Photo of the Year

Check out Jim Franco's photo of Kevin McGrath smiling as he wrapped up his grand jury testimony a few hours ago. Nothing like throwing your pals under the bus to put a smile on your face.

The Colonel Gets Promoted

The tidal wave continues to build for Republican candidates seeking election to the House of Representatives. On Tuesday, the Gallup poll showed a 10 point advantage for the GOP – the largest advantage in almost 70 years.

Democrats are running scared and running crazy, trying too late to convince voters they are independent, do not listen to Queen Pelosi and are "fighting" Washington. Those statements and advertisements are really the sound of political careers get flushed, courtesy of Team Obama.

Nowhere is that more than true than in the 20th Congressional District, the scene of the 2006 upset by now-Senator Gillibrand over John Sweeney and the 2009 squeaker by virtual unknown Scott Murphy. Murphy had and is now trying to portray himself as one of the so-called Blue Dog Conservative Democrats, but he is a marked man due to his flip-flop to a yes vote on the disastrous health care legislation.

It has gotten so bad for Murphy that he rarely holds public appearances, and apparently insisted that the public not be allowed to attend a debate as the November election draws near.

Murphy's opponent in that debate and in the race, retired Army Col. Chris Gibson, has been gaining momentum and support, out-fundraising Murphy in recent reports. The news got better for Gibson, as he was elevated to "Young Gun" status by national Republicans.

Being elevated to "Young Gun" is important for Gibson because it earns him two weeks of television advertisements. National GOP leaders on behalf of Gibson have already placed television buys; by comparison, national Democrats have failed to reserve TV ad space for Murphy, who has self-funded a couple of weak, vanilla TV spots.

Gibson has the muscle on the ground. He collected more than double the signatures of nominating petitions as Murphy and you are in for a long ride if you would like to eyeball a Murphy lawn sign in the 20th CD. Gibson has more volunteers, has the issues on his side, and now, has some national mojo coming his way. In the past few weeks, Gibson has seen his candidacy and chances of winning the race upgraded, and he is heading right for the win on Election Day.

Looouuu!!

Leave it to Lou Desso to unite at least some of the often-fractious political world in North Greenbush.

Desso completed the political equivalent of winning the Triple Crown Thursday evening, capturing the Democratic caucus and winning the party's nomination for Town Board. The win in the Democratic caucus came after Desso had already received the Republican, Independence and Conservative nominations.

Quite a feat, and Desso is probably the only politician in Rensselaer County to win four party endorsements. In fact, the caucus victory Thursday marks the second time Desso has won the backing of the four parties, also doing so in 2007. But the 2010 victory is even more impressive when you consider Desso won the Democratic caucus by a 2-1 margin.

The Desso win is a stunning repudiation of the negative tactics of supposed NGB Democratic bosses Dan Ashley and CB Smith. Thursday night, Ashley and Smith were playing on the home court, by their own rules and in THEIR OWN PARTY. And Desso beat them big time.

Ashley and Smith are now left to complain that Desso's win does not leave voters with much of a choice. Nonsense. Party members have every right to decide their party's nominations and have done so in granting Desso the GOP, Democratic, Independence and Conservative endorsements. Those decisions count.

Any complaints by Ashley and Smith about voters not having a "choice" are made even more ridiculous when you consider they helped engineer a lawsuit several months ago that removed Desso from the Town Board after Desso won election to County Legislature in 2009. The lawsuit ignored the fact that Democrat after Democrat after Democrat held dual county-town offices, along with conveniently using the courts to undo the will of the people.

That Chicago-style liberal heavy-handedness, of using Democratic judges to overturn the results of an election, is apparently being undone by the people of North Greenbush, who are speaking loudly and clearly that they want Lou Desso to represent them. Desso's win shows he a real political force to be reckoned with, just as it shows that Ashley and Smith are way out of step with members of their own party in their own town.

Dems Go Write to Court

The slowly ticking bombshell involving the alleged forgery of absentee ballots by Democrats detonated Thursday, and could end up taking most of the City Council's majority out in the next several months.

A foot-high stack of documents, affidavits and other materials compiled by State Police and a special prosecutor and filed in court spell out a staggering amount of fraud by Democrats hoping to steal the Working Families line in the September 2009 primary.

This week, Judge Stephen Herrick of Albany County signed a search warrant that seeks to compel DNA samples from nine big-time Rensselaer County and Troy Democrats including:

Council President Clem Campana, Councilmen John Brown, Mike LoPorto, Gary Galuski and Kevin McGrath, Democratic Board of Elections Commissioner Ed McDonough, Brown's brother Dan, City Council Clerk Bill McInerney and Troy Housing Authority Tony DeFiglio.

