Town Advertises for Assessor

But not on it own web page!

While this ad is a start to properly advertise for an assessor and hopefully one who is not a State retiree with a waiver that allows him to collect his full state pension and a new full public salary in North Greenbush, it's a far cry from aggressively complying with the demands of the State Civil Service Commission.

All the money spent to spruce up the new town web page and not a word about this opening. Again the effort is to minimize exposure to the public and avoid applications which might endanger the politically connected incumbent John Harkin. Even the return to the Town Clerk ought to be a flag to applicants who would be wise to send their applications by certified mail so as to prevent any hanky panky in the form of "We didn't receive other applications".

We'll, if the town won't advertise the position on the public website, we will, and at no charge!

Madsen and Connolly seek Democratic Committee Seats

Again the theater of the absurd opens in North Greenbush as Democrats supported by Republicans try to wrestle control of the Democratic Committee from Democrats who support Democrats.

Connolly lost the seat two years ago in a primary fight along with her running mate Madsen. The pair is at it again, filing a dubious petition at the Board of Elections last week which was created by the GOP Elections staff. The pair's GOP credentials just keep growing with Connolly accepting the GOP endorsement last year to run for town clerk while getting blown out trying to grab the Democratic endorsement as well. Madsen, well how stupid can you get? You don't claim to be a Democrat and run for a party committee seat while donating to the Republicans! But that's what he did as evidenced by last week's GOP filing with the State Board of Elections which you can read here. Madsen also led the charge for the GOP candidates who tried to take the Democratic endorsement in addition to the GOP endorsement at last year's party caucus. He placed GOP candidates into nomination at that caucus who were soundly defeated. Madsen also proposed a highly controversial change to the Comprehensive Plan which would allow big box retail to exist on RT 4 at the now golf driving range. He did this as an obvious political favor to the landowner and at the expense of common sense and the good of the town.

There's nothing worse than people who stand for nothing and try to grab power any way they can, even by claiming loyalty to one party while working against it and for the opposition party. Incidentally, Madsen's contribution to the town Democratic Party is exactly the same as Connolly's. Zero! That's a tad better, however than the negative number town Republicans are posting for their May 2010 fundraiser. Their filing shows they took in just $$2490.00 from all sources while spending $2531.00 on postage, a DJ and a $2000.00 plus bill for the restaurant. That's a loss of $41.00. Their balance on the July report is just $135.36.

Our suggestion to the town GOP: Next time, try Moscatiello's. It's a classy place and you might post a net gain!

Petitions, Petitions and Fraudulent Petitions!

Well, the GOP supporting "Democrats" are at it again, trying to take control of the Democratic Party's committee seats by filing petitions against the Democrats who support Democrats. Democrats upon viewing those petitions filed last week, hired a private investigator who obtained numerous affidavits in Election Districts 7 and 8 which are likely to invalidate the petitions in State Supreme Court and prove voter fraud. In one instance Democratic voters swore out affidavits affirming that they signed a petition two weeks after the June 6th date listed for their signature and that they actually signed the petition a full week after they signed petitions of candidates endorsed by the Democratic Committee.

In the other instance, Democratic voters signed sworn affidavits that a woman came to the door to witness and obtain their signatures despite the fact that a man signed the witness statement under penalty of perjury.

Today is the last day for any candidate to decline the nomination at the Board of Elections. Town Democrats will make have to make their affidavits public later this week when specific objections are due at the BOE. It appears the only way these affidavits will not steal the headlines from the Working Families investigation in Troy is if these so called Democratic candidates quietly pull out of the race, making the affidavits moot. We hope that doesn't happen because there's nothing more colorful than a parade of subpoenaed voters and candidates bouncing around the court house with camera crews looking for interviews and angles. Democrats are said to be planning a news conference at the Court House steps with their private investigator should the matter need to be argued in State Supreme Court. The affidavits will make great "camera candy".

The insurgent candidates for Democratic Committee seats are being led by the once indicted former party boss F. James Germano. His petitions were said to have been created by the GOP staff at the County Board of Elections, all of which is sure to come out if there is a trial. We're also told that witness tampering will be on the agenda at the trial because some of the voters who signed their petitions received phone calls warning them about the private investigator and coaching them on what to say or not to say. The insurgents apparently became aware of the investigation and tried to cover their tracks by suggesting responses that contradicted the truth. Ohh, that tangled web!