City will take in the next 5 years.  The Mayor in what I feel is an illegal move in going against the rule spelled out by the Charter and past practices, has appointed all 11 members of this Committee.  3 of these members do not live in Saratoga, there are no citizen non-business representatives of the 4 Districts of the City, there is a very good developer, but why a developer when you are talking about areas that could be affected by crafting changes for boards like Planning, Zoning and Design Review?  One question you can ask yourself is who is to gain by having all these “high level” people on the Committee?  I guess the Mayor feels he can’t get a few smart every day citizens to be on HIS Commission.    

An excerpt from Commissioner Franck’s response in the Saratogian, which I am surprised (lol), the Saratogian did not ask this of the Mayor states,

“Surely, with council input, the Mayor would not have had to look for individuals from Wilton, Clifton Park and Washington County. We would have helped him find local residents, local taxpayers.
Non-taxpaying institutions like the state park, the school district, Skidmore College, the Preservation Foundation and the YMCA certainly have a legitimate institutional interest in the Comprehensive Plan, but they have no taxpayer skin in the game. They should not be placed in a position of dictating our land use policies, and sending the bill to the already beleaguered taxpayer”. 

Seems like a sound statement to me.  I don’t think this is a Democrat against Republican concern, if Commissioner Scirocco had the good sense to see that he was being shafted by the Mayor you wouldn’t know it by his lack of concern for not being able to appoint a few members, but I’m sure the Mayor read him the riot act before the meeting.  If the Mayor is not blowing wind and truly believes what he said when he commented that ‘the Comprehensive Plan should be updated every 5 years and it hasn’t been addressed in 10 years’?  Well let’s see 10 years (2) 5 year periods, gee, the Mayor should have appointed a Committee 5 years ago when he first took office, what takes him so long?  I’ll mention a line that a friend of mine tells me all the time, “Follow the money”.

Does it seem to you as it does me that the Mayor likes to outsource almost everything but his Deputy?  He hires outside attorney’s (we pay 2 City Attorney’s over $160,000.00 & benefits) at $300.00 - $400.00 per hour, he outsources an HR person and pay’s him $75,000.00 per year for a 20 hour work week, he outsources members of City Committees to people that live outside Saratoga Springs.  Again the line from my friend “follow the money”.

Another issue that is disturbing is the Wilton Watergate.  We were told when this mess  started out that 8 homes would be sold Saratoga City water, now the Mayor said this number could be up to 25 units.  The scary thing is there is another 75 or so acres nearby that if developed would want City water.  I am not saying who the developer is but, well, you never know.  If Saratoga gets a Casino and all the hotels and extra businesses that come with it, think how much more water we will need.  The Mayor should start to think about Saratoga and not a possible run for higher office in the future.

He told a citizen at the last Council meeting that if he wanted more answers regarding the Water issue to send his questions to him in writing, what about telling the rest of the City?  Gee, that would be transparency, a word that doesn’t sit well with the Mayor.

Regarding his Charter Commission, I hear that they are discussing the Mayor’s orders to (a). Eliminate as many duties they can from other Commissioner’s and put them under his authority, (b) he would like 4 year terms and change key mandates in the current Charter to be placed under is control.  What he lacks in size he makes up for in arrogance.  We all remember that he was against Charter Change, but it looks like if his Change is to a Strong Mayor he will do anything he can to get it by the voters. 

In his State of the City message, the Mayor made this statement:

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” It looks like that was only filler for a longer speech; he sure doesn’t heed his own line of bull.

COUNCIL MEETINGS

The City Council meetings are getting a little embarrassing for those who live here and for those who listen or watch, either living in Saratoga or outside the City.  The Mayor has turned a willing Council, one that has been trying to work across Party lines to make Saratoga Springs a better place and is calling any positive move of theirs as playing political games, (I wonder if that’s anything like reindeer games?).  It is sad that because the Democrats hold the majority and it would accomplish so much more if the Mayor didn’t act like a 2 year old not getting his way.  Imagine if you will, what could happen if both Party’s worked together.  Also, will someone check what is in the water cooler?  The Mayor is up there 7-10 times a meeting filling his cup and gets redder as the meeting progresses.

In the Mayor, Saratoga Springs has a person who not only runs meetings like he was a judge in a court room ( a position he could never attain), but twists the legal parts of our Charter to fit his need for power while ignoring those laws that he should follow.  The Mayor seems to be getting worse every week at flaunting the laws of the city while totally disregarding specific laws dealing with the rights of the other 4 Commissioners, all the while blaming it on political games that the are being played and holding him hostage.  One could not even make this up if they tried and it is really getting sad that by his actions he is not only making himself a laughing stock in the City but also in the Capital District.

At the 2 minute time period allowed for citizens to air thoughts to the Council, Bill McTygue argued that the water sales concerning Saratoga Springs selling water to Wilton may not be in the City’s best interest.  There are 16 homes now that will benefit and the Mayor gave the total of 25 homes/businesses.  There is another 75-80 acres that could be developed in the area discussed and I wouldn’t doubt that the Mayor and Skip have already had discussions with a developer.  Anyway, Mr. McTygue was gaveled down the minute he uttered the evil words that the Mayor does not run a transparent government.  When the Mayor was asked there should be more time for citizens to have discussion on the matter before anything was signed as 2 minutes was not enough time for discussion on such an important matter he was ruled out of order and the Mayor himself looked like he wanted to tackle him for using the word transparent.

It was good that the next 2 speakers, Mark Lawton and Charles Morrison insisted that this issue should have a long period of time set aside for citizen discussion, but Johnson and Scirocco will not stand for this and the Mayor will find some word to do an end around the Council even if it means going to court.  Bill, run for DPW please!!

Let’s look at another example that took place at Tuesday’s meeting worthy of showing Johnson’s Napoleon complex.  He has started the process for the Comprehensive Plan Review as called for in the Charter, which gives him that duty as Mayor to initiate.    The law 2.8, Sec. states:

“Initiation of reviews. The Mayor shall cause a review of

the City Comprehensive Plan and City Charter to be

conducted periodically. The City Comprehensive Plan shall

be reviewed at least every five years, commencing with the

effective date of this Charter. The City Charter shall be

reviewed at least every 10 years commencing with the

effective date of this Charter.”

As said, the Mayor has caused the review, but nowhere does it state that he/she can appoint all members of the Committee, again, a run around of the law where he manipulates said law that he says indicates gives him the power to do so.  This is sad that a person (Mayor Johnson) has to have complete control when the law does not give him that right (lawyers, should never hold public office).  As Elmer Fudd once said 'there hasn’t been a law that I can’t manipulate' you wascially wabit.

We at the Justice League hope that enough people will see the long list of cover ups and huge mistakes that the Mayor and his Deputy have made during their administration.  I would hope that Sutton will be once again working among the dead after November.