That's five out of the seven members of the Troy City Council, plus a staff member. A court date on the warrant seeking the DNA sample is set for mid-September, ironically, right around Primary Day.

What is interesting is one of the five council members is already fingering his buddies, as seen in the CBS6 link. And word on the street is one and maybe two Democrats are planning to fight the DNA request.

Read all about it:

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/9-targeted-in-vote-conspiracy-594751.php

http://www.cbs6albany.com/news/wanted-1276672-albany-democrats.html

http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2010/07/29/news/doc4c511080c6833550490822.txt

http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2010/07/29/news/doc4c51b3842d7f3606735697.txt

What'll it be, Joanne?

Maybe it's the ongoing federal investigation. Maybe it's the fact that their ideas don't work. Or maybe it's because their name is just a little misleading. It doesn't matter why the Democrats are running full-speed away from the Working Families Party; it just matters that at the statewide level, led by Andrew Cuomo, they are. But what about here in Rensselaer County?

We'd particular like to know about Joanne Yepsen, who's running for state senate. Yepsen hasn't made a peep about the WFP, presumably because she's been busy purging her website of mentions of how pleased she was to run on the Working Families Party line in 2007 and 2009, and presumably, how much she supports their platform and thinks their plan to tax the life out of upstate is just swell.

So what'll it be, Joanne? Will you be casting your lot again with the crazies this year? We're waiting.

Retracted!

Oops! It seems our sources had a bit of word reversal about Jim Conroy skipping the Andrew Cuomo event earlier this week. We're not above admitting mistakes on our part, and we would have had this up earlier but our people spent all week scouring other local political blogs to find out how they acknowledge their errors. Come to find out, our dear friend Democratus never owned up to his, so we're treading into uncharted territory here. Anyways, enjoy your weekend, folks. Fresh, triple-checked material next week.

Economic Growth off the Menu at LoPorto's

Just when Chappy Campana was about to lock up the heavyweight title for hostility toward economic progress in Troy, Councilman Michael LoPorto (District 7) has given him a run for his money. Loporto's now-infamous comments, telling David Bryce, one of Troy's single biggest investors, to "pack up and leave", has certainly raised the bar. Perhaps there's something lost in LoPorto's delivery without the Borat moustache he sported during his 2005 campaign, but on its face, telling an investor that you don't want his money definitely isn't sound business policy. But Councilman, because you've been so good with providing us material in the past, we're willing to spend our Saturday morning breaking things down for you in a way you'll understand.

Let's pretend that you have a large pile of leftover food behind your restaurant. It's a big heap of all the penne and fettuccine and bread crusts and napkins and other things that have been scraped off plates in the years you've been open. It's huge. Now, someday, you're going to have to deal with the fact that this pile is back there because, let's face it, it's a big pile of rotting food, and you're in the restaurant business, not waste management. So let's say David Bryce shows up at your door, and offers to buy that pile of garbage off of you. Not only that, but he's going to install patio seating back there, so you'll get even more business where you previously couldn't have. Wouldn't it be in your best interest to say "yes" instead of waiting for the pile to become a health risk or collapse? And hey, he's offering you a few bucks for something no one else wants. Is a better plan to (a) take his money, give up the mess and allow yourself the economic benefits or (b) throw your wine in his face and tell him to leave?

We knew you could be reasoned with, Mike.

Chappy Sweeps Away New Jobs

Did you hear that sweeping sound, Troy? That was the sound of the City Council Democrats taking the broom to another business and chasing them out of the city.

Their latest casualty is David Bryce, who presented a bold plan that would have been a solid win for Troy taxpayers. The brain trust that chased Bryce away--Clem Campana, Gary Galuski, Michael LoPorto and Kevin McGrath--happens to be the same wacky bunch who helped put Troy on the map for voter fraud. No word yet on what designs the Chappy Chums have for the parking garage. Perhaps they'll start registering voters at the address.

Troy Gets Chapped, Again

Welcome back, Rensselaer County! We're sorry for the delay in getting material to you, but it's just been too difficult to choose one Democrat screw-up to write about. It would be nice if the D's, particularly in Troy, could keep our readership in mind when considering their actions because there just aren't enough hours in the day to give every felony or scandal or residence problem the attention that it deserves. And if there's one man who deserves that attention, it's Chappy Campana.

