Update

 Republicans retain City of Rensselaer Legislative seat by 26 votes

Desso Addresses Deficit with Attention Deficit

The town has concluded its Public Hearing on the town budget complete with its unaddressed $64,000 deficit which the Board has done nothing to eradicate.  Perhaps one of the reasons Councilman Lou Desso has done nothing to address the deficit is his own case of attention deficit disorder.

The GOP Board member was observed pulling out a map, opening it full spread while public comment about the deficit was taking place. It caused Al Spain to comment, "You've got to stop that" in an overheard whisper. Even Evers was taken aback with his action offering a quizzical look as CB Smith could not resist the opportunity to ask aloud if Desso needed some help with directions, noting he'd be happy to help after the meeting. He also can be heard commenting that it's obvious Mr. Desso is not capable of comprehending the subject at hand.

This is apparently how Desso has decided to react when people he dislikes have the microphone at town board meetings. In the hallway, after the meeting, Desso was overheard expressing his anger over the zing he received and tried to ignore. "Nobody should speak with him", was Desso's mantra, reflecting his total paranoia with his political nemesis.

Perhaps his paranoia will extend to trying to fire town officials and employees who even speak with his political adversary. What a rip! But the councilman should also be aware that the New York Courts take such conduct at Public Hearings very seriously. There is a body of case law where courts have nullified the votes of elected officials on matters where there is documentation that they were not paying attention at public hearings where they are required to do so.

Map reading classes have not yet been scheduled for the ADS afflicted councilman, but we're working to get him the help he clearly needs, beginning with a class on common sense.

You can listen to the hearing here on our Pipeline Radio.
NG Public Hearing 2009 Budget

Election Results

Unofficial results for North Greenbush are posted above as seen on the official county website. Results of last night's county and town elections are posted in their entirety on the Rensselaer County BOE web site here.

This one has many long time political observers wondering what drove voters throughout Rensselaer County's towns to lift the county and town Republican lines to surprising victories. The effect was seen throughout the county's towns where Republicans swept every legislative race and voters stayed on the Republican line as they entered the town races.

All four seats on the county legislature in District 2 which includes North Greenbush, went to the Republican column as did the only other town incumbent in Sand Lake. Equally shocking was the defeat of every Republican, all six, holding seats in the legislature from Troy.  The Rensselaer City seat is a toss up separated by just 4 votes with more than 100 absentee ballots uncounted.

Because of the Republican victory in the legislative races throughout the county, they retained a majority of at least 12 of the 19 member legislature. Every incumbent in the county legislature save one Troy Democrat appears defeated with only Rensselaer undecided.

The impact in North Greenbush of the GOP legislative victory was immediately seen at the town council level with the two Republicans gaining a victory and the GOP backed Supervisor, showing a surprising second place victory despite his baggage. Had it not been for the three way race waged by Michael Miner, Evers would have won re-election.  Miner gained a respectable 1000 votes in the unofficial tally. Enough to deny Evers another term and make Josephine  Ashworth the town's first woman elected Supervisor.

On the judicial side, Raymond Elliott and Joshua Sabo won defeating Republican opponents Dell and Piel while Kathryn Connolly defeated Jan Liberty in a hotly contested race.

The Greenbush Party was not a factor outside of two election districts in a surprising reversal from the strength exhibited two years ago. This certainly contributed to the GOP council victories.

We congratulate all the winners.

Update: 2PM  
A higher than normal voter turnout is reported in North Greenbush in Districts 1,2,3,4,5,6.

No problems reported with the machines.

Our Endorsements 6:AM

The higher standards are on Row A in North Greenbush.  If you're looking to for thoughtful candidates who understand the stakes for this town with development, candidates who seek progress that adds value to the tax base rather than simply traffic, Democrats offer our community a clear vison that protects our quality of life.

It takes three votes, however, to make a change on the town board. So if you want the policies and concerns of the Democratic and Greenbush Party candidates implemented at the town level, you  must elect three new Board Members.

Of course this ballot reflects only candidates for the county legislature and town offices.  There are also other important races for Supreme Court, County Court Judge and Family Court Judge. We believe the Democrats hold the edge here as well in qualifications and professional standards.

There are ballot proposition as well in this election. Familiarize yourself with those propositions by reading them when you go to the polls. They are posted on the wall for you to read or you can read them here.

Help has arrived after a difficult 2 years of rule by a Board Majority created from a corrupt political bargain of cross endorsements. In this election, the voters and not the party bosses will make the decisions.

Update:11AM

Lou Desso has recorded a robocall which is running today, apparently in response to a call which opponents ran exposing his status as a convicted felon. Stay tuned, this could get interesting!

Mama To the Rescue  6AM

When your campaign is out of gas, faltering against a surging effort by an opponent who striped you of your party line and forced you to take a life jacket from the opposition party which despises you, who you gonna call? Why Mama of course!

