The Silence of the (Sacrificial) Lambs

The TR beat me to the punch on Joe Riley dropping out. At least I'll admit it: there was absolutely no props given to TP for being the first to report the Rabbit-Mirch episode at Friends of 112th Street. As such, there's been no rush to chime in. Joe Riley joins several thousand other people who were eligible to run and--prudently--chose not to. But I digress.

Joe Riley was ready to pull the trigger and make a go for it, but the skeletons in his closet were just too plentiful, and there's ample reason to believe that it was yours truly who spooked him out of running. Just one gem: Riley's affinity for patronage saddled Clifton Park with debt that's still being paid off today. I have a Limbaugh-grade stack of stuff on why Mr. Riley had to seek office in a different county entirely. In the rare chance that the comedy troup that is the local Democrats ever ceases to give me stuff to write about, I'll throw some of it up.

Finally, the point we should all be taking away from this: with all the belly-aching we hear about Harry Tutunjian on the other political blog, one would think people would be beating down the doors to run against him (where's the "Draft Democratus" movement, anyways?). Running for mayor of Troy as a Democrat should have as high a probability of success as getting your bail reduced for a child molestation in front of Judge Jacon.

But it doesn't. Not this year. And not against this guy.