Update: Wow, talk about know-nothings!

Millard Fillmore: Official White House portrait.

UPDATE: As of today, weeks after the editorial page editor of the Times Union agreed with me that he had published a letter on December 14 containing a grave error (see below) and that a correction would be appropriate, I have yet to be able to find a published correction and have not had a reply to my letter inquiring about the status. However, I do find the original erroneous letter still is available -- and unchallenged -- on the TU website.

(Originally published 12/21/14)

Back on Sunday, December 14, I noted a factual error in the Times Union's letters-to-the-editor columns.

One Samuel Cahan of Saratoga Springs came out swinging, stating that "In the 1840s, the Republican Party was known as the 'Know-Nothing' party. In Congress today, it is known as the 'Do Nothing' party. The Republicans must overcome their lassitude and start working on the many problems that are harming our country’s social and economic well-being."

Sweeping condemnations, historically and currently. The trouble is, Mr. Cahan, while precious in his declaration, is deficient in his knowledge of political history.

Rather than let his blather stand uncorrected, I wrote this letter to the editor of the TU editorial pages:

"A letter to the editor in Sunday's edition said the GOP was known as the Know-Nothing Party in the 1800s. If I am not mistaken, that is in error.

"The Know-Nothing Party (not so-called because of lack of intelligence, rather because early members were told to say "I know nothing" about the makeup of the group until it gained a stronger national footing) actually was a splinter group of the Whig Party. A number of its members eventually moved to the Republican Party when the Know-Nothings began to lose influence.

"Should you find my version accurate, I suggest a correction be published rather than letting glibness rule the day."

Two days later, I received a polite letter from that editor, a former longtime colleague during my many decades of newspapering. In it, he said: "I would say this needs a correction, too. Thanks for the heads up."

It now has been a week and I've seen no published correction. I can see time lags when it comes to publishing items of opinion; I have no patience with withholding items of accuracy. So, I offer my observation here rather than letting the error stay out there in the ether, unchallenged and possibly believed by those with no countervailing information to evaluate.

FOOTNOTE: For those of you who wonder how influential the Know-Nothings -- also known as the American Party -- were, look to the history of Finger Lakes-born Millard Filmore. A Whig Party stalwart, he advanced to the White House from the vice presidency following the death in 1850 of President Zachary Taylor and served there for three years. He eventually moved to the American Party, which nominated him as its presidential standard-bearer for an unsuccessful 1856 campaign. He finished third behind the winning Democrat, James Buchanan, and the runner-up, John C. Fremont, the first-ever presidential candidate of the Republican Party.

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Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Daoibh

That headline may confuse many people, but perhaps not among Troy's many, many residents of Irish heritage.

The Irish Gaelic greeting is pronounced "AH / vlee-ihn / fwee / WAH-shuh / Heev" which is quite a mouthful. That is not unusual, given that Gaelic does not have its roots in the language we know as American English, so pronunciations often don't sound the way they look.

Translated literally, it means "You have a prosperous New Year."

And so, to all my fellow residents of Troy no matter your heritage, I say, "Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Daoibh."

FOOTNOTE: If you like toasts and quotes of all sorts, you may like one of my oh-so-many blogs, called "Toasts & Crumbs" and subtitled "When Words Fail You, Try These." You can access it by clicking here.

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John T. Casey, a life well lived

Judge John T. Casey

"John T. Casey, who rose from the hardscrabble streets of South Troy to become an associate justice of the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court, beloved by two generations of attorneys he mentored and respected for a common-sense jurisprudence during 35 years on the bench, died on Christmas at Teresian House after a long battle with cancer. He was 93."

That is how my former colleague Paul Grondahl began his appreciation of the late legal icon in today's Times Union.

For those who remember John Casey, I recommend you read Grondahl's paen and recall fond memories with him.

For those of you who did not know John Casey, I recommend you read it to learn something about a life well lived, one that can set an example for many.

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A very Merry Christmas to all

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He said, she said -- What's in a pronoun?

City Council President Rodney Wiltshire's dismissive response to an e-mail from a former City Council member has stirred up the latest emotional flap involving city government.

Carmella Mantello tells me, "I sent an e-mail to the full Council and mayor [Al Rosamilia] regarding budget issues. [Council member] Ken Zalewski replied to my e-mail ... Then Mr. Wiltshire responded with the attached degrading e-mail to all council members and the Mayor:

" 'Thank you Ken. It's hard for me to respond to her statements without getting agitated. I'm glad that you can answer her straight'."

Mantello, never one to let things slide, promptly e-mailed this immediate response to the same people she had originally e-mailed:

Dear All,

I am dismayed that the President of Troy City Council would refer to me as "her." This is clearly a sexist comment and is an affront to each and every woman in our community. The Council President should give an immediate apology to this sexist comment that is an insult to all the women in our community.

