BONUS: Councilman lashes out at Qby Ethics Board

Cuts to Medicaid could hurt rural communities across the country

Please consider supporting The Front Page with a paid subscription: HERE

All he needed to do was turn to his right and ask Tony Metivier.

The opportunity for Tim McNulty was there in any of a half-dozen Queensbury Town Board meetings since November.

It was back then that I brought the conflict of interest to the Town Board's attention and reminded them that Metivier had once been pressured on a vote by the chairman of the Warren County Republican Committee. I pointed out a different chairman was now on the Town Board

But perhaps a little more context would help.

The fact that a Democrat has led Warren County's largest town for more than a decade has always been a source of some annoyance in Republican circles.

"They (the Republican leadership) really want John (Strough) out of office," Metivier told me in June 2017. "It's about the Republicans winning. It's not about John. I've sat there in Republican meetings in the past, and I don't understand how Republicans' winning will make much difference here in Queensbury. I'm left scratching my head."

I suspect this is still true.

That history and what happened in 2017 is why I made a complaint to the Ethics Board in Queensbury. This is the context you need to understand about having the chairman of the Warren County Republican Committee, Tim McNulty, currently serving on the Queensbury Town Board and why it is a conflict of interest.

In November 2016, Queensbury Town Board member Doug Irish informed Metivier that he wanted to replace the town's long-time law firm (since 1996) with one run by John Aspland who was then vice-chairman of the Queensbury Republican Party while Irish was the chairman.

Irish said the move was to save money and while it appeared that was the case, it also looked highly partisan.

"John Aspland and Doug Irish are tight," Metivier said in 2017. "Huge conflict of interest there. That is underhanded. No other word for it."

With a vote looming three days later Metivier said the vote made him "uncomfortable." He even asked for more time to consider the proposal.

But here is the part you need to remember because it is small-town politics at its worst.

Before that Monday vote, Michael Grasso, the chairman of the Warren County Republican Committee - McNulty's current position - left a voice mail message for Metivier, saying "You will vote for this or you will pay."

Metivier voted against the change, but it still passed with a 3-2 vote.

"I am not going to be anyone's puppet," metivier told me later. "I probably voted no just to prove a point."

The next June, 41 members of the Queensbury Republican Committee met with Town Board candidates to decide who to endorse in the fall election. Metivier was an incumbent in Ward 1 with 10 years experience. He addressed the committee and told those present that he was told he had to vote for the new law firm or he would pay.

Doug Irish said no one in that room would do that.

Then Mike Grasso corrected him, "I said that."

The committee endorsed Hal Bain, a 72-year-old who had never held elected office, over the incumbent. Metivier got on the ballot anyway and won the primary as Bain withdrew his nomination embarrassed by all the bad publicity.

The chairman of a county political party has the power to influence votes because he can decide which elected officials get endorsed.

And there is precedent because of what happened in 2017.

That's why Queensbury's Ethics Board ruled there was "an inherent appearance of a conflict of interest when a Queensbury Town Board member also serves as the chairman of a local political party."

What the Ethics Board ruled was that this conflict provides the "opportunity" to benefit from holding both positions.

Nowhere in its ruling did the Ethics Board say Tim McNulty had done anything wrong.

But on Monday night at the Town Board meeting, Tim McNulty read a prepared three-minute statement that denied any wrongdoing even though he was not accused of any.

He said his constitutional rights had been trampled and he accused the Ethics Board of acting unfairly and deliberately trying to damage his reputation.

This is what happens when a bully is backed into a corner.

They attack the accusers.

They say it is political.

It appeared McNulty had spent some time - or perhaps he paid a lawyer to do it - on his statement when all he had to do was walk across the room and ask Tony Metivier if it was true. Maybe then, he might have understood the nature of the complaint.

McNulty should be ashamed of his mischaracterization of the complaint and his accusations, especially against the volunteer members of the Ethics Board who are carefully chosen by the Town Board because of their ability to be nonpartisan and are unpaid. They only addressed a complaint. They were not the origin of that complaint.

This is why so few people volunteer anymore. McNulty's statement Monday night was a blow to volunteerism in the community.

To go a step further, the state comptroller's office provides guidance on conflicts of interest to those serving in elected office:

"As a municipal officer or employee, your job by its very nature places you in a position of public trust. You are responsible for ensuring that public resources are used in the best interests of the public. You also have a duty to use the limited public resources available to you as effectively and efficiently as possible. When serving in your public capacity, the interests of your municipality must come before your own. In fact and appearance, your actions and interests must be above reproach."

