http://www.timesunion.com

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GOP was trashed
Marv Cermak

It's no secret that the Republican party in Schenectady has been dysfunctional for years, but on Election Day, it appeared as though the city GOP was virtually extinct.

During the ballot counting, the GOP election headquarters was full of Rotterdam Republicans who managed to elect Town Board members and a county legislator.

With the exception of city Republican defeated candidates and their families, you could count the Schenectady GOP supporters on one hand.

Frank Duci, 86-year-old former Schenectady mayor, and Paul Tocker were among the few. They conceded the highlight of the city GOP train wreck evening was the free food.

In contrast, at Democratic headquarters, there were wall-to-wall workers. Mayor Brian U. Stratton was crowing about sweeping city and county races, insisting voters were thrilled by Democrats' performance.

More accurately, city GOP'ers didn't have a single party member running for four City Council seats. Also in races for four city seats on the County Legislature, the only GOP candidate running was ex-Mayor Al Jurczynski, trashed by a 2-1 vote ratio.

A more unbiased recap shows Republicans did well in the towns by winning three of four County Legislature races.

http://www.timesunion.com
Marv Cermak

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County Republican club barely has pulse
First published: Tuesday, December 11, 2007

More bad news for the failing Schenectady Republican party. The venerable county GOP club is a half step ahead of the undertaker.
     
Democrats have locked in unanimous control of the City Council and they own a lopsided 11-4 County Legislature membership. GOPers were wiped out of their onetime Niskayuna stronghold. They averted complete disaster by taking back control in Glenville and holding their own in Rotterdam.
Now it's learned that the 74-year-old club will be placed on inactive status if it fails to nominate new officers by the of the month.
Paul Tocker says he has been president six straight years because nobody wants the job. He concedes the inactive status label is a euphemism for moribund.
Only five members showed up for the last meeting billed to elect officers, but there were no nominations. Tocker recalled one of the founding members in 1933 was Ozzie Heck, who rose to state Assembly speaker.
"I remember about 15 years ago, when we were getting 80 or so people to a meeting," Tocker said. "Back then, there were contested elections for president and other club offices."
Inactive or active, the club's 75th anniversary is in April, but there isn't much for the GOP to celebrate.

Maybe they should change the way that they handle their affairs, if people thought that they could make a difference in the outcome of issues maybe they would be willing to participate. This is also true of the attendance for the Schdy County Council meetings too no one attends as they feel that the council will do what it wants anyway regardless of what the residents say or do.

I know that in Rotterdam, the GOP started to go downhill after the sale of the Rotterdam Republican club was sold with Judy Dagostino being the ring leader. There were many many republicans that sent in their 'dues' yearly to be members. However, the year of the big sale, members were sending in their dues to re-up, and either their checks were sent back or never cashed. Judy Dagostino and 'her gang', wanted just the select members who would approve of the sale and then split the money amongst themselves.

I have personally talked to some of those 'X' members, who are very bitter and have since left the party all together. Judy Dagostino and the sale of the Republican club was the start of the end of the GOP in Rotterdam!! Combine that with poor leadership and no one wanting to step up to the plate and LEAD, the GOP is truly hanging on by a thread!

Well, on the heels of the departure of the GOP from Schenectady County, I would like to say that I believe we will see a rebound of the Conservative Party in the county and hope that maybe with the Conservative Party building some strength that maybe it will bring about some change to the Republican Party at the same time.  if not, we can do without a Liberal Republican Party as long as we have an actual Conservative Party.

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that I believe we will see a rebound of the Conservative Party in the county and hope that maybe with the Conservative Party building some strength that maybe it will bring about some change to the Republican Party at the same time.

I am hopeful you are correct, but there still needs some change in the Conservative Party too.

Quoted from bumblethru

I know that in Rotterdam, the GOP started to go downhill after the sale of the Rotterdam Republican club was sold with Judy Dagostino being the ring leader. There were many many republicans that sent in their 'dues' yearly to be members. However, the year of the big sale, members were sending in their dues to re-up, and either their checks were sent back or never cashed. Judy Dagostino and 'her gang', wanted just the select members who would approve of the sale and then split the money amongst themselves.

I have personally talked to some of those 'X' members, who are very bitter and have since left the party all together. Judy Dagostino and the sale of the Republican club was the start of the end of the GOP in Rotterdam!! Combine that with poor leadership and no one wanting to step up to the plate and LEAD, the GOP is truly hanging on by a thread!

That is a mole performing a hack job.......

Bumble is correct many of the members who sent in their dues had their checks sent back to them. There was talk of dividing up the profits but public opinion forced them to donate money to charities. There was a lot of hard feelings after this unfortunate incident and this also started all the problems with the little league and the sale of the land that Larned now owns.

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Quoted from shadow:
This is also true of the attendance for the Schdy County Council meetings too no one attends as they feel that the council will do what it wants anyway regardless of what the residents say or do.

You are correct that, for whatever reason, residents of the county don't think that it is important enough to attend these meetings.  I have attended these meetings since June.  Although I agree with your assessment that with the current majority in power, not only is the public not given consideration but neither are the opinions and positions of the members of the Republican minority.

Folks, you NEED to reengage and attend these meetings in mass if you care about the future of your communities.  The Democratic majority under the orders of Savage are making decisions based on what benefits their friends, not what is best for the residents of the county.

And, as for Dagostino, she left the Republican party and the Rotterdam Republican Club in disgrace.

Well said Brad.

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Well said Brad.

YES.