The North Greenbush Pipeline

Town Board Takes The Fifth

2012-01-26T20:46:00.006-05:00

What a remarkable sight, a veritable "silence of the lambs" as 5 elected officials sat silent as they listened and refused to answer any questions concerning the hiring process they used to appoint two secretaries to the town justices without ever discussing or allowing the town justices to interview their prospective secretaries.

The new board strategy of deafening silence for public questions was an unprecedented display of arrogance and amounted to a town board taking the Fifth Amendment to avoid the embarrassment of answering public questions. Did the town justices interview their prospective candidates for their own secretarial help? Silence.... Were the names taken from a Civil Service List? Silence.... Are the positions funded in the budget?Silence....Would the Supervisor approve if he were to find a new secretary in his office, hired without his knowledge or consent by his board colleagues? Silence....

This is our new unanimous single minded open government in North Greenbush. The town board tried to impose a court clerk on the justices last year and they refused to accept the names. So now they jam secretaries down their throats without even the courtesy of allowing them to interview the candidates.

Democracy at work folks. Watch the video tape. It proves actions speak louder than words.

Politics Enters the Court Room Again

2012-01-26T06:00:00.001-05:00

First it was the unlawful appointments of two non resident deputy town attorneys who had to have a special law passed before they could be appointed a second and third time legally to their jobs. Now it's a town justice and two Secretaries neither requested in the budget and likely not even known to the current and former judge. These appointees are about to take center stage at tonight's so called "workshop" meeting of the town board as the latest example of inserting partisan politics into the courts.

Of course the board made a big deal about getting workshops back to non acting discussion type meetings earlier this year but that is going out the door at the very first workshop meeting given the resolutions on the agenda.

But what should really make folks take notice is the secrecy in which the whole appointment process took place. Even the agenda fails to name the nominee to the position or tho two secretaries.

Our sources indicate that the board political choice is none other than the sister of the head of the Building Department. More on this tomorrow.

The King and "I"

2011-12-19T18:59:00.006-05:00

In what can only be described as a contemptuous disrespect for the law and the outgoing Supervisor as well as a sign of what is to come, Lou Desso and his obedient servant, Supervisor Elect Al Spain, refused to attend a duly called special meeting of the town board pursuant to Town Law. The meeting was scheduled for Tuesday December 19th.

No it wasn't that they had some kind of conflict or excused absence, it was more of a case of thumbing their nose at the Supervisor and the laws they are sworn to uphold as board members.

Both gentlemen were standing in a side corridor at the entrance to the Comptroller's Office at 5PM, the time of the meeting. Rather than obey the law and take the 60 paces down the hallway to attend the meeting and provide the needed quorum, they elected to sneak out of the building leaving the Supervisor with not one board member to attend the meeting.

Now we can't imagine what was on the agenda that caused these two characters to act like a couple of kids unaware of the need to accept responsibilities conveyed on them, but it sure wasn't the solo agenda item, the ratification of a CSEA contract all had no issues with a before the meeting was called.

A series of emails initiated by Lou Desso, or as he should be known, King Louie the First of North Greenbush, may hold the key to mischievous action. Suddenly Lou needed more time to consider things in the contract that his buddy Councilman Bott had helped negotiate. Perhaps Lou just can't handle the demands of two elective offices and need to make a tough choice or maybe he is just plain arrogant.

But Al Spain knows better and we would just love to hear his excuse. Hey folks, we get exactly the kind of government we deserve so hold on to your hats. It will be a long two years!

Spain Keeps A Pledge to Retire

2011-12-14T06:00:00.000-05:00

Al Spain has submitted his retirement papers to the City of Troy, fulfilling a pledge that he made during the campaign after his opponent raised the issue at a city hall news conference. Once completed, he will join the ranks of many double dippers collecting his pension and a salary from the town of North Greenbush.

Once the position is vacated the mayor gets to decide whether the position is abolished or someone else off a list is appointed to the job. Obviously the responsible action would be to abolish the position as it is clearly duplicitous given the fact that Troy has a Civil Service Commission. Troy also is facing budgetary pressures which make the timing of the retirement an opportunity to cut city spending.

The town rumor mill is flush with whispers about the intentions of the Town Board come January with regard to the Supervisor's salary. Some say they plan to increase it to a full time level. We'll have to wait and see.

A Job for Free Legal Work

Another of the rumors about town concern the likely reappointment of an Albany County resident as a town attorney. The new rumors revolve around new legal work submitted by Ehrlich on behalf of Al Spain's brother Jeff who has managed to file more legal papers long after an expired appeal deadline for the civil case that has him repaying the thousands of dollars he misappropriated from the Town's Democratic Committee.

Jeff Spain has apparently never had to pay the attorney for any of the legal work. Instead, the attorney does the work in exchange for continued employment here in the town with the help and support of brother Al Spain.

Should Spain vote to reappoint attorney Joshua Ehrlich at the January Organizational Meeting, it would not be because of his spotless legal record or his residency in the town, but more likely as a highly questionable quid pro quo for the legal favors the attorney continues to perform for brother Jeff. Let's see whether Spain recuses himself this time or invites yet another Ethics Law complaint. (last time we checked, proving such a quid pro quo constitutes unlawful conduct on State and Federal stages.)

Yes, we're back! Stayed tuned.

Budget Adoption Tonight

2011-11-17T07:35:00.009-05:00

There will be a meeting of the town board tonight at 5:30 for the purpose of adopting a budget for 2012. Given the track record established last year when Lou Desso walked into the budget adoption meeting with 30 pages of changes no one on the board knew about including raises for some employees in the Building Department, a "promotion" from a part time to a full time position which cost the town benefits as well, the question is will there be significant changes that have not yet been discussed in public?

There have been a few changes discussed at the last board meeting including the restoration of a part time laborer for town hall projects, but the changes made by Desso last year were made with no forewarning and not even his allies on the board were told in advanced although they voted exactly as Lou wanted them to on the changes. Another change that should be considered is making the Supervisor's secretary full time rather than part time. The change to part time was politically motivated to hurt the Supervisor's effectiveness, but now that the majority is about to take over this office, they will likely see no reason to keep it part time.

In a fit over no Raise

We are told the town clerk is having a fit over the fact that she is not getting a raise this year. No elected officials are slated for raises in the budget. We bet that Lou and Al have been getting an earful in recent days.

Retirement Papers for Al Spain in Troy?

Many of you have asked in emails whether Al Spain has begun to fulfill his pledge to retire from his full time Troy City Hall job so that he does not use the Supervisor's position to boost his pension and be able to devote himself to the town's need's as opposed to Troy's demands on a full time Personnel Director.

The answer is that Spain has not informed the Mayor's office of any plans to retire. Fear not, however, he has plenty of time to keep his word and there is no reason to assume he has any other intention than to retire.

Troy's Mayor elect is know to be a straight shooter and would likely ensure strict enforcement of the city's work rules which would strictly prohibit a city employee from using city time and resources to conduct outside business, such as running a town. He is also looking for ways to streamline Troy's budget and expenses and one way often touted is ending the duplicity of having a Personnel Director and a Civil Service Commission. Look for one or the other to be abolished in the year ahead and Spain's planned retirement would make that decision easier.

Cotrona's new Lap Dog

Lou Cotrona's attack on board critic Karl Yeager last week was a bit over the edge. Some felt a bit personal even though the criticism Yeager offered on Comptroller Tony Germano's proposed salary increase of a few thousand dollars was unwarranted. Unlike some in Town Hall, Tony does not spend his time on endless smoke breaks and puts in many hours more than his part time pay requires.

But Cotrona has been cultivating a new "hit man" of sorts to do his "questions". His new tool lives on Dobert Court and it's not Ernie Kern but rather his neighbor Max. He's been reading Lou's questions and comments to people Lou is trying to corner, like Mark Premo, who some in the political camps view as an adversary after criticizing the taking of Highway Pilot Funds to pay for General Fund expenses.

Max has also got his nerve up a few times at Town Board meetings to take one sentence shots at other adversaries of this deep thinking political camp. Cotrona must not have recovered from his malicious shots at the former Town Comptroller at a Finance Committee meeting in which members of the group erroneously demanded a forensic audit after they used a misinformed report from a Latham accountant critical of an "unauthorized bank account" not realizing that town boards do not authorize bank accounts, rather, they authorize depositories themselves.

Cotrona and Desso seized upon the misinformed report to assassinate the professional character of the former Comptroller, this after Desso leaked the report to the media hours before the meeting to help set up his firing.

So Lou apparently would rather have a new trial balloon to take the heat for any misfires and Max has apparently won the job. Good luck with that Max. We hope you figure out what's going on before the foot Lou puts in your mouth is too painful to remove.

And the Winner is?

We don't know yet if Town Justice Ray Elliott will be moving to Supreme Court in January, but we are confident he's holding on to a lead with absentee ballots being counted this week. If he does win, the Town Board will appoint a replacement who must run in a special election in November. Eyes are on the last appointee who lost the election to Josh Sabo. Stephanie Piel was just elected to the town board to serve a four year term and one scenario has her resigning her new post to take another shot at the judicial post, if it opens up.

Another scenario has attorney Al Kowlakowski on the short list of GOP contenders while still others float the name of Town Attorney Fred Kirwin, who is a Democrat. Time will tell.

If Piel does resign the board seat, we hear our pal Lou Cotrona is salivating to get the appointment to the board seat she would vacate. So too are his opponents who would love a shot at him at the ballot box. But alas it might be too painful and confusing for the majority to appoint him. Two Lous on the board would be too much to handle and instead of just one long winded commentary at board meetings, we'd have to endure two long winded commentaries for Lou II is know to be even more bombastic that his counterpart.

Do All the Towns Get the new Sales Tax money?

That's the question circulating around town boards and Supervisors after Lou Desso claim to have negotiated a change on how the County calculates sales tax distributions to North Greenbush resulting in an election windfall that helped bail out the deficit along with all that Highway PILOT money. The question is whether Rensselaer County is applying the new change to all towns or just as a favor to North Greenbush and Lou Desso who holds a post as a GOP member of the County Legislature.

The law requires that all towns be treated equally in the application of the sales tax formula and yet there have been no reports from neighboring towns without a county legislator serving on a town board, of new sales tax payments because of inclusion of the valuation of PILOT properties into the total assessed valuation numbers used to calculate the revenue towns receive.

According to Desso, the county had not included the value of PILOT properties in its distribution formula and a decision to add this value to North Greenbush's calculations resulted in all this new money sent from the county treasury. The question is are all the towns being recalculated in the same manner? If not, there will be many a town board complaining and potentially taking legal action using that old equal protection clause as a basis for inclusion in the new North Greenbush formula for sales tax distribution.

The Finish Line

2011-11-07T21:31:00.004-05:00

Flier

Endorsements have pushed the Progress for North Greenbush Team to the finish line in this election year. This flier was hand delivered by volunteers to more than 2500 homes since Friday afternoon.

The candidates themselves are still pushing to get voters motivated and were busy last evening with a PM drive "wave" with lights, generator and amazing new signs like the one pictured here.

It will all come to a conclusion at 9PM. Stay tuned.

TU Chooses Smith

2011-11-04T06:24:00.003-04:00

Today's Times Union Editorial endorses Charles Smith for North Greenbush Supervisor. The Capital Regions largest newspaper joins the CSEA and Council 82 which represents the North Greenbush PBA in endorsing Smith for the Supervisor's position.

You can read it here.

The Great Debate

2011-11-03T00:10:00.005-04:00

This one speaks for itself. If you couldn't attend you can watch it here which is more than we can say about the Town Board Majority's refusal to broadcast their meetings on public access tv or the town web page. They either don't get the importance of conducting public business for all to see or they don't want you to see.

We want you to see and here is the Town Supervisor debate between Al Spain and Charles Smith.

Enjoy it Louis!

CSEA Endorses The A Team!

2011-10-29T06:00:00.001-04:00

The Progress for North Greenbush Team has raked in a critical endorsement. The State's largest labor union, CSEA, has endorsed Charles Smith for Supervisor and the entire Team for Progress ticket.

It is all the more significant because Al Spain attempted to gain this endorsement and interviewed for it. The union backs its endorsement with mail and phone calls to its members in the town.

Debate is On!

2011-10-28T16:28:00.000-04:00

Debate Poster - 2011

Board Race Heads to TV

2011-10-22T06:00:00.001-04:00

The race for control of the North Greenbush Town Board has reached a new epic as this unprecedented televison ad hits the airwaves this week.

We are told the best way to catch a glimpse of it is to watch YNN News Ch 9 on Time Warner Cable. Of course it's even easier to click on the picture above and see it on your computer. If you're a real junkie or want to share it with friends, just email the link to your smart phone and take it with you.

Whatever, the fact that this "Progress for North Greenbush" campaign is taking off with unprecedented market penetration and is sure to make election night in North Greenbush the event to watch.

