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Updated
September 4, 2009
A weblog about the politics and affairs of the old and glorious City of Albany, New York, USA. Articles written and disseminated from Albany's beautiful and historic South End by Daniel Van Riper. If you wish to make a response, have anything to add or would like to make an empty threat, please contact me.
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September 4, 2009
Watching The Big Primary (Part Two)
To read Part 1 about the mayoral race go here. And remember to vote on September 15.
* * * UPDATE * * * Mayoral candidate Corey Ellis clarifies his position on gay marriage and LGBT rights
This review of ward and City wide Democratic Primary races in the City of Albany is long, so for your convenience here is a jump-off to the sections so that you don’t have to search for your favorite campaigns:
President of the Common Council - Update - Update#2
My 1st Ward: The challenger is a chicken - Update
7th Ward
10th Ward: Scalzo has got to go
5th Ward: Veronica Horne - Update
11th Ward: Split vote
2nd Ward: Return to darkness
3rd Ward
6th Ward: The great compromiser
4th Ward
Kathy Sheehan is our next Treasurer
Auditor: Lots of noise
Wards 8, 9, 12, 13 and 14
15th Ward: Reign of darkness continues
President of the Common Council
* * * UPDATE * * * Leonard Ricchiuti sexually harasses paid employees of PAL, and the Jennings regime tried to cover up the crime. Great work by Albany Citizen One.
* * * UPDATE#2 * * * ACO tells the full story about Leonard Ricchiuti, the facts that the newspaper is afraid to print
I really don’t want to say this, but I’m going to say it anyway because I have no choice. I’m encouraging everyone out there to vote for Carolyn McLaughlin for Common Council president. She is the only choice.
I felt great apprehension when she announced her run. You see, she and I have not always seen eye to eye, but with effort we get along. It’s been my experience that she doesn’t handle criticism well, but then neither do I. We have that in common. So for a long time now she and I have tended to eye each other warily and keep our criticisms about each other to ourselves.
This has been possible because I don’t live in the 2nd Ward, the one she’s been representing for 12 years. I own property there, but I’ve never had to ask her for anything and I’ve never had to take a stand on her elections. But now that she’s running for a Citywide office I can’t stay neutral and I have to speak up.
To be specific, when she enthusiastically voted in favor of Jimmy Scalzo’s Walgreens on Holland Avenue during the now infamous lame-duck last Common Council session of 2005, I swore up and down that I would never support her. In fact, I swore that I would campaign against her. But, you see, I can’t do that now. All I can do is swallow and swear.
The ML King Monument Last FebruaryOkay, I’ll say positive things about her. Carolyn knows exactly what the job of president is all about. An experienced legislator, she understands her colleagues on the Council and is familiar with the procedures for moving legislation. This is in sharp contrast to her dilettante opponent who, as far as anyone knows, has never set foot in the Common Council chambers to so much as spectate.
Carolyn has maintained and developed strong ties to the South End 2nd ward that she has represented for the last 12 years. I’ve seen her be present and often part of just about every neighborhood project and organization in her ward that I’ve attended. The McLaughlins are an old South End clan that goes way back, I swear she’s related to half the people in the South End.
In short, she is qualified to preside over the Common Council, has strong personal ties to our community and probably won’t make a mess of things. Carolyn might actually grow in the job and become independent, I see that possibility in her. When she finally gets her “seat at the table” that she’s always talking about, I expect that she will stop pandering for that place.
All very well, but the other part of the president’s job is to take over the corner office of City Hall if the mayor quits or drops dead. I can’t say I’m thrilled about Carolyn as mayor, but I believe that she has enough management experience to keep the City together through the remainder of a term. If nothing else, she could entertain the City by giving rousing, inspirational speeches, which she does very well.
Okay, here’s the alternative to Carolyn. Her opponent is Jerry Jennings’ hand picked candidate, a retired Albany cop named Leonard Ricchiuti. Politically, this guy is a babe in the woods, totally clueless. Like, check out this great bit of found poetry from the front page of his expensive looking campaign website:
“STOP ALBANY’S DETERIORATION”
I Will Fight For Safer Streets & Neighborhoods
I Will Fight Skyrocketing Taxes
I Will Fight The Spread Of Blight
I Will Fight Government Special Interests
I Will Fight Absentee Landlords & Code Violators
COMMITMENT * COMMUNITY * COMMUNICATION
As a lifelong resident of Albany, I have a deep commitment to this city, and to our neighbors who live in it. I have dedicated nearly 30 years of my life to the youth of Albany promoting REAL SUSTAINABLE CHANGE...
