Update:11AM

Lou Desso has recorded a robocall which is running today, apparently in response to a call which opponents ran exposing his status as a convicted felon. Stay tuned, this could get interesting!

Mama To the Rescue  6AM

When your campaign is out of gas, faltering against a surging effort by an opponent who striped you of your party line and forced you to take a life jacket from the opposition party which despises you, who you gonna call? Why Mama of course!

That's exactly what Kathryn Connolly has done with a last minute Hail Mary mailing  and robo call from her mother, a long ago disgraced Democratic County Clerk and Party Chairman who defied the County Ethics Law to run for Party Chairman.  Never mind that as County Legislator, she co sponsored the law that prevented elected county officials, such as herself, from holding a party chairman's post. Never mind that her campaign for county clerk against Tom Cholakis, who was the Republican Chairman at the time, promised to keep "Politics out of the county clerk's office", referring to , we presume, her opponent's status. Doreen Connolly forgot all about the law and her promises to keep politics out of the County Clerk's Office and ran for County Democratic  Chairman, winning in a close vote.

Once there, she was taken to court by fellow Democrats and just nine months into her Chairmanship, resigned  just before a court decision would have stripped her of the paying job as county clerk for her blatant violation of the County Ethics Law.

Now mom is infuriated, throwing accusations about her daughter's opponent, that she made false accusations about the town clerk's sterling reputation and record. Sorry Doreen, no matter what you contrive in the eleventh hour, town Democrats understand that your daughter lost her party nomination at a caucus, just like she lost an election for a party committee seat a year before. She has no one to blame but herself that before she lost the nomination, she accepted the Republican endorsement.  She did this knowing that her own mother, had voted with the entire Democratic Committee, not to endorse any one who accepted the Republican line.

That action was to prevent another Jeff Spain style assault on the party's integrity and purpose as a counterbalance to the GOP and a party which must offer a choice to voters at the polls rather than attempt to seize election day as a meaningless exercise where the same candidates are endorsed by all the political parties, leaving voters with no choice at the polls.

Doreen and her daughter were part of that sad demise of the Democratic Committee in 2007. She and her daughter participated with Jeff Spain in a trial of Democrats who opposed their edicts demanding total loyalty to their policies and tolerating no dissent. Ironically, today, you will find the Connollys and the Spains, including the so called former town chairman  Jeff Spain, displaying Republican signs on their lawns. Now that's party loyalty for you. Their party opponents, however, are not responding by holding a trial of these so called Democrats for "disloyalty". Instead, they respond with facts about the record and actions of the candidates. That record of facts was nicely documented by Democratic Chairman Dan Ashley in a timely ad placed in this week's Advertiser which countered mom's letter perfectly.

Tomorrow,  Connolly and her GOP running mates face a test in which VOTERS, not the party bosses or her mother, make the decision. That may not be the way the Connolly's want to see an election conducted, after all they did try again to deny voters a choice by running and loosing in the Democratic Caucus after taking the GOP line, but that's the way it is and should be.

The "Confusion Party"

We had to laugh at the GOP's effort to cannibalize the Greenbush Party's language as a truly independent group of people whose signature base represents all areas of town and all political parties.  They are calling themselves a "Fusion Party". The slate of endorsed candidates consists of Conservatives, the Conservatives rejected, Democrats, the Democrats rejected and Republicans scratching their heads wondering who their running mates are? Are they running with Mark Evers, a Conservative rejected by Democrats and taken by Republicans thanks to his vote for their judicial candidate, or are they running with Conservative Water Contractor candidate Mike Miner, the endorsed candidate of the Conservative Party which is chaired by the town's water contractor. That's why Democrats refer to the GOP not as a "fusion party" but as the "Confusion Party". No, you can't find them on Row C for Confusion or on Row E where the real fusion party has a ballot line. Rather, you'll find confusion if you're a Republican trying to figure out which candidates are Republican backed and which are Conservative backed.  Let's put it this way, if you're confused, the higher standards are on Row A.


Town Conservatives Hiding Financial Information
Just a day before the General Election and Town Conservatives have still failed to file their 11 Day Pre General Financial Report with the NY State Board of Elections.  This would have included contributions to their recent fund raiser at the Legion Hall in Wynantskill held days before the filing was due.

Of course their treasurer is probably busy helping with an alternative blog site known for its mis-spellings and vulgar commentary allowed without any concern for civility or the standards of libel for which federal courts have now deemed applicable for commentary which is often posted without regard by the owners of internet publications.

The State Board of Elections has been very aggressive with  enforcement of filing requirements with active committees issuing significant fines in the last two years to treasurers missing filing requirements on line.
Election Eve

The end of the road for Decision 2009 has arrived as voter prepare to make their choices at the polls tomorrow. Polls open at 6AM and close at 9AM.  Polling places continue to be the same as last year with Districts 1 and 7 combined at the Main Ave Town Offices and Districts 2 and 6 combined at Bloomingrove Church.