VIEWPOINT : Consolidating their grip Gardner appointment is latest power grab by Democratic Party

BY ROGER HULL For The Sunday Gazette

Here we go again! A group of individuals, a very small group of individuals, masquerading as the Democratic Party in Schenectady County, is consolidating its power. This time it is in the form of Chris Gardner’s appointment to the Schenectady County Industrial Development Agency.
   If you were to ask 100 Schenectadians about the most recent flexing of so-called Democratic power, at least 99 would yawn, if they even
   knew about it. They should not yawn, and they certainly should
   know about this power grab. After all, as Lord Acton famously said, “power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
   Why does this latest power grab matter to taxpayers? Why should we care if Gardner, the county attorney, is appointed to the IDA’s board of directors? Why should we care if public agencies are treated as a club in which it appears members are admitted only if they agree to toe the line of the person
calling the shots?
   And why should we be concerned if one party (whether Democrat or Republican) controls the appointments of everything in the county from the IDA to the Legislature to the community college to City Hall and the City Council?
   We should very much care that political and economic matters are tightly controlled by one party. For the past decade, it has been the Democratic Party (although I suspect real Democrats would have little in common with our local Democratic politicians). Just to be clear, had it been the Republican Party
that controlled our community for that period, I would be pushing for the same political change.
   Regardless of the ability of the people involved, taxpayers are poorly served when one party controls everything. Different viewpoints allow a community to move in directions otherwise impossible. And when different viewpoints are shut out by one-party rule, we lose the possibility of cost-saving decisions that save dollars for financially stressed taxpayers.
   Of course, the dysfunction in Washington is hardly proof positive of the virtues of competition. Yet it is clear that no one benefi ts from one-party rule,
except the handful of people in the inner circle of that party. Not the businesses shut out. And, of course, not taxpayers who are “asked” to foot the bill
for more costly solutions to existing problems or for the fi nancial fallout from non-bid contracts. CASE IN POINT
   The appointment of Gardner, the Grand Puppet Master of Schenectady, underscores the problem in my view. I obviously do not sit behind the closed
doors of the Democratic hierarchy (very few do). I do believe, though (and most in political circles would agree), Gardner quietly pulls the strings of the county’s Democrat-controlled Legislature and Schenectady’s mayor, just as the mayor pulls the strings of the majority of Democrats on the City Council.
   Although decisions are closely guarded, there are occasional glimpses of how those decisions are manipulated. Exhibit one: the sales tax agreement,
where the mayor pushed aside the team of offi cials negotiating with the county, worked out the agreement with Gardner, and had the majority of his
Democrat puppets on the council approve the agreement (to the detriment of the city). Exhibit two: the political threats to City Council member Carl
Erikson for having the temerity to question that agreement.
   No, Gardner is not the only elected official on the IDA. So what? The fact that something wrong has been done in the past does not mean it should be
done again.
   The argument made by Jim Buhrmaster, one of two non-Democrats on the county Legislature, that more people should be involved in government is
correct.
   He is also right that having Gardner, who is on the county payroll and whose new agency is overseen by the Metroplex Development Authority (most of whose appointees have to pass muster with Gardner in his role as Grand Puppet Master ), on the IDA board is wrong and a clear conflict of interest.
   Interlocking directorates were banned in corporate circles long ago. Not so in politics, and certainly not in Schenectady.
   At some point, the citizens of Schenectady — city and county — will have had enough of oneparty rule and the costs they have to bear because of it.
   This seemingly innocuous appointment may not be the straw that breaks the back of one-party domination. As the New Year begins, though, we can
hope it is.

Roger Hull is wrong. It isn't a conflict of interest, I would say that they are not interested, in the least, in doing anything but taking care of each other.

absolute power  ....that is what this man has...even as far as who gets what.......now....isn't that on the order of dictatorship???...

don't get on the wrong side of this man.....or his party.......when will this end???.

those who control the legislation control the masses

I agree with Roger but have a problem with his disappearing acts.  If he really cared he would be more visible, more vocal.  He would be at the City council meetings and/or would have weekly contributions to the media.  

I'm afraid that our once fine library system has fallen victim to the secret society, as well. All kinds of expensive building and shifting around going on, but staff and hours cut? Sounds like this bunch is at it again, for sure.
We don't know what Roger has going on outside of his public life, TIB. Sometimes when personal matters occupy your attention, like your family, for instance, you just don't have the stomach for dealing with this stuff on a continuing basis. I know it sickens me, for sure.

Quoted from Patches

absolute power  ....that is what this man has...even as far as who gets what.......now....isn't that on the order of dictatorship???...don't get on the wrong side of
this man.....or his party.......when will this end???.

One party didn't work in Germany, Russia, Cuba and can't work in Schenectady County. There were positive signs on the County Leg where 2 DEM hacks lost to
REPS/real CONS. Roger Hull is running for Mayor again next year. Roger, Vince and others non-DEMS need to clean out the City Hall cesspool.

I'm afraid it's like Jason and the Argonauts. You think you're rid of one of them, and another one springs up to take its place. Who has the stamina to keep going? I see more and more formerly stalwart Schenectadians throwing in the towel and listing their homes. That should be proof positive to anybody with eyes, that this dismal bunch is failing at everything they should be doing. They can't even sell their own houses.

True and even more refuse to vote keeping the same fiscal incompetents with a death grip on power. Roger Hull should be supported for staying on this issue. He could retire in Palm Beach and say
screw the morons that keep voting for McCheese and Karen Johnson. Try selling your City property. Erickson and Brucker are not the only two trapped. Between City Hall "leadership" and horrible schools
buyers are few and far between. It is spreading Countywide. Schenectady County median price is under $100,00 and falling. It you haven't moved South flee to Saratoga County.

Even that median price is artificially high, because it can't take into account the properties that haven't sold in years, making their effective value zero. Actually, they might have a negative worth, because for instance in my neighborhood, there is a house going into its FOURTH winter vacant. THe house is rapidly depreciating, as it is deteriorating visibly, but the taxes on this decaying structure remain higher than $7000. I'm still trying to figure out how the owners are hanging on to it. I think that sometimes investors are buying estates and waiting for the market to recover, but it isn't going to, and I suspect that, unlike family owned houses, they are able to get some kind of tax write-off or something. If this is so, this needs to be addressed as something that is bad for cities.

T U Benny.....family is first ...and some are learning it and it's never too late....