Would it have made a difference if the attorney was from the dem, independent or working party? From the way I see it, this is just your usual political mudslinging. It's to be expected. No big whoop here!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Many faction members are relatives of Angelo Santabarbara, a Republican Schenectady County legislator, according to officials with the Conservative Party.
The Daily Rag puts a statement like this in this report as a factual statement without giving evidence. This is unbelievable! "Many faction members are relatives"? How many? 10, 20 50, 100? How about the Daily Rag balance this report, by finding out how many current County democrats have relatives who are registered Conservative. Brad Littlefield had to send in a facts sheet with one of his editorials, and it still only made it to the online editorial. Michael Lamendola takes the word of current Conservative Party leader at face value, and prints it as hard news. Bobby Hamilton's word is bond. This is nothing more than a editorial piece from the conservative/ democrat party, and an opinion piece on behalf of Mr. Lamendola and the Daily Rag. AMAZING!!!! What a slant.
Quoted Text
Santabarbara waged an opportunity to ballot effort last year with Rhinesmith’s help to win the Conservative Party line in his race for the county Legislature. The endorsement had gone to the Democrat.
"Waged" and opportunity ballot? He went door to door collecting signatures of county Conservatives, and captured the endorsement. He didn't believe the current Conservative leaderships endorsement of the Democrat candidates running for County Legislator echoed the will of the majority of registered Conservatives. And he was right. The county's rank and file conservatives identified their values and ideology more closely with Mr. Santabarbara than Mr. Cooke. The next logical step would be for those county Conservatives to reclaim their party and either run a candidate with traditional conservative values or endorse a candidate with those same values.
It's going to be difficult for the voices of true conservatism to be heard with the current Democratic controlled government media complex in Schenectady County. Any grassroots movement will be silenced and smeared by those who control the county and news outlets.
The Daily Rag puts a statement like this in this report as a factual statement without giving evidence. This is unbelievable! "Many faction members are relatives"? How many? 10, 20 50, 100? How about the Daily Rag balance this report, by finding out how many current County democrats have relatives who are registered Conservative. Brad Littlefield had to send in a facts sheet with one of his editorials, and it still only made it to the online editorial. Michael Lamendola takes the word of current Conservative Party leader at face value, and prints it as hard news. Bobby Hamilton's word is bond. This is nothing more than a editorial piece from the conservative/ democrat party, and an opinion piece on behalf of Mr. Lamendola and the Daily Rag. AMAZING!!!! What a slant.
"Waged" and opportunity ballot? He went door to door collecting signatures of county Conservatives, and captured the endorsement. He didn't believe the current Conservative leaderships endorsement of the Democrat candidates running for County Legislator echoed the will of the majority of registered Conservatives. And he was right. The county's rank and file conservatives identified their values and ideology more closely with Mr. Santabarbara than Mr. Cooke. The next logical step would be for those county Conservatives to reclaim their party and either run a candidate with traditional conservative values or endorse a candidate with those same values.
It's going to be difficult for the voices of true conservatism to be heard with the current Democratic controlled government media complex in Schenectady County. Any grassroots movement will be silenced and smeared by those who control the county and news outlets.
No slant. I told all of you most of what's in that article days ago... If you believe that Kelly Rhinesmith and Brad Littlefield paid Spargo thousands of dollars to lodge objections- just ask Brad. So far, I do not know him to be a liar- so maybe he will tell you the truth...However, if he continues to play with Kelly et al he will be put in a position where he will have to slant the truth...
If you believe that it is a coincidence that the "Press Release" that was sent from Tedisco's staffers was a product of anything other than Tedisco, Buchanan, Parisi, and Santabarbara's typical spin and their unholy alliance with Kelly- you are very foolish.
If you believe that Parisi playing errand boy to Civil Service and serving subpoenas for "his friend" Kelly is anything other than his attempt to hijack the Conservative Party as he and his pals are doing with the Working Fam Party= you are wrong. Parisi has never liked Rhinesmith. Neither Kelly nor Gerard were happy with all of the endorsements delved out- so they agreed to work together to attempt to oust current leaders...
As far as your comments about this article being a big conspiracy of the Gazette and dems or some BS like that- that is what I expected from you.
