Saratoga Podcast invited Hank Kuczynski and Chuck Marshall to appear in the latest podcast. Kuczynski never responded.
The blogger was invited as the second guest. The interview with Marshall is well worth the time. Marshall is thoughtful and articulate.
Despite Saratoga Springs City Attorney Tony Izzo telling the City Council that the city urgently needed help with the city’s FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) backlog, Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran and acting Public Works Commissioner Hank Kuczynski blocked Mayor John Safford’s attempt to address this crisis. It wasn’t pretty.
FOIL is a New York state law that grants citizens the right to request and receive government documents unless specific exemptions apply, like personal privacy or national security concerns.
As documented extensively in this blog, the number of FOIL requests the city has received has ballooned in the last two or three years, and the city has been plagued by an inability to meet the demand. Making matters worse, attacks by Dillon Moran and Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi (now echoed indirectly by Kuczynski) on Robin McFee, who had been responsible for handling FOIL, resulted in her resigning and taking a job with another public institution. Her last day was December 31, 2024. Her absence has acutely worsened a bad situation. Until a replacement can be hired, the city lacks someone dedicated to handling these requests.
At the January 21, 2025, Council meeting, Mayor John Safford introduced a resolution that would have provided some immediate relief by contracting with Garnet River to assist in processing FOIL until a replacement for McFee can be hired. Garnet River, in addition to helping in processing FOIL requests, has also offered to provide guidance on how AI (artificial intelligence) might automate some processes to ease the problem.
In this clip, Moran, who has constantly criticized the Mayor’s handling of FOILs, makes clear that he would never approve any action crafted by Mayor Safford to improve the process. Moran engages yet again in another rambling recital of alleged wrongs against him and conspiracy theories, all of which are hard, if not impossible, to follow.
The Mayor’s proposal needed three votes to pass. Finance Commissioner Minta Sanghvi was absent from yet another meeting. Moran voted no, and Kuczynski joined him in killing the Mayor’s proposal by abstaining, which had the same effect as a “no” vote.
Moran repeatedly used the word “we” in his ramble before the vote, saying, “We’re not going to let you fix this.” It was unclear whether he was referring to himself and Kuczynski.
In explaining why he would not support the Mayor’s proposal, Mr. Kuczynski echoed many of the attitudes towards FOIL we have been hearing from Commissioners Moran and Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi.
Instead of seeing FOIL as a vehicle to make government more transparent and accountable, Kuczynski joins Moran and Sanghvi in characterizing the use of FOILs as somehow being a threat that the city needs to be protected from. He describes FOIL requests as being “thrown against the city” and says:
“I think we need a much more robust FOIL review and FOIL protection.” (JK: Protection from what?)
“We need to protect the institution of the city, and I don’t think we have adequately done that.” (JK: How has the city been failing to protect itself?)
He worries, “… I do know that if I am successful at the write-in election on the 28th, the people who file these FOIL requests will be FOILing me and my department, so therefore, I can’t support this at this time because we need a much more comprehensive and robust answer to this problem.”
Why does Kuczynski feel the need for more protection for himself and his department from citizens seeking public information?
And most alarming, why not support a measure that would begin to address the immediate problem of clearing up a backlog of FOIL requests while working towards broader solutions to address whatever other problems he feels exist?
Apparently, some of Kuczynski’s fear of FOIL comes from what he feels was the inexplicable “arrest” of a City Council member regarding something related to the FOIL process. He says:
“I’ve seen a city council member arrested in terms of a foil process which I don’t really understand how that happened.”
First, anyone who knows Commissioner Kuczynski knows that he prides himself on being the “inside guy” who knows all the latest political news. It begs credibility that he is ignorant of the charges against Moran and what prompted them.
There is an earlier blog that goes through the issues of why Moran was charged (not arrested). The issues are quite simple. On three occasions, Robin McFee, the FOIL officer, requested that he produce any documents relevant to FOIL requests by Mike Brandi. Moran claimed to have no documents relevant to the request. Brandi then exercised his right to have Moran certify his claim to have nothing. The following is one of the three documents for three different FOIL requests that Moran signed under oath and had notarized which were false.