League of Women Voters Voter Guide

2011-10-21T13:27:00.002-04:00

Once again, the League of Womens Voters has created a Voter Guide for the 2011 local elections.
One candidate for Town Supervisor participated and one did not.

Here is a link to the guide.

Bring On The Debates!

2011-10-20T06:00:00.001-04:00

Surprise, surprise! The Republican Team including Democrat Al Spain has apparently agreed to participate in a debate moderated by the Rensselaer County League of Women Voters. For weeks, the Republican team has been dodging the invitation. But suddenly in a reversal of positions, the GOP has agreed to participate.

The event will be the only public exchange for these candidates and will take place on Tuesday November 2nd at 7PM at Bloomingrove Church behind the CDTA Park and Ride on RT 4.
It is open to the public and media.

For political junkies, this is sure to be a barn burner where questions from the audience are screened by the non partisan members of the League of Women Voters. Their mission is to inform the electorate, and have no dog in the fight.

Stay tuned for details.

Spain Ignores Campaign Finance Law

2011-10-17T06:00:00.002-04:00

Chuzks Al, don't look so down in the dumps. It's just an over sized sign which went up on RT 4 this weekend.

Besides, Al Spain is leading by example again, this time showing his disdain for campaign finance law by failing to file a required 32 Day Pre General Election report. You can view his filing page on the NYS BOE site here.

We have to presume he is risking a fine either because he can't show sufficient support or because he wants to hide either his contributors or expenditures. Whatever the reason, one can only assume he will be as disrespectful of town laws as he is election law.

The Financial Miracle

2011-10-14T06:00:00.004-04:00

Hours before tonight's politically spun Town Board meeting, candidate Al Spain was issuing a press release slamming the Supervisor for her budget comments. Three hours before the meeting began, this article was on the Times Union web site.

When the meeting began, the misinformed Spain attacked the Supervisor for her "press release" to the Times Union which of course she never issued. She had been called by the paper and gave a one sentence comment in response to a reporter's question. Spain eventually apologized for his mistake and the meeting continued. Nonetheless, the Supervisor made it clear that a new set of numbers presented at the meeting were not shared with her by the other board members, something that is routine for this crew which has treated her office like an empty chair.

The new numbers presented turned the deficit into a surplus just in time for the election. So much money in fact, that they couldn't wait to try and correct their failure to buy a replacement police car for the past three years and promise to restore some of the highway funds taken to fund their other spending in town hall. Just a coincidence that this financial miracle happens weeks away from the election which is why the public rightfully will remain skeptical of the new claims.

Mr. Spain received a few critical comments from a town resident about his vote against a chip fab plant some 10 years ago. The resident also unfortunately made some unflattering remarks about Comptroller Tony Germano which were over the top. Tony is a smart and capable guy regardless of what some folks may try to hold against him.

In the end, the board was dancing to the campaign being waged all around them for using highway PILOT funds to pay for their spending in the General Fund, not providing funds for replacement police cars for the past three years and a host of issues for which they have only their record to hide from.

Expect the worst from the board members who are running as we enter the stretch to the election. While there has been an absence of negative campaigning so far, desperation may change the tone used by the candidates in the days ahead.

Signs of Desparation

2011-10-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed an unusual here again, gone again presence of campaign signs at two gas stations on Main Avenue. The signs associated with Smith,Kern and the rest of the slate on Row A were first placed at these stations.

But Lou Desso apparently couldn't handle the thought of his adversaries being embraced by this local business professional. So he began his campaign of harassment with daily visits to the station across from Highway Recreation. He insisted his signs be placed next to those of is opponents and each day, his signs came down to rest on the ground and Desso thought that it was his opponents doing it.

Yesterday Desso went into the Citgo station near CVS. Again he complianed that the four signs of his opponents were being displayed. The owner, had enough of the harassment and has taken all signs down from all the stations. What Desso didn't realize is that his actions and acts of intimidation have been spread all over the customer base. He did more damage to himself by his behavior than his adversaries could have done in a month's worth of essays on his record.

Most people with any sense of social civility would never ask someone displaying a sign for an opposing candidate to also display their sign. Most candidates would not want to display their sign next to an opponent and would prefer to keep the team together in sign placement to distinguish one side from the other. But Desso is not a team player. He went out last Sunday night an took care of himself with sign placement and left his running mates to fend for themselves.
Stay tuned for part two of the Main Avenue sign saga. Remember when you see the signs shift, that Desso is intimidating the people he needs to win and they resent it. Worse, they talk to friends, neighbors and customers and the talk is none too pretty. So go get 'em Lou, show 'em who's boss!

Majority Budget Plan Wins No Applause

2011-10-12T14:43:00.002-04:00

The Times Union has weighed in on the Spain-Desso budget plan in North Greenbush which uses Highway Funds to pay for the General Fund to avoid a tax increase. Of course the plan igonores rising new expenses for the town, the need to replace police cars for the fourth year in a row and views the Highway Department as a General Fund piggy bank.

We'll let you read the rest here.

Budget Blues

2011-10-11T06:33:00.002-04:00

Today's Times Union offers its analysis of the town's fiscal situation and the proposed budget for 2012. It is not a pretty picture and certainly does not match the politically self serving rhetoric of the Board Majority's boss in chief, County Legislator Lou Desso who preaches the pretty picture at board meetings while glossing over the fiscal realities created by his reckless spending.

You can read the entire article here in today's Times Union.

Premo's Budget Warning

2011-10-06T06:36:00.005-04:00

Budget Warning in North Greenbush
As posted on the NGDC Web page

As the elected Highway Superintendent in North Greenbush, I must react to the 2012 Budget with a warning to taxpayers. Last year the Town Board took more than $71,000 in Highway PILOT funds from the Highway Department to pay for a General Fund spending spree rather than to accept the proposed cuts of the Supervisor.

During the year, I have watched the fund balances in the Highway Budget change without my knowledge or my approval. The numbers have changed without my approval or transfer resolutions from the Town Board. Premo noted that more than $370,000 in set aside highway funds were in his budget at the beginning of last year and in the last few months, balance sheets have shown amounts as low as minus $90,000 one week and plus $50,000 the next.

While I was able to submit a budget proposal for 2012 that should not raise the Highway Tax rate which is a separate tax fund from the General Fund, my warnings not to use the Highway PILOT Funds for General Fund expenses will force a significant shortfall in the next budget (2013) with no cushion in 2012 for unexpected occurrences.

It appears the Town Board has used most of the Highway Fund Balance leaving us in a unacceptable cash position for 2012 and beyond.

The Town Board should take responsibility for the money they needed to fund their spending in Town Hall and to stop taking Highway PILOT Funds to pay these expenses. Now I do not have funds needed to address added expenses of increased health, pension and contract costs expected and forecasted by the State Comptroller.

My department provides critical services to the developments appearing all over town. Many receive tax breaks from the county, and we receive no direct tax revenue to provide those services. Instead we rely on PILOT (Payments in lieu of taxes)money to provide services and plan for our future which had included building a long needed addition to our garage. It appears that plan is gone because the money to build it was taken from us.

Mark Premo

N.G. Highway Superintendent

Mr. Desso's Reality

2011-10-05T06:41:00.009-04:00

If you received a newspaper reprint from the Troy Record of a letter to the editor Lou Desso is handing out at doors in North Greenbush, you might think he's done a great job. We thought you should have a chance to see again a response to that narrow view of the world of town government that also appeared in the Record penned by a critic of Mr. Desso and a current candidate for Supervisor.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Here is the text of that response which also appeared in the Record on March 12, 2011.

Where is the GOP on Debates?

It's clear the Dems are ready to answer the public's questions in a debate moderated by the League of Women's Voters but so far not a word from the GOP on accepting the invitation.

Here's an article in today's Record that gets the ball rolling but our bet is that the Republicans will spend their time not in debate preparation but in debate avoidance with an "Excuses Seminar".

Trouble for Connolly

This item details the testimony of North Greenbush resident Tom Connolly at a criminal trial in Manhattan involving the misappropriation of a million dollars given to the Independence Party by Mayor Bloomberg. More on the story here in The Record and here in the NY Post..

Budget Message Says It All

2011-10-01T15:53:00.006-04:00

Ashworth Budget Memo 1011
All you have to do is read between the lines to see that the Supervisor's budget released Friday amounts to giving the majority what they demand while explaining to the public the mess their four votes is creating now and in the future.

The budget choices are clearly not what the Supervisor would have done if she had the majority of the board, but this board has beat her down over the past two years to the point that she decided enough and would not seek re-election. Now she has handed them a parting gift, a budget with all the bad choices they demanded, staffing levels, use of Highway funds to pay for their spending in the General Fund, and of course the consequences to taxpayers, no money to build the highway garage renovations or buy even a single police car which has not seen a purchase in 4 years.

Yes, the majority would have simply changed everything she wanted to do, so she handed them their dinner, but carefully spelled out the desert they would have to eat as a result. Now there is no more money to borrow from highway to pay for general fund expenses, no money to pay for the big overtime payments approved a year ago to do the work of the fired youth director, not even money for raises in contracts yet to be negotiated.

And yes, there remains a deficit, despite Lou Desso's denials, one which is not erased and now a budget that will require tax hikes in 2013 in both highway and general fund thanks to their reckless taking from highway to make themselves look good without paying for the spending with new taxes or cuts to offset the revenue gap between expenditures and revenues.

Every dog has his day and Peter has borrowed from Paul to the point where Paul has nothing left to give. It's a budget without badly needed progress for the town and one only the majority of Spain and Desso could support.

Ignoring the Law

2011-09-28T06:00:00.007-04:00

It's not surprising and certainly not the worst thing Al Spain has done to offend public sensibilities by violating the town's sign laws. It's perhaps a little more tangible because as a member of the town board that passes the laws he looks a bit uniformed at best or arrogant at worst. But town board members should lead by example and not be violating the laws they passed or that they have swore an oath to uphold.

Yet Supervisor candidate and current Councilman Al Spain still has political signs up which should have been taken down after his primary and replaced 30 days prior to the next election on November 8th.

When someone files a complaint with code enforcement, the signs will likely have to come down. But until then Al Spain is violating this little section of the town code.

Article VIII. Signs

[Amended 1-14-1991 by L.L. No. 9-1991; 2-13-1997 by L.L. No. 2-1997; 7-14-2005 by L.L. No. 4-2005]

§ 197-35. Exempt signs.

The following types of signs are illustrative of the kinds that may be erected and maintained without permits, or fees, providing such signs comply with the general requirements of this article and other conditions specifically imposed by the regulations:

I. Political posters, banners, promotional devices and similar signs, not exceeding four square feet in the residential districts or 16 square feet in the business districts, providing:

(1) Placement shall not exceed 30 days.

(2) The names and address of the sponsor and the person responsible for removal are identified.

Hitting it on The Head

2011-09-28T06:00:00.005-04:00

If you need a look down memory lane at the efforts of Lou Desso to make your vote meaningless, read this letter in today's Record which details his removal from the the town board by a State Court and the process his friends, including Al Spain, followed to put him back in a second conflicting elective office.

When Mr. Spain attempted to accomplish the same feat of denying voters a choice, he was forced to try a different route called a Primary Election. Here voters really had a an opportunity to vote, all day, without the pressures that can be applied in a caucus vote.

It's not the first time Mr. Desso tried to manipulate the voting process. Those of you following the voter fraud scandal in Troy would think it trivial if you read the facts concerning Mr. Desso's efforts in North Greenbush town elections in 2005. Desso and company personally handled over one hundred absentee ballot requests. When the minor party machine votes were counted, his opponents had the winning margin. But after more than 120 absentees, challenged in court because these folks were home and not away as their applications had stated, every single ballot was straight Republican for Desso and his running mates, giving Desso and company a minor party sweep.

Incredibly, more people voted absentee that day than at the polls! That made Primary Day, Absentee Day in North Greenbush. When you think about the number of ballots involved, it kind of makes that scandal in Troy insignificant compared to what happened here in our town.

Maybe Mr. Desso could discuss this matter and his role in the collection of the applications and ballots in a debate. Wouldn't that be interesting, a kind of education session for the Special District Attorney Trey Smith.

Here's a link to the Troy Record letter. And here's a link to the background of The Great North Greenbush Ballot Scam of 2005. This includes a link to CH 13's story and interview with Lou Desso who must have been roaring behind his straight face and words of condemnation, especially when you read the affidavit of his then adversary Mark Evers.

North Greenbush Democrats Announce Endorsements For 2011

2011-09-26T20:55:00.004-04:00

Editor's note: We will be happy to post the announcement of all candidates for town offices in North Greenbush. Announcements may be sent to our email address at ngpipeline@gmail.com.

The North Greenbush Democratic Committee has announced its endorsement of a slate of Democrats for this fall’s town elections. Chairman Dan Ashley said the slate reflects the Democratic Committee’s commitment to providing people a choice between candidates on elections day as a means of preserving our two party system.

