BONUS: Qby board members fail to see `appearance' of a conflict - again
After heated exchange, Supervisor Strough relieves Dixon of deputy supervisor job
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For the second time in the past four months I found myself face-to-face with the Queensbury Town Board.
I made it a point to look each of them in the eye in hopes I might finally reach them, to get them to understand there are simple rules in life that need to be followed and once you lose your moral center, well, you are lost.
Perhaps, I am from a different time where it was honorable to do the right thing and embarrassing to be caught when you don't.
From Tony Metivier, to Michael Dixon to Tim McNulty, I looked back at each of the them.
To their credit, I had their attention. For a second, I sensed they really were trying to understand, but it was as if I was speaking another language.
My complaint was so fundamentally simple.
McNulty was in violation of the Town of Queensbury's ethics policy because has the "appearance" of a conflict of interest.
It is on that one word this controversy hinges, a word the Republicans on the Town Board choose to ignore.
The problem is that McNulty, in addition to being elected to the Town Board, also serves as chairman of the Warren County Republican Committee where his job is to get Republican candidates elected.
What I didn't realize when I filed my complaint in November was that McNulty was just the tip of the iceberg.
Dixon, who is running for supervisor, serves as vice-chairman of the Queensbury Republican Committee. And another town employee, Connie Goedert, is the chairman of the Queensbury Republican Committee.
As members of the town board, McNulty and Dixon are obligated to serve the best interests of town residents. What the Queensbury Ethics Board, a group of volunteer citizens, found on Feb. 11 was that there was an "appearance" of a conflict of interest with McNulty.
That means citizens like myself will repeatedly wonder if McNulty's decisions are in the best interest of residents, or his party.
They can protest all they like, the "appearance" is obvious and the town ethics policy states clearly that town employees should "avoid even the appearance" of a conflict of interest. In the two hours before I spoke Monday night, the Town Board conveniently provided an example in real time.
The resolution seemed simple enough. It was a proposal to offer employment to replace the retiring cemetery commissioner, Goedert, with Mark DeSimone. The Town Board had interviewed three finalists and DeSimone appeared to be the consensus pick. Resolutions scheduled for a vote are usually the final rubber stamp from the town board. If there were objections, they usually come earlier in the process.
But when the town's retiring cemetery superintendent, Goedert, and the cemetery commissioners found out about the choice, they complained about not being included in the selection process. On Monday night, they voiced their objections.
Supervisor John Strough explained the commission's bylaws did not allow it to have a say.
Goedert came forward and spoke directly to the board. They all said they wanted a do-over to interview all the candidates and make their own recommendation. Considering Goedert's position as the chair of the Queensbury Republican Committee, it was obvious she also had the "appearance" of a conflict of interest and should not be anywhere near the hiring process because of her political leadership position. You can make the same argument for McNulty and Dixon.
No one seemed to dispute DeSimone's credentials, and none of the Town Board members wanted to go on record voting against him.
What followed next is the real time example of why McNulty's political leadership job is a conflict of interest with being a member of the Town Board.
Strough made a motion to offer employment to DeSimone. Board member Tony Metivier seconded it. But then, McNulty announced he was concerned about the hiring process and offered up a competing resolution to table the resolution. It was quickly seconded.
Now, there were two resolutions on the floor - something you can't do - and the town attorney advised the board it had to vote on the first resolution before entertaining a second.
Each of the Republicans - McNulty, Dixon and Scott Gushlaw - voted no and then Metivier, who had initially seconded the resolution to hire DeSimone (which usually indicates your approval) also voted no.
Why did Metivier change his mind? Was it because DeSimone became a less attractive candidate from two minute earlier, or because he had to follow the lead of his political superior, McNulty.
McNulty and Dixon will say that is ridiculous and they would never do that, and maybe that is true, but it definitely is an "appearance" of a conflict of interest and that violates town ethics policy. That is spelled out clearly.
The Town Board wrote the word "appearance" into the ethics policy so that situations like this would not occur. Either change the ethics policy or adhere to it.
Many of you may believe this complaint is frivolous.
No laws were broken.
No indictments were filed.
But it looks fishy.
That makes this Town Board look bad and it leaves regular citizens with less faith in their decision-making ability because they don't know who these town employees are serving.
This is called "the good old boy network" where if you don't belong to the right party, you don't get the job. It's not as bad as it used to be, but it's still there.
Years ago, my wife was offered a job as a secretary in the district attorney's office in Warren County. She was advised her appointment would go smoother if she was enrolled in the Republican Party.
She enrolled as a Republican and got the job.
After the final vote, Strough came right out and said Goedert, the head of the Queensbury Republican Committee, was angling for one of her Republican connections to get the job.
At some point, DeSimone had seen enough and left the meeting.
Then, the fireworks started with Strought pointing out that when he was elected to the Town Board, he stepped down as the chairman of the Queensbury Democratic Committee.
Things got uglier still with Dixon - who is running against Strough in the fall election - saying Strough was a "liar."
It was small-town politics at its worst.
It's the reason good and capable men and women won't go within a country mile of being involved in local politics.
