We’ve completed one week of the much anticipated voter fraud trial and while I refrain from delving too much into an analysis of what happened so far – mainly since I wasn’t there for most of it – a couple things stand out more for their entertainment value than any profound legal maneuvering.

For starters, much has been said about how the Dems got caught doing what they did when people have been manipulating absentee ballots since Christ was a carpenter - and I don't mean McDonough and LoPorto but the other four who pled guilty. Those reasons include but are not limited to: the fact the Dems were sick of seeing the Working Families Party line stolen by the GOP and they were so desperate to get it back they got sloppy; Bob Mirch knows how the game is played since he spent many years playing it himself and knew what was going on; the Dems got greedy towards the end of the 2009 primary and turned too many ballots too close to actual Primary Day.

But, the kicker as far as I’m concerned, is someone spelled two of the voters names wrong as they allegedly forged their name on the absentee ballots.

According to testimony last week given by the two voters who weren’t even sure they voted or for who or in what primary, Darnell Paterson’s name was spelled with two Ns, “Darnnell” and Thurman Jones name was spelled with an O, “Thurmon.” At least they got “Jones” right.

My guess is that it must be pretty difficult to forge someone’s signature so it looks like it was done in that person’s hand so the least you can do is get all the letters right and in the right order.

Also, Mary Ellen LaPlante testified against her former boss Board of Elections Commissioner Ed McDonough last week. She is former, by the way, because she has since retired not for any reason related to voter fraud.

In and of itself it’s not odd as we can expect more BOE employees to take the stand but she also testified against McDonough’s father back in the 90s when she was working for the Democrats at the county Legislature. McDonough senior, then the party chair, was thrown in prison after a jury found him guilty of using his position to basically extort money from municipalities who purchased insurance from his firm.

Like more than a couple decades ago, LaPlante also broke down on the stand as she gave some incriminating evidence. Can’t blame her really, she was just an employee trying to do her job and wasn’t about to lie while under oath, then or now.

GORDON

Troy Republican Chair Jim Gordon was recently tapped to be the county STOP DWI Coordinator. He will replace Chuck Wojton, who will get promoted and replace Tim Holt, who is retiring after a long stint as the county’s director of central services.

The STOP DWI coordinator has been the epitome of a political patronage job for years. Though, Wojton seems to have broken that mold and actually did do some work towards curtailing DWI in the county - which is pretty much what the job description says he’s supposed to do.

But, before Wojton, who will make $75,000 in his new gig, there were three who were pretty much political animals. In order they are:

- Jason Kippen: who is now in charge of human resources for the state Senate. In other words he is the gatekeeper for a bunch of jobs.

- Dan Crawley: who served as deputy mayor under Mayor Harry Tutunjian and is now executive secretary of the Troy Housing Authority. Some say he is one reason Tutunjian, one of his best friends, was ever elected mayor.


SWEENEY



- John Sweeney: Who went to serve in Congress earning himself the moniker “Congressman Kick Ass.” It’s no secret Sweeney was attending law school full time in Massachesuetts while he was the STOP DWI coordinator and maybe he should have paid more … at this point I think I’ll say I’m going to refrain from any cracks about Sweeney’s driving record or other ironies related to him being the STOP DWI coordinator. Safe to say, Sweeney is a political genius and he didn’t earn the moniker for being a nice guy about it.

And now we have the city GOP chair moving into the $50,000 spot.

Another thought is since Gordon was lobbying hard for the open seat on the Legislature and he can't do that and work for the county, it narrows it down to two: former mayoral candidate Carmella Mantello and former Troy Council candidate Tom Killips. Council candidate Seamus Donnelly has tossed his name in the ring but I think the other two have a better shot at it. Those are the only names I’ve heard but those who will make the pick must be nervous because whoever it is will have to run in November during an “Obama year” in the overwhelmingly Democratic City of Troy.

