SHAUNA SUTTON-DOWD'S ENDORSEMENT

 In the Saratogian today Sutton-Dowd has received the paper's endorsement for the office of mayor, this one should come as no surprise.  The paper gives kudos to both candidates and could have gone either way, but it follows the Mayoral picks of the past.  When some of your biggest advertisers are Adirondack Trust, Roohan Realty and Allerdice who not only as I said are big advertisers but also top Republican old timers what can one expect?  In the papers reasoning, the editorial staff gives reasons like negotiating union contracts bringing all but one to completion, when in fact it was one that was signed and the rest have been working without a contract.  The editorial staff also uses the Rec Center as a huge plus for Sutton-Dowd.  The Center may have come in under budget but we know the reasons, (a) inferior materials used, (b) The was not up to code, which cost a building inspector who was fired by Sutton-Dowd after the inspector refused her request to pass the inspection anyway. (c) Sutton-Dowd had promised that after the first year the Center would make a profit, which in fact every year the Center gains a bigger loss than the year before, (d) Sutton-Dowd in her role as top overseer of the Center had it built without any parking or showers needed for the out of town players. This is a great resume to be Mayor of Saratoga and the probable threat of pulling ads from the newspaper by Adirondack Trust, Roohan Realty and Allerdice and others might have been the tipping point for the paper.

TIMES UNION ENDORSEMENT 11-1-2013

Follow the link for the TU endorsement http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Editorial-Yepsen-for-Saratoga-Springs-4944682.php

FOLLOW THE MONEY

I got this information in the mail and thought it was pretty funny, so I thought I’d tinker with it a little.  Remember, Shauna Sutton-Dowd holds 2 FULL time jobs of at least 40 hours a week per job.  Yes, that’s 80 hours a week.  What kind of job can she do without overlapping one with the other?   Shauna also has been making noise about Yepsen taking money from unions.  I checked her donations on line and she has taken big money from large contractors, plumbers (who are union people), a local lumber company and the City’s outside attorney firm that Johnson and Sutton chose to represent the City in its lawsuits or other dealings.  Sutton will have to work with these donors so she is playing the blame game, when she herself could be accused of going the deed also.  Yes, that is Shauna smoking a pipe, working nights in a costume.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

$120,000.00 & BENEFITS

CITY HALL - $60,000.00 &

GRAVE DIGGING - $60,000.00

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”

PROMISES, PROMISES!

First of all, I must tell you that this information was given to me from a friend of one of the Republican candidates. It is said that if Shauna Sutton loses the election bid for Mayor and any Republican holds their office or wins an office that Sutton will be appointed to the Deputy’s position. I know what you’re thinking, why would she take another Deputy’s position? Well there are a few things that do sound right about this tactic. 1. She makes approximately $80,000.00 now and has been for 6 years. She only needs 2 more years to be vested in the City’s benefit for life plan. Right now if she loses, it is assumed that her salary would be $20,000.00 from the Greenridge Cemetery and the income of her husband who she hired to work at the Cemetery. The Mayor’s position only pays $14,500.00 a drop of about $65,000.00 but the position would still insure the benefit package although losing $130,000.00 would be a heck of a drop. The other piece of information floating around is that if Commissioner Scirocco is re-elected that he will either appoint her as his Deputy or as Director of Public Works. This $90,000.00 yearly position was eliminated from the budget during the Keehn administration but was funded and put back into the DPW budget by the Commissioner (just something to think about). Also, the rumor is gathering steam that none other than Al Calucci currently a Board member of the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority is in line to be Dick Wirth’s Deputy Commissioner if Wirth is elected. Imagine that office, a Commissioner that doesn’t say 2 words and a Deputy that can talk all day. That may keep Big Al out of the Finance Dept. for a few days at least. These pieces of information are written here not because I received first hand information from the candidates but from people who are supposedly ‘in the know’. Has anyone heard of any Deputy’s to be appointed? Bill McTygue has said that no member of his family would be appointed as Deputy. In 2011, out of the 18,200 registered voters in Saratoga Springs, only 6,373 residents voted in the elections. Do the 11,000+ really care about Saratoga politics (go to about 3 Council meetings and see who is there, the same 7 or 8 people, even if there is something very important on the agenda)? There is the thinking in Saratoga that the 11,000+ non-voters are happy if the have running water and their lawn clippings and leaves are picked up, which may be a reason they don’t vote and don’t really care what is happening on the political front. Ask most people and they can’t tell you who a Deputy Commissioner is let alone what department they work in. This is apathy, and it abounds in our City, however quite a few of the over 11,000+ who do not vote, will complain when (a). They don’t attend a Council meeting to give the Council heck if they don’t like the way the Council is doing business or (b). They just want to give them a free ride to do what they want. This election season will be one to watch, for sure.

