Premo On Fox News

North Greenbush Highway Superintendent Mark Premo was interviewed yesterday on the local affiliate of Fox News, CH 23. The subject was a revisit of a story they did two years ago on a new type of pavement made from recycled tires.

The interview took place on Dobert Court which is near RT 150 in Wynantskill. You can watch the segment by clicking on the image above.

Connolly's Business Savvy

A decision by a down state NY State Supreme Court Justice contains a sentence that begs the questions of North Greenbush politico Tom Connolly's involvement in a criminal case being prosecuted in NY City involving the apparent procurement of more than 1 million dollars donated by Mayor Mike Bloomberg to the State Independence Party for a poll monitoring operation.

The decision points out that Connolly signed a contract on behalf of the Independence Party for a cool million dollars in services from another political operative John Haggerty who it is alleged, set up a sham company to receive the money and perform the services. The company, Special Elections Operations, LLC was created a month after Connolly signed a contract with Haggerty for the services which the DA alleges were never performed. Yep, Tom signed a contract for a million bucks in service with his party's money with a company that did not yet exist legally.

You can read the judge's decision ordering that the trial go forward here. It details that our ace politico and businessman Connolly, signed a contract on behalf of the State Independence Party on October 15, 2009. Unfortunately the company didn't even exist legally at the time and wasn't officialially created until December 3, 2009, the very same day that Haggerty submitted a bill for services amounting to $750,000. It's also alleged he used the money to help finance a house purchase.

The consulting agreement Connolly signed with Haggerty identified the company's address as 121 State Street in Albany, NY. and provided that Haggerty would receive no more than a 1.1 million dollar fee. Why are we not surprised to learn that Connolly would enter into an agreement with a company that didn't exist, and whose address turned out to be a sham, according to the prosecution. No office could be found there, no mail was delivered there and they could find no one who ever worked there.

Now its only a million bucks so we can understand how Tom Connolly could be so cavalier with his party's money. But what we can't figure out is why he didn't monitor the delivery of the million dollars worth of services he paid for. Further, we can't understand why Connolly wasn't the first person knocking on the door of the District Attorney to complain?

Unless of course getting ripped off for a million bucks didn't bother Connolly because just maybe there's going to be some explanation provided during the trial which begins on June 1st. That explanation is likely to detail what if any role Connolly may have played in facilitating this massive scheme to defraud.

While we await the outcome, one thing is for sure. Tom Connolly has not demonstrated much in the line of business savvy. He was either inept in handling the party's money or perhaps in this one up to his neck.

The money trail is always a tell tale for prosecutors. Anyone who received some of these funds had a legal obligation to report the income to State and Federal tax authorities but that becomes problematic if you weren't supposed to get any legally. So what folks in that situation often do is spend the cash in an effort to leave no trail.

Our suggestion is that the NY DA take a peak at the surveillance video at the high rollers lounge of the Albany OTB Tele-theater which we understand is a favorite hangout of one Independence Party politico who used to also be a full time employee of the NY State Senate working for the recently indicted Senator Carl Krueger. While prosecutors are counting the cash on tape, they can also compare the video time stamp with the time sheets on file in the State Senate. They can also check the card swipe records to see a detailed report of the days and time spent there. That's just in case they need a little more leverage to facilitate cooperation or additional indictments, whichever their strategy requires.

Hey you Rensselaer County folks who are waiting for Connolly to endorse your candidacy for the Independence Party nomination this fall may find that Wilson-Pakula signature of authorization a prize for your opponents to wrap around your political necks.

The trial starts June 1st. Stay tuned!

Another View

We gave Lou Desso's lengthy Op - Ed piece in the Troy Record a link last month,February 8th, when it was published. Here is a response to his unique perceptions in today's Record.

And if you missed "Desso's World", here is a link to his post in the Troy Record.

Judge Elliott May Seek State Supreme Court

Certainly one of the most distinguished and respected local jurists, Ray Elliott is a fixture here in North Greenbush where he has served as Town Justice for 27 years. Ray appears to have an inside track for the Democratic nomination for State Supreme Court.

Elliott would certainly be a strong contender for the Democratic nomination for the seat being vacated by the retiring Edward O. Spain. He would also have a great chance of winning in the general election given the enrollment advantage Democrats enjoy.

Should he win, he would vacate his seat on town court in January, opening the door for an interim appointment and special election. All of us who know Ray wish him well and much success.

Here is a story in today's Times Union.

Closing the Noose

It looks like the noose is tightening around several players in scandals that may impact a couple of politicos with ties to North Greenbush. NY State Senator Carl Krueger is said to be surrendering today to Federal prosecutors in a bribery scandal. Here is a link to the story in the NY Post.