GENERATIONAL CHANGE!
I am your PAL Lenny
I am your Community Policing Officer Lenny
I am your DARE Instructor "Officer Lenny"
I am the Lenny you've turned to these past 25+ years when you needed a helping hand.
This is great stuff. I want him to write more, and get William Shatner to recite it to musical accompaniment. Unfortunately, no part of his beautiful website tells how he plans to accomplish any of these wonderful things. Except the part about how he plans to fight. I’m sure that as an ex-cop presiding over a bunch of politicians he’ll do plenty of that.
Personally, if I were a member of the Common Council I would be deeply offended that Jerry Jennings wants this rank beginner to be in charge of a roomful of experienced legislators. It’s like His Majesty is presenting His middle finger to the idea of representative government in Albany.
Jennings appears to have invested a lot of money in Richiutti. Look at his fancy website for example, that’s a lot of cash ponied up real fast. When Ricchiuti showed up at the end of the Save the Pine Bush (SPB) dinner candidates night last Auguist 26, he led a retinue that included paid staff and a professional looking movie camera operator.
The speech that Richiutti gave to his camera guy at the SPB dinner sounded an awful lot like he was running for mayor. For example, he declared that he was in favor of community policing and closing the Rapp Road Dump, both radical departures from the Jennings administration. There was little of this “we need someone who will work with the administration” stuff that we usually hear from Jerry’s minions.
Of course he was just repeating buzz words and phrases picked up from progressive candidates and from bloggers. How exactly a Common Council president is going to implement these policies he did not bother to explain. Unless, of course, he expects to become mayor a little ways up the road. The general perception from many listeners was that by saying these things he was desperately trying to distance himself from the current regime so as to counter the entirely correct impression that he is Jerry’s chosen successor.
That’s the real issue buried deep in the heart of this presidential race. Jerry Jennings is getting ready to retire in exactly two years. At least, it is widely believed that He would like to. You see, as mayor He is earning points in the State retirement system and He will reach the limit in benefits accrued halfway through one more term. After that He may emulate His predecessor Thomas Whalen and leave Albany never to return.
For sure Jerry Jennings wants Leonard Richiutti to watch His back after He leaves town. He doesn’t trust Carolyn to be obedient, He hasn’t treated her very nicely. He has tried to run her out of office every single time she has run. When she announced her run for president this January at the ML King statue in my neighborhood, Jennings signaled His disapproval by refusing to tell DGS to clear the snow off of the monument before the event. Her “communications director” had to scrape with a shovel.
As for what kind of mayor Ricchiuti would turn out to be, the way he conducts his campaign may yield some clues. His staffers were caught red-handed defacing McLaughlin and Ellis signs with official looking stickers that read “Violation.” And I observed at the SPB dinner that some of his paid retinue were some of the persons who earlier this year were whispering nasty false rumors about Corey Ellis’ personal life.
Based on this conduct, I believe that Ricchiuti as mayor will shape up as the new Jerry Jennings: arrogant, autocratic, easily corrupted, a purveyor of dirty tricks and completely disengaged from the majority of the people of this City and our needs.
So think about it. Do you want this guy Ricchuiti running our City further into the ground? A retired Albany cop with no experience? The thought makes me shudder, the near reality makes me gasp for breath.
I can’t keep thinking about that stupid, highway commercial spot-zoned Walgreens, the latest unwanted blight imposed upon my neighborhood. We’ve got to put Carolyn up in front of the Common Council chamber.
I’m supporting her campaign for Common Council president even though after she reads this ringing endorsement she may never speak civilly to me again. Oh well.
My 1st Ward: The challenger is a chicken
* * * UPDATE * * * Dominick's son Dominick Jr. writes an extraordinary letter about the mayoral race to the Sunday Hearst Times Union
The current mayor desperately needed somebody, anybody to run a campaign against Dominick Calsolaro so that our First Ward Common Council member would have less time to campaign for Corey Ellis. At least, that’s what Dominick told Metroland. The ploy, naturally, is working. Even the most pathetic of challengers must be taken seriously if that challenger is being financed by The Jennings Machine.
