A Tax on Tax

The Spitzer administration's solution to soaring property taxes? Why, another tax. That's right, the Steamroller gang believes the huge burden of local property taxes can be offset by imposing a local income tax. Two taxes instead of one – that's Day One for you!

Bully Bill Just Doesn't Get It

It's getting weirder with Bully Bill Dunne. Not satisfied with destroying the credibility and effectiveness of the new Democrat majority on the Troy City Council, he has a new warning for all those who would dare step in his way.

In today's Metroland, Dunne threatens to "grind" city government to "a halt" if he doesn't get his way. What a great message to send to prospective investors, and what a great message to send to city residents.

"We have the ability to grind the government in Troy to a halt, if we want to do that. But we don't want to do that, obviously," Dunne said. "But if we want to prove a point, we can."

The rest of the Dems have proven totally unable to rein Dunne in. Which isn't all that bad, because it's not often you get to a political career – and a new majority – get wrecked from self-inflicted wounds.

See for yourself: http://www.metroland.net/newsfront.html#5

Giving them the bizness

Governor Steamroller is effing at it effing again. This time, the effing Business Council gets Prince Eliot's wrath. Brought to you by Spitzer's friends at the effing New York Post:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01292008/news/regionalnews/steamroll_spitzer_is_at_it_again_157779.htm

No word on the effing rumor that Bully Bill Dunne will be handling effing e-mails and other personal correspondence for the effing Steamroller. But the troubles just don't go away for the Democrat Council gang who can't shoot straight:

http://www.troyrecord.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/BigDaily;jsessionid=FvHTHfnYKvcy7t4gpTYMyhyp3s1nhJhCBphZlrmyzLsXHhg65KT0!-1735560039?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_article&r21.pgpath=%2FTRD%2FHome&r21.content=%2FTRD%2FHome%2FTopStoryList_Story_1493614

Anyone else note the irony of someone having to use the Freedom of Information Law to get information from a council majority who ran on a pledge of openness and transparency? Bully Bill and the Feeble Five's adventures continue….

For Eliot, "trouble" is spelled with a lot of D's

At today's New York Association of Counties meeting in Colonie, Spitzer was taking heat from a heavyweight in his own party, Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, for the crazy spending plan he's put forth and its impact on counties [LP]. At least one Rensselaer County Dem has been heard muttering in agreement with speculation that Eliot Spitzer's bloated budget may be a roadmap to defeat in 2010, with the prisoner release program being an additional shortcut. There's no denying it: Eliot Spitzer is on the brink of major fall, and he looks pretty content to bring his party with him. Considering he has no time-tested base of support, Spitzer really can't afford to alienate many more elected Dems, not with a rising star sitting in the Attorney Generals office.

Memo to Keith Hammond: if you want that state job of yours to last more than 2 years, you're sucking up to the wrong guy.

Class Warfare Kirsten

I waited up last night to see what reaction Congresswoman Gillibrand would offer after the State of the Union address, and I was not disappointed. Desperation is a stinky cologne, and late last night, Kirsten Gillibrand poured on the entire bottle.

While Bush's speech did address tax cuts, Gillibrand said she was concerned that the President's focus was on keeping cuts aimed at wealthy citizens. "There should have been a much greater emphasis on middle-class tax cuts. The vast majority of his tax cuts do not affect the middle class," Gillibrand said. [POST STAR]

For starters, this signals that Gillibrand is now, officially, in class warfare mode. Since Gillibrand won't be fortunate enough to have an opponent who she can paint as a corrupt wife-beater, she has to generate villians somewhere else, and those wicked wealthy folks in higher tax brackets than the electorate are awfully tempting targets. This is surprising, though, considering the old proverb which warns you not to throw stones when you live in a $2 million house.

But the most important part of her statement, the idea that the tax cuts don't help middle class families and that they're "aimed" at a particular group, is a fair indicator that any future discussion of the tax code by Gillibrand is going to be a real side show. Remember, she got off the hook in 2006 without having to debate. This fall, she'll have to stand on stage and defend things like her assertion that the "vast majority" of the tax cuts won't affect the middle class, which is simply false. The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts reduced the rates for everyone who pays income taxes, saving the average household in New York State thousands of dollars each year. In fact, the "vast majority" of the people who received tax relief were middle-class. If Gillibrand is instead alluding to the cuts in capital gains taxes, it would mean she's ignoring were how helpful these cuts were to the working folks who sold investments to pay for college educations or retirements.

