CONNOLLY

Finally got a look at the lawsuit and had to make some changes, but the premise of the post is still the same.

There is a legal battle going on over the Independence Party and at the center of everything is none other than Tom Connolly, the one-time Rensselaer County Democratic operative who now serves as the party’s state vice chair.

The way I understand it, the Independence Party recently changed its bylaws, stripping endorsement power away from some county committees and giving it to the state committee. Two days after that change taking effect, the Tom Connolly, on behalf of the county committee, filed a slate of candidates that included all Republicans except Joel Abelove, the DA candidate. Instead it went to Democrat Rich McNally.

The state committee then filed their slate of candidates that included Abelove and not McNally.

The Democrats in turn filed a lawsuit, in the name of Ed McGrath, a former Troy councilman and brother to the District 1 representative Kevin McGrath, against the county slate of candidates.

Anyway, it raises more than a few eyebrows for a number of reasons.

One: Ed McGrath may be an enrolled member of the Independence Party but he’s been out of the game for a while now and I’m fairly certain it matters little to his life which DA candidate get the “I” line so who is paying his attorney – Jim Long.

Two: Long represents embattled City Clerk Bill McInerney, who recently submitted his resignation as part of a plea deal with the special prosecutor investigating voter fraud, Trey Smith. Kevin McGrath also cooperated with Smith, even testified in front of the grand jury.

WADE

Three: Connolly is the party’s vice chair, and was at one time tight with Chair Frank McKay - until that little thing in New York City went down – and my guess is McKay cares less than Ed McGrath who gets the “I” line in Connolly’s home county.
I think it’s fair to mention at this point in time that Connolly’s all but no-show state job hinged on delivering the Independence Party line to Republicans and that now he’s out of a job I think it’s fair to mention his sister, Katie, the longtime clerk in North Greenbush, was going to face a primary by who would be a formidable candidate, Jan Liberty, but no longer is. To me that means a deal was struck somewhere along the line by someone who really wants McNally to win

Four: Someone has more juice to get the unscrupulous Independence Party to endorse McNally at the state level and that some on the street still hyper-loyal to the Republicans wanted Abelove.

The whole thing is just further proof the Independence Party is a sham and the state should do away with the ability of minor party lines to cross endorse.



MCINERNEY

Bill McInerney’s resignation comes as no real surprise. He pretty much had to give it up in order to stay out of jail. It will be interesting to see what else he had to give up as far as information goes. My guess is everything he knew.

One thing I’m pretty sure of is that since McInerney ran the whole 2009 WFP absentee scam – and, according to reports in this paper also had some shady stuff going on in 2007 and 2008 – he knows quite a bit.



So far just Councilman Michael LoPorto and Elections Commissioner Ed McDonough are the only two who stand charged with anything - a combined 116 felonies for forgery and possessing a forged instrument. I find it hard to believe McInerney will be offered the opportunity to get out of this one with anything less than a felony or two.



BROWN

CAMPANA

My guess is the next one to take a plea will be Councilman John Brown, D, At Large, who isn’t running again and has been about invisible since the whole thing broke nearly two years ago. Given what Trey Smith, the special prosecutor, said about Council President Clement Campana I’d be surprised if he doesn’t plea to something too.

As far as LoPorto and McDonough go, every indication is they are taking their case to trial. Now that should be fun.







MANTELLO

After talking to a few people, I guess I have to clarify my Thursday column a bit.

I said Republican mayoral candidate Carmella Mantello was running because she needs a job. Turns out, according to her spokesman Vince Casale, she resigned from the Canal Corp. and gave up the $150,000 paycheck just to run for mayor of her hometown, maybe win and make $95,000.

CASALE

It had nothing to do with the fact her term was up at the end of last year. Nothing to do with the fact Gov. Andrew Cuomo is a staunch Democrat and she’s a Republican. Nothing to do with the fact he appointed former Schenectady Mayor Brian Stratton, a longtime loyal Democrat. Mantello resigned, according to Casale, to run for mayor.

Sorry for the confusion. My bad.

I think it’s only fair that I make mention Casale’s office is in Cooperstown since I made mention Steve Napier – the guy who worked for Clement Campana before he dropped out and is apparently working for Rosamilia - is from Cohoes but now lives in Troy.




