Two races have roots in 2017 controversies
Really, you are still defending Sweeney
The Front Page
Morning Update
Primary Day
Tuesday, June 22, 2021
By Ken Tingley
It’s Primary Day in New York which basically means around here that Republicans go to the polls.
With Republicans holding a big advantage over Democrats in the voting ranks, that means a lot of elections might be decided today by who gets the Republican endorsement.
Two races in particular are a flashback to some sad party politics in 2017. I hope voters remember that when they go to the polls in Queensbury and Warrensburg.
Late in 2016, Queensbury Town Board member Doug Irish proposed the town change law firms to one run by John Aspland, who was vice chairman of the Queensbury Republican Party and friends with Irish. Tony Metivier, also a Republican on the Town Board, objected because he believed the town needed to look closer at the issue. He asked for a delay in the vote.
Before the vote, Michael Grasso, chairman of the Warren County Republican Party for more than a decade, left Metivier a message on his phone saying, “You will vote for this, or you will pay.”
The Town Board voted 3-2 to change law firms with Metivier voting against. The next spring he paid as the Warren County Republican Committee endorsed Hal Bain with a 41-0 vote. Every election since, Metivier has had a primary, including today. He has prevailed each time.
In Warrensburg, Kevin Geraghty has a primary against former sheriff Bud York. Geraghty has been one of the pillars of the Republican community for 40 years and he was one of the few who went on the record that dirty tricks during the 2017 election were not right.
York, on the other hand, may be one of the most political sheriffs ever.
During the 2017 Queensbury campaign, York not only endorsed supervisor candidate Rachel Seeber, but it was reported he delivered hand-written notes to voters.
So when Seeber mentioned that some voters were complaining about the delivery of a Post-Star product in their driveways - including Irish’s wife - York launched a littering investigation that later led to charges against Post-Star Publisher Rob Forcey. Never in the history of local law enforcement had the Sheriff’s Office been used for a littering investigation. It also came on the heels of the newspaper’s reporting of a email scandal in Queensbury where Irish, Aspland, Grasso and Town Board member Brian Clements exchanged emails on how they could keep reluctant candidate Hal Bain in the Town Board race and then appoint someone else to take his seat if he were to win. The reporting was also costing Seeber votes. I said at the time the group was perpetrating a fraud on the voters.
The voters agreed on Election Day, voting against Seeber, Clements and for Metivier.
After the election, on another tip from Seeber’s campaign, York launched an investigation into John Strough for election fraud. Strough and his wife were later arrested on a technicality for not properly getting signatures notarized.
The littering charges against The Post-Star were later thrown out in court.
I think Warrensburg voters should be wary about York’s real reasons for wanting to be supervisor. They’ve got a good one in Kevin Geraghty, they should keep him.
Still in the news
It’s nice to be remembered, even if the memories are not accurate.
There was a letter to the editor in The Post-Star this morning from a Nicholas Collins accusing me of pushing my unpopular opinions into the newspaper. I just wish editors had inserted an editor’s note that pointed out I had been retired for nearly a year.
Collins accused me of having “liberal” viewpoints. I believe that translates into holding Rep. Stefanik accountable for hiring a high school kid to spy on her opponent, inviting a man to her town hall meeting who had threatened The Post-Star and her backing repeal and place of local people’s health care without a replacement option. I don’t think any of those are “liberal” viewpoints and as I have said many times, I was a long-time Republican before becoming so disgusted with party politics that I became an independent.
What was really surprising was that Collins said he “remembered” how we repeatedly attacked Rep. Sweeney when he was in office. Sweeney later admitted he was an alcoholic at the time and regularly was rated as one of the most corrupt members of Congress. It’s is hard to believe someone is still defending him all these years later.
I could only find one column I ever wrote about Sweeney and it was not an attack of any kind. In fact, The Post-Star editorial board endorsed Sweeney every time he ran for office - our bad - but when he admitted to a domestic violence incident just days before the 2006 election against Kirsten Gillibrand, the editorial board rescinded its endorsement. That was the right thing to do.
Unfortunately, too many people have memories that don’t reflect the facts.
Tweet of the Day
Shen Product goes viral!
I’m glad you reported this again. I had not followed it closely.
You seem to have a very selective memory Ken. If you recall, the issue that first divided York and Geraghty was the Siemens investigation, where York had been collecting information for years before it came to a head and became apparent that Administrator Dusek had been misleading the Board and the Republican Cabal, led by Geraghty and Conover did their very best to derail the investigation while supporting Dusek to the fullest, including at one point officially apologizing to him in a Resolution. A year later when the truth came out Dusek was gone and the County was on its way to negotiating a $500,000 payment from Siemens, promising never to speak of the deal again. THIS was the low point in local politics and York took on the Republican Cabal while Geraghty moved into Dusek's abandoned slot. While past elected officials like the DA would not touch anything that smacks of politics, it was a bright spot that we used to have a sheriff that was not afraid to buck the Party, and ultimately, County residents collected at least a little of what was lost in some very bad deals. York would clearly raise the bar at the County if he were to replace Geraghty.