It's surprising to see even Gillibrand trying to twist and manufacture facts in such a manner to promote such divisiveness, but like I said, desperation is a stinky cologne.

Free Pass

Good news for murderers, rapists and other injury-inducing creeps: thanks to the Spitzer administration, a doctor’s note may be all you need to get out of your maximum-security home and out on the streets of the great state of New York!

The 2008-2009 budget proposed by Governor Steamroller includes a plan to free state inmates jailed for violent crimes instead of treating them for an illness. You can call it the Sick, then Skip plan. Coming soon to a street corner near you!

The NY Post on the Sick, then Skip plan: http://www.nypost.com/seven/01272008/news/regionalnews/jail_sickos_go_free_861353.htm

What’s even more interesting is that at a recent Rensselaer County Legislature meeting, Spitzer’s defender, Deputy Minority Leader Keith Hammond, said he and legislative Democrats had been assured by a representative of the governor there are no plans to increase the early release of violent offenders.

This now seems like a stunning statement, except when you consider how truth-challenged the Spitzer administration has been since taking office.

Big Bump

As the governor plans to free more violent offenders, he will be paying District Attorneys even more to win convictions so criminals can qualify for early release. District Attorneys, including Rensselaer County District Attorney McNally, would qualify for at least a $30,000 annual bump in their salary under the governor’s budget proposal.

A Question of Faith

One of the biggest murder trials in recent years is scheduled to begin in early 2008, with the alleged killers of Troy woman Arica Lynn Schneider and her boyfriend, Samuel Holley, set to face justice. And Arica’s parents say they have yet to be contacted by new District Attorney Richard McNally and sound worried about his office’s handling of the double-murder case.

Arica’s family, including father Paul Schneider, and mother Robin Nold, voiced their concerns, as reported by Fox 23’s Jeff Saperstone:

“But the wait for a trial has been agonizing for Arica's family. The case is now in the hands of new district attorney Rich McNally and a lot of new staff.

Schneider said, "We have a lot of anxiety about what his plans are for the case - a lot of people have left, a lot of people have been let go."

Nold said, "I can't help but think that some crucial information will fall through the cracks."

Nold said, "He has not reached out to us yet. I have never met him, I don't really know what his plans are."

Schneider said, "It makes me very nervous, it makes the whole family very nervous.”’

http://www.fox23news.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=07ac54ba-694b-49a2-8412-35e1f929effd

Spitzer and Hammchop

I believe it was Socrates who said there's nothing more noble than carrying water for an unpopular, ethically-bankrupt governor who can't control spending. Wait, that wasn't Socrates; that was Keith Hammond.

Hammond was quick to jump to the Steamroller's defense this week when elected officials across the state started calling him out on his ridiculous spending plan. We hear Hammond is looking for one of those fabled jobs that was supposed to go to Rensselaer County Democrats after King Eliot took the throne. We're not sure what Hammond thinks he can offer the Gov, but he must be pretty darn sure about it to be engaging in such denial.

There's no knowing what kind of stuff Keith Hammond is going to try to explain away next, but we're definitely waiting for his explanations about giving drivers licenses to illegal aliens and letting convicted murderers out of prison. So as we wait for the return engagement for the Apologist from Poestenkill, someone can tell Keith Hammond that if he's really so upset about having his party tagged as a bunch of big spenders, he should thinking about changing parties.

Confused Kirsten

It seems that every time we think that Congresswoman Gillibrand can't become any more of a joke, she goes out there and proves us wrong.

First she railed about openness in government but refused to release her tax returns. Then she campaigned on a pledge not to raise taxes, only to vote to raise taxes within days of being sworn in. Raising campaign money in Europe, voting to give benefits to illegal aliens and "where's the state fair this year?"--the punchlines just never seemed to end. And they haven't, because now, Kirsten Gillibrand has taken up a new cause, unfunded mandates, and she's doing it with the skill, the passion and the categorical rejection of reality that only she can muster.

