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Caucus results

Thanks to everyone who came to the Schodack Democratic Caucus on Thursday, Aug. 27. This year, members of the Executive Committee decided to seek candidates only for town justice and two board seats. Elected to represent the Democratic Party on Nov. 3 were: Jennifer Sober for Town Justice Linda Underwood for Town Board and Tracey Rex for Town Board Please help me and my running mates by volunteering your time and making a donation. Just contact me and I will put you in touch with the others.

Democratic Caucus - Thursday, August 27, 6:30 PM at the Peter Andrews VFW, 105 Scott Ave. Castleton, NY 12033

NOTICE NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 6, SECTION 108 OF THE NEW YORK STATE ELECTION LAW THAT A DEMOCRATIC PARTY CAUCUS WILL BE HELD AT THE PETER J. ANDREWS VFW POST 7337, LOCATED AT 105 SCOTT AVENUE, CASTLETON, NEW YORK 12033 IN THE TOWN OF SCHODACK, AT 6:30 P.M. IN THE COUNTY OF RENSSELAER, STATE OF NEW YORK ON THE 27TH DAY OF AUGUST, 2015. THIS CAUCUS IS CALLED FOR THE PURPOSE OF NOMINATING CANDIDATES TO FILL EXISTING VACANCIES FOR THE TOWN ELECTIONS TO BE HELD ON NOVEMBER 3, 2015. OFFICES TO BE VOTED ON: TOWN SUPERVISOR TOWN CLERK TOWN JUSTICE TOWN COUNCIL (2 SEATS) RECEIVER OF TAXES

Martin Reid - just the tip of the GOP corruption iceberg

BAD DAY FOR MARTY - Worse day for Joel. While much of the recent news has focused on the forty-one count indictment of GOP County Legislator Martin Reid, we must not lose sight of our esteemed DA's ethical issues relative to his Republican colleagues.

Here is a link to a story at Troy Politics Blog. It is a great summary and background on the Martin Reid scandal.

A Tale of Two FOIL Requests

Many Schodack residents have been complaining lately that the town board kept "Project Red" - a plan for another big warehouse near a residential neighborhood - a secret among themselves and the developer. Schodack residents seem to be just waking up to the fact that two decades of one-party rule has resulted in secrecy, lack of accountability, high taxes, and mediocre services. Residents didn't find out about the Dollar Tree warehouse project until after last town election, though the all-Republican town board surely knew all about it before three of them faced the voters that year. And the plan for 9&20 traffic calming, supported by most residents, seemed to just disappear without a peep. Whatever happened to that state-funded project to improve Schodack anyway? I was so puzzled that I did a Freedom of Information request at both Schodack Town Hall and the state Department of Transportation to find out. The results were stunning, trust me. But what was more interesting was how long, involved, and expensive it was to get these documents from Schodack, compared to the larger, and one would think less responsive and more bureaucratic, State of New York. Doing a FOIL request at Schodack cost me several hours off from work, a week’s wait, and more than $30 in copying costs. The same request to the state DOT involved a few emails and resulted in emails with PDF attachments of the requested documents. No time off, no copying costs. If the State of New York can fully automate the FOIL process for far more people than in our small town, isn't it well past the time for Schodack to enter the 21st Century and do the same? But the one-party, Republican rulers of Schodack don't want residents to know anything more than their “happy talk” news releases, so they make it time-consuming and expensive for residents who want to know what's really going on. And what is going on is one-party, Republican rule has brought Schodack a record of high taxes and mediocre services.