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More e-mail controversy
UPDATE:
Initial responses and comments from Conroy and Democratic council members can be found here, with additional responses posted below.
A recent e-mail from Jim Conroy has at least one Republican councilman concerned about who's controlling council Democrats.
Councilman Mark McGrath, R-District 2, sent out a media release Tuesday regarding an e-mail he had received from Conroy on Feb. 22. McGrath believed that, based on Conroy's message, that he was attempting to lay out a plan for the council to vote against approving city funding to retrofit the former Verizon Building on Sixth Avenue into a temporary location for City Hall.
In his e-mail, Conroy had written:
"I once again want to express my opposition to the Verizon deal and to the prospect of demolishing City Hall. I hope you all take the opportunity to vote against the funding for renovations at the Verizon Building. Then cancel the contract because of insufficient funds to proceed. There isn't a contract for governmental services which doesn't include cancellation if funds are not available. If you haven't seen the lease and had time to review it you can't vote to approve such a poor proposal."
McGrath said that if the measure is not passed, the city's citizens will need to take a hard look at who is ordering around the Democrats.
Conroy has also stated his opposition to the move of City Hall on his "People before Politics" blog.
UPDATE -
Additional response from Councilman Gary Galuski, D-District 6:
"My first response would be, why is Mark McGrath so worried about our party? Does he want to switch parties again? Now to my real answer, I would believe there would be more of a issue if Mr Conroy sent the e-mail just to the majority, but he sent it to all council members. Doesn't Mr Conroy have a right to express his thoughts or does that not work for Mr McGrath and his party? There is a motive behind everything Mr McGrath does and this is no different. I have no comment on my vote, but will say this is a major issue that will have a lasting impact on the City of Troy for a very long time."
Councilman Bill Dunne, D-District 4:
"For the record, Mark, the council majority has not meet with either Jim Conroy or Tom Wade on the matter of city hall. Mr. Conroy sent a letter expressing his opinions regarding the matter, which, I reviewed with the same interest I would a letter from any resident of the city. The fantasy you and your cohorts seem to want to create is one in which Wade and Conroy are somehow puppet masters. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Despite your feigned outrage toward Bob Mirch over the incident with Jack Cox, everyone in the city knows who the real puppet master of Troy politics is and who his puppets are. Mr. Conroy's past and current involvement in government and politics in no way disqualifies him from expressing an opinion regarding the future of city hall. He is a citizen, a taxpayer and a voter - all of which entitles him to that opinion. While he is knowledgeable, Jim's input carries no more or less weight t han that of anyone else.
You should have put this kind of thought and effort into keeping the Lansingburgh branch of the library open."
Initial responses and comments from Conroy and Democratic council members can be found here, with additional responses posted below.
A recent e-mail from Jim Conroy has at least one Republican councilman concerned about who's controlling council Democrats.
Councilman Mark McGrath, R-District 2, sent out a media release Tuesday regarding an e-mail he had received from Conroy on Feb. 22. McGrath believed that, based on Conroy's message, that he was attempting to lay out a plan for the council to vote against approving city funding to retrofit the former Verizon Building on Sixth Avenue into a temporary location for City Hall.
In his e-mail, Conroy had written:
"I once again want to express my opposition to the Verizon deal and to the prospect of demolishing City Hall. I hope you all take the opportunity to vote against the funding for renovations at the Verizon Building. Then cancel the contract because of insufficient funds to proceed. There isn't a contract for governmental services which doesn't include cancellation if funds are not available. If you haven't seen the lease and had time to review it you can't vote to approve such a poor proposal."
McGrath said that if the measure is not passed, the city's citizens will need to take a hard look at who is ordering around the Democrats.
Conroy has also stated his opposition to the move of City Hall on his "People before Politics" blog.
UPDATE -
Additional response from Councilman Gary Galuski, D-District 6:
"My first response would be, why is Mark McGrath so worried about our party? Does he want to switch parties again? Now to my real answer, I would believe there would be more of a issue if Mr Conroy sent the e-mail just to the majority, but he sent it to all council members. Doesn't Mr Conroy have a right to express his thoughts or does that not work for Mr McGrath and his party? There is a motive behind everything Mr McGrath does and this is no different. I have no comment on my vote, but will say this is a major issue that will have a lasting impact on the City of Troy for a very long time."
Councilman Bill Dunne, D-District 4:
"For the record, Mark, the council majority has not meet with either Jim Conroy or Tom Wade on the matter of city hall. Mr. Conroy sent a letter expressing his opinions regarding the matter, which, I reviewed with the same interest I would a letter from any resident of the city. The fantasy you and your cohorts seem to want to create is one in which Wade and Conroy are somehow puppet masters. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Despite your feigned outrage toward Bob Mirch over the incident with Jack Cox, everyone in the city knows who the real puppet master of Troy politics is and who his puppets are. Mr. Conroy's past and current involvement in government and politics in no way disqualifies him from expressing an opinion regarding the future of city hall. He is a citizen, a taxpayer and a voter - all of which entitles him to that opinion. While he is knowledgeable, Jim's input carries no more or less weight t han that of anyone else.
You should have put this kind of thought and effort into keeping the Lansingburgh branch of the library open."
Labels: City Council, Jim Conroy, Mark McGrath, Verizon
posted by James Costanzo at
1:55 PM
6 Comments:
Jimmy,
Stop it. You are embarassing yourself. The election is over, you lost. You lost big. No one cares about what you think.
Just be grateful you weren't indicted, although the day may still come.One can only hope.
Once again McGrath stirs the pot. Throwing around allegations like they are beer bottles at PIP's. McGrath is a blowhard and loves to spout off. Thank goodness he will be off the council after this year. We need more level-headed folks like Zalewski, Brown and Ryan on there.
cant wait for marge. she is so honest knowledgable and sincere. she really cares about the people and her home troy new york
michael
jim conroy is my hero. he grabbed the $27,000 ran for mayor in Troy and Schenectady and lost both, yet he knows what's best for the city. that spells arrogance.
Galuski stop trying to be smart, it doesn't fit you.
You want us to believe that big jim wanted to share his thoughts with the entire council, so he cc'd tom wade. Sure big guy.
as a citizen, I wonder if anyone ever thought about retrofitting that building on River street that is in the foreclosure listing...701 River Street...there is plenty of parking, and the excess space can be rented to other businesses....not to mention that the City obviously owns the building already and with Uncle Joe's money, that space could be beautiful again...not to mention sprucing up that mess of a neighborhood....or what about the old leonard hospital?? Does the City own that? I still think there are better options than the Verizon building....maybe studies should be done on buildings that are already city property///just a thought!!!
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