ROSAMILIA



I also said Thursday the Dems candidate, Lou Rosamilia, worked in the private sector his entire life. What I should have said is he hasn’t had a political or government job because Hudson Valley Community College is indeed funded with public money and he’s in the state retirement system. That means he can collect a pension and the mayor’s salary should he retire from HVCC and beat the Republican candidate Carmella Mantello come November. I’m not sure what those two add up to, but I bet it’s a pretty good chunk of change of taxpayer money he’d be getting every year.

I almost put the double dipping thing in Thursday’s column but backed off when I learned he was taking a leave of absence rather than retiring.

All that said, Mantello still has a 3-1 shot and Rosamilia has a 4-1 shot.

MANTELLO

ROSAMILIA

As of 1 p.m., it’s official. Rosamilia is the Democratic candidate for mayor and will take on the Republican Carmella Mantello in November.

I’m laying odds in my Thursday paper. Feel free to lay your own odds on the race and the reasons why.

ROSAMILIA

Everyone is saying the Dems are going with Legislator Lou Rosamilia as their mayoral candidate. Or better said, the Dems talked him into it.

It was down to he and Legislator Ed Manny, who wanted it but the party wasn’t too keen on him, obviously.

Rosamilia starts out about 10 miles behind the Republican candidate, Carmella Mantello, but he is clean as a whistle and from what everyone says is a pretty decent guy. He of course takes over for Council President Clement Campana who was chased out of the race by the ongoing voter fraud scandal and the whole thing with his father getting into the Troy Housing Authority while by his family’s own admission didn’t meet eligibility requirements.

That’s not confirmed yet, but that’s the chatter from some pretty good sources. Who knows, though, I was wrong about Doris Day’s signatures and that was only yesterday.

Larry Bugbee, the Republican commissioner at the Board of Elections, said the Democrats candidate in District 2 turned in 90 signatures instead of the 75 initially reported.


When they were making copies of the petition, one of the pages containing 15 signatures got caught up in the machine.

So, she has 90, she needs 73 and while the general objection preserves the right for specific objections it doesn’t appear any will be filed.

Also, and this one is my bad, Mark McGrath, the enrolled Conservative running with Republican support, did not collect signatures for the Independence Party line.

So, Day will have the Democrat and WFP lines while McGrath will have the GOP and Conservative.

MCGRATH

Doris Day, the Democratic candidate for City Council in District 2, only filed 75 signatures and she needs 73 good ones. It’s not rocket science, but there are always mistakes made. So many in fact, the general rule of thumb is for candidates to get double the required number.

There is already a general objection filed at the Board of Elections – by Linda Foy, wife of former Councilman Democrat Wayne Foy – with objections to the specific errors on Day’s petition due at a later date.

In other words, it looks like the Mark McGrath, the incumbent Republican in District 2, will have a much easier time come November. Day, a political newcomer, will still be on the Working Families Party line. McGrath, despite an inter-party squabble, will have the GOP as well as the Conservative and Independent Party lines.

ABELOVE

MCNALLY

One interesting little development is that District Attorney Rich McNally got permission to run on the Independence Party line rather than his Republican opponent Joel Abelove. It’s unclear why McNally would get the nod since the line is controlled by Tom Connolly, the party’s state vice chair, and he’s in the Republican camp and Republican candidates generally get the I line. Same thing for the C line, which went to Abelove.

A bunch of Republicans were none too happy about it and were considering taking the whole thing to court because the permission, called a Wilson Pakula, was granted unilaterally by Connolly and not the state committee.

CAMPANA

Also, as of 9:26 p.m. Monday, as far as I know, nothing has changed for the Dems in the mayor’s race. Legislator Ed Manny wants the nod but the party would rather go with Legislator Lou Rosamalia. But, they need to pick someone by Friday or the Republican candidate, Carmella Mantello, will have a much easier time in November too.

Her first Democratic opponent, Council President Clement Campana, dropped out amid the ongoing voter fraud scandal and the one about his father moving into the THA despite not meeting income requirements and is instead gearing up for a run at county executive or county clerk.

ROSAMALIA

MANNY

Word on the street is Legislator Ed Manny is telling everyone he has the Dems Mayoral nod but that the party wants Legislator Lou Rosamalia, who, as of today, is a definite maybe. Or maybe a bit stronger than a maybe in that he’s seriously considering it.

I met Rosamalia just once at the Hook a Kid on Golf tournament and I’ve heard nothing but good things about him from both sides of the aisle.