The Committee endorsed Charles B. Smith for Supervisor along with former Councilman Ernest Kern and Andria Fisher for Town Council. The committee also endorsed Michael Derevlany for Receiver of Taxes to replace the retiring Kyran Devery. Mr. Derevlany holds an MBA in Finance from Adelphi University and a J.D. Degree from PACE University. Rounding out the endorsements is Highway Superintendent Mark Premo who also serves as the Deputy Supervisor.

“Our candidates are committed to progress in North Greenbush while shining the light of openness on the business of town government”, stated Ashley. Once elected, all town board meetings will again be broadcast on cable TV Public Access so people can see and hear their town board in action from the comfort of their homes. In addition, the candidates are committed to see action on the construction of the I-90 Connector to relieve the long commutes we are experiencing and to promote economic development along the corridor and the RPI Tech Park.

The Democratic Committee also endorsed Ray Elliott and Tom Breslin for State Supreme Court, Gary Gordon for Sheriff and Richard McNally for District Attorney.

Smith seeks Debate

Posted on the NG Democrats website.

Judge Elliott Wins The Nod!

2011-09-24T06:32:00.002-04:00

It's great to see one of our own achieve something as important as a major nomination for a seat on State Supreme Court and Judge Ray Elliott has certainly earned this one.

He would if elected in November, join another great former Town Justice, George Ceresia, on the State bench. We wish him well as the countdown to November begins!

Here is an article and photo from the Times Union.

Restore Ethics at HVCC

2011-09-23T06:23:00.002-04:00

Today's Troy Record contains a letter to the editor from a North Greenbush Supervisor candidate urging the HVCC Board of Trustees to act to restore the ethical protections that County Legislator Lou Desso and his majority removed from the County Ethics Law after 20 years.

You can imagine that the Supervisor candidate is not his obedient servant and GOP running mate whose own ethical transgressions while on the Town Board have graced these pages repeatedly. Town residents should be concerned that this Town Board majority which includes Mr. Desso and Mr. Spain do not destroy our local ethics laws they way Mr. Desso and his collegues on the County Legislature did to the County Ethics Law.

You can read the letter here.

Very Religious?

2011-09-22T06:57:00.004-04:00

We normally don't find religion as a topic here and this is hardly religious commentary. But people have been noticing one politician's presence at multiple masses at St. Jude's in Wynantskill.

Not that we have any reason to suspect that there has been some amazing infusion of religious zeal for this pol, rather we suspect that he is ratcheting up his use of church to further his political ambitions. Masses gather hundreds of worshipers who are viewed by cynical politicians as "voters".

When your obsession for power becomes so desperate that you see parishioners as voters and start attending multiple masses so you can be "seen", people notice. They also notice the obvious effort to draw attention to yourself at a mass with the simple act of walking down an isle. The unassuming have no propensity to make eye contact with the congregation. The campaigner can't keep his eyes off them. The nods to person after person walking down the isle, many of whom he may not even know just give away what's really in his head.

We'll leave it to readers to figure out who this North Greenbush politician is and why he is now attending multiple masses, (at least to be outside the door at the beginning or the end or both of the second mass,) but you'll find a clue in the word "multiple". Hey, look for him at St. Michael's next. Be assured if he's there he's either been to St. Jude's or is in between masses!

Times Union Weighs In

2011-09-18T13:47:00.003-04:00

North Greenbush elections are getting noticed by the Times Union and we here at the Pipeline agree with their analysis that democracy won in North Greenbush on Primary Day when Charles Smith defeated Al Spain for the Democratic nomination for Town Supervisor.

Mr. Spain says he wants to "do what's best for the town" and asked Democratic voters to support him on that basis. But the cost of doing so was to rigg an election leaving Mr. Spain to run against himself. Obviously voters didn't think Spain's views were in fact what is best for the town.

Here is the editorial from today's paper. It says it better than we could.

No it's Not Desso or Smith in Halloween Suit

2011-09-16T14:29:00.002-04:00

The Times Union reports a bear in the Defreestville area on Teliska Ave. If he looks familiar it's just a coincidence. We thought CB might be feeling bearish after his primary wing over a former iconic democratic figure. Then again others thought it might be Lou hiding in a disguise after sending pal Al over the dam in a primary defeat.

No matter your guess, here's the link to the TU.

A Bad Sign

2011-09-08T20:20:00.005-04:00

Where else but North Greenbush would you find a a former Republican Town Board member returning a "Democratic" lawn sign supporting the GOP candidate for Town Supervisor in next Tuesday's Democratic Party Primary?

The sign was apparently on the lawn of the former councilman's brother but it's unclear whether permission was given to place the sign. What is clear is that there are as many Republicans angry at the GOP for nominating a fake Republican instead of one of their own faith as their are Democrats angry at a so called Democrat running as a Republican and trying to run as a Democrat in a party primary as well.

Confused? It gets better. The former councilman Joe Stycznski (spelled correctly!) found himself attacked by the Democratic Town Clerk whom he promptly put in her place for "running the meeting" again. Naturally, the Clerk wanted him arrested for "stealing the sign" but the town police watching from the audience could only gasp.

The joke among Democrats is not only that Al Spain is pretending to be a Democrat while running as a Republican, but that the majority of his Democratic Primary signs are on the properties of prominent GOP politicians. Stephanie Piel, a GOP Board candidate has one on Winter Street. The Fiacco strip mall property on RT 4 has one. Property owned by another Republican near Cumberland Farms has one. Never have so many Republicans tried to influence a Democratic Primary that they can't even vote in!

Apparently there is a similar joke among Republicans that Al Spain who voted against Chip Fab during his last board stint, is running with the GOP endorsement. In Joe's words, he pretending to be a Republican! We'll Joe, his voting record with this majority is 100% Republican which is why so many Democrats want nothing to do with him.

Lets all agree to call him a Republicrat. For our purposes, that's a politician who stands for nothing but winning with party labels serving only as ballot positions from which to secure power.

Tonight the sign episode stole the show. It even overshadowed an absurd refusal to support a resolution to urge the county IDA to proceed with a process to build the I 90 connector and save the 14 million dollars still available from the Federal government for the project.

Seems to us that the town's Comprehensive Plan has a provision in there supporting the building of the connector and if these Republicans refuse to pass a new resolution, maybe we can mail the IDA the Comprehensive Plan which the board voted to approve, complete with support for the connector?

It's all in a day's work in North Greenbush.

Payment Received!

2011-08-30T20:53:00.003-04:00

Town Democrats received a check recently in support of their candidates including the opponent of Republicrat Al Spain. The donation in the amount of $292.67 was courtesy of Jeff Spain, Al's brother and was deposited in the party checking account.

Each month a check will arrive from the Ulster County Sheriff who is enforcing a court ordered garnishment to repay the money misappropriated from the Town Democratic Committee checking account by Jeff Spain who personally issued the checks to his favorite charities after he lost control of the committee and refused to surrender the checking account.

When Jeff was party chair for a brief term, held an infamous show trial of opponents on the committee to purge them from the County Committee seats they were elected to. The trial, like his misappropriation of party funds, was without legal authority. In the cheering section that day was brother Al Spain who couldn't resist the stage show in support of his brother.

What a sterling example of tolerance for opposing views these boys demonstrated that day which is just one more reason neither should be any where near a position of authority in government.

There is some justice being extracted here by the fact that these court ordered repayments are now reimbursing the party the Spain's have tried to destroy and more than a little irony that brother Jeff's personal funds are fueling the campaign of Brother Al's Democratic opponent.

A Sign of the Times

2011-08-26T08:02:00.001-04:00

Today, Al Spain says he’s a Democrat and has a few signs up, including one on his lawn, that might make you think he was the party nominee and Supervisor. But last year he was displaying signs of a different stripe, including this one for Republican Senator Roy McDonald.

Trouble is, today Al want Democrats to think he’s a Democrat for the upcoming primary and his record over the last four years as been one of a card carrying Republican.

Al also forgot to mention on his signs and in his announcement that he is the Republican candidate for Supervisor. So we thought we’d remind Democrats here that Al Spain is the Republican nominee for Supervisor and the only reason he’s trying to pull the wool over the eyes of Democrats is to deny all voters a choice in November.

Democrats don’t let Democrats vote Republican so we thought this gentle reminder to Democrats that a political chameleon is hardly a trustworthy choice to lead their party.

Today, people want candidates who actually stand for something and are willing to defend their vision and beliefs in a truly competitive election. That’s not Al Spain, the on again off again “Democrat” who can’t stand for anything except winning as a political chameleon.

What's that old adage, it it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it must be a duck. Quack, Quack!

And Where Is Al Spain on Ethics Law?

2011-08-19T06:16:00.003-04:00

Al Spain wants to lead a town, but he can't seem to get the courage to stand up to his boss Lou Desso even when Desso does something blatantly against the public interest like trying to weaken an ethics law.

Spain had a chance to show up at a Public Hearing in front of the County Executive this week like his opponent Charlie Smith did, to express opposition to Desso and his GOP allies efforts to weaken the county ethics law. But he chose not to.

You can read the entire editorial in the Times Union by clicking on the screen shot above. We hope Kathy Jimino follows the advice given her at the public hearing and in today's Times Union. She's never been at the center of any ethics controversy and as she begins to look back at her own legacy, it's clear this is not the time to enter such a storm.

Spain "Non Partisan"?

2011-08-16T20:10:00.010-04:00

The spin machine at the county legislature is working overtime on behalf of "Democrat" Al Spain the Republican candidate for town supervisor. Spain's announcement and effort to oppose himself and have no real Democratic opponent or otherwise is in the Times Union.

We especially love the part where he says he's non partisan and that "they" complain when they appoint people other than Democrats to town positions. Gee, the only chance "they" had an opportunity to complain is when "his" majority appointed his brother, "I Love Wolf Road and I Wiped Out the Party Treasury" Jeff Spain to the Planning Board.

Other than that, there haven't been a lot of Democratic appointments to complain about. His best anti Democratic appointment was Lou Desso himself when he could have stood with the Town Supervisor and kept his GOP boss off the Board until he had to face a real election. But heck, he wouldn't have anyone there to tell him how to vote.

No Mr. Spain, Democrats fault you and your brother for your ethics, your destruction of the party's treasury, your efforts to help brother Jeff avoid a judge's order to pay back the money he misappropriated from the party checking account, an act you continue to support as a sterling testament to your total lack of judgement. They also question your illegal hiring of two non resident attorneys when you could have hired two qualified town residents but you always put politics ahead of the public interest and in this case common sense. You pay taxes here, you have a stake in this community and you should get first consideration for a job you are qualified for. We'll even overlook the criminal conviction record of one of those attorneys for whom you changed the town residency law after two years as unlawful appointees in order to continue to accommodate them on the town payroll. What a guy! But a Democrat, Al Spain stopped being a Democrat long ago and that's what he should face in a primary campaign.

Al Spain may be able to spin his actions on behalf of the GOP interests he represents, but he can't run away from his record as a REPUBLICAN operative endorsed by the GOP, owned through his city job by the GOP and his failure to exercise good judgement time and time again with regard to ethics here or in the county he lives in.

Hey folks a blast from the past for you. Remember when David Grandeau fired those 47 city employees in Troy. Al survived the mess by sucking up to Grandeau. He even brought in his own mother to do some of the work of the fired people in city hall to ingratiate himself to Grandeau. There's a word for all of this and we'll leave it to your imaginations to fill it in.

Spain"s Stand on Ethics Law

Well in addition to Al Spain's announcement that he's "non partisan" there was another "non-announcement" of sorts from Spain yesterday on ethics. Spain said not a word of criticism about his running mate's vote on the County Legislature to gut the county ethics law by removing its protections for HVCC. The County Executive held a Public Hearing yesterday and Democrats Smith and Kern spoke in opposition to Desso's plan to put party chairmen back in business at HVCC. Can North Greenbush be far away as the next target of this "ethical majority" running the town board?

Here's a link to the Record and the Times Union.

Desso Disagrees With Himself

2011-08-12T06:00:00.002-04:00

At last night's Town Board meeting, the board was asked a question by Supervisor candidate CB Smith. The question was whether anyone on the board would support a change to the town's ethics law that would permit party chairman to be appointed to paid positions in town hall?

Well the answer to the question was resounding silence by Board members, none of whom dared to say they would support rescinding that provision of the ethics law. Not even Lou Desso. Why would anyone ask such a question asked the Supervisor. And the answer simply was that this is exactly what Councilman Lou Desso had done to Hudson Valley Community College just days before when as a County Legislator, he voted to change the County Ethics Law's prohibitions against the employment of party officers at HVCC.

Apparently Mr. Desso the County Legislator disagrees with Mr. Desso the Town Councilman! He would never do to the town what he did to the college by allowing partisan politics to enter into the governance of the school. In effect, Desso disagreed with himself! Well ain't that a hoot!

