Where Did The Money Come from To Pay For the “It’s Time Saratoga!” Charter Campaign? Here Is The List

It’s Time Saratoga! is the PAC working on behalf of the Charter Review Commission to promote charter change in Saratoga Springs.

Given the expensive mailings and other media done by them I was curious where the money came from.  As it turns out, approximately 75% of the money raised by It’s Time Saratoga! came from the national and state associations of city managers.

The International City/County Management Association is located in Washington D.C.  It gave a $15,000.00 donation to It’s Time Saratoga.   In addition the  New York State  City/County Management Association located in Valhalla, NY gave $2,500.00.

There is nothing illegal about their contributions.  In fact it is not surprising that they want to see their network expand. 

The problem is that the Charter Commission people have gone on ad nausea about how completely apolitical city managers are.  In fact, as far as I can tell, these associations do preclude their individual members from participating in politics.  This, however, apparently does not preclude the associations themselves  from pursuing their own self interest by involving themselves in one of the most contentious city elections in my memory.

Like so many of materials, the apolitical nature of city managers was at least overstated.

I expect the people at It’s Time Saratoga! and many of their supporters will shrug this off as they have all the other abuses committed by this group in their zealous pursuit of charter change. 

Below is a list of the contributors to It’s Time Saratoga! from the New York State Board of Elections  site where PACs are required to report.