That challenger is a fellow named Scott Mannarino, who is using his mother’s house on Southern Boulevard to claim residence in the First Ward. Actually, at the time of his announcement he was registered to vote in the 7th Ward at Brian Scavo’s rooming house, but I’m sure that little embarrassment has been rectified by now. Other than these two items he doesn’t seem to have any other ties to the First Ward, or to the City of Albany for that matter.
His prime employment appears to as a “court officer” for the Village of Altamont, basically standing around in a uniform eyeballing defendants while court is in session. (There seem to be a lot of Mannarinos residing in and around Altamont.) He is not a police officer with powers of arrest, he is a glorified security guard. Nothing wrong with that, perfectly honorable work which I’ve done myself. But “court officer” has been put out in front of the voters without explanation, a court officer is not a cop.
I had what turned out to be my one and only chance to ask Mannarino about his positions on the issues right at the beginning of his campaign. This was at the now infamous First Ward Committee meeting, the first one where something went wrong and the committee endorsed Dominick. I asked Mannarino, “Why do you think you could do a better job than the incumbent?”
I threw this easy softball question at him because I suspected that he couldn’t answer it. I was right, he flubbed it badly. As he attempted to answer and tangled up his tongue, he started to glare at me furiously. Yup, I thought to myself, he’s a security guard. A real cop would put on a blank face and stop talking.
So it should come as no surprise that Mannarino chickened out of a golden opportunity to debate Dominick on the issues. This was at a scheduled debate last Wednesday at the VFW Sheehy-Palmer Post on Delaware Avenue. I don’t blame Mannarino for not wanting to face Dominick, the incumbent would have used his own very substantial record in office to wipe the floor with him.
It was the way that Mannarino chickened out of the VFW Sheehy-Palmer Post debate that was so nasty and repulsive. There were some sixty voters present, print media and bloggers, neighborhood sponsors, information tables, coffee and homemade cookies and volunteers from the League of Women Voters to officiate. After confirming that very morning that he would be present, Mannarino had his campaign manager call less than half an hour before the debate to cancel. What a wuss.
Let’s see, should I vote for a progressive incumbent who busts his butt for the ward and for the City, has fearlessly stuck his neck out to challenge the moribund current regime into doing what’s right, attends as many public meetings as he can and is always willing to drop everything to stand up for his constituents?
Or should I vote for some guy I’ve never heard of who can barely locate the First Ward and whose only stated position on any issue is cooperation with the current regime?
Do I even need to answer that?
While we’re at it. most people know by now how the 1st Ward Democratic committee accidentally endorsed Dominick Calsolaro, but then called a second meeting with a new set of rules to switch the endorsement to Jerry’s boy Mannarino.
Under the guidance of ward leader Regina Goodbee who works in City Hall, the 1st Ward committee has finally become powerless and achieved irrelevance in the community. In pursuit of this goal, Ms. Goodbee has demonstrated a gross level of shamelessness in supporting Jerry’s boy.
Check out this robo call that she recorded on Jerry’s dime and deposited on 1st Ward answering machines. I mean, we all know Regina first heard of Mannarino this past spring like everybody else when he was presented to the ward. In the message she calls him a “friend and neighbor.” Right. Plus he’s “normal” and “he’s going to bring back seriousness.”
If you’ve been wondering why the Democratic Party, despite having the support of an overwhelming number of voters across the country can’t seem to accomplish anything, perhaps we simply need to look at the 1st Ward and 7th Ward Democratic committees in Albany. Old boy stealth Republicans like Jerry Jennings and His minions are systematically subverting the party organization in Albany. Is Albany the only place this is happening?
I wish I could tell you about 7th Ward Common Council member Cathy Fahey’s opponent. I ran into Cathy and her husband outside the Spectrum Theater on Saturday night. She couldn’t tell me anything about her opponent either.
“I’ve heard she’s been distributing campaign literature,” Cathy said, “but I haven’t seen it. The other day a constituent called to say that she threw out the Tobin flyers on her stoop. I told her No! Save them, I want to see what she says.”
