A possible third Democratic Party City Court candidate

JUDGE MAIER

There is a potential third Democratic candidate for City Court judge which, if attorney Keith Gorman is successful in getting enough signatures, would force a primary.

Incumbent Chris Maier is looking to get re-elected to a second term, and Corporation Counsel Ian Silverman also has the backing of the Democratic Party proper for the newly created full time, $113,900 a year judicial position in Troy City Court.

The lone Republican to express an interest is attorney Jill Kehn.

The way the elections - primary and general - will work, though, is the two candidates with the highest vote total will win so Maier will not simply defend his seat while the other two vie for the new spot.

Gorman has a practice based in Latham. Sources say he picked up walking sheets, petition forms and maps from the Board of Elections.

More information as it becomes available.

(Also, I will post something later tonight on the last night's Council hearing.)

 

Former Mayor Tutunjian gets a subpoena (DOCUMENT) (UPDATED)

TUTUNJIAN

Well, it appears the Council is issuing subpoenas for tomorrow night’s hearing on two controversial demolition projects as well as other activity.

Former Mayor Harry Tutunjian received a subpoena and according to his Tweet: “I’m looking forward to testifying tomorrow at the Troy City Council demolition hearing. I wonder what they’ll ask me. Should be fun.”

TUTUNJIAN'S SUPOENA

Tutunjian said, in previously published reports, that he spoke with Don Boyajian, the owner of the King Street buildings that were demolished in August 2013 by emergency decree, about knocking the buildings down in 2011 when he was still in office.

Fire Chief Tom Garrett ordered the buildings leveled while City Engineer Russ Reeves was on vacation. Bombers Burrito Bar, located next door was allowed to stay open through the demolition, which occurred prior to any asbestos abatement.

One of the logical avenues of inquiry the Council is taking is what prompted the emergency demolition at that time when the buildings have been vacant for at least a decade prior.

As you can see, Tutunjian is "commanded" to appear at 6 p.m. at City Hall to answer questions and bring any and all documents related to the demolition of the King Street buildings and demolition at the King Fuels site.  

According to the Times Union, Boyajian will also testify along with John Torino, the owner of Provincial Contractor Services which has done work at King Fuels and Dan DiTonno, the owner of DiTonno & Sons construction company who did work at the King Fuels site.  

 

Good move by Mayor Lou; ball is in Wiltshire's court

ROSAMIlIA

Mayor Lou Rosamilia put the ball back in Council President Rodney Wiltshire’s court by saying any member of his administration will voluntarily testify so there is no need for the Council to issue subpoenas.

It was a good move by Roasmilia. He avoids looking like he was fighting the inquiry – as opposed to when he vetoed the ordinance allowing the Council to issue subpoenas – and rather makes it look like he and his administration are being nothing but open and transparent and willing to cooperate with the process.

WILTSHIRE

Plus, and perhaps more importantly in the grand scheme of things, by hearing from the players directly involved in the demolition on King Street and on the King Fuels site, we are all closer to knowing who did what and why. Rosamilia - whether he knows or not or whether or not he wants to know or not - can say he and his have nothing to hide and if something untoward is revealed he can claim ignorance and be just as shocked and surprised as anyone else. Even Wiltshire, while on Talk1300, said he thinks Rosamilia was not aware of what actually transpired prior to the demolitions.

In other words, look for someone to be the “fall guy.” But the thing with “fall guys,” is sometimes they are the ones responsible and should be held accountable.

Anyway, some say the agreement waters down the investigation because as Wilford Brimley said in Absence of Malice: “Wonderful thing a subpenee.”

GARRETT

With a subpoena, the testimony is automatically under oath and the Council can also demand to see records like contracts, emails and other exchanges related to the two demolition projects.

Wiltshire can still put those giving testimony under oath, can still demand the related documents and proceed as if he were issuing subpoenas but he really had no choice but to accept Rosamilia’s fig leaf. If he didn’t, he ran the risk of appearing to politicize the process and so far he has kept the inquiry above the fray – which is no easy task in a city like Troy.  

In the end, Rosamilia had nothing to lose by offering up members of his administration. If he didn’t Wiltshire would have just overrode the vetoes, issued the subpoenas and they would be forced to testify anyway. Let’s see if they are under oath and if the Council also has access to all the relevant documents and communications.

