Hugh Reynolds: On Broadway

Control of the state Senate could hinge on who wins races in Dutchess and Ulster.

Here and there

Up for a third term and issuing what seems like a press release a day, Sheriff Paul VanBlarcum has resisted all inquiries on information surrounding one of his deputies shooting a young motorist (twice) after a high-speed chase that started in Marbletown and ended in Hurley on Route 28 a month ago. At this point, excuses like “ongoing investigation” no longer cut it. The sheriff may be in violation of state freedom-of-information laws by withholding information on a very disturbing public event.

Paul VanBlarcum. (Photo: Dan Barton)

Meanwhile, conjecture abounds. Exactly who was this mystery deputy? Why was a surveillance camera in his patrol car allegedly turned off? Does this constitute preferential treatment of police by police?

The district attorney has punted this one back to the sheriff, claiming that the unnamed deputy once performed a service for him at his Saugerties home. The grapevine has determined that service did not include plumbing, heating or paving.

VanBlarcum, a popular Democrat, has no announced opponent as of this week. Given recent events, some might now give a sniff.

As a veteran I appreciated the county erecting a patriotic banner over the front entrance to the county office building in Kingston marking Memorial Day, less so because a senior official attached his name to it.

Hats off to the developers of Williams Lake resort in Rosendale for allowing public access (as of July 4) to the once-private spa while the town continues to raise money to repair its municipal swimming pool. In days gone by, you really, really had to know someone to get into Williams Lake. This summer a $10 day pass ($6 for kids) will do the trick.

To the surprise of no one, the Ulster County Industrial Development Agency says it’s full in on the proposed Nevele casino and resort near Ellenville. It’s what IDAs do, as opponents of the proposed Park Point student housing project in New Paltz recently learned. Bet the farm (but not Winston Farm) that competing IDAs in other counties will follow suit.

I’m not sure I’m all in with county legislature attorney Cappy Weiner’s call for former legislative attorney Langdon Chapman to cease and desist his badmouthing of the Nevele project. Chapman, an Orange County attorney and former chief counsel to state Sen. John Bonacic, said in an interview that because of its distance from main roads the Nevele didn’t have a chance against more accessible sites in Orange County. Weiner called that a disservice to a former client, Ulster County government, and therefore unethical.

Putting freedom-of-speech issues aside — Chapman is entitled to his opinion, after all — the question comes down to when a lawyer’s duty to a former client ends. In the larger scheme of things, it matters little what one lawyer says about another.

It’s always nice to welcome the president of the United States to our area, some backwater town boards excepted. But it would have been nicer if President Obama had come with a $3.9 billion check to cover the estimated cost of the new Tappan Zee Bridge last week in Westchester. The leader of the free world was on a dual mission, it seems, to push a $50 billion infrastructure rehab bill in Congress and to upstage the Republican nominating convention at nearby Rye. Nice job on the latter.

I can appreciate from incessant TV ads why Democratic Congressional candidate Sean Eldridge took such strong exception to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsing incumbent Republican Chris Gibson for re-election. With a $300,000 budget, these ads blanket the airwaves, and it’s only May. The Chamber component cuts to the core of Eldridge’s own pro-development, pro-business campaign. For it is truly said that if a chamber of commerce doesn’t stand for business, what does it stand for?

Retired Army bird colonels (Gibson) don’t ask former lowly Navy seamen (me) for advice, but I have to tell him I’m a little uneasy with the career officer appearing in uniform in all those Chamber ads. Gibson’s 24-year service record is impressive, but he’s running for Congress, not Veteran of the Year.