A couple things deserve mentioning. The longtime professor at Hudson Valley Community College is probably the Dems strongest candidate at this point in time and there just isn’t any dirt there. The former candidate, Clement Campana, was battling voter fraud and the whole THA/father scandal right out of the gate. Whether or not Rosamalia has the stones to wage a mayoral campaign – which includes getting an organization off the ground and raising a bunch of money – though is anyone’s guess.

CHAPPY

One thing about the money part of it, I learned today that Mayor Harry Tutunjian spent some $230,000 in his successful re-election bid against Jim Conroy. That’s a bunch of money and as I’ve stated before, whoever the Dem candidate ends up being will have a hard time catching up with the Republican candidate Carmella Mantello, who has raised more than $81,000 as of the latest filing.

Another thing about the stones thing, at least the party will unite behind Rosamalia. There were some wheels – namely county Chair Tom Wade – who weren’t all that crazy with Chappy as a candidate given the aforementioned problems he brought along with his campaign. It’s one thing for party’s to throw dirt, but Chappy’s wounds were self-inflicted.

Who’s going to take Chappy’s place?


Ed Manny? Kathleen Ryan-Cassidy? Lynn Kopka? Lou Rosamallia? A dark horse?

I can see the first two wanting it but I don’t think the party wants them. The third and fourth I think the party would like to see but I don’t think they want it.

The fifth is a distinct possibility though I don’t know who it is.

Anyone with any information can please feel free to drop me a line at jfranco@troyrecord.com or 478-5343.

CAMPANA

Chappy’s out. He announced he was bailing at his fundraiser tonight (Wednesday.)

Wow.

His campaign has been dogged by voter fraud and the ongoing THA scandal and while the latter probably matters more to voters the first did heat up a bit when Trey Smith, the special prosecutor, said Campana lied and faces a good chance of getting charged with his role in defrauding voters in the 2009 Working Families Party primary.



Who runs now for the Dems is anyone’s guess. Lynn Kopka, the Dems number two pick, doesn’t seem interested in it as she is running for an At Large council seat she stands a good chance of winning. She’s also not stupid and knows how hard of a race it would be against Republican candidate Carmella Mantello. And while Legislator Ed Manny, a retired firefighter, wants it he really doesn’t stand a chance.





WADE



MAYOR MANTELLO



I don’t see anyone who does at this point in time. Legislator Kathleen Ryan-Cassidy is recently out of a job and was one of five interviewed by the Dems so my guess is its down to her and Manny.



Tom Wade, the Dems county chair, soured on Campana earlier this week and now he has a tough call to make but my guess is it’s gonna be his call to make and not the committee’s. The committee picked Campana and well, we know how that one turned out.

Barring any unforeseen bombshells, it’s Mayor Mantello come Jan. 1 2012.

WADE

Tom Wade, the Rensselaer County Democratic Party chairman, has been around a while. So have I. But not as long as Wade. To say we’ve had our differences over the years is an understatement, but he is anything but a stupid man and is looking for his party’s mayoral candidate, Council President Clement Campana, to get out of the race.

Campana wasn’t Wade’s choice from the get go, but to his credit he didn’t twist any arms or muscle anyone. Campana is the committee’s pick, and well, we’ll have to see the fallout from that one.

No, Campana is not indicted in the ongoing voter fraud scandal but, according to papers filed last week, it is a very real possibility. And the whole Troy Housing Authority thing and whether or not his father is income eligible and jumped a bunch of people on the waiting list is still in flux.

CAMPANA

In other words, Wade is right. Campana can’t win. No way, no how. And because of that Wade asked Campana to get out of the race some 10 days ago.

Who can win against the Republican candidate Carmella Mantello at this point in time is anyone’s guess. Wade wouldn’t say who he has in mind who at this point in time would face what is now a near impossible battle, but safe to say he has someone in mind other than Campana.

Petitions are on the streets. They are due at the Board of Elections on July 14. By July 18 Campana has to withdraw, if he’s going to, and by July 22 the Committee to Fill Vacancies has to pick a successor. The committee consists of Wade, city Chair Jack McAnn and Kathy Conroy.

I’m not convinced Campana backs out though. It’s the whole South Troy against the world mentality. Not to be judgmental because I like that attitude, but it hasn’t really worked all that well for South Troy now has it.



CAMPANA

Campana blew off his 4 p.m. appointment Friday to film his part of a video series The Record is doing on the mayor's race, which led everyone in the newsroom to think he was out, but later on that night called to say he would do it on Saturday so it can be up on our website Sunday. His campaign manager, Steve Napier, said there are no plans for Campana to drop out at this point in time. 

