The columnist Reynolds.
Hanson, hired away from state government by Hein as an assistant budget officer four years ago, trained under budget guru Art Smith and in time made the job his own. A bright guy who followed orders, one of which was refusing to speak to this newspaper, Hanson was widely respected for his intrinsic knowledge of fiscal affairs and the ability to explain same. On the political level, the former Marine Corps officer was always prepared to take one for the team. Still only in his early 30s and with those qualities he should go far.
History repeats
Kingston school officials are conducting tours of the high school complex on Broadway in an effort to persuade voters on Dec. 10 that the rundown conditions at the 98-year-old complex warrant the spending of some $137 million for repairs and modernization.
The effort reminds me of some of the PR dog-and-pony show former legislature chairman Ward Todd and buildings supervisor Harvey Sleight put on to sell the public the idea of a new county jail a dozen years ago. One of the more memorable images in their widely shown videotape was an open bag of potatoes spilling out on the floor of the jail’s kitchen. The jail, originally pegged at about $72 million, came in at $95 million, not counting interest payments. The jail became a euphemism for a public-works project gone horribly bad. But then, the county legislature, unlike the school board, was not required to secure public approval for its building plans.
Kingston High homecoming queen Mallory Ruth, 17, of Hurley was misidentified in a recent Freeman photo caption as “Booth,” much to her family’s dismay. “I can tell you one thing,” said her irate father, Rich. “Her great-great-grandfather did not shoot Lincoln.” The paper ran a correction a few days later.
Here and there
County Republicans will honor former state Supreme Court judge and Ulster district attorney Mike Kavanagh of Woodstock at their annual dinner Oct. 23 at the Garden Plaza Hotel in Kingston. Festivities start with a cocktail hour at 6 p.m., and dinner is at 7 p.m. Tickets are $95 with information available at (914) 443-6439.
Everybody likes Mike Kavanagh, of course, but some party stalwarts wonder about the timing on this one, coming barely two weeks before the election. But the GOP, consistent to a fault, has always held its annual dinners in late October. Democrats do a spring fling, all the better to have cash for candidates in the November elections.
Mayor Gallo wasn’t exactly raining on his late brother’s memory when he disparaged the former mayor’s holding Fourth of July celebrations the weekend before the actual holiday. It just seemed that way.
“If you going to have the Fourth of July celebration in the state’s first capital, have it on the Fourth of July,” he told a Midtown gathering to applause. T.R. Gallo, a huge fan of vintage rock ’n’ roll, had staged the Fourth early in order to get bands at cut-rate prices. Under Shayne Gallo, Independence Day celebrations, considerably toned down (no booze), are held on the actual date.