It is interesting that Council President Wiltshire is now interested in the problems facing city finances. This is the same Council President who missed the last 2 annual budget meetings even though Mr. Wiltshire is President of the Finance Committee.

Several things come to mind from this exchange. One is that while Mantello rightly takes umbrage with Wiltshire's cavalier attitude toward her, accusing him of being sexist and his remark an "affront to each and every woman in our community" is a bit much. Had he used the pronoun "him" to refer to a man, I doubt it would have registered with anyone.

But, to my mind the larger point, is that Wiltshire, as leader of the City Council by dint of garnering the largest number of votes last year, fell down on his duty to respond pertinently to constituents.

The Democrat may not be a fan of the Republican Mantello, who fell short in her run for a Council seat the same year he was elected, but she is a resident and taxpayer of the City of Troy. As such, she has as much right as anyone to suggest, question, cajole and opine on the budget. Fear of "getting agitated" is a weak and unstatesmanlike retort.

There is a tendency by too many local elected officials to realize they are not operating at a state or national level far removed from the people they ran for office to, at least in theory, serve. Yes, it is tough to endure the slings and arrows of outrageous political sniping or partisanship when discussing the merits and demerits of situations, but no one promised you a rose garden.

Wiltshire probably still is stinging from public criticism over missing the last two city budget votes because he preferred to be on vacation both times, so any additional comments may be an irritant. But, making a snide remark via e-mail does not substitute for intelligent response. Obviously, Wiltshire did not learn a lesson about the dangers of e-mail remarks even though he created quite a dust-up in December 2013 when he played the race card in an e-mail to several other Council members.

This is not a good record for someone who recently told a Times Union writer when asked whether he will run for mayor next year, "Right now, I'm not thinking about that. I'm certainly running again next year for some elected office."

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Powers Park tree a story of persistence of the spirit

Arrow points to Powers Park.

Calling him, or them, a Grinch would be putting it too mildly.

The lowlife or low-lives who several times vandalized the Christmas tree installed by the Lansingburgh community in Powers Park, resulting in the battered tree being removed, deserve to be caught, publicly embarassed and sentenced to some stiff community service.

This once-proud neighborhood, which over the generations has tried to keep its own identity even though it is part of the City of Troy, is really suffering through hard times. A rising crime rate, incessant drug trafficking, frequent arsons, housing stock that is crumbling, people loitering and jaywalking with no heed to traffic, trash piled in front of buildings for a week at a time rather than only on trash pickup day ... and the plywood covering what had been windows and doors. Oh, the plywood.

I have spoken to numerous people in recent years who grew up in the 'Burgh, and even raised their families there. But, in the face of the downward spiral, they finally sold their homes for what they could get and headed for greener pastures.

In the face of all that, a core of good, community-minded people has continued to try to regain the upper hand in the 'Burgh, pushing for neighborhood cleanups, activity programs for otherwise aimless kids, lobbying for stronger police presence, organizing and promoting civic entertainment such as festivals and concerts.

People like Lansingburgh residents Ron and Sue Higgs, who donated the original 20-foot tree they had planted 22 years ago when their son was born.

It is people with a similar community spirit who anonymously placed another Christmas tree in Powers Park to make up to some degree for the battered Higgs tree. (Rumor has it that the 'Burgh's former city councilman Mark McGrath and former mayor Harry Tutunjian were involved in the replacement.) The new one is smaller, to be sure, but it is a tree. A symbol that not all the creeps in the world can permanently subdue the heart of the 'Burgh.

The persistence to have such a special holiday touch says a lot about the spirit of the 'Burgh. Perhaps not as widespread as it once was, but it still beats strongly and that means hope for the future.

Powers Park has been part of Lansingburgh since 1878 when Deborah Ball Powers created the 2½-acre space as a memorial to her husband, William. When she died in 1891, her sons deeded it to the then-Village of Lansingburgh -- nine years before the 'Burgh became part of the City of Troy. It is a major part of our community's shared history, and everyone has a stake in keeping it as a safe gem.

Christmas Eve Update: I drove by Powers Park early this afternoon, and the replacement Christmas tree appears to be doing just fine.

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Happy 2015, and watch your checkbooks

Today, I am deeply disappointed in the government of the City of Troy.

Yes, I could have written that sentence so many times in the 20-plus years I have been a resident of the city. But today, it's for a brand new reason.

Despite patting itself on its collective back for passing a balanced 2015 budget after one of the clumsiest processes on record, the nine-member City Council on Thursday, in its final Financial Committee session of 2014, voted to increase the amount of money the City pays Rensselaer County for emergency dispatching services.