  According to the Times Union, the eight who will testify are:

RYAN

Fire Chief Tom Garrett, who ordered the demolition of the King Street buildings, a row of buildings owned by attorney Don Boyajian, Bill Dunne, the planning commissioner who is at the center of the King Fuels demolition, his assistant Andrew Kreshik, Dave Sheeran, a code enforcement officer, Andrew Peterson, an employee in the planning department, Corporation Counsel Ian Silverman, Mike Hayner, who is heading up the Department of Public Works and Deputy Mayor Pete Ryan.

Obviously Rosamilia has no control over those who probably have something to offer but are not employed by the city. They include Boyajian, J.R. Casale, the proprietor of Bomber’s and a representative from Ditano and Sons.   

This will be the third hearing held by the Council. The first featured former City Engineer Russ Reees and his assistant Barbara Tozzi. Both of whom have since left city employment. During the second, the Council heard testimony from four individuals who do not work for the city.  

Buchanan and Cooney headed to retirement

COONEY

Two captains in the Troy Police Department are retiring.

According to a Facebook post by Capt. Terry Buchanan he and Capt. John Cooney are having their retirement party this Friday at the Park Pub at Frear Park starting at 4:30 p.m. Far be it for me to invite anyone to their retirement party but it was on a social media site and is does conclude with “all are welcome to stop by.”

I’ve known them both since I first started at The Record – and they were around long before I was.

Buchanan used to write a column for the paper and Cooney was the Police Benevolent Association President when I first came aboard.

Buchanan now heads up the Internal Affairs division and Cooney is the Public Information Officer.

BUCHANAN is sworn in as captain by TEDESCO

For what it’s worth, I found both men to be upstanding police officers and individuals. I could kill an hour talking – not just about cop stuff but anything - to Buchanan on Broadway and his opinion often played a part in formulating my weekly columns. And Cooney was always honest and forthright – he told you what he could on the record but more importantly made sure we of the Fourth Estate understood what was really going on.

I’m sure there will be all sorts of scuttlebutt about the reason they are leaving is the turmoil among the TPD hierarchy over the past couple years and that may have played a factor. But, they’ve been around long enough to know most turmoil is just a passing phase and in time things will go back to normal. Maybe not the same as it was pre-turmoil, but normal just the same.

In the end, while I have not talked to either of them yet, I’m guessing they just thought it was their time to move on and I wish both men well in their retirement. I’m sure their presence and professionalism will be missed at the TPD.

The upshot is, now maybe they can tell me all the stuff they couldn't tell me before.

Time for the board to cough up the records (DOCUMENTS)

MANTELLO

It’s been six months since the polls closed, but a candidate for Troy City Council is still looking for a definitive answer to the outcome of the election.

Carmella Mantello, who ran for an At Large seat last November, filed an Article 78 (see below) in state Supreme Court demanding the Rensselaer County Board of Elections cough up the backup, paper records of votes that were cast on electronic voting machines.

Mantello, who lost to Councilwoman Lynn Kokpa by some 60 votes, doesn’t think any review of the paper records will change the ultimate outcome of the race, but thinks she, like any candidate for office, should have the right to review the results.

In this case, she has reason. According to emails Mantello got through using the state Freedom of Information Act, there were problems with the machines and the board and the vendor were trying to work them out as late as Oct. 9, 2013. Yet, the Board of Election used the new machines anyway despite ongoing issues with the way they scanned the paper ballots.

See emails from Board of Elections employee Kevin O’Malley and Mike Nicholas, a representative from Dominion Voting by clicking here.

Previously, Board of Elections Commissioners Ed McDonough and Larry Bugbee, a Democrat and Republican respectively, said they would turn over the paper records but only if Mantello filed what they called the necessary paperwork in court.

She jumped through the hoops. So now it’s up to the board to not only stand by its word but follow through with what should be little more than common courtesy to anyone who sticks their neck out and runs for public office – full and unfettered access to the ballots.

The board has until May 29 to respond to the Article 78. As I said, I don’t think it can change anything, but Mantello certainly has the right to know as does the public.

 

Mantello Article 78

Council should remember to KISS

WIlTSHIRE

The Council is making this a whole lot more complicated than it has to be.