As for how many friends and relatives of Santbarbara are working on hijacking the party and where is the proof of that- ask Angelo how many of his friends and relatives he switched from Republican to Conservative 8 months ago. If you want a guesstimate- it is hard for even me to say exactly because he and Kelly worked closely on switching few dozen. Best guess is that he got about 12-15... The most active relatives now are Viscusis from Fabian Drive. You will see their names on objections, petitions, etc... I believe they are cousins, but Ang can tell you exact numbers and how involved they are...
As far as Santabarbara- not a bad guy- but when you lie with dogs- you gotta get fleas. He was/is hooked up with politicians that meddled in the Rotterdam Police department, started a Police Commission and all that went with it. I dont need to go into details there- but that certainly could not have helped his chances of getting conservatives to endorse him. Yes, it is no secret that many of the boys in blue are Conservatives, and it should come as no surprise that there were some hard feelings there with all of the trouble they caused in that police department.
Well, I hope I did not miss anything. I really hate to say I told ya so, but I did a few days ago. I look forward to the answer to who paid Spargo and how much$$$ ? Ang can answer you better to me about how his family is involved. Although, I of course aready have a pretty good idea.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot---- I read some nonsense somewhere on this site that Dagostino is getting some job as Deputy Sheriff or something like that- maybe it was Assistant to the Sherriff- I inquired about that and it is complete nonsense.
Have a great night
Kelly/ Brad/ Jim/ Gerard/ Tom/Ang: I like your motto- "Change is coming". It has a lovely ring to it.
Just curious- Do you now believe after reading the Gazette article that all of that work "taking back the party" was done by Kelly, Brad and a couple other "true conservatives" or do you think that the help from Gerard the errand boy; the attorney for the State Republican Committee-- Spargo, the press release from Tedisco's staffers, etc shed some light on the issue???? If that was not enough of a clue- maybe Santabarbara's family and friends switching their "ideology" from Republican to Conservative just after the election last year would be another clue. Then again, maybe they all coincidentally attended a Conservative Party function and it hit them- that their true calling was as CONSERVATIVES- not Republicans......
Dear papanetta67... You, sir (or madam), are an a**.
Gadfly:
I am terribly offended. I am merely attempting to provide truthful, unbiased information to our readers. I thought I was doing them a great service by providing them the information days prior to the GAzette doing a little research and coming to the same conclusion. Hopefully, the Gazette will do a little further research and will connect the dots.
Hopefully, the Gazette will do a little further research and will connect the dots.
The Gazette couldn't connect the dots on anything. They have NO investigative ability, they publish ONLY what the democratic machine tells them to - and slanted to ALWAYS be against the Republican / Conservative / Moralists.
As for this case? I have no idea what's happening. I'm quasi sure of only one thing. If Brad Littlefield supports it, he's typically done his homework and wouldn't be misled easily. I can't say the same for anyone else concerned in this issue, I don't know any of them well enough.
I am terribly offended. I am merely attempting to provide truthful, unbiased information to our readers. I thought I was doing them a great service by providing them the information days prior to the GAzette doing a little research and coming to the same conclusion. Hopefully, the Gazette will do a little further research and will connect the dots.
Truthful? Unbiased? Are you joking, or just plain clueless? The only service you are providing is a lame defense of the Democrats. Funny that you provided them with the information days prior - the same time Lamendola mentioned it to me. Who did you "alert" first, our readers or Lamendola? My press release was posted on these boards, and sent to a number of others before it was presumably sent to the Gazette. ANYONE could have gotten hold of it and sent it to the Gazette. We are not the only ones on line, ya know? Jim Tedisco? Haven't seen or talked to him since last summer. George Amedore? I didn't carry his petitions - wouldn't even sign one. This woman from Tedisco's office?(Can't even remember her name now). Never heard of her. Gerard Parisi delivers all sorts of items to the Board of Elections all the time for a number of people - all at no charge. Tom Spargo? Best election attorney there is, and we were very fortunate to have been able to secure his representation. We chose him for his expertise, not his party affiliation. But because he is a Republican...whoa! The Republicans MUST be behind our efforts! YOU are offended? Conservatives have long known what's happened to their party, they just didn't know what they could do about it, or how to do it. All they needed was some guidance. Unlike you, they don't just talk...they act. Now I'm watching more than just "a couple of true conservatives" bust their humps to accomplish a task of great enormity, while you continually attempt to steal credit from them and give it to the Republicans, suggesting that these Conservative troopers couldn't possibly do it on their own. Now THAT is offensive. ALL of our petitions and other paperwork were witnesed by Conservatives. Our opponents' paperwork is covered with the Democrats who control them, and our party. The only dots that can and HAVE been connected are the Democrat fingerprints all over our opponents' petitions, affidavits...everything. And something tells me that the Gazette isn't the one doing the "research" here papa...
