It has been a busy week for charter change advocates group Saratoga Citizen. They kicked off a petition blitz and Tuesday night they presented their proposed charter at a forum set up by the Saratoga Springs Independence Party Committee.

The forum lasted about two hours, 10 minutes of which can be seen below:


This was the first time I've Pat Kane and Brent Wilkes have to go on the full defensive in front of an ornery crowd. Some of the "questions" posed by those who are obviously opposed to any change in city government were rhetorical and rambling at best and worst weren't questions at all.

While he asked some the best questions of the night, committee chairman Gordon Boyd's moderator skills were lacking. I'm not sure why Al Calluci was the only person other than the moderators and the presenters who got to stand in front of the room to speak.

There were some good points raised, like the idea of a full cost-benefit analysis derived from municipalities that have made the change from a commission to a council-manager. I also wonder how many cities have switched away from the commission and brought it back somewhere down the line, a number I'm guessing is quite low considering only 5 or 6 cities still have a commission. A variety of interesting civil service and union issues related to salaries were raised too.

During a Wednesday morning tour of the indoor recreation facility, Mayor Scott Johnson said he shared some of the concerns he had read were raised about the proposed charter and that he had been contacted by some residents who have asked him to form his own charter review commission. He said he was hesitant to form a committee because it would essentially put an end to the referendum proceedings that Saratoga Citizen have undertaken for the last 18 months.

I don't think he'll form a committee, if not for the fact that I think he is confident that voters will once again reject the proposal, then because it would appear to some as if he slapped the faces of grassroots group that has been open to all residents since it's inception. We'll see.

In other video today, this somewhat bizarre clip from the New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee of candidates (including Joanne Yepsen) talking about all the things they've done in the Senate before they have even been elected.



Maybe there should be some rephrasing here or something because this is confusing. Maybe there was time machine involved in the production.