TUTUNJIAN

In one of his last acts as mayor, Harry Tutunjian made a few appointments Thursday to positions either protected by Civil Service or that are required by the City Charter. It’s an underhanded move, really, and he should have left it up to his successor, Mayor-elect Lou Rosamilia, who will be sworn in Sunday.

But, anyway, he appointed Nancy Matthews Personnel Director replacing Al Spain, who retired and is now the supervisor in North Greenbush.

Matthews is the wife of longtime Democratic Party operative Tom Matthews, who used to work for Gov. Mario Cuomo, is a former aide to U.S. Rep. Mike McNulty, the former Rensselaer County party chair and who worked on the campaigns of then Mayor Mark Pattison. Yes, the fact Tutunjian gave one of his last jobs to give, and a good one protected by Civil Service at that, to a Democrat seemed odd to me too.

He also appointed Heather Mahoney as registrar replacing the retiring Cyd Breaton. Mahoney is the daughter of Jack “Jacko” Mahoney who was on the Council briefly and toyed with the idea of running a write-in campaign for mayor earlier this year. His most recent accomplishment, however, is getting the fountain going at Frear Park. It’s also a Civil Service position.

LAPOSTA

Also, and this one is the oddest of the three, he appointed Frank LaPosta to the Civil Service Commission for six years at $6,000 a year. LaPosta is the former Democratic city chair who was elected to the Council as a Democrat a few years ago, then flipped to the Republicans, then was enrolled as a Conservative and then, at one time or another, was an enrolled member of the Independence Party. It’s tough to keep track of what LaPosta’s enrollment history without some sophisticated computer program but it is easy to gauge where his loyalty lies – nowhere.

What makes this appointment all the more unusual is that LaPosta ran against Tutunjian for mayor in 2003 - as a Democrat.

The only thing I can figure is LsPosta is not a favorite son of the Democratic Party, at this point in time anyway, and in particular Rensselaer County Chairman Tom Wade. That’s my guess as to why LaPosta got the gig. The charter calls for a three-member Civil Service Commission and now we’ll have to see if LaPosta shows up to the meetings.

(UPDATE)
Outgoing City Clerk DeLair refused to give LaPosta the oath of office so Tutunjian did it instead.
"I asked her if I could sign the (oath) book and she screamed 'No' at me. I mean she really screamed it," "LaPosta said. "She said I couldn't and to talk to the next mayor."

MANTELLO

GORDON

Word is, now that Mayor Harry Tutunjian is pretty much a shoe-in for the legislative seat being vacated by the guy who will take his spot in City Hall, Lou Rosamilia, there is a ton of maneuvering for the second seat being vacated the new deputy mayor, Peter Ryan.

I’m hearing the Republican Troy Chair Jim Gordon sent out an email to the Executive Committee asking the members who they would like to see appointed to the seat. The questionnaire included four names: his own, of course, mayoral candidate Carmella Mantello, At Large Council candidate Tom Killips and District 6 Council candidate Seamus Donnelly.

Whoever the GOP picks, as I’ve mentioned before, the candidate will have to run next year and then again for a full four-year term in 2013 so there is an eye on who can win citywide. Tutunjian has proven he can do it and left office with a 67 percent approval rating. The other three are coming off November losses.

Plus, whoever the GOP picks will certainly alienate those it didn’t.

My guess is it comes down to Mantello and Gordon and honestly I have no idea which way the GOP will go. I guess the same things apply now as when Mantello was jockeying for the mayoral bid against Mark Wojick – she has more money in the bank, some $17,000, and a fire in the belly while Gordon (like Wojick a few months ago) has been working hard for the local party for years and has a ton of friends there. Though, I am aware of some animosity by those same people because Gordon ran for office and focused on his candidacy rather than acting as chair and focusing on the entire Republican ticket.

And no, I don’t know the results of the Executive Committee vote solicited by Gordon. Since he is the chair and he conducted the survey I’m guessing he got more votes than anyone else but it’s just a guess. Another guess is that the GOP will put as much stock in that poll as this column. Another guess is that it will be decided by a coin flip.