As it turned out, documents did exist. Moran was charged because he withheld documents in his possession and signed false, notarized documents claiming he did not have them.
The agenda was published on Friday, and the meeting was held on Tuesday. Kuczynski had plenty of time to understand how all this happened (assuming he did not know). His claim of ignorance is simply not credible.
The Mayor’s proposal was modest. We have an immediate and serious problem: the city is struggling to comply with FOIL. I applaud the idea of doing a serious evaluation of how the city can better respond to FOIL, but while we lack even one staff person to handle this, it is disingenuous for Moran and Kuczynski to claim mitigating action was somehow inappropriate until a complete study is done.
Watching this video should be a disturbing wake-up call. Moran and Kuczynski are far more concerned about delaying and impeding FOIL requests than expediting the public’s right to know what happens in city hall. Moran has been plagued by FOILs that have produced damaging information, so it is small wonder that he wants to find a way to limit them.
I am struck by the stark differences in the campaign materials being put out by the two candidates in the special election for Saratoga Springs Public Works Commissioner.
The two flyers below starkly dramatize the very different approaches of Chuck Marshall’s and Hank Kuczynski’s campaigns. One is positive and concrete. It lays out the credentials of its candidate and the things they specifically hope to accomplish if elected. It appeals to the the reason of those it is sent to. The other is inflammatory and intemperate. It plays on fear. It is an extension of the ugly behavior that has become the toxic footprint of the current Democratic members of the City Council.
I am old school. I believe campaigns should not be based on false fear-mongering but on honest, straightforward information. It is perfectly appropriate to run ads that are critical of opponents but they should be based on fact.
It is extremely depressing to me that my party, Democratic, has decided to adopt the very methods that they condemn when exercised by Republicans.
The Kuczynski campaign is flooding people’s texts and phones following the public relations theory: Repeat a lie often enough, and people will believe it.
This is a sample of a voice message being sent to people’s devices:
“Hi …, my name is Susan Cohen. I’m with the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee. I’m calling to let you know that we have a special election on January 28 for commissioner of the department of public Works. As you may know, Hank Kochinski [JK: AI has a problem with Hank’s name]] is now the interim DPW chief and we’d like to keep him in that role unfortunately due to some underhanded power grabbing by the Republicans [JK: My emphasis] our candidate Hank is a right candidate so we’re asking you please write in Hank’s last name”
There is no question that the effort to fill the vacancy of Public Works Commissioner once Jason Golub resigned was confusing and convoluted.
Chuck Marshall, the Republican and One Saratoga candidate, carried out his due diligence. He consulted with an attorney steeped in election law to assist him in understanding what was going on and filed the necessary papers on time to get on the ballot.
For whatever reason, the fact is Moran and the city Democratic Committee chair, Otis Maxwell, failed to submit the nomination of a candidate to the Board of Elections. For those of us who have observed these people, it was unsurprising that they lacked the prudence to consult a lawyer.
To spin this craziness that Moran and Maxwell were the victims in some sort of brilliant scheme that also involves a corrupt judiciary is to exaggerate the skills of the Republicans and ignore the culpability of the Democrats.
For the Democratic Committee to now try to hide their ineptitude and run a campaign that they were the victims in all of this is ridiculous.
The Democrats have a commanding edge in registrations over the Republicans, but they must get people to write in their candidate’s name. Will the Democrats’ game plan work in spite of their ineptitude? Who knows?
Early voting continues through Sunday, January 26 at the Rec Center. Regular polling places will be open on election day, Tuesday, January 28.
As noted in an earlier post, Saratoga Springs Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi wrote on her Facebook page that Chuck Marshall, who is running for Commissioner of Public Works, had announced that if elected, he planned to “slash the DPW budget by half a million dollars.” Sanghvi claimed Marshall would cut funds to plow the streets and pick up leaves. None of this is accurate, and it is simply incredible that Sanghvi, who, in effect, acts as the chief financial officer (CFO) of the city, would make such a false accusation.