At a forum in Livingston (Columbia County), Gillibrand skillfully managed to complain about New York's property taxes and plant the blame squarely on Republicans in Washington DC. This is surprising for a few reasons. For starters, the Congresswoman told us in 2006 that if the Democrats took over Congress, they were going to fix all these problems. But this is as much about Washington DC as it is about this week's horoscope. As Gillibrand should know from paying property taxes on her Manhattan penthouse, state property taxes are set by and paid to Albany (that's in upstate, Congresswoman, where we have the state fair). These taxes are as high as they are because of Gillibrand's fellow Democrats, Eliot Spitzer, Sheldon Silver and Tim Gordon, spend too much of our money, not because of decrees from Washington, but because they choose to. Thanks to the Albany Democrats, New York spends more on Medicaid than Texas and California combined, not because of "unfunded mandates" but because the Dems seem to get a real thrill out of spending our taxdollars.

Congresswoman Gillibrand told the folks in Livingston she was going to look into the staggering property taxes we face. She should start by looking at a map, because after that, she need look no further than her own party.

Spitz Blitzed

Local officials, including those in Rensselaer County, are tallying up the costs of Governor Steamroller’s second budget. And the costs aren’t pretty, with County Executive Jimino and legislators saying the budget will shift big expenses to counties and school districts, hurting property taxpayers, and aid reductions and formula shifts alone would result in an 8 percent county property tax increase.

Oh, and don’t forget those 47 state fee increases. [LP]

The Dysfunctional Attorney's Office

DA Rich McNally may work for Rensselaer County, but his mind is, undoubtedly, somewhere else.

After McNally fired 6 Assistant District Attorneys with a combined total of 39 years of prosecutorial experience, McNally declared he was hiring Art Glass as 1st Assistant and that Glass required a $5,000 raise before he'd even start the job. This might be reasonable if McNally were hiring Rudy Giuliani or Thomas Dewey, but Glass has precisely no experience prosecuting cases, so we're not quite sure why paying him more taxdollars is quite necessary. And as McNally told us during his campaign, we certainly can't have someone without prosecuting experience as one of the county's top prosecutors.

This last part is something McNally seems to have gotten over pretty quickly. Now only is he ignoring the argument he made against his opponent in hiring Glass, he seems to have thrown it out entirely. Two of McNally's hires to replace the six veteran attorneys were 2 young lawyers with no experience. We haven't had a chance to ask McNally how that's working out for him, but we hear that not even one month into his administration, one of the 2 young attorney's has already resigned.

All this considered, what's Rich McNally supposed to be doing for us, again? Hiring experienced attorneys? Clearly not. Prosecuting indicted murder suspects? Screwed that one up too.

Maybe when the DA's office starts doing deeds and wills, Rich McNally can start doing something he knows something about.

Metroland on Punishmentgate

Metroland offered this thought on the leak of Bill Dunne's punishment email:

Whether this signals a splintering in the Democratic Party or just business as usual in Troy waits to be seen.

Metroland has usually been friendly to the Troy Dems. Their entire slate was endorsed by the paper. So when you're a Democrat and the folks who thought Jim Conroy could be mayor aren't betting on your survival as a force, it's safe to say it's time to pack up and go home.

The Day One Support Group

I wonder who's the most ashamed to be pictured here with the other, Bully Dunne or Steamroller Spitzer? I'm sure they'll get over it, because it turns out Bill Dunne and Eliot Spitzer have a lot in common. Both of them had their first runs for office bankrolled by their fathers. Both made big campaign promises. And both are now liabilities to their parties.

Spitzer certainly has the staying power: he had five full months in office before his bullying tactics caught up with him. Bill Dunne couldn't complete a full week in the majority without having an indictable offense show up in the newspaper. On the other hand, Dunne is smarter about picking his targets: while Spitzer has incurred the wrath of major Wall Street names and the state's top Republican, Dunne has gone for the low-hanging fruit: newspaper reporters, City Hall employees and Dormitory Authority interns.

Wasn't stuff supposed to get better for the Democrats after Day One?

