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The Ballot begins to take shape...
No official word on challengers yet, but of three members of the City Council I spoke with today, two are likely to run for a second term, and one is on the fence.
Mayor Scott Johnson said that he is not yet formally decided, "I see nothing dissuade me from running. Being Mayor is challenging, but it has its rewards at time. It's easy to get caught up in day to day affairs, but I try to step back. I think we're doing a good job and I see no reason not to continue."
Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco said that he would run for a second term. "I'm enjoying it. I still have a lot to learn, but I have a lot of good people behind me," he said.
Commissioner of Finance Kenneth Ivins Jr. said he was not yet decided.
Stay tuned....
Mayor Scott Johnson said that he is not yet formally decided, "I see nothing dissuade me from running. Being Mayor is challenging, but it has its rewards at time. It's easy to get caught up in day to day affairs, but I try to step back. I think we're doing a good job and I see no reason not to continue."
Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco said that he would run for a second term. "I'm enjoying it. I still have a lot to learn, but I have a lot of good people behind me," he said.
Commissioner of Finance Kenneth Ivins Jr. said he was not yet decided.
Stay tuned....
posted by The Saratogian City Desk at
8:08 PM
10 Comments:
If Johnson runs for re-election, he'll probably be running as the candidate of the Liar Party. In today's paper, he's quoted as saying that the DEC memo detailing Tom McTygue's violations of environmental laws by dumping human waste in the compost pile, "is not a public document."
How in the world can a document that was written by a State agency and was the subject of a final agreement between the City and the State in which the City agreed to pay $270,000 of taxpayers' money, not be a public document?
Johnson pretends to be a lawyer, but he's obviously breaking the Freedom of Information Law. He's not a lawyer. Just a liar.
Johnson is history, Here's why. His deputy is toxic and simply over her head. There is the Maty-Jane Pelzer case which will come back to haunt Johnson. Many in the community are outraged that he stonewalled and did not respond to their petitions to reverse his field.
Most already know that taking her title out of the budget had nothing to do with saving money and everything to do with some animous held by deputy Sutton. Ivins was a willing co-conspiritor.
Then there is his arrogant and ignorant handly of the Rec. Facility. He will lose the current law suit. His refusal to follow the rule of law on this has already cost $20,000 for an attorney to defend his actions. Of course Ivins and Franck share the blame. The Rec. Facility would be under construction now if he had done the right thing.
He has six labor contracts outstanding and is spending $250/hour to negoiate them. The contracts have all expired. He conducts illegal exdcutive sessions all the time. Then there is the Ivins budget debacle that he particpated in.
The rational Democrats, independents and modeate Republicans will have a strong candidate with broad appeal. The deputy mayor will be a big issue in the race. Once her conducts, incompetence and abuse of authority are more widely know we think the mayor will be in trouble.
Watch for an expose on her conduct over the last year. Some of her actions are not unlike those of former deputy Erin Dryer.
There is more. He has gone at certain people and employees who will soon fight back. Some are just keeping their powder dry for now. One has already built a case, in writing, which includes abuse of power and gross violations of the City Charter.
John Herrick, the former mayor of Stillwater and now City GOP chairman, is the Republican puppet master and he may be in for a surprise. Stay tuned.
A couple points of clarification:
to anon 7:58:
The document you are referring to is an internal DEC memorandum. Such documents are not considered public under FOI law, and had I filed a FOIL request, the request would likely have been denied.
The document the city agreed to on Tuesday night, a consent agreement, will become a public document once it is formally signed by the DEC, but it does not detail the environmental abuses found by the investigation. Instead, it is a formal statement of the agreement, and a detailed documentation of how the city will implement various programs.
To anon 8:07:
Mayor Johnson has declined to discuss the termination of Mary Jane Pelzer because there is an ongoing Section 75 hearing. That type of procedure is an disciplinary hearing that could result in termination. As such, it wouldn't be proper for Johnson to discuss the case. Hopefully, someday, we'll get the other side of the story, and can then form an opinion with a more complete set of information.
With respect to Deputy Mayor Shauna Sutton: To accuse her of shenanigans similar to Erin Dryer is a high charge. Do you care to substantiate your claim with any evidence?
