Tom Connolly, the vice chair of the state Independence Party who cut his teeth under Ed McDonough, the old man not the one recently indicted, could be in some trouble according to a story in the New York Post.


Seems like, according to The Post, Connolly, known affectionately as Boy, was at least aware of some shenanigans between Indie Party wheel John Haggerty and what happened to the $1.2 million New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg gave Haggerty to perform a ballot security operation in 2009.

I have no idea what a "ballot security operation" is. If anyone knows, drop me a line.

The Post cites e-mail exchanges between Connolly and Haggerty filed in court by Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. saying as much - one can't help but wonder what other exchanges the DA has but hasn't filed yet - and alleges a fake contract concocted by Haggerty and Connolly long after the election.

Connolly has a long history in Rensselaer County politics. He started under McDonough as a Dem and as a Dem took over the county Independence Party from Wanda Chenot. It was a legit coup in that he enrolled a bunch of friends in the party who would then elect enough people to take over the committee and then that committee would elect an executive committee of his choosing which would in turn endorse what ever candidate he wanted.

Back to Connolly's long history. He was a Dem until ... well we're not sure when. He didn't get the plumb job of commissioner of jurors in 1996, but only because he got a DWAI the day before he was supposed to get appointed. He also wanted to be the board of elections commissioner but was upset when the Dems re-appointed Tom Wade instead. That happened back in the late 90s too.

So he flipped to the GOP sometime along the line and took with him the "I" line and got a sweet job with Sen. Carl Krueger making $100,000 a year for what is widely seen as a no-show job thanks to then Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno.

I have to wonder if Krueger has the Independence Party platform at heart. We also have to wonder what that platform is.

But he lost that when the chamber flipped to the GOP. And given what is going on now, the Manhattan DA froze the party's assets, if he can find another job until it all shakes out.

Connolly is one of Rensselaer County political characters, his family has a storied history but ... and I'm not sure what to say past that. You can figure it out.