Wiltshire and Wade going head-to-head in a primary

WADE

Petitions are filed and, as expected, there is a battle for control of the Rensselaer County Democratic Party Committee.

Less expected, is the primary in Election District No. 8. Council President Rodney Wiltshire is going head-to-head against county Chairman Tom Wade. Their running mates are Rev. Tim Sherman and Rebecca Sweeney, respectively.

In all, the anti-Wade faction filed petitions in 25 of the 30 Election Districts in Troy with two committee seats in each district. It’s hard to say how many will stand up to scrutiny since there are all sorts of ways to get signatures bounced. As I’ve written before, collecting them is not rocket science but to do it right is a time consuming process and there are specific rules that must be followed. As such, corners are always cut, petitions are routinely bounced and so does a candidates’ candidacy.

But, even if the anti-Wade faction were fast and loose with some of the petition signatures, you can bet they crossed all the I’s and dotted all the T’s on Wiltshire’s. That means Wade and Wiltshire will square off on Sept. 9 in ED No. 8 – which is roughly 102^nd Street to 107^th Street (see map.)

WILTSHIRE

On the one hand you have to give Wiltshire credit because he is taking on Wade head on rather than putting up a lesser known candidate. It was intentional too. A committee candidate can run in any Election District so long as the ED is in the Assembly District where the candidate lives. But, a member of Wiltshire’s camp said “we guessed right,” meaning they wanted the show down.

It’s a gutsy move, but Wade has more to lose than Wiltshire because not many pay attention to committee races and if Wiltshire gets beat he can still run for his Council seat or any other seat he wants – i.e. mayor. While Wade can still be chair without being on the committee, wanting to be the titular head of the county committee is a harder sell if he can’t hold onto a lowly committee seat.

On the flip side, I know of maybe two other people in Rensselaer County who can count weighted votes – each committee seat is weighted based on the number of Democrats within that Election District so it can get kind of confusing – as well as Wade. I don’t know of anyone who can do it better. He also knows how to line up committee members when it comes time to vote.

And, Wade has said he would consider bouncing Wiltshire and Councilman Ken Zalewski out of the party because of disloyalty if they fought his decision to not have his soldiers carry their committee petitions. Obviously, they are not only fighting that decision, they are throwing it back in Wade’s face so if Wade follows through, there is a chance the two Democrats won’t be Democrats any longer.

Obviously, Wiltshire is going for the jugular but the bottom line is if you’re going to shoot at the king you better kill him.  

Some background on committee races:

-They generally go uncontested and often times the seats are filled with the bodies of party loyalist’s relatives, who then obediently turn over their votes by proxy.

-There are two committee seats in each Election District so technically the Wiltshire camp is attempting to wage 50 primaries. How many will be on the ballot come Election Day is anyone's guess.

-I mentioned that the Wade camp will be challenging some of the Wiltshire camp's signatures but Wiltshire could also challenge the Wade camp's. I'll know more about what petitions will stand and which ones get bounced next week.

-Not many pay attention to committee races but a political party is built from ground up and coups always start in the street. Committees, too, are important because they in turn elect an executive committee and a chairman and ultimately nominate candidates.

-The first test of a petitions’ validity is the county Board of Elections. If both commissioners opt to bounce the petition, it’s bounced. If they both agree it’s good, it’s good. If there are objections to the petitions by a vested party and the commissioners split, it’s still good but will end up in court.

-The committee is, obviously, county wide and I will post more on town committees as I find out what is going on, if anything. 

-There are some questions about where Wade lives, on Fifth Avenue or in High Pointe, but residency requirements are far from cut in stone – just ask former Councilman Michael LoPorto who summered above his restaurant on Fourth Street spent his winters in Brunswick. Or was it the other way around?

   

More on the Democratic Party Committee battle



WADE (Times Union photo)

It’s not a complete house cleaning but Rensselaer County Democratic Party Chairman Tom Wade is getting rid of “dead weight” and those deemed “disloyal” to the party.

 

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.

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.  

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.

You go after the shooter

COLEMAN

I think attorney Cheryl Coleman summed up voter fraud nicely when on Talk 1300 Sunday she compared it to a hypothetical murder case: “Why would you make a deal with the shooter to get the cab driver who waited outside the bank.”

Given that’s how the whole thing went down – evidenced by the fact former City Clerk Bill McInerney got on the stand and admitted to forging scores of Working Families Party absentee ballot and absentee ballot applications for the 2009 primary – I can see why former Councilman John Brown is upset by the fact he is the only one implicated in the scheme going to jail.

