Hugh Reynolds: The watchdog, defanged
Personally, in choosing between the comptroller and the academic on one side and the rest of county government on the other, I find the angels on the side of Auerbach and Benjamin— but angels don’t vote.
Hugh Reynolds
Hugh Reynolds: Mischief in numbers
Last November, about midway through the annual county budget adoption process, Ulster County comptroller Elliott Auerbach alerted legislature chairman Ken Ronk to what some might have considered a startling development.
Hugh Reynolds: Faso needs a strategy
Congressman Faso has decided that large town hall meetings are unproductive, staged and a waste of his own and everyone’s else’s time. I think he’s wrong on every count. These rallies may not represent all the voices of a bitterly divided people, but they are people and they have voices.
Hugh Reynolds: Snow jobs
After years of delay, Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week dropped $8 million in a capital development grant at the state-owned Belleayre Ski Center at Highmount.
Hugh Reynolds: Two Belleayres are ringing
While the controversy over the proposed Resort at Belleayre continues in court, the seemingly settled issues of capital funding at the (unrelated, or is it?) state-owned Belleayre Ski Center at Highmount have once again erupted in public dispute.
Hugh Reynolds: Bad apples annoy Mike Hein
Damned media! Ulster County Executive Mike Hein served up an estimated 4,000 words on dozens of subjects at his ninth annual state of the county address last week in New Paltz. What did most of the media pick up? Only a passing gotcha, complete with fuzzy Muppets graphics of two tired old bad apples who had the gall to question several executive initiatives over the past few years.
Hugh Reynolds: Will Preet Bharara’s latest corruption probe ensnare Ulster Dems?
In 2015, Bill de Blasio’s Campaign for New York, since disbanded, was called to task for funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars through upstate Democratic committees in a failed attempt to elect a Democratic state senate. One of those county committees, to the tune of some $350,000, was Ulster County. Some locals dared call the activity money-laundering, charges denied by county Chairman Frank Cardinale, who said his committee acted entirely within the law.
Hugh Reynolds: Speak for yourself, John
Newly minted U.S. Rep. John Faso of Kinderhook works the chamber-of-commerce breakfast crowd like a campaigning politician. Which of course, he is.
Hugh Reynolds: For now, mall optimism prevails
The pending takeover of the bankrupt Hudson Valley Mall is shaping up as another of those good-news-bad-news scenarios. The result could be a leaner, cleaner mall, with perhaps a major food store and expanded theaters. But the town is likely to take a huge hit on property taxes.
Hugh Reynolds Big no-nukes win
Congressmen Maurice Hinchey and John Hall are retired. Troubadour Pete Seeger is dead. But it appears the 70s no-nukes movement they championed will finally get its most fervent wish, the closing of Indian Point nuclear power plant in Westchester County.