Conservacrats in Charge.... Will the Real Democrats Please Stand Up!

Those attending Friday's Democratic Dinner provide a fitting epitaph for the Town Democratic Party. The cast spelled the demise of the donkey. Let's start by giving a star his due. Former Democratic boss F. James Germano returned to the familiar stage of a town Democratic dinner after a long absence due to his indictment along with now Judge, Herny F. Zwack. If Mr. Zwack can pull off an appointed judgeship, then Mr. Germano can come back to be recognized for his efforts at taking control of the town Democratic Party.

Mr.Germano was the talk of the town by many attending the dinner under the leadership of the so called “reform” Dems who took control of the party from Dan Ashley earlier this year. The North Greenbush Pipeline received numerous reports of people who spotted the “Boss” holding court among the crowd. Germano had left the party to become a Conservative aligned with his new found friends in the Republican Party with whom he was indicted and stood trial in connection with a no show job scandal. All were found not guilty, but the threshold for legal conviction was much higher than public perception and Mr. Germano had pretty much caused the Democrats to lose power and the developers to gain control of town government through the Republican party.

After leaving the Democratic Party with about fifty cents in the treasury, Mr. Germano became a Conservative where he continued behind the scenes loyalties with his friends in Casale Excavating who now run the town Conservative party. Many have speculated that the real source of the money and that mystery contribution to the “reform” Dems came from either Casale or a developer. And yes, Conservative Chairman Casale of Casale Excavating was also present along with his Building Department Committeeman Michael Miner who is their "go to guy" for favorable interpretations of big contracts they hold with the town. Then of course, the most bizarre sights of all. Defeated Republican Town Board candidate in 2005, current Vice Chair of the Conservatives and the so called Citizens Club, Lou Desso and former GOP appointee Judith Wos, Democratic critic Lilian Parsons all present at the Democratic fundraiser. Have they no shame at all?

We can’t leave out perennial lobbyist Lou Cotrona. Mr. Cotrona managed once again to find the Legion Hall after rechecking his residency to be certain which town he lived in. This lesson was well learned after he was removed from the East Greenbush School Board after they found out he falsely stated his residency.

Louis Cotrona, was one of the many registered Democrats sleeping in the same political bed as these GOP adversaries. You have to wonder what a Democrat is anymore. Mr. Desso attending a fundraiser with his opponent, Councilman Alan Michaels would cause any observer to wonder what this so called party has morphed into. This is a Democratic Party and organization that spent thousands of dollars telling North Greenbush how negative Mr. Desso and his blank check development gang were. They even had Eliot Spitzer make a rare recorded phone call in the race. Now they take Mr. Desso's, Mrs. Wos's and Mrs. Parson's money and who knows, maybe they are just crazy enough to endorse Desso for town office.

These are political alliances which merely use political parties as a football, passed back and forth in a game of keep-away. Today he’s a Democrat, tomorrow a Conservative, then a Democrat again when your guys get control. Whew!!! So much for ideology when Republicans were the party of big business and Democrats were for the working folks. Now it’s money and agendas driving the take over of political committees which then attempt to deliver the agenda to the money folks that helped buy control of the party. The Cold War days sure were a lot easier to deal with.

There were a few "real Democrats" present and they stood out precisely because of that. The County Chairman Thomas Wade, William Dedrick, Judges George and Andrew Ceresia who must be doing their share of head scratching. There were also some folks noticably absent such as former Chairman Dan Ashley and C.B.Smith.

Real Democrats in North Greenbush had better take a long hard look at the word “Values” as they see who this party leadership endorses. The label of Democrat simply can’t be trusted any longer. It’s the values of the candidate that must be scrutinized along with the hidden agendas too many are cloaking under a party label. We have a name for this particular fusion of agendas, Conservacrats. Their motto, “Hold on to your wallets”!