PRIMARY NIGHT

Congratulations to John Franck and Joanne Yepsen for their Primary wins on the Independence Line. Good wishes also go out to Shauna Sutton & John Arpei for making it a competition. It’s good to have a race in a Primary, it makes even a Primary exciting.

SIGNS, ELECTIONS AND DEFECTIONS

Well, all the candidates’ political signs are planted, joining the 4 who are running for the Independence line in the Primary this coming Tuesday, September 10th. As I stated before, I believe this will give us a hint of how the election might look like. However, Primary’s do not usually draw the number of voters that the election will. Let’s look at this Primary for instance. This will be for the Independence Party line on the ballot in November. It is reported and checked out at the BOE that a large number (50 – 60) of Republicans changed their affiliation to the Independence Party last year before the election, thereby qualifying them to vote in this Primary and we will see that number all out to vote. It is said that it took Shauna Sutton and John Arpei only 2 hours to collect the needed numbers on petitions to qualify and force the Primary, which is pretty much unheard of. There are still a very large number of Independence voters and I think you will see a larger number turn out than in past Primary’s. The campaigns will start in earnest now that the tourists have gone and everyone is home and settled. Were you invited to the fundraiser at Scott Johnson’s home to benefit Shauna’s campaign? Heard that the minimum plate charge started at $500.00 but the price was encouraged to be more generous. This, along with the anticipated Palacio de Riggi fundraiser also heard the price to be starting at $500.00 per plate, show it is good to rub noses with the rich and famous. Well, let’s see what Tuesday brings and go from there.

I CAN TALK TOO!

Hello Bat fans.  The run for the money has started in earnest.  Looks like Sutton will have her (2) $500.00 per plate dinner fundraisers compliments of Scott Johnson and reportedly by residents of Palacio de Riggi.  The Mayor didn’t need the fundraisers as past Republicans did but Sutton’s lack of funds needed to win (about $75,000.00) will be made up by the fundraisers and by Johnson and his out of town attorney groups.

The NYS Funeral Association convention is being held this week in Saratoga and the guest speaker will be none other than our very own Mayor Scott Johnson, it seems that a group of happy funeral home directors were walking downtown one night and passed by Mayor Johnson as he came out of Sperry’s and thought he looked like someone from the Walking Dead, so they just had to have him on the agenda to see if he indeed talks.

The Police of Saratoga Springs, handicapped by former Commissioner Wirth’s layoffs are doing an incredible job in keeping the City in fine shape, is Saratoga Springs without crime?, No.  Take a look at national averages though and our crime rates are on the low side of cities throughout the country. 

According to the Saratogian:

“Saratoga Springs does have more arrests from reported burglaries than the national average.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation collects crime data from thousands of police agencies across the country, including Saratoga Springs. The national clearance rate for burglaries is 12.7 percent, which is the percentage of arrests made from reported burglaries. The city’s clearance rate for the last decade is 16.4 percent.”

 I would call that pretty good;  as for those of you who want instant up to the minute information on what the Police are up to, one word of advice would be to join the force, why is it that in today’s world we have to know everything that is going on as it happens?

The capital budget has been set and it seems that the Mayor and his aide Shauna Sutton have told residents on the Eastern Plateau that EMS and Fire protection should not be a priority for them.  Something has to be done and if it takes a change of leadership in the Mayor’s chair to do it then the Eastern Plateau residents should tuck this info in their mind for Election Day.

City Deputy Public Works Commissioner Tim Cogan said there are intake valves at the water plant that date back to 1871 and need to be replaced.  Please, if you could wait just 8 more years, we could have another year of Saratoga 150 festivities for those intake valves.

Remember that the primary’s are coming up soon and it should be a gauge on what the election will bring, so stay tuned and please attend one of those $500.00 a plate fundraisers, I know I will.

CUT ANOTHER TREE

Have you started to receive political paper at your house yet?  Door hangers and political ads have started to be dumped by Republican candidates, so you can expect the Democrats to follow suit soon. 