Trouble is, why would anyone believe that a politician who just voted to open the floodgates to partisan politics and political shenanigans at HVCC be opposed to a similar vote as a town board member here in North Greenbush. Maybe Lou has arguments with himself over the issue, although we know of no debate taking place.

The bottom line here is a lesson that you can't judge someone by their words, but by their deeds. No matter how you cut it, Desso's vote as a County Legislator to embroil HVCC into partisan politics by weakening the County Ethics Law speaks louder than any words of support he could muster for the Ethics Law in North Greenbush.

Soon his political cronies will be able to join the payroll at HVCC where an ethics law once stopped him from doing so. Ethics in Politics 101 at HVCC starts int he fall 2011 semester and Professor Lou Desso will be teaching the course.

Legislature Approves Political Influence At HVCC

2011-08-10T06:34:00.004-04:00

Incredible as it may seem, Rensselaer County Republicans including North Greenbush Councilman Lou Desso and his GOP colleagues, voted along party lines to allow party officers to serve on the Board of Trustees at HVCC.

They showed a complete disdain for the lessons of history and regard for the ethical principles this law stood for for the past two decades. The law was passed by a Democratic Legislature and signed by a Republican County Executive at the height of the county insurance scandal when a powerful Democrat was on the college Board of Trustees. Shortly after its passage a GOP County Chairman, David Dudley resigned as party chair to keep his position on the county IDA where he was raking in more than a half million dollars in long secret IDA counsel fees disclosed only upon a court order. He showed respect for the law by choosing which post to retain.

Apparently when this hapless bunch of legislators appointed their more recent party chair to the Board without bothering to read the ethics law, it made things inconvenient for them. So along party lines they changed the law the same way they changed the county law to allow Lou Desso to hold a clearly conflicting seat on a town board while serving as a Legislator.

That's politics for you here in Rensselaer County. The floodgates to allowing political influence to dominate decisions at HVCC have now been opened with only County Executive Kathy Jimino standing in the way should she veto the law. We hope that upon careful reflection, her legacy will be to do the right thing and veto this bill taking ethics a giant step backwards in Rensselaer County.

You can read about the vote in the Times Union.

Putting Politics Back at HVCC

2011-08-09T06:39:00.003-04:00

It's truly amazing with all of the ethical and even legal controversies swirling around the area that Rensselaer County Republicans would even consider trying to undo a 20 year old ethics law provision with just one purpose, to insulate Hudson Valley Community College from the appearance that politics governs the decisions of it's Board of Trustees.

Yet that's exactly what the GOP in the County Legislature has on its agenda tonight, to repeal a key provision of the 1992 County Ethics Law that prevents political party officers, including party chairs, from simultaneously serving on the Board of Trustees at HVCC.

We can't wait to see how our own Lou Desso votes on this one. What an amazing position to be in, being expected by his GOP caucus to vote to approve the rescinding of this law so one of their own party chairs, we presume, can again go back on the school's Board of Trustees to throw his influence around with the mantle of the Republican Party Chairmanship. At the same time, Desso sits on the North Greenbush Town Board which has a similarly intended ethics law provision aimed at limiting the appearance that town party chairs are influence decisions at the town level by banning them form simultaneously holding any paid position in town government.

How do you support weakening an ethics law at the county level while trying to convince folks you support a similarly intended provision at the town level? The circus acrobats are about to return tonight when the Rensselaer County Legislature puts one of it star performers on stage to do a high wire act worthy of the great Wallendas!

Will Desso be able to proclaim his support for the intent of this law in North Greenbush while voting to rescind it in Rensselaer County? Or is there a hidden agenda to repeal the same type of provision here in North Greenbush and put party chairs on the town payroll. Tune in tonight for the circus and be sure and read the incredible spin justifying this move from the County Legislature in today's Record and Times Union.

Entering the Fray

2011-07-26T17:18:00.001-04:00

It's official, stepping up to the plate to run for Town Supervisor as a Democrat is none other than, well the headline says it better than we could.

ETHICS BOARD OK’s SPAIN’S VOTE TO BENEFIT BROTHER

2011-07-14T06:01:00.003-04:00

The North Greenbush Town Ethics Board met LEGALLY this week to rule on an 18 month old complaint which was withheld from Board members by town officials. We don’t know if they have figured out that the “new” policy of returning mail sent to the board at the town address was conceived to protect friends in town hall from having to deal with the Ethics Board or complaints made against town officials.

The complaint they ruled on asked them to determine the appropriateness of Councilman Spain’s to vote to rescind a residency requirement which then allowed him to vote to appoint an out of town attorney to a paid town job in exchange for providing his brother free legal services.

You should know the EB met a couple of weeks earlier without required public notice through no fault of their own because no one told them they were governed by the Open Meetings Law. They had already discussed and decided the issue and had written a decision on a laptop. The decision basically cleared Spain of violating the Ethics Code because his brother is not, in their view, “an immediate member of Councilman Spain’s family”. Hmm, brothers have the same DNA, far more so immediate than say a wife who shares none of a spouse’s DNA, but that’s the new definition of “immediate family member” in North Greenbush.

The decision was explained after a questionable executive secession called to discuss a personnel matter of which this does not qualify. The Board Chairman, however, elaborated on the decision by saying had Spain had been aware of the conflict before he voted, they might have taken a different view of the matter.

The Ethics Board did not know that just a discussion had indeed taken place at the Town Board meeting prior to the vote that fully informed Spain of the conflict. They did not know that Councilman Desso had recused himself from a similar vote involving the other Deputy Town Attorney. That attorney was providing him free legal services in a civil case involving holding dual elective offices. The Ethics Board was also informed after they made the ruling that Spain’s brother, Jeff, who benefited from his brother’s vote to appoint the attorney to a paid job, also spoke at the meeting and said it was “between he and his attorney” what financial arrangement he had with him. He did not deny he was getting a free service from the attorney which would have negated the issue. Now had all of this been discussed in open session before they voted, they would have known Councilman Spain was fully informed of the conflict his vote presented before he voted.

This decision has set a new standard for Town Board conduct and the use of a public office to benefit a “non immediate family member” as now defined by this panel. Just think of its implications, it’s ok to vote to financially benefit a brother or sister by giving someone a town job in exchange for them giving free service to the “non immediate” family member so long as you're blind to the conflict it presents. Just don’t do it for your wife or kids because that would be inexcusable even if you were deaf dumb and blind to the conflict before you voted.

A written copy of this decision may be available shortly and if it is we’ll be happy to post it. In the mean time, does anyone on the town board have a brother or sister in need of say landscaping services?

One last thing, the EB did recommend to the town board that it post on the town website the address to send them correspondence so it is no longer sent to town hall where it apparently cannot be ethically handled by any town employee. At least the public will not get their mail returned in frustration any longer, we hope. They also recommended to the TownBoard that in the future, ethics board members be informed of thier coverage by the Open Meetings Law. Common sense, except here in North Greenbush where the less the town board tells folks the better the chances they will not find a reason to criticize their official acts.

Ethics Board To Meet Legally

2011-07-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

After some scorching criticism of the Town Board and its failure to provide instruction to its Ethics Board on adherence to the State's open Meetings Law, the Ethics Board is meeting again, presumably to do over its first meeting ever since it was appointed last year. That meeting was properly noticed for Tuesday July 12th at 10am at town hall.

Now we'll see whether they have been schooled on the provisions of the Open Meetings Law and whether they have an open discussion of the ethics complaints lodged against Councilmen Desso and Spain which have too long languished in the "protect 'em" mentality of certain town officials.

The Board must be careful to recognize these complaints as questions surrounding the conduct of a public official which must be discussed in an open forum and frankly may entail the need to question these officials publicly. We will inform you of the results.

Ethics Board Holds First Meeting, In Secret

2011-07-02T05:56:00.009-04:00

At long last Ethics in North Greenbush! We could write a book containing several chapters on the escapades here involving the Desso Spain team but we'll settle for the latest chapters.

The recap goes like this: The Desso Spain Majority takes control of town government and goes for two years without appointing an Ethics Board as required by Town Law. When enough political pressure is applied, they appoint one in January 2010, which included the mother of the town clerk, a sitting member of the Democratic Committee at the time. Conflict potential everywhere it seems, but all over the heads of this crew.

A complaint is filed in the town clerk's office in January 2010 asking the board to consider the ethics of Councilman Spain who just voted to hire an out of town attorney to the payroll who just happened to be providing free legal services to Spain's brother who was ordered by a judge to repay the Democratic Party more than 3 grand he illegally gave away when he lost control of the party. Not a bad deal. Brother Al gives an attorney a town job and in return his brother gets the guy to give him free legal services in a civil case.(Incidentally, Spain has been defying the court order to repay the money.)

So the Ethics Board was asked to review the matter and appearance of a quid pro quo but alas, the Town Clerk, an ally of the Spain's never bothered for more than a year to give the Ethics Board a copy of the complaint. Hear no evil see no evil!

Enter another complaint by the former town comptroller whom Lou Desso did a hatchet job on with a phony conclusion from a CPA firm that he had an "unauthorized bank account" with tons of town money in it.. "Forensic Audit" we need a forensic audit cried Desso repeatedly as he moved to fire the Comptroller and destroy his professional reputation. Hence, when the CPA's findings were exposed as incorrect, the now former Comptroller filed a compliant with the Ethics Board that never meets and never gets its mail. That one was returned to the sender by the town clerk who decided that she no longer can send mail to the Ethics Board because, what else, that would be unethical! Never mind that January 2010 complaint accepted and filed in her office that she refused to send to the Ethics Board.

So we come to the current events. The Ethics Board finally met on Thursday the 16th of June. Problem is they met in secret with no public notice and apparently no minutes of the meeting as required by the New York State Open Meetings Law. Seems to us that Councilman Spain did something like this with his Comprehensive Plan Committee and was forced to do the meeting over.

So apparently the Ethics Board of North Greenbush has finally met, albeit in total violation of the State's Open Meetings Law and attempts to get copies of the public notice and minutes have thus far been unsuccessful. Of course, they don't want to admit they don't have these records but in fact they do not and as a result, the Ethics Board and whatever conclusions they reached, are invalid as they will need to do a Spain, a do over of their illegal meeting.

But let's be fair here and put the blame for this dysfunctional government where it belongs, right on the town board. This majority did nothing to instruct the Ethics Board which is essentially three private citizens with no knowledge of public affairs and Open Meetings Laws, FOIL laws etc. They didn't meet for 18 months because they didn't know about the complaints and they didn't do the meeting right on June 16th because they weren't instructed on the requirements of State Law.

Next Chapter: Desso's Town Ethics Spread to his conflicting office on the County Legislature.
No good book would be complete without a conflict spreading into other areas. And Lou Desso doesn't disappoint us here. Recently Desso, who with his GOP County Legislative Majority, violated the County Ethics Law by appointing his County GOP Chairman, Neil Kelleher, to HVCC's Board of Trustees. After the Times Union raked them over the coals for a clear violation of the Ethics Law which simply forbids any party officer in the county from holding a position at HVCC or County government, he voted to appoint him anyway. Desso and his majority must have forgotten county history. They must have forgot why the law was passed in 1992 to remove the appearances of undue political influence on government and HVCC that is created when party officers are appointed to positions in county government. To limit these appearances, the Ethics Law included these important prohibitions.

David Dudley, the GOP Chair at the time of the law's passage, resigned as Chairman to stay on as the counsel to the County IDA, a lucrative position that earned him $500,000 in secret legal fees until a court ordered him to disclose them. Yes, even here in North Greenbush, our Ethics Law also prohibits party chairs from holding paid positions in the town which led a former GOP Chair, Greg DeJulio, to resign from the Planning Board out of respect for the law.

Now in Rensselaer County, even the Democrats voted to appoint Kelleher to the HVCC Board of Trustees. That's likely because Lou and his GOP allies stripped the minority party of their office staff including their legal counsel who presumably would have told the minority that the Kelleher appointment would be illegal because their former council was the majority attorney when the Ethics Law was passed in 1992.

See no evil hear no evil! That brings you all up to date. We'll also let you know when and if both the Town Ethics Board and the County Legislature meet again to do their respective business legally with do over meetings and legal conclusions and appointments.

We hope you have a safe and happy 4th of July.

Spain's Appeal A Real Joke

2011-06-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

6 9 11 ltr

This letter from the two Rensselaer City Court Judges to the Rensselaer County Court which hears appeals of City Court civil cases exposes the Spain defense strategy as a complete waste of the court's time. It also demonstrates his efforts to evade paying the more than $3,000 of Democratic Party funds he improperly gave away after he lost control of the Democratic Committee.

As the Spain family and their ally Town Clerk Connolly circulate a Democratic Party Designating Petition so that Al Spain and Kathryn Connolly can try to grab the Democratic nomination for Supervisor and Clerk in addition to their endorsements by the Republican, Independence and Conservative Partys.

