What have they done for you lately?

I recently saw Schodack Republicans' campaign literature and a story in The Advertiser about the two incumbent town board members up for re-election this year.

I thought it was strange that the GOP "borrowed" the Schodack Democrats' longtime webpage motto: "Democrats: the people who give you good government." Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I suppose. But it is more likely that they are out of campaign slogans just as they are out of ideas on how to improve the lives of Schodack residents.

I was also struck by the fact that the candidate statements were almost identical. Clearly, the candidates are not speaking for themselves, but are merely parroting what their political cronies tell them to say.

The incumbents are running on their alleged record of "lower taxes," "protecting our quality of life," and "strong services." It is hard to pick which of those claims is the most preposterous.

Schodack's taxes rank in the top 20 for highest taxes in the eight-county Capital District and we have precious little to show for them. Do the incumbents think that just saying these things will make people believe them? Do they think Schodack residents were born yesterday?

How can they claim to be the "good government team" when they routinely meet and take action on various projects in secret, which is a violation of the state Open Meetings Law?

In what country is making secret deals with connected developers -- like the current Project Red scandal -- anything like the "good government" we are supposed to have in America?

How is secretly negotiating not one but two massive warehouse projects next to a residential neighborhood in an area not zoned for warehouses "protecting our quality of life"?

How can they say they have provided "strong services" when a look around at nearby towns finds more and better services -- water and sewer, libraries, beaches, pools, parks, etc. -- at a much lower tax rate? They seem to think that hiring more patronage employees at town hall equals "strong services," when that has never been true.

Finally, the incumbents' alleged "accomplishments" were either mandated by state law -- like keeping annual property tax hikes below 2 percent -- or were things that happened more than five years ago. So they essentially admit that they have accomplished nothing in the four years since they were elected.

It is time to move Schodack forward by electing people who will represent them, not political bosses, campaign donors, and connected developers. The incumbents' approach of high taxes and mediocre services has been a failure for everyone except the relatively few who have profited from it.

It is time to end one-party, good-old-boy misrule in Schodack and vote for open, honest, responsive, and efficient government.

On Nov. 3, Vote for Linda Underwood and Tracey Rex for Schodack Town Board on Row A.

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.