Friends of Molinaro confirm the executive was briefly approached in May by emissaries from the Rob Astorino for governor campaign to consider a run for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket. Molinaro demurred; he likes his present job. Many were called, but Astorino eventually chose the sheriff of Chemung County.
Assemblyman Kevin Cahill’s bill to allow VLTs (video lottery terminals — slot machines by another name) in Ulster County as “a backup” should the Nevele casino project be rejected by state officials, may or not pass in the waning days of the legislature. Much stranger things have happened. Whether it jeopardizes the Nevele project, which Cahill says he supports in principle, is a matter of conjecture. Maybe Cahill, an old Albany insider, has some dope indicating the Nevele deal is in worse shape than some might think. Just wondering.
Happy Birthday, Mayor Gallo!
Regular donors to Hein’s annual “birthday party” fundraisers must have suffered sticker shock when they read the solicitation that went out last week. At the top was a $5,000 request for “platinum” contributors. But at least the five grand will cover 10 (very hungry) guests and either a centerfold or back cover in the program. Regular folk will be charged $95 for the privilege of shaking the executive’s hand and mingling with a horde of county vendors, politicians and department heads.
Hein, who turns 49 on July 27, is expected to run for a third term next year. The festivities will take place July 17 at 5 p.m. at Wiltwyck Golf Club. Deadline for reservation is July 9. Will somebody buy Kevin Cahill a ticket?
Happy birthday to us
Kingston Mayor Shayne Gallo will celebrate his third birthday in office on Friday, June 20. Gallo (1959) shares the birthday with the likes of Nicole Kidman, former Woodstock fire chief A.J. Rose, Errol Flynn, John Goodman, Woodstock Times editor Brian Hollander and me — but not with former county legislator Attilio Contini of Rosendale. Contini, a nine-term right-wing Republican, and I disagreed on almost everything. Nonetheless, we were on friendly terms. For me, the final straw was his voting against installation of handicapped toilets in the county office building.
Browsing through the enrollment records at the Board of Elections one mid-June day I discovered Contini and I had the same birthday. “It is the only thing Contini and I have in common,” I wrote in my next column.
“You and I have nothing in common,” Contini wrote back. “My birthday is on June 18. The Board of Elections record is wrong.” The mistake had been the product of sloppy transcription, I was told.
According to the 1998 version of The Ultimate Birthday Book, we six-twenties are said to “make excellent and inspiring members of working teams.” Alas, we “tend to be plagued with inner conflict and self-doubt, resulting in fickle and indecisive traits.”
I’ll have to ask Nicole Kidman about that next time I see her.
Hein is the man Cahill had to deal with to get the county to pick up the safety net fees for Kingston… Yet Reyholds, Hein, et al pointed at Cahill as recalcitrant, uncooperative, and causing distress to the tax base… but here one sees that 5 years have passed before Hein has made any kind of move toward supporting the community college AND he is yet greatly hedging his “bet”: with barely a toe in the water, Hein seems ready to beat a hasty retreat to the poolside chair and a soft dry towel.
Ach, sorry, that whole bit is too cute by half: the simple fact is Cahill did the right thing, and seeing here how Hein operates, Cahill had no choice
While Hein is the subject, take notice that the county is still trying to revoke the Catskill Railroad lease.. given the strong words and actions, it is quite a wonder that the deal isn’t done… recently we see that the county is still piling on discovered shortcomings of the RR: what is presented as a disappointing amount of track that has been repaired…
So, here’s the picture: if the lease runs to completion, it is almost certain the county will be compelled to reissue the lease… with the kind of effort and investment that has been expended, ie, build a rail road! a court would be hard pressed to say “No contest: your lease is up and the county may simply choose not to renew.” I think the Catskill RR has a really good chance of getting a good part of the lease renewed and getting some additional support from the county in making a compromise to take some of the property off of the renewed lease.
Hein has sorely failed so far to actually revoke the lease: he knows he has to make a much better case and he is not there yet, not by a long shot.
This season’s push and ridership can make a strong case for the RR. Some compromise may already be in the wind.