The last time I attended a political party town committee meeting, it was the Democratic Town Committee meeting and I got to to preview the new voting machines and sit through a very long meeting with many references to points of order. In stark contrast, the RTC meeting was light on substance and way more casual, starting promptly at 7:30 pm and ending at 8:03 pm. It struck me that the Republicans managed to get through an entire meeting agenda in the same amount of time that the Democrats, well only a couple of Democrats really, managed to get through the question of whether to kick in $30 for an charitable ad book buy. Tonight, the DTC also held their meeting next door to the RTC meeting and while I had hoped that I could swing both, I decided to let the spotlight rest on the Republicans tonight and will cycle back to the Democrats the next time.
First up Chairman Jeff Konspore asked that Republicans show some support for the budget cap enacted by the common council. Jeff Konspore had served on the Board of Ed, so he pointed out that this was an important issue, because “the BOE continues to defy presenting a clear understanding of the budget” He pointed out that the overall budget itself, not just the line item version was not on the Internet. There was some discussion on referring to the BOE budget as a reduction of increase requested instead of referring to it as a budget cut. Unfortunately budget cut rolls off the tongue a little easier than a reduction in increase requested, and I suspect that this will be tough to stick to. Fred Wilms was praised for his, now famous, 32 unanswered questions. Those questions, btw have generated over 250 page views, and the BOE 68 pages to 32 questions has been downloaded a whopping 172 times, as of tonight. It’s exciting to see this much interest in the BOE budget on this site. There was a bit of discussion by RTC members who’ve spoken to teachers, that there was not huge support for the BOE budget because even though more money gets allocated to the school system, teachers are still shelling out their own money to buy classroom supplies. Someone also said that parents weren’t complaining either.
Mayor Moccia did not make an appearance at the meeting, but a timeline was offered that he would make his re-ection campaign announcement in 30-60 days, with Konspore acknowledging that Moccia was leaning towards running for re-election. No district committee wanted to tip their hand as to who was planning on running, officially that is. It was announced that Mayor Moccia would not seek the Republican State Central Committee spot, and that Art Scialaba was interested in running for the 25th Senate seat currently held by Bob Duff-D. and that Art Scialaba was interested in running for the state central spot.**
Diana Palladino confirmed that she plans to run for common council in district A, as well as Matt Mattielo also indicating he plans to run in District A. Current Council member Rick McQuaid says he’s leaning to running at-large, and while he has not formally committed to doing that, he did explain that he was looking into buying a new home and wants to keep his options open.
Rick McQuaid also provided the quip of the night, when describing the common council vote on the appointment to the historical commission last week. He said, “as it was, Doug [Hempstead’s] name was put up instead of mine because, you know, Doug is over 50 and he is more historical …”
** Update: I mischaracterized what seat Art Scialaba was interested in running for and have corrected the post.