For the Spain family to try and sell themselves as Democrats is like Mitt Romney trying to figure out his position on health insurance. Good luck with that gang! So far the Jeff Spain case has seen his employer, Power Tech Hydraulics in Kingston, try to avoid service by the Ulster County Sheriff only to force the Sheriff to send a Deputy. Their failure to respond to that garnishment order resulted in a "demand letter" issued to the employer which if not complied with, will lead to penalties against the employer. Let's hope they comply before the sheriff padlocks the business door!

While this drama continues, another unfolds as we have Al Spain here in North Greenbush trying to grab the Democratic Party nomination for Town Supervisor while he supports brother Jeff's efforts to circumvent the Court's decision and order that brother Jeff pay back the Democratic Committee the thousands of dollars he improperly disbursed, crippling the party treasury, leaving it with .45 cents.

Al even supported brother Jeff by arranging a town job for a lawyer who defends brother Jeff for free in the civil proceeding brought by the Democratic Committee. An Ethics Complaint filed against Al Spain for this apparent quid pro quo goes unresolved because the Spain appointed Ethics Board has not met even once in the 18 months since it was appointed. They even do nothing about correspondence to that Ethics Board being returned to the sender and never forwarded to the board for review.

Yep, Al Spain wants to be Town Supervisor. Now the GOP has no problem with Al's ethics or the Spain clan's fight with the Democratic Committee. In fact, on Ethics, they appear to be equally responsible as a Board majority for permitting the Ethics Board to never meet or get its mail delivered. As for the Spain's fight with Democrats, well, lets face it, they love it. But registered Democrats may not find Al Spain's desire to to grab the Democratic endorsement very humorous. Not after taking the GOP endorsement and not after they get a strong whiff of the stench he's helped to create in his party and in town hall.

We at the Pipeline can't wait for Primary season.

"Supervisor" Desso MC's Ceremony

2011-05-31T06:00:00.004-04:00

Showing little recognition for the person currently holding the office of Town Supervisor, County Legislator, Town Councilman, Majority Boss Lou Desso had no problem other than speaking spoofs, taking over the traditional role of the Supervisor at this year's Memorial Day ceremony. Those "inalienable" rights, became "alienable" in the transference of roles.

Lou obviously considers himself the town boss and Supervisor Ashworth little more than a distraction on his path to glory. Above is a shot of Desso at the podium doing the job of introductions that have always been performed by Town Supervisors, at least when they were physically up to it.

In the audience wearing the hat on your left is Supervisor Ashworth who got to speak about 18 words, saying hello and welcoming everyone. What a difference from the respect shown to past Supervisors who never had a Board majority but were none the less shown the respect of the office they held. Can you imagine if former Supervisor Roy Wright had been relegated to the audience by the Board majority he served with? The embarrassment to the town was apparent as so many in the audience whispered the question "Why is Desso running the ceremony?"

Other than the obvious disrespect and sleight demonstrated by this hijacking of the Supervisor's traditional role at a Memorial Day Ceremony, the truly important part of the day, remembering the sacrifices of those who have served our country, went on without a hitch. That's because the many people who came out, not to be seen, but to show respect, demonstrated the character and resolve that veterans richly deserve, especially those who paid the ultimate price for freedom.

A Solemn Day of Rememberance

2011-05-27T06:00:00.000-04:00

As we celebrate this Memorial Day with friends and family, remind your children what this day is all about. In a word, sacrifice. So many have given so much so that all of us can live in a free nation. None of this would be possible without them.

We pray that those who gave their lives and who suffered in battle, find peace for all time. To all who have served our nation, a simple thank you cannot adequately express our gratitude and appreciation for your service.

North Greenbush has many patriots from many wars. We thank you. Have a blessed Memorial Day.

The town will honor our patriots with its annual parade which steps off at 1:30PM from Streamview Lane, ending at the town offices. After the ceremonies, the community is invited to gather at the American Legion and Wynantskill Fire House for a lunch.

Judge Elliott Announces for Supreme Court

2011-05-26T06:24:00.002-04:00

Both local newspapers covered a news conference held yesterday at noon in Troy when our own Town Justice of 27 years, Ray Elliott, announced his candidacy for State Supreme Court.

Ray is a fixture in North Greenbush where he has worked tirelessly as a town justice and as a volunteer for numerous community organizations over the years.

While we wish him all the best, he will leave big shoes to fill in town court.

You can read and see some video from his announcement in the Troy Record and the Times Union.

Town Board Meets Tonight

The monthly Workshop Meeting of the Town Board is held tonight at 7PM. Their agenda has not yet been made public nor are their meetings broadcast over public access on Time Warner so that the public can be kept as much in the dark on their actions as possible.

Lou's PT Withdraws

2011-05-17T06:00:00.003-04:00

Lou Cotrona's, (above) personal trainer has apparently decided to withdraw his name from consideration for a job in the town courts as a part time clerk. The decision comes just a day after Cotrona led the charge from the floor of a town board meeting in which his board allies Lou Desso, Al Spain and Kelly Hoffman, carried water for the choice over a town resident believed to be preferred by the town judges. Joe Bott did not weigh in on the choice during last Thursday's meeting.

The "elephant in the room" regarding the effort to decide who got the needed position in the courts was clearly the failed candidate's connection to his "godfather" who brought the Albany County resident to the table. With no connection to the town, his only avenue for consideration was Board Commandant Lou Cotrona, who once was removed by the Courts from a seat on the East Greenbush School Board because he didn't reside in the district! Hey, no wonder Cotrona and Desso see eye to eye, they were both removed from an elected position by the courts! How quaint.

So now watch as the vindictive majority on the board refuses to appoint the choice preferred by the town judges, a town resident who pays taxes here. Watch as they complain about uncollected fines and reduced court hours all caused by their failure to accept that the courts are administered by judges, not town board members trying to fill the court with friends, allies and personal trainers.

Keeping Them Straight

2011-05-13T13:42:00.006-04:00

To listen to the Town Board Majority and their new unsalaried Legislative Assistant Lou Cotrona, who by the way is worth every cent he is paid, you would think all they ever care about in hiring is consistency and preferences in hiring of town residents.

Last night they tried to make an example out of Mark Premo’s hiring of a non resident, part time secretary, last January. The appointee needed to have a town board vote to make the hiring legal. Board member Joe Bott approved the hiring along with the Highway Committee he chairs but apparently did not realize the position still needed a vote of the Town Board.

Lou Desso and his ace reliever Lou Cotrona thought this was their big opening to question why their non resident choice to be a part time clerk in the courts was not sailing through because the Town Judges prefer someone else. That someone happens to be a town resident, what Councilwoman Hoffman referred to as “someone’s neighbor”, inferring that this was the reason the judges want to hire the candidate. That apparently bothered Hoffman, Desso and Democrat trying to be a Republican Supervisor candidate, Al Spain.

What didn’t bother them was the fact that the non resident from Albany County that Lou Cotrona and his majority were trying to impose on the judges comes to North Greenbush due to his position as Lou Cotrona’s “Personal Trainer” , his Masseur if you will.

Well we all just love Planet Fitness, but that’s no reason to try and hire a non resident when a qualified town resident is available, which by the way is the reason a prior board Al Spain loves to point to, had to hire a Grafton attorney as a Deputy Town Attorney. Al just can’t seem to understand the difference between the hiring of non resident attorney’s he approved and the instances on prior boards which had no resident alternative available. Besides, the Grafton resident did not have a criminal conviction resident as Al’s buddy did and was not removed from his elective office for misconduct as his other buddy was.

As for our Planet Fitness buff, Ms. Hoffman agreed to table Desso’s move to appoint Lou’s PT until a background check was completed. Funny, neither she nor her allies recalled that just over a year ago they were shown some of the background check on two nonresident attorneys they hired over two qualified town residents who asked for the jobs. At that meeting they were shown the criminal conviction record from Colonie of one appointee and reminded that the other was removed from the Troy bench by the State’s Highest Court for misconduct. That didn’t bother this majority a bit, they not only hired their out of town buddies, they changed the town law to allow it. You see, the first time they were hired, two years earlier, (before Hoffman was on the Board), they were hired illegally by the Spain Desso team in violation of Town Law requiring residency. But heck, that’s no worse than Lou Desso getting his buddies on the County Legislature to change the County Law so he could grab a second public paycheck as a town board member as well as his gig on the County Legislature. And it’s no more ironic than Al Spain being employed by the City of Troy while paying his taxes here in North Greenbush.

This crew should also be reminded that they have done nothing to correct an illegal hire by the former Supervisor, Mark Evers, who unilaterally, without a Board vote, hired two secretaries. All Lou Desso has done about it was to give the one still with the town a raise in his last minute budget, jumping her to full time with paid benefits from part time and no benefits. Now that’s showing who’s boss Lou!

The fact of the matter is that the judges have the right to approve or reject any Town Board appointment to the court clerk position. The Board majority is trying to impose a politically connected choice on the judges. They have refused to accept the Board choice and rightly so. The clerk must be someone who they trust and can work with handling sensitive information. The court clerk does not work for the Town Board and their role should be to simply approve the choice of the judges. Let’s face it, the last thing we want is a court clerk who releases some of the conviction records of say, a sitting Board Member!

So here we sit with the courts short a clerk, hours of operation curtailed as a result, revenue not coming in as fast as it should and all because the Town Board majority wants to impose Lou Cotrona’s Personal Trainer on the Courts rather than a candidate approved by the judges who pays taxes here in North Greenbush. Well, look at the bright side, it shows how much they care about Lou Cotrona’s heath. Putting his PT and masseur right down the hall in the courts is sure to provide all the motivation Lou needs with a short walk down the hall instead of a long drive to the nearest Planet Fitness. Maybe he can help out Lou Desso who appeared to be overdosing on “Preparation H” due to suffering from a nasty hemorrhoid as evidenced by his inability to sit down during the meeting. Pass the body oil junior, these guys need that special touch!
Spain a Republican?

Republicans deserve some credit for apparently demanding that turncoat “Democrat” Al Spain officially change his stripes and enroll as a Republican if he is to receive the GOP endorsement for Supervisor. Imagine that, Al Spain being told to do something that makes sense in order to receive the nomination of a party whose endorsement he seeks rather than his own party’s nod. Of course Democrats want nothing to do with Spain who has sold his soul to the GOP over many years, including his remarkable betrayal for job retention when David Grandeau was the Troy City Manager. Al kept his job while 47 city employees were fired only to successfully fight the firings in the courts.

Paving Roads Not Desso’s Problem

We had to laugh when County Legislator,Town Councilman and now would be Highway Supervisor and Court Administrator, Lou Desso moved to table a resolution to approve a list of the town roads to be paved this year. Councilman Joe Bott, Chair of the Highway Committee that developed the list, protested, clearly stung by Desso’s insinuation that the list was not communicated in a timely manner to the Board. Desso could not make his apparent target, Highway Superintendent Mark Premo, look bad without throwing his supposed ally, Joe Bott, under the bus. So under the buss he went!

We give Joe a lot of credit for his willingness to stand up to Desso’s insinuations last night. Joe had approved the hiring of the part time secretary in Premo’s department last December at a Highway Committee Meeting. His acknowledgement diffused Desso’s efforts to make Premo look as though he had done something wrong in the hiring. Bott also fired back at Desso for tabling his committee’s work to approve a list of roads to be paved by warning that the delay will make shorter an already narrow window of time to get the work completed before the end of fall. Poor Joe, Desso will not be happy that he stood up to him and Desso is sure to let him know it. When he does, know you did the right thing and perhaps suggest Desso take a crash course in the concept of State approved contracts as a legally approved substitute for what most understand to be competitive bidding. Imagine Desso demanding competitive bidding for blacktop after he voted to approve a $40,000 no bid contract to redo the Comprehensive Plan. That’s hypocrisy for you, two public paychecks and all!

Assessor Delays Plea

The Town Assessor appeared before a county judge yesterday and delayed entering a plea on his felony DWI arrest. Once convicted, he will automatically be removed as the Town Assessor under the State’s Public Officer’s Law. The Times Union reports that the judge was not pleased.“You understand the longer you drag this on, the longer it’s going to take to get your license back?”Rensselaer County Judge Robert Jacon asked. “I want this case disposed of.”

You can read more about in the Record, here.

State Auditors Pour Over Town Books

2011-05-10T08:24:00.005-04:00

The New York State Comptroller has begun to give Lou Desso his "wish" for a "forensic audit". Lou's desire to provide political cover for his firing of the former Comptroller by inferring criminal conduct in the establishment of a fully authorized town bank account in a bank he authorized as a Board member, is on its way to fulfillment.

The State Comptroller is likely to find that Lou's CPA firm was incorrect when it recklessly declared that the bank account was in any way an unauthorized or improper account under Town Law which the firm and Lou apparently never bothered to read. After slandering the man's reputation in two local newspapers, the State Comptroller's Office took the bait and now a team of auditor's are combing through records and more importantly, procedures which the town follows that allow all kinds of abuses.

