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Town GOP turns on its own
Clifton Park Republican committee disowns supervisor, three council members over appointment to water board

By JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer
First published: Saturday, May 10, 2008

CLIFTON PARK -- The town's one-party political scene has turned topsy-turvy after its Republican committee disowned four of Clifton Park's five top elected officials.
In the wake of a public rift several weeks ago, the committee renounced Supervisor Phil Barrett, Councilwoman Lynda Walowit and councilmen Tom Paolucci and Scott Hughes after they failed to show for a committee meeting.
     
"The committee regretfully must inform the community that these elected officials no longer speak for, or represent, the Republican Party in Clifton Park," committee Chairman Bob Wilcox said in a statement late Thursday night.
The internal upheaval is remarkable and, in the wake of Democrats taking Colonie last year, is at least a sign of instability in Albany's shrinking number of suburban GOP strongholds -- this one in the district of the state's most powerful Republican, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.
Republicans haven't been in the minority on the Town Board here since a brief stretch that ended in the early 1990s. And, technically speaking, they're still not.
But who holds sway -- and the power of the pulpit -- is now in question.
Barrett, a five-term incumbent re-elected in November on multiple party lines by a 2-1 ratio, said he learned of the news Friday when it was reported on timesunion.com.
Wilcox, the party's new chairman, said the renouncement stemmed from the foursome's failure to show at a committee meeting Thursday, when party leadership expected them to explain their public split over an appointment to the Clifton Park Water Authority Board last month.
Hughes and Paolucci accused Wilcox of pressuring them to appoint a party loyalist and campaign donor and beckoning them to party caucuses they said would be illegal because votes and appointments were to be decided.
Wilcox denied the allegations, saying he merely asked that a committeeman, Dan Keegan, be considered for the post with the water authority, which will decide whether Clifton Park joins the county's controversial water pipeline.
He also requested the board table the vote while Councilman Sanford "Sandy" Roth, who is the council's liaison to the water authority, was absent while recuperating from a heart attack.
Roth now may be the only board member who has the party's support.
Hughes, who was elected to his first term in November after briefly filling a vacancy, responded forcefully.
"I feel like Ronald Reagan, who made the quote, 'I didn't leave my party. My party left me,' " Hughes said. "The fact is that there are serious issues involved here, issues about ethics and open government -- principles that I will not compromise on."
Wilcox was not immediately available to elaborate on his statement.
Hughes, among others, has said a small group of people are trying to "hijack" the town committee and push elected officials toward accepting the county water plan, which some fear will be unnecessarily costly.
Saratoga County Republican Chairman Jasper Nolan rejected the idea that Clifton Park was being pressured to join the county water plan as well as the notion that he had anything to do with the town committee's actions. He has been accused of using Wilcox to sway the Clifton Park committee -- a notion both men reject."Each of the towns fulfill their own destiny. I'm busy enough that I don't interfere," Nolan said. "I'm no Dan O'Connell," he added, referring to the longtime boss of Albany's Democratic political machine.
Walowit was not immediately available for comment.
Paolucci said he is -- and plans to remain -- a Republican, regardless of what the Clifton Park GOP does.
"It's kind of shocking," Paolucci said. "I got involved with Republican politics because I think government should be small and we should be giving money back to the people whenever we can. That's what we've been doing here." Both councilmen have more than three years left on their terms.
Barrett downplayed whether the rift would affect town business. He has yet to say publicly whether he will seek a sixth two-year term in 2009.
"You can reach any conclusion you want, but it is what it is," he said. "I have been supported by the Republican, the Independence and the Conservative parties for years, and I certainly appreciate all the support I've been shown."
While Barrett was not openly critical of Wilcox like Hughes and Paolucci, he voted with them to appoint John Ryan to the water authority board.
The split left committee Vice Chairman Adam Kramer, who was out of town this week, hoping relations could be mended.
"I was not at the meeting and was not aware that this was going to happen," Kramer said, adding that he would have urged against it, even if he were outvoted. "I sincerely hope that this family squabble could be healed and put back together."
Jordan Carleo-Evangelist can be reached at 454-5445 or by e-mail at jcarleo-evangelist@ timesunion.com.

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Loss in special election adds to GOP’s troubles
The Associated Press

    WASHINGTON — Stunned House Republicans vowed campaign changes Wednesday and debated the wisdom of attacking Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama in congressional races after their third straight election defeat in once-friendly territory.
    “The political atmosphere … is the worst since Watergate and far more toxic than the fall of 2006 when we lost 30 seats,” Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia wrote the leadership in a bluntly worded memo.
    “Clearly, I think we’ve got to do a better job” going into the November elections, said the Republican leader, Rep. John Boehner, one day after Democrat Travis Childers won a Mississippi congressional victory. That seat had been in Republican hands since the 1994 landslide that swept the GOP into power.
    Several lawmakers and aides said a change was possible but far from certain at the National Republican Congressional Committee, where Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole is chairman. Party leaders also said they were on the verge of distributing a campaign season manifesto to their rank and file setting out conservative positions on taxes and other issues.
    Davis, a former chairman of the campaign committee who is retiring at the end of this year, noted that polls show Americans overwhelmingly believe the country is headed down the wrong track, President Bush is unpopular, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee enjoyed a cash advantage of $44 million to $7 million as of March 31.
    Childers’ victory came one week after Rep. Don Cazayoux won a House seat in the Baton Rouge, La., area that had been in Republican hands for three decades. Over the winter, Rep. Bill Foster won an election in Illinois to succeed former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who had been in Congress more than 20 years.
    All three races were necessitated by resignations by incumbent Republicans.
    Childers and Cazayoux both ran as conservatives, but Republicans and their allies sought to link them to Obama in television commercials. In both cases, some Republicans said the tactic appeared to backfire, prompting blacks to turn out in unexpectedly large numbers and vote for the Democrats.
    One-third of the population in the Louisiana district and onequarter of the population in the Mississippi district is black.
    “We’re not going to be able to scare people into voting Republican by being against Barack Obama. You have to have a relevant agenda and a compelling reason to vote Republican,” said Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss.
    Yet other Republicans said Obama’s record, which they describe as liberal, is fair game for the fall campaign. “It’s very legitimate, parts of his vision and his agenda that the American people need to be aware of,” said Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida, a member of the party leadership.
    The NRCC broadcast an advertisement that said Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi represent “a radical agenda, very different from Louisiana’s values.”

In my opinion, the break in the ranks of the Republican party has resulted from the party's abandonment of its conservative platform.  The party has taken a hard turn to the left.  As has been reported by the media, many Republicans are disillusioned about the direction of the party.  There is little enthusiasm about endorsed candidates in many races at the state and national levels as there is often little difference between the ideologies of the Republican and Democratic candidates.  This has led conservative Republicans, Conservatives, and Libertarians to look for other candidates (e.g., Ron Paul, Bob Barr, etc.) to whom to lend support.  

The Republican party needs to return to the ideals and principles held by President Ronald Reagan.  America achieved greatness under his tutilage and leadership.

Brad I agree that they should get back to basics.

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“Clearly, I think we’ve got to do a better job” going into the November elections, said the Republican leader, Rep. John Boehner

Gee....ya think?? Brilliant observation!