That's exactly what Kathryn Connolly has done with a last minute Hail Mary mailing  and robo call from her mother, a long ago disgraced Democratic County Clerk and Party Chairman who defied the County Ethics Law to run for Party Chairman.  Never mind that as County Legislator, she co sponsored the law that prevented elected county officials, such as herself, from holding a party chairman's post. Never mind that her campaign for county clerk against Tom Cholakis, who was the Republican Chairman at the time, promised to keep "Politics out of the county clerk's office", referring to , we presume, her opponent's status. Doreen Connolly forgot all about the law and her promises to keep politics out of the County Clerk's Office and ran for County Democratic  Chairman, winning in a close vote.

Once there, she was taken to court by fellow Democrats and just nine months into her Chairmanship, resigned  just before a court decision would have stripped her of the paying job as county clerk for her blatant violation of the County Ethics Law.

Now mom is infuriated, throwing accusations about her daughter's opponent, that she made false accusations about the town clerk's sterling reputation and record. Sorry Doreen, no matter what you contrive in the eleventh hour, town Democrats understand that your daughter lost her party nomination at a caucus, just like she lost an election for a party committee seat a year before. She has no one to blame but herself that before she lost the nomination, she accepted the Republican endorsement.  She did this knowing that her own mother, had voted with the entire Democratic Committee, not to endorse any one who accepted the Republican line.

That action was to prevent another Jeff Spain style assault on the party's integrity and purpose as a counterbalance to the GOP and a party which must offer a choice to voters at the polls rather than attempt to seize election day as a meaningless exercise where the same candidates are endorsed by all the political parties, leaving voters with no choice at the polls.

Doreen and her daughter were part of that sad demise of the Democratic Committee in 2007. She and her daughter participated with Jeff Spain in a trial of Democrats who opposed their edicts demanding total loyalty to their policies and tolerating no dissent. Ironically, today, you will find the Connollys and the Spains, including the so called former town chairman  Jeff Spain, displaying Republican signs on their lawns. Now that's party loyalty for you. Their party opponents, however, are not responding by holding a trial of these so called Democrats for "disloyalty". Instead, they respond with facts about the record and actions of the candidates. That record of facts was nicely documented by Democratic Chairman Dan Ashley in a timely ad placed in this week's Advertiser which countered mom's letter perfectly.

Tomorrow,  Connolly and her GOP running mates face a test in which VOTERS, not the party bosses or her mother, make the decision. That may not be the way the Connolly's want to see an election conducted, after all they did try again to deny voters a choice by running and loosing in the Democratic Caucus after taking the GOP line, but that's the way it is and should be.

The "Confusion Party"

We had to laugh at the GOP's effort to cannibalize the Greenbush Party's language as a truly independent group of people whose signature base represents all areas of town and all political parties.  They are calling themselves a "Fusion Party". The slate of endorsed candidates consists of Conservatives, the Conservatives rejected, Democrats, the Democrats rejected and Republicans scratching their heads wondering who their running mates are? Are they running with Mark Evers, a Conservative rejected by Democrats and taken by Republicans thanks to his vote for their judicial candidate, or are they running with Conservative Water Contractor candidate Mike Miner, the endorsed candidate of the Conservative Party which is chaired by the town's water contractor. That's why Democrats refer to the GOP not as a "fusion party" but as the "Confusion Party". No, you can't find them on Row C for Confusion or on Row E where the real fusion party has a ballot line. Rather, you'll find confusion if you're a Republican trying to figure out which candidates are Republican backed and which are Conservative backed.  Let's put it this way, if you're confused, the higher standards are on Row A.

Halloween in North Greenbush

No political season would be complete in North Greenbush without the assortment of caricatures and cartoons our town is famous for. This year there were many submissions, most of which depicted the Supervisor in one embarrassing predicament or another, either dancing with developers, looking for his deficit or debating himself.

But readers choose this one as the most talked about and creative entry of the 2009 Election and Halloween Season. The 2009 North Greenbush Pipeline Best Dressed for Halloween Award goes to our own Town Clerk, Kathryn Connolly.

Whether fudging overtime reports, concealing reports in violation of the FOIL law or refusing to certify a document she falsified to protect her comrade, Councilman Spain, Clerk Connolly has found herself at the center of a hotly contested campaign.

After loosing the Democratic Party endorsement, largely due to burning too many bridges with people in her party who saved her political butt from her own mis-steps, Connolly is finding out that not focusing on her job, and trying to run her party and the town, can come back to bite you.

So on this Halloween Eve with the weekend res-bit dawning for the Pipeline, we wish all a happy and safe Halloween.

Democratic Election Rally

The Town Democrats are holding their Election Rally tonight at 7PM at the American Legion. The cost is $30.00 a person and $50.00 a couple. You can pay at the door and the public is invited to attend and meet all of the candidates from the Democratic side as well as several county candidates, including Judge Andrew Ceresia, Family Court Judge candidate Beth Walsh, and an expected visit by State Supreme Court candidate James G. Gilpatric.