Now, Sanghvi has gone further.
This is from Sanghvi’s Facebook page.
The question I have is whether Sanghvi is such a poor manager of the city’s finances that she doesn’t understand the city’s revenue or whether she did know but attempted to smear Marshall, knowing her accusation was false.
The revenue from paid parking was not structured to supplement the Department of Public Works’ essential services, as Sanghvi falsely asserts. The money was to go into the general fund for whatever the city needed. In fact, it was earmarked not to offset expenses at DPW but for things like the city’s recreation program and for promoting downtown businesses.
Consider this story from the April 1, 2024, edition of the Times Union:
However, Golub did say the money would be reinvested in the city’s downtown including hiring a marketing professional for the Downtown Business Association, parking structure and downtown improvements and an investment in the city’s recreation department. The proposed reinvestment will be $225,000 for downtown and $40,000 for recreation in year one and will be annual.
From the October 24, 2024 edition of Saratoga Today:
Anticipated seasonal revenue for 2024 expected to be approximately $1.6 million, with expenses estimated at about $450,000, resulting in an estimated first year net gain of over $1.1 million.
Of that, the city says it will invest $100,000 of revenue gained in the DBA (“a dedicated marketing professional for the Downtown Business Association”), $50,000 into Parking Structure Capital Reserve, $75,000 into a Downtown Improvement Reserve, and $40,000 into a Recreation Parking program.
From a story on April 1, 2024 on WAMC:
Golub says one of his priorities is funding initiatives to help them.
I think the revenue will provide us an opportunity to take a bigger swing as a community around the unhoused population and funding a long-term homeless shelter. That is one of the open questions around a shelter; how would we as a community fund that long-term? For me, there aren’t a lot of revenue sources where we can take big swings, where we can create new revenue without raising taxes within our community and this happens to be one of them,” said Golub.
Whether the reader agrees or disagrees with continuing with the paid parking program, it should be evaluated based on a proper analysis of the program’s first year.
The Daily Gazette reported on December 29, 2024, some three months after the paid parking season ended in September:
“Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi had said a review of the program wouid happen, but it has not as of yet.”
It is apparent that Sanghvi has not bothered with the report and has instead weaponized her office for partisan purposes. The city deserves better.
From Sanghvi’s Facebook page:
Saratoga Springs Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi’s above attack on Chuck Marshall, candidate for Public Works Commissioner, (note she doesn’t mention his name) on her Facebook page has achieved a level of excess that can only be described as breathtaking. Not only has Chuck Marshall never announced that he plans to radically slash the Department of Public Works budget, her ugly attack lacks any credibility. Does anyone out there really believe that Marshall intends to jeopardize the department’s ability to pick up their leaves or plow their streets?
This kind of shameless behavior has become far too common for the campaigns the local Democratic Committee runs. Why can’t they just talk about the issues and stop making them up?
Our city desperately needs to elect independent, thoughtful, and courteous individuals to serve on our City Council. In addition to his impressive credentials and extensive local government experience, this is one of the major reasons I am supporting Chuck Marshall, not Hank Kuczynski, in the special election to fill the Saratoga Springs Public Works Commissioner vacancy.
If you follow this blog regularly, you know that I am deeply concerned about the ongoing toxic behavior that regularly impedes the Saratoga Springs City Council’s ability to deliberate thoughtfully. You will also know that I am a registered Democrat. Despite this, I consider the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee to be primarily responsible for the persistent uncivil and divisive behavior that unfortunately continues to erupt at the Council table despite Mayor Safford’s efforts to enforce decorum. The committee has selected people like Dillon Moran and Minita Sanghvi to run for office, and they continue to support them despite the glaring problems with their performance both at the Council table and in the management of their respective departments.
