Wiltshire is Council president because of the GOP

Beginning Jan. 1 Rodney Wiltshire will be the new Troy Council president, much to the chagrin of the one currently serving in that capacity, Lynn Kopka, and many other Democrats.



Tom Wade, Lynn Kopka, Nina Nichols, Rodney
Wiltshire and Mayor Lou Rosamilia. Wiltshire is even
looking left while his Democratic colleagues are
looking right, and it's not because of any
political ideology.

Wiltshire, in his second term, rode the Independence Party to the presidency getting 405 votes on that line alone. Straight up Democrat to Democrat, Wiltshire got 2,797 to Kopka’s 2,788 and second place finisher Erin Sullivan-Teta’s 2,670. I’m not sure how the absentees broke, but take out t 
he Independence Party line and it’s a horserace. I know it’s not an exact science – in that there is no guarantee all 405 Independence Party votes would have followed the line and not voted for Wiltshire anyway – but without it a factor in the race would have been a lot closer.

There is only one reason Wiltshire got permission – known as a Wilson-Pakula - to run an Independence Party primary; and it’s not because of his independent streak that has infuriated the Democratic Party proper. It’s because the Republicans wanted him to have it. The party’s vice chairman is former Democratic operative Tom Connolly and he is now staunchly aligned with the GOP. True, it may be more complex at the state level, but for at least the last decade, the party has almost exclusively backed Republicans in Rensselaer County races.

One reason, I’m told, Wiltshire got the Wilson-Pakula was to block Carmella Mantello from getting the council presidency to use as a stepping stone to another run for mayor. Mantello, despite being a tireless campaigner, is still not accepted by many in the GOP power structure and they would just as soon not have her take a third run at mayor.

Anyway, Mantello did win the Independence Party primary, and 473 voters filled in the bubble (which doesn’t have nearly the pizazz as saying “flipped the switch” but what can you do.) on that line in the general election. Without it, the third At Large seat would not have been close, instead it went to the absentees and Kopka is now the winner by 65 votes with a pending court challenge by Mantello.

The biggest surprise, in my mind, was Sullivan-Teta, who beat Kopka by some 250 votes and only came in second by 200 votes to Wiltshire. The Democrat also had the Independence Party line but it had nothing to do with political shenanigans like Wiltshire’s Wilson-Pakula. Connolly and Sullivan-Teta’s brother, Mike Sullivan, go way back and I’m guessing it was a favor to an old friend. In addition, Sullivan, a long time aid to former Rep. Mike McNulty, knows what he is doing when it comes to political campaigns and I’m sure he helped his sister out. Also, I’ve never met Sullivan-Teta, but I’m, told she only recently started going by Sullivan-Teta; and when I say recently I mean when she announced her campaign. Never let it be said ethnicity doesn’t play a role in local elections.

Kopka didn’t help herself out too much either. More on that later.

Finally, we’ll have to see if Wiltshire can maintain his independent streak. It’s really no secret he is eyeballing a run for mayor and he is in a tricky spot because the way things have been going it’s impossible to win without a bunch of Democratic votes. To that end, we’ll first have to see if Mayor Lou Rosamilia even runs in in 2015. And if he does, we’ll have to see if Wiltshire primaries him. My guess is he primaries anyone the Democrats put up, including Mayor Lou.