Finally, at the end of the meeting, Dixon addressed the conflict of interest charges with moral outrage, saying there was no more ethical person than he.
He seemed to believe that, despite the fact he sits as vice-chair of the Queensbury Republican Committee and clearly has an "APPEARANCE" of a conflict of interest.
So there I sat staring back at the Queensbury Town Board realizing the word "appearance" has no meaning to them. They don't believe they have an "appearance" of a conflict because they have broken no laws.
This isn't about the rule of law, it is about the moral ability to discern right from wrong.
Ethics policies are based on the common sense ability for elected officials to know right from wrong. That's what I told the Town Board Monday night. This was not about politics for me it was about right and wrong and what they were doing was wrong.
The Republicans in Queensbury have lowered the bar to the level we are seeing nationally.
Maybe that is their intent.
But just like in national politics, the voters ultimately have a say when they have a chance to choose between Strough and Dixon in the fall.
I suspect it will be an important issue to many voters.
Sadly, the bigger problem is that in recent years no one else wants to even run for a Town Board seat. Nobody wants to climb into the mud with these guys and who can blame them. That is what was on display Monday night.
Strough appoints new deputy
Queensbury Supervisor John Strough texted deputy supervisor Michael Dixon after the Town Board meeting Monday night relieving him of his duties as deputy supervisor.
The two had exchanged words over a resolution to appoint a new cemetery superintendent with Dixon calling Strough a "liar."
On Wednesday, Strough appointed Jean Lapper, a Queensbury business owner and an unelected official to serve as his deputy supervisor. As deputy supervisor, Lapper would be able to fill in for Strough if he was unable to attend a meeting. Strough has been battling prostate cancer over the past year and just recently finished chemotherapy.
Lapper previously ran for the state senate as the Democratic representative against Dan Stec. Her husband, Peter Roland, is the chairman of the Queensbury Democratic Committee.
In a memorandum dated April 9, 2025, it states: "I John F. Strough do hereby make the following appointment for the year 2025, effective immediately: Deputy Supervisor, Jean Lapper."
Lapper has her own business, Andrerson Advisory Certified Public Accountants in Glens Falls. While she was serving on the state Democratic committee, she submitted her resignation prior to accepting the position of deputy supervisor because she believed it would be seen as a "conflict of interest."
When Tony Metivier stood up to the Republican chairman about voting for a Republican-affiliated law firm in 2017, Strough appointed Metivier as his deputy supervisor.
Republicans responded by eliminating the position.
After Democrats swept out the Republicans after the great Queensbury email scandal in 2017, they reinstated the deputy supervisor position.
Please read this
Bret Stephens is a conservative columnist for the New York Times who often finds some redeeming value in President Donald Trump.
But while writing about the Salvadoran migrant and metal worker who was deported to a terrible prison in his homeland despite not doing anything wrong, he broke ranks with Trump with a column titled "There's nothing real about Trump's `Real America.'"
"I’ve been thinking about this case as an emblem of everything that makes Donald Trump’s presidency so vile and destructive, even when I’ve bent over backward to give him the benefit of the doubt, and even when I’ve agreed with him on this or that point of policy," Stephens wrote. "I have, to borrow a line from Peggy Noonan, a “certain idea of America.” He ain’t it."
Stephens then recites a list of what American is about, things we all admire and are proud of.
You should read that list and think about what is happening now in America.
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.
Here is the crux of the problem: “ Sadly, the bigger problem is that in recent years no one else wants to even run for a Town Board seat.”
technically it should say “almost nobody,” but once in a while someone new decides or is convinced to give it a go. And then they find out how disgusting the process and the institution is.
The root of the problem is much deeper. The supervisor system of government is flawed - purposely. First, Queensbury, where the Supervisor is too big of a job to be an elected position as it is currently structured. Many years ago there was a town comptroller who held the Supervisor in check. I believe the last one was Henry Hesse, and I think he was booted by Dan Stec. It was a long time ago so I may be misremembering the details, but the problem is that running Queensbury is too big a job for any old citizen to run for the office without having a professional manager in place to follow up on details.
But then one more step of complexity, the county supervisors system is an inherent conflict of interest.
Being Queensbury supervisor is a full time job, but then the supervisor election also comes with a second job, a part time job as county supervisor. 2 jobs, 2 paychecks, 1 election, 1 person. There are conflicts between the interests of the county and the individual towns ALL THE TIME. Then toss in the reality that the Republican Party does much of the decision making behind closed doors, adding another level of conflict. The residents of the county are not well served by this form of government, but it still exists because unlike Queensbury (and GF) the rest of the county is (with the exception of Horicon) losing population, and all are small or even smaller towns.
So a town like Stony Creek or Hague, each with less than 800 residents, has a paid supervisor. Those towns are really too small to pay a reasonable salary for the responsiblitity of the position BUT the election comes with an additional salary from a job as county supervisor. Interestingly, before the last election some of those supervisors touted the fact that their town supervisor salary remained low — but then they voted themselves a pay-raise at the county. And where does most of the local funding for county government come from? The bulk of it comes from sales and property tax in Queensbury and Glens Falls.
The Queensbury Town Board - "Whack a Mole!"