JIMINO

REID

Shortly after my last post about how Republicans are spending your money - if you scroll down you’ll see is about the Legislature giving out bonuses to appointed employees - I got the agenda for next month’s meeting that on the surface shows the county executive also wants to give raises to appointed employees.

But, I’m told that one $9,330 “raise” is part of a “lateral transfer” and isn’t any new money. The other “new” $37,080 position was initially slashed from the budget as part of the overall package of cuts that were supposed to take effect in April but is now delayed until at least the end of the year. So, the position isn’t new, whoever has it just got a reprieve for a year while the county waits on how much mandate relief comes out of Albany before it starts cutting programs and jobs.

There was also a scathing letter by the Legislature’s majority leader, Ken Herrington, ripe with innuendo and less than subtle jabs at County Executive Kathy Jimino for her, according to the letter, less than frugal oversight of the county’s finances that includes mention of a $10,000 raise to Chris Meyer when he was promoted to deputy county executive.

The bottom line is there is a battle brewing between the county executive’s office and the Legislature. There have been token skirmishes between the two GOP controlled entities about budgets and tax rates over the years but by and large the two have played nice largely because they pretty much ignore each other. I’m not sure if that’s by design or convenience, but it seemed to work well enough for them and for the third leg of the triumvirate, the county clerk’s office.

MEROLA

Things started to get rocky between the Legislature, headed up by Chairman Martin Reid with the power behind the throne being spokesman Rich Crist in one corner, Jimino in the other corner and County Clerk Frank Merola in the other corner, right around the time came to pick candidates for Troy mayor and county sheriff. They seemed to coalesce around the candidates who eventually got the nod and I honestly can’t tell if this latest round is remnant of that or if it’s still from the leadership vacuum created when former state Senator Joe Bruno left the scene a few years ago.

It’s going to be interesting to see if it continues, and if it does who comes out on top. Or, a more likely scenario is the three will just hunker down back into their respective corners and ignore each other.

One indication could be who they choose as the next chair. Right now it’s John Rustin, undoubtedly a legislative guy, but there are calls being made – one by Merola to mayoral candidate Carmella Mantello – soliciting interest from potential new chairs. If Rustin steps aside before his term ends next year, we’ll have to see what camp the new chair comes from. It will tell us who the de facto head of the party is: Reid (Crist), Jimino or Merola.

REID

Last week, the Legislature voted to give a 2 percent, one-time bonus to its employees and those working at the Board of Elections.

That “bonus” equals four times what the county executive just negotiated for the United Public Service Employees Union so now who knows what the standard is when the rest of the unions sit down at the negotiating table.

While the BOE employees may be split down the middle as far as Democrats and Republicans go, the GOP has many more employees in the Legislature where there are 13 Republican members to six Democrats – which will jump to 15 to 4 sometime shortly after the first of the year when two, Mayor-elect Lou Rosamilia and his deputy Pete Ryan, jump to city government.

The move is eerily similar to the across-the-board raises the Legislature gave to themselves and about everyone else in county government a few years back when they modified the budget after it was already passed and right before Christmas.

JIMINO

The difference, according to Rich Crist, the Legislative liaison, is that this is a one-time bonus which won’t be factored into the employees’ pensions. The one-shot Christmas gift is easy to understand, but I can’t figure out how any bump in public pay isn’t factored into a public pension.

Another difference, as far as I can tell, is that unlike the raises few years ago, County Executive Kathy Jimino came out strong against the bonuses. If I were more cynical I’d say because she and her staff weren’t included in the largess this time around but there’s more to it.

According to Deputy County Executive Chris Meyer – who is taking a front and center role in bashing the bonuses on behalf of his boss County Executive Kathy while Crist is taking a front and center role in defending them on behalf of his boss Chairman Martin Reid – the executive’s staff is smaller than Legislature’s and the Legislature spends three times that of the executive on its office. While I don’t doubt those numbers, if there is any rationale behind them it’s beyond my comprehension since the Legislature does little but pat Little League teams on the back for coming in fourth in the Eastern Rensselaer County Under-12 division.