Like many other people I had hoped to find out about Ms. Fahey’s opponent on the same night that Dominick’s opponent chickened out of the debate at the VFW Sheehy-Palmer Post. But you see, Susan K. Tobin was also afraid to show up and debate Cathy. Cathy and Dominick sat in front of the room and told us what a great job they were doing, and everyone who was bored split for the candidates night at the SPB dinner at first Presbyterian church.
All I can tell you about challenger Tobin is that Jerry Jennings is financing her campaign and providing muscle. This is interesting, because Tobin is a professional fundraiser. She spent ten years as Annual Fund Director for Sienna College, and her current title is Director of Annual Giving at Albany Academy. (For those of you who don’t know, Albany Academy is a private school that does not receive taxpayer subsidies as do “charter” school corporations, thus they need to fundraise.)
The only other thing I can tell you is that Tobin has never run for office and has no involvement in the neighborhoods. Despite this, the members of the 7th ward Democratic committee reaffirmed their complete irrelevance by endorsing Tobin at The Current Mayor’s orders. This continues their tradition of laughable uselessness, having never endorsed either Cathy or her predecessor in the 7th, Shawn Morris.
Cathy Fahey is part of the positive minority on the Common Council, consistently standing up in the chamber to call for transparency and fiscal responsibility. The Delaware Avenue neighborhood people will tell you that she is active, independent and readily accessible. This, naturally, makes her an enemy of Jennings, which is why His Majesty is spending so much time and capital to undermine her.
Like in the 1st Ward, Jennings’ chosen candidate in the 7th is a complete zero and unlikely to win. But both campaigns serve as a distraction to some of His many hand-picked “enemies,” that is, anyone who won’t take orders. Thank you Jerry, for wasting everyone’s time and money..
10th Ward: Scalzo has got to go
Leah Golby has got Jimmy Scalzo by the you-know-whats and she’s not letting go. As the strategists like to say, her campaign is gaining momentum and riding a wave of intense voter dissatisfaction with the incumbent. No, scratch that. Ms. Golby is not riding, she’s a big part of the groundswell of reform that’s sweeping the 10th.
What I’m hearing is that people in Park South and Pine Hills are sick and tired of having a representative who by all appearances gets inebriated before Common Council meetings and who doesn’t make a lot of sense when he opens his mouth. I’m told that Leah Golby’s candidacy came out of recent angry and well attended public meetings in the 10th ward where dissatisfaction has been coming into the open.
Meanwhile, Scalzo appears to have known for some time that he’s done for. Earlier this summer he introduced a measure into the Common Council that called for much lower pay for Common Council members. [He did not call for fewer representatives, my error.] The gig is done with, he doesn’t need it anymore, why should he care? (Of course he didn’t write the legislation himself, I wonder who did.)
Scalzo seems to be making out all right with the Park South Revitalization project and with the private offices going up around Albany Med. It turns out he owns some pieces of property in and around the “developments.” He seems to have a lot of trouble remembering to pay taxes on these properties, but fortunately the City has been very lenient with him.
And then there was that little problem of back taxes that Scalzo owed on his part ownership of Quintessence restaurant on New Scotland Avenue. Very nice how that worked out. Now, I’m not going to dump on him for losing his business, as a small business person I know all too well how easy it is to fail. Tomorrow that could be me applying for dumb jobs and wondering how to pay off that leftover debt.
Still, I think it is entirely fair to say that at this point Jimmy Scalzo’s only interest in his own neighborhood is in cashing in on the Park South project and Albany Med projects so as to get out of hock. And maybe, if all goes well, come out ahead. But like a trained monkey Scalzo has had to render services in exchange for this indulgence from the powerful.
His most visible task has been to push through the spot zoning of a certain piece of property owned by Picotte on Holland Avenue. The parcel was changed to Highway Commercial. Seriously. Even the McDonalds on Holland Avenue isn’t Highway Commercial, that’s the preferred designation for suburban automobile slums. This made it possible for Jerry Jennings’ buddy Tom Burke of Picotte to plant an unwanted Walgreens on the site.
Ten neighborhood association, numerous small businesses and individuals banded together to file suit against the spot zoning for the Walgreens. The Jennings administration spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars and used City resources to fight us citizens. Tell me, have you ever seen Jennings make such effort with our money on behalf of a local small business that was not owned by a major corporation?
