Man of the Year!

Last fall, North Greenbush Democrats named Highway Superintendent Mark Premo their "Man of the Year" in recognition of the great job he does and credit he reflects back on the Community and Democratic Party. Despite his great service and recognition, the folks who have used their considerable money to take over the town’s Democratic and Conservative Parties appear to be showing no influx of reason as they continue to prepare to take revenge on Mark Premo for his long friendships with folks the new powers love to hate.

They want public repudiation of their political adversaries from Premo and those adversaries happen to be Premo’s friends. Hmm, seems like a fair price to pay for political support, hey? Of course they think it’s reasonable but Mr. Premo has something called a sense of personal integrity that does not allow him to pay to play in that fashion. Instead he politely and firmly is telling the reform Dems and their allies, the Contractor Conservatives to take their endorsement and, well, you know what.

The new Democratic Party boss, Jeff Spain actually demanded a letter of public repudiation from Mr. Premo as a condition of his political support. The letter was to be directed at long time friends of Mr. Premo, Spain’s adversaries, Dan Ashley and C.B. Smith. In addition he attempt to force Mr. Premo to compel resignations from the town Democratic Committee of two of his employees so that Spain could place two of his flunkies on the committee, Lou Cotrona and Bill Madsen and strengthen his weak majority which does not agree with him on Mark Premo’s endorsement.

Why is this crew so upset with Ashley and Smith. Water District 14, the Conservative Party Cash Cow which Democrats under the leadership of Ashely and Smith have criticized for cost over runs which now total $740,000 more than the stipulated bid of 6.4 million. And the bills keep coming in. If Casale and his allies in the reform Dems get control of the Town Board, those checks like the one Conservative Supervisor Evers gave without required town board approval will literally flow like water! It was the Democrats with a 3-2 vote and majority that asked the State Comptroller for help in getting to the bottom of the malfeasance in Water District 14. Conservative Chairman Casale has a Conservative Committee person placed in the Building Department who has approved nearly all of the payments to date and a Supervisor who snuck the last payment into his pocket the day after a Board meeting in which the $83 grand was not approved.

Their plan to grab a full $830,000 to pay for the district the way they and not the contract says it should be paid, ran into a little trouble when taxpayers turned in a petition to force a public vote on whether Casale should get the extra money. Now the Conservatives on the Town Board are running away from the referendum hoping not to have it and the embarrassing defeat it will likely produce.

But who should we blame in the Democratic Party for this heavy handed and misguided thuggery with Mr. Premo? Primarily, Mr. Spain’s allies on the Democratic Committee. They have not stood up to him or his efforts to punish Mr. Premo who is probably the best Superintendent of Highways the town has ever had. Let’s start with the Town Clerk, Ms. Connolly, her mother Doreen Connolly, William O’Neil and Edward Cassino, his Vice Chairs, Frank Giuliano, and the others who support Mr. Spain and his alliance with the Contractor Conservatives who run the Conservative Party.

Their candidate to oppose Mr. Premo may be, what else, a developer and contractor aligned with the Casales, Michael Carey. Mr. Carey is, with Mr. Casales quiet financial backing, attempting to build 10 or so homes off North Road which adjoin property owned by Dan Ashley. Mr. Carey hired, with a hint from the Connolly’s, Republican lawyer Tom Spargo to stage a dog a pony show at town board meetings with the help of the Supervisor, to imply that Mr. Ashley had done something improper when he purchased adjoining land several years back that borders Mr. Carey’s planned development. Mr. Spargo, you may recall, is a disgraced former Supreme Court judge who was removed from the bench by the Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Court of Appeals.

Mr. Spargo as Mr. Carey’s attorney, had the audacity to imply that Mr. Carey should be given the right to access his development through Mr. Ashley’s land and were trying to get the town board to agree to the nonsense. It was all an elaborate dog and pony show that went absolutely nowhere but probably was a lot of fun for Mr. Ashely’s opponents who wasted a considerable amount of town board time with their games.

So whether this crew nominates Michael Carey, Frank Giuliano or some other candidate of revenge for Highway Superintendent, they will do nothing to erode the public support for Mr. Premo who could win re-election with an anonymous line on the ballot. Not to worry, the Republicans would likely love to endorse him and who knows, they might get lucky.

Our thanks to the reader who submitted this photo.