Mason is a marshal without the mess

MASON

By unanimous vote, the Troy Council approved the appointment of five city marshals, bypassing the drama that accompanied the largely benign position two years ago.

To get around the drama, the Council lumped all five marshals – Jack McCann, Rick Mason, Keith McDermott, Mike McDonald and Mike DeViddio - into the same resolution that it unanimously passed at last week’s meeting. Even though some of their terms have not yet expired, the Council opted not to stagger the appointments thereby isolating certain marshals that in the past have drawn political fire. McCann's term isn't up until the end of the month, for example, and Mason's isn't up until May.

If you remember, two years ago, Rensselaer County Democratic Party Chairman Tom Wade came out strong against the Mason’s appointment in part, because he was a friend of then Councilman Kevin McGrath. Initially the Council passed Mason’s appointment 5-2, Mayor Lou Rosamilia vetoed it because of a technicality and a month later it passed by a 5-4 vote. In the middle of all that, Wade made the unprecedented call for McGrath’s resignation.  In the end McGrath won the battle and eventually the war.

This year, however, everything went off without a hitch or even a whisper. Obviously, the dynamics have changed in two years. McGrath (pictured right) opted not to run for another term, Rodney Wiltshire usurped Lynn Kokpa as Council president – the former not being nearly as loyal to Wade as the latter – and he’s willing to cut some deals with the GOP minority while still appeasing the Wade crowd.

By approving the marshals en masse everyone gets what they want without raising the ire or egos of those involved.

The anti-Wade crowd gets Mason, the Wade crowd gets McCann, McDermott and McDonald the GOP get DeViddio – who has been a loyal party soldier for years.

The marshal is a pretty benign appoint in that their paycheck is based on the number of summons and eviction notices they choose to deliver, but with the limited number of jobs at the Council’s decision it is seen as a way to pay back those loyal to a party or a person.  

Adrian Thomas case tossed (VIDEO, AUDIO and DOCUMENTS)

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for Troy cops – actually I wrote that same thing yesterday – they got another 2X4 upside the head Thursday when the Appellate Division overturned ordered a new trial for Adrian Thomas, the city man accused of killing his 4-month-old boy in 2009.

You really can’t hold the TPD responsible for this one because law enforcement can lie to and otherwise deceive suspects into giving a confession. But, the line has always been fuzzy between what allowable deception is, and what crosses the line into coercion and violating a suspect’s free will. This decision, which can be seen below, overturns a lower court ruling upholding the conviction and is sure to have wide reaching ramifications.

Without going into to much legal mumbo jumbo (listen to Troy defense attorney Greg Cholakis on Talk 1300 if you want the mumbo jumbo by clicking here and going to Jan. 19, hour 2) by far the most damaging piece of evidence prosecutors had at their disposal was Thomas, who weighed some 300 pounds at the time, demonstrating what he said he did to the child by using a clip board and slamming it against the ground.

Once the jury saw that, he was toast despite the fact the child had no broken bones and was suffering from sepsis – a sometimes fatal infection.

Basically, Det. Adam Mason and Det. Ron Fountain told him if he didn’t tell them what happened they were going to “scoop” up his wife for the crime. They also told him they needed to know what happened in order to save his child’s life – which is acceptable if it’s true, according to the court, but at the time the child had already been declared brain dead.

First Thomas said he would “take the fall” for his wife and that he dropped the baby or banged his head more than once in the days prior to his death. He was assured 67 times that what happened was an accident, told 14 times he would not be arrested and eight times he would be going home.

Thomas then said he slammed the baby onto a mattress prior to slamming the clip board on the floor. After doing it once, Mason told him the child had to have been slammed harder to account for his injuries so Thomas slammed the clip board on the floor with even more ferocity.

He was convicted of second degree murder and is currently serving 25 years to life in Auburn Correctional Facility. Longtime Rensselaer County Public Defender Jerome Frost argued the case on behalf of Thomas. When or if Thomas goes back to trial the jury will not see the confession, according to the court’s ruling.

 

Thomas Decision

Troy Council appointments are shaping up

WILTSHIRE

KOPKA

Not to say that all is hunky dory between Council President-elect Rodney Wiltshire and company and Lynn Kopka, the current council president who will give up the seat on Jan. 1, but his projected appointments do not indicate an all-out war.

According to sources, Clerk Karla Guererri is out of her $54,800 job, which is no surprise. The new city clerk will be the current deputy clerk, Cheryl Christiansen, Councilman Gary Galuski’s sister-in-law.

Lou Schneider, the assistant deputy clerk who toyed with the idea of running for Council earlier this year, will get bumped up to deputy clerk at a salary of $40,000. Who will take his place is not yet determined, according to sources.

The auditor, Mary Beth Quinn, will keep her $59,600 a year job, according to sources. It’s kind of surprising in that Wiltshire could use it to reward a campaign worker but not really in that her husband, Larry Quinn, back in the day, was a loyalist to Mayor Mark Pattison and active in the Democratic Party.

There are currently no plans to change the $10,000 position of Council secretary currently held by Lucy Larner but it’s not been solidified yet, according to sources.

The position of bingo inspector is also up in the air. It’s such an insignificant job, really, that I don’t know who holds it now and could not figure out how much the position pays since it comes out of a pot of temporary salaries.

Also, the Council will appoint, or re-appoint, some of the city marshals but it depends on whose terms expire next year. You remember last year the Council, behind Councilman Kevin McGrath, went nose-to-nose with Wade over re-appointing Rick Mason to his marshal post. The pay depends on how many eviction notices and other legal documents the marshals chose to deliver, but who gets the job can be a way to throw political muscle around a bit.

While the way the appointments are shaking out aren’t the nuclear bomb they could have been, the one that is a least a quarter stick of dynamite is naming Christianson clerk. Not only is it a message to Kopka, reminding her she is no longer in charge – and an indirect message to Wade that Wiltshire, Councilman Ken Zalewski and company will not bow down to the chairman’s feet – it’s also a way to buy off Galuski (pictured left).

I wrote before that every indication is there is a distinct split in the Council and until this appointment Galuski was considered squarely in the Kopka/Wade corner. But, that was before his sister-in-law will not only stay employed but will get a nearly $15,000 raise to boot.

Pretty savvy strategy by Wiltshire and company.

However, Galuski also has a job at the Board of Elections, which is still controlled by Wade so, in short, I would not want to be Galuski the next time both sides want his vote on something.