The DROP seems to be starting a little early this year, but then again there are a couple of primaries in September.  PLEASE don’t throw your junk pieces away, give them back to the candidates so they can save on printing more junk pieces.

Has anyone else noticed that whenever the Mayor has been at any event lately that makes the newspaper accompanied by a picture, Shauna Sutton is somewhere in there, like a Where’s Waldo picture?

Well a new book store opens and the best Italian restaurant in the area burns down, happy and sad in the same day, however, Broadway will be that much better for having Northshire Books and Ballston Spa and our whole area will be glad when Augie’s is back up and running.  Augie’s is having a fundraiser for their staff, you can go here http://bit.ly/16YsPyx

to make a donation, starting at $25.00, businesses, area restaurants, customers and those touched by the effort of Augie have been supporting the fund.  On the website he says this:

“Augie's Family Style Italian Restaurant had a fire. The entire place was condemned. The most important headline of the day is that no one was hurt. Things can be replaced - and we will rebuild. However, while we rebuild, our faithful and amazing staff will be temporarily out of work. As per the nature of being service staff, supporting them is difficult when much of their money comes in as tips for their superb and amazing service.
We are making a fund for those who have experienced the service from Augie's to help hold over our employees while we rebuild. We hope we have the community reach out and help the staff. Nothing is more important to us than our dedicated and friendly service staff. Without them, there wouldn't be an Augie's.

Where the money goes:

The money raised will go towards the service staff's hold-over budget - split as we normally do with tips and money raised with normal business at Augie's. We will use the funds to assist our employees while they are out of work during rebuilding. Any remainder of the funds (in case we rebuild faster than estimated) will go towards local homeless shelters in the 518.
Those who assist will receive a one-time coupon good for a percentage discount off of their bill upon reopening - applicable for in-house dining. We will also have a page built on our website showing who loves and supports the Augie's staff. “
Augie, a classy guy and a businesses man dedicated to the well being of his employees.

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Yes, we are having fun on our vacation.  We are staying overnight and I have a chance to read the home town paper and was I surprised by an article or two.

First of all, I spoke with a friend who knows such things and it seemed that a large group of Republicans switched Party’s for this election and joined the Independence Party, thereby giving Sutton and Arpei the number required to force a primary in September.

I still think that this primary will be a good litmus test for the general election.  The primary vote will indicate how many votes the 2 candidates get then deduct at least the 58 of the Republican who switched to guarantee they got the ballot (as they would have voted Republican anyway).

Now comes the money part.  According to the Saratogian, Yepsen after expenses leaves her with $17,724 balance, “Most of Yepsen’s contributions come in $100 or $200 increments. She reported 106 contributions Monday and said the number was doubled after Friday’s fundraiser.”

Sutton on the other hand has not had a fundraiser to date and it is starting to look like another big money campaign money matter, as in the momentous misstep during the 2005 campaign that led to a Democratic sweep. The Republican candidate was having $500.00 a plate dinner fundraisers and Sutton looks to be doing quite the same thing minus the dinners.  Sutton’s donors and amounts of money given so far are: 

The Republican Party - $2,400.00

Wally Allerdice - $1,000.00

Richard & Bonnie Sellers - $500.00

Marcia Mac Donald - $1,000.00

Kathleen Smith - $1,000.00

Amy Smith - $500.00

Sheila Sperling - $500.00

Ann Hiller from Ga. - $500.00

Scott Johnson - $1,000.00

Carusone & Carusone - $1,000.00

http://www.elections.ny.gov:8080/reports/rwservlet?cmdkey=efs_sch_report+p_filer_id=C00635+p_e_year=2013+p_freport_id=K+p_transaction_code=A

 So, Sutton has 10 donors plus the Party’s money giving her $9,400.00.  Think of a few donors giving thousands of dollars against many donors giving smaller amounts and you may say to yourself who is for the people over big money?

There is no campaign filing page for Arpei yet.

Saratoga’s general elections are by rule, won by a few hundred votes and the Independence Party plays a role in the elections and again with the Republican move to the Independence Party they would vote Sutton anyway. .  The election will also boil down to how many cross over votes a candidate can muster.  The City’s declining Republican registrations along with an increase of Democrat and Independent (or, no Party), may end the Republican domination that has existed since Saratoga Springs became a City.

CANADA, HERE WE COME!

Well, off to the train ride from Montreal to Toronto to Alberta for a 14 day Trans Canadian Rail Tour.  Peace and better weather to all.