Desso's World

Judging from today's Troy Record, the staff at the County Legislature must have been working overtime last week writing for Mr. Desso. The 786 word redo of the truth in North Greenbush can be read here.

Desso completely revises the truth about his actions in North Greenbush where he double dips as a town board member while getting paid as a county legislator. This apparently gives him license with the truth, or so he thinks.

Lou forgot to mention that he redid the budget last year in secret, without ever discussing the changes with either the Supervisor or Comptroller who prepared it.

He forgot that he increased General Fund spending by about $70,000 and forgot that he restored budget cuts proposed by the Supervisor aimed at eliminating the deficit.

He forgot that he made a part time secretary in the Building Department full time with costly benefits. Forgot, we guess, to mention that he fired the Comptroller who helped guide the town to better financial management while at the same time, appointing his friend the Assessor to the Comptroller's post without doing any research on the appointment.

Had he bothered he might have learned that the Assessor had just been arraigned on felony charges hours before the appointment. He might have kept the finance office intact while looking for a replacement who would not have to resign a week later leaving us with no Comptroller.

But Lou was in a rush to control the office in a way he apparently couldn't with a professional at the helm and dissent cannot be tolerated. Maybe that's why the Town's web page is now run through a censor which has removed all the monthly reports of the Town Supervisor from public view, including the budget and her message on the budget. These documents paint a different view than the one Lou's painting so we assume it cannot be tolerated in Lou's world.

There's so much more we could write here, including his efforts to reward a friend in the Building Department with $10,000 in overtime to replace a fired employee Lou claimed was not needed and his negotiation of union contracts again behind the back of the Supervisor and Comptroller, but alas, duty calls.

Suffice to say that Lou Desso is one of those people so consumed by political power that one elective office and paycheck just isn't enough.Even if he has to miss a town board meeting and several Public Hearings to assure his place of power, he will, just as he did the night he skipped his official responsibilities to attend a Democratic Party nominating caucus and capture a party line he has absolutely nothing in common with.