Because of the past actions of another chairman, McNulty's service is not above reproach and by holding both positions he has compromised the community's public trust.

That is a fact and it is in no way a violation of his rights.

He may maintain his position with the Republican committee or he may keep his position on the Town Board, but he should not do both.

McNulty's statement of protest was unusual because he failed to address in any substantive manner why he does NOT have a conflict of interest.

What the Ethics Board asked the Town Board to do was to address its ethics policy so it clearly states whether holding a leadership position is a conflict of interest or not.

That's what needs to be done.

When McNulty was done speaking, Town Board member Michael Dixon, who announced he is running for supervisor in November, said he believed that the decision had been politicized by Democrats.

Strough immediately corrected him that neither of the two people filing complaints (one was me) were Democrats.

And as it turns out, Dixon also holds a leadership position in the Queensbury Republican Committee.

That makes two board members with conflicts.

Addressing these conflicts should be a priority for the Town Board so it is clear that its decisions are above reproach.

Right now, they are not.

---

I urge anyone who has an opinion about the Ethics Board decision in Queensbury to contact members of the Town Board.

Queensbury Town Board - Contact information

- John Strough, Town Supervisor - johns@queensbury.net
518-761-8229

- Anthony Metivier, Ward 1 councilman - anthonym@queensbury.net
518-932-1109

- Scott Gushlaw, Ward 2 councilman - scottg@queensbury.net
518-331-4836

- Michael Dixon, Ward 3 councilman -dixonm@queensbury.net

518-812-7562

Tim McNulty, Ward 4 councilman
518-480-7236 - timothym@queensbury.net

---

Budget cuts

When Glens Falls Hospital was having financial troubles in 2017 - it lost approximately $30 million when a new billing system failed to bill Medicaid - it forced cuts to programs and the workforce. (See my book The Last American Newspaper, Chapter 28, The Last Year).

The hospital repeatedly worried about its revenue being based on Medicare payments that were far less than private insurance. Medicaid is a public health insurance program largely for low-income people.

The House of Representatives passed a budget bill Tuesday night and the New York Times reported that the plan "could result in millions of Americans across the country losing health coverage unless states decide to play a bigger role in its funding."

Cutting Medicaid is being done to fund Donald Trump's extension of tax cuts to the rich. The federal government funds 90 percent of the program, but the Republicans want to lower that percentage.

That means many people in rural communities could be at risk when it comes to their health insurance, including many in our region. It will also put at risk the 40 states that participate in Obamacare.

Jon Tester, the former Democratic senator from Montana, summed up the political conundrum for Republicans in the Times saying the cuts would have a more sweeping effect on rural America than urban areas. “And that’s an interesting conundrum because most of rural America is a much deeper red than urban America,” Tester said.

---

WSJ story

Looking at President Donald Trump's embrace of Russia from a purely business view, the Wall Street Journal ran a headline on its front page that read: "Russia's withering economy is a tricky place to do deals."

It appeared to be directed directly at the president.

"But how viable a partner is Vladimir Putin's Russia, its economy weakened by years of Western sanctions, its population falling and the prospect of aggressive state intervention rarely far away?" the article asks, then then quickly concludes, "But today's Russia doesn't offer a strong investment case" saying its resource-dependent economy "is slowing under the weight of runaway inflation, sky-high interest rates and Western sanctions."

It also pointed out that asset seizures by the state are still the norm and that would put foreign investors at risk.

---

Keeping up

The most difficult thing each day is deciding the worst things that have happened in Washington. Here are some to consider:

- The White House is now in charge of which media outlets cover the president as it tries to manipulate the media for better coverage. Politico’s Eugene Daniels, the president of the White House Correspondents Association wrote in a statement, “This move tears at the independence of a free press in the United States. It suggests the government will choose the journalists who cover the president. In a free country, leaders must not be able to choose their own press corps.”

And this from Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Having served as a Moscow correspondent in the early days of Putin's reign, this reminds me of how the Kremlin took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access."

- Twenty civil service employees assigned to help Elon Musk's DOGE initiative resigned Tuesday saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to "dismantle critical public services."

- The DOGE team continues to cancel government contracts in an attempt to save taxpayers money, but the Associated Press found that 40 percent of the canceled contracts will not save any monies after a review of Musk's "Wall of Receipts" found that 794 of the 2,300 canceled contracts yielded no savings.

---

Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.