Andrew J. Bernstein - Your "points of clarification" make you sound more like an apologist for Mayor Liar than a reporter for an independent newspaper.
Here's a refresher on FOIL 101 (sometimes called "Your Right to Know" on the editorial page of the Saratogian):
Under the Freedom of Information Law, every document created by a public agency is, by definition, a "public document." The public is entitled to unlimited access to all public documents, except that some documents may (not must) be withheld if they fit within narrowly defined exceptions and the public officer who wants to withhold the document satisfies the burden of proving that it fits within the exception.
The intra-agency and inter-agency exceptions don't apply in this case because an intra-agency document, like a DEC memo created purely for internal use, or an inter-agency document, like a DEC memo that's part of a settlement with the City of Saratoga Springs, can't be withheld from public disclosure if it's part of a final determination, and once the City Council approves a settlement, like they did on Tuesday night, there's no doubt the settlement is final.
You got stonewalled by Mayor Liar. Plain and simple.
Don't assume that your readers are so naive that they're willing to accept Mayor Liar's ignoring the law on a daily basis. And - please - don't insult us by just repeating his perverted interpretation of the Freedom of Information Law.
About the Peltzer "case"... Remember there are two sides to every story....including this one.
If Shauna Sutton is banging people in City Hall, like Erin Dryer was...I'd like to know who they are!
Is that why they got rid of Mary Jane Pelzer? Because her and the Deputy had issues? Is there any foundation for this accusation?
anon 8:18 p.m.:
Please see New York State Freedom of Information Law, Section 87, sub 2 (e) and (g).
Andrew J. Bernstein 12:00 pm -
What in the worrld are you writing about?
Public Officers Law section 87(2)(e) allows (but does not require) a public officer to withhold a document from the public if, and only if, it's a record that was prepared for law enforcement purposes. That law might allow the State Environmental Conservation Commissioner to withhold the records of DEC's investigation of Tommy McTygue's crimes, but it has absolutely nothing to do with Mayor Johnson's refusal to disclose the record on which the City Council decided to settle with DEC.
Public Officers Law section 87(2)(g)(iii) unequivocally provides that a public record absolutely must be made available to the public if it's the basis for a final determination. The City Council's vote to approve a settlement with DEC is a final determination, and there is no legal justification whatsoever for withholding from the public the records the determination was based on.
The Mayor is defying the law, and instead of calling him on it you're justifying his lawless misconduct.
Shame on you!
anon 10:33:
Please excuse me, I misunderstood you. When the Mayor said a document was not releasable, he was referring to an internal DEC memo, which was leaked to me and other members of the press on Thursday. In your original post, I thought this was what you were referring to.
Now that you've clarified what you're talking about (ie, the consent order agreed to by the council last Tuesday), I can say that of course you are correct.
It is a public document, which details the settlement between Saratoga Springs and DEC. Mayor Johnson said he did not want to release it until it was formally accepted by the DEC, which would only sign it after the city agreed to it. Whether or not this is a legal position for the mayor to take under FOIL laws, I'm not sure.
Fortunately for me and other members of the media, we were able to obtain copies of the document, regardless of Mayor Johnson's interpretation of FOIL law.
Andrew J. Berrnstein:
Sometimes you seem to be on the right track. Like in the post about the most (un)responsive member of the City Council (Mayor Johnson).
Here's a useful rule of thumb: Whenever Scott Johnson says something, just assume he's lying. More often than not, that's exactly what's happening.
Sometimes he's lying because he doesn't know the law and he's trying to pretend he's a real lawyer (which he isn't). More often, he knows the law very well but he just doesn't want to obey it, and he's hoping he can get away with shoveling a bunch of b.s.
Another good rule of thumb with Scott (as with all politicians): Follow the money. Whenever he can, Scott shovels taxpayer money to his Republican lawyer pals. It's not only the proof that he and his dumb bell City Attorney, Joe Scala, don't know anything, but, more importantly, it shows that Scott always puts taking care of his Republican supporters ahead of serving the people of Saratoga Springs.
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