For example, they will learn that there is no time clock in town hall and no way to be certain those unionized employees are there when they are paid to be there. They will learn of the "special arrangement" that allows a Fire Marshall whose position was unlawfully established without a required Local Law, to work four 10 hour days so he can also work a full time job in the City of Troy which continues to refuse to release his city time sheets for comparison to his town time sheets. In addition, they will learn there is no one to supervise his hours after town business hours which end at 5PM.

Auditors will learn that the Town's Assessor was allowed to be part of a union in town hall and that despite this conflict with his management position, he was appointed to the conflicting post of Comptroller where he could no longer "advise" the Board on the fiscal impact of a union contract because he, as a member of the union, stood to benefit from it.

They will learn how Desso and company refused to reappoint the Comptroller to a two year term in order to exercise undo influence over him by holding his job over his head. How they tried to manipulate State reports to massage the deficit and keep critics at bay. The auditors will see a budget process last year which was hijacked by Desso on the night of passage with a new document with changes no one knew about, pay raises for certain folks, increased hours for others and a goody basket for the pals that increased General Fund spending by taking the funds from the Highway Department PILOT monies.

The State auditors will see how that budget was passed without any input from the Supervisor or Comptroller who were kept in the dark on his changes. They will see how politics governs every decision in town hall such as the firing of a Youth Director as "unnecessary" only to give a Building Inspector ten grand in needless overtime to do the job they said was unnecessary. Yep, the OT was given to the highest paid employee in town hall to do the Youth Director's unneeded job.

They will also see how the Board continues to ignore a $35,000 State Grant for Brownstones because they don't like the folks who got the grant for the town. That's good management Lou and Al, hey? And who knows, maybe they'll see how their pension office is moving to collect monies owed to the State when the Assessor reported his last town position incorrectly to the State resulting in a higher pension payout than justified.

It should be an interesting time in Town Hall as the coffee pot is sure to get a workout.

Will the Real Republican Please Stand Up?

2011-04-27T15:25:00.003-04:00

It just gets crazier and crazier out here in North Greenbush politics. Lou Desso wants to make Democrat Al Spain the GOP candidate for Supervisor. That runs contrary to a long time Republican and committee person, Stephanie Piel, who would also like to run for the post.

What's a real Republican to do? Should they support a real Republican or instead reward a turn coat Democrat. We don't pretend to have the answer but it sure has the ingredients for a wild primary season.

We already know that Lou Desso has no allegiance to any political party having invaded the Democratic Party nominating caucus so he could run with every line on the ballot. To Desso its about a power trip rather than enduring the inconvenience of a real competition of ideas and ideology. It's also about having a candidate he can control and make no mistake, Al Spain is his man. That's one reason Democrats ended their caucus system for nominating candidates replacing it with the more traditional primary method. The Primary method will keep Republicans out of the Democratic Party but it wont keep turncoat Democrats like Al Spain from accepting the Republican endorsement while entering a primary for the Democratic endorsement as well.

Democrats are gearing up for a possible Spain run for either Council or Supervisor. They'll be hammering away at 4 years of Spain voting with Republicans against his own party. He screwed up the Comprehensive Plan, awarding a needless $30,000 no bid contract to a firm to redo the completed document. They will also be reminding Democratic voters that Al Spain voted to change a law in town so that he could hire his brother's out of town attorney in a town job in exchange for the attorney providing free legal representation for brother Jeff after he liquidated the Democratic Committee's bank account of more than $3,000, crippling the party.

So far that legal representation has gotten Spain a Court decision ordering him to repay the Democratic Party and has done little to please the Spain's with the stellar legal work of his "free" attorney. Democrats will also remind voters that an ethics complaint filed against Al Spain for the apparent quid pro quo was allowed to languish in the office of Spain ally Town Clerk Kathryn Connolly since January 2010 when it was filed. She never sent the documents to town Ethics Board. Hey, what are friends for?

So hold on to your hats folks, it promises to be a lively election season as Al Spain tries to pull a Lou Desso with GOP support for both the Republican and Democratic nominations. With Republicans trying to take over the Democratic Party once again, this time using a registered Democrat to do the dirty work. Try not to mistake this for fraud in the legal sense. It's just fraud in an ethical sense and we all know about the ethics possessed by this crew of politicians.

Desso's Audit Blues

2011-04-25T06:41:00.005-04:00

County Legislator/Town Councilman Lou Desso couldn't wait to find an excuse to get rid of the former Town Comptroller so he could gain more control over town finances. To justify the hasty removal last January, Desso used a sloppily written, poorly worded letter from a local CPA firm to ransack the reputation of the man he sought to fire.

Desso however, ratcheted up the rhetoric by calling for a "forensic audit" of the town's books. This was to imply criminal conduct and give Desso the political cover he needed to remove the Comptroller and at first replace him with the Town's Assessor, a clearly conflicting office. That's not a big deal to Desso because he too holds a conflicting elective office by simultaneously holding a post in the county legislature thanks to a partisan vote in the legislature that allowed him to hold two posts despite a court ruling defining the conflicts established in Town Law.

Now Desso will get more than he bargained for with a full State Audit by Comptroller Thomas DiNapolli. State auditors will get a chance to see all of the shenanigans Desso and his majority have engaged in because they will undoubtedly tear apart the malicious claims made by Desso against the former town comptroller. They are also likely to meet with the fired Comptroller to get his perspective and input on the financial practices, the intimidation, secret budget practices, contract negotiations, grant practices, overtime abuses, the lack of a time clock in town hall uses and all the other abuses that characterize Desso's tenure.

A recent letter by the Town's Democratic Chairman outlined some of the issues the State auditor's will learn about as they begin their audit in the days ahead. If you missed it you can read that letter here. In the mean time, get ready for a big time audit made possible because of the thoughtless comments of Lou Desso which were undoubtedly read by folks in Albany who will be coming to a town office near you real soon.

Happy Easter

2011-04-21T07:45:00.001-04:00

We've been quiet lately for a variety of reasons. Suffice to say much is still going on behind the scenes and when the timing is right, you'll read about the goings on right here.

As the holiday approaches, we wish one and all a Happy Easter and Passover season.

UPDATE: The Saturday Troy Record has this gem on a State Audit of North Greenbush.

Premo On Fox News

2011-03-18T09:07:00.003-04:00

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

2011-03-16T15:05:00.008-04:00

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

2011-03-12T07:46:00.002-05:00

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

2011-03-11T07:22:00.005-05:00

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

2011-03-10T07:05:00.004-05:00

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

2011-03-02T06:00:00.005-05:00

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

2011-03-01T13:47:00.003-05:00

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.

How Bad Can They Look?

2011-02-24T22:27:00.014-05:00

After the Town Board got its butt kicked along with that of their cracker jack CPA firm, you might think they would figure a good face saving way out of their slander ridden attack on the professional reputation of the former Comptroller. But nope, this is after all a board majority run by Lou Desso, the County Legislator who can't name a single bank account he approved for the county while throwing a fit that he didn't approve or know about one in North Greenbush.

Maybe Desso just didn't understand how bad he looked and maybe his majority didn't realize that the Supervisor was giving them a chance at some redemption last night by offering a Resolution that would have asked their so called CPA's to re-examine their findings, one in particular that is untrue and a potentially slanderous attack on the former Comptroller. A chance to change it if they felt the evidence warranted it. But no, not one Board member would second her resolution.

The problem of course is that the so called finding that the the comptroller opened an "UNAUTHORIZED BANK ACCOUNT" simply isn't true. The conclusion is not supported by any Town Law and is "justified" by the fact that the Town Board did not approve of the account.

The problem of course is that the law does not require the town board to approve of any bank accounts opened by a Comptroller. Unfortunately for Lou Desso, the county operates the same way. So when asked if he could name even ONE bank account he approved for use in Rensselaer County as a member of the Legislature, the silence was deafening. Poor Lou! He was so upset he didn't know about the bank account opened on Main Avenue by the comptroller he fired he was calling for a "Forensic Audit". Yet Lou couldn't name a single bank account he had approved for the county in his conflicting role as a legislator.

A little lesson for Lou that may not sink in until he gets further hammered for his outrageous attack on the former Comptroller. He can't claim that he never accused anyone of criminal activity when he's calling for a forensic audit. A forensic audit is a tool used to compile criminal evidence. It's used because you suspect embezzlement or some crime has taken place. Lou said it to the Times Union and then again at last night's public meeting and left himself wide open to a lawsuit by the former Comptroller. The CPA firm might have liked the chance to fix their big whopper too for they could be on the receiving end of a lawsuit for making the false claim concerning an "unauthorized bank account" which clearly damaged the professional standing and reputation of the former Comptroller.

Imagine how bad they looked seeing the proof that the claim was erroneous and that the CPA firm had made an egregious error and none of these elected Board members had the brains or guts to ask the firm to do a fact check and perhaps, amend and fix their slanderous mistake.

The Supervisor gave them a chance at redemption, at least partial redemption. A chance to do the right thing for the town and for the man they screwed with his job and then his reputation. But Lou and his gang just could bring themselves to embracing doing the right thing. Politics, never entered into this they said. It must have been something else that caused Lou Desso to call the Troy Record Tuesday to leak the "non political CPA report" before his Finance Committee had a chance to meet later that night. Lou talked up quite a storm about the illegal bank account, inferred all kinds of fraud so he could get that big headline that would be used to help bury the former Comptroller and "justify" the firing.

He got one headline and he's going to get many more as a result that he'll wish he didn't have to read. Hey Lou, get back to us with those bank accounts you approved in the county, just one will do. Hell if you don't know of any bank accounts that the county is using, you can get another CPA firm to write something equally stupid and go after your County Fiscal Officers!

Just think of the headlines you'll get!

You can read more in the Record, here, including the Board's appointment of Tony Germano as Comptroller. Good luck Tony, we wouldn't wish them on anyone.

Strenka Strikes Back

2011-02-23T17:40:00.005-05:00

When Lou Desso and company went after the professional reputation of the man he fired last January because he couldn't manipulate him into a complete political stooge, that was enough for the former Comptroller to speak out.

He lambasted the clearly unprofessional report issued by Cusack and Company, a CPA form paid to look at town book keeping practices and make recommendations to the town after they rashly fired the Comptroller. On it's face the report looks innocuous but the failure of the firm to do the most basic thing before issuing a report gives rise to the appearance that they were willing participants in a political hit at taxpayer expense. They failed to contact the man they were critical of for his response and input into their concerns. Obviously when you gag a defendant at trial and prevent him from offering a defense, the conclusions remain unchallenged. And that's exactly what the CPA firm did, they failed, probably because Desso told them not to make contact, to check with with the man they were criticizing for his side before issuing the report. That is simply unprofessional.

Also the meeting of the Finance Committee on Tuesday evening as another failure to extend the courtesy of seeking a response from Strenka. This group includes Lou Cotrona as the new hit man for the majority. He threw more bombs and innuendo than could be calculated at the meeting and why not, Strenka was not there to rebut him. Fairness abounds with this crew!

There are sure to be fireworks at the meeting tonight when Act III of this drama takes place. Once again they will demonstrate their courage by attacking a man who is not present to defend his professional reputation. Then the majority will announce who, to quote Strenka, their "political crony" is to take his position. It is on the agenda for 7PM.

One thing is certain, Desso and the gang look bad in this one. Firing a guy who was doing a good job, trying to destroy his reputation to fix the bad perception Desso gained from the firing and hiring of the assessor with his felony charges. And now the final act, the hiring of his political crony. We can't wait for the ceremony.

Here are links to stories in both the Times Union and Troy Record. Also we'd welcome the press releases of Strenka and Desso on this one. We'll publish them in their entirety.

Finding a Scalp to Save a Hyde

2011-02-23T06:15:00.003-05:00

Report

UPDATE: Comptroller fires back in lead Times Union Story here.

Hours before a quickly scheduled meeting of the so called Finance Committee,some of those behind the sudden surprise firing of the Town Comptroller were busy leaking out a 3 page recommendation by an accounting firm that was retained to review the town's book keeping practices and make recommendations. The principle leaker was our own Lou Desso, mastermind of the scheme to fire the Comptroller and replace him with the town assessor who, apparently unbeknowst to Desso, had been arraigned on felony charges hours before his appointment. Desso is not known for thinking things out as is apparent by leaking out the document before it was disclosed, discussed and made public by his own Finance Committee last night.

You can read Desso's spin on the document in today's Record, here. What you won't get to read are any of the former Comptroller's explanations to any of the findings and recommendations of the firm's report. That's because no one asked him for an explanation. Apparently, allowing someone whose scalp is now needed to justify the arrogant and politically motivated behavior of the Board's firing just wouldn't make the case sound as bad as it needs to be. So, there will be no explanations from the Comptroller permitted.