The bottom line is this: The employees in the Legislature and Board of Elections are political appointees and that means they are expected to spend their evenings doing such things like lit-drops and making phone calls on behalf of party candidates. They are also expected to donate some of their paycheck to political campaigns. While none of those rules of thumb are in writing, it’s as true as death and taxes. And speaking of taxes, you’re paying for these games with yours.

Since it's the day after Christmas and I'm engrossed in a John Grisham novel about a newspaper guy in Mississippi I'm just going to link to the print version of this week's Talespin. Yes, I'm being lazy, but I'll post something more in depth about the raises to the Legislature's staff and that working at the Board of Elections either tonight or tomorrow.
Until then, this is all I got.

Happy holidays to everyone.

Jim Franco

CASSIDY

CHRISTOPHER

Mayor-elect Lou Rosamilia made a couple more picks for his administration recently and I hear they include Kathleen Ryan-Cassidy as his confidential assistant and Vic Christopher will stay on in the Planning Department.

Ryan, a county legislator from Troy, will take the place of Prudence Pechenik, who was more of a chief of staff for Mayor Harry Tutunjian through the better part of eight years – I say the better part because I’m not sure if she was hired on Tutunjian’s Day One or not, but I know she’s been a fixture in the office for the better part of eight years.

I don’t know Ryan-Cassidy all that well, but I know she was toying with a run for mayor before the nod eventually went to Council President Clement Campana. And, well, we all know how that one turned out.

Also, word is Christopher, the economic development coordinator who was brought on by Tutunjian but is in a Civil Service position, will stay on. It would be easy enough to get rid of him if Rosamilia so chose by just eliminating the position but, after letting Sondra Little go as planning director, it’s wise to keep someone intimately involved with the development that’s going on - both that’s underway and, perhaps more importantly, those projects still in the preliminary stages.

Christopher’s direct boss will be Bill Dunne, who was picked to replace Little and who will also head up code enforcement and engineering. It’s no secret Dunne and Christopher failed to see eye-to-eye on a number of things so we’ll have to see how that relationship evolves, or maybe goes the other way.

When they failed to see eye-to-eye - which is a nice way of putting screaming at each other at public meetings - they were on opposite sides of the fence and a number of high profile issues like moving City Hall into the Dauchy Building, something Dunne was adamantly in favor of and Christopher, as an extension of Tutunjian, was as adamantly opposed. Now Christopher is an extension of Dunne who is an extension of Rosamilia.

It will be interesting to see if that chain of command is honored. If it’s not, my guess is we will see some changes.



DUNNE



Mayor-elect Lou Rosamilia picked Councilman Bill Dunne as the director of Planning and Community Development and I’m sure there is a bunch of anxiety within the development community as well as within the Planning Department.

He is also charged with consolidating the Planning Department with engineering and code enforcement. On paper it makes sense, but if that all comes together it will make Dunne one of the more powerful people in Rosamilia's adminsitration.  

As I wrote Monday, Dunne, an eight-year councilman who is term limited out, was an effective check and balance to Mayor Harry Tutunjian and the Republicans when they controlled the Council. That combative attitude carried over to his last four years when the Democrats ran things but I don’t think he will bring that “just say no” mantra to the administration – at least I hope not.

Even his detractors concede Dunne is no dummy and he knows that Troy, like all older, industrial cities in upstate, desperately needs private development to not only increase the tax base and help offset the cost of owning property, but to bring people in. Say what you want about Mayor Harry Tutunjian but he did a pretty good job towards that end.

I am of the belief Dunne is smart enough to put on a different hat when it comes to dealing with the developers who either currently have a project underway or those who are toying with the idea. At least I hope so, because in today’s business climate if he “just says no” the developers will return the favor and go to Schenectady or Albany or further away.

He takes over for the popular Sondra Little, and while I don’t expect him to follow in her footsteps - as Dunne is definitely his own man with undoubtedly some ideas of his own as to which direction development should take in the city – working with developers rather than against them is one example he should emulate.