Late last year, Brown appealed his six-month sentence imposed by Judge George Pulver claiming it was harsh and excessive. Thing is, he waived his right to appeal when he pleaded guilty to possessing one forged ballot as part of the deal. Recently the prosecutor in the case, Trey Smith, replied to the appeal and the Appellate Division will rule one way or another.

As a kicker, as nothing is simple when talking about voter fraud, Brown also perjured himself in front of the Grand Jury so six months in jail to satisfy two felonies – plus who knows how many others he could have been charged with – so six months isn’t really harsh or excessive and he agreed to it. I’d be shocked if the court intervened in this one.

Of course, after seeing how everything else unfolded, with everyone who contested the charges getting off and the other three who pleaded guilty not looking at jail time, Brown is having second thoughts. Who can blame him for not wanting to go to jail while others are not?

McInerney admitted to doing far worse things than Brown but as Coleman said, McInerney was the first in line to cut a deal with Smith and Smith needed someone to spill the beans on Board of Elections Commissioner Ed McDonough and her client former Councilman Michael LoPorto.

But McInerney, who as part of his deal had to spend some time working on the Sheriff’s work order program picking up garbage or what not, was hardly the star witness Smith needed to convict McDonough or LoPorto. He admitted to committing the forgeries, but didn’t point the finger at anyone but himself, and he didn’t do that until he was granted a level of immunity that far outweighed the crimes he admitted to committing.

There are all sorts of conspiracy theories kicking around and one includes that Smith engaged in “selective prosecution” by going after McDonough, who is represented by attorney Brian Premo, and LoPorto instead of McInerney and those higher up in the Democratic Party who may or may not told him what to do in order to steal the WFP line for their candidates. It may or may not be true, but believing Smith was in the tank through all that voter fraud encompassed throughout the five-year ordeal is a tough concept to grasp and an even harder to prove. 

That’s the bottom line. I don’t see a grand conspiracy. I see a bunch of guys who desperately wanted to win the election – including Brown who was angling for Council president – wanted the WFP line that was routinely stolen by the GOP, had no idea how to go about it and the one who headed up their campaigns in the hopes of keeping his job or getting a better one – McInerney - ended up forging about everything in sight.

And then there was the less than stellar effort to prosecute them and in the end, McInerney was the proverbial shooter in Coleman’s analogy … and everyone else was driving the cab.

 

The next GOP chair; and chatter about Tom Wade

GORDON

Now that Jim Gordon has stepped down as the Republican city chairman, which occurred prior to him winning a seat on the Troy Council representing District 1, the question remains who will take his place in what is one of the most difficult and thankless jobs in the county.



Many people are pointing to Kevin McCashion, the staunch Libertarian who unabashedly, and vigorously, promotes the party’s anti-big government and pro-civil liberties at all cost platform on social media.

MCCASHION

The thing about McCashion is his take no prisoners’ attitude scares some in the GOP because he won’t take them prisoners either. He’d just as soon as rip his own party as the Democrats if they are too passive, dull or otherwise not running the campaign he thinks they should. Or at least that’s what some in the GOP are scared of.

While some may have reservations about McCashion, I don’t know who else the GOP has. Mark Wojcik? Maybe? He was vice chair and is currently serving as interim chair but I don’t think he wants the commitment being a successful chairman would require.

Regardless of who it is, the chairman has a catchy title but really answers to the powers that be at the county level including Rich Crist, liaison for the GOP county legislators, County Executive Kathy Jimino and County Clerk Frank Merola. At least that’s how it’s been for more than 15 years and is another reason McCashion might not get the nod – I don’t see him deferring to anyone without good reason.

On the flip side of things, after Rodney Wiltshire won the Council presidency, there is the annual chatter about the future of county Chairman Tom Wade (pictured left). Wiltshire, and the likely president pro temp, Ken Zalewski, are not Wade’s guys  and there is a divide already forming on the Council between those who are Wade’s guys and those who aren’t.

Wiltshire (pictured right) got a bunch of support from the “Delusional Bunch,” a group of disenfranchised Democrats who include former Councilmen Michael LoPorto and Clement “Chappy” Campana, and former operative Robert Martiniano as well as a group of Working Families Party people. (As an aside Wade coined them, not me.) That alone should be a warning to Wade, but they took a shot at the last organizational meeting and Wade beat their candidate, Robert “Rabbit” Riley, by a sizable margin. Wade is a shrewd politician, is into the job, is good at the job and I don’t think he goes anywhere until he wants to.

The Dems city chair is Jack McCann but he answers to the county chair. It will be interesting to see if McCann gets re-appointed to his city marshal spot by Wiltshire and company. It’s already a given, since they are Wade’s people, most of the current appointees to clerk, deputy clerk, auditor, bingo inspector and city marshals will not have a job come Jan. 1.

But, if they go after McCann, consider it all-out war.