CANDIDATE FORUMS SCHENECTADY — The Schenectady County League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women will sponsor the annual Meet the Candidates forum throughout the county.
The Glenville candidates, county legislators for this district and candidates for sheriff and district attorney have been invited to attend at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, at the Glenville Town Hall.
The Rotterdam candidates, county legislators for this district and candidates for sheriff and district attorney have been invited to attend at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, at the Rotterdam Branch Library.
The Niskayuna candidates, county legislators for this district and candidates for sheriff and district attorney have been invited to attend at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Niskayuna Town Hall.
The candidates for Schenectady County sheriff, the district attorney, the county legislators for the city of Schenectady and the City Council candidates have been invited to participate at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the Central Library’s McChesney Room.
Questions about the upcoming forums can be directed to Karen Bradley at 928-2858.
Will fdg be there.....alone....without a coach? Seriously.
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
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
ROTTERDAM Candidates say they’ll boycott League forum BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.
Both the Democratic and No New Tax Party candidates for town supervisor are planning to boycott the Schenectady County League of Women Voters’ candidate forum tonight. William Cooke, chairman of the Rotterdam Democratic Committee, recommended that all his party’s candidates for town office shun the forum after recent Republican attacks on Fran Del Gallo, the endorsed candidate for supervisor. He suggested the GOP might use the forum as an opportunity to wage a new round of personal attacks, and all of the candidates for town offices agreed they would refrain from attending the event. “I am advising all of our candidates that they should not participate in any forum with the Rotterdam Republican candidates because you have made your intention to turn any public forum with your candidates into a mudslinging melee,” Cooke said in a letter sent to town GOP Chairman Gerard Parisi last week. It was unclear whether the rest of the Democratic ticket, including candidates for county sheriff and the county Legislature, will appear at the forum. Calls to county Democratic Committee Chairman Brian Quail were not returned. Brian McGarry, who is running for supervisor on an independent line called the No New Tax Party, said the recent rhetoric from the GOP aimed at Del Gallo also persuaded him to drop out of the forum. He said he knows Del Gallo personally and was astounded by the attacks leveled toward his opponent by the Republicans. John Mertz, a Republican running on the No New Tax Party line, indicated he is also foregoing the forum, though he didn’t specify a reason. Michael O’Conner, who is running on the No New Tax Party and Republican lines, said he would attend the event because of its reputation for being fair to the candidates. Parisi said characterizing his call for debates as a personal attack is misleading. He said he’s only calling into question Del Gallo’s qualifications for supervisor because the Democrats appear to be keeping him out of the public eye. “It’s a terrible cop-out,” he said. “[Del Gallo] is the most unqualifi ed candidate to run for town election and that’s why he’s hiding.” Last week, Parisi questioned Del Gallo’s qualifications after Cooke refused an offer for Del Gallo to debate Tommasone outside of the league’s forum. Additionally, he questioned Del Gallo’s level of education and literacy. Cooke said Del Gallo plans to appear at a public candidate forum hosted by the Democrats at Malozzi’s restaurant on Oct. 29. But he said he didn’t want to subject Del Gallo or any of the candidates for town office to the type of personal sniping that the Republicans are waging this year. Karen Bradley, the chairwoman of the League’s voter services, hadn’t heard of the cancellations early Monday evening. She wasn’t sure why the Democrats would withdraw from the forum, seeing as though they have strict, nonpartisan guidelines that thwart personal attacks.
By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer First published in print: Tuesday, October 20, 2009
ROTTERDAM -- It's unlikely residents will get to hear opposing candidates go head-to-head on the local issues since Democrats are stewing over allegations by Republicans that the businessman they are running for supervisor is illiterate. Rotterdam Municipal Chairman Bill Cooke said Monday that the slate of candidates will not participate in Tuesday's candidate's forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Schenectady County scheduled for the Rotterdam branch of the county library. He said Democrats made that decision to stay home and have refused to participate in one-on-one debates between their supervisor candidate, Francis Del Gallo, and Incumbent GOP Steven Tommasone because of talk from the Republicans that Del Gallo can neither read nor write. Cooke dismissed that assertion as "nonsense" and said the two sides were talking about debates until the Democrats brought up the literacy issue, a point his GOP counterpart Gerard Parisi disputes.
"We're not going to submit our people to that nonsense," Cooke said. Instead, he said, the party will continue to take their message to the people. Rsidents will be able to question the Democratic ticket during a gathering from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 29 at Malozzi's, 1930 Curry Road. A third, supervisor candidate, Brian McGarry, who is running on the No New Tax Party Line, has even gotten into the act.
"It's a sad day in our community when Parisi and Tommasone infer that they are superior to everyone else in our town just because they have a college degree," he said in a statement. "It suggests that the entrenched politicians are out of touch with the average citizen." Tommasone is vying for his third two-year term.
Meantime, Republicans continue to question Dell Gallo's qualifications and why a candidate running for such a high-profile office is keeping such a low profile.
"He's the most unaccessible candidate for office and the worst candidate that has ever run for office in the town of Rotterdam," said Rotterdam GOP Chairman Gerard Parisi.
"It is vital in our republic and for our community for those seeking political office to address the real issues facing our town in an open and honest forum," said Tommasone in a statement. "It is unfortunate for the people that my opponent will not debate and answer taxpayer questions in an open and transparent forum."
More recently, the GOP has accused Del Gallo of not voting in a local town election for more than a decade, a claim Cooke said he could neither confirm nor deny. "I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, but they are looking for anything they can get their hands on," he said in response to the claims. But Parisi countered that his "voting record is a real issue." There are other contested Rotterdam races for the clerk, Town Board and justice.
Paul Nelson can be reached at 454-5347 or by e-mail at pnelson@timesunion.com
Good For Bill Cooke! Boycott! And congratulations to Brian McGarry who did a very heroic act. It took courage for him to admit to the unethical behavior exhibited by Gerard Parisi toward FDG. Good for you Brian!
Kudos to Mr Cooke, Mr McGarry and (gulp) Mr Parisi for handing the election to the Dems. Look for a sweep. Thanks Gerry, first you dump Mertzie and now the whole Republican ticket. BEAUTIFUL!
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
We know how the negative campaigning worked for Mertz in the primary, looks like "Howdy Doody", "Thanks to my Dad Gerry" and "Ego" didn't pay attention.
No sweep, Surhada, Longo, Litz win for Republicans.
Logged
Candidates for District Attorney? Incumbent DEM Robert Carney and a REP empty chair?
