ONE WEEK BEFORE THE ELECTION

As we near Election Day and the removal of those darn signs, we were discussing the choices this year.  It’s not that one Party is better than the other although each Party will say they are, but it’s all about the candidates.  This year it happens that the Democrats have the better candidates running for office.

You can’t top Joanne Yepsen, she was our rep on the County Board of Supervisors and throughout her tenure did a very good job and was an excellent partner along with Republican Matt Veitch.

Shauna Sutton on the other hand has a record that is mostly bad.  Why?  Well for starters she is not well liked by those who work with her in City Hall (there has to be a few exceptions), she is not liked by many people she meets and even quite a few Republicans won’t be flying with her.  One of the things she said in the paper and at the debate is that she saved the City $32 million dollars with settlement of contracts this year, heck our whole budget is $38 million dollars.  She was part of the biggest cover up in Saratoga’s recent history.  Hiding public information when the City built the Woodlawn Parking Garage and then you had to FOIL any public information that you, a citizen, had the right to have.  Playing games with 2 or 3 building inspectors when they wouldn’t name her tune, that’s right games.   Hiring a City Planner that was dismissed from Wilton (could she be a friend)?  Spewing along with the Mayor that the money for the Garage was a combination of public and private money when the lot was owned by the City, the City financed the garage along with the downtown merchants.  The downtown merchant’s money came from the business district taxes which in fact is public money.  Where is the private money?

Sutton is also anti small business, ask the small businesses on the West side that Sutton is trying to close.  It seems if your name is not Bonacio, Roohan or Julie Bonacio you can forget about getting a building permit in the City or cooperation or a CO, which by the way the Rec operated for quite a while without a CO and that was just dandy with Johnson and the wannabe Mayor.  It seems that some builders can get fast tracked and also the Planning Board rules have changed to facilitate these large contractors, just look at who is contributing to Sutton’s campaign.  It is the right of the Mayor along with his Deputy (Sutton) to mould very important Committees but during their tenure every Democrat was replaced by a Republican, so much for equal representation,

Nobody knows John Arpie, so not too much can be said about him except he doesn’t know squat about paint (inside joke John).

We know the job that John Franck does and he does it well.  He does not play political games in his capacity as Commissioner and has even started programs during his tenure to help citizens understand how to go about lowering their assessments if the committee sees a reason to do so.

Skip Scirocco just doesn’t get it.  The City looks a mess.  Broadway is always dirty, Congress Park is a disgrace and the final straw was the back room deal he made to sell water to Wilton when we do not have enough water for Saratoga.  What happens when the Weibel Ave. project is done and Sonny buys more property out there and they start sucking water?  When you go by our reservoir on 50 take a look at how many inches the water level is down.  Skip keeps telling us that we have all the wells we need but where’s the water?  We need a change.

Dick Wirth had his chance and didn’t get anything done.  If he did he never spoke about it at a Council meeting.  Tony Izzo spoke more in a month than Wirth did in 2 years. Mathiesen ran on a platform and won; he also has carried out his promises and has gone above and beyond expectations.

The Supervisor race should be an easy one to pick.  Veitch has the experience and the know how to get things done.  The race will be between Martin and Ivins.  Martin is far and away the better candidate.  He has worked with the Supervisors in his capacity as County Clerk and can solve and articulate the problems not only as a representative of Saratoga Springs but as a County rep as well.  We also feel that having two smart and well spoken Supervisors one a Democrat and a Republican on the Board will represent all of Saratoga Springs

CHECKING THE IP ADDRESS

The problem for the local blogger seems to be getting worse.  The information heard on the street is that the IP addresses of his posters will be checked and that may spell trouble for the Mayor’s office if they sent him any confidential information or information discussed in executive session.  If this is did happen (there are many people trying to find out now how and when and by who he received information from City Hall) more charges could be pending not only for him but anyone who divulged confidential information.  This will be a wait and see and most likely a protracted experience for Tighe.

