Which Party Had the Most Votes?

And the winner is, the Greenbush Party! Incredibly, more people voted for Supervisor on ROW F than on any other party line! More than the Democratic or Republican Party lines. More than the Conservative or Independence lines. Unofficial totals show the machine count for Supervisor on the Greenbush Line at 1493 while the Democratic line produced only 1051 for Evers. The Republican line produced only 678 while the Independence and Conservative lines produced only 160 and 230 respectively.

Clearly, the Greenbush Party is now the dominant political party in North Greenbush. When it is aligned with a major party such as the Democrats whose leaders sold out their endorsement to the Republicans, the outcome will be stunning.

The Assessor

Well the mob came out as expected last Thursday night to jeer and ridicule a highly qualified and professional applicant for Town Assessor. The mob, led by the so called reform democrats and Chairman Jeff Spain attacked the integrity and professional credentials of candidate Philip Malone, the Deputy Assessor of East Greenbush, a town which has just undergone a full re-evaluation. In a twist of irony, the attorney for the Van Rensselaer Square Mall made an appeal on behalf of Malone which was unexpected and as a result of his concern that the office be non political. Attorney Paul Goldman warned that placing a political person in such an office would severely tarnish the image of the community. He offered his own experiences with Malone in the East Greenbush Assessor’s Office, calling his highly competent and knowledgeable.

But the mob had other ideas and with the help of the Supervisor and Town Clerk who orchestrated the charade, tarred and feather Malone and elevated political hack John Harkin, the current temporary occupant to status of saint hood. Connolly’s even acted out alligator tears as she read off the roll call pretending to hold back emotion fearing the vote would place a professional in this office and send her family friend and Germano stalwart packing.

Trouble is all the attacks on Councilman Mihalko were taking their toll. Mihalko shocked Malone and his two Democratic colleagues by changing his mind and voting not to appoint Malone. This left Harkin where he is even though it is clear, there are other plans for Harkin in January.

Rumor has it he will become Town Comptroller on a part time basis so he does not have to put in the 40 hour week as Assessor for which he can only get paid $25,500.00 annually as a result of his status as a state pensioner. Evers is unhappy with his choice for Comptroller and intended to replace her in January.

If the current Majority of the Board does not act before the end of the year to appoint a new Assessor, the appointment will fall into the hands of Evers, Desso, Spain and Kern and will likely mean a political hack for the next 7 years.

Harkin’s ties to James Germano are well documented and his ties to Victory Lane, the Crist-Mirch consulting company run out of the County Legislature. Harkin was their accountant and did their taxes. He was led to these GOP operatives by the turncoat Germano who left the Democratic Party to become a Conservative after his bribery trial with Henry Zwack, the former GOP county executive. (Both were found not guilty at trial) Germano was deeply involved in the reform democrats organization and was instrumental in securing the GOP endorsement for Evers and Desso. In effect, Germano is again calling many of the shots in town government.

Harkin is likely to be called as a prosecution witness in the slowly moving investigation of Special Prosecutor David Soares involving the charges of former county staffer Colleen Regan who charges that Victory Lane was a private business run out of the legislature with county staff and equipment while she was employed there. That detail was left out of Clerk Connolly’s attack on Malone’s credentials and Harkin’s “qualifications” Thursday night.

Tomorrow:

Tomorrow, the Greenbush Party is here to stay and more on town finances.