Hugh Reynolds: Acting presidential

State Supreme Court

I had high hopes for Mike Kavanagh’s return to the State Supreme Court after his hugely successful fund-raiser in April. It is however a long, long time from May to September, relatively speaking. Kavanagh, after missing out on a cross-endorsement at the Third District judicial convention inAlbany two months ago, stands a good chance of finishing third in a four-horse race.

It’s all about geography and enrollment. Kavanagh’s Republican running mate, Bernard “Bud” Malone of Albany, is well-known in the Capital District and well-placed. One of his Democratic opponents, Richard Mott, formerly of Esopus, graduated from Kingston High School in 1967, a claim Long Island native Kavanagh can’t make. At that, Mott, now of Kinderhook, might lead the ticket.

The fourth man on the ballot, Stephen Schick of Monticello, will benefit from Democratic enrollment, but not enough to offset Kavanagh’s Ulster base in the seven-county judicial district. A strong finish should warrant the former county DA a few judicial assignments next year.

Assembly

I hereby declare with little fear of contradiction that longtime Democrat Kevin Cahill of Kingston will be reelected, raising his record to 8-1 in Assembly races. Cahill, unopposed for the second time, will return to Albany in January to represent most of Ulster County and the towns of Rhinebeck and Red Hook in Dutchess.

While Cahill is only campaigning for others, he did participate in a discussion that broke out at a recent chamber of commerce candidates’ breakfast on whether Ulster is better off divided among six state legislators or eight.

Cahill asserts — and I agree — that further fragmenting Ulster by adding a fragments of two state senate districts in this year’s reapportionment is a far, far worse thing than having two or three voices speaking for all of us. Consider. The last resident state senator from Ulster County was Arthur Wicks of Kingston, who finished a 30-year career in 1956. At that time, Cahill was just past the age of one, whistling from his crib for attention, “since he couldn’t talk yet,” one of his many siblings told me. My, how things have changed.

Now, I happen to believe that Cahill, a senior legislator and chairman of the increasingly important Assembly Energy Committee — and thick as thieves with Speaker Shelly Silver — might have used some of his clout to prevent Ulster from being entirely hacked up in last winter’s reapportionment. But that’s just me.

At the least he could have had the abomination called the new district given another number. The salamander-like 101st, which some call “Nessie” for its physical resemblance to the Loch Ness Monster, meanders through seven counties from deep in the Catskills south-southwest to pick up Shawangunk, Wawarsing, Denning and Hardenburgh before disappearing into Orange. Candidate says they have logged at least 50,000 miles each from one end to the other. Republican Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney of Utica (Utica!) will win that one against weak opposition.

County Charter revision

In hindsight, the high-minded debate over Ulster County charter revision seemed more about interested parties protecting their turf than about good government. The county executive, while attempting to swing even more clout for himself and less for the legislature, acted as though the original 2006 charter was written by the founding fathers. The legislature acted as though they were descended from royalty.

There are a few good amendments and a few less so among the charger revision on the ballot. Even a comprehensive detailing of what’s contained is bewildering, which means voters will avoid the issue in droves, as they did in barely passing the original six years ago.

Prediction: With sincere do-good outfits like the League of Women Voters pushing, 50.5 percent of those few who vote will cast their ballots for what they hope is better government.

Around the ballot

Municipal elections are always held in non-presidential years, but there are grass roots on the ballot every year.

In Saugerties, appointed incumbent town justice Claudia Andreassen, 55, a Democrat, will defend her seat against Republican challenger Ken Gilligan, a Kingston lawyer. Here, the age-old debate over whether lawyers or laypersons should dispense town justice has been spiced up with revelations that Andreassen once got a traffic ticket for passing a school bus. Andreassen, she of the well-known Saugerties Andreassens, had a plausible explanation for what most consider one of the worst traffic offenses, but will no doubt suffer the wrath of voters. Whether Gilligan, at 62, is eager to jump out of bed to arraign drunks and derelicts in the middle of the night is something voters might ponder as well.

In the Town of Lloyd, voters will be asked to extend the terms of supervisor and highway superintendent from two years to four. Always a hot topic of debate — should we keep these people on a short leash or give them enough rope to hang us? I predict a vote for rope.

Jobs well done

Finally, hats off to our emergency forces: men and women, cops, firefighters, EMTs, and DPW workers, real honest-to-god heroes who stood ready to help us and continue to do so in the face of one of the worst storms to hit the region since last year. Come to think of it, maybe Al Gore is right.