[JK: Much of this story draws on the excellent article by Saratogian Reporter Emma Ralls’ November 26, 2024, article.]
Former Saratoga Springs Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub pleaded not guilty before Judge Jeffrey Wait in City Court on Tuesday, November 26, 2024. Golub was charged with professional misconduct, a misdemeanor. He is alleged to have used city employees to do work at his home. He was represented by Karl Sleight.
Normally, these arraignments are dull affairs. The defendant pleads not guilty, and the judge schedules the parties for a more substantive hearing.
Not this time. Sleight claimed that the issues came from the city’s Human Resources (HR) department. He asked Judge Wait to approve a subpoena for the report. Sleight contended that based on “preliminary disclosures,” he would seek access to Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll’s personal and city cell phones. According to the Saratogian article, he “wanted to put the District Attorney’s office on notice that as part of discovery, he would like a search ‘through the normal portals’ for information that might be relevant on both phones.”
The following quote is from Ralls’ article, but Sleight successfully managed to have similar quotes appear in the Daily Gazette, the Times Union, WAMC, and on several television news reports:
“The more we look at this, the real question here is, what was the motivation for charges?” Sleight stated. “As I said from the beginning, this case involved eight minutes, a jug of Drano and a clogged sink. My question is, what motivated someone to try to charge an attorney of the stature of my client, months after the event, with this charge?
“We’ll get to the bottom of it. It starts today.”
With Perry Mason-like drama, he announced:
“I think the motivation of this case will become apparent in due time,” Sleight said. “I think when that happens there will be a reckoning.”
Sound and Fury But Little In The Way Of A Legal Defense
I have spoken to numerous attorneys about the relevance of Sleight’s drama to an actual legal defense. They observed that unless he can find evidence that Coll was behind the clogging of Golub’s drain, Coll is wholly irrelevant to this case.
Nothing Sleight said addressed the inconvenient and undeniable fact that city employees in city trucks using city-purchased chemicals worked on Golub’s private home, something Sleight has previously admitted happened.
Where Is Sleight Getting His Facts?
As noted in an earlier post, notwithstanding Sleight’s false bravura claims, the action did not involve “eight minutes” of one employee’s time. The abuse involved two employees, not one. It involved not one but two trips to Golub’s home. And it wasn’t one can of Drano but the container of an expensive chemical purchased by the city.
So What Is Sleight Doing?
Again, I have discussed this with a number of attorneys who offered some insight. The facts in this case and the related penal code are so manifest that Sleight has little to work with. The best they could offer is that Sleight is using the media to minimize the damage to Golub’s reputation by diverting the public’s attention with a sensational story that there is some kind of conspiracy to destroy his client.
Maybe Sleight can muddy the waters, but eventually, the legal system, not the media, will become the actual field of battle, and the scope of Golub’s culpability will finally be decided.
Saratoga Springs Politics 
what if Sleight’s claims are not false? What if Commissioner Coll’s correspondence reveals an ill motive? I have no idea, but would like the process to play out in court before casting public aspersions.
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Sounds like Golub’s attorney is practicing “Sleight of hand.”
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I did have a clogged drain in my house recently and I immediately thought of Tim Coll. How did he get into our house? Since I am no longer sitting on the City Council, I had to call a local plumber. When I called and told the receptionist about our clogged drain, she asked me if Tim Coll had visited recently.
Jason Golub’s attorney seems to be another local practitioner of the Roy Cohn/Donald Trump playbook of making outrageous countercharges regarding any accusation of wrong-doing, whether valid or not. And why not? It has worked for DJT many times.
The Saratogian story that John Kaufmann cited had another very disturbing aspect. Commissioner Sanghvi stated to the reporter “As we’ve learned from the AG’s investigation, the position of Public Safety Commissioner shouldn’t be used for targeting people. Especially people of color in our city.” Apparently Commissioner Zanghvi thinks that this is merely a matter of racism on the part of Tim Coll, not a situation where former Commissioner Golub might have abused his position by having City employees repair his private property.
Chris Mathiesen
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Chris,
Hoping you get over your bad case of TDS soon. Your comments are idiotic.
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I don’t know. I thought Chris’ comments were pretty funny.
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At least Chris doesn’t hide behind a made up title. He owns his own comments.
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Sorry that my comments are not up to Concerned Saratogian’s standards. Concerned Saratogian previously suggested that I just fade away. Apparently my opinion of Donald Trump’s track record doesn’t mesh with those of Concerned Saratogian. I continue to be guilty of being a Concerned American.
Chris Mathiesen
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We live in an age of deflection. Like children taken to task, we attempt to deflect scrutiny of our behavior with red herrings: “There’s nothing to see here. It’s all a conspiracy; it’s a Republican vs. Democrat thing; its racially motivated; and besides, the transgression involved eight minutes, a jug of Drano and a clogged sink”. These logical fallacies conveniently elide over the crux of the matter.
Mr. Golub’s lack of judgment in using City resources for personal purposes occurred when he was a City officer. While some City officials and residents may view the ethics and integrity of their public officers as situationally optional, Mr. Golub’s current employer does not. The State of New York has zero tolerance for unethical behavior that violates the Public Officer’s Law. “Public officials must exemplify the highest ethical standards. This includes using state resources only to conduct state business. There is no place for engaging in private sector work or transactions in a state office or using state employees or resources to perform such work.” (Executive Director, NYS Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government).
Regardless of the outcome of Mr. Golub’s case, it is likely his new employer will determine his continued employment creates a political liability the State is unwilling to bear. What message does it send his agency’s 25,000+ employees when a newly-appointed member of their leadership team deemed it acceptable to use public resources for private purposes?
Red herrings aside, Mr. Golub clearly exercised questionable judgment and violated the public trust. He needs to reflect on the choice he made and ask himself if his decision to use City resources was worth tarnishing his reputation, potentially losing his job and compromising his future livelihood. At the end of the day, it all comes down to the strength of character and integrity we expect and should demand from our public servants. This is about ethics and integrity in government. It’s not about a conspiracy, racial bias, the R’s vs. the D’s, or that silly argument that eight minutes, a jug of Drano and a clogged sink makes this much ado about nothing.
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Better written than me. You should become a blogger!
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best comment here, and I concur
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