While Chuck Marshall is a registered Republican, he has garnered bi-partisan support from Democrats such as former Mayor Meg Kelly and the independent group One Saratoga, whose motto is “city before party.” In addition, as Planning Board Chair, Chuck has demonstrated his ability to work with various individuals with different interests, listen to all sides, and build consensus. You can find out more about Chuck here: Chuck Marshall for Public Works
In contrast, Mr. Kuczynski has garnered public endorsements only from the same old regular Democrats we unfortunately know so well, including current Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran and current Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi. Of particular note is the enthusiastic endorsement of none other than former Mayor Ron Kim.
This is from a recent piece on WAMC Kuczynski:
“The Democratic Committee said, ‘we’d like to give the people a choice, would you do a write-in campaign?’ and I [Kuczynski] said, ‘well I’ve never done one, but if you’re willing to do the work, I’m glad to be your candidate [JK:Emphasis added] because I love the job,” said Kuczynski.
In all the years I have observed elections in this city, this is the first time someone running for office has not set up their own campaign organization with a campaign manager and a treasurer. While candidates rely on their political party for support, they usually maintain some modicum of independence to decide how to conduct their campaign and address policy issues as they arise. Kuczynski has totally abrogated that independence.
The Committee’s complete control extends to the total financing of Kuczynski’s campaign with Committee funds.
If you go to the New York State Board of Elections and try to find any records for donations and expenditures for Hank Kuczynski’s campaign, you will find none.
The Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee has commingled Kuczynski’s campaign money with its general funds. Thus, it is impossible to know, for example, which donations were made specifically for Kuczynski’s campaign and which were general donations to the committee, and it is also impossible to know which individuals or groups are backing his candidacy.
Given the hyper-partisanship that has come to define our local Democratic Committee and Kuczynski’s unfounded previously documented attack on the judge who ruled that the special election should proceed, the situation is worrisome.
This community needs someone independent to fill the vacancy on the Council who will exercise courtesy but firmly challenge Moran or Sanghvi when appropriate. I regret that I do not believe that Hank Kuczynski is that person.
Early voting at the Rec Center begins tomorrow, Saturday, January 18. Election day is Tuesday, January 28.
According to the January 14, 2025, Times Union, Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran is under investigation by the New York State Board of Elections (NYSBOE) regarding an obscene entry in the financial report for Joe Seeman’s recent unsuccessful New York State Assembly campaign.
The report (see above) has an entry that records that someone calling themselves Jack Meehoff made a $100.00 contribution. The donor’s address is listed as Dillon Moran’s home. The NYSBOE was able to determine that the payment came from the website ActBlue and was drawn from Moran’s PayPal account.
Moran told the Times Union, “I have never made any such donation…None of it makes any sense… [I] can’t find any logical reason [aside from a hack].”
Seeman defended Moran, claiming that Moran’s PayPal account must have been hacked.
“He was not approaching any limit; it’s not like he needed to be a hidden donor,” Seeman said. “… I can only attest to Dillon being a person of integrity and there is no reason why he would try to hide this.”
The story reports:
According to the state Board of Elections, making a contribution under a false name is a violation of state Election Law 14-120, which states that “no person shall in any name except his own, directly or indirectly, make a payment or a promise of a payment to a candidate or a political committee.”
In a full-throated defense of Moran, Seeman, without any evidence, blamed the Republican Party.
“My only take in this is given the GOP is the party of lying, corruption, Machiavellian attempts to do anything to win, it sounds and smells like another GOP dirty trick,” Seeman said.
To elaborate on the obvious, if someone were to hack Moran’s PayPal account, they would buy Rolex Watches from Amazon and not just make a modest contribution to Joe Seeman’s campaign that few people will even know about.
Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee Chair Person Otis Maxwell
The Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee seems to have decided to take a page out of Donald Trump’s playbook in designing their campaign to fill the Public Works Commissioner vacancy. While happy to condemn Trump’s “Stop the Steal” campaign and his frequent, often intemperate criticism of judicial actions that go against him, the local Committee and its candidates have no problem sounding the same themes.