Ouch! 47 ways to tax New Yorkers

The slight recent uptick in approval ratings for Governor Steamroller is likely to be erased following the Tuesday’s announcement of the 2008-2009 state budget. It’s a whopper, with 47 separate fee increases, expensive mandate formula shifts that will hurt counties and school districts even more, reductions in state aid and cuts to the popular STAR program.

Despite the onset of a recession, nearly four dozen fee increases, shifts in costs to local governments and wild times on Wall Street, the state budget will still increase by a pretty sizable rate of 5.1 percent.

Still waiting for Day One? Don’t hold your breath…this budget feels more like a third-term Cuomo offering.

Senate Republicans including Senator Joe Bruno knocked the budget proposal and even Democrat Assembly leader Shelly Silver offered little support for his party’s governor. The helpful Assembly Republicans have calculated what the Steamroller’s second budget will cost average New Yorkers. [CC]

A New York State of Mind

Hey, Toto, we’re not in upstate anymore. At least not according to the Spitzer administration, which is now designating counties including Rensselaer and Albany as part of downstate.

Wow, we knew the governor was powerful, but rearranging geography? That takes some clout. For now, we are considered part of downstate, but sources tell us the region will soon be dubbed Capitalacchia by the governor’s top economic development team. Rumor has it the capital for Capitalacchia will be the City of Rensselaer, qualifying Rensselaer to receive special loans to meet the rigorous requirements of the Great John Brown Debt Giveaway and pays that $3 million debt owed to Troy over the next 70 years.

The Record’s Jim Franco’s take on the downstate shift: [TR]

Spitz Scandal Watch

The problems of 2007 don’t seem to be going away any time soon for Governor Steamroller. [NYPOST]

What did the governor know and when did he know it?:[NYDN]

Martin Luther King Day

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."
---Martin Luther King, Jr.

Charter Bust

Several days ago, Mayor Tutunjian announced the city would be undertaking a charter review. A charter review can be pretty important stuff, especially for a city with an active and often-changing political scene.

So why don’t the Democrat City Council President and the most senior member of the Democrat majority feel the need to participate in the charter review?

In a puzzling announcement late last week both Council President Campana and Councilman Bully Bill Dunne said they were withdrawing their names from the Charter Review Commission, rejecting appointments extended by the mayor. The decision of the top two Dems on the Council has many political observers scratching their heads. Aren’t council members elected to serve on things like Charter Review Commissions?

Poll results...for Pete's sake, who Dunne it?

It was the e-mail heard ‘round Troy. The e-mail by Bully Billy Dunne promising “punishment” for city employees who had the nerve to oppose Dunne politically or otherwise, the e-mail that blew any hope of momentum or good will for a newly-elected Democrat majority on the Troy City Council.

It was stunning, it was arrogant, and it was dumb. It was Bill Dunne. But who torpedoed the Councilman who talks so tough with his keyboard? Our poll sought to find out, and we proudly announce the results:

The winner – Councilman Pete Ryan with 43 votes. We’re not sure what prompted so many votes for Pete, but it may have been the infamous Talespin article in which Ryan was revealed to be the leaker of some phony information leaked to Dems by DPW Chief Bobby Mirch. In a town known for talkers and leakers, Pete can be proud that he is getting known for his ability to open up, no matter who it costs.

The tally as follows:

Pete Ryan – 43
Ken Zalewski – 10
Clem Campana – 4
John Brown – 3
Gary Galuski – 1

We’ll be announcing a new poll tomorrow.

Paid Media

How bad has it gotten for Governor Steamroller? Bad enough that he’s taking a page from the Bush administration, and has been apparently paying for some support in the media:P

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-margolick/full-disclosure-dont-be_b_81342.html

A Loss

A loss for Democrat District Attorney McNally in a big Troy murder trial [TU].

Tom Cholakis Mourned

Thomas G. Cholakis, a force in Rensselaer County Republican politics for generations, passed away Tuesday. Our condolences to his friends and family.