A MOST SERIOUS OFFENSE

In shocking news, Saratoga Wire has reported that Officers with the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Computer Crimes Unit raided the homes of blogger John Tighe and 2 others yesterday.  John Tighe, who operates the website Saratoga in Decline, which has been shut down by State officials and had all computers removed from all 3 individuals along with computer-related documents, (so beware to those who had commented on his decline site about NXIVM).

The raids come after an 18-month investigation. A State spokesperson says an initial complaint was filed in April of 2012 by NXIVM, an organization based near Albany, involving unauthorized access to NXIVM computers. “The complaint itself was the subject of larceny of computer related information,” said spokesperson. The investigation, he says, is on-going, and despite earlier rumours that the FBI was involved with the raid, the spokesperson says it was a state police operation only. 

 The case will most likely go to the Fed’s if it hasn’t already not only because NXIVM owns homes in other states and possibly other countries, but the alleged crime is one of todays most serious of computer acts.  This is speculation however.

It was also rumoured that the Mayor’s office was closed today as the Republicans were running around in panic as they have lost their conduit for untrue attacks against Democratic candidates and allegedly from someone leaking information not only from their Committee meetings but feeding him with information from within City Hall.

There will be much more coming, as the news and case progresses. 

IS IT OVER YET? OR THINGS OUR LEADERS MIGHT SAY

We all know that Shauna Sutton-Dowd is famous for being the Director of Greenridge Cemetery.   One day Shauna went over to the house of a husband and wife to seal the deal on a cemetery plot as the husband was dying.    However, John can smell his favorite chocolate nut brownies cooking downstairs.  John summons all the strength that he has left, he flops out of bed and crawls downstairs.  He sees the brownies cooling on the counter and staggers over to them.  As John reaches for one, Shauna’s wrinkled old hand reaches out, smacks his and she yells:
'No John, you can't have those!  They're for the funeral!'

‘In her younger days Shauna worked for the Dept. of Social Services until she sent this letter out to a client:
Your food stamps will be stopped effective march 1990 because we received notice that you passed away.  May God bless you.
You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.
Shauna posted this note after she and the Mayor put up the office wall.
“As of tomorrow. employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards.  Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks”
See, Shauna is more fun in the cemetery than she is in City Hall.

Can Skip win re-election? Could Tid-Bits Skip could be using

‘What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter’

‘This project is so important; we can’t let things that are more important interfere with it’

‘Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting the schedule’

One morning a City highway department crew reaches their job site and realize they have forgotten all their shovels.  The crew’s foreman radios the office and tells the Commissioner the situation.  The Commissioner radio’s back and says ‘don’t worry, we’ll send some shovels… just lean on each other until they arrive.

‘Skip is on the stand and the Judge asks, so Mr. Scirocco, was it you who moved a supervisor (Betty French” from a supervisor post to a clerical post and keep her supervisor pay grade’?  Skip answers the judge, who’s Betty French’?

Remember, if elected Dick Wirth’s Deputy will be Al Calucci!

IT’S GETTING TO BE TOO MUCH!

Is it me, or is it the closer we get to the election, the Republican candidates are starting to get a little squirrely? 

In the Saratogian the other day Shauna Sutton-Dowd was given the praise of “Shauna Sutton was part of the team that increased parking in downtown Saratoga, saved millions of taxpayer dollars through contract negotiations, completed the Spring Run Trail and opened the Saratoga Lake Waterfront Park to name just a few of her accomplishments.”  The writer first says she was part of a team the closed with the list of HER accomplishments.  This seems to be the crux of this tag-team duo administration, The Mayor and Shauna take credit of everything good but not any of the crazy stuff and there has been plenty of that.

Do you remember when you used to walk into the Mayor’s office and be able to speak to the secretary and ask to see the Mayor or just ask a question?  Well the first thing this duo did was build a wall.  It seems they wanted people to know who the top dogs were and keep their employers (taxpayers) out. 