I have never spoken to Lamendola in my life. But it appears that this time he has done a little digging himself and I guess the readers can decide who is clueless...
Quoted from papanetta67: ... No slant. I told all of you most of what's in that article days ago... If you believe that Kelly Rhinesmith and Brad Littlefield paid Spargo thousands of dollars to lodge objections- just ask Brad. So far, I do not know him to be a liar- so maybe he will tell you the truth...However, if he continues to play with Kelly et al he will be put in a position where he will have to slant the truth...
First, Brad Littlefield has never spoken to Tom Spargo.
Any money that I have spent for FOIL requests, postage, etc. has come from my own pocket.
As I stated in an earlier post, I can attest that every signature collected on the Designating Petitions for the slate of traditional Conservatives was collected by enrolled conservatives, unlike those that were collected by Democrats, including, as reported by the Daily Gazette, several who work for County Attorney Gardner, for the candidates being run by those presently on the Conservative party Executive Board. The countless hours that I spent and the auto mileage and gas expenses that I incurred driving throughout Schenectady County on many days to collect signatures was an investment in what I believe to be a worthy and just cause.
Is there interest in this race for control of the Conservative party by those in both the Democratic and Republican parties? Absolutely. But unlike our opposition that presently controls the Executive Board, we have not and will not willingly let any outside force assume control of our party and dictate the terms. I would guess that the Republican party is pleased by what they see in the traditional Conservatives' effort in attempting to wrest control of their party from liberals and special interest groups. Republican candidates are more often conservative on fiscal and social issues than are Democrats. As for any support that we may receive (e.g., Gerard Parisi carrying papers to the Board of Elections), remember that "the enemy of your enemy is your friend". This battle is being waged by true Conservatives, people who work hard to advance their beliefs, not ask others to do it for them.
Papa, I sense from you a clear bias that prefers the status quo in the Conservative party. Though I don't know your identity or your stake in this, I suspect that you have personal, professional, and/or political interest in the outcome of this campaign. IF you are a true Conservative, I regret that we are on opposing sides as I would like to advance our (valid) cause working together with purported Conservatives like yourself and Salvatore. I believe, however, that I am on the right side of this issue. Otherwise, I wouldn't be a foot soldier for the cause.
Finally, as to your statement re: Kelly, she and I have worked together in the past in our support of the write in candidacies of Angelo Santabarbara and Carolina Lazzari for the Conservative party endorsement for Schenectady County Legislature. I find her to be knowledgeable of the political process and very effective at advancing causes in which she believes. She and I have respectfully disagreed in some cases. I expect that we will have differing opinions going forward. However, I trust her judgement and prefer to be associated with the slate of candidates that she has endorsed.
As she stated, she did not carry Amedore's Designating Petitions. When approached by George, I committed to assist in the collection of signatures (and obtained nearly a 1/3 of the total collected from what I was told). This is not because I support all of Amedore's positions on the issues (e.g., Metroplex increased funding), but I find him to be more conservative than Mr. Blanchfield. And, for the sake of full disclosure, I also carried Designating Petitions for Jim Tedisco and Jim Buhrmaster. This was not done because they are Republicans, but because they are the more conservative choice between the candidates. They both received the endorsement of the STATE Conservative Party.