Tom was the younger brother of legendary U.S. District Court Judge Con Cholakis. Tom was a longtime county legislator and leader of the North Greenbush Republican Party. He served as Rensselaer County Republican Chairman and under his leadership, the GOP began a long string of victories on the county and local levels. Tom also served as director of Capital Region Off-Track Betting, helping restore credibility to OTB after a long string of controversies. More from the Times Union on Tom Cholakis: http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=655342&category=&BCCode=&newsdate=1/15/2008

Upstate State of Mind

Governor Steamroller will be delivering a State of the Upstate address on Wednesday. Which is kind of like the governor giving a State of the State speech for the kids table at Thanksgiving. Why upstate issues need to be separated from statewide issues is a little odd, but let's give it
a chance.

Some good stuff is coming out of the State of the Upstate deal. Spitzer has promised $2.5 million to allow for Troy City Hall to be torn down, which puts him at odds with the Democrat majority on the Council, who have delayed a deal that would bring $3 million to the city for the property.

No word on whether the governor will be able to come up with another $2.5 million if the disastrous Great Water Debt Giveway by Democrat Councilman John Brown gets forced down the city's throat. But stay tuned tomorrow.

Crumbling Down

The Times Union has a pretty in-depth story on the problems with City Hall [TU]. With chunks of the building falling on desks, it seems pretty strange the Council Democrat majority extended the period for review of the City Hall deal from March to June.

Punishment Plan Revisited

That nutty bunch known as the Democrat majority on the Troy City Council is taking another crack at doing something with raises. Around New Year's, the Dunne-o-crats were going to whack everyone's raise. Then came news of Bully Bill Dunne's "punishment" e-mail. So the raises were off. Then back on for a special Finance Committee. When the meeting came, they were off again. Now, back on. For now.

We hear the new plan for the raises involves all of Tutunjian's gang receiving $600 this year, and then $125 annually for the next 72 years, after they agree not to go to the District Attorney, Food and Drug Administration or EnCon over Bully Bill's "punishment" e-mail. It's a plan similar to new Councilman John Brown's easy-going approach to a $3 million debt owed to Troy by the City of Rensselaer.

What's amazing is the hypocrisy of the Council Dems: They say they want to rollback raises for the Tutunjian to budgeted levels but just last week gave a $5,000 raise for one of the appointees to a Council job. Be careful, because dissenters will be "punished".

Brown’s Bargain Blunder

If you’re looking to borrow money, new Troy Councilman John Brown may be your guy.

The City of Rensselaer owes Troy about $3 million for receiving Troy’s water over the last several years. Rensselaer hasn’t paid up, resulting in a lawsuit by Troy. Troy wants its money.

Enter John Brown, on the Troy Councilman job for two weeks and apparently a soft touch. Brown’s idea is to allow Rensselaer to pay $600,000 to Troy. In return, Troy would drop the city’s lawsuit. Rensselaer would also supposedly promise to pay $125,000 annually. Now, why anyone would rely on a promise of payment at this point is beyond us.

Mayor Tutunjian doesn’t like the deal one bit. Neither does Council President Clem Campana, also a Democrat. We’re sure Rensselaer Mayor Dwyer, also a Democrat, loves the deal. Which is probably different from how city taxpayer’s will feel once they get only one-fifth of the money Troy is owed. News on Brown’s Bargain Blunder [TU], [TR].

A few questions on Brown’s Bargain Blunder:

• Brown’s deal requires Troy to drop its lawsuit against Rensselaer. Why should Troy give away legal leverage on Rensselaer?
• Who does John Brown represent, Troy or Rensselaer?
• Can’t Rensselaer just pay its bills like they are supposed to?
• Why would a guy like John Brown who ran on a platform of openness conduct secret negotiations with Rensselaer’s mayor? Where’s the openness?
• If there isn’t a contract with Rensselaer, which can’t seem to pay its bills, shouldn’t Troy just let Rensselaer buy water from someplace else, like Albany? Or Cohoes? Or Green Island?

Was it John Brown?

