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.

MAYOR FOR WATERGATE? FOLLOW THE MONEY

Well, tonight’s Council meeting was filled with presentations.  The Comm. of PS gave his ambulance report along with the Fire Chief and the Mayor could not believe it.  The deal works fine and the Department also updated their 5 year projections based on a solid year of experience.  The Mayor however, drilled the Chief and tried his lawyer best to rattle him by throwing misinformation at him but the Chief did fine and provided all the factual answers to the Mayor.

Then it was the Lame Duck’s turn.  He had to put together a presentation for his failed Comprehensive Plan Committee, because the Council and residents are sick of the Mayor appointing his friends while turning his back on citizens of Saratoga to have representation on a Committee to set the City’s path for the future.  Wait, he did say he was going to set up a web site so citizens could email concerns to be read by the Committee, wow.  He also relented to let the Council choose 1 person each and said he would allow the choices to sit on the Committee; the Council met the Mayor’s presentation with quite as the Mayor was pleading with them to accept the Consultant and his picks.  Skip has already chosen the Superintendent of Schools who lives in Wilton and was an appointee of the Mayor.  The other out of town friend of the Mayor who is on the Committee is from Washington County and works for the State (thinking of running for a State office Mayor Johnson and need some help)?  Remember, this is the same Mayor that said Mayor Keheen’s Comp Plan was DOA when he took office and sits on his shelf to this day.  That Plan was a good one developed by a consultant and more city appointees.  The Mayor also mentioned that the nearby towns should have input in the process because we should be good neighbors, remember that 3 of the Mayor’s picks are from Wilton and that town was granted, by the Mayor and Commissioner Scirocco to buy Saratoga water, water which we can ill afford to sell.  Remember also that it was the Mayor who extended the number of homes getting water from 18 to 25, there is also 180 acres for development there so I guess the homes built will also put a strain on the water we have now, especially since we are losing wells at a scary rate.  Just remember the names and positions of those who did or will allegedly benefit in Watergate, Tom Lewis, D. Harper (attorney for the owner of property and City Republican Chairman) and it is said the owner of our local McDonalds.

Talking about chicken, one hairy blogger posted on an article at the Saratogian’s site, saying that the Rec. Center should be named after Scott Johnson as he will go down as the best Mayor in Saratoga Springs history.  I think that they should put a statue of Johnson on top of the building with him holding a bucket. Forget that, he would look like Col. Sanders and we know how much birds like chicken.

As Thor has said many times: hello, follow the money.