The Calamity Council

It's getting somewhat painful watching Troy Council Democrats. Even though they are hell-bent to try and force a possibly corrupt deal to accept only a portion of the debt owed by Rensselaer for water services, they can't even get their act together to get the deal on the agenda properly.

Council Democrats apparently forgot to read the City Charter which requires the deal to go before the Finance Committee instead of just getting rammed through at the Thursday Council meeting.

Which means that all of the television cameras there at the meeting to document a deal conjured up behind closed doors by Democrats in Troy with Democrats in Rensselaer, and allowing only one-third of the nearly $3 million debt to be paid with no future guarantees had to go home. But they'll be back, to help document a night in the probable near future when Democrats make an insider deal public and complete their dizzying spiral into political oblivion.

Hurrying the John Brown water deal probably did not leave Democrats much time to review the Charter, although it is acknowledged the Council meetings are disorganized and it is hardly uncommon for resolutions to be introduced, withdrawn, put back on, tabled, etc. Why the rush to judgment? Simple, Council Democrats want to try to ram the John Brown water deal through to beat a lawsuit filed by Troy to recover the money. Unfortunately for Council Democrats, such actions will probably be found to again violate the City Charter and be subject to another lawsuit. And it's not like Council Dems have had much success in court. They got their clock cleaned when they tried to reduce the salaries of city employees, simply caving without a fight just after court papers were filed.

The Calamity Council marches on!