I don’t know how else to describe their repeated ongoing allegations that a conspiracy involving the Saratoga Springs Republican Committee, the Saratoga County Republican Committee, the Saratoga County Republican Commissioner of the Board of Elections, and a local Supreme Court Judge all kept the Democrats from having a candidate on the ballot.
The SSDC has not provided any documentation as to how the Republican cabal pulled any of this off.
It is worth noting that Cassandra Bagramian, the Democratic Commissioner of the Board of Elections, could have appealed the judge’s decision that the election go forward after the Dems failed to file to get a candidate on the ballot, but did not. I wrote to Commissioner Bagramian, asking her why she did not initiate an appeal. She has not yet responded, but I will post her answer if she does. I suspect she did not initiate an appeal because she knew such an appeal would be fruitless as the judge had simply followed the law.
As a registered Democrat, I find the behavior of my local party abhorrent. They apparently believe, like Trump, that throwing red meat, no matter how tainted and inedible, will fool and motivate their base to support Kuczynski.
This city will never return to normalcy if the Democrats continue to use these kinds of cynical tactics rather than supporting its candidates on their merits.
At the January 7, 2025, Saratoga Springs City Council meeting, Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran subjected his fellow Council members and the public to an eight minute tirade during which, among other things he claimed Mayor Safford had sent the city attorneys out to “essentially implement the wishes of an on-line bogger” whom he later identifies as me. In a continuous, sometimes stream of consciousness diatribe, he frequently interrupted and talked over Mayor Safford, pronounced vaguely that “you guys don’t know what you are talking about”, and with all seriousness and some pomposity gave the Mayor and City Attorneys “Fs”.
The trigger that set Moran off on this performance was the City Attorneys’ opinion that the Council could not legally extend a contract that expired in December of 2024. The contract was for a consulting firm, Ives-Fenton Consulting and Training Services. These consultants were to assist the Restorative Justice Panel (RJP) established by the city in 2023.
In an earlier post, I documented that the Restorative Justice Panel appeared to have collapsed in December 2023 and that the contract for their services that ended on December 5, 2024, could not be extended. Should the city desire to continue to fund consulting services for RJP, they will have to put it out for bid again.
The following are some excerpts from Moran’s jeremiad. To allow readers to determine whether I have taken these excerpts out of context, I am including the full eight-minute video of the event at the end of this blog. This blogger finds it odd that Moran indulges in this kind of behavior. He must know that the videos will appear on this blog. Does he really think this behavior will endear him to the public?
Mayor Safford is the kindest and most patient of men. In this excerpt, he shows his usual self-control and refuses to respond to Moran in kind.
Moran berates the Mayor for supposedly enlisting the city attorneys in a plot to block the contract at this blogger’s (Moran refers to me by name) direction. Moran likes to wave papers around and, addressing attorney David Harper by name, waves what could be the City Attorneys’ memorandum in the air, announcing that his staff has given the City Attorney’s opinion an F. As Moran does not have any attorneys on his staff, it seems odd that Moran uses their alleged condemnation of the legal opinion as proof that he is right. When the Mayor gently offers that NYCOM, the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials, confirmed the City Attorneys’ legal opinion, Moran talks over the Mayor, challenging the Mayor’s motives.
The language in the contract reads that it will continue “until the work is satisfactorily completed or until December 5, 2024.” In this excerpt he asserts that the contract will continue until the work is complete conveniently ignoring “or until December 5, 2024.” When the Mayor politely interjects the ending date language, Moran ignores him and talks over him.
Here, Moran refers to some unexplained uncivil thing that he claims Mayor Safford did a year ago when the Mayor first took office. He accuses the Mayor of putting “him,” which may or may not be a reference to David Harper,
“on some mindless task that this guy (the blogger?) told you to do and now there is some investigation into a bunch of nonsense that you (the mayor) know is not true that he (Harper?) actually admitted that you guys investigated the wrong friggin date. It’s so disgusting what you people are doing. That little foray (?) is going to cost us a quarter million dollars. What are you doing?”
