Hugh Reynolds: Cuomo road show
Sometimes it’s not the message but the messenger. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s gun-control law, passed as a “message of necessity” in January, has upstate up in arms. Now there’s been a sharp backlash to the governor’s Tax-Free NY, his plan to save upstate New York from further decline. Cuomo’s plan, unveiled with the usual fanfare last month...
Hugh Reynolds: Grudge rematches
Campaign 2013 has produced two potentially interesting Ulster County rematches. After a five-year hiatus, county comptroller foes Elliott Auerbach and Jim Quigley will tee it up, this time in an off year. In Saugerties, former town supervisor Greg Helsmoortel will likely face off again against Kelly Myers, the village board trustee who trounced him in...
Hugh Reynolds: All about the Benjamins
With their condemnation of corruption in state government before the League of Women Voters in New Paltz last week, political sage Gerry Benjamin and his daughter, Capital District YNN-TV host Liz Benjamin, were preaching to the choir. Fact is, their act would probably have played well anywhere but in Albany. The distinguished duo blamed most...
Hugh Reynolds: Four on the floor
It’s difficult for a state legislator to sum up in 15 minutes or less what’s going on in Albany, even in front of a business audience typically more tuned in than your average bear. So it’s not entirely fair to say either that local Assemblyman Kevin Cahill and state Sen. Cecelia Tkaczyk, two Democrats, bombed...
Hugh Reynolds: Railroad men
I guess it’s safe now to identify Ulster County’s latest dynamic duo. Ulster County Executive Mike Hein and Kingston Mayor Shayne Gallo are conducting a relentless purge of the Catskill Mountain Railroad and anybody associated with it. Some are calling their behavior abuse of power. I know, I know. It’s all for a good cause....
Hugh Reynolds: Revolving doors on Broadway
As with most operations, hired help comes and goes through government. Some hang in there for 20, 30, 40 years. Others are gone before anyone knew they were there. In the private sector, personnel issues are really nobody’s business, which is why they call it the private sector. But public workers are a different consideration....
Hugh Reynolds: Paying up for bad behavior
What may go down as one of the darker chapters in the long history of the sheriff’s department got even dimmer with news last week that settlement of a sexual harassment suit against the department may cost $365,000, not counting the county’s (outside) attorney fees. And that may only be a down payment. The sordid...
Hugh Reynolds: Baby, you can drive our car
In the normal course of events, Ulster’s county exec can afford to ignore the occasional critiques on his operation by the annoying terrier one floor below. That terrier would be independent watchdog Comptroller Elliott Auerbach, who treats taxpayer wallets like a territorially minded canine treats cars. Last week, Auerbach issued his latest report on county...
Hugh Reynolds: Of dogs and ponies
Amid much back-slapping and chest-thumping, state lawmakers passed a third consecutive “on-time budget” last week. Code-named “Magic” (by me), this budget held spending to less than 2 percent — demonstrating again that the state can commit itself to some of the rules it imposes on its minions — jacked school aid by another billion dollars...
Hugh Reynolds: How things actually work
Few other than political wonks and the media pay much attention to the annual pronouncements on the state of county, town and city affairs. Coming from majority and minority leaders, it’s usually about hands-across-the-aisle, working together for the common good, kumbaya stuff. Now and then, however, a pearl emerges, like when county legislature Minority Leader...
Hugh Reynolds: PILOTs create storm
In this world of idiotic acronyms, where an anti-gun SAFE act allows almost as many guns in private possession — though presumably with fewer bullets — we sometimes forget the original meaning of all this alphabet soup. “PILOT,” for instance, is a widely used acronym for a device to encourage economic development by giving developers...
Hugh Reynolds: Uptown’s perennial problems
My first Kingston Uptown Business Association meeting last week in at least 20 years gave me the distinct impression that not much had changed except for some new faces around the table. Board members, earnest and intent as ever, were discussing most of the problems and issues I recalled the last time I sat through...