What we said for Ken Zalewski goes double for John Brown. He's younger than Zalewski, has already won office citywide and we hear he's already looking to raise money for 2009. Brown is the classic example of a politician in a hurry. John Brown wants to be mayor, and in his eyes, Bill Dunne can't amount to more than just a goofy looking speedbump on the way to City Hall. Given that he hasn't really impressed voters with his ideas, like that half-baked rant about banning two family houses, Brown needs all the attention he can get. That means he can't afford to have Bill Dunne stealing the spotlight every time the Democrat majority announces an event at Prospect Park or comments on its pick for dogcatcher.

In Brown's eyes, like the eyes of plenty of other Troy Dems, Dunne's had his day. The Democrat leadership has passed over him consistently for race after race for the same reason that John Brown wouldn't have had any problems deep sixing him.

[NOTE: Poll results will be posted early Monday morning]

Was it Chappy?

There seems to be a curse on the council presidency: no one has been re-elected to it in over a decade. If Chappy wants to break that trend, he can't afford to have a liability like Bully Bill Dunne shooting his mouth off. Chappy has under 22 months to prove he can get along with the mayor while delivering for the city, something that gets much more difficult if you have Bill Dunne going Ahab on every Republican who's ever whispered about his dismissal from the Dormitory Authority.

Leading an effective council against a Republican mayor is no easy task, and Chappy can't afford to have someone as "special" as Dunne running around. We say "special" because for someone to count as "dangerous", they have to be smart enough not to advocate illegal behavior in writing. Chappy also has the luxury of knowing that even if Dunne were to get removed from the council, indicted, tarred and feathered, Chappy will still have a working majority on the council and a significantly better chance to get his agenda through (and break the curse).

Last chance!

Our exclusive poll to find out who threw Bully Bill Dunne under the bus will close in just a few hours [POLL]. Vote now!

Was it Gary Galuski?

Imagine the following scenario: in your first run for political office, you win in one of the biggest upsets of the year. Unfortunately, you soon discover that your victory will require you to work extensively with a man whose integrity seems to have been pawned off to make space for his ego. You may be new at this business, but you know quite well that this man never has, never does and never will accomplish anything, and that his removal from the situation would have a positive effect. The incentive for this removal comes when you're screwed out of the committee assignments you'd wanted, most likely because of this same man. So when an email shows up which you know very well suggests illegal behavior, it doesn't take much to pass it along to members of the opposition party. At the very least, it will prevent what you believe to be a crime from being committed. It might even get the miserable son of a gun thrown out of office, something that would make the next two years much more enjoyable. Of course, this is just a scenario.

Back here in reality, we hear that Galuski wasn't particularly thrilled with his committee assignments, especially considering that his victory was the least expected. We also hear that it's not uncommon for new councilmen and women to come ready to play "Global Thermonuclear War" when they really should have been tooling up for a protracted game of "Diplomacy". And we don't have to talk to Gary Galuski to know that he wouldn't miss having to be in the same room as Bully Bill every month.

Metroland Feature on "Punishing Politics"

Troy City Council Dems have to be feeling sore, with even some of their staunchest allies in the press turning on them over “Punishmentgate”. Metroland, probably the most liberal publication in the Capital Region, gives a good whacking to Bully Bill Dunne and his fellow Dunne-o-crats for the debacle that has wrecked the start of the new Dem council majority [METROLAND].

Was it Ken Zalewski?

Ken Zalewski's been pretty clear about what he expects from his fellow Democrats since the moment he became a candidate. On his website, Zalewski said, "I have chosen to run for this office because our district deserves better representation, and our community needs real leadership. I have the energy and commitment to get the job done, and I will do it in the most honest and ethical manner."

Let's see how Councilman Bill Dunne fits into this new equation Zalewski's laid out.

"Better representation" means better than Bill Dunne, a guy whose four years on the council weren't exactly attracting any book deals. Dunne also has to point back to high school to cite the last time he's been a leader on anything besides spouting hot air. Honesty and ethics, meanwhile, aren't Dunne's forte, either. He still hasn't come clean about his dismissal (and subsequent lifetime ban) from the Dormitory Authority.

Finally, Zalewski is seen, and sees himself, as a rising star (thanks mostly to the gobs of special interest money he's accepted). An empty vessel like Dunne attached to statements from the council majority is costing Zalewski the publicity he needs to make it to the top in two or four years.

