Provenzano Announces

Jeanette Provenzano announced her candidacy for Alderman-at-Large.

She also stated that she supports Gallo for Mayor.  A ticket of Gallo/Provenzano is extremely formidable.

As noted in the Daily Freeman:

“I believe Mayor Gallo deserves another term,” Provenzano said. “I think the city is headed in the right direction.”

Gallo, in turn, said he supports Provenzano’s candidacy.

“She has been a hard-working, dedicated, zealous advocate of the public interest,” the mayor said. “She has always been people first, politics last.”

Those of you who read this blog know that I recommended Gallo choose Jeanette as his running mate. Now that it is happening, all I can say is that this is a HUGE development.

The pressure is now on Steve Noble.  Who will be his running mate?  If he chooses one of the 2 Aldermen rumored to be considering it, i.e. Will or Dunn, they will not match up well with Jeanette, a legislator with 2 decades of experience.

Time for Upstate to Step Up

Senate Majority Leader, Dean Skelos, and his son were arrested and charged with various crimes.  It seems very likely that he will be forced to step down as Majority Leader.

Already two Senators are planning to seek the position with one other looming in the background.  Senator Flanagan, a liberal Republican, from Long Island is supposedly the choice of Skelos himself.  Senator DeFrancisco of Syracuse, a conservative Republican, has also declared his intentions to seek the position if Skelos steps down.

There is also Senator Catherine Young of Olean.  She has not formally announced intentions.

I believe that Upstate New Yorkers need to make it clear to the Senate Republicans, most of whom are Upstate New Yorkers too, that the next leader MUST be an Upstate New Yorker.

The Governor was born and raised in Queens even if he now considers Westchester home.  Shelly Silver is from Manhattan and his successor from the Bronx.  Dean Skelos is form Long Island.  Upstate New York has no representation in any of the leadership.  The entire State is run from New York City and Long Island.  Upstate gets ignored and treated like a redheaded step-child.

My fear is that the downstate liberal Republicans will convince Senator Young to jump into the race and split the upstate vote so that Senator Flanagan will get the nod.  Then, downstate will continue to get all the control and upstate will continue to get the shaft,

I hope Upstate New Yorkers will light up the phones and call Senators Larkin, Bonacic, Amedore, Seward, and so forth and demand that they support Senator DeFrancisco and give Upstate New York some say in the State government.

Light up those phones.

Advice to GOP Mayoral Candidates ... Watch your backs.

So far, Ron Polacco and Scott DiMicco are seeking the Republican line for Mayor.  I have a piece of advice for each of them.  Whether you intend to primary or not,do not trust Chairman Sinagra,  If you do, you do so at your own peril.

Why do I say this?    I say it based on experience.  I am not going to rehash the events of four years ago when I felt Tony's political knife squarely in my back.  I just hope any potential GOP candidates keep their eyes open and their guard up.

As for the Conservative party line, the endorsement will be made by the City Executive Committee.  I will only vote in case of a tie.  Until the time comes that I need to break a tie, I will not discuss my personal support for any of the candidates.

Know this though . . . when the time comes that I tell a candidate they have my support, he or she can take it to the bank that I will keep my word.

New Candidate Enters Mayoral Race

Former Alderman, Scott DiMicco, announced that he will seek the Republican nomination for Mayor of the City of Kingston.

In an article appearing on the Freeman website, DiMicco said he has not approached nor spoken with any party chairman.  I can report that he has indeed not approached me yet about the Conservative party line.  I do know that Scott carried the Conservative line each time he ran for Alderman.

Now, there are 2 Republicans candidates running for Mayor, though Ron Polacco has not formally announced yet.  There are also 2 Democrat candidates.

The election season is getting very interesting.

Scandal in the City Democratic Committee?? -- attempts being made to fix the nomination??

Joe Donaldson, the City Democrat Chairman, is supporting Steve Noble for Mayor.  This is no secret.  He supports Noble because he hates Gallo.  What is not known (according to several party insiders) is that Donaldson is trying to secretly fix the election for the party nomination.

How is he doing this?  There are two things he is doing.

First, he has appointed his son and several people from Rosendale to the committee simply because they will be anti-Gallo.  This is legal, but unethical.  By law, one must only live in the Assembly district to be a  committeeman.  However, allowing non-Kingstonians to select the Democratic candidate for Kingston is simply wrong.  He also has appointed those from Kingston to vacant spots who are decidedly anti-Gallo.