I was trying to find a way to correlate the Gordon appointment to the ongoing battle between the Legislature and the county executive but I really can’t so I’m guessing it’s a wash and the two branches of government will go on with their feud. Maybe it will heat up a bit when it comes time for the Legislature to confirm Wojton’s appointment as a department head.

That’s what the move means by the administration of Mayor Lou Rosamilia to abolish the Planning Board and replace it with a Planning Commission.

Na, I’m just kidding. I honestly don’t blame Rosamilia for getting his own people onto the panel that will control the direction of development in the city. I think former Chair Peter Kehoe said it best in his resignation letter: “As chairman I have seen it as one of my duties to support and promote the development policies of Mayor Tutunjian. I am sure you will have your own policies and priorities to put forth and it seems right to me that you should have as chairman someone whom you are confident will support and promote your own ideas.”

Tutunjian did the same thing when he came into office eight years ago by replacing the Planning Commission with the present Planning Board configuration. The two bodies do have different criteria for membership, but the bottom line is it’s about getting you own people on them.

I remember one of the more controversial proposals before the then Planning Commission in Pattison’s time was an idea by Joseph’s House to convert the old Phoenix Hotel into apartments for the chronically homeless. The ‘Burgh blew a gasket and cited all sorts of bad and evil things like property values plummeting, panhandlers scaring customers away from businesses and watching the wretched homeless wandering around their neighborhoods urinating on everything that didn’t move and some that did.

Truth be told, I don’t think anyone has heard too much about the Phoenix Hotel since the crowds packed the Planning Commission meetings to air their fears that are, as far as I know, unrealized. The proposed McDonald’s on Hoosick Street wasn’t as lucky as the project is pretty much dead, but my guess is if it did forward we’d be saying the same amount of nothing about the Golden Arches despite the cries of it ruining the smooth flow of traffic on Hoosick Street. (There is a hint of sarcasm in the last part of that sentence for those of you who have a difficult time keeping up.)

ROSAMILIA

In the end, Rosamilia is the mayor, it’s his administration and they earned the right to take development in whatever direction they choose. It would be a whole bunch simpler if the current members of the Planning Board followed Kehoe’s lead, resigned and allowed Rosamilia to put his own people on the board. They, like Kehoe, did a job well done and it’s time to let someone else have a chance.

LOPORTO

MCDONOUGH

State Police were busy on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday delivering subpoenas on behalf of the special prosecutor, Trey Smith, to potential witnesses in the trial of Board of Elections Commissioner Ed McDonough and former Councilman Michael LoPorto.

While I’m sure there is a formal witness list I haven’t seen it. It is, however, easy enough to figure out who Smith will call based on who copped a plea and who testified in front of the grand jury that handed up 116 felonies against the two Democrats.


SMITH



Those who copped a plea:



- Former City Clerk Bill McInerney: He was supposedly one of the masterminds behind the scheme and as such probably knew what everyone was doing because he was telling them what to do. He pleaded guilty to one felony, though there is sufficient evidence that he committed numerous others over numerous years so the fact he gets off without any jail time means he will be spilling his guts. 



- Tony DiFiglio: A longtime Democratic Party operative who used to work at the Troy Housing Authority also pled guilty to one felony and avoided jail time. I’m not sure what he can tell anyone about anyone else but he did pretty much sum up voter fraud in Rensselaer County with the memorable statement about how both major parties have been engaged in voter fraud since Christ was a carpenter.

- Tony Renna: He also pled to a felony without jail time so what he does know he will be talking either in this trial or against the other indicted two- former Council President Clement Campana and Councilman Gary Galuski.



- Former Councilman John Brown: He pled to a felony and is looking at six months in jail. Brown probably has some dirt on at least McDonough as at least one statement put him in a room when McDonough allegedly committed forgery. Considering the felony could have been worth as much as five years in prison, I have to believe Brown will give something up against someone.

MCGRATH

Those who testified and might have copped a plea:

- Councilman Kevin McGrath: It’s hard to know what he said behind the grand jury room door but in his statement to the State Police, he said McDonough filled out a bunch of information on a bunch of absentee ballot applications including dates and the reason voters were out of town. Many are looking forward to what McGrath says on the stand.