So, anyway, how long do you think it will be before Council President Clement Campana drops out of the mayor’s race?

WADE

Or do you think he will just put his head down and plow through the campaign, whether he’s indicted or not?

Personally, I don’t see how he can run. And if he does, I don’t see how he can win.

Our last poll had him down by 20 points to Republican Carmella Mantello. As I said then, I don’t see how he can dig himself out of that hole and that was before the latest revelations regarding voter fraud and the real possibility he might stand indicted.

I’m hearing that the powers that be, including county Chairman Tom Wade, are asking him to step aside.

KOPKA

If that happens, the next logical question is who steps up to take his place. Back when the party was making its pick, it was between Campana and Lynn Kopka, of the Washington Park Association, who is now running for an At Large seat on the council.

While she is free and clear of any and all voter fraud accusations, whether or not Kopka wants to give up a run she has a pretty good shot at winning to run for a tainted mayor’s seat is up in the air. Plus Carmella Mantello, the Republican candidate, is about 10 miles ahead of Campana and probably a dozen miles ahead of anyone who gets in the race now. She is expected to have between $70 and $80,000 in the bank when filings are due next week and it's only July.

Prosecutor Trey Smith, in court papers, said new information became available that led him to conclude Campana might not have been truthful. I guess that, in part, answers the question I asked in the last post “What’s Mac going to say.” My guess is everything.

MAC

Well, everyone is holding their breath to see what City Clerk Bill McInerney does as part of a plea deal. It was no secret he would take one, and not just in the controversial 2009 Working Families Party primary but stuff he did in the’07 and ’08 elections as well. Irregularities first disclosed long ago in this paper thanks to some digging by reporter Dave Canfield.




CAMPANA



McInerney is screwed, that’s a given. He brought that on himself. But what is more interesting is what he knows about who did what and if sharing that info is part of his plea deal. My guess is he knows a bunch and will share everything. It is better than going to jail.

Obviously, the number one wonder is what MacInerney has to say about Council President Clement Campana, the Democrats pick for mayor. He is one of the nine Dems implicated and well, he is running for mayor.

Right now, the Campana campaign is in trouble – there is nowhere to go for traction and a bunch of people are saying the race is already over. What Mac has to say could be a stake in the heart.

MCGRATH

And it will be interesting to see what Mac has to say about Kevin McGrath and the testimony he gave the grand jury on behalf of the special prosecutor, Trey Smith. In other words, McGrath threw a bunch of people under the bus but part of his cooperation agreement that let him off the hook was contingent on him telling the truth. We’ll have to see how all that shakes out too.

The holdup now is the FBI has to sign off on Mac’s 07 and 08 irregularities because Smith is confined to the ’09 primary. Why he doesn’t ask for the authority to expand his probe is pretty evident is anyone’s guess but my guess is he just wants the whole thing over.

Stay tuned, we’re going to find out a whole bunch in a short period of time.

Here’s how I see the whole ERT resigning thing playing out.




Tutunjian and PBA President Bob Fitzgerald



Council President Clement Campana, the Democrats mayoral candidate, will try to make a big deal out of it and use it to jump start his floundering campaign. God knows he needs something and well, the PBA is all but too happy to give someone a campaign issue in return for something else down the line when it negotiates its contract that expired at the end of last year. Campana already said he’s calling a Public Safety Committee meeting to talk about what transpired. I think he might even try something dramatic like putting in a public safety commissioner to oversee Chief John Tedesco.

Campana

Mantello

Honestly, at this point in the game – with voter fraud, the lingering thing about his dad moving into the THA and The Record/Gramercy Communications poll finding him down by 20 points – what does he have to lose?

The Republican candidate, Carmella Mantello, said the whole thing isn’t about politics. Well, that’s not true but I think the real intent of her statement is “I’m not touching this one.”

Tedesco is trying to get the most bang for his buck out of the ERT and restructure it so it is more effective. Yes, the dozen members may volunteer for the slot but it doesn’t mean they don’t get paid. And if they are on their regular shift when training happens – I would say when the ERT is utilized but Friday was the first time this year it so they obviously spend more time training than actually putting the training to work – someone has to fill in on overtime.

One final thought. If the ERT thinks it was that all important to the safety of the citizens of Troy and if the members weren’t looking out for just their best interest they wouldn’t have unilaterally resigned because they didn’t get what they wanted. They would have put the best interest of the city first. They didn’t. They put their own first. And honestly, it won’t really matter too much and what Tedesco has in mind, might.