Republicans don't kill Democrats; Democrats kill Democrats!

If you thought the wait for New Moon was something, prepare yourself for 2010, when Tom Wade's ballot-forging Democrats will--officially--begin tearing each other to shreds. Their treatment of Pete Grimm was only a sneak preview of the cinematic self-destruction that's bound to have observers wondering whether Wade's people have actual dynamite strapped to their chests.

After winning only 6 out of 19 seats on the county legislature, Boss Wade orchestrated the defeat of Pete Grimm, the lone incoming Democrat with any experience in the body, as minority leader. Grimm is a decent guy, and bears distinction as one of the only Democrats in Troy not facing indictment or a permanent ban from any public authorities, so we can understand why he wasn't getting along with the Wade crowd. In his place, Wade installed HUD Conroy disciple Pete Ryan, but his reasons for the move aren't clear. Ryan's tenure on the city council was sufficiently unimpressive that Metroland has been able to perpetuate the idea that Bill "Dormitory" Dunne was the intellectual heavyweight of the council Dems, which is hilarious in its own right. That doesn't convey the image of Ryan as leadership material, even by Rensselaer County Democrat standards, so we're going to be scratching our heads as we continue to ponder Wade's motives.

While Wade seems to be able to control four of his six county legislators, it's another story on the Troy City Council, where Wade put up a slate that Dr. Frankenstein could be proud of. The egos of Chappy, John Brown and Mike LoPorto could together make upstate energy-independent if they were fed through the turbines at the hydroplants, a fate which each one would most definitely impart on the other two given the opportunity. All three men have their eyes (or, with LoPorto, eyes and moustaches) on higher office, and all three know that they are in direct competition for every iota of positive attention on the Democrats, which will be scarce in coming months. We're saving our predictions of the actual casualty list until after we know who's going to be doing hard time for those ballots that forged themselves, but in the meantime, you won't need your reading glasses to see those knives getting sharpened during council meetings.