This is a mailer BK Keramati sent to Saratoga Springs voters.
Up until he began his campaign for Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Public Works, my encounters with BK Keramati over the years had always been pleasant.
While I supported his opponent, the current Commissioner, Chuck Marshall, I believed Mr. Keramati did not have the history of toxic behavior that other candidates endorsed by the local Democrats this year had. I assumed, therefore, that if elected, he could be counted on to interact civilly with his fellow Council members even if he did not always agree with them.
I was unprepared then for his toxic mailings and social media assaults on his opponent. His campaign became just another example of the ugly and vituperative behavior that the city has endured from the Democratic leadership over the last four years. What is sad is that, given Keramati’s reputation up until this point and his vigorous door-to-door campaign, he might well have won without stooping to this kind of dirty politics. Instead, he focused on false statements and assumptions to run a campaign that essentially was an attempt at the character assassination of his opponent.
The Water Report
One of Keramati’s main themes was to accuse Chuck Marshall of “hiding” a study of Loughberry Lake. Many of the issues with this aspect of Mr. Keramati’s disturbing campaign were explored in an earlier article.
Suffice it to say that since Chuck Marshall immediately gave BK the report when asked and without making him FOIL for it (something that would have meant BK would have not gotten the report until after the election), it is difficult to understand how Mr. Keramati could, with any integrity, describe Marshall as being “caught covering up a serious report on our water quality” as he does in his mailer.
Fooling The Public
To provide credibility to his accusations, Keramati doctored an image of the Saratogian Newspaper (and others)in his mailers. This headline never existed. The tear at the bottom of the image was meant to convey authenticity.
An Assault On Marshall’s Integrity
Chuck received a considerable amount of money from, among others, individuals in the real estate industry.
BK could have legitimately pointed this out and raised questions about the extent to which they might influence Chuck’s tenure should he have won.
Instead, BK’s mailers went over the top, asserting that “he (Chuck) does what he is told” and he is “a tool of corporate interests and puts their priorities ahead of the people.”
Keramati provides no examples of Chuck having used his position to aid donors.
To the contrary, Chuck has had the opposite reputation as Planning Board Chair, where he was known for creating an environment of inclusion and respect, working with a board of diverse people, both politically and socially.
I recently spoke to Bill McTygue, who served on the Planning Board with Chuck. Bill had been on the Democratic Committee and probably supported Keramati, yet he was quite complimentary of Chuck’s leadership. I asked him specifically whether he observed any effort by Chuck to manipulate the board in favor of any developers. Bill said “no.” Bill observed that Chuck’s focus was on building a consensus among the board to make decisions.
So what does it say about Keramati’s character that he would tell voters that Marshal is a guy who “does what he’s told”?
Likewise, Keramati cites a donation Elise Stefanik made to Chuck’s campaign as evidence that “Chuck is a political partisan who goes along with his MAGA Republican leaders…putting politics ahead of the people.” Keramati again cites no evidence of this and appears uninterested in acknowledging that Chuck has publicly stated he did not vote for Donald Trump.
The Chuck Marshall I Wish People Had An Opportunity To Know.
Here is an anecdote that may help people to understand what kind of person Chuck Marshall is in comparison with the characterization of him put forward by Mr. Keramati.
When Chuck defeated Hank Kuczyinski, he inherited Michele Hill-Davis as his executive assistant, whom Kuczynski had hired. In addition to having been selected by his opponent, Ms. Hill-Davis is an active committee member of the city’s Democratic Committee.
I know for a fact that quite a few people told Chuck he needed to replace her. They argued that as his executive assistant, she would be privy to all the goings-on in his office. In effect, she would be a spy.
In classic Chuck style, he refused. He said he would not fire anyone without giving them a chance to demonstrate their ability to perform the work. Ms. Hill-Davis is still his executive assistant.
Unlike Keramati, Marshall’s campaign also reflected his character. It was positive without a breath of attack and recrimination.
Hope?
Keramati worked closely with Gordon Boyd, who energetically echoed and amplified Keramati’s campaign claims on his Facebook page, and Achim Bergmann, a professional political operative with national campaign experience and a member of the local Democratic committee. Both men BK chose to work with have a history of running toxic campaigns.
One can only hope that Keramati will show more civility and integrity at the Council table than he did in his campaign.
Saratoga Springs Politics 
I’m pretty sure you can f@#K all the way off. Don’t talk about the Dems going dirty after listening and reading of Mr. Brandi’s shenanigans as well as Moving Saratoga Forward (Backward). It seems to be the state of politics all around us and both parties have axes to grind.
