In Rensselaer County, New York, the Working Families Party has long been a plaything fought over by the Democratic and Republican parties. In Troy, the county seat, the WFP has reportedly endorsed the Democratic candidate for mayor, Lou Rosamilia. The endorsement drew an objection from a city Republican spokesman, who says that Rosamilia's acceptance of the WFP nod "raises ethical questions" about the candidate. As is well known, local Democratic politicians are under investigation for allegedly forging signatures on absentee ballots for a WFP primary in 2009. How past Democratic interference in WFP elections taints the party itself isn't exactly clear, unless the Republicans mean to question how Rosamilia won the party's endorsement. In any event, Republican criticism would ring less hollow had GOP operatives not struggled mightily in recent years to seize control of the very same allegedly independent party by colonizing it, swamping the primaries and nominating dummy candidates to deceive those few voters who accept Working Families uncritically, as Rosamilia himself urges us to do, as "a party that cares about working people." The Republicans engaged in legal cheating, as no law prevents insincere people from registering with a party, while Democrats allegedly cheated illegally to reclaim what they probably considered rightfully theirs. The one certain fact is that the Working Families Party lacks viability, if not integrity, in Rensselaer County. Why its endorsement of another party's candidate should mean anything to anyone except those who can exploit it negatively, eludes me. There is, however, at least one genuine independent candidate for Mayor of Troy. Jack Cox Jr. is currently collecting signatures to earn a ballot line for his new Revolution Party. He has no presence online that I know of, but if anyone wants an actual alternative to the local Bipolarchy, Cox is it so far. I work in Troy but don't live there; nevertheless, I wish any independent success in getting on the ballot. It's just too bad that so many purported independents actually compromise what independence they have to stay on the ballot.
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As the article in the Record stated, rather clearly, the WFP had endorsed Clement Campana before he dropped out of the race, so it might've made sense to endorse Lou Rosamilia, who, as a politcal neophyte two years ago, was elected to the Rensselaer County Legislature.
When I first read the article, I chalked this up to GOP paranoia. Lou Rosamilia was not implicated in the voter fraud scandal two years ago because he's not a career politician. As noted above, he was new to the local political stage, and voters embraced him virtually right away. I get that the GOP wants this to be a clean election for Mayor, and I can't blame them there, but, trust me, if their candidate, Carmella Mantello, wins the election in November, they won't bring this up again.
I seem to remember a few years back the GOP in Troy being accused of just the same thing, except I believe they were registering names of the deceased.
Crhyme: It's funny, isn't it? The GOP is crying foul over the WFP endorsement, but what if the WFP had endorsed Mantello instead? Then what? As for the registration of deceased citizens? Haven't they done that in other places, too? The GOP can't have it both ways without someone invoking the line about the pot calling the kettle black.
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