REPUBLICAN PARTY IS FLUSHING ITSELF DOWN THE TOILET

So many topics, we’ll pick a few to write about.

First, if one waits long enough you can usually get to the bottom of the reasoning of someone.  Such is the case of ‘Hot Dog’ Eddie Miller, Gordon Boyd, the Independence Party and Eddie’s girlfriend.

If you remember the Independence Party with Chairman Miller and his back room buddy Gordon Boyd backed candidates Michele Madigan, Chris Matheisen & Skip Scirocco within hours of their announcing that they were running for their current Commissioner posts.  The so called political Party and its endorsements were made without one interview of the candidates or their opponents, such is the case when one wants something down the road.  Hot Dog Eddie’s girlfriend works for none other than Gordon Boyd and it is known that the Hot Dog man has his horse barn & business up for sale for some fast needed cash.  

The talk around town is that Eddie is looking to the Republican Party for a job handout and the way the Republican Party seems to be backing Madigan, Matheisen & Scirocco (remember Scirocco threatened retaliation against the Party in a Committee meeting if the Party endorsed Republican Joseph Di Geso for Commissioner of Finance) we can now see the thinking of Miller & Boyd’s decision to fast track the endorsements and the Republican Party’s backing of 3 Democrats (Scirocco is included in the quasi Democrat circle of Madigan, Matheisen).  

So, it looks like Ken Ivins will be the Republican candidate because he procured more than the number of signatures required to be on the ballot much to the disappointment of the Republican Party leadership and Skippy.  Madigan will have a formidable opponent.

Talking about Madigan, why is she making a big fuss about Yepsen using her campaign money for the Saratoga box?  It’s legal and Madigan knows it.  Madigan saying it is a political ploy is just insane.  She and Matheisen are losing credibility after each Council meeting and Madigan has become the BUTT of more jokes than any other Commissioner in Saratoga history.  She created her own political ploy by bringing the box issue to the TV news when it really is not an issue, although an issue she and Matheisen hoped to make the Mayor look bad but instead misfired in their faces, giving more good fodder to their opponents.  Poor Skip, he lost his credibility a while ago.

Just one more item, a few years ago Mayor Johnson & Deputy Sutton fired a building inspector (one could think it was because of lack of knowledge in his job).  Now, under CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS, Scirocco has hired this supposed dud as Director of Public Works, you can’t make this stuff up folks, only in Saratoga.  What are we becoming?

IT’S STILL THE SAME

When I go away on an extended business trip like the one I just returned from I never read the local papers while I am not here so I can be surprised what things changed.  The problem is it’s always the same cast of characters doing crazy things.

Let’s take NYRA for example.  Tom Noonan who is one of the best bloggers around keeps his hand on the pulse of NYRA and informs the public with information we would never really know. 

Chris Kay the CEO of NYRA who is really totally blank about the Corporation and industry he is supposed to be the leader of has started another domino effect to change Saratoga Race Course from the most historic, beautiful, fan friendly track in the nation to just another race track.  The list to start according to Mr. Noonan and the NYRA webpage is:

• ·         A permanent structure built on the other side of the horse path that runs next to the end of the current club house.  It would replace the tent and the temporary modular boxes that have been used in recent years.
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• ·         A new picnic table area along Union Avenue, replacing the parking area now used by owners and trainers.
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• ·         A "Top of the Stretch Club" to be built at the end of the grandstand, intended "to attract a younger crowd to the Race Course."
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• ·         Moving the jockey quarters from the administration building to the Paddock.
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• ·         Eliminating the Open House held on the Sunday before opening day (which was always a fan favorite and a fan experience).

• ·         The continuation started last year of charging admission on Labor Day which was always ‘Fan Appreciation Day’
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• ·         Turning the lower Carousal into a Sports arena which would eliminate the free seating and replace it with a high end sports bar with a $40.00 admission fee.

Kay is also said to be looking into charging fans for taking water from the water fountains around the track and installing paid toilets.  If Cuomo who started this mess 2 years ago and extended the current board with Kay at its head for another year doesn’t make the change to privatize the track, Saratoga will be changed forever and its appeal will slowly dwindle.

This picture of Chris Kay was sent in by a racing fan, I cannot verify its authenticity as I have never met Mr. Kay.

I also see that the ‘Spirit of Life’ restoration is completed and the company that did all the work did a fine job.  However, this being an election I also see that Commissioner Scirocco is taking all the praise for his Department doing a great job, what about all the money paid to the firm that did the job?

The words ‘City in the Country’ keeps being thrown around and our feeling is that it is just a nostalgic notion that citizens want to keep in their minds.  I am sorry but that term does not apply to Saratoga Springs anymore.  We are just a concrete & brick City with big City problems.  A big problem we have that some areas I was in do not have is the washboards we call streets.  This would be just one problem I would be embarrassed about if I were Scirocco or Buckley.  This City’s streets are deplorable.  Come on Skip, do something about this.

A funny story in the news was the Commissioners getting into racing (harness) gear and sharing a sulky with a professional driver and running a race, everything was going fine I heard until Madigan put on the brakes and Skip, who was behind her stopped so suddenly he flew out of his seat and up Madigan’s 'wazoo' where it usually is during Council meetings.  The story, as related to me was that the 'wazoo' intake propelled Madigan into first place and the track’s vet separated the two with little problem.

As we all know or we all should know is that confessed child porn star John Tighe will be shipping out to prison in the Boston area at the end of July to a hospital that fits his health needs. 

The story floating around is that John won the lead part when he visited the slammer as Curly in the show ‘Men in Tights’.

I want to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July, we should all take time out of our celebrations to remember those who fought and those who died to make this great Republic and if you see Skip Scirocco, thank him for screwing our all American 4th of July celebration by selling our Congress Park out for the day (the first such screwing ever on this Holiday).