Month: September 2020

The libertarian Party sent out the press release below:

                                                            For Immediate Release

Libertarians Launch Petition Calling for County Supervisors to Terminate County Administrator Spencer Hellwig and Co Conspirators.

Libertarian Party of Saratoga County seeks to deliver 1000 signatures by Oct 1^st.

Ballston Spa— For Immediate Release — Today, the Libertarian Party of Saratoga County announced that is has launched a petition calling on the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors to terminate County Administrator Spencer Hellwig, Director of Human Resources Marcy McNamara and County Attorney Stephen Dorsey.  The political party hopes to deliver 1000 signatures from county residents to the board by October 1^st.

“Residents around the county are outraged by the blatant corruption and coverup stemming from the pay raise scandal by Saratoga County Leaders;” said Rob Arrigo Chairman of the Saratoga County Libertarian Party.  “A mess this big cannot be swept under the rug.  The Board of Supervisors must act to restore faith in our county government,” said Arrigo.

An external investigation into the County’s decision to hand out 50% pay raises to essential employees, management staff and elected officials, revealed that County Administrator Hellwig, HR Director McNamara and County Attorney Dorsey lied to the Board of Supervisors, unlawfully raised pay, potentially opened the county up for legal liability and worked to cover up their misdeeds.

The petition, titled “Hold Them Accountable,” can be found on their website: http://www.lpnysaratoga.org/petition-detail?petitionId=1003

In 2018, prompted by an article written by Barbara Lombardo for the Times Union about the Darryl Mount incident, I reviewed the discovery documents amassed by the attorneys for the Mount family. They revealed a breakdown of oversight by the city’s Department of Public Safety in general, and the city’s Chief of Police, Greg Veitch in particular.

Chief Veitch’s unfortunate email of September 2, 2013, compromised the integrity of the investigation and contributed to the calls for a proper investigation.

Chris Mathiesen was the Commissioner of Public Safety at the time. I consider Chris Mathiesen to be a friend and a person of great integrity. Nevertheless, he and I profoundly disagree about the handling of the “investigation.” The link to my story includes an email exchange between the two of us which I think reveals just how problematic the investigation was.

It may never be known how Darryl Mount was fatally injured. The tragedy is that the opportunity to properly investigate his death was squandered leaving a festering wound in our city.