VanNess should reveal punishment

Owens calls into question Stefanik’s `character’

Aug 03, 2021

Morning Update

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

By Ken Tingley

William VanNess, the former Queensbury Town Board member who currently serves as the Republican commissioner to the Warren County Board of Elections, was disciplined last month for making disparaging and hateful comments about a transgender person on social media.

Except, nobody is saying what that discipline is because it is “personnel” matter.

The county appears to have taken the complaint seriously, which is good to see, hiring an outside law firm to conduct an investigation.

The law firm, Bartlett, Pontiff, Stewart and Rhodes, found VanNess had violated the county’s policy against discrimination and that “the social media posts of Mr. VanNess at issue were inappropriate and are not reflective of the county’s position on these matters.”

That leaves the question of what is the appropriate discipline.

Should VanNess have been fired?

Should he have been suspended without pay?

Or did he just get a stern verbal warning?

It’s important to know that VanNess has been active politically in the county for some time so that makes it bit more important to know how VanNess’s punishment was handled.

If you go back five years, VanNess was in the middle of a Queensbury controversy when it voted to drop its long-time lawfirm and one that had more Republican connections in the county. The vote was 3-2 with Republican Tony Metivier voting against the move. Metivier has been punished by Republican leadership every election since for doing what he thought was the right thing.

VanNess was a good solider for the Republican leadership and voted for the move. His reward was to be appointed as the Republican commissioner for the Warren County Board of Elections the next June with a salary of $64,500 at the time. He was appointed over a long-time deputy in the department.

He has been there ever since.

“The county has an obligation to current employees and those seeking employment to ensure our workplace is free from harassment or discrimination based upon gender expression, gender identify, genetic predisposition and transgender status,” County Administrator Ryan Moore told The Post-Star. He also said the county had followed the recommendations from its outside counsel.

But considering the county recently rolled back its nepotism policy, it is a bit unclear who answers to whom anymore.

In the interest of being totally above board, VanNess should make his discipline public. It’s the only way the public can be sure that VanNess isn’t being taken care of by politically forces at the county.

Owens weighs in on Stefanik

It was nice to hear from former congressman Bill Ownens - OK, he is a Democrat, but a moderate one - say this about my recent newsletter criticizing Rep. Elise Stefanik:

“This is an excellent piece as it captures the Congresswomen’s lack of character and clear factual misrepresentations to her constituents and the American people.”

Politicians usually have differing opinions on the issues, but it says a lot when one person ways in on your “character.”