the archives of f/k/a . . .

to Petta, DiCerbo & Hughes: SORRY, GUYS, I’m a Democrat, but . . .

. . . I remember your votes this past summer in favor of the Schenectady County SORR laws (Sex Offender Residency Restrictions) — both their initial passage and your decision, upon reflection, to confirm the basic residence ban and establish a horse-behind-the-cart Sex Offender Council to study the issue. [see, e.g., Schenectady’s PanderPols Vote to Evict Sex Offenders (June 13, 2007), and Schenectady’s (d)evolving Sex Offender Law (Aug. 23, 2007)]. You say “Schenectady is Moving in the Right Direction,” but “Sex Offenders Keep Moving” is not a legislative record that should make you proud. Frankly, there is nothing else that comes to mind when I try to figure out just what you’ve done for our County over the past four years that entitles you to re-election.

Reluctantly, I’ve concluded that your SORR votes are reason enough to withhold my vote on Tuesday, as you seek re-election to the County Legislature, and I hope other Democrats will join in — showing up at the voting booth but sending our silent message of “no confidence” and “No thanks for SORR.” I’m probably not willing to vote for your Republican opponent, but I will not pull the lever under your names on Election Day.

– Paul Michael Petta was apparently all set to vote against SORR early on the day the vote was taken last June. He somehow had his arm twisted, however, by Legislative Chair Susan Savage and meekly voted for the ineffective and counterproductive laws.

Affable Vince DiCerbo voted to retain the residency restrictions, despite knowing they are bad policy and likely to be counterproductive. As I said in August about Vince: “One Albany politician’s political posturing provoked a Schenectady politician to change position and vote for a law that he admits is bad in theory. A sad example for our children, and for impressionable adults.”

– In voting for SORR, Gary Hughes stressed his desire to protect children. Governing by cliche and slogans is not good enough, Gary.

I hope this Just Say No to SORR protest will give Vince, Mike and Gary some ammunition the next time they need to defend positions opposed to the high-handed methods and low-EQ policies of their leader Susan Savage. More important, I hope — if they somehow still need further incentives– that it is the nudge that will bring them to choose a new Legislative Chairman this January, under Sec. 2.06.8 of the County Charter. We citizen-members of the Democratic Party in Schenectady County want our elected leaders to start acting like Real Democrats — in their policies and their procedures, as members of the County Legislature.

By the Way: The Schenectady County Democratic Party’s official website promises “detailed information” about the candidates, but clicking on the above links gets you a photo and one word of detail about each of the incumbents. A In fact, it is the same word for each candidate: “dedicated.” In practice, dedicated to keeping Susan Savage happy seems to be the theme. We need to let them know that their strategy is wrongheaded, and growing a spine for standing up against Susan would be advantageous. [Note to SCDP's webmaster: the gentlemen above are members of the County Legislature, not the "County Board."]

Here’s a Sunday antidote to stale, rudderless, spine-challenged Schenectady pols: some new, hearty poetry by Schenectady’s most-honored haiku poet, Union College’s Professor Yu Chang:

unmarked grave
butterflies in and out of
the long grass

Thanksgiving
I promise to take care
on the road

home theatre
a squirrel just left
the feeder

video chat –
touching the gap
in her baby teeth

blue heron
all paddles
at rest

…………………………………………… by Yu Chang - from Update Dim Sum (2007/II)