The early take on Bob Turner’s decisive win over David Weprin is that Democrat reapportionment negotiators — read: Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver — might be willing to trade the now Republican Ninth District in exchange for a Republican district in the Buffalo area. But what if Republicans — read: Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos — dig in their heels to retain a seat (Turner’s) they haven’t held since 1923? Could that leave Hinchey dangling?
With Hinchey recovering from cancer surgery, 73 next month and coming off an unimpressive win in 2010, the 26th could be on the chopping block. Locally, the forced retirement of a public official first elected in 1974 would be sad indeed. For the locally ambitious, the loss of an Ulster congressional seat would be cause for sackcloth and ashes.
Home cooking
As if urgent budget issues weren’t enough, Town of New Paltz officials are currently considering the idea of requiring new hires to reside in the town. Recycling town paychecks at home would no doubt make sense politically, since jobs generate votes. Overtaxed residents might find it comforting to see their neighbors on the payroll. Out-of-work townies would have an advantage.
But requiring residency as a condition of employment is probably unconstitutional, as many another municipalities have learned.
Take Kingston. (Please!) At last look, at least half the police department lived out of town. City firefighter Mike Neilson is the (resident) highway superintendent in New Paltz, of all places.
Soon-to-be-retired New Paltz supervisor Toni Hokanson — rival Susan Zimet has every line except the Working Families Party — led the town board vote to set a public hearing on residency next month. Town Councilman Jeff Logan, voting with the minority, had a better idea: Let’s focus on really important stuff.
Here and there
Just in time for the Oct. 1 delivery of the 2012 county budget, the County Comptroller’s Office issued a financial report indicting all is well with Ulster finances. At least it was in 2010, the year covered by last week’s report. County officials said a few weeks ago they feared a $20 million budget gap for this year. My, what a difference a year makes.
“In fact, Clement ran a positive, issue-oriented campaign while Gallo’s frequently devolved into class warfare and baseless innuendo.”
Is that what did it? …impressed by the broad support Gallo was able to generate among “working people”.
Played the ol’ baseless innuendo card.
Just what was it the “Working Families Party” liked about Gallo and didn’t like about Hayes? Ms. Fuentes doesn’t say. It would be nice if she would share that.
Here you are wrong Gerald(and Hughie Baby):this was nothing more than the ol’ Hetero v. Homo warfare, and the Heteros came out with 7 more votes than the Homos. Inasmuch as Catholicism still rules,this could be considered a victory of sorts for the Homos–after all, that was razor close, and this may mean victorious in the next similarly analogous such contest. Moreover, let’s be clear:Catholic higher education is considered BETTER than Duke University(or anything else such as Northwestern for example). Simple as that. As Traditionally Elitist Catholic as THAT. No Working Jerking Families stupidity cards needed for any other analysis.
As for the Working-Jerking-Crybaby-Families Party, they are only and always concerned with supporting whoever they think the winner is GOING to be in any given race for the Democratic line, and they merely in my estimate guessed right in this instance. “Working Families” doesn’t play any card at all, unless you consider having a plant nursery in Woodstock that sells to NYC, a lawyering job with the city and a law office where my father used to have his, and a Psych. Nurse in the family “working”–which is of course a matter of Anal Catholic Elitist “relativity”(which I say at the risk of upsetting the spirit of Albert Einstein). And some thirty-one years after my father died, I am still lamenting the fact that memories are so short they only remember my Nazi mother and her anal politics over and above my father, who started it all and they all fail to pay homage to in memorializations(a tragic omission of their disgusting and tragic extantly overanal selves).