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| WADE (Times Union photo) |
As reported, when the petitions
forms for committee members were handed out last week, they did not include the
names of Council President Rodney Wiltshire, his wife Jolene or Councilman Ken
Zalewski, D-District 5.
They also didn’t include three family
members of Brian Premo - a long time attorney and Democrat who also has had his differences with Wade - for their committee seats in Brunswick.
The Wiltshires and Zalewski,
however, will not be “bullied by the chairman," according to their camp, and
are preparing to wage primaries. While Wade did not say he would follow through,
he does have the option of assigning a committee to hold hearings to determine
if they should permanently get thrown out of the party for disloyalty.
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| WILTSHIRE |
The way it works, though, is that
a committeeman can run in any Election District located within the Assembly
District in which they live so it’s kind of difficult to see who will run
against who until the petition process is complete.
Anyway, disloyalty, according to
Wade, includes Zalewski’s support of Republican Councilman Dean Bodnar,
R-District 3, over Democrat Michelle DeLair in last year’s election and
Wiltshire’s acceptance of the Independence Party line - which helped him oust Councilwoman
Lynn Kopka,a party loyalist, as president. Since the Independence Party is controlled
at the local level by the GOP, Wade claims Wiltshire made a deal and gave
Republicans appointments in return for the party’s nod.
The “dead weight” claim stems from
Wade’s contention that the Premos do not show up to committee meetings and do little
or no work for the party.
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| ZALEWSKI |
Also, two years ago, Wiltshire,
Zalewski and Premo worked for Robert “Rabbit” Riley in an unsuccessful effort
to oust Wade as chairman.
The way it works, according to
Wade, is that the town chairs throughout the county and council district
leaders in Troy recommend names of those party members they would like to see
serve on their respective committees. Wade maintains he is only following those
recommendations.
Control of the committee is
important in that the committee picks the chairman and ultimately has control
who the party endorses. Zalewski is term limited out, but Wiltshire does have
political ambitions past the Troy Council and one option is obviously mayor.
If Wade is not supporting
Wiltshire for committee, it stands to reason Wiltshire is not his top pick for
mayor should Mayor Lou Rosamilia opt not to run for another term. Actually, it
would be difficult to see Wade supporting him for another run at Council.
Wade said the party is also
shaking up committees in Grafton, East Greenbush and Hoosick but denied there
is an all-out house cleaning in Troy as evidenced by the party carrying petitions
for former Troy Councilman Mike LoPorto and operative Tom Aldrich in Troy,
Charles “CB” Smith in North Greenbush and Phil Malone in East Greenbush. All of
whom have had their differences with Wade.
In other words, the war is on and
it should be a good one. Wade has been through them before and is not without
his support on the committee and Wiltshire and Zalewski are two proven vote
getters and popular in the city.
Given the discord within the Democrats, though, its most powerful weapon remains the complete lack of a Republican Party in the City of Troy.
Given the discord within the Democrats, though, its most powerful weapon remains the complete lack of a Republican Party in the City of Troy.