So, Rosamilia has a deputy mayor, Pete Ryan, a deputy director of communication, Mike Fraser, a corporation counsel, Ian Silverman, and now a planning director, Dunne. His administration is getting there.

I'm not going to say too much about this since I'll be writting my column on it for Thursday but it's pretty big news so here is a link to what we have up online so far and I'll update it when I can.

Here's what I wrote about voter fraud. After more than two years, the scandal suddenly became very real for a number of people and I think Trey Smith sent a pretty solid message - work with him and take your licks and you'll be OK. Fight him or the investigation, and if you did something wrong odds are you're going to see some jail time.



FRASER



Mayor-elect Lou Rosamilia hired Mike Fraser as his new deputy director of public information, which is a fancy name for a spokesman but the job entails more than being a mouthpiece.

As an aside, I’m wondering too what happened to Steve Napier, the guy who worked as Rosamilia’s spokesman through what turned out to be a very successful mayoral campaign and has been in that capacity through the transition.

Anyway, Fraser comes with a pretty solid resume. He worked at The Record as a sports reporter and then a copy editor and then went to work for the administration of Gov. George Pataki as spokesman for the Department of Environmental Conservation, one of the more high profile flak positions in the state, and then as spokesman for the Department of Correctional Services. After leaving the state, he went to the Hospital Association of New York State.

Most recently he worked for Denise Sheehan in her unsuccessful bid for Colonie supervisor.

If you haven’t figured it out yet … yes Fraser is a Republican. He might not be a rock-ribbed Republican, but he is a guy who made a decent living off the Republicans for a good many years. In other words, he's the token Republican in Mayor Lou’s Democratic administration, and one with a solid resume.

Perhaps more important than party affiliation is the fact Fraser, who was born and raised in Troy, went to Sacred Heart, a parish near and dear to Rosamalia’s heart. Perhaps even more importantly than that is Fraser worked under Erin Crotty when she headed up the DEC and she’s now a wheel at RPI. If you remember, Rosamilia made a campaign issue of wanting to improve the near-dismal relations between the college and the city.



SILVERMAN



Another recent appointment hails from the same parish and school, Ian Silverman, an assistant district attorney who will serve as Rosamilia’s corporation counsel.

I really don’t know too much about Silverman. I only saw him work once, when he argued the state’s case against Barton Jeffrey Hunter in front of the Court of Appeals a few years back. He got crushed by attorney Cheryl Coleman, but it really wasn’t his fault. That case was a boondoggle going back to the days when Trish DeAngeles was an ADA so you can’t hold that one against him.

I do know some Democrats, especially some who worked hard for Democratic candidates, are grumbling about Rosamilia hiring a Republican. And I know too some observers are wondering if Silverman, who is only 36, is up to the task of heading up a municipal law department.

The concern a number have is that Rosamilia will try to please all the people all the time. He’s not even in office yet and some aren’t all that happy with some of his decisions.

I’d say he’s off to a good start.

ROSAMILIA

It’s crunch time for a number of those in the administration of Mayor Harry Tutunjian .

I’ve heard from a number of people who have been employed by the city, that a number of employees are expected to sit down today (Friday) with Mayor-elect Lou Rosamilia and probably his new Deputy Peter Ryan to see if they will still have a job come Jan. 1.

I’m not sure if Rosamilia and crew are just going through the motions as a way to make it easier on those who have given a number of years to the city. In return, of course, they got a paycheck, health care and time in the pension system for those same number of years which is why I’m expecting a pretty big turnaround with it comes to City Hall employees.

It’s a new administration of a different party and while political affiliation shouldn’t be the determining factor when it comes to hiring, it certainly plays a role. And there are a lot more Democrats in Troy than Republicans. Democrats, I might add, who have been largely been left out of the loop when it comes to jobs in their hometown government.

One thing I will say about County Chair Tom Wade and City Chair Jack McMann – they are all about jobs. And not just because seeing people gainfully employed helps the individual and society as a whole, jobs are the most surefire way to build a party, or if the party is ticking along pretty well as the Democrats are in Troy, jobs make the party stronger. There is nothing like giving the ground troop grunts a paycheck to motivate them the next time it’s time to canvass a neighborhood with a lit-drop or to spend an evening making phone calls.