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Spoken like a true angry democrat!
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Yes, Jane! I’m angry! I’m angry at what’s becoming of too many in a city I lived and work in for years and continue to love. I’m angry that too many people I once respected and even considered friends have gone to the lowbrow, vitriolic, mean-spirited, nasty means of trying to gain power. Or, in the case of some simply to feel important, powerful and feed their own fragile egos. And, yes, that includes you and John, There was a time, even when I disagreed, I found this blog to be rather objective. Lately, there is such a clear agenda to the posts.
Of course, there are those that are even more openly hostile where no level of misinformation (out and out lies) are not beneath them. Turning on someone who was once a friend for no purpose other than power or a need for personal revenge has been too common.
And, yes, I’m angry at the Democratic Party as well. When there is an endorsed slate yet no really help in campaign, crickets when one of that slate clearly has an opposing agenda, not only choosing not to support but ignoring the concept I was taught years ago – do no harm to a fellow candidate.
More than angry, I’m incredibly disappointed. Saratoga Springs is a mostly Democratic city and there was no reason, other than complacency, selfishness and laziness that they should not have experienced what the rest of the country did on November 4th.
So, those of you who spend time and energy pointing fingers, placing blame and seemingly getting some sort of pleasure out of doing so – SHAME ON YOU! The same for those who choose to sit on the sideline and not speak up.
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Time to go home Gayle.
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Thanks John.
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Re: the comment above- sounds like Madigan reads your blog, lol.
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Michele is not the only one who abhors Brandi nor is she the only one who has been a recipient of his pathological vitriol. He spreads his maliciousnous widely. But, go ahead and join his ilk by making an unfounded assumption and then spread it without proof.
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Sounding like a true angry Democrat.
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is that your professional diagnosis Gayle?
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As soon as I saw BK was the only Dem elected in Saratoga Springs, I said to myself, “I can’t wait to see how John Kaufmann finds a way to go after BK!” The GOP could have elected a bunch of thieving idiots, and BK could be a saint, and John would ignore the former and ream the latter. What a joke this blog has become.
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BK was not the only Democrat elected. Jessica Troisi and Tim Coll are Democrats and were also elected.
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Let me clarify: BK is the only elected candidate who was not endorsed by the Republican Party and ran on the Republican line.
Talk about nationalizing politics… The Republican Party in Saratoga Springs is run by Mike Brandi, Saratoga County Republican Party Chair Joseph Suhrada’s personal lawyer. Joseph, who runs the GOP Facebook Page (while serving as their Board of Elections inspector to maintain election integrity), consistently posts dehumanizing Democrats, liking posts that call them demons, praising Trump, encouraging people to “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT, just like our president asks!” Would you say that the GOP Facebook doesn’t nationalize politics when they say Democrats will bring “terror” to Saratoga County?
John, you claim to be a Democrat and then spend all your time bashing Democrats. And that’s not to say that there isn’t plenty to attack Dems over; much of your criticism is warranted, and many local Democrats are guilty of conduct raging from sloppy to unethical. But the fact that your coverage is so consistently lopsided, that it ignores the consistent and profound malfeasance of the Republican Party, that your targets are predictable before the line of attack, leaves this commenter with no choice but to conclude that you are either highly partisan or dangerously negligent.
“If it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck…”
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Unfortunately, how a candidate campaigns says a lot about how they will behave in office. I had hoped this election would see the last of the toxic branch of the Democratic party that has plagued our city government since Ron Kim et al swept into office in another campaign that also aimed at nationalizing our local election urging voters to “Save Democracy-Vote Democratic.” Some will also remember that election for using similarly doctored sensational headlines in their mailings. One can only hope Mr. Keramati will recognize how problematic his campaign was, apologize to Mr. Marshall, and govern with more integrity than he showed us in his campaign.
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I too was disappointed as I read the attacks against Chuck Marshall in the BK Keramati campaign literature. It is the worst part of politics. There is no basis for the claim that Chuck was taking orders from developers or from MAGA cult members. Everything about the decades long problems with Loughberry Lake is on hold until after the dam repairs are completed. Nothing about Loughberry Lake was Chuck’s fault so Chuck had nothing to gain by supposedly ‘hiding’ updates to the reservoir study.
Strategists of my party also attacked One Saratoga, claiming that it is a tool of Elise Stefanik and MAGA. Apparently, this strategy backfired as four out of five members of the City Council taking the oath of office on January 1 will be candidates who were One Saratoga endorsed.
My hope is that our new Commissioner of Public Works will revert to the honorable BK Keramati that I thought I knew.