So, there you have it. I don't know of all the actions and involvement of everyone who is associated with the cause with which I am associated. I welcome the support of those who support and endorse the huge undertaking that we have taken. But, I can state that there is no quid pro quo that should be expected. I don't support taking control of the Conservative party from one outside force only to award it to another. We, the true Conservatives, must have control of our party if we are to advance our political ideology.
We shall prevail. And, yes, Change is coming ... I believe that I "borrowed" that phrase from Amedore's campaign. It seems fitting and offers hope to those who have been frustrated by the abandonment of conservative principles in government and society.
SCHENECTADY COUNTY GOP may be part of ouster attempt Conservative Party faces upheaval BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter
A staff worker for Republican Assemblyman James Tedisco’s office appears to be involved in efforts by a faction to oust the current leadership of the Schenectady County Conservative Party, according to information obtained by The Daily Gazette. The staffer is Laurie Ammerman, who works in the Assembly Republican Office of Public Affairs. Ammerman is also writing news releases for the re-election campaign of Republican Assemblyman George Amedore Jr. in the 105th Assembly District. Ammerman is a Republican who lives in Rensselaer County, which is part of the 106th Assembly District. Republicans have repeatedly denied they are helping the faction attempting to replace the current Conservative Party committee leadership. The group is led by longtime political activist and Conservative Kelly Rhinesmith. Rhinesmith said if Republicans are involved, they are doing so without consulting her or others in the faction. “I don’t want them involved and they have no business being involved. I have never invited a Republican in,” Rhinesmith said. Ammerman’s name surfaced connected to a news release on behalf of Rhinesmith’s efforts. The release announced an “unprecedented grass-roots uprising by a reform slate” of enrolled Conservatives who planned to field 252 challengers for committee seats in 126 election districts in the Sept. 9 primary for the county Conservative Party. Although the news release had Rhinesmith as the contact source, its message header contained Ammerman’s name along with that of Josh Fitzpatrick’s. Fitzpatrick is a spokesman for both Tedisco and the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee. Tedisco heads RACC, which is a political committee that funds races across the state and provides resources to other groups. Rhinesmith said she never heard of Ammerman and that Ammerman had nothing to do with the news release. “I am perfectly capable of writing my own material, and I think everyone knows that,” she said. “Everyone needs to lose this crazy obession that Republicans are trying to take over the party.” She suggested the news release was circulated after she released it July 10. RACC is running Amedore’s race this year against Democratic challenger Mark Blanchfield. It also ran Amedore’s race last year when he won the vacant seat that had belonged to a Democrat for 25 years. Ammerman did not return phone calls for comment on Friday. The news releases on Rhinesmith and Amedore were sent before or after regular work hours, although she did acknowledge an e-mail message during the working day regarding information in the release. Fitzpatrick said if Ammerman is involved in Rhinesmith’s efforts, she is doing so as a vol- unteer and not under direction from Tedisco or other Republicans. Fitzpatrick also said he did not know why his name was on the Rhinesmith news release. “I can’t control what people do on their own time,” he said. “I only have enough time for legislative matters.” Randy Pascarella, chairman of the county Conservative Party, said Tedisco, Gerald Parisi and Tom Buchanan are behind efforts to take control of the party. Parisi is chairman of the Rotterdam Republican Committee and a member of the executive committee of the Schenectady County Republican Party. Buchanan is chairman of the county Republican committee. Parisi served notice to the Schenectady County Board of Elections on behalf of the Rhinesmith faction of a court challenge to the nomination petitions of the current leadership. Rhinesmith said she asked Parisi to serve the papers, as his office is next to the Board of Elections and because she thought she would be called as a witness in the court case. Parisi said he delivers items to the Board of Elections all the time. “I don’t charge anybody for delivering things down there.” Parisi said that is the extent of his involvement in Rhinesmith’s efforts. “I have done nothing else but deliver those papers,” he said. The Rhinesmith faction has also enlisted the services of attorney Tom Spargo, a Republican, who is considered one of the top election law attorneys in the state. It is unclear whether he is providing his services for free. The Rhinesmith faction has not established a political committee as of yet, which would outline its expenditures. A group that spends more