Ricard is the next Third Ward representative in Cohoes

RICARD

Bill Ricard is the next representative on the Cohoes Common Council in the Third Ward after his Democratic opponent, Jim Nichols, was tossed off the ballot by commissioners at the Albany County Board of Elections for inadequate petition signatures.

Since there are only about six Republicans in the City of Cohoes, without an opponent in the Democratic Party primary, Ricard will run unopposed for the seat in November. The vacancy was created when George Premeau, who represented the Third Ward for 13 years, was sworn in as acting mayor in December, 2012 replacing John McDonald III, who was elected to the Assembly.  

The rest of the Cohoes Common Council is expected to appoint Ricard to panel at the August meeting.

“I am truly excited and look forward to the opportunity to represent the residents of our 3rd Ward. Make no mistake about it, while I will be running unopposed this November, I will continue to work hard to earn each and every vote,” Ricard said on his website.

“I am thankful to Jim for his professionalism throughout this campaign,” he added later. “I am grateful that he's a resident of the Third Ward and the caring community of Cohoes as a whole. I look forward to continuing to work with Jim in his capacity as the leader of the Lansing Street Neighborhood Watch. Together we will accomplish a lot.”

Ricard is president of Citizen Helpers, a domestic business corporation that provides non-medical services, he founded in 2001. The Hudson Valley Community College and SUNY Brockport graduate is married with two children.

Magnetto stepping down; now what?

MAGNETTO

As widely expected, Police Commissioner Anthony Magnetto is stepping down next month. And what happens next is anyone’s guess.

If I had to wager, I’d bet Mayor Lou Rosamilia just gives Police Chief John Tedesco his powers and duties back and everyone goes on their merry way. It would be the easiest way out, and according to the charter Rosamilia, or any mayor, as chief executive officer, can already tell the chief what he wants done anyway.

The Charter defines part of the mayor’s duties as: “To exercise supervision and control over all executive departments of city government, such departments comprising a Department of Finance, a Department of Law, A Department of Public Safety, a Department of Public Works, a Department of Public utilities and a Department of Parks and Recreation.”

TEDESCO

Now, I may not be an attorney, but that tells me that if the mayor wants police officers to dress in clown suits and blow whistles at bad guys, he has that right. Or, more practically speaking, he could order the chief to reinstate the SOS, the ERT or any other program he sees fit.

As I’ve mentioned, the chief is Civil Service protected so the mayor can’t unilaterally fire him but he can dismiss him for cause. For example, if the chief ignores the mayor’s abovementioned fictional directive and orders officers to dress in blue and carry guns rather than clown outfits and whistles, it’s insubordination and that’s grounds for dismissal.

Rather than exercise that basic tenet of the charter, the mayor brought in Magnetto as a $30,000 buffer between himself and the chief. (As an aside, since I’ve mentioned it before, former Mayor Mark Pattison did the same thing when he appointed Mark Whitman over Chief Bill Miller but I understand there was some pretty deep politics behind that appointment. Also, the mayor may not have any experience in running a police department, but that’s why you have a chief.)

Anyway, the legal crux of Tedesco’s threatened lawsuit against the city is the appointment of a Magnetto because the charter indicates that in order for the city to hire a police commissioner it must first hire a public safety commissioner to oversee the police and fire departments as well as the Bureau of Weights and Measures and the Bureau of Emergency Communications. Obviously there isn’t a public safety commissioner so the appointment of only a police commissioner is suspect. Also, while there is $30,000 in the budget for a police commissioner, it's unclear where the city would find much more - like in the $100,000 range - to hire a public safety commissioner and then get the Council to approve the expenditure.

While that may be the legal thrust of the lawsuit nothing is that clear cut in Troy and this is no exception. On the periphery, as outlined in a number of scathing letters by Tedesco’s attorney Brian Premo, is a brutality claim substantiated by Internal Affairs, a letter released by the chief to the victim of the excessive force, underlings investigating the chief for releasing the letter, a visit by the FBI to the TPD and the politics behind Magnetto’s appointment.

All that is at least two or three posts in and of themselves but in the end, practically speaking, the driving forces behind Magnetto’s appoint to oversee the day-to-day operations of the Police Department – namely Councilwoman Nina Nichols, Councilman Kevin McGrath and Police Benevolent Association President Bob Fitzgerald – are all gone or on their way out. Because of that, and I would assume the desire to avoid escalating the chaos, my money is on Rosamilia allowing the chief to do his job, albeit at his direction, which is how it should have been from the get go.

Sources: City interviews retired captain for commissioner position

RIEGERT

Sources confirmed that Mayor Lou Rosamilia and Deputy Mayor Pete Ryan interviewed former police Capt. John Riegert for the position of police commissioner, or maybe public safety commissioner.

The current police commissioner, Tony Magnetto, is expected to step aside early next year and while the city is under no obligation to hire another, it appears they are leaning towards that end. Another name considered, according to sources, is former Asst. Chief Ralph Iler.

Magnetto’s appointment, and subsequent control of day-to-day operations, caused a ruckus because it was driven, in part, by Chief John Tedesco’s attempts shake up the department and make it run more efficiently which upset the Police Benevolent Association.