Remember when the Rec Center was being built and inferior building products were being used and a certain building inspector would not pass that portion of the job?  It was said at the time that the Deputy hired this engineer but had something over him.  She waived that piece of information and told him to pass it and when he said no, he was gone.  The administration then wanted to hire an engineer from Albany to pass the work but she declined (I wonder why).  Also, why did they never think about putting showers in a gym, or outdoor parking for that matter?

Next, it was another case of the disappearing building inspector, when a job at the Woodlawn Parking garage could not get approval because of a problem, the City Engineer vanished and a new inspector was hired; remember the architect who designed the garage was operating under building requirements of the State of Ma., all of these capers were reportedly approved by the Mayor in Wanting, (yes, I know wanting) who seemingly looked like she couldn’t get her way and pushed people out rather than deal with the problems.

Then things in the City got real bad for Sutton's department.  Building permits were not being issued for City projects, and people wanted to find out if the information they were hearing about all these wonderful things were true.  As a taxpayer of the City you can go to City Hall and ask to see a myriad of public records, well that’s how it is supposed to work in America, but not in Saratoga.  A ban was put in place by the duo (Mayor Johnson and Deputy Sutton-Dowd), that to see any information that you have a right to see, you had to file a FOIL request using a certain form filling it out and it had to be sent in our  City Attorney to see if what you want was justified for you to view, 99 ½% of the time it was and there was only a weeks delay in getting information but this was a tactic used by the Duo chatting they have an OPEN GOVERNMENT.

Now, we have a person in John Arpei who thinks he is running for Commissioner of Finance but in reality he is running for Commissioner of Accounts.  There has not been much talk from Mr. Arpei or about Mr. Arpei but when he does speak it’s always about the Finance Dept. and not the Accounts Department.  I wish he would stay on course and find out which office he is running for.

It was said to be overheard in Sperry’s one night that Shauna Sutton-Dowd is in favor of Casino gambling in our community, something very unsettling about that tid bit.  Now let's see her change her mind.

Remember that Al Calucci is in line for Wirth's Deputy.  That's scary for even me, your Captain.Al

WHAT THE HECK?

After some cajoling and hearing around town that some want me back, I'll start again sometime next week. Have a fun weekend.

I AM NOT PAT KANE, BUT I WISH I WAS

Well folks, in the interest of Pat Kane, the Captain will suspend activities for a while.  As I said in an earlier post, supporters of another blog and even the blogger has not mentioned a name that is a correct one, but I do this out of respect of Pat.  The posters of this other blog and most of them are the blogger’s own posts have tried to drag Pat down to their level.  Friends of mine who know Pat have nothing but the highest praise for him.  He stands behind his convictions and never wavers.  The lowest of posters probably don’t even know Kane and that is a shame.  So, since the other blogger has some sense of closure that I am not Pat Kane,  we will take a break and come back only if and when my posters feel it’s time to.

To Pat Kane, I’m sorry you and the names of other people have been bandied around as being Captain America, but no one will ever guess the real person, so keep up your good service work for the City.

ONE OF THE GOOD GUY’S, MIKE BENSON

Politics today is nasty business.  There are many good people serving our City and some who put themselves first, truthfully, one would have to be crazy to run for City politics today.  Let’s just stick with City politics, the babble that is spread around with no facts hurts candidates and even family members, some bloggers even go so far as to have minions follow families of candidates and  the candidates themselves then report what the perceive to be facts while they are only looking through binoculars and taking pictures.

This article however is about one of the good guys, who as far as I know wasn’t involved in politics, although if he was, it would be with the class and dignity which I heard is the way he lived his life.  The article is in today’s Saratogian, if you want to read it.

I never knew the man personally but those who did had high praise for him both as a teacher and coach.  He ended his coaching career from complications due to ALS and coached right up until the end.  He coached golf at Saratoga Catholic whose teams are nicknamed the Saints and it sure seems to me that Mike Benson will have a long term as one of God’s coaches.