Jennings and Burke could not have gotten their little Walgreens payday without the acting efforts of Jimmy Scalzo. You see, Jimmy was carefully coached by Picotte’s lawyers via the City corporation counsel to properly introduce the spot zoning so that it met the letter of the law. This performance on Jimmy’s part was essential to sidestep lawsuits by angry taxpayers.
Scalzo stood up in the Common Council chambers and performed his duty haltingly, needing some prompting at several points. I watched this performance. Clearly he had no idea what he was doing. But he looked sober for once and managed to dribble out everything that he had memorized more or less in the right order.
Pretty pathetic, but at least he didn’t curse drunkenly like he’d done a month or so earlier during a Common Council meeting. Laying claim to the Holland Avenue site for himself (it’s not in the 10th Ward, it’s in the 7th) he laid out a bizarre conspiracy theory that blamed the neighborhood activists who live near Delaware Avenue for causing the blight in Park South. “Where were YOU PEOPLE,” he bawled, “when my neighborhood Park South was in the shitter?” Exact quote. I heard it.
You know, I have absolutely no problem with Jimmy Scalzo getting drunk and, as numerous anecdotal accounts spanning many years have it, stoned on a variety of substances. Hey don’t get me wrong, I’m all in favor of it, party on dude. Share some of your stash with me. But an elected representative has no business getting shit faced on the taxpayer’s dime. I say, let’s give Jimmy all the free time he needs to get loaded in private. That’s the kind of privatization that we need.
This whole Holland Avenue spot zoning episode opened a lot of eyes about Jimmy, and it is one of the big reasons that Leah Golby decided to run for Common Council. In characteristic low key style, in Metroland she called the services Scalzo rendered for Picotte and Walgreens “a big mistake.” The other “big mistake” that induced Leah to run was Scalzo’s obedient vote against Charter Reform, specifically the citizen’s unsuccessful drive a few years back to transfer more power from the mayor to the Common Council.
The Wife and I used to chat with Leah a decade or so back [more like two decades, as Leah pointed out] when she worked at the Spectrum Theater. When I first contacted her via email earlier this year the first thing she did was to remind me of those conversations, which apparently made an impression on her. I recall the three of us standing in the lobby of the Spectrum while we told her about City politics. And I recall her fascination with and horror at the things we were saying.
If Leah Golby successfully kicks Jimmy’s butt and sends him flying, then Jerry Jennings will lose one of His most easily controlled servants. The 10th ward will gain a representative who puts her neighborhood first and owes nothing to the Jennings Machine. Her victory will be a major advance forward for the City of Albany.
* * * UPDATE * * * Veronica Horne, sad to say, has dropped out of the race
For the first time in living memory the 5th ward is in play. Not only that, but it’s a three way contest for the Common Council. It all started when Jerry Jennings decided to get rid of His incumbent, Willard Timmons, and replace him with another of His minions, Jackie Jenkins-Cox.
This was a very puzzling move by His Majesty. Mr. Timmons is a nice guy and I have to say that I like him personally. But he has always taken orders and performed as expected. I don’t believe he has defied The Current Mayor once in four years.
The Wife once asked Mr. Timmons to vote a certain way on a measure before the Council, I believe it had to do with the Pine Bush. Mr. Timmons listened carefully to what she had say. He then said, “My heart’s with you on that, but I have to do what they tell me to do.” If nothing else, you have to admire his simple honesty.
So why the hell is Jerry giving him the boot? I couldn’t say, you’ll have to ask Him yourself why He wants to change minions. So much for loyalty to the powerful as a means of job security.
But see, His Majesty didn’t count on two things. First, Mr. Timmons doesn’t seem to have heard about his demotion, so he’s running for reelection. And second, the Current Mayor didn’t count on the emergence of Veronica Horne.
The Wife spent some time chattering nonstop with Ms. Horne at a recent event. “She’s there with all the issues, “The Wife reported. Sure enough, Ms. Horne’s website does not fool around. Ms. Horne puts out there all the standard progressive issues of this Primary, but she takes each one a few steps further.
Some examples. She wants the police patrolling the neighborhoods and held accountable, but would also like to see police recruited from the very neighborhoods that they serve. Like everyone else running she wants an end to vacant buildings along with fairly enforced building codes, but also interestingly a call for rent control. She calls for “strong leadership” in our schools but also the creation of a “fund for single mothers.”