MAGNETTO

The chief didn’t appreciate being sidelined, however, and is now threatening a lawsuit against the city challenging the legality of appointing a police commissioner without first having a public safety commissioner in place as the city charter requires. He retained attorney Brian Premo who, as is his MO, wrote a series of letters peeling back the onion, so to speak, of all that is wrong with the appointment, the PBA, the Council and the administration. In turn – or was it first – the PBA requested and was granted an Internal Affairs investigation into Tedesco’s decision to release a letter to Cohoes resident Frank Fogarty affirming his claim that Officer Kyle Jones used excessive force during an arrest last year. As a kicker, the FBI interviewed some of the department brass and took a number of files. Where that investigation goes is anyone’s guess.

Either way, Magnetto’s appointment riled up the troops on both sides and while there are some simple, clear cut ways to defuse the situation, appointing another police commissioner is not one of them.

Nothing against Riegert, mind you. In my dealings with him he seemed like a decent sort and a straight shooter. After he retired, he went to head up security at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute – which is ironic because that is where Magnetto is expected to land – and then in 2010 took a job with Albany County as head of its crime analysis center.

It’s unclear if he would even accept the position if it were offered, but what is clear is that if Tedesco (pictured left)doesn’t get his old job back – and that means the job’s responsibilities instead of just the title – he will proceed with his lawsuit.

I don’t get why the administration is even considering another commissioner. As I wrote, the mayor has the authority to tell the chief how he wants the department run. True he’s a college professor by trade and not a cop, but winning the election gives him that right.

Furthermore, the three driving forces behind getting Magnetto appointed won’t be around much longer. Councilwoman Nina Nichols and Councilman Kevin McGrath opted not to run again and published reports indicate PBA President Bob Fitzgerald (pictured right) is going to retire sometime next year. All three pressured the administration into hiring what is, given the above graph, a $30,000 a year buffer.

And, given the new dynamic on the Council that may not see eye-to-eye with the administration, there is no guarantee it would even approve the commissioner’s salary so I don’t understand the logic behind wasting political clout on something that will only cause more angst in the long run.  

 

Troy Council sends a message

I didn’t think the expected rift on the Troy City Council would start until after Jan. 1 but five members sent a message last Thursday when they voted to not re-appoint Geri Fitzgerald to the Board of Assessment and Review.

KOPKA

To understand the significance, we need to back up a bit.

Fitzgerald lives with Michelle DeLair, the former deputy city clerk under then City Clerk Bill McInerney and who is one of the Rensselaer County Democratic Party Chairman Tom Wade’s most loyal supporters. Not allowing Fitzgerald’s appointment to a largely inconsequential position – as proposed by Council President Lynn Kopka at the request of the administration – to come out of the Finance Committee to the floor for a vote is a clear shot at Wade. And for that matter the administration.

ROSAMILIA

The five who voted against her appointment were Council members Kevin McGrath, Bob Doughtery, Rodney Wiltshire, Dean Bodner and Ken Zalewski. Which, of course leave Council members Mark McGrath, Nina Nichols, Gary Galuski and Kopka voting to appoint Fitzgerald.

If you remember, Wiltshire, who will be president come Jan. 1, and Zalewski were in Bob “Rabbit” Riley’s corner in his failed bid to take Wade out as chair last year. Wade has a long memory and, evidently, so does Wiltshire and Zalewski, who will likely be the pro-temp after the organizational meeting. Doughtery and Kopka don’t get along that well so he’ll likely be in the W&Z corner and I’m told newly elected Anastasia Robertson, D-District 2, will likely side with them too.

On the other side are party (Wade) people: Kopka, Galuski, who works at the Board of Elections, and newly elected At Large Councilwoman Erin Teta-Sullivan.

That leaves the two Republicans: Bodner in District 3 and Jim Gordon, the newly elected representative in District 1. Bodner has proven himself to be non-political when it comes to policy (though he did vote against Fitzgerald and DeLair happened to run against him earlier this month) and Gordon is the former GOP city chair so he is political. My guess is they break with the W&Z team more often than not on anything controversial.

One may say the rift is just political shenanigans but it does mean real jobs for real people – and more importantly who will get those jobs. The Council controls who is city clerk ($54,800,) deputy city clerk ($40,000,) city auditor ($59,600) bingo inspector, a liason position ($10,000,) and the Council confirms all city marshal (various salaries) recommendations too.

Right now the majority are held by Wade people. Something tells me that won’t be the case come Jan. 1. But, Wade is a shrewd politician and he successfully fought off the coup last year. While some would just as soon he move on, I don’t see it happening unless he wants to.

Nina's decision to step down

NICHOLS

I really wanted to weigh in on Nina Nichols decision to not run for an At-Large seat on the Troy City Council this summer and since a couple commenters mentioned her name, I will do so now.

I would have liked to have seen her run. I think she worked hard while on the Council, her heart was in the right place and she tried to do some things she thought was good for the city. I didn’t agree with all of those things – in particular pushing the police commissioner – but I’m not an elected representative either.

Sure, she likely had her eye on becoming mayor one day, but having ambitions is not a bad thing either. Makes you work harder at what you are doing now.

We all know – or think we know – why she decided to step down. Her official statement included something to do with “personal reasons.” Well, whatever they are should remain between herself and her family; especially after she decided not to run. And even if she did run, family stuff is family stuff and should be off limits to any sort of attacks from political opponents or hack columnists. Whatever she did certainly didn’t impact her ability to serve on the council but it was her decision to step down and so be it.

OK … OK … I’ll admit it. I wanted to see her run again because she did shake things up and I got a ton of mileage out of the whole police commissioner thing.