than $1,000 on a political campaign has to create the committee under state law. Spargo is representing the faction before State Supreme County of Schenectady County Judge Vincent J. Reilly Jr. Reilly is expected to rule next week on the challenges to committee nominating petitions and the local Conservative Party’s endorsements of candidates for offi ce. Buchanan earlier said the county Republican committee was not involved in Rhinesmith’s efforts. Rhinesmith also denied any help from Republicans, saying the faction consists of Conservatives who want to take back their party. Many faction members are relatives of Angelo Santabarbara, a Republican Schenectady County legislator, according to officials with the Conservative Party. Santabarbara waged an opportunity to ballot effort last year with Rhinesmith’s help to win the Conservative Party line in his race for the county Legislature. The endorsement had gone to the Democrat. Rhinesmith has long claimed the local Conservative Party is controlled by the county Democrats and by members of the city’s police union. Pascarella denied the allegations, saying Republicans are seeking control because they were upset the Conservative Party executive committee did not endorse all their candidates in last year’s county Legislature race. Fitzpatrick said, “Your average reader does not realize the Democratic Party boss is involved in the [Conservative Party’s] workings,” referring to Brian Quail, chairman of the Schenectady County Democratic Party. When the local Conservative Party was led by Paul Brown, majority Democrats created a highpaying management job in the sheriff’s department and named him to the position. The position has a top salary of $75,016. Brown had been earning $48,000 plus overtime as a sergeant with the corrections department. Quail denied Democrats control the local Conservative Party, instead repeating Pascarella’s claims. “I am not surprised James Tedisco and George Amedore are behind Kelly’s efforts. They are in this empire-building mode, trying also to take over the Working Families Party and the Independence Party,” he said. “People just need to connect the dots.”
Quail denied Democrats control the local Conservative Party, instead repeating Pascarella’s claims. “I am not surprised James Tedisco and George Amedore are behind Kelly’s efforts. They are in this empire-building mode, trying also to take over the Working Families Party and the Independence Party,” he said. “People just need to connect the dots.”
Interesting, though a bit confusing...
The Daily Gazette reports that Quail repeated Pascarella's claims that Tedisco and Amedore are behind our effort. Amedore is endorsed by the Schenectady County Conservative Party that is presently controlled by the Democrats and special interest groups. The only individual associated with the effort in which I am involved who has collected signatures on Amedore's Designating Petition was me. As Kelly stated she did not and I know this to be true.
Do Quail and Pascarella then believe that George is endorsing and/or assisting us? I welcome both his and Tedisco's endorsements of our slate of candidates.
Like I said before...this is no big deal. It is just your usual case of political mudslinging. I was surprised that the gazette gave it a front page spread when there are so many important issues that are facing the residents of Schenectady. Between the gun shots, shootings, rapes, robberies and drug dealers, there could be a newspaper printed just for crime. There is also the issue of high taxes that are killing the people of Schenectady. A Metroplex that has failed miserably. But you will hardly ever hear about these issues from the gazette. The gazette needs to go out on the streets or go door to door and hear what the people really have to say about their county.
And from what I hear on the streets from conservatives...they just want a 'real' conservative party that does not bow down to ANY party when seeking candidates for political positions. They would like to start seeing 'real' conservatives on the ballot. Most that I have talked to are finding this as hope for the party. Some said these latest findings printed in the gazette were of no surprise. I guess everyone has become accustomed to the political mudslinging and have actually become immune to it. Again....no big whoop here!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I think those currently in control of the city/county are getting real nervous that the residents may soon have some real conservatives to vote for and they fear for their political future.
I just took a look at the "portal" function here in the forums - lots of interesting information:
Quoted Text
New Users - and when they joined.
1. JohnDoe joined One hour ago 2. tray joined July 30, 2008, 7:57pm 3. papanetta67 joined July 30, 2008, 7:03pm 4. amjtm joined July 29, 2008, 3:32pm 5. gaiaworshipper joined July 24, 2008, 1:35pm 6. Whataboutnow34 joined July 21, 2008, 4:17am 7. CaptainAmerica joined July 19, 2008, 10:26pm 8. JosephSalamone joined July 17, 2008, 2:58pm 9. CDarkaste7 joined July 15, 2008, 11:04pm
It seems like this thread alone is generating a lot of new members.
Logged