Dillon Moran
This blogger follows politics closely, and I have no idea what he is talking about.
Moran goes on to bully the Mayor, who tries to explain that he just wants to make sure the contract is handled properly.
After asserting that Commissioner Kuczynski supports him in his criticism of the City Attorneys, he finishes with a flourish: “Civility my, ass.” and then pulls the contract from the agenda.
In a disturbing comment to the press, Hank Kuczynski, Democratic candidate for Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Public Works, seemed to imply that Judge James E. Walsh acted improperly in his decision to allow the special election scheduled for January 28, 2025, to proceed. Referring to Walsh, Kuczynski told the Saratogian:
“I believe people should have a choice, that judges shouldn’t pick who can be elected officials,” Kuczynski said.
The judge, of course, did not “pick who can be elected officials.” He simply ruled that once the date for an election has been set, it cannot be changed. This decision is not complicated and clearly supported by statute and legal precedent. Even the Democrats’ previous candidate for Public Works Commissioner, Sarah Burger, told the Gazette that “…as an attorney, I don’t see any good-faith basis…to try to appeal.”
The political parties controlled who would be on the ballot in the election, not the judge. Quite simply, the Republicans filed the correct papers at the proper time, and the Democrats did not.
So did Mr. Kuczynski truly not understand the judge’s decision or did he deliberately misrepresent it falling into line with what appears to be a major Democratic strategy in this campaign.
With no line on the ballot, the local Democratic Committee has launched a write-in campaign to elect Hank Kuczynski.
They have launched a media campaign that attempts to portray themselves as victims and the city Republican Party as somehow manipulating the system to freeze them out.
This line of attack does not stand up under the most casual scrutiny. There are a set of procedures for getting on the ballot. They are not complicated. The Republicans adhered to these. The Democrats did not.
Here is a sample of the Democrats’ conspiracy theory.
“There’s been a process which is basically marked by underhanded maneuvering on the part of Saratoga County Republicans including the Saratoga County Committee chair who is also an election commissioner and a judge who is a Republican, to create a ballot with only one candidate on it. And that is—basically we have a Democratic majority in Saratoga and the Republicans are trying to get something done with a power grab they can’t do in a straight-up election. So, I think Hank’s feeling is that this was just not fair, not democratic and he decided to do something,” said [Otis] Maxwell [Chair of the city Democratic Committee].
WAMC
“They continue to obstruct our ability,” Moran said on Thursday. “I filed the documents with the Board of Elections. We have not gotten approvals. We are well past any sort of dates. I’m done fighting with these people. They only want an election that is rigged for their candidate.”
Times Union November 9, 2024
“I can’t emphasize more how deviant the Republicans have been through this whole process,” [Otis] Maxwell [Chair of Democratic Committee] said.
Times Union January 6, 2025
These sentiments have been amplified by Democratic Committee members commenting on this blog and at City Council meetings. James Thompson addressed the Council last night (1/7/25) describing the City Republicans as engaging in “shenanigans” and trying to “cook the books” and stating that Judge Walsh had “suspect credentials.” Likewise committee member David Morency commented on this blog that the Republicans had decided to “bull through the election” and that the Republican committee is “attempting to hijack this election”.
It is unfortunate that the Democrats, including their candidate Hank Kuczynski, are now resorting to falsely accusing the Republicans of some kind of misconduct rather than admitting that they themselves intentionally or unintentionally are the ones who failed to follow legal election procedures.
Some will say that this Democratic campaign is “just politics.” This blogger thinks that Kuczynski, Moran, and Maxwell badly underestimate the voters in our city. Many earnest and informed voters are looking for candidates who will be straight with them. If Kuczynski wants to win, he needs to concede his party’s failure in the ballot fiasco and run a campaign that focuses on his credentials and ideas rather than taint himself by making unfounded accusations.
Saratoga Springs Politics 