According to the Times Union, Mayor Lou Rosamilia vetoed an ordinance authorizing the Council to issue subpoenas in its ongoing investigation into two controversial demolition projects and other things.

For starters, I don’t get why the Council sent the legislation to Rosamilia for his approval. The Charter clearly gives the Council the authority to conduct an investigation into any city activity and/or department. The mayor has no say in the matter because the Council is a separate and distinct branch of government with rights and duties exclusive to that branch.

It would be similar to the mayor vetoing the Council’s pick for City Clerk. He can’t. It’s a Council appointment.

That said, if he did have the authority to veto, it’s pretty apparent he has a valid reason. The process the Council approved to issue individuals subpoenas is either do it at a public meeting by majority vote or by five member signing a document.

ROSAMILA

The first makes perfect sense and is the process that should be followed. I’ve never heard of the second and nobody I talked to has either.  

It’s unclear why Wiltshire doesn’t just ask each member of the Council who they want to question, put it all on a big list and then pass the entire list. It doesn’t mean everyone on the list has to get called to testify but that is by far the simplest way to go about it and one that has the best chance of withstanding any legal challenge.

Then again, Rosamilia said subpoenas are not necessary should the Council want to question anyone in his administration. If that’s the case, why issue the veto? Obvious employees include Bill Dunne, commissioner of planning, his assistant, Andrew Kreshick, Fire Chief Tom Garrett and Deputy Mayor Pete Ryan.

I’m a big fan of the acronym KISS, or Keep It Simple Stupid. And that’s from a guy who can complicate tying a shoe – even if it comes with Velcro. Wiltshire and some of his colleagues on the Council have thus far done an admirable job in trying to find out what happened at demolitions on King Street and at the King Fuels site.

The first two hearings went off without a hitch and some good information was gathered. Now, though, it's getting down to the bottom of things and while the Council conducts its investigation there are no less than three federal agencies and a state agency looking into things too.

There might not be any easy answers to the questions, but it doesn’t mean the process has to get bogged down.

Just remember: KISS.

A good day for Uncle Joe and democracy

As I wrote, if it were you or me we would have taken a plea long ago, saved a bunch of money and went on our merry way.

Not Joe Bruno. He took on the federal government – or better put he defended himself against the federal government with its huge pile of resources and a bigger chip on its shoulder – and he won.

As you all already know, the jury came back and issued a not guilty verdict after hardly five hours of deliberations.

The federal government chewed on Bruno’s butt for nine years and the jury took only five hours to find the former Senate Majority Leader not guilty of corruption charges.

Amazing, really.

And pretty scary if you think about the fact the federal government could do the same to you or me if it puts its mind to it. The difference is most people don’t have the resources, or the balls, to take them on.

Bruno has both. He won. And good for him.

No, not everyone is a majority leader of the New York State Senate, but the feds could sink its teeth into anyone for anything - an anti-government blog, a conversation taped by the NSA ... even a "subversive" thought. 

In the Bruno case, as you know, the feds got two convictions on the first trial but that was when they could use the “theft of honest services” statute when they smelled something wrong but didn’t have any hard evidence to back it up. Obviously, that statute was deemed unconstitutional by the highest court in the land, the convictions were tossed out based on that ruling and the government, in all its arrogance, re-indicted Bruno and brought him back before a jury.

Today that jury spoke loud and clear.

In the end, it has been estimated the federal government spent $25 million to investigate and prosecute Bruno twice. Bruno said he spent in excess of $5 million.

Was it worth it? I guess that’s the system we live under and we have to have faith in it. Bruno, with the class he’s shown from day one, said as much after the verdict. I spoke to him off the record a number of times, including the day before this trial kicked off, and he had less than kind words about the judge and the prosecutors … and rightly so.

That’s also where the system fails. Bruno didn’t cave under what must have been unimaginable pressure, the government didn’t like it one bit and they did nothing but keep applying the pressure in an effort to break him.

He didn’t, he won and in the end maybe he knocked the federal government down a notch or two so someone with less balls and resources will be spared such an ordeal.

I say good for Uncle Joe. He did his job for the Capital Region and did it well. It's time to hop on  his white horse, ride off into the sunset and enjoy the rest of your life.