Given Hein’s take-no-prisoners stance on the railroad, however, that outcome is by no means a safe bet. Legislatures may change their collective minds sometimes. Executives less so.
Holier than most
Polls consistently show Democratic incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo a two-to-one winner in November. Local Republicans may have dug the hole even deeper for themselves in scheduling a fundraiser at the Hudson Valley Resort and Spa (the old Granit) after sundown on the holiest of Jewish holidays, Rosh Hashanah, on Sept. 24. GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino will be guest speaker, if he shows up.
A fundraiser on a Jewish holiday? What were these guys thinking?
“I got several calls on it,” Ulster GOP Chairman Roger Rascoe allowed after sending out the notice. “I talked to a few of our Jewish committeepersons, a rabbi and Butch Dener [former Republican chairman in New Paltz]. They weren’t happy with it, but understood that schedules are very tight this time of year.”
“Understood?” said an incredulous Dener, a Jewish elder and about as pro-Israel as Bibi Netanyahu. “We’re tired of understanding. It’s been 5,000 years.”
Dener will not be at the dinner. “I’ll be at synagogue,” he said, adding, “I won’t be pushing tickets for this one.”
After catching his breath, County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach, a Jewish Democrat, termed the scheduling “an enormous error.” When the wolves running Cuomo’s campaign get wind of it, that might prove a modest characterization.
With apologies to those offended, Rascoe says he has no plans to reschedule the annual dinner, set for 6 p.m. on the 24th.
There was at least one other dinner glitch. Rascoe misspelled his candidate’s name in an initial release.
“Did you call him Asstorino?” I asked (the way it’s pronounced).
“No,” he replied. “I wrote ‘Asperino.’ I guess we can all use a good editor now and then.”
Amen to that.
Maybe the GOP can engage Democratic primary candidate Zephyr Teachout, a much more engaging speaker than the pedantic Astorino. By the last week in September, she should have plenty of spare time.
Freeman now
State freedom-of-information director Bob Freeman isn’t resting on his laurels after 40 years on the job. Freeman, who travels the state preaching the good word on open government, takes the position that things are working okay, since the vast majority of New York’s more than 10,000 municipal bodies (including school districts) are rarely accused of violating state freedom-of-information laws.
When some do violate, the results are almost always predictable. A school board meets in executive session on a questionable subject. Media shut out from the proceedings call Freeman for a ruling. He much more often than not opines that the meeting was illegal. Usually, nothing else happens.
Are the laws tough enough? Nah. The courts decide these issues. A successful petitioner can recover court costs or have the action taken in violation of Freedom of Information Laws (Foil) voided. Meanwhile the hide-and-seek crowd goes its merry way.
Secrecy in government is nothing less than a threat to freedom, whether we are being led blindly into war or whether a town board approves a rendering plant next to the ball field in the dead of night.
That said, congratulations and thanks to Bob Freeman and the state for at least trying to shine some light on the people we elect.
Here and there
I ran into former county legislator Rich Croce from New Paltz at a standing-room-only fundraiser for Family Court judge candidate Keri Savona in Kingston last week. Croce was famously the deciding vote on the 1 percent sales-tax surcharge, breathlessly bursting into legislative chambers that spring night in 1993 shortly after his wife gave birth to their daughter in Poughkeepsie. That baby, Molly Croce, turned 21 in May.
“Some temporary tax,” said her father. In fact, the county has become so dependent on the $25 million annually generated by the (temporary) tax that any effort to mess with it looses the hounds of hell.
Run this by your accountant: You sell your company headquarters (in this case Kingston City School District administrative offices on Crown Street) for about $690,000. Since you have no place to go, you agree to lease it back from the buyers for at least four years at about $100,000 a year and assume all expenses, including taxes and maintenance. You had at least two years, maybe more, to come up with another location, or build anew, so why this deal? Just wondering.
I like the take of the Woodstock and Saugerties governments on acquiring surplus military equipment for their police departments. Until the bad guys roll down Tinker or Partition streets in armored personnel carriers, the answer is a ringing, “No, thanks.”
Irish Cultural Center host Kevin Ginty has allotted just 30 minutes to a plethora of speakers, presenters, dancers and politicians to honor visiting Irish ambassador Anne Anderson at Kingston’s Steel House this Saturday night. A seasoned MC, Ginty will be lucky if local pols Cahill, Shayne Gallo, Chris Gibson and Cecilia Tkaczyk don’t soak up at least 29 minutes. Ginty better have a hook handy.
