No doubt his political opponents will charge that more decisive leadership on Hein’s part, a bringing together of competing interests under executive aegis rather than a protracted controversy with attendant legal expenses on both sides, would have gotten the county to this satisfactory pass long ago.
Here and there
Ulster County legislators, with the blessing of the executive, will be getting a $4,000 raise next year to a base salary of $14,000. The health insurance benefits will be worth far more.
Ashley Dittus collects votes at the Kingston Democratic Convention back in May. (Photo: Phyllis McCabe)
Family plans cost the county about $31,000 each annually, with a third less for singles. Legislators who retire after a decade in office will get 60 percent of their premiums paid by the county, according to the personnel manual. That percentage will rise to 90 percent for those rare cases, like Jeanette Provenzano’s, who have served for 25 years or more. Nice work if you can get it.
As is usually the case with county personnel, a changing of the guard at the board of elections took place last month with little public notice. Deputy elections (Democratic) commissioner Tim Gay of Stone Ridge left office after a year or so, citing health issues. Gay had held a similar position in Manhattan before being lured north, an appointment that didn’t sit well with some locals. He was a good guy to work with and very knowledgeable.
Ashley Dittus of Kingston, a clerk at the elections board, has been recommended as Gay’s replacement, with a nice $15,000 raise. The line for her current $46,000-a-year job will start at election headquarters.
I had mixed feelings about Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum urging licensed pistol owners to carry their guns in public. To me, it made sense for trained police officers to carry theirs full-time.
Protesting Woodstock councilman Jay Wenk said he carried a BB gun into Adams and Wal-Mart. Wenk, no stronger to controversy, said his intent was to demonstrate what he saw as a dumb idea. Dumb idea for Wenk. Dangerous, too. He could have set off a shooting spree in one of those busy stores, causing injury or worse to innocent bystanders, responding authorities, maybe even to himself.
Meanwhile, Republican congressional hopefuls John Faso and Andrew Heaney have been popping up all over the place. Faso was spotted on the Polar Express run a week ago, while Heaney marched in the Esopus holiday parade, near but not with U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, the man he and Faso hope to succeed. Assemblyman Pete Lopez, the third Republican in the race, has been making public events on a regular basis for more than a decade. Hardscrabble Lopez hopes shoe leather will top the cash of his better-heeled opponents.
