Gazette calls on Qby Town Board to act on conflict of interest
Chapman Museum unveils new 1890s diorama of downtown Glens Falls
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When the Schenectady Gazette endorsed Elise Stefanik for Congress in the last election, there were many angry people.
They could not understand the rationale for endorsing a candidate whose every action had a political calculation to further her own career and had a very shaky relationship with the truth.
But here is the good part.
At least the Schenectady Gazette made an endorsement.
Those "fake news" and enemies of the people" pronouncements have continued to dog the Fourth Estate in recent years and many news organizations have backed away from commentary and killed editorials altogether.
The Gazette still has an editorial page editor and editorial board and continues to lead the debate in its community about important issues.
You may not always agree with it - like the Stefanik endorsement - but it will lead the debate and discussion around it.
The Albany Times Union also has an editorial page editor and editorial board and is regularly tackling difficult issues.
The Post-Star in Glens Falls has an editorial page three times a week, but it rarely writes local editorials or engages its readers about important local issues. I find that sad considering it is a former Pulitzer Prize winner for editorials.
On Monday, the Gazette weighed in on the conflict of interest issue that is currently raging in Queensbury.
It was surprising because Schenectady is 44 miles from Queensbury and considered a fringe coverage area for the newspaper.
But not surprising since its editorial page editor, Pulitzer winner Mark Mahoney, still lives in Queensbury, but more importantly, still maintains a passion for open government and Freedom of Information. So if there is an ethics issue, it is not hard to get his attention.
This was Mark Mahoney's type of story.
One of the reasons The Front Page exists is because of the lack of editorials and commentary about local issues locally.
I still believe it is important for the community to debate local issues out in the open.
Mahoney was at his vintage best Monday with his editorial titled: "Ethical issue? Do what's best for the people."
There is nothing complicated about Mark's positions, just plain common sense.
"They say integrity is how you behave when no one is watching," the Gazette's editorial started. "Government ethics, on the other hand, is how you behave when everyone is watching."
The editorial goes on to give the backstory about Town Board member Tim McNulty's insistence to hold his elected position as well as his appointed job as chairman of the Warren County Republican Committee despite the Queensbury Ethics Board's ruling that it was a "conflict of interest."
"If you’re a Republican office holder in the county who is interested in running for re-election, or if you may be interested in seeking higher office at some point, you need to be in the good graces of the party chairman," the Gazette reasoned. "That’s how politics works."
The great things about editorials is that newspapers act as independent arbiters with nothing at stake in the debate. That's what gives them credibility.
"But by serving as both a member of the town board on which three other Republicans serve, the party chairman can also exert extra influence over how those council members on the board vote on town issues," the editorial states. "The town is divided into wards, and board members run for board seats only in those wards. As a result, situations might arise in which a decision that might be in the best interests of that board member’s constituents might not necessarily be in sync with the interests of the county party. So that board member, in doing the job he was elected to do, might feel compelled to vote against his constituents in some situations in order to stay in the good graces of the party chairman."
Once again - common sense.
The Gazette editorial concludes by saying that Town Board member Tim McNulty should choose one of the positions and resign from the other.
Gradually, the dispute has become an issue of interest for town residents. Five residents spoke out last week asking the board to address the problem.
That's what the Gazette editorial asked for, too.
"It’s time for Mr. McNulty to act in the best interests of the citizens of Queensbury and do in public what he should have done in private — demonstrate some integrity and step down from one of his conflicting roles," the Gazette concludes. "Other public officials in comparable ethical situations in other communities can learn from what ultimately happens here."
More newspapers should follow the Gazette's lead.
It's an important part of every newspaper’s mission.
Glens Falls - 1895
The Chapman Museum unveiled a new exhibit last week that has been in the works for more than a year with the help of the Upstate Model Railroaders Club.
Led by Ken Wheeler and Forest Bevins, the railroaders constructed downtown Glens Falls, circa 1895, complete with a working trolley line and historic buildings like the Rockwell House Hotel, the Finch House, the Civil War monument and the fountain in what was then Fountain Square.