Instead we have a report written without political bias which is then spun by those with the agenda to justify the firing and get themselves out of the political soup they've been cooking in for a month. At the meeting last night, Desso and his political pal Lou Cotrona were "souping it up" dishing out more innuendo than a super sized serving of fish chowder. They inferred possible fraud was taking place, that possible criminal activity had occurred and most importantly, that they were lucky and right to have fired the comptroller.

While we can only surmise what the Comptroller might have been able to say to explain some of the six findings and recommendations had he been allowed to, most of the issues and recommendations have to do with work on bank reconciliations that were not yet finished or reports that were still pending when he was abruptly fired. But one finding was seized upon, an "Unauthorized Bank Account" set up by the Comptroller at Pioneer Bank containing three million in town funds. The accounting firm recommended that the town board approve every bank account. What it does instead is approve every bank the town comptroller is authorized to use. Which banking product he determines is best for the town has been left up to the Comptroller, so the fact that Board members were not aware of this bank account is no different than the other accounts utilized. That detail has never been required or asked for.

It is not that the account was "unauthorized" as much as the fact that Board practices did not require the Board to approve of each and every account opened by the comptroller. Hence a recommendation to require Board approval of every account along with every bank. And while such a practice is fully acceptable and wise, it simply was not how the North Greenbush Town Board operated or required its Comptroller's to operate. So fix it.

Instead, some, not all, Finance Committee members wondered aloud whether the Comptroller was engaged in fraud or even criminal activity. With the Comptroller not allowed to defend himself at any level, the result was a political lynching. Nice job boys, your mother's would be proud. We suspect however, that if anyone had bothered to ask the bank, they would find that every penny deposited in that account is safe, secure and untouched, something no one at the meeting wanted to say or thought of saying. We should know by Thursday's Board meeting.

We've said all along that the goal behind the firing was to get better political control over the Comptroller's position. Comptroller Strenka had been told to not speak to certain members of the public by Mr. Desso as part of his paranoia over critics. He had also been pressured to hold back reports that those opponents might use to further criticize Desso's wild spending sprees on behalf of his friends in town hall and his surprise 2011 budget walked in the Board room without any input from either the Supervisor and Comptroller.

Some of this may finally come out now that Desso and company are trying to assassinate the character and professionalism of the fired Comptroller to try and save their own skin from public judgment. Desso likes a trial you see, where the defendant is not allowed to defend himself. It's cleaner that way and the result is more suited to the needs and agenda at hand.

Stay Lifted-Spain to Pay up.

2011-02-21T10:03:00.008-05:00

Spain, Spain, everywhere a Spain...

Town Democrats are enforcing a court order imposed on Jeff Spain for liquidating away the party's checking account in 2008 after he lost control of the town Democratic Committee.

After the decision was announced last June, they gave him time to pay back the more than $3000 he squandered away to various charities in violation of his fiduciary obligations to the committee. He also ignored a written waring from the committee telling him he would be held accountable for misspent funds.

After hearing nothing from him concerning the order, Democrats began to garnish his income. That's when brother Al came to the rescue by apparently getting him a free lawyer to fight the decision with an appeal. To get the free lawyer, Democrats have wondered whether the lawyers payment came in the form of a town job for the non resident who is, with Al Spain's vote, on the payroll as a Deputy Town Attorney. The attorney, Josh Ehrlich, is also on the payroll of the NY State Senate, allowing him to join several others in town hall as a "double dipper". And let's not forget that the Town Board Majority even gave Jeff Spain a paid appointment in town hall on the Planning Board where he pursues his often quoted goal of "tuning RT 4 into another Wolf Road". (See "Into the Fray", an article in Metroland -scroll down after clicking on the link.)

After all the hoopla about demanding his right to appeal, Spain and his attorneys did nothing to perfect the appeal. And why would they? Appeals cost money, filing fees and an expensive transcript of the trial itself would have made an appeal cost as much as the paying the judgment. So the entire exercise turns out to be another mockery of justice, just as the paid town job for his attorney continues to be ignored by the infamous town Ethics Board which has never met even once to consider the merits of the ethics complaint filed against Al Spain for using his elected office to give the attorney a paid job in apparent exchange for providing brother Jeff with free legal representation.

Of course we'll never get to the bottom of the substance of the complaint because Al Spain's appointed Ethics Board has never met and that's just the way Al, Lou Desso and their majority appear to like it.

So after waiting for this crew to file their appeal for more than 120 days, town Democrats have again acted to garnish his income and recover the money Spain owes the committee. After 120 days, the automatic stay of enforcement is lifted, allowing the party to begin enforcement proceedings anew.

The irony in all of this is two fold. It was Jeff Spain and his buddies who were constantly accusing their adversaries in the party of misusing party funds in letters to the editor which were published frequently during his thankfully brief tenure as party chairman. But it is Jeff Spain alone who was found guilty of misappropriating party funds, not by a mock trial held by the loyalists on his party committee to purge their adversaries, but by a judge who listened to the evidence and found Spain had abused his authority after loosing control of the committee.

The second irony, well who'd a guessed that every penny collected and restored to the party's bank account would be put to good use defeating brother Al in the coming election, should he seek re-election. In effect, we might get lucky and see the spectacle of Al Spain's brother financing the campaign to defeat him via the garnished wages being replenished to the party's checking account.

Incidentally we can't help but ask whether appointing an out of town attorney to a town job when so many town residents were available turned out be all that smart after all? Just one more weapon in the voluminous arsenal Democrats have amassed to defeat the Spain Desso team in November.

You can read about the Spain caper in today's Troy Record here. What you won't read is a comment by the Wolf Road Champion or his no charge legal team. They ducked returning calls for comment to the Record.

Manhattan DA Eyes Connolly

2011-02-18T08:49:00.004-05:00

You have to wonder whether North Greenbush politicos will seek or accept the endorsement of town resident Tom Connolly when they seek re-election this year to the town board. Connolly is head of the County Independence Party, and is under investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney.

Today's NY Post drops a new bombshell including charges of cover-up, back dating a contract and the usual stuff that is an integral part of Connolly's background here in our county. You can read the latest article here. A search of this blog details many of the past capers involving Connolly who was recently terminated from the payroll of a Democratic State Senator from a $100,000 a year job. The joke is how he got the job in the first place, through the largess of Joe Bruno, when he was head of the Senate Republicans. While on the "Democratic " payroll, he worked with the GOP, especially here in Rensselaer County, where he endorsed GOP candidates carte-blanche, except for one, his sister, North Greenbush Clerk Katie Connolly, who remains a registered Democrat like Al Spain.

Both, however, continue to align themselves with the Republican Party, with Connolly accepting the GOP endorsement in the last town election and Spain, likely to do so this time around. The only real question is whether they will be branded with the endorsement of the scandal ridden Tom Connolly by accepting his Wilson Pakula endorsement waiver to run on the Independence Party line which Tom Connolly still chairs.

Again, we invite our readers to do a search on this blog of Tom Connolly. You'll find a treasure trove of past indiscretions from a falsified Troy City Hall job application in which he falsely stated he had graduated from Manhattan College, to his stolen bicentennial prints gifted to his mother and a sitting district attorney. Hey Senate Republicans, planning to rehire him any time soon?

Desso's World

2011-02-08T09:01:00.005-05:00

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.

Looking Bad in the Comptroller Caper

2011-01-28T06:00:00.004-05:00

Thank God for Super Lou. If it weren't for Lou Desso the town would still have a Comptroller instead of the debacle it is still suffering through. And thank God again for Super Lou. Without him the town would still be suffering from the deficit he claims he inherited from predecessors he doesn't like.

Last night Desso and his majority admitted they didn't know what they should have known before rushing to fire the Comptroller and replace him with a political ally. Their lack of due diligence caused them to appoint someone who hours earlier was being arraigned on two felonies. Shame on the Board for not doing it's job and we can't say much for the appointee's judgment in apparently keeping them in the dark about the arrest and doing his part to make them look like a bunch of fools.

But we can correct Lou Desso one more time about his often repeated claims that he erased this massive deficit inherited from his predecessors, presumably, the big bad Democrats. Last night you would think that Desso and Spain alone erased the deficit, that the Comptroller had nothing whatever to do with the slow reduction in the town's deficit which began under Lou Desso's 2005 running mates.

Lou forgets that when he ran and lost in 2005, he and his team were claiming they had a big surplus of $100 Grand. Then a funny thing happened after the election. The new board got a bill from the State seeking payment of a past due payment to the retirement system. The big surplus was a big lie. Instead, there was a big deficit and Lou's team of 2005 created it.

Now we wouldn't bother to bring up this history if Super Lou would stop bragging about things that just ain't true. But the fact is Lou Desso alone did not turn town finances around. He had a great deal of help from a professional independent Comptroller.

That's all changed now because of Mr. Desso's rash action to fire the Comptroller and replace him with someone he failed to properly research with a thorough appointment and interview process. Nice work Lou, we're sure you're proud of your actions no matter how much egg may be on your face and the town board as a result.

By the way, here's that little press release from the folks who beat Lou in 2005 released just 12 days after they took office. A little history lesson for people who either lack the capacity for truth or the memory to discuss it. Also, here is a link to an article in today's Troy Record, the only newspaper that reports on events in North Greenbush.
Pension Fund

Democrats Seek Answers From Board

2011-01-27T06:32:00.006-05:00

Tonight there is a meeting of the town board scheduled at 7pm. It is preceded by a brief Public Hearing soliciting comment on restoring the salary of the Highway Superintendent which the board allowed to be cut with a clerical error in the budget which they initially refused to fix because of their anger with Premo's criticism over the changes in their budget.

Town Democrats are demanding answers from the board, especially its leaders Lou Desso and Al Spain over their votes to oust a competent Comptroller and replace him with the Assessor on the same day the Assessor was arraigned before a judge on felony charges. Great timing boys! The question becomes did they know before the vote or were they deceived by the appointee?

Here is the letter by the town Democratic chairman in today's record.

Appointee Resigns Amid Controversy & Criminal Charges

2011-01-25T23:09:00.005-05:00

It appears that secrecy is a still invoked policy by the town board majority and some of those they employ. Unfortunately, both the board and their allies are learning the hard way that secrecy is a difficult task to master in a democracy and runs contrary to its principles.

Yesterday the Troy Record reported the arrest of the Board's recently appointed Comptroller on two serious felony charges which occurred on Christmas Day and which were apparently kept secret until just recently. According to the report, on the very day the Town's Assessor was being appointed to a conflicting job as Town Comptroller, he had been arraigned by a Troy judge on the felony charges just hours earlier. That apparently didn't stop Councilman/Legislator Lou Desso from voting to make the newly charged town official the new Comptroller. Imagine how foolish Desso and his colleagues look voting to make someone Town Comptroller just hours after he was arraigned by a judge on two felony charges.

Did they know about the charges and appoint him anyway or did he keep them in the dark as well? These are questions, the answers to which make this town board look totally irresponsible and foolish. They failed to exercise even the most basic due diligence before making the appointment. The reason for their hasty move makes them look even more foolish. It rests in a simple desire to politicize the Comptroller's Office and further isolate the Supervisor in her efforts to serve as the town's elected CFO.

Sometime last week, the controversy surrounding the appointment caused the Assessor to resign as Comptroller. The resignation no doubt embarrassed Lou Desso and Al Spain giving credence to those critical of the move placing both offices under one appointee. The reasons for these criticisms are documented on this blog in various letters to the editor, all of which detail sound reasoned issues which demonstrate the numerous conflicts of interest created by the dual appointment. What they do not do is wallow in "personal attacks" of the appointee. Until yesterday, the resignation, like the arrest, was kept secret.

According to the article announcing the resignation in today's Record, the new Comptroller resigned January 20th after "personal attacks", apparently by both the Supervisor in her letter to the Advertiser of January 13th and letters from members of the Democratic Committee. Again, decide for yourself whether the content of the letters, all of which appear on this blog, contain personal attacks or valid criticism of the situation and the conflicts of interest created by one person holding the two positions simultaneously.

We disagree that the Assessor or any Board member was attacked personally in the letters published in the Record and Advertiser. But we understand their efforts to try to make the actions of those criticized "victims". It's called "attack the messenger" and in this case, the messengers are anyone who criticizes the actions of this board.

“He resigned because he was unwilling to tolerate the actions of a few who attempted to discredit him and hurt his family,” Desso said in today's Record. Horse feathers Mr. Desso! He resigned because you and your majority thoughtlessly and recklessly placed him in a no win situation in your haste to remove a Comptroller who was competent and politicize the office with someone who you felt would be more responsive to your demands. The question, however, is whether you Mr. Desso and your majority were aware of the felony charges when you made the appointment January 4th or whether you just didn't perform due diligence before rushing to put him and the town in an untenable situation. Personal attacks indeed.