Krueger is a renegade Democrat who traditionally aligned himself with Senate Republicans when Joe Bruno was in charge. He was part of the gang of 4 that threw the Senate in turmoil in an attempted coup that would have shifted control from Democrats to Republicans.

His connection to North Greenbush comes with his long employment of resident Tom Connolly and non resident Deputy Town Attorney Josh Ehrlich. Ehrlich remains on the Senate payroll on Krueger's staff while Connolly was recently terminated with the shift of control of the Senate back to the GOP.

Connolly has other troubles as his name or position in the Independence Party continues to circulate in a 1.1million dollar money scandal. He is the Vice Chair of the State Party and is under the scrutiny of a grand jury in NY City for his knowledge of the missing party money donated by Mayor Bloomberg. A State Judge mentions the Vice Chairman in Court as detailed in this article in the NY Times.

Town Board Meeting


Tonight at 7pm, the show continues as Desso and company continue to keep the public in the dark with agendas that do not disclose who they intend to appoint to the Planning Board and its now vacant chairmanship. Open government, Desso style!

We are posting the agenda here because no one bothers to put it on the expensive town web site. (It's amazing what a little prodding can do as the agenda was finally posted on the town web page on this, the very day of the meeting.)

Parties Seek Candidates

As the month of June approaches, both political parties are advertising for anyone interested in representing them in the coming town elections.

The Republican Committee information can be found here..The Democratic Committee information can be found here

Once again it will be interesting to see whether candidates registered as Democrats will be running with the Republicans.It is not likely that Democrats will permit registered Republicans to run with their banner and party endorsement.

Because there are people so disparate to win an election at any cost, you will find registered Democrats like Town Clerk Kathryn Connolly and Councilman Al Spain as likely to be endorsed and accept the Republican Party line. There is nothing like an election in which the candidate stands for nothing but winning while representing no party platform or values.

Town Democrats have refused to embrace Democrats who accept the Republican line in the belief that people should be able to choose on election day between candidates and their qualifications. (It's called the Democratic Process!)

Anyway, every process, even democracy, can be tested by folks who have an agenda besides a good old fashioned choice at the polls. North Greenbush has proven to be a political swamp when it comes to winning elections and securing power. We can however, hope that this year will be different.

Strenka Fires Back

The former Comptroller pulled no punches in this letter to the editor in today's Record.It represent the most comprehensive response to the hatchet job launched by Lou Desso on his reputation since Desso first leaked the report last Tuesday to both the Record and the Times Union.

For the first time we learned that late reports from Strenka's office were the result of Desso himself pressuring the Comptroller to delay for fear the contents of a public report would provide fodder to his political opposition on the town's finances.

In sum, it paints Dessso as orchestrating a political hit on Strenka's reutation and plenty of ammunition for the Democrats this fall as they field candidates to oppose Desso and his mind boggling interferences in town hall.

Beast Hunters of North Greenbush


Patrick Spain

No were not talking about CB or Lou Desso, but rather the son of Councilman Al Spain who has achieved some success and recognition on the national, if not international stage as a researcher and film producer for National Geographic. You can read about it in today's Times Union here. The first episode is this Friday night at 9PM on the National Geographic channel.
We're not sure if son Patrick is a chip off the old block although the script sounds like it could be repeated right here in North Greenbush with its colorful characters serving as the nature study. Hell, some might argue that he's holding one of the town's politicos in that great picture which is sure to give some of us the willies.

We wish Patrick Spain success and are pleased he has recovered from his recent illness.

Our Neighbor's Struggle Too

In one sense it's good to know that we in North Greenbush are not alone in our struggle to keep government open and accountable. While our Town Board has turned off the cameras that used to record and broadcast Board meetings on Time Warner Cable and censor any political criticism of the Supervisor by restricting her access to the taxpayer funded town web page, bloggers can shine an unwanted light on local government and the politicians who run things.

Yes there are studious efforts and fumbling efforts by the political operatives on both sides of the political spectrum. But the East Greenbush blog called East Greenbush Talks offers a perspective that lacks the name calling and hate that characterizes some blogs whose authors lack any capacity to provide substantive thoughtful criticism.

We were especially fond of this post on the East Greenbush Ethics Board. Imagine that, an Ethic Board that actually meets while we in North Greenbush have one that has never met, not even once. Better yet, we have a Town Board Majority likes it that way and has refused to take any action to compel them to meet or to hear complaints against town officials collecting dust in the Town Clerk's Office.

So take a minute to compare notes on two communities that have a lot in common and that could do a great deal together in terms of shared services if they decided to seriously examine the possibilities.