Second, and more egregiously, he has moved the committeemen around to garner more votes for Noble.  Some political parties use a weighted voting system.  The Democrats do.  A committeeman who is assigned to a district that garnered more votes on the Democrat line for Governor gets a higher weighted vote.  In other words, one committeeman's vote is worth more than another's vote.

In theory, one could get less than a majority of the 54 committeeman, but still win the nomination based solely on the weighted vote so long as the people who support that candidate are in the strongest Democrat voting districts.

I have been informed by several people in the Democrat committee that Chairman Donaldson has been moving the anti-Gallo committeemen into the districts with the larger weighted vote.  It has been told to me that Chairman Donaldson's son is in the district with the largest weighted vote.  Sound fair to you?  If this is true, I consider it reprehensible.

Here's an idea.  Stop the political backroom maneuvering and let the committeemen decide who they want to be their candidate.  I wonder what the enrolled Democrats in the city who will vote in the likely primary would think of this political underhandedness.  If Noble beats Gallo for the nomination in a fair fight, so be it.  That's the process.  But, to move the players around for the sole purpose of influencing the vote is just plain wrong.

Anti-Gallocrats get Noble to run for Mayor, but not the one they wanted.

The portion of the Democrats I refer to as Anti-Gallocrats were hoping that Jim Noble would run for Mayor.  They will have a candidate named Noble, but not the one they wanted.  Steve Noble, the city zookeeper (with a title of Environmental Educator or some PC name like that) announced earlier tonight that he is running for Mayor.

The Democrats who support Gallo must be very happy that Uncle Jim decided not to run.  Though Gallo would have beaten him in the primary, the elder Noble likely would have taken the nomination first much like Hayes Clement did almost 4 years ago.

There are a few questions that now remain.

First, will Uncle Jim run as his nephew's running mate?  This in and of itself creates questions.  Would a Noble-Noble ticket confuse some voters and thus cost votes?  Would some people think that having two family members on the same ticket to be wrong?  Would Jim Noble, as the more experienced and frankly stronger candidate over shadow his young nephew?  As of now, Jim Noble has not stated his intentions.

Second, other than being anti-Gallo, what else is Steve Noble running on? What is his plan?  Environmentalism is all well and good, but more is required to run this city.

Third, how will Steve Noble and his campaign deal with the numerous political liabilities that will no doubt involve themselves in his campaign simply because they hate Shayne Gallo?  There is no question that these individuals (and we all know who they are) will try to insert themselves into the campaign.  Noble has to find away to keep them away.  Will he be able to do so without create a public fiasco?  Others have been unable to avoid these political blood suckers.

Fourth, (and I have asked this already), who will be Shayne Gallo's running mate?  I have been suggesting Jeanette Provenzano.  Now, rumbles are beginning to surface that she might consider it under certain circumstances, i.e. if Jim Noble does not run.  This may mean that despite the potential perils of 2 people with the same name on the ticket, Steve may ask Uncle Jim to keep Jeanette out of the race.

Fifth and finally, what answer will Steve give when reporters and/or citizens ask about him being his spouse's boss?  If Steve were to win, he would be his wife's boss.  Obviously, this creates political and personal issues.

As I have said before, 2015 will be a very interesting year.

Another Mayoral Candidate?

Rumors are floating around the political circuit that Steve Noble may not run for Mayor, but that his uncle, Alderman-at-Large, Jim Noble, is considering a run.  Admittedly, I have not gotten confirmation of this, though the rumors are everywhere.

What would this mean?

Well, certainly Jim Noble would be a much stronger candidate.  He would have a chance of getting the nomination from the City Committee.  The resulting primary would be competitive, though Gallo would still likely win.  Jim's candidacy is much more of a threat though than Steve.

Next question -- will he run?  I personally doubt it.  I have known Jim Noble since I was a young boy.  Jim and my Dad were friends and both played on the Hibernian softball team known as the lean, mean, green, Irish machine.  I consider Jim Noble to be a good man.

All of that being said, I think Jim would hate being Mayor.  The day to day budget grind, the constant pressure, and 24/7 schedule would be something I think he would despise.  Being Alderman-at-Large requires responsibility and character, but the position is truly part-time.  Being Mayor never stops.

I could be completely off base, but my thought is that Jim is at a point in his life where he enjoys being Alderman-at-Large and being involved in politics part-time. I would be frankly surprised if he opts to jump in full-time.

Only time will tell.  All I know is that 2015 may turn out to be a fascinating political year.