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John Mertz
POLITICAL POST {disclaimer for those not interested}: First, as Chairman of the Rotterdam Republican Party, you can feel free to take this as a bias post.    It's silly season here in Rotterdam, NY... this happens occasionally when the status quo gets shaken up a little bit and someone starts to challenge the political Democratic machine that runs Schenectady County.  Big shout out to our friends on the other side of the isle who actually believe in running on the issues, sad when the true colors of other politicians comes out and Rotterdam resorts to the typical blood sport that it has become, the MMA and UFC has nothing on the attempts to go after candidates personally in this town.
No, I wasn't born and raised here, but 25 years and a few elections on the Town Board does qualify me to have a somewhat insightful opinion on things.  
If you follow any of my posts, you know I like to provoke debate on numerous sensitive issues.  With the recent Democrat election tactics deployed to attack some of our candidates, my inclination has been to jump into the mud with the Democrats and mix this thing up.  But I, and the rest of Rotterdam, have been blessed with a slate of candidates that have honor, integrity and a respect for the community and advocate for a higher road to be taken... and so it will be.
Remember these names:  Mollie Collins, Jack Dodson, Joe Mastroianni, Megan Griffin, AnnaMaria Guida, Eric Hess and Josh Cuomo.  These candidates have rejected any strategy to "go negative" and have pledged to restore honor and respect to local elected offices.
So we stick to the facts and the facts only.  No mud slinging, no personal attacks, no wild creative press releases to disparage an opponent, simply the truth.
Here are a few reasons why you should vote Republican in Rotterdam and Schenectady County next month... not because the Republican Party has all the answers, and not because our candidates can perform miracles; but if you have been paying attention to town hall, you know it has never been so dysfunctional.  Rotterdam received over $3.2 million in federal relief money, but the Democrat Budget proposal (I only mention party to demonstrate the difference between the candidates) raises taxes on homeowners, and a whopping 27.4% on business owners... fact.
It's a fact that complaints have been made against currently elected town officials, that a public relations firm was hired to handle the media because things were so out of control, and that public meeting have been places to air Rotterdam's dirty laundry.  Elected Democrats say they support the police, but the same currently elected officials all signed off on a police audit that appeared to have a premeditated agenda to make the department look bad; as if law enforcement hasn't been demonized enough.  Our representatives on the county level might be really "nice" people, but what have they done for Rotterdam?  While the city gets $53 million in coronavirus aid, Rotterdam got $3.3 million, yet the city has barely over 2x as many residents... so for every Schenectady City resident, that equals approximately $815 - yet Rotterdam residents get less than $115?  
So I have kept you up long enough tonight, we'll pick this up again another day.  But we have to ask ourselves if voting in the same people who have been in for decades makes any sense... sometimes it truly is time for a change.

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Rotterdam Republican Committee

Schenectady Gazette reports that the presentation on the budget, was eight days after town law requires a town to present the budget…
The Schenectady Gazette also reported that the budget also wasn’t made available to the public until Oct. 6 and under New York State Town Law towns are required to file the budget with the clerk on Sept. 30.
Rotterdam Town Clerk Diane Marco told The Gazette she was not allowed to release the document to the public after it had been provided to her on Sept. 30.
“I was given the budget on Sept 30 by an employee from the Director of Finance office,” Marco said in an emailed statement. “When I stated that you had called and wanted it I asked that employee can I release it and she was told by the Supervisor I cannot.”
The Gazette was told to call the supervisor regarding the budget. He did not answer and did not return the call.
This is the first time the clerk was instructed not to release the budget in several years, breaking with town standards, Marco said.
Marco said the supervisor usually calls for a special meeting and she presents the budget. Under state Town Law the budget must be presented by the clerk at a regular or special town board meeting by Oct. 5.
She said Supervisor Steven Tommasone did not call for a meeting, so she posted the budget online and will now present it at the board’s Wednesday night meeting.
At the most recent Town Board meeting, the Deputy Supervisor called Diane Marco’s statements to the press a “total lie” and “absolutely false”.  
The environment in Town Hall is toxic, airing Rotterdam’s dirty laundry is inexcusable.  We can hazard a guess as to what really happened, after all, the Town Board is proposing to raise taxes against Rotterdam businesses by 27.4%, I am sure they wanted to wait until the last minute for that to come out in an election year.  Regardless, the operations of our town government are out of control, and we need to clean house.
Evan Christou – Deputy Supervisor actually said in an open public meeting that “for the record, no one, absolutely no one, ever told the town clerk not to post the budget.  That is a complete falsehood, and these are the things the misinformation that social media distributes, that for me I find more disparaging than any projects that someone might be for or against.  It’s a total lie!  Absolutely false!  Absolutely no one ever told the town clerk do not post the budget, town clerk received the budget the 30th of September, she could have posted it anytime after that.  So no one ever said don’t post the budget, this board doesn’t operate that way and I take great offense to the fact that some people would spread such misinformation."
These elected officials have been behaving this way for quite some time, and it’s making Rotterdam look horrible.  It’s not just time for a change, but change is needed.
See the Schenectady Gazette article and view the town board meeting here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toyggPW_J-I