Town GOP Chair Pleads in Petition Case

The GOP town chair, Vince Sculco, pled to charges related to the forging of Republican signatures on designating petitions for town offices last fall. A special prosecutor handled the case, the results of which were released yesterday.

Mr. Sculco pled to a single violation of election law involving a forged signature of a Republican voter on a designating petition. It can only be described as incredibly poor judgement to have done something like this, especially given the climate and battle between town and county Republicans. It was predictable that every petition and signature would be scrutinized by both sides. Any hanky panky would be detected and county Republicans spared no expense to get their adversaries, hiring a private detective to gather evidence in the case.

County GOP Chairman Jack Casey wants Sculco to resign from his party committee seat because of the conviction. He told the Record “We have taken steps as a party to stabilize North Greenbush, and I hope in view of his plea he will resign his town chairmanship and let us continue with the work that needs to be done.”

Stabilize North Greenbush Mr. Casey? You want a party chair to resign because of one conviction and look the other way at the people you supported and he opposed as they appoint an attorney with a criminal conviction record in the town courts? Has Mr. Casey forgotton that he endorsed a candidate for town board with a felony conviction? Hmm, a large double standard wouldn't you say? Perhaps you should see if your attorney has any additional convictions in his past because your friends on the town board are afraid to ask, perhaps understandably so given the past of one. Convictions are unacceptable for party offices but just fine for appointments to town offices as deputy town attorney and as candidates for town board seats no less.

You can read more at the Troy Record here and the Times Union here. here.

With the Speed of Soares!

This case was investigated and disposed of within five months. David Soares has had an ongoing investigation of several Rensselaer County GOP operatives in his sights for almost a year with out a peep. He may also be examining the great absentee ballot fraud caper from the 2005 town election in which Richard Crist ,aka Victory Lane and then town board candidates Lou Desso and Bob Ashe managed to get more absentte ballots turned in than people who voted at the polls in the Conservative Primary. Many of those absentees were home that election day and ineligible to cast their ballot as an absentee.

Hopefully DA Soares as Special Prosecutor will issue his findings before his term ends in two more years!

Let's Make A Deal!

The town board meets tonight at 6PM at the demand of the Supervisor to try and force a payment to Casale Excavating. The board voted 4-1 at the last special meeting not to pay at this time. Let's see if Evers can count or is just trying to intimidate the two additional votes he needs to pay his Conservative Party benifactors.