MEN IN TIGHT’S, EVERYBODY’S IN BUT ANDY

The Republican Party has delayed the handing in of their petitions for 2 weeks and it looks like they may delay a few more days.  The best guess is early next week when they introduce Andy Jarosh as a candidate for Commissioner of Finance, opposing Michele Madigan, which will fill their ticket, Andy is probably away on vacation, hence the wait.  I have been told the first delay was because they couldn’t find any one to oppose Franck.  After getting turned down 22 times according to my source, the Party finally talked John Arpei into contesting Franck for his seat.  It looks like the same scenario for someone to accept a chance to run against Madigan.  Republican sources have said that the same number (in the 20’s) had turned down the call to run for Mayor, Accounts and Finance, it seems Supervisor and DPS were easy to fill, especially  since Dick Wirth promised to Primary any Republican candidate for DPS unless they chose him.  The Republican’s, of course, want to look united so they gave the nod to him.  Similarly, the position of Mayor was proposed to so many people who declined it, that they finally had to throw their support to Sutton, whom they didn’t really want in that slot.

Supervisors were an easier task.  Matt Veitch is considered a shoo in and rightly so.  Peter Martin enters the race against Ken Ivins, Ivins enters the race carrying so much baggage from his City seat, that after 2 years of $0.00 tax increases he was still soundly defeated by an unknown Madigan, who has done some very good things with the Finance Department, the best of which is updating the department and putting income and expenses of every department and even the sub categories of every dept on line, that’s transparency.

Martin will give Ivins a run for his money especially since Ivin’s theme seems to be that more Republicans should be on the BOS to get more things done.  We would like to remind Ivins that there are 19 Republicans, 3 Democrats and 1 Independence party members seated on the Board now.  How many more Republicans are needed to get things done?  I think a good mix would be a Democrat and Republican representing the City.

Bill McTygue versus Skip Scirocco should be an interesting race also.  Will Saratogian’s say Scirocco’s number is up?  I feel the question will come down to, other than the foolish deed of selling water to Wilton to fulfill the Mayor’s pledge to Dave Harper (the attorney for the developer) that a housing development outside the City will get our water is this:  Is Saratoga Springs a better looking City now than it was before he took over?  Infrastructure cannot be seen, so we should know what has been done to improve that.  One other thing, when a project like building a condo etc. is finished, the developer is supposed to grade the street that they wrecked or cracked and repave it, all at no expense to the City or in other words we the taxpayers, I hope this has been the norm.

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.

HANGING OUT AT THE WATER COOLER

I was talking with some members of the Justice League at the water cooler and heard some interesting news.  It seems that The Republicans have set in stone another block to run on their ticket making it 4/5 complete.  Along with Ivins, Scirocco, A. Jarosh is the newest retread R. Wirth.  Wirth as you heard was not going to be supported by the Party but a combination of events changed Harper’s mind.

a. They (Republicans) can’t get anyone else to run.  They are even brokering deals for someone to run for Mayor.

b. Like the other 3 named above, Wirth gave in and swore allegiance to Chairman Dave Harper’ edict, that if any Republican candidate wins election, they MUST hire Shauna Sutton as their Deputy to give her the necessary 2 years for lifetime benefits.

Since it looks like the Democrats on the Council will retain their seats and the fact that Yepsen is almost unbeatable (however, you never know, she still has to work hard), b. above would include Commissioner Scirocco.  If Deputy Cogan hasn’t taken the hint by now, a piece of advice, be prepared pack your bags and get a swift kick out the door.

The only other post except for Mayor, on the Republican side are the 2 Supervisor seats that will be on the ballot.  It’s a sure bet that Matt Veitch will run and win.  It is not clear however who the other Republican will be or if indeed there will be one.  The picture is also unclear who the Dem’s have, if anyone yet.  If 4 run, the top 2 with the most votes get the nod.

Scirocco will need some big help this year if the Democrats have a credible candidate to run against him.  For starters, we hear that Shauna Big Bear will be tapped to run his campaign.  If she runs his campaign like she did Johnson’s last time (so negative it even turned a big number of Republicans off) he’ll have a big nut on his hands.  The water deal with Wilton will only be getting worse this year and with so much more to come out, the Democrats can’t let him slide anymore, it could be a big water fight.

Someone in the know also let it slip that whoever gets the nod for Mayor on the Republican ticket won’t have Johnson’s personal wealth to use for the campaign, so the Riggi’s will be hosting a $500.00 per plate dinner ala Mike Lenz later this summer.  The event will be held at, surprise, The Palicio de Riggi.  The Green Hornet also heard that for entertainment, Mrs. Riggi will have her 38? Pomeranian canines, dance to ‘Swan Lake’, bring your Kleenex; Michelle won’t be able to stop blubbering, Gee, when the dogs did a Sammy Davis routine last summer, she passed out from all the excitement.

Just one other piece of information,  longtime Saratogian’s say that the Old Boy’s Network is dead in Saratoga and they are giving way to a younger, kinder type of politics. Ha, I say, Ha. 