Her best line of all is the slogan, “Bring Stimulus Funding To The Ward.” Like, yeah, let’s talk about that. Why is all this stimulus money being spent repaving highways? Why not rehab these vacant houses, set up decent public transportation, make grants to small struggling businesses? What makes highways more important than those we the people who live here and pay taxes?
As far as I know, Veronica Horne is the only serious candidate running in this Primary who has questioned the way the stimulus has been spent. Of course this indicates that her focus is on bringing benefits to her Ward, which is what she is supposed to do as a Common Council member. To put it mildly, the 5th has been under served. It’s about time someone like Ms. Horne came along to get things moving.
I only hope that Ms. Horne and her campaign manager are ready to counter Jerry Jennings’ strong arm tactics inside the polling stations on Primary day. You know He’s not going to let another strong willed progressive enter the Common Council chambers, at least not without a physical confrontation or two.
Much has been written about this race. The 11th is virgin ground, unplowed, a wilderness waiting to be exploited. It has been under the thumb of the machine for a long time, back in the day this was Jerry Jennings’ old Ward. And His brother Joe was the ward leader, a guy who kept things under tight family control.
But Jerry has moved to the end of New Scotland Avenue, as far away from the City of Albany as He can get without actually leaving. And Joe became ill and passed away down in Florida a couple of winters ago. What we have here is a vacuum, and fresh air is rushing in.
There are two progressive candidates, Anton Konev and Luke Gucker. I’ve known Anton for years, and have admired his in-your-face style of advancing issues and getting things done. He’s always been ready to make a lot of noise and draw attention if the issue is important. Without hesitation I contributed to his campaign right at the beginning.
Later, I had several opportunities to talk to Luke, and I can tell you that he’s got a strong commitment to the issues that are important. I have to say that it’s too bad he doesn’t live in another uptown ward where he could challenge another Jennings minion. I have no doubt that we’ll be hearing more of this smart young fellow.
Both of these guys are running hard. By the way, there are two other candidates, I understand that they both have names and that one of them is backed by the Current Mayor. It would be a shame if one of these losers benefitted from a split vote between Mr. Konev and Mr. Gucker.
It looks like Carolyn McLaughlin, who has decided to stake all on a Citywide run for Common Council president, has, um, allowed a wide open race in her own Ward.
Victor Cain is on the board of Albany Housing Authority, a job which is appointed by the mayor. He may be in violation of the Hatch Act by running. He has also unsuccesfully challenged Ms. McLaughlin in 2nd Ward primaries.
Lester Freeman gained fame by pretending to run for congress last year, but he almost unseated Luci McKnight from her county legislature seat. Lester has made it clear that once in office he will be most accommodating to power. He is a long time City employee.
So it looks like the machine is going to take solid control of this part of downtown. This is not good.
This is Corey Ellis’ Ward, the one he is leaving behind to run for mayor. Most of what I know about this part of town is what I read in the funny papers, so here you go with what I know.
Lisa Feaster works for the Albany Community Land Trust and is closely associated with Mr. Ellis.
Big man Ron Bailey, a loyal Jednnings minion, lost all of his qualifying petitions out of his car. But miraculously, with only two days left, he managed to retrieve enough signatures to get on the ballot. Bailey, by the way, was the functionary sent over to the South End to preside over the accidental endorsement of Dominick Calsolaro, a job which he flubbed.
Bailey falsely accused progressive candidate for Common Council Lisa Feaster of breaking into his car. The local corporate media, in particular the bottom feeding scumbags at Channel 13, played along with Bailey and amplified his libel. From what I’ve seen of Bailey, I think it quite possible that he staged the whole thing himself.
The third candidate is Lasone Garland-Bryan of the Garland Funeral Home family, who has or possibly still does work for the NY State Senate.
6th Ward: The great compromiser
[Mr. Conti responds in the comments below.]
Richard Conti likes to give the impression that he is in the middle, a “compromiser.” But recently he figured out a way to float bonds for the expansion of the financially failed Rapp Road Dump, thus creating a legislative victory for the Current Mayor. This Mr. Conti calls a “compromise.”
