Democratic Committee Appears Committed To Trashing Itself

In an earlier post, I wrote about a resolution adopted by the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee that appeared to backtrack from a defense of the indefensible. The full resolution is on the earlier post, but briefly, it acknowledged that the use of city employees for the personal service of city officials is wrong, but that the person charged should be considered innocent until proven otherwise. This was in relation to the charges against former Commissioner of Public Works Jason Golub and current Public Works Deputy Joe O’Neill.

One would have thought that such a statement was axiomatic and unnecessary, but prior to the adoption of this resolution, the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee Facebook page and newsletter, In The Loop, had refused to acknowledge that any use of city government employees for the private benefit of public officials was totally unacceptable. Instead, the Facebook page and newsletter attempted to obscure the gravity of what Jason Golub and Joe O’Neill were accused of by perpetuating the allegations that the entire affair was cooked up by unnamed conspirators motivated by some unnamed grudge and implied racism. Both the Facebook page and the newsletter used public, toxic statements by Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran to support this narrative.

City Democratic Committee Chair Otis Maxwell Heedlessly Carries On Further Damaging His Committee

It has been several weeks since the Committee’s resolution. Maxwell has had plenty of time to remove the sleazy attacks from past Facebook pages and publish the resolution in their newsletters, but he has not. All the ugly stuff is still up.

Sanghvi’s Tone Deaf Continuation

It’s not only the Democratic Committee Chair and Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran who have continued to try to minimize and excuse the charges against Golub.

Weeks after the Democratic Committee’s resolution was adopted, Sanghvi, apparently unmoved, piled on. She directly accused Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll of being motivated by racism and orchestrating the persecution of Golub.

Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Finance Minita Sanghvi, who has served with both (commissioners) Golub and Coll, commented on the matter and the history between the two men, making a nod to the report from the Attorney General, which found that the city had previously violated protesters’ First Amendment rights.

“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.”

Saratogian

This blogger would observe that this kind of cavalier and reckless attack trivializes the real and pernicious evil of racism. It also undermines her credibility and the credibility of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee.

In a sign of how closely the citizens of our city follow politics, in the last election, former Finance Commissioner and current County Supervisor Michele Madigan received many more votes in Saratoga Springs than Minita Sanghvi. Sanghvi’s toxic comments at both the Council table and to the press have undoubtedly contributed to her unpopularity.

You would think that after the recent Daily Gazette editorial that rightfully denounced both Golub’s alleged abuse and the grotesque attempt to dismiss the seriousness of the criminal charges, the Democratic Committee and the two City Council members they support would clean up their social media by removing their embarrassing posts. Apparently, they live in a toxic bubble in which they assume that citizens of our city will either not see what they are doing or will not care.