• Walk by Tom Roohan’s Realty Building, there is construction going on and guess what, like the Mayor and the Parking Garage, Roohan has no visible Building Permit.
• Walk by Adirondack Trust on Broadway – The street sign doesn’t name the street – the street sign says ATM -----à.  I guess that means any business can remove the street signs, put their name on it with a pointer and whistle a happy tune.

Until next time, same bat Time, same bat Blog.

THE SPEECHES ARE IN AND POSSIBLY SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION

First, important information regarding the upcoming November election.  It looks like the Dem’s will have a full slate of candidates for Council and for the 2 Supervisor positions.

Rumor also has it that either the Mayor or Deputy Shauna had released information on the slate for the Republicans running for City office.  They also have a full slate which includes Mayor Johnson, Ken Ivins (though not for his old position), Dick Wirth, Skip and loser in the race for the Chair of the City Republican Party, Andy Jarosh (think Kate Jarosh as his possible Deputy).  Some of these are hard to believe but when you recycle those who lost a seat on the Council rarely gain a position back.  Such is the state of the Republican Party, one which seems to be disintegrating since John Herrick took over and continues today.  We shall see.

Well, both the Mayor’s State of the City Speech took place and the Democratic Committee’s response has been printed in the paper.  The Mayor’s speech gave us a little to be worried about.

1. The State of the City Speech started off nicely but he ran into trouble when he did some things no other Mayor has ever done in a State of the City Speech before and that is when he told his fellow Commissioners that “he was voted into office on a vote of Saratogian’s “rejecting the then-dysfunctional government that was rampant with divisive politics”, then warned the Commissioners and warned them that “there have been indications” that “some are attempting to return to politics as usual.” He then “call told the City Council to abandon any personal agendas and earn the respect demanded of City Hall.” 

2. At the City Council meeting 2 days before the Speech, the amendment to create a Comprehensive Plan Committee was tabled for 2 weeks.  The reason for this I had suspected at the time was that the majority of the Council (4-1) members were afraid the Mayor already chose his members.  NY State law requires the Council as a whole appoint the committee, but as mayor Johnson has pointed out in the past, he thinks he is above the law.  Well, as you may have guessed, if you agreed with my 2^nd sentence, during his speech, in his own words, he said ‘Today I confirm that I have established a Comprehensive Plan Committee…’  He then names the organizations and boards the members will come from, however, he also does not mention that there will be no representation from the regular citizenry on the Committee.  He does allow the Council to appoint 1 member each, but he will have to approve the choice, (expect a lawsuit over this one).   The man again shows that he cannot work with the opposite Party while in the same breath, accuses them of the same thing.

3. There has been news from a person with knowledge of the Charter Review Commission that allegedly the Commission has been chosen by the Mayor and they have been meeting since December at the Deputy’s house crafting their plan.  Johnson has announced what he wants the Commission to look at updating. The budget (he wants more involvement), longer terms of office, Charter language stating he has the authority to outsource the HR Dept. We now pay an outsourced firm the Mayor has employed which pays them $75,000.00 per year for a 20 hour work week.  We could have a full time in house HR Director for that price working full time.  He has also charged them with looking into and possibly change each Departments duties and responsibilities (sounds like he wants to be a STRONG MAYOR), Mayor Johnson, that was voted down in 2006.  If the Mayor would just follow the current Charter that was changed in 2001 instead of eliminating mandated duties things might just run a little better, but again, why follow the law?

In the Democrats response they do make some valid points.   The commented that “the WHOLE Council worked diligently to enact laws for the welfare of all of our city’s inhabitants. We applaud the successes that they and many of our city’s servants participated in”.

“Some of these successes are easily measurable. The City Council reduced our real property tax rates while increasing city services (despite the mayor’s votes against both the budget and the fire department’s provision of emergency medical services). The council prudently set aside funds in various reserves such as retirement, buildings and infrastructure, and tax stabilization (rejecting the mayor’s proposal to spend a portion of these on a parking lot in a residential neighborhood), and set aside funds for contingencies involving unaddressed labor contracts.”

“Other success stories are just as meaningful. Through the combined efforts of the City Council and downtown business owners, bartenders, waiters, waitresses, private security guards and city police are now working together for safer streets.”

“The Mayor announced that he will appoint a Charter Review Commission with a very specific charge. Despite the defeat of a proposal to change our commission form of government to a strong mayor form six years ago, the mayor appears to have pre-determined that his commission will develop a charter that changes the power of the commissioners and specifically removes budget-making power from the commissioner of Finance.

We suspect that the Mayor’s powers would be commensurately increased.”  I had said this last month and anyone following the Mayor for the last 5 years could tell he wants to keep grasping for more power.  Something I always wondered about over the last 5 years was the Mayor by law gets to appoint members to three exceptionally influential boards: The Planning Board, the Zoning Board of Appeals and the City Center Board. In five years, the mayor has yet to appoint one Democrat to these boards; every Democrat whose term expired was replaced by a Republican.  The Boards seats are now filled with mostly all Johnson appointments.  I would think in a sense of fair representation he would appoint some qualified Democrats and maybe reappoint some, not many but some.  This is an example though of what he stressed in his Speech though, he doesn’t play politics.  Praise the Lord.