Now the only way to stop the stinking dump from expanding further into the Pine Bush will be for the citizens to file lawsuits against the City. Any way you look at it, Mr. Conti’s “compromise” is fiscally irresponsible.
I’ve heard from reliable sources that Richard has been campaigning for Jennings by going door to door and repeating the false rumor that Mr. Ellis is a homophobe. This partisan stab in the back carries great weight coming from his mouth.
Mr. Conti is going unchallenged . . . unless you consider Republican Terry O’Neil’s poetry to be challenging.
Barbara Smith has been one of the progressive minority on the Common Council. It looks like she has strong support for her reelection. Her focus is completely on her own ward and she has indicated that she does not have much in the way of higher ambition, at least not in the forseeable future.
Ms. Smith absolutely detests me, why is something she could best explain. Despite that, I can still enthusiastically recommend supporting her as an incumbent candidate because of her independence and her consistently progressive voting record on the Common Council.
Despite that, I can still enthusiastically recommend supporting her as an incumbent candidate because of her independence and her consistently progressive voting record on the Common Council.
Kathy Sheehan is our next Treasurer
Kathy Sheehan is smart, experienced, qualified, independent and progressive. That’s absolutely the last thing Jerry wants roaming around in His City Hall.
Betty Barnette is unqualified, the purveyor of Ghost Tickets, corrupt, useless. Her only qualification is that she serves Jerry unquestioningly.
Using this in depth analysis as a guide, I’ll let you decide.
All kinds of noise is out there about a new job that no one understands and may actually mean nothing. This was originally a sort of make-work position created by Jerry Jennings when He was wrecking the drive for Charter Reform, basically He managed to split the job of Comptroller into two jobs, treasurer and auditor. Perhaps He thought that two little comptrollers would be easier to subvert than one big one.
All I can tell you is that the auditor is supposed to audit City departments and make recommendations on how to increase efficiency. I don’t believe this job has any authority. Besides, if the mayor refuses to provide information to the auditor, like the Current Mayor did to the last two comptrollers, then the auditor will have nothing to do except complain or file lawsuits against the City.
Even the candidates admit that they don’t know exactly what they’re running for. I’m thinking that to make the job mean something we need someone in there who will annoy everybody and be visible, that way the auditor can develop some meaning. It might even be a good idea to elect someone who is barely capable of getting along with other people.
Leif Engstrom fits this description perfectly, the less said about his personality the better. Mr. Engstrom appears to have taken an intense dislike to me the moment he laid eyes on me, but apparently I am not alone on that. He certainly has managed to offend me. Still, I’ve decided to pull the lever for him because I think that an antisocial nerd like him is the right person for the job.
Darius Shahinfar is clearly too accommodating to power, his goal is simply to get ahead. Last year he ran for congress, this year Albany City auditor. What a severe lowering of his sights, what is he thinking?
John Rosenzweig, James Sano, Michael O’Brien, Daniel Herring and Joseph Igoe are all loyal Jennings minions who have gotten a free ride this time. All of them appear to have control of their own ward machinery, enough to discourage challengers. What a shame. What an opportunity lost for another four years.
15th Ward: Reign of darkness continues
Albany County majority leader Frank Commisso Sr. owns the Ward that is more suburban than any other part of the City and contains most of the Pine Bush. He could care less about the issues and concerns of the residents, such as the stink at the Rapp Road Dump. But the boss knows how to hold on to power inside his little piece of Jerry Jennings’ personal municipality.
And so, earlier this summer when all the candidates were carrying qualifying petitions, we saw the emergence of 25 year old Frank Commisso Jr. as the one and only candidate for the Common Council in the 15th. Here is a completely inexperienced guy with no connections... except through Dad. Junior cannot be anything but an utter tool of his old man, a mere cog in a new family dynasty.
Dad sent his own personal minions through the Ward and collected a thousand signatures for Junior and also for Jerry Jennings and His candidates. Can you imagine living isolated in the 15th and being confronted with these Commisso minions at your front door? I mean, you’d better sign.
Thus we see that Frank Sr. and Jerry are working together on this campaign and have agreed on their own spheres of influence. Folks, we have a long way to go before we take back our City from the power hungry purveyors of ruination. Let’s all go vote for the handful of good candidates that we have before us, then get back to work fighting the power and rebuilding our community.
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