I’ve come to know and grew to like a number of the employees in City Hall and know they take pride in the job they do and have done. But, it’s all part of the game when you’re appointed by a politician. I know it and my guess is so do they.

At their respective meeting with Rosamilia and company the following employees have been let go as of Dec. 30, or at least that's the date on the letter which is kind of odd since Rosamilia doesn't take office until Jan. 1 but here is what I know so far.
- Sondra Little, the head of the Planning Department, sent an email to a number of people telling them her 13-year career with the city is over as of Dec. 30.
- Jeff Pirro, the city spokesman, is gone too.
- And so is Corporation Counsel Charles Sarris. His deputies, however, did not get the axe.
- Prudence Pechenik, the mayor's secretary, who I understand was more like a chief of staff, was also let go. 
That's all I know for now. Anyone else with any information let me know.

Could this finally be it?

The grand jury investigating alleged fraud in the ’09 Working Families Party primary has been behind closed doors all day (Thursday) and no witnesses were seen coming or going.

SMITH

That means one of two things: They hit it off so well they decided to get together and play pinnacle for the day, or they are deliberating what charges to bring against … well, I guess whoever they want. Or more accurately put whoever the special prosecutor, Trey Smith, wants them to bring charges against. You know the whole relationship between the grand jury and a ham sandwich thing.

It could be Council President Clement Campana. It could be Councilman John Brown. And it could even be Brown’s brother Dan, despite a press release sent by his attorney, Phil Steck, declaring his client innocent and done with the proceedings.

I guess time will tell. As Smith cared much about time or the passage thereof. But, the investigation stage of the more than two-year-old scandal does seem to be winding down.



FITZGERALD



Bob Fitzgerald won another two-year term as president of the Police Benevolent Association by trouncing the challenger, Tom Hoffman. It comes as no surprise really, and judging by the comments already made it’s not anything new.

Fitz is known to fight for the best interest of his members, regardless of how miniscule the battle or costly the issue ends up being to the city. He usually wins every time he goes to court - which is often - thanks to the generous contract the PBA has with the city and there is no indication the PBA will give anything back regardless of whether it makes economic sense, like less overtime, or sense in a logical kind of way, like the inane seniority clause.

He is also one of the more politically astute people and has proven he can pick a winner. What that means now that Mayor Harry Tutunjian is out of the picture come Dec. 31 and Mayor-elect Lou Rosamilia takes the throne is anyone’s guess.

There is already a bunch of chatter – a bunch of it coming from Fitzgerald himself in a letter to PBA members looking for their support - about how Rosamilia will roll back many of the more unpopular changes made by Chief John Tedesco as a return for PBA support last month. The changes, I might add, are designed to get more bang for the buck when it comes to deploying troops while at the same time cutting down on overtime.

The latter is a big one, and Tedesco all but said there is a state agency looking into the possible abuse of overtime by some sergeants in an effort to pad their overtime which in turn pads their pension. Padding OT is a one shot deal that can be absorbed by the taxpayers, but the pensions cost money for years and years.



INDIANS



CHIEF



As I’ve mentioned, we’ll have to see if Rosamilia will let the chief be the chief or if he’ll let the union president steer the ship. Nothing against Fitz or his motives. It’s what he’s paid to do by the taxpayers and it’s what his members expect of him since he represents their best interest, not those of the people who pay his salary or those of his members.

So, as is the case of any mayor in any town, it’s up to Rosamilia to decide which direction he wants the department to take – one run by the chief, or one run by the Indians.



HEDLEY BUILDING

All the old ideas on a permanent location for City Hall are still being kicked around, talked about and are still on the proverbial table, but here are a couple new ideas as the lease at the Verizon building is set to expire on Dec. 31, just 23 days from this writing.



Move into a floor of Hedley Park Place or the Flanigan Building. It appears more than likely the buildings will have some open space since Gov. Andrew Cuomo is dead set on following through with his “restacking” plan and pulling some 600 workers out of leased space in Troy and into empty, state-owned space over in Albany.