Censoring the Town Web Page

2011-01-24T10:05:00.001-05:00

The Town Supervisor has published a column in the Troy Record, which you can read here, that reflects the growing frustration she feels with conduct of the Town Board and the Town Clerk. Civility is not a part of the vocabulary. Mrs. Ashworth also offers an apology for what are characterized as "personal attacks" on the Assessor which have appeared in local publications.

While it is not clear from the column, the so called personal attacks are likely contained in the letters to the editor which have been linked for you in the post of January 7th which you can read here. A review of the letters posted here shows letters expressing concern over the conflict of interest created by the Board's decision to place the Assessor in a conflicting post as Comptroller. While we see little that qualifies as a personal attack, we note that a standard tactic of folks receiving criticism is to engender sympathy by referring to the criticism as a personal attack. When the Town Clerk goes into a tirade at a meeting and calls the Supervisor "worthless" and that she should resign because she has "done nothing", that's a personal attack. When you criticize public policy concerns with clearly defined examples, it is hardly personal and should not be construed as such. Nonetheless, everyone's perception is not the same and all are entitled to their opinions.

The Supervisor's column also reports that the Board majority led by Lou Desso and Al Spain are taking a page from the playbooks used by totalitarian regimes by "approving" what is allowed to be published on the taxpayer funded town web page at townofng.com .

At the last Board meeting on January 13th, there was a public discussion concerning the content of the town web page and apparently, all content must now go through the town clerk for posting. If she finds something, say in the monthly Supervisor's Report, that she thinks would concern the Board, she will run it by them for approval.

Obviously such a policy is censorship pure and simple. This kind of totalitarian nonsense has no place in town government or anywhere else in this country, yet here we are with just such a discussion taking place in North Greenbush at a town board meeting.

Limiting dissent and information may be viewed by an insecure public official as a way of protecting themselves from negative publicity, but in the end it causes them more harm than good as people begin to take a more serious look at the reasons for their fear of their political opposition.

Come November, voters will have a chance to clean things up in town hall and regardless of whether the monthly reports of the Supervisor are allowed on the town's web page, they can't stop the information from being made available on the internet. So we will publish each monthly report here beginning with the January 2011 report which was published in the Advertiser's January 13th edition and which has not yet been posted to the town web page.

The report speaks for itself and echos the many concerns generated by the foolish decision of the majority to fire the Comptroller and give the job to the town's full time Assessor. To say Al Spain, Lou Desso and their two tag a longs did not think out the problems created by this decision would be an understatement. But to censor the Supervisor from being freely able to present her views on the town web page is an act that will not reflect well upon them.

The Town Clerk also deserves some attention for her conduct at the last board meeting. Apparently when there is no video camera present, the civility disappears, replaced with a vengeance created by frustration and intolerance for anyone who stands in the way of their lust for power or criticism of their actions. Clerk Connolly once again went over the line calling for the Supervisor to resign. Apparently this ingratiates her with her friends on the Board who do nothing to put here in her place. It's our humble opinion that if anyone ought to resign for their outrageous conduct at Board meetings it's the Town Clerk. Enough said.

Connolly Booted From Senate Payroll

2011-01-22T11:26:00.004-05:00

It was a long time coming but Thomas Connolly has finally been given the axe from the NY State Senate in a job provided for him by Joe Bruno when Bruno was the Majority Leader.

The savings to taxpayers is at least $100,000 a year and the folks at the Central Avenue OTB may feel the job loss even more so. Connolly worked for a renegade Democratic Senator who was part of the power coup last year that sent the Senate and State government into turmoil.

With Republicans recapturing a narrow majority, the Democratic payroll had to be reduced and some 197 people on the payroll of Democratic Senators or central staff were laid off as a result. Yes, Connolly was on a Democratic payroll even though he remained the benefactor of Rensselaer County and Town Republicans as Chair of the county Independence Party.

It will be interesting to see whether Connolly can convince a politician with a payroll that he has some value to them in his role as a Vice Chair of the Independence Party. It was that false perception that kept him on the payroll after Senator Bruno retired. But the new Republican Majority is not likely to see any reason to keep the controversial Connolly on a State payroll especially in the midst of the worst fiscal crisis the State has faced in decades.

To those politicos who might need a refresher course on Connolly's past, a search of this blog will provide enough fodder to fill a dozen resumes. Frank Morano, a former Independence Party officer provided a great analysis of Connolly before he quit the party in disgust recently. Before he left, he framed the now former $100,000 a year NY Senate employee to a tee in the Daily News. His quote, a gem, "but alas the Independence Party has become the Incumbent Dependence Party, a tool for influence peddlers like Tom Connolly to cater to the state’s most powerful leaders."

Help thy self and search before you think about hiring!

Will Troy Look To Spain?

2011-01-07T06:00:00.009-05:00

UPDATE:Happy January 19th from the Record.
UPDATE Happy January 12th from the Record.
UPDATE: Happy January 8th from the Record
Troy officials who read about their Personnel Director, Al Spain and his fellow Councilman, Lou Desso's money saving job combo in North Greenbush, must surely be wondering if they should implement his idea in Troy?

Surely if the Town of North Greenbush can eliminate the full time salaried position of the Town Comptroller and make it a part time unpaid job given to the full time salaried Assessor, so could Troy. We bet Al's boss, Mayor Harry Tuntunjian is just foaming at the mouth to go to his Democratic Council with "Democrat" Al Spain's idea. Imagine, all this time such a money saving job combo was just waiting to be detailed had the Mayor just walked over to Spain's City Hall Office and asked the big question, "Hey Al, any ideas how we can combine jobs in the City like you do in North Greenbush and save some money?"

Al surely would have said, "Mr. Mayor, just have the City Assessor appointed City Comptroller and have him do the Comptroller's job part time and without a salary!" "What the heck Mayor, people won't care that their assessments are being done by a Comptroller who is always looking for more revenues to pay for services and the City Council will love the idea of not paying someone to audit the thousands of vendor claims we process every year as part of our 65 million dollar budget and do it after normal business hours when the Assessor's Office is closed and only on a part time basis."

Yep, we bet Mayor Tutunjian is beaming with anxiety over the brainchild of his very own Personnel Director, Al Spain who showed 'em all how to run a government with less money, expertise and personnel.

We also hear Al may have yet another money saving job combo for Troy, this one right under his nose all these years. For some strange reason Troy is paying salaries for both a Civil Service Commission and a Personnel Director. Most municipal governments, like Rensselaer County for example, have either one or the other, and perform the duplicitous functions without paying for positions and duties twice. Hell, Al figured that out when he went to visit the Rensselaer County Civil Service Commission as a Town Councilman to do some wheeling and dealing with job titles without telling the Town Supervisor.

That's an easy sell, combining the Personnel Director's duties with the Civil Service Commission. It's a whole lot easier than trying to explain in North Greenbush how a full time Assessor can also be a part time nonsalaried Comptroller after regular business hours, and adequately safeguard a 10 million dollar town budget.

So Al, we think it awfully magnanimous of you to offer your dual City Consolidation of Services Plan to your boss Mayor Tutunjian and the City Council. Finally, a bipartisan agreement in Troy. Well, almost. We hear some are wondering about the judgment of their Personnel Director in combining these conflicting positions in the Town of North Greenbush and wondering whether they should look at some of the judgments being made by Spain in the Personnel Director's Office in Troy. The folks in Troy really know how to pick 'em and we folks in North Greenbush think you're lucky because you can fix your problem before we can fix ours in November.

Fallout from Firing

2011-01-06T06:06:00.004-05:00

If there's one thing Lou Desso and Al Spain can't stand is press coverage of their shenanigans. Today's Troy Record gave them enough to fill a pamphlet. We're confident there will be more coming as the peeling away of the facade continues. Here is a link to the story.

Look for more fallout as this obvious power play in Town Hall gets more light shed on it including actions currently be investigated by the State Comptroller's Office involving Mr. Harkin's pension calculations which were misrepresented to cause a higher payment. The State has sent appropriate correspondence questioning some $6,000 in over payments which we believe will result in legal action if necessary to recover.

Nothing like having a completely honest fellow behind the town's books and financial records hey? Just the way Desso and Spain like it.

Town Comptroller Fired

2011-01-05T06:00:00.005-05:00

In a remarkable display of arrogance, Lou Desso, Al Spain and their two blind faith allies fired the Town Comptroller last night and replaced him with an unqualified political hack, the town assessor.

Not only was the move a surprise, it was plain stupid as the Assessor is a full time salaried employee and department head who is now being asked to act as Town Comptroller on a mythical part time basis without pay. Translated, he'll be signing off on his departments time cards twice, once as the submitting employee and once as the Comptroller. Worse, he be preparing his departmental budget and recommended raises for himself and those under him, then submitting the request to himself and the Supervisor for approval.

Naturally the Assessor as Comptroller, will agree with himself completely when advising the Supervisor. What a prolific joke! Listen to Lou Desso attempt to lay cover for his actions by saying the move was "purely financial" to save money for the town. Last time this clown made such a claim he fired the Youth Director, Jerry Sickles. Then a month later he authorized 10 grand in overtime for the Building Inspector, the highest salaried employee in town hall, to do some of Sickle's job he had claimed was no longer needed. Money saving move indeed!

Desso apparently told the Comptroller he was the "power in town" and that he was not to help the Supervisor. Desso denied the claim made by the Supervisor last evening, calling it a lie, but Desso may soon face a different kind of humiliation as more information comes to light.

But what really exposes the stupidity of the firing is the consistent claims that the town's financial picture has improved as restated in this video by Desso himself. Well duhhh, if the financial picture has improved, why fire the man at the helm of the fiscal policies that you're bragging about?

Stay tuned for more on this one as politically, the majority has handed their opponents raw red meat. Here's the first bite hot off last night's presses as the Democratic Chair rips away.

Ashley Fire Comp Statement 111

A Familiar Photo

2010-12-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

If you use Wikpedia as so many millions do around the world, you might just stumble on this image located in real life on Main Avenue in Wynantskill. The link on the photo takes you to the page explaining the picture, but the picture itself is part of the main page of the United States of America which is a common search to say the least.

The strip mall photo is a bit outdated, taken in June of 2009, and is found by scrolling down to the section on "Food". You'll notice a lot has changed since the photo was taken with the Movie Gallery closed and the old dollar store. Work continues on the structure as new tenants prepare to move in but we thought it a bit mind boggling that a search of the United States would include a shot of an obscure strip mall in little Wynantskill NY.

Special Meeting Called

The Town Supervisor has called a special meeting of the town board just ahead of the already scheduled Organizational Meeting on January 4th. The purpose is to give the board majority another chance to do the right thing and correct the clerical error which reduced the Highway Superintendent's salary by $1,700 annually.

The majority could have avoided this embarrassment had they simply acted at their last meeting to schedule a Public Hearing on a Local Law that would fix the mistake, but they were far more interested in playing politics and punishing the Highway Superintendent for his criticisms of their budget changes.

As a result they tabled the Supervisor's first effort to correct the mistake and she has now responded by scheduling a special meeting which puts them all on the old hot seat.

It is noteworthy that this majority gave sizable pay raises to certain friends which were never disclosed at the meeting in which they sprung their changes without any advanced discussion with the Supervisor who prepared the budget. One clerk in the Building Department managed a $3000 raise on top of her union negotiated salary increase that was part of a new contract negotiated by Lou Desso, again, behind the back of the Supervisor.

So what's the point of a union contract when Mr. Desso and his majority, ignore the pay raises it provides and dole out additional pay raises with funds taken from the Highway Department's PILOT revenue? And think of the absurdity of giving a clerk a $3000 raise on top of a contractual raise while cutting the salary of the Highway Superintendent who can get no overtime despite putting in many additional hours covering snow storms and emergencies at all hours of the day and night, weekends included.

Maybe Mr. Desso would explain why he allowed the raises on top of the union contract's raises but we hear that's how they do things where he works at St Peter's Hospital in Albany. Rumor has it a quiet inquiry is under way at the U.S. Office of Special Council to determine whether any Federal funds are used to pay a percentage of the salary of Mr. Desso. If so, Mr. Desso and his employer would be in violation of the Hatch Act which forbids one so funded from engaging in partisan political activity or holding any elective political office.

We'll keep you posted and hope you can attend both the Special Meeting of the Town Board on January 4th at 6:50PM and the Organizational Meeting at 7PM.

Happy New Year to all our readers!

Happy Holiday Season!

2010-12-14T14:31:00.003-05:00

No, they're not the long defunct "Lawn Sausages". Take a couple of minutes to hear some seasonal cheer. There are no Town Board meetings for the rest of the month and that in itself is reason to be merry! January 4th will be the Organizational Meeting. In the mean time, don't you wish these guys were from North Greenbush?

Update: December 18, 2010 "Make it Right!"

Will they ever learn to put aside their arrogance, or would they just prefer to pay the price at the polls next year? Here's a letter that signals what's to come if the Board majority doesn't do the right thing and restore the Highway Superintendent's salary.