FIND THE MONEY

Anyone that would like to, can see what a candidate has received in donations by following this link,  http://www.elections.ny.gov/recipientstext.html  and putting in the last name.  I did this and was quite surprised at some of the filings.  While we all know the Republican Committee, both City and County have more money than the respective Democratic Committees (there was never a real representative Democrat Party in Saratoga until about 12 years ago), you can tell who is dropping the G bombs on their candidates.  If you look and check it out, the Republican Committee has infused Sutton’s campaign with more than $6,000.00.  Also, the majority of Sutton’s donations are $1,000.00 or more and she has many family members donating quite a bit of cash (which is no surprise), her family has big money and there is nothing wrong in helping out family.  I do however notice the businesses that have been courting her and it does throw a red flag up.

Yepsen’s donations looks like they have been coming in from more people donating smaller amounts ($50.00 to $75.00) range, not that she hasn’t gotten some larger donations but not nearly as much as Sutton and I don’t think Yepsen has had any $500.00 - $1,000.00 per plate dinners as we know Sutton has had a few.

Looking up Bill McTygue’s donations, he also has donations from family members, but probably 1/10^th of Sutton's, as a comparison.

I was very surprised to see that Skip Scirocco has quite a number of donations from contractors, plumbing firms, engineering firms, etc.  Surprising because it sends a message even if not true that Scirocco is being given donations from either businesses that did work and want to keep doing business with DPW or that they want to work with DPW.  I would think that businesses would either donate to both candidates or to none at all, but Holy Joker, that’s just what I think.

Franck’s donations have been coming in mostly at $100.00 per.

Arpei’s donations aren’t looking good; it seems that the bulk of the money is coming from family, the Republican Committee and the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority.

Well adios for now and remember if you see Bonita Sellers coming down the Street, Al Calucci (Dick Wirth’s choice for Deputy Commissioner) can’t be far behind.

Follow the link and look at the info for yourselves, you can look up anyone in NY State.

ERROR, ERROR

In past posts, I have alluded that Shauna Sutton, Director of the Greenridge Cemetery, that she (Sutton of the North) had hired her husband to work at the cemetery.  I would like to apologize, it is not her husband, it is her BROTHER.  The current Deputy Mayor has never taken or used her married last name of Dowd.  It is said that she tried to have her husband take her last name.  I find this quite comical, not that she would want to give  up her last name but woman usually use a hyphen between maiden and married names,  could it be that Sutton has never been married or is it because her husband is a car salesman and doesn't  fit her ‘station’ in life?

Also, why is the Republican team putting election signs on City properties?  Who the heck enforces these laws? Oh wait, it’s part of the Republican election team, now that makes sense.

One question everyone is asking themselves is : Who is John Arpei and why is he putting signs up?  It will be interesting to see how many votes he will get when no one knows who he is.

I hope that we finally have a small tax increase in this year’s budget. A City should never have a 0% budget.  Costs, wages, equipment replacement, benefits etc. rise every year and a tiny increase could add 2 or 3 jobs to the Fire and Police Departments, keeping the budget surplus there to tap when we need it.

Well, I must get ready to go to the meeting tonight, I heard there will be a ring of humanity (tonight it will be 4-5 people) protesting Super Fly who fell from the scaffolding and blamed the Police for brutality.  I heard that he broke a few laws being out that time of night and he was heard humming Johnny Cash’s “Walk the Line”.

More after the meeting tonight, that will probably go on into Wed. afternoon.

Let’s end with Curtis Mayfield’s Song Superfly, or as 

Darryl Mount likes to say, it me theme song

“Darkest of night
With the moon shining bright
There's a set goin' strong
Lotta things goin' on
The man of the hour
Has an air of great power
The dudes have envied him for so long

Oh, superfly
You're gonna make your fortune by and by
But if you lose, don't ask no questions why
The only game you know is do or die”