Chappy did a real number on Troy taxpayers last week with his opposition to the sale of the parking garage. Instead of just voting against it, he kicked things up a notch, blocking any sort of a vote on the matter in a move that had Talespin comparing him to Sheldon Silver. Rather than pocketing a nice chunk of change during a recession, adding a big piece of property to the tax rolls and helping downtown businesses grow, Chappy wouldn't even allow discussion on the issue. What courage!

Chappy hasn't exactly been the model of sound judgement, given his involvement in the 2009 Ballot Scandal, and this is no exception. His motivation is little more than an adolescent desire to spite Harry Tutunjian at the expense of Troy taxpayers, the long-term consequences of which Chappy seems content to ignore. Everyone in politics knows that when you have a popular incumbant, the single most successful course of action is to oppose their every move.

That's what gave us political legends like Walter Mondale, Carl McCall and Jim Conroy, after all.

Democrat Denial in Troy

Tonight is the big night for the Troy City Council, when Chappy Campana's unwieldy bunch will have to pass whatever it is they believe constitutes a budget. The big question on everybody's mind is how the Dems will deal with the whopping pension payments that Troy and other municipalities are going to be forced to cough up. Even in the face of a 10% tax increase, Chappy's crew has been strangely silent about the underlying problem that caused this predicament, that is, the fact that New York's pension system is costing taxpayers too much money to maintain in its current state (here's some background information on the problem). We all know that John Brown's handlers keep a pretty tight leash on him, so we don't expect much there, but the other Dems should be doing more than just lobbing Harryhate around. Why not use the occasion to lobby Democrat Assemblyman (and Majority Leader) Ron Canestrari and Democrat Tim Gordon to support Tier V legislation, or even better, a move to a guaranteed contribution system? For all their charges about Harry Tutunjian being "insular" or "arrogant", the Democrats are the embodiment of both with their belief that this same problem won't happen again. Then again, foresight hasn't really been the forte of the current Dem field; after all, did Chappy and the gang really think they'd get away with several dozen counts of election fraud? The same lack of forward-thinking by the Campana crowd that's keeping prosecutors busy fails yet again to deal with the real problems facing taxpayers.

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.

Cornered

Remember the Democrats who said that the GOP was doomed to be a party that could only win in the South? Those Democrats must have been absent from Rensselaer County for Election Night 2009, when the party of Obama and Paterson found itself getting relegated to the cities of Troy and Rensselaer. Democrats had their hats handed to them anywhere they didn't hold a sizable enrollment advantage. Republicans won both town board seats in North Greenbush, captured a 4-1 majority on the Hoosick town board and re-elected Republican supervisors in virtually every town. Even Democrat heavyweight Ginny O'Brien found herself outdone by a Republican candidate in East Greenbush. To Ginny's credit, she was able to read the writing on the wall, and jumped ship ahead of all four of the Democrats' county legislature candidates in District 2 getting blown out of the water.

While the Republicans find themselves worried about hosting so many swearing-in ceremonies, the Democrats are worried about the looming indictments of Troy Democrats involved in the absentee ballot scandal. Expect a messy fight for Troy City Council president pro temp as the Dems struggle for their share of the post-Chappy world.

The Official Rensselaer County 2009 Scandal Guide

Here it is: your indispensable, one-stop reference of misdeeds, dirty laundry and other essential information. We've sorted it by geography for your convenience. Enjoy!

Linda Gets The Kiss of Death

A reliable operative tells us that Linda Underwood is touting the endorsement of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and we have to say, that's brave. Not as brave as running in the wrong district or asking for votes from the taxpayers you've ripped off, but it's up there. Publicizing any association with Gillibrand that wasn't set at a Dartmouth fraternity house is a risky proposition, considering how rapidly Gillibrand malted her moderate shell after becoming a US Senator. In under a year, Gillibrand has become a patron saint of gun control, illegal immigrantion and funding ACORN--hardly mainstream values in Rensselaer County.

Let's not risk forgetting that Gillibrand went four for four in her 2007 endorsements: four endorsements, and four crushing defeats. Mayor Val Keehn, Supervisor Andy White, County Legislator Bob Zinzow and Councilwoman Sue Haynes all benefited tremendously from Gillibrand--before her most recent metaphorphisis.

A Ghost Story in Troy-2

Several sharp-eyed readers noted our omission of yet another brush-up between a Rensselaer County Democrat and the law: what about Bob, they asked. Indeed, our deepest apologies go out to Bob Martiniano, Democrat candidate for Troy City Council in District 2, for how could we forget about that cushy patronage job he failed to show up for last year? Alas, there's certainly no better time of year to talk about the Ghost of City Hall than on October 31st.

