When cornered with totally inconsistent and opposite statements about a subject, Councilman Al Spain uses an interesting escape hatch. It’s called, “no comment”. Apparently Mr. Spain believes such a response preserves his credibility on a subject rather than further the appearance of engaging in an obvious act of public deception.
Last Thursday night’s Town Board meeting produced one of those defining moments for Spain when confronted by his nemesis, Democratic Committeeman CB Smith who first reminded him that at two prior Board meetings he insisted his support for audits of 2006 and 2007 town finances was “routine” and had nothing to do with the State Comptroller’s audit of Water District 14.
Unfortunately for Al Spain, he allowed two press releases to get printed with he and Councilman Lou Desso insisting that they were supporting these audits because of the findings in the audit of Water 14 which they redesigned to lay blame at the foot of their political adversaries rather than the Supervisor whom they support and other employees in town hall aligned with them.
Spain quickly discovered how easy it is to get caught in a lie whether for political gain or self deceit. Our only recommendation to Mr. Spain is to try walking the line on the straight and narrow, sticking to the truth even when it may be a bit painful to yourself or to those you are trying to protect. In the end, one’s personal integrity is not worth sacrifice to protect anyone and it certainly is not worth the price inflicted on one’s own reputation to let yourself be used by those writing these contradictory and deceitful press releases for both the Councilman and his brother Jeff who was also caught in a big lie last week.
So if you are wondering which Al Spain to believe regarding the reason for audits of town finances for 2006 and 2007, it's clear that even the Councilman finds himself unable to speak on this defining question of character. He has "No comment". Sadly, until he does, he also has no credibility.
When One Signature is not Enough
The same Board meeting produced a 3-2 vote not to require a second signature on town checks leaving Mark Evers the sole authority to sign. The prior board and taxpayers paid a price for the single signature practice when at least two checks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars were issued by Evers to his Conservative contractor in Water District 14 despite the fact the district was out of money and overspending both the contract price and the total available bond. It’s a vote Spain may yet regret placing his trust in Evers who has shown a willingness to do just about anything to get his way on political issues. A kudo to Councilman Desso for his vote to join Councilman Michaels in trying to approve the dual signatures.
A Band-aid on Contract Administration
The Board voted to approve changes in the way Water District 14 and other large contracts are administered. Trouble is that the so called reforms are already supposed to be a part of the process used to approve vendor claims and were simply ignored by town officials involved in approving claims. One million dollars in over spending later, the town board is agreeing things need to be changed by hiring someone to administer the contracts and keep the board informed of spending to date.
Someone was informed of the spending levels in WD 14 and chose to pretend he did not know. The Supervisor signed those vendor claims which clearly listed the spending to date and the contract price along with the bond amount. Building Department officials who still remain on the job likewise saw those claims and never informed other Board members of the status of the spending. In fact it appears as those town officials in that department approved work early on that was not part of the contract which drove up spending and the cost, work designed to sell water to Poestenkill.
Time will tell whether things will change but one thing is certain. Water 14 is unfinished and out of money. This Town Board must either try to enforce a contract in a manner they protects taxpayers or find more money for the contractor who runs their Conservative Party. Get your bet in early!
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