- Kevin O’Malley: The Board of Elections employee testified at the first grand jury twice – the first time without an attorney and the second time with one in tow. Since he is known as McDonough’s right hand man, my guess is he knew a bunch of what was going on at the BOE and will probably have a bunch to say against McDonough.

- Sara Couch: The Working Families Party operative is the one to whom LoPorto allegedly handed a bunch of absentee ballot applications to wrapped up in a newspaper with directions to take them to the BOE. After the story broke, Couch told the State Police, LoPorto told her to forget about the ballots.

- Other WFP operatives: Tom Aldrich, Brandt Caird and Jim Welch also testified in front of the grand jury and it’s a safe bet they will testify again in front of the jury.

The voters: And let’s not forget the voters who were allegedly defrauded. Once they take the stand, are shown absentee ballots and/or applications and asked if they wrote what is actually written on them, attorneys Brian Premo and Michael Feit are going to have their work cut out for them.

NICHOLS

Newcomer Nina Nichols, D-at Large, is now the president pro temp after beating out her colleague Ken Zalewski last night by a count of 5-2.

The nine-member body initially picked Councilman Gary Galuski, D-District 6, for the post that doesn’t do much outside pick up an extra $2,500. But, between the time the Council voted for Galuski by secret ballot and when they actually met to formally appoint him he hit a little speed bump – he was indicted on four felonies for his alleged role in voter fraud.

ZALEWSKI

Zalewski was none too happy last night when he didn’t get crowned pro temp and said, and I paraphrase, he has been maligned over the years for not playing party politics and what not. That much, I guess, is true. He’s not necessarily a party-proper loyalist but there is also a legitimate gripe among the party that he’s not much of a results-minded leader either. For example, a couple years back, he decided to head up a committee to study the old City Hall and after months of doing whatever, he came up with the profound conclusion the city should either fix it up and stay, or tear it down and move.

County Chair Tom Wade was also at the meeting and he’s not a big Zalewski fan either, which goes back to the aforementioned point since Wade is the party proper in this county. We haven’t seen enough of Nichols to determine if she is a Wadeite or not, but Wade and city Chair Jack McCann were big Nichols fans when she was toying with the idea of running for mayor. Like it or not I can't blame Wade for not liking someone loyal to him.

A couple other things come to mind:

-The position of pro temp was initially established back when there was a city manager form of government. The mayor, or today’s equivalent of a council president, was the At Large candidate who got the most votes which upset a district candidate, Frank Lamiano, so they established the position of pro temp and gave it a $2,500 stipend. Even back then the parameters of the job were never really established outside of filling in for the president, and they are no clearer today.

-If the issue against Nichols was her lack of experience then why not go for Kevin McGrath, who is starting his third term on the Council and represents a district – see above.

-As one person pointed out, it’s kind of ironic that Kevin McGrath, D-District 1, voted for Nichols instead of Zalewski or even didn’t stick with Galuski. He served four years with each and is intimately tied to Galuski through the voter fraud scandal. Not that McGrath stands indicted of anything but he did twice testify on behalf of the prosecution.

-Mark McGrath, R-District 2, took a shot at Zalewski and called his style of representation: “Leadership by Laptop,” which is a line stolen from former Mayor Harry Tutunjian in reference to Zalewski’s penchant for emails and social media.

KOPKA

-Councilman Dean Bodnar, R-District 2, broke from his two person caucus and voted against Nichols. Or maybe M. McGrath broke from it but either way the caucus is fractured. Yes, it’s easy to say the same thing about the Democrats but a 50-50 split is much worse on paper than whatever split the Democrats have going and it’s much easier to quantify.

-Newly elected Council President Lynn Kopka said there is no training wheels for the job and that’s painfully obvious given the abrupt cancelation of last week’s meeting and the near-chaos of last night’s meeting. But, she’s held the spot for a whole 13 days so the honeymoon is still on.