Using a 3D printer, and detailed researched of the buildings that were downtown in 1890s, they were able to bring the Glens Falls of the 1890s back to life.
A small reception was held last Thursday to celebrate the new exhibit.
All are urged to check it out in the Chapman Museum on Glen Street.
Correction
In last Wednesday Front Page, I wrote about the Columbia University student - and green card holder - who was targeting for deportation by the Trump administration without breaking any laws. He is now in detention.
I wrote that the student "supports the terrorist organization Hamas."
That was incorrect.
What the student did was promote demonstrations in support of Palestinians. That's a big difference.
Despite the fact there is no proof the student broke any laws, he remains in detention in Louisiana. His wife is eight months pregnant.
His lawyers say he was "exercising free speech and accused the government of "open repression of student activism and political speech."
I would agree.
EPA mission
The Trump administration has found a new mission for the Environmental Protection Agency. Last week I pointed out that it will no longer be protecting the environment.
The New York Times went into more detail this week writing, "This month the Trump administration dropped a federal lawsuit against Denka Performance Elastomer, a chemical manufacturer accused of releasing high levels of a likely carcinogen from its Louisiana plant."
An internal memo said that:
E.P.A. enforcement actions will no longer “shut down any stage of energy production,” the March 12 memo says, unless there’s an imminent health threat. It also curtails a drive started by President Biden to address the disproportionately high levels of pollution facing poor communities nationwide. “No consideration,” the memo says, “may be given to whether those affected by potential violations constitute minority or low-income populations.”
Considering the continued problems because of climate change, that is very disconcerting.
Bureau of inefficiency
Catherine Rampell of The Washington Post has been following DOGE's actions very closely recenlty.
She wrote that “the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (is making)] the federal government almost comically inefficient.” She wrote that Internal Revenue Service employees line up at shared computers on Mondays to submit their “five things I did last week” emails to DOGE while taxpayer service calls go unanswered. Federal surveyors at the Bureau of Land Management are no longer allowed to buy replacement equipment, so when a shovel breaks they can’t simply replace it; they have to locate a manager authorized to file an official procurement form and order one. Many have had to ignore their actual jobs in order to scrub words from official documents."
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.
Lee Zeldin should rot in hell, and the denial of climate change amid the chaos left in the wake of the toddler in chief is astounding. Not a peep about the degradation and reversal of years of hard work trying to clean up our environment. It becomes oh so clear that the only thing that motivates MAGA is pissing off the rest of us. The only thing resembling politics that they do is to un-do, destroy, denigrate and then complain that government inefficiency and that it can't do anything right. I hear that FEMA is on the block now too...imagine if he ran on that? enough, enough, enough
Mahmoud Abdul's protest was not violent....He was here legally, he was taken illegally. Another Palestinian protester was also apprehended. Our right wingTrump, Musk. Vance are on a vendetta against students and universities for being anti-Semitic--screaming at college presidents, threatening to defund them, arresting students. The hypocrisy is outrageous.. Musk gives Nazi salutes, Vance speaks to the extreme right wing German party, Trump pardons the insurrectists at the Capitol with Nazi flags and Auschwitz sweatshirts, the oath keepers and the proud boys,. and thinks that some of the Charlottesville protesters chanting"Jews will not replace us" were very fine people. Being for Palestinian rights is not anti-Semitic, not anti-Israel. It is against Israel's right wing agenda and its out of control bombing and killing, it is against racist Israeli settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank, destroying their olive trees and, most recently beating up the Palestinian filmmaker who. with an Israeli comrade just won an award for his film: No Land but this. . As a Jew I am continually protesting Netanyahu as I protest Trump--two criminals who are willing to destroy their countries to stay in power. I support Rabbis for Human Rights and all the groups in Israel, as well as well as groups here in the US, who work for justice for all, for democracy and freedom.