Our Motto: “You have to
hack your way through a lot of lunchmeat in this world."
Quote of the Month:
“The sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that
he does not know how to stay quietly in his room” –Pascal
Opening Skirmish for City Council, and other
harsh notes from the political battlefield — by Jim
Kunstler
The 2003 election is a power struggle between
the stooges of a venal county Republican
machine and an underdog Democratic party bent on preserving home rule.
The Republicans
want all ultimate decisions on growth and development dictated by the county
board of supervisors — and the bosses who run it. The Democrats want local
decisions to remain with the city council. “This election is about control
of the planning board, zoning board, and design review,” one city hall insider
told us. “They [the Republicans] want to pick up the phone and say, this
is the way it’s gonna be.”
Issues
Was there ever a dumber campaign slogan
than the Republicans' "Stop the Reservoir?" - a naked attempt
to stir up powerboating yahoos under the pretense that their antics would
be curtailed by the DPW's proposal to draw drinking water from Saratoga
Lake.
The city's simple and straightforward water
plan would cost $17 million. The Republicans promote a county plan to draw
from the Hudson River, scoped at more than $75 million. The county would
charge Saratoga Springs $2.8 million a year for the water. After 10 years,
the city will have paid $28.5 million for water - way more than the $17
million cost of building and running its own system. Hello.
. . ?
Under the county plan, Saratogians would in
essence be buying a water system for Wilton while enabling more sprawl development
there and up through Moreau. Anyway, it turns out the intake line for the
county proposal, adjacent to an old Niagara Mohawk plant at Sherman Island,
is a PCB hot spot. A 1997 federal EPA report says so.
Sales tax is the other major issue.
Finance commissioner (and mayoral candidate) Mike Lenz claims the city got
burned by opting out of the county tax sharing scheme. Trouble is, Lenz's
figures are based on cooked and fictional projections drawn on formulas
no longer in force. In fact, current city sales are exactly what the city
deserves, since they derive totally from business done here. Would it be
fair if the city got more revenue than it generated on the basis of sales?
Or less?
The Offices and Candidates
1. Mayor - Incumbent Ken Klotz, a Skidmore College professor, versus
Finance Commissioner Mike Lenz.
Klotz has presided over a major downtown
renaissance, and used his office to promote the redevelopment of many vacant
city lots in the heart of the city. He has made excellent appointments to
the city boards.
Lenz complains long and loud about the city
sales tax, but as finance commissioner he did nothing to increase revenue
or hunt down missing revenue owed to the city.
It was Klotz who personally went to the State
Department of Taxation and Finance in Albany, where money collected by counties
is sent and redistributed. Klotz discovered that the city was owed thousands
of dollars in sales taxes from car dealerships who had filed incorrectly.
The State Tax officials (Republican appointees) told Klotz it would take
three to four years to rectify the problem.
Klotz runs the city council meetings with intelligence and authority; Lenz
never opens his mouth without a script furnished by his bosses and handlers.
2. Commissioner of Public Works - Incumbent Democrat Tom McTygue
versus Republican State Assembly goldbrick George Cannon.
The DPW water plan is obviously the crucial
issue for the department this year. Cannon would open the door to an immense
amount of mischief if he derailed the city's own water project in favor
of the county's.
But Cannon's basic competence ought
to be at issue. Court documents from his 1998 bankruptcy show that Cannon
ran a two-man aluminum siding business into the ground, leaving a lawsuit
for defective construction in its wake. Cannon Ventures also burned the
local Allerdice lumber yard for over $43,000 in unpaid bills and left more
than $25,000 in unpaid credit card debt. Given his track record with a two-man
aluminum siding operation, how would Cannon manage a department that employs
90 workers doing a mindboggling variety of tasks from heavy construction
to gold leafing?
A prominent local developer was heard referring
to Cannon as "a clown."
McTygue has managed the city's DPW with the
aplomb and proficiency of a World War Two general. His immaculate care for
the parks, streetscapes, and other public property is self-evident. On the
council, McTygue has been a strong voice against the county bosses.
3. Commissioner of Accounts - Incumbent Republican Stephen Towne
versus retired Skidmore College dean Eric Weller.
In his first year, Towne put on such a show
of frothing imbecility that Civitas dubbed him "Mad Dog." Among
his worst bungles was the roughly quarter-million dollars he cost the city
in
a botched attempt to steer a lucrative commission to the insurance agency
owned by Republican insider John Wise. The city's existing insurance contract
was cancelled as a result. Under a new, less favorable policy, city deductibles
shot up from $2,500 to $25,000 - in addition to the quarter-million dollar
increased premium.
Towne also caused the city to waste hundreds
of thousands of dollars on unneeded legal and engineering costs for the
sole purpose of stalling city council action on the water project until
after the election - in order to scuttle the project in favor of the county's
idiotic scheme.
Having lost his day job in Albany this year as office manager for a law
firm, Towne was hired by his cousin, Republican city chairman Tom Roohan,
to run a real estate office whose business puts Towne in a conflict of interest
with his official duties. Roohan and his various trusts and business entities
own a lot of property in the city, and Towne is supposed to assess their
value. Figure that out. Towne should either keep his day job or quit public
office.
By the way, a "Stop the Reservoir"
sign has sprouted in Towne's front yard, in case there is any doubt where
he stands on the water issue.
Democrat Eric Weller, running for office for
the first time, says he is determined to sort out the current mess in the
assessment system, which started when Towne failed to apply for a state
grant program that would have offset the cost of "rolling assessments"
to the city. Instead, Towne entered into a half-million dollar consulting
contract with a private firm. The system, Weller says, is viewed widely
as being unfair.
Weller is a rational, reassuring presence
in contrast to Towne's bizarre, impulsive, self-destructive persona. Weller
strongly favors the city's proposed water project.
4. Commissioner of Public Safety - Incumbent Republican Tom Curley
versus former city attorney Peter Tulin.
Tulin won the initial vote count in the primary
to run on the Conservative line, but by the time you read this, the primary
may have been stolen back by Curley via a handful of fraudulently obtained
absentee ballot votes.
Curley routinely runs up a $1 million annual
overtime bill on police salaries. Do the math: how many new officers could
you hire for a lot less than a million bucks? It's a disgraceful racket
and Tulin promises to put an end to it. He also promises to build a new
police station in the parking lot across the street from the old one, in
a mixed-use building that would help cover the cost of construction.
Curley says he has studied the city's truck
traffic problem - for eight years - and he has done absolutely nothing to
get 53-foot-long tractor-trailer trucks off city streets where they are
forbidden by ordinance to travel. Tulin promises to ticket every one of
them.
Tulin has consistently supported the city's
water project while Curley goes along with the Republican party line against
it at every opportunity.
5. Commissioner of Finance - An open council seat with incumbent
Lenz running for Mayor. Republican Eric Shreck, a banker, versus businessman
Matt McCabe.
Shreck is fresh young face. He developed an
interest in politics during the battle against the Widewaters / Home Depot
proposal a few years ago. As a Republican, he has refused so far to support
the city water project, meaning either that his math skills need honing
or he's easily pushed around.
McCabe, who owns two music stores downtown,
is a newcomer to electoral politics. But he
has been president of the Downtown Business Association, was one of the
founding activists behind the annual First Night celebration, and just served
as chair of the mayor's "blue ribbon" parking committee. He is
in favor of the city's water project and has been an advocate of growth
policies that direct development inside town and preserve rural land.
End
E-mail the editor: Kunstler@aol.com
Go to Home