Ken Zalewski, without a doubt, desires greater things than seeing Dunne's pretty face at council meetings. If he was the one who hit the "forward" button, we certainly understand why.

Bully Bill Blow Back

Chalk up "Punishmentgate" as a huge loss for the new Democratic Council and for Councilman Bully Bill Dunne. One day after Democrats could not muster the votes to go through with Dunne's plan to whack the salaries of several city employees, other council members announced the whole
episode was over.

Despite all his tough talk, Dunne couldn't get the rest of his council gang to go along with his controversial and probably illegal plan to whack the salaries. The explosive revelations of Dunne's e-mail exposing the "punishment" plan didn't help, and just as damaging were the new rounds of threats issued by Dunne in interviews after the e-mail became public.

Dem Raise Craze II

Just hours after Council Democrats pushed through a surprise 50 percent, $5,000 raise for Council office appointee Vic Debonis, new Democrat District Attorney Rich McNally was up next, seeking a $5,000 raise for his first assistant. The $5,000 bump raises the first assistant's salary to $85,000.

McNally and Democrats in the Rensselaer County Legislature argued the raise is necessary, which is curious, since the first assistant has not even begun work in the DA's office. Even more curious is the fact that legislative Dems blasted raises given to other county employees during the adoption of the county budget.

Raise Craze

That cracking noise you hear is the sound of Democrats on the Troy City Council breaking their campaign promises.

Democrats tried to look outraged about raises given to a handful of city employees in the Tutunjian administration. The raises should have been included in the budget, revealed before Election Day, etc. etc. claimed the Dems.

The Dems took action…and promptly gave a 33 percent raise this week to one of their appointees.

The recipient? Vic Debonis, who was already rewarded for running for City Council in District 1 with a job in the Democrat Council office. On top of his job, Vic gets a nice $5,000 raise.

The $5,000 raises will cost taxpayers a little. It costs Council Democrats – the Dunne-o-crats a heckuva lot more in terms of credibility with voters.

All Dunne?

The Dunne-o-crats huffed and puffed and said they would convene a Finance Committee meeting Monday night to approve the "punishment" reductions in salary for several city employees. So, they met, and, despite all the threats, there was no "punishment" handed out.

The Finance meeting Monday came after DPW Commish and County Legislator Bob Mirch joined with respected City Comptroller Deb Witkowski to demand that Bully Bill Dunne release other e-mails threatening "punishment" of city employees who may have opposed Dunne and other Democrats politically. The original e-mail by Dunne setting in motion "punishment"
of city employees touched off Punishmentgate on January 3 and has severely damaged the credibility of the new Council Democratic majority in just one week.

The actions of Mirch and Witkowski may have meant the Dunne-o-crats didn't have the votes they needed to lower the salaries of the town employees. Maybe they have had it with Dunne's nutty attempts at revenge. Or, maybe the Dunne-o-crats simply decided to do the right thing. If that's the case, bravo. But we have our worries.

Dunne continued with his bizarre and troubling behavior and threatened – on camera, during an interview with Channel 10 – to fire Mirch. Shameful, Bully Bill, shameful.

More on the Bully Bill Blow-up tomorrow, and details of more sweetheart deals by Council Dems.

$3 Million Dollar Men

As the Bill Dunne Democratic Majority of the Troy City Council prepares to jump off the legal abyss and dole out “punishment” to certain city employees, we should ask this question: Have you ever paid someone to lose $3 million?

The Dunne-o-crats apparently are ready to do just that. At the infamous organizational meeting on January 3 when Council Democrats were confronted with the civil rights-defying “punishment” e-mail, they also voted to allocate $10,000 for the hiring of an organization to look into the sale of the decaying City Hall to Judge Development.

The City Hall sale would have netted the city roughly $3 million. Plus, the property would have been put back on the tax rolls, meaning additional revenue for years to come. The Dunne-o-crats are desperate to take the luster off of the deal to bang up Mayor Tutunjian, hence their decision to stall the deal. Which raises a few questions:

-    What happens if or when Judge Development bail on the city?
-    What info do the Dunne-o-crats have to suggest that a better deal is in the offing?
-    The Dunne-o-crats claim the deal should have been more open. Can they show us anyone who tried to make an offer and was rebuffed?
-    Do they believe City Hall is in need of millions in repairs?
-    Where does the city get the money to make the repairs?
-    What exactly is the Dunne-o-crat Council’s end-game here? What exactly do they expect to accomplish?

