Hugh Reynolds: The new legislature

One could conclude that just about everyone looked a little foolish on this one, though as a consequence the IDA has adopted policies designed to avoid future such fiascos. Call it perverse progress.

Recapping

It was one of the duller elections in recent history. As such, indications of voter indifference should come as no surprise. Maybe it was the federal shutdown that turned people off on government in general.

The casino referendum stirred up a few folks. I predicted pro-casino Wawarsing and anti-casino Saugerties would offset each other, and the referendum would pass in Ulster if voters could find it on the back of the ballot. Spirited races in Saugerties, Woodstock and New Paltz created lots of heat. Official final results won’t be available for two weeks or so.

Driving the vote down was the plethora of unopposed offices. The only contest between county clerk and family court judge was bragging rights over who got more votes. The supposedly marquee race for comptroller featured candidates haggling over decimal points.

Almost half the legislature ran without opposition.

For a lot of people, local government is not the answer for what ails them. Sure, candidates can go on about jobs, economic development, lower taxes, truth, justice and the American way, but much of it comes across as just so much blah-blah-blah. Reporters try hard to pull something interesting out of these candidates; the phrase “blood from stones” comes to mind in trying to describe that process.

For me, candidates’ night in Kerhonkson and Saugerties were illustrative. In Saugerties, empty chairs outnumbered buns by about two to one. Candidates were in general earnestly boring, though even the mention of a casino at Winston Farm got Saugertiesians riled up. In Kerhonkson, they were standing out in the hall. Candidates at least held the attention of the gathering.

Town and city budgets, released before elections, usually bring people out, so veteran pols long ago learned to hide the weenie until after the polls close. For the most part, pre-election budgets painted their creators as fiscal wizards. Voters, from long experience, know better.

Chicken soup

Do political endorsements from on high, or from newspapers, make a difference in local political races?

This year, it seems that endorsements of local candidates, including big hitters like Gov. Andrew Cuomo, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, County Executive Hein and former congressman Maurice Hinchey, were more frequent than usual. Hinchey and Hein endorsed numerous Democrats, while Cuomo and DiNapoli recommended fellow Democrat Elliott Auerbach. DiNapoli gave it the personal touch, but got lost in Stone Ridge on the way to Kingston from the Thruway traffic circle.

Other than fodder for campaign ads, do endorsements really mean anything? In extreme cases they may be counter-productive. Might a resident of Rochester, for instance, resent a seldom-seen county executive from Hurley advising them how to vote in a race for county legislature in their hometown?

Whether endorsements or chicken soup, such gestures may not help, but they probably don’t hurt — except for the chickens.

Here and there

Unless you’re looking for a fat lip, don’t accuse Ulster Supervisor Jim Quigley of bait-and-switch tactics after he reduced the tax-rate hike in his preliminary budget from eight percent to just over two in the official version released last week. Miraculously, the former wiz of Wall Street found another $300,000 in savings to assuage an angry public. He also cut his proposed pay hike by four grand to $52,000 (from $45,000).

I can’t wait for Olive supervisor Berndt Leifeld’s memoirs. Bert is retiring, kickin’ and spittin’, after some 30 years in office. One of his more memorable closing political taunts was: “You Republicans couldn’t even put together a chicken dinner.”

Congressmen Sean Patrick Maloney and Chris Gibson, seemingly on opposite sides of the political spectrum, with one a liberal and the other a conservative, agree on subjects as diverse as food stamps and foreign policy. Too bad more members of Congress don’t follow their lead.