By how much, you ask? By more than 75%, after considering just a single non-competitive bid endorsed by Mayor Lou Rosamilia after he did a bit of flirting with Albany County's dispatch people. (By the way, despite calls to do so, neither he nor anyone in his administration has publicly explained why that exploration stopped, and how he arrived at the abominable figure he chose to endorse.)

As a result, a half-million of your tax dollars will go to the County, rather than the current $285,000. And, that number is projected to more than double in the next decade under an agreement Rosamilia and County Executive Cathy Jimino agreed to before putting it up for a vote. Thus, taxpayers will have to go from paying $285,000 a year to $1,200,000 in a 10-year period.

Nice negotiating, Mr. Mayor.

But, that is not the only bit of financial bad news for Troy residents and businesses. The Council also voted to increase the amount charged for sewer bills by 20%. Your current sewer bill is 65% of what your water bill is. For 2015, it will be 85%. (Council Member Lynn Kopka even floated the possibility of a 100% increase.) Feel that extra pinch in your pocketbook?

The logic in that rate hike is to drum up an extra $856,000 a year to be applied to paying down a $3,537,411 million bond issue that was floated to finance a capital project for the regional combined sewer overflow control plan.

The problem with increases of the sort I'm pointing out is not that that they are inherently bad. What they are is a case of too much, too soon.

Yes, the City has paid the same $285,000 a year to the County for emergency dispatch services for nearly 20 years, so some increase is not out of line. But the approved amount is, tremendously so.

A more gradual schedule of increases would have been palatable. Instead, Rosamilia and the Council have leapfrogged to a mind-boggling level that will only continue to increase each year unless the City opts out of the contract, which seems unlikely given the current mindset.

And, there is no doubt the sewer overflow capital project is needed. But, once again, it is a huge hike to absorb all at once, especially for residents of a city with an average adjusted gross income of $39,000.

Given all the good things happening in the City -- often despite rather than aided by the government -- we are in dire need of people with energy, perspective, business experience and critical thinking skills to consider making a run at City Hall and on City Council next time those seats come before the voters.

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Snow emergency plan? Now we can breathe easier

Troy, NY - Dec. 11, 2014

The City of Troy has mailed out flyers to city residents announcing the Rosamilia administration's snow emergency plan. I just received mine the other day.

I suppose that's a good thing. Winter doesn't officially arrive until this Sunday.

Never mind that we've already had several heavy snowfalls that required lots of plowing, salting and scraping, and many city streets were mired in slush, backed-up traffic and the usual accoutrements of the season.

Better late than never, one must suppose. Why would we expect the government of a municipality located in Upstate New York to foresee winter coming around every year?

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City's outside legal fee projection borders on obscene

Carmella Mantello may not have been successful last year in her bid for a City Council at-large seat (she came in fourth in a race for three seats), but she isn't withdrawing from sharing her thoughts on governance.

Mantello just released on Facebook a shortened version of a letter she sent to Mayor Lou Rosamilia and the nine members of the City Council:

"We are all aware the City of Troy is facing a very difficult budget situation for 2015 and beyond. I am recommending, in order to reduce expenditures, the City put a freeze on any legal consultant services effective January 1, 2015. In the years 2012, 2013 and to date in 2014, the City has spent $629,425 for such consultant services. I believe an unnecessary expenditure and such services can easily be done in-house.

"In particular, in the 2015 budget $297,450 is allocated for the Corporation Counsel’s office. This includes seven staff personnel, six of which are attorneys. Therefore, the legal city staff has the ability to perform the same services as the outside consultants. ... "

Mantello has a point -- the point being the matter certainly is worth discussing. Is she correct? That depends on what the discussion reveals.

As someone with long experience creating and managing multi-million-dollar budgets, I've always been cautious about too quickly assuming something is bad simply because it has large numbers attached to it. But, breaking it down by Mantello's figures, we have shelled out a monthly expenditure of $18,000 for outside legal help during the 35-month period she cites.

Now, that is a big number I don't like.

And, because politicians don't put dollars in a budget and then not use them, the cost to taxpayers will grow even larger in 2015. Result: Add that $18,000 per month to the nearly $24,800 the City has budgeted for its in-house legal office and we're up to $42,800 -- per month!

I regard that as an obscene number, especially in a city of fewer than 50,000 residents.

To be fair, doing away with outside legal services isn't always possible in a municipal setting. There often are legitimate circumstances in which legal work by non-employee, unaffiliated people is necessary. However, a moratorium on using them for a specified period appears advisable.

Such a moratorium would be a period in which the Rosamilia administration and the Council would be tasked with critically analyzing the perceived need on an instance-by-instance basis. And, by the same token, a time in which the people of Troy would be able to critically analyze the decisions their elected officials are making, and shape their votes accordingly.

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