GALUSKI

Amazing really. Eight indictments in voter fraud including a sitting councilman, three former councilmen, an elections commissioner and a former city clerk.

As we know, four plead guilty to felonies, four plead innocent and the first trial – that of Elections Commissioner Ed McDonough and former Councilman Michael LoPorto – is set to kick off Tuesday.

With seven other indictments – and four pleading guilty to felonies and one, former Councilman John Brown, looking at jail time – the selective prosecution theory put forth by Ed McDonough’s attorney Brian Premo is a much much harder sell. Sure, there are some who think the only reason others outside of McDonough and LoPorto were indicted is because of Premo’s theory, which he presented in a slew of motions and letters, and while that may or may not be the case the fact remains eight Democrats were indicted.

I suppose Premo could continue to push his belief the investigation was orchestrated to protect party higher ups and more prominent elected officials but again, that’s been a tough sell from the get go and I just don’t see it becoming any easier now that everything is in front of the judge and not left to unanswered motions and/or letters.

The latest casualty, though he can’t be called a casualty yet because he did plead not guilty and he’s innocent until proven guilty, is Councilman Gary Galuski, D-District 6. Ironically, Galuski got a job at the Board of Elections alongside McDonough after he was implicated by Trey Smith, the special prosecutor more than two years ago. So, of the five or six Democrats working at the board, two stand charged with defrauding voters.

ZALUSKI

As I’ve mentioned before, if any of the four who pled innocent decide to plead guilty or are found guilty they will certainly be looking at jail time since former Councilman John Brown set the bar and is now looking at six months in jail.

Also, the Council was set to elect Galuski as pro-temp, which comes with a $2,500 stipend, but now it's up in the air between one of his two colleagues: Councilman Ken Zaluski, D-District 5, who was vying for the position earlier, or Councilwoman Nina Nichols, D-At Large.
Honestly, I’m not sure what the pro-temp does or is expected to do. It was created to placate then Councilman Frank Lamiano a couple decades ago when there was a city manager form of government and it just kind of carried over as did the extra $2,500.

GALUSKI

Well, it looks like the special prosecutor, Trey Smith, will hand up another indictment this afternoon and everyone thinks it’s going to be Councilman Gary Galuski, D-District 6.

A couple things, one if the indictment is handed up that means Galuski didn’t plead out to anything and the only other option he has is to go to trial. Former Council President Clem Campana opted for the same route and retained high-powered attorney E. Stewart Jones to defend him against five felonies and other charges related to the now infamous 2009 Working Families Party primary.

If Galuski did follow in the footsteps of his former colleague, ex-Councilman John Brown, former City Clerk Bill McInerney or two operatives who also plead guilty, Tony Renna and Tony DiFiglio, he would have likely had to have pled to a felony and that means he has to give up his seat on the Council.

There is a chance Galuski can still take a plea and if he does the Democrats on the Council pick his replacement, then there will be another election in November and another one in 2013 for a full two-year term. If he’s found guilty of a felony at trial he’s automatically off the Council as well. I have no idea who the Democratic majority would even consider for that seat and am unaware of any names even interested but should either scenario play out I’m sure they can find someone.

Galuski would not, however, under either scenario, automatically have to give up his job at the Board of Elections because in that role he is not a public officer. Through, it would be kind of difficult to get convicted of defrauding voters and then keep a job where part of the description is to ensure honest and fair elections.

I’ll probably write more on this later this afternoon or maybe tonight.

LAPOSTA

The Frank LaPosta/Civil Service Commission/city clerk saga is over.

LaPosta, who was appointed to the commission by then Mayor Harry Tutunjian on Dec. 31, his second to last day in office, attended his first meeting on Tuesday.

He hasn’t yet signed the oath book, however, since the new city clerk, Karla Guererri, isn’t officially the city clerk yet. She was supposed to get the necessary approvals last week but the Council abruptly cancelled the meeting because it didn’t provide the proper, 72-hour public notification.

If you remember, then City Clerk Michelle DeLair refused to allow LaPosta to sign the book because … well, nobody is really sure why that is but she did refuse.

