Catskill is a lovely little village, much revived over the last decade. It’s main attractions other than the carved wooden statue of Rip Van Winkle at the top of Main Street are the ceramic cats done up by local artists in front of most of the stores on Main.
Schreibman’s meet-and-greet was held in a vacant corner storefront at Rip’s end of the street. About 40 faithful and curious attended, some of whom dropped checks into a jar marked “donations.”
I met a number of interesting people, including Democratic county chair Doreen Parsley (“I love my maiden name”) Davis and Amanda Boomhower, party chairwoman in the town of Athens. Boomhower, a recent Skidmore College graduate, is also an aide to retiring Congressman Maurice Hinchey. There was a connection, she earnestly advised me.
Hinchey, she said over lemonade and chocolate-chip cookies, was “privately” supporting Schreibman. As evidence, she pointed to senior Hinchey staffers like her (on their own time) are working for Schreibman.
Is Julian really saying that, I asked, since I had heard nothing of the sort. Really, she said. Go ask Julian (across the room).
Schreibman denied saying anything like that, but reminded me that his primary opponent, Dutchess County Legislator Joel Tyner, has been intimating that since Hinchey says he supports neither candidate in the June 26 primary he is at heart a Tyner man. I didn’t follow that logic, but it apparently has caused some concern in Schreibman’s camp.
My take is that Young Hinchey would have embraced Occupy Wall Street Tyner in a heartbeat. Old Hinchey is more comfortable with corporate lawyer Schreibman.
More instructive, perhaps, was Schreibman’s reaction when I asked him if he expected Hinchey’s active support if he won the primary. “I certainly hope so,” he said, laughing and rolling his eyes to the ceiling.
Say what you will about Schreibman, he is most definitely a man with a plan. That plan quite obviously is to ignore Tyner and focus on Republican Congressman Chris Gibson.
At that, he might be counting some chickens before …
The strategy reminds me of a Seinfeld sketch, the one where Jerry and George are pitching their “show about nothing” to incredulous television executives.
“Why would anyone watch a show about nothing?” one exec asks.
“Because it’s on TV!” George exclaims.
“Not yet,” the exec deadpans.
Julian Schreibman may consider his primary against Tyner a show about nothing, to which Tyner might reply, “Not just yet, Julian.”
Next week: some 11th-hour analysis.
Here and there
Unlike the vast majority of people, I like to read campaign brochures. Call it a busman’s holiday. Some can be inadvertently revealing, like Schreibman’s: “I’ve spent most of my life standing up to bullies and cheaters. It’s about timeWashingtondid that, too.”
Was he referring to his brief stint as Ulster County Democratic chairman?
I was saddened to learn of the sudden death of Chichesteractivist Judy Wyman, 65. Wyman, a founder of The Catskills Heritage Alliance and a former candidate for Shandaken town supervisor was proof positive that a small group of organized zealots could hold up a juggernaut indefinitely, i.e., Dean Gitter’s resort at Belleayre. Gitter announced plans for the then-$300 million Shandaken/Middletown resort in 1998. Other than test borings, it has yet to turn a spoonful of dirt, owing in large part to Heritage Alliance opposition.
I still have faith that the next generation of public officials will do better than the last, but my faith sure gets tested. Case in point — in Saugerties, the controversy du jour involves the town board’s refusal to release the names of seven people who had applied for appointment as town justice recently. Local newspapers have made an issue of this, as they should — I mean if the media doesn’t advocate for the people’s right to know, who does? — leading six-month Town Supervisor Kelly Myers to conclude in a letter to the editor that “they’re only trying to sell newspapers.” I believe Peter Stuyvesant first leveled that accusation against theNew Amsterdam town crier. Like the rookie Saugerties supervisor, he didn’t have a leg to stand on.
Please, folks. How about some new canards?
