Yes, welcome back Liz, and I hope that we can count on you hanging around after the election.
Very interesting. The sentance where we're putting everybody down for being "not the smartest people around" is the one with the most mistakes...go figure.
All I have to say is... Pot, say hello to Kettle. Kettle, meet Pot.
ROTTERDAM GOP official fights Democratic fliers Tommasone making accuracy complaint BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net
Brian Quail vowed in August that county Democrats would be aggressive in getting their message out this election season. And in Rotterdam’s contests, the committee chairman is making good on his promise. Over the past two weeks, town residents have been peppered with mailings and handouts from the Democrats, all taking swipes at the town Republicans. The town and county Republicans claim the campaign is spreading misinformation to malign their candidates. Republican Supervisor Steven Tommasone said “They’re basically lying about their positions and then deflecting the attention on me for their failures in managing the town.” The tone of the literature prompted Tommasone to prepare a grievance Tuesday for the League of Women Voters’ committee on campaign fairness. Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital Region is an organization before which candidates from Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady counties can air election grievances to a board, which then issues an opinion. Decisions by the committee are meant to raise public awareness about false campaign claims and are not legally binding. Tommasone singled out a mailer two weeks ago from the Schenectady County Democratic Committee, which features the image of a firing pistol and titled “the smoking pearl-handled revolver,” but doesn’t endorse any particular candidate. Instead, the mailing alludes to Rotterdam’s now-disbanded police commission and Tommasone, implicating them both as engaged in a plot to undermine the police leadership. Before its dissolution last year, the commission promoted an officer who was under investigation following an allegation he removed valuable pearl hand-grips from an antique pistol in the department’s evidence room and gave them to a custodian at the department. Upon review of the case, Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney found the officer had indeed violated department rules governing evidence, but didn’t cause any damage because the grips were returned. Quail said he stands behind what was stated in the mailer, including charges of nepotism and interference by Rotterdam’s Republican majority, He cited published reports about the flap as the primary sources for the flier. “This is truth and you have an obligation to tell the voters this truth,” he said. “It’s their record and its the truth and they’re running from it.” But Tommasone said the mailing falsely alleges criminality, when Carney clearly stated there was none. With regard to the inference of nepotism, he said the connections between town employees and elected officials has more to do with the children and in-laws of local residents seeking to work and serve in their home town. “Many of them follow their parents or their in-laws into these lines of work and that should be commended,” he said “The Democrats apparently don’t like that.” Tommasone also took issue with campaign literature recently handed out by supporters of William Cooke, who is running on the Democratic ticket against Tommasone. He said the leaflet, which poses seven questions critical of the town Republicans, contains a number of factual errors. “They’re putting literature out that is false and fraudulent propaganda,” he said. “What they’re saying about my record is completely false.” For instance, Tommasone pointed to a segment of the flier claiming the Republicans were behind passing the recently completed revaluation, when he and fellow Republican board member John Mertz voted against the resolution passed in 2005. If anything, he said it was Cooke who came out in support of the revaluation during his unsuccessful run against Tommasone two years ago. Cooke on Tuesday said it was the vote of then Republican board member Holly Vellano that moved the revaluation forward; she voted with Democrats John Paolino and Diane Marco for the revaluation. Though acknowledging Tommasone’s vote, Cooke said the question posed in the flier is viable because the Republican majority could have prevented the revaluation from passing in 2005. “All the while they were blaming people, they were the majority party,” he said. “It was a Republican that cast the deciding vote, so basically we’re saying you’ve got to take some responsibility.” Officials from both parties said they expect campaigning to get more furious and the literature to become more venomous as November approaches. County Republican Chairman Tom Buchanan said the county Democrats are focusing a tremendous amount of money and energy on Rotterdam in an attempt to unseat Tommasone. “That’s obviously the case because all the mail is coming from the county Democrats,” he said. The other candidacies at the town level are Democrats Richard Leet and John Silva for town board, against Republicans Michael Della Villa and John Denny III.
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