The “punishment” e-mail was costly politically. But the City Hall deal could be a real whopper for Troy taxpayers.

They may be punishing political enemies by reducing their salary. But blowing up the City Hall deal only punishes the taxpayers.

Punishmentgate

That's the phrase observers of Troy politics are using to describe the mind-blowing, jaw-dropping STUPID move by Bully Bill Dunne to single out several Troy city employees for "punishment" in an explosive e-mail made public. The outing of the Dunne e-mail led to a tumultuous organizational meeting on January 3 as Council members were reminded that such "punishment" may be a violation of the Civil Rights of the employees.

Not that Bully Bill has learned his lesson. He is pushing the Council's Democratic majority to continue going 100mph down a dead-end street, and seeking to have the "punishment" approved by a Finance Committee on Monday to allow for a special meeting on Tuesday.

We don't know what's dumber: Singling out city employees who may have disagreed with you politically for "punishment" in an e-mail or scheduling a special meeting to deliver the "punishment". Especially with threats of a lawsuit from some of the city employees hanging in the air, and the possibility more e-mails will be surfacing. Punishmentgate may be here to stay as the damage to new Dem majority only gets worse.

In the meantime, vote in the poll below on exactly who leaked the Dunne "punishment" e-mail. Bully Bill has already threatened to "punish" the leaker, so his Dem colleagues should beware. Thanks for the heavy turnout so far in the poll.

We'll have more tomorrow, and give our take – as promised – on the City Hall deal blockers.

Who Dunne It?

The Dunne email was privy only to Bill Dunne's fellow Democrat councilmen. To help get Bill get to the bottom of which of his colleagues sold him out, we've started a poll. You can vote until midnight on January 13th. Get cracking, gumshoes!

Dunne Deal

Any momentum Democrats had after winning the majority on the Troy City Council went out the window Thursday night, thanks to bully boy Bill Dunne.

Stealing a page from the Boss Tom Wade playbook, Dunne conjured up a list of city employees deserving of “punishment” for daring to disagree with Dunne politically. Taking a cue from the Spitzer administration, Dunne put his threat down in the form of an e-mail.

And that e-mail, with the threat of “punishment” was waved in the faces of the Democrat majority at an organizational meeting that was chaotic, confrontational and confusing.

Dunne tried to lamely claim that it was all a joke. And then, in an absolute stunner, said the whistleblower who provided the e-mail to DPW Commissioner Bob Mirch would also be “punished”.

Check out a report from CBS 6 on Dunne’s latest threat: [CBS6]

A bit of the Troy Record report on the e-mail threat [TR]

The email, dated Dec. 13, 2007, was sent to Councilmen Peter Ryan, D-District 3; Ken Zalewski, D-District 5; Gary Galuski, D-District 6; John Brown, D-At Large, and Campana. It reads: “This is the ‘punishment’ version of the non-rep policy, which takes back the retro-active raises for ’07 from the Group A big wigs. Again, I’d really like to leave Bill Rohr alone. $50K is not a big salary and I do not want to cut him back. Please advise… P.S. Once this is all agreed upon, someone needs to get it to (Corporation Council David) Mitchell. I suppose I can e-mail it tomorrow. We should do a press release prior, however.”

Nice start guys. More tomorrow on the decision by Council Dems to actually pay someone to help them lose $3 million for the city.

Upstate Wreck-A-Development Plan

Great recent post on the Chichester Said So blog by Chris Chichester, founder of The Empire Page and now a player in Washington politics, on Rensselaer County's own Judi Enck and the choke-holds being placed by the Spitzer administration on the upstate economy.

http://chichestersaidso.blogspot.com/2007/12/gov-spitzers-hammer-and-sprawlsickle.html

Plus, some warm words from the exiting mayor of Utica about how helpful the state is with economic development.

http://www.uticaod.com/homepage/x1151535673

Are the anti-development members of the Troy City Council majority listening?