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Ivins won
Now having spent the better part of 24 hours reflecting on last night's candidate forum, I am prepared to declare Commissioner of Finance Kenneth Ivins Jr. the winner.
True, the incumbent Republican was not present (he and opponent Peter Martin will face off at next week's forum), but all four candidates who were present acknowledged that paid parking, in some form, is an idea whose time has come.
Of course, both Kevin Connolly and Skip Scirocco said they would prefer to see paid parking in conjunction with new facilities to be built in the High Rock lot, but it seems that the commissioners idea to bring in some new revenue will become a reality, regardless of how next month's election shakes out.
I am reluctant to critique last night's debate, as I plan on continuing to speak to these candidates throughout the election, and don't want to alienate anyone, but I do have some observations, some of which have already been made in other venues:
1) Kevin Connolly apparently did not get the memo requesting he arrive at 6:45, instead arriving at 7:20. He committed a further gaffe when his cell phone rang during the forum.
2) Ed Miller makes vague references to Commissioner Scirocco hiring his own family, but failed to note that both cases were for part time positions that were either seasonal or likely slated for cut backs. I feel this was a rather hollow attack.
3) Voters will have a hard time distinguishing between Public Safety candidates, at least as far as issues are concerned. Aside from the recreation center, both have very similar positions on most issues, leading me to believe that this particular office could be decided by the whims of voters casting ballots in other races -- especially the race for Mayor. Like Scott Johnson? Vote for Richard Wirth. Like Ron Kim? Vote for Kevin Connolly too.
4) After Friday's round of endorsements, there can't be any question about which party has a better line on the unions. This could serve to bite the Democrats in the ass, since there is a growing sentiment among the public that increasing, contractually-obligated health care costs and pay raises are not helping the city's financial position. Of course, each of the candidates also said that they saw the need to reduce the cost of union contracts.
5) More to come.
True, the incumbent Republican was not present (he and opponent Peter Martin will face off at next week's forum), but all four candidates who were present acknowledged that paid parking, in some form, is an idea whose time has come.
Of course, both Kevin Connolly and Skip Scirocco said they would prefer to see paid parking in conjunction with new facilities to be built in the High Rock lot, but it seems that the commissioners idea to bring in some new revenue will become a reality, regardless of how next month's election shakes out.
I am reluctant to critique last night's debate, as I plan on continuing to speak to these candidates throughout the election, and don't want to alienate anyone, but I do have some observations, some of which have already been made in other venues:
1) Kevin Connolly apparently did not get the memo requesting he arrive at 6:45, instead arriving at 7:20. He committed a further gaffe when his cell phone rang during the forum.
2) Ed Miller makes vague references to Commissioner Scirocco hiring his own family, but failed to note that both cases were for part time positions that were either seasonal or likely slated for cut backs. I feel this was a rather hollow attack.
3) Voters will have a hard time distinguishing between Public Safety candidates, at least as far as issues are concerned. Aside from the recreation center, both have very similar positions on most issues, leading me to believe that this particular office could be decided by the whims of voters casting ballots in other races -- especially the race for Mayor. Like Scott Johnson? Vote for Richard Wirth. Like Ron Kim? Vote for Kevin Connolly too.
4) After Friday's round of endorsements, there can't be any question about which party has a better line on the unions. This could serve to bite the Democrats in the ass, since there is a growing sentiment among the public that increasing, contractually-obligated health care costs and pay raises are not helping the city's financial position. Of course, each of the candidates also said that they saw the need to reduce the cost of union contracts.
5) More to come.
posted by The Saratogian City Desk at
6:50 PM
6 Comments:
part time jobs are jobs,scarerocco campaigned against nepotism in 07 now it appears your newspaper endorses it,I notice you take pop shots at eddy miller,I hope your newspaper is not anti-semic
Andrew' re your comment describing Miller's reference to scirocco's employment of relatives as "hollow":You are overlooking the fact that unpaid volunteers mmanned the merrygoround in the park...now the new regime turned that into paid patronage. Where's the regard for the taxpayer there? How is that good for the city? Secondly, go back in the files. You"ll find that years ago your paper held office holders to much higher standards and took a strong position AGAINST NEPOTISM. Let's face it your paper endorsed one of the dumbest candidates to run for council in three decades.Judge him on his pitiful performance at the council table and the management of DPW...not on the canned script he is handed to regurgitate at these so called debates. You are and educated person, open your eyes to the truth.
Andrew J. Bernstein:
You say "there's a growing sentiment among the public that increasing, contractually-obligated health care costs and pay raises are not helping the city's financial position."
In which segment of the public do you think that sentiment is growing? It must be the Republican zealots who think it's a good idea for Scott Johnson to blow tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on an out of town law firm that's made zero progress on negotiating new union contracts. The unions have put a number of proposed givebacks on the table, but Johnson and his hired guns don't seem to have any interest at all in good faith bargaining.
Voters are tired of Johnson's failures and stonewalling. It's time for him to go back to Florida.
The Saratogian is under the control of the Mayor and his puppet Ivins!
9:50,
That's really interesting, because you'd think the Saratogian, being under the thumb of Johnson, would have endorsed him for election in 2007. Funny thing is, they gave a glowing endorsement to Val Keehn But why let the facts get in the way of your cloudy memory?
4:14,
If the mayor spends $200,000 in legal fees and it ends up saving us $200,000 per year in costs, the city has tripled its investment over the course of a contract. I have no problem with him hiring outside counsel to negotiate these contracts, because I know they won't be bullied by union thugs that have already allegedly threatened a public official. So save your bluster until there's a contract on the table.
9:48,
I'm no fan of Scirocco, but a part-time job in the department operating the carousel really doesn't sound like much. And if Ivins is serious about cuts, it sounds like that position won't be there much longer anyway.
I guess the question I'd ask is did he hire someone from his family over someone more qualified for a given job. If the answer is yes, then your claims of nepotism are genuine, in my humble opinion.
Ivins won? The taxpayer wins if we cut that budget by another $500,000. Good start by Ivins, but he needs to cut deeper.
Maybe Scirocco's family member took the position as a favor to him, instead of the other way around. They couldn't get any more volunteers (heaven forbid, the union would cry) and it's not like it paid big bucks...
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