Also, LaPosta’s term was modified by Mayor Lou Rosamilia from the original six years to three to round out the remainder of an existing term which is what it should have been from the get go.

LaPosta has 30 days from his appointment to formally sign the book so he should have no problems filling that obligation, provided of course the Council actually holds a meeting sometime within that time frame to confirm Guererri’s appointment.

They are still in the honeymoon stage, so I won’t bash the Troy Council for having to cancel its first meeting of the New Year, the first with Lynn Kopka as president and the first of Mayor Lou Rosamilia’s tenure because it didn’t give proper notice.


It is a pretty important meeting, though. During the organizational section of the first meeting all of Rosamilia’s appointments – such as deputy mayor, spokesman and director of the Planning Department – are confirmed by the Council. Also confirmed are the Council hires like city clerk and city auditor and the councilmembers are given their committee assignments.

It would be easy to bash them for screwing up it up but there is a lot going on in City Hall right now. As I mentioned there is a new mayor, a new Council president and a new city clerk, or at least the new one is doing the job of the old city clerk.

My guess is the wires got crossed between the new city clerk, Karla Guererri, and the old city clerk, Michelle DeLair.

To give each the benefit of the doubt, Guererri is new to the post and might not even be officially serving in that capacity depending on how you interpret the abandonment of the meeting where she was supposed to get appointed. And DeLair had more pressing concerns right before the long New Year’s weekend, like dodging Frank LaPosta while he tried to sign the oath book after being appointed to the Civil Service Commission by outgoing Mayor Harry Tutunjian on Dec. 30.

So, one can easily conclude since it is still honeymoon time for the newbies, it’s LaPosta’s fault the Council had to cancel its first meeting.

I just spoke with Kopka, and she said there was some confusion as to the notice and she is simply erring on the side of caution and will hold the meeting Jan. 12. The above post is completely tongue and cheek for those of you who might think I really thought it was LaPosta's fault.

LAPOSTA

It looks like the last minute appointments Mayor Harry Tutunjian made in his second to last day in office is still causing some fireworks over at City Hall.

First there was the to-do about former City Clerk Michelle DeLair not allowing the newest member of the Civil Service Commission, Frank LaPosta, to sign the oath book. Though, now there is some question as to whether LaPosta’s term is supposed to be for six years, as Tutunjian appointed him for, or three years, which is what is left of the term of Tom Mathews, a former commission member and longtime Democratic operative.

Regardless of whether LaPosta is a full-fledged member or not, Tuesday he did attempt to earn his $6,000 and attend the first meeting of the commission since he was appointed - which in and of itself surprised a number of people – but it was cancelled and nobody told him about it. He showed up and saw the sign on the door, and it’s didn’t say “Welcome Aboard Frank.”

But that’s nothing.

On Monday, the newly appointed personnel director, Nancy Matthews, called the newly appointed registrar, Heather Mahoney, and asked her to resign. That was told to me on Monday and confirmed to a reporter by Mahoney’s father, Jack “Jacko” Mahoney, on Tuesday.

Tutunjian appointed Heather Mahoney off a legitimate Civil Service list while he still had the power to make the appointment so for Rosamilia and the Democrats to do anything about it now will be difficult if not impossible.

Evidently - even though the elder Mahoney did serve briefly on the Council as a Democrat and not a Republican as I mistakenly reported - the Democrats in power now want someone else for the $66,473 position. Heather Mahoney may have scored No. 1 on the Civil Service test, but those doing the appointing can pick among the top three and at least someone on Rosamilia’s team wants one of the other two.

There was a meeting called Tuesday with Mahoney, Heather not Jacko, the city’s Civil Service Employees Association President Paul Carroll, Deputy Mayor Peter Ryan and others to discuss the issue. I’m hearing after Carroll laid it all out for the administration, they realized that it was a legitimate appointment and Mahoney is still on the job for the foreseeable future.

As I wrote Monday, the appointments are the administration’s first headache.