Bob got busted last June when a CBS 6 news crew decended on City Hall and got statements from city employees about Bob's failure to show up for work, even while collecting a five-figure paycheck from the taxpayers. He's definitely the favorite for the chutzpah award this year, because it takes a lot of guts to get caught ripping off the taxpayers and then offer them an encore performance. Actually having the audacity to campaign on the need to eliminate benefits for part-time employees makes Bobby a superstar in the cojones department (though, not a hypocrite, as he did not say anything about reductions for no-show employees).

If you feel that all these Democrat scandals are getting too numerous to track, relief is coming. We're working on a handy reference for you and other Rensselaer County voters so you can keep track of which misdeeds your local Democrat candidates have been caught up with. Check back Sunday evening for more.

Don't Forget Beth

It's been an exciting election season, so exciting that we haven't been able to touch on all the news. Between the Troy ballot scandal, Kevin Harrington's discharge problems (and potential termination from his state job), Norm Young's residence (that's just a statement, not a trivia question), Bill "Dorm Authority" Dunne's televised rants and attempts to keep a Troy resident from addressing the Troy City Council and Linda Underwood's disturbing statements on a far-left blog, it's safe to say that the self-destruct feature has been activated on the Rensselaer County Democrats.

Unfortunately, there aren't enough hours in the day to cover all of it. That's why we had to make the time to talk about Beth Walsh's campaign for Family Court Judge, and so begins our walk down Memory Lane.

Remember when the Democrats tried to override the will of Troy voters and get rid of term limits? Beth Walsh remembers. She remembers because she was the first out of the gate with a proposal to do so. From the archives of the Times Union:

In 1993 voters approved city charter changes that did away with the city manager form of government and established a strong mayor. Those changes also limited the mayor to two four-year terms and council members to four two-year terms.

In March 2000, Democratic Councilwoman Elizabeth Walsh first proposed legislation that erased the charter's term-limit language, but it failed.

Some would dismiss the issue on account of the Family Court having precisely zero jurisdiction over term limits, or any election issue, for that matter. But after trying to toss aside a cornerstone of government that was approved overwhelmingly by the voters, it's difficult to take her seriously when she asks for their support. It's kind of like Ike Turner asking Tina to get him an icepack for his hand. It most definitely takes a lot of nerve. Another TU missive from the period:

Councilwoman Beth Walsh, the Democrats' majority leader, was stunned and tearful as she walked with her husband to the Democratic gathering in the ballroom above the Trojan Tap Room. She said she did not know how they came to lose so dramatically.

Beth Walsh led the charge to override a referendum, the best measurement of the will of the people offered by democracy, and couldn't understand why her party was swept out of office. This is hardly a style of reasoning we want to install behind the bench.

Fox Democrat Ballot Fraud Story Airs Tuesday

The shocking tale of forgery and fraud by Rensselaer County Democrats in the September 15 primaries goes national Tuesday, October 20 on Fox. The story, by respected correspondent Eric Shawn, is to debut during the 10 a.m. segment on Tuesday and then with a longer segment between 6 pm to 7 pm on Tuesday evening. The segment also airs Sunday at 11 a.m.

We hear Fox is considering a return visit, finding the forgery and fraud case to be a real bombshell. The NY Post has picked up the story and at least one more national media outlet is considering a visit to the Collar City for a story on the case.

The Garbageman Goes National

Get ready America, for Troy's own, Bobby Mirch, aka the Garbageman.

In a sure sign that the raging controversy over stunning charges of forgery and fraud against top Democrats is not dying down any time soon, Fox News crews visited the Collar City to gather material for a major expose on the scandal.

Taking center stage was political powerhouse Mirch, who played a central role in exposing dozens of forgeries on absentee ballots in the September 15 primaries, allegedly committed by Democrat officials and candidates. Fox News senior correspondent Eric Shawn is putting the story, which is expected to air next week.

Shawn has assembled other stores on voter fraud across the country and also interviewed popular Troy Democratic Chairman Frank LaPosta on the scandal. LaPosta has positioned himself in the party by renouncing the conduct of Democrats involved in the scandal while embattled county Chairman Tom Wade has instead been criticized for appearing to organize a public cover-up of the misdeeds.

Having the forgery scandal story go national will hardly help Democrats who are reeling from the fallout of the ballot fraud allegations. Unable to field candidates for County Executive or County Clerk, Democrats now find themselves unable to shake allegations of corruption, with the story headed for an even wider audience.

The Fox News story on the Democrat forgery and fraud scandal is expected to air early next week.