Best way to pick county clerk is to ask person who did the job

`The Last American Editor, Vol. 2’ has finally arrived

By Ken Tingley

Pam Vogel has been county clerk in Warren County for nearly 20 years. Before that, Caryl Clark was there for 16 years.

This job is not a stepping stone for a political career. This is not an exciting job, but it is an important job.

The county clerk’s office is home to the department of motor vehicles, it manages court records, files real estate transfers and processes pistol permit applications. Its work has to be done right. It has to be done efficiently. The clerk’s office handles a big chunk of money coming into the county.

The clerk probably shouldn’t even be an elected position.

Yet voters are asked to make a calculation on Election Day about who should run that important office.

Most of us don’t have a clue what it takes to do that, but we do know someone who does  - the current clerk Pam Vogel.

We know how this works in political parties. A few dozen people on the committee selects a candidate. Getting selected is often about who you know and not what you know. Political parties don’t always choose the most qualified candidates.

The job is attractive.

It pays $96,000 and the county has a pretty good health care program. The past two clerks have made the job a career.

The Republicans nominated Emily McCabe McCarthy, most recently a school guidance counsel from from 2017-2021. She has master’s degrees in school counseling and law and public policy. Her bachelor’s degree came in policy analysis and management.

The Democrats nominated Carrie Black. She is currently director of auxiliary services at SUNY Adirondack. She runs the residence hall, dining, vending, bookstore and child care center at the college. She is also the school’s director of finance. She has a master’s degree in business administration and bachelor’s degree in finance while also being a certified paralegal.

But here’s where this story takes an odd turn.

Pam Vogel, the long-time Republican clerk, interviewed both candidates and endorsed the Democrat Black.

You don’t see that very often.

It gets your attention because Republicans win most of these county-wide races.

In a recent letter to the editor to The Post-Star, David Strainer - a Democrat running for supervisor at large in Queensbury - wrote about his respect for the Vogel.

“I worked with Pam at the county,” Strainer told me. “She always at her `I’s’ dotted and her `T’s” crossed. She always found ways to save money. She had the loyalty of her whole staff. Pam is a very honest person. She is not getting anything out of this (endorsing Black).”

You don’t hear a lot of controversy coming from the county clerk office. A long like and motor vehicles is as bad as it gets.

“Pam could have just walked away and not signed in on this race, but she wants what is best for the county and her staff,” Strainer wrote in his letter. “She met and talked to both candidates, showed them the department and made her decision based on the facts of who would be the best person to fill her void. I for one will take her advice because of all the people who weighed in on this race, I know Pam has given us the best advice.”

It’s a strong argument.

Just about every elected county Republican lined up behind their candidate, but I’m guessing most of them don’t spend a lot of time in the county clerk’s office.

I did give Pam a call to see if I could get her opinion personally, but I did not hear back.

That makes sense for a quiet public servant who has rarely made any noise. She did her homework, made her decision and she doesn’t need to say anything else.

Saving money - not really

Heather Cox Richardson, historian and Substack author extraordinaire, wrote about new Speaker Mike Johnson’s first order of business Monday.

The House Republicans proposed a way to afford the $14.3 billion in aid to Israel by cutting $14.3 million from the Internal Revenue Service. While everyone fears a call from the IRS, the reality is that the Internal Revenue Service produces significant revenue by catching the ultra rich and corporations who cheat on their taxes.

Richardson points out that the offset is not an offset at all because for each dollar spent on the IRS, the agency brings in more than $3 auditing the richest 1 percent. It brings in more than $6 for each dollar spent auditing the top 0.1 percent.

Richardson wrote in her “Letters from an American” Substack newsletter that “A 2021 study showed that people whose income is in the top 1% of earners fail to report more than 20% of their earnings to the IRS.”

It’s not working class folks the IRS is after. It’s the big fish.

The proposed bill would get aid to Israel but also allow rich people to cheat on their taxes. It would be like giving the rich another tax cut.

Then, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office weighed in and said the cuts to the IRS would add $26 billion to the national debt. As a fiscal conservative, I don’t think we need any more added to the national debt.

Speaker Johnson didn’t seem to believe the numbers.

“Only in Washington when you cut spending do they call it an increase in the deficit,” he said.

It is when you eliminate the revenue associated with cuts in spending.

The bill came up for a vote Thursday and passed 226-196.

Rep. Elise Stefanik voted to give Israel $14.3 billion in aid while adding $26 billion to the national debt by cutting funds the Internal Revenue Service uses to catch tax cheats.

The bill appears to be dead on arrival in the Senate.

Santos survives

A delegation of New York Republicans put forth a congressional resolution to remove Rep. George Santos from office.

It came up for a vote on Thursday and was defeated 221-212.

Twenty-three Republicans voted to remove Santos from office, but Rep. Elise Stefanik was not one of them. She voted to keep him in office even after he was charged with another 10 felonies last month.

Correction

It was brought to may attention I had a small error in my story about the Queensbury supervisor at large race on Wednesday.

There are actually eight candidates vying for seven seats. I wrote there were seven. Four of the candidates are Republicans, three are Democrats and one is only on the Conservative line.

The book is here

“The Last American Editor, Vol. 2” is finally here and I will be getting it out to a few retail outlets for this weekend.

You should be able to pick up the book at Ace Hardware in Queensbury, the Chapman Museum in Glens Falls and Battenkill Books in Cambridge.

You can also order the new book - and the other two as well - on my book webpage.