The city will have between $2 and $3 million to work with, depending on how the sale of the Dauchy and River Triangle buildings and the riverfront home to the old City Hall on Monument Square goes, and something tells me that’s more than enough to purchase a floor of either building. Something tells me too that First Columbia would jump at the opportunity.



PIGEON PARK



Or, the city could hop on board the “Occupy Movement” and set up shop in Pigeon Park, where City Hall used to be until it burned to the ground in the 30s. Pfeil Hardware is right across the street, and I’m sure if it doesn’t have the necessary supplies in stock it can get tents and lanterns and generators and portable heaters and what not.

We can put a whole new twist on the occupy movement, and think of the money the city would save.

While the first idea is feasible and the second obviously more of a joke, where the city will find a home is still a question answered by more shrugs than definitive statements.

The one common thread is that a ton of the answers to that question rests in the hands of Verizon’s owner, Sam Judge. He pretty much has the city over a barrel, or the city put itself over a barrel, and he is calling the shots.


JUDGE





If the city continues to rent past Dec. 31, it either has to genuflect to Judge, meet his demands – which include dropping a lawsuit and some sewer work on his River Street buildings – and beg him for a new lease or pay, as the old lease clearly states, an extra 125 percent per day over the agreed upon rent for the first 90 days and 175 percent for each day after that.

Or the city could still purchase the Verizon building and the council gave Mayor Harry Tutunjian permission to negotiate a price, but that again comes down to Judge and what kind of offer he will accept.

In other words, Judge is holding all the cards when it comes to the Verizon building.

I suppose the Dauchy building is still an option since it hasn’t been sold yet and so is sharing space with the county, but that idea never really got off the ground.

In other words everything is still up in the air.



LOPORTO





MCDONOUGH

Well, it seems as if Judge George Pulver finally set a trial date in the case of The People vs Ed McDonough and Michael LoPorto.

According to the judge, who’s been about invisible as far as voter fraud is concerned, the trial of county Board of Elections Commissioner and councilman At Large will commence on Jan. 17. If it comes, and I have my doubts, it will begin just shy of a year when the two were indicted on a combined 116 felonies for their alleged roles in defrauding voters in the ’09 Working Families Party primary. Murder cases go before a jury in a more expedient manner, but that’s beside the point. At least there is a trial date, and that’s a start to the end.

That said, here are a few things I expect to see happen:

- There will be at least one continuance or delay in the start of the trial for one reason or another. I’d be shocked if this one kicks off as scheduled.

- This one is not mine but it’s what everyone else expects – McDonough’s attorney, Brian Premo, will find some kind of a conflict and bail out of the case.
- Bob Mirch’s name will be brought up at least 1,000 times, likely with a bunch of unflattering expletives and/or adjectives attached, while he watches pelicans in Florida.


SMITH



- If Special Prosecutor Trey Smith's investigation means anything to the pace of the trial, it will be taking Christmas off next year.

- It won’t be nearly as exciting as the buildup and will feature a bunch of documents, voters who didn’t vote and a bunch of boring Election Law.

And here are some things I would like to see happen:

- I would like to see Michael LoPorto testify. Not that I have any ill will towards LoPorto, actually I like him and I do think his heart is in the right place and he ran for public office for all the right reasons. That said, he’s famous for dropping F-Bombs and has an Italian temper. So, you can bet cross-examination will be a highlight.

- I hope Premo, despite what I said under the “expect” portion of this entry, stays on and represents McDonough for the duration of the trial. Given the conspiracy theories he has going, and the people mentioned in them, it would be great to see him bring it all into open court.

- Someone from the Working Families Party is held responsible for something. It’s their party that’s been hijacked for years and they are the ones who were so frustrated by the hijacking that I find it hard to believe nobody from that party knew what was going on, or actively participated.
- Someone realizes this is all a debacle and a huge waste of money, and that anything remotely close to similar could be prevented if New York joined the vast majority of states and banned minor parties from endorsing major party candidates.