Hugh Reynolds: A question of priorities

Accompanying this happy news is a chart that shows the “real dollars” Cahill says he saved us (on an annual basis), beginning with $1,643,041 for the City of Kingston (in safety-net expenses being assumed by the county, as per Cahill’s demands). The chart displays in descending order the dollar savings for every town in the county. The top six (from Kingston to Plattekill) came to just under $3.5 million.

Excerpts from “Assemblyman Cahill’s County Accountability Act” inform readers that state law now “requires” Ulster County to pick up safety-net costs like every other county in New York State and “makes Ulster County manage their safety-net program to help root out fraud and abuse of the system, saving taxpayers money.”

County exec Hein must have coughed up his cornflakes when he got that one in the mail. The executive can’t like being confronted with words like “requires” and “makes” in describing the origins of the so-called sales-tax crisis.

The executive asserts that by depriving the county of a quarter of its sales-tax revenue for two months (December and January) Cahill cost taxpayers upwards of $5 million. Cahill is saying something different. The $5 million in “lost revenue” was a one-time occurrence, he claims, easily absorbed in a $327-million county budget with a growing surplus. The annual safety-net savings to the town and city are continuing if not permanent.

For Cahill, after months of his grousing about being misrepresented by Hein and his media-driven echo chamber, this carefully planned counterattack is opportune. This Thursday, some 200 Democratic committee members from the 103rd Assembly District will vote for either Cahill or New Paltz supervisor Susan Zimet as their party nominee. Though unofficial, the endorsement gives the winner the quasi-official blessing of the party’s elected representatives (committee members). It also forces the loser to recruit dozens of workers (as opposed to committee members) to circulate nominating petitions in July. A September 9 primary will decided the issue.

I’m not calling Cahill’s pre-convention taxpayer flyer a master stroke, but it could well be icing on the cake. The flyer neutralizes Zimet’s main issue and energizes Cahill’s base.

Predictions? In politics, a landslide is defined as 60 percent of the vote or better. If Zimet holds Cahill below that, she will have achieved a moral victory and perhaps a future in higher-level Democratic politics.

Assembly notes

Politicians being extremely secretive and unusually devious just prior to party conventions, it’s difficult for distrusted media to gather reliable intel. But there is this goofy rumor making the rounds that if Zimet makes a reasonable showing at the Democratic convention, like getting within ten points or so, she might find support in the Republican Party willing to take up her cause. For sure, Hein, a former Republican, has plenty of clout in high places among the GOP.  Republicans have nominated four-term Plattekill legislator Kevin Roberts for Assembly, but there are lots of stalking horses in rural Plattekill.

I can’t say I was surprised when retired congressman Maurice Hinchey came out for Cahill, via a personal letter to Democratic committee members. Ideologically, they two are peas in a pod, though they differ on gun control. Recall how Hinchey virtually handed his assembly seat to Cahill in 1992 when Hinchey vacated to run for congress. Giving his former intern and protégé a boost in this time of need — Cahill has not been been challenged in a primary in 22 years — was the least this eminence gris could do for a loyal ally. Nostalgia, however, will move the meter only slightly.

Flipping the coin, imagine the turmoil if Hinchey, channeling a mischievous inner self, had instead opted for Zimet. Yikes!

Both sides are being closed-mouthed about nominators, though I expect Cahill to recruit somebody from New Paltz. Whether Hein will emerge from the shadows to stand up for Zimet depends on whether his candidates has in fact, legs. Hein does not back losers.

 Here and there

For those who say the Republican Party hasn’t had a new idea since Teddy Roosevelt, there’s this: Ulster Republicans will host a “nine and dine with the GOP” fundraising golf tournament at Kingston’s Twaalfskill Golf Club on Monday, August 25. Typically, these tournaments used to be 18 holes, but nobody has time actually to do that any more. Twaalfskill might not have been the best choice for the GOP, what with deep rough and thick trees on the right on several holes. The price for half an event is the same, $100. Information is available at UCRC, P.O. Box 3413, Kingston, 12402.

Amid talk of campaign reform in New York, a federal judge sitting in Manhattan recently ruled that limiting political contributions to $150,000 by individuals or corporations in New York violated free-speech protections in the constitution. There now will be no limits on influence-peddling.

Ulster County Community College Foundation will host a presentation of the play “A Day in Court,” written by former college foundation public relations director Ron Marquette. A dear man, Marquette ran UPAC in Kingston for many years before joining UCCC in 2006. He died last year.

The play centers around the downfall of actor Larry Parks, blacklisted after an appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities during the red scares of the early 1950s. Ticket information for the June 14 and 15 event is available at 687-5262.

And finally, congratulations and mazel tov to Kingston Times editor Dan Barton and bride Michelle Marcus on their wedding on Saturday in Kingston. It was in every sense a joyous celebration.