Chris Mathiesen
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Let’s hope the era of Performative Toxicity/Toxic Performance is over (for now). BK, are you listening, Brother?
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It’ll be interesting to see how the quantity and quality of our water goes up in the next year or so. Doubt it will.
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“When candidates trade in mud instead of merit, they reveal more about their own emptiness than their opponent’s flaws”
I just read Mr. Kaufman’s blog and have two reactions to this post:
Mud-slinging by candidates and their political parties has sadly become the norm. That’s a key reason I do not affiliate with any political party. The way Mr. Keramati conducted his campaign is beyond reprehensible. His attack ads featured in this blog are a blatant advertisement for the intellectual insecurity of a demagogue who resorts to vitriol and sensationalism to cover weakness or lack of knowledge. It’s a well-studied cognitive bias where people with low skill, knowledge or experience in a particular domain tend to overestimate their competence and get defensive or go negative to compensate. Those of us with experience running large government and commercial enterprises work hard to purge people like this from our organizations to prevent the cancer from spreading.
Mr. Keramati is clearly in deep water over his head with his sensational claims about your City’s water crisis. He highlights that Saratoga Springs is losing 20-24% of its water daily due to leaks. Anyone with experience with municipal water systems would nominate this claim for the “No Sh*t Sherlock” award. Nowhere in Mr. Keramati’s claims do we see a distinction between loss to leaky infrastructure and myriad other factors that contribute to non-revenue water (NRW), including faulty water meters and unbilled but authorized uses such as firefighting and fire hydrant flushing. Many municipal systems lose 15%-25% of their water supply as non-revenue water. A recent study by a leading global water market data and insights provider puts the loss for the US at 19.5%.
Is the sky falling on the water situation in Saratoga Springs. Absolutely not. Your situation is no different from thousands of municipalities across the country. Is this a situation that warrants attention? Yes it does, in a sensible fashion consistent with what municipalities everywhere are doing to take stock of all elements of their aging infrastructure (water, sewer, roads, bridges, etc.) and set realistic priorities to address infrastructure needs in the context of their budget making.
“If it’s drowning you’re after, don’t torment yourself with shallow water”
While we’re on the subject of water, this Irish idiom provides an apt description of your City’s struggles with your commission form of government. Loosely translated, it suggests that if you’re intent on self-destruction, there’s no point in choosing a weak or halfway measure.
Like Blockbuster video stores, phone booths and a quality education that meets today’s needs, the commission form of government is a thing of the past. Those of us with actual experience running multi-billion dollar government and commercial enterprises know firsthand that lack of clear executive leadership and divided authority in government and industry is a recipe for failure.
Organization governance is my jam. For a more extensive analysis that explains why enlightened municipalities long ago abandoned the commission form of government, see my December 7th and December 8th comments on this blog at https://saratogaspringspolitics.com/2024/12/05/daily-gazette-editorial-skewers-commissioner-dillon-moran/
Why does a seemingly smart, upscale municipality like Saratoga Springs struggle to see the light? For one thing, failure is muted; negative consequences associated with the wrong form of government and/or incapable elected officials spreads slowly like a disease over a long period of time before the pain becomes acute enough for the electorate to say “enough is enough”. Voting the scoundrels out is often touted as the quick and easy solution. Why go the distance to solve the root problem by changing to a fit-for-purpose form of government when you can roll the dice again and again every two years in hopes of electing the perfect team of rivals who will magically discover the holy grail of experience, cooperation and consensus necessary to do what’s right for the people and community?
What this means is your ability to eke out a small measure of success with your commission form of government boils down to luck. Will you be lucky enough to attract qualified and experienced candidates for Commissioner roles that require hands-on, operational responsibilities? Will you be lucky enough to have a majority of the electorate shed their party allegiance to vote for the most qualified candidates? And, at the end of the day, will the elected Commissioners have the wherewithal to overcome departmental rivalries, siloed operations and diffused accountability that are the hallmarks of your commission form of government?
For those who clutch firmly to the notion that Saratoga’s trials and tribulations are caused by the incompetence and irresponsibility of the people you elect and not the structure of your government, I suggest you look no further than the many case studies taken from private industry. The record is clear—corporations that experimented with a commission form of corporate governance with decision-making power divided among multiple executives rather than a single leader, failed miserably. The individual and collective knowledge, experience and brilliance possessed by members of the leadership teams at Kodak, General Motors under Alfred Sloan, and Lehman Brothers could not overcome the dysfunction inherent in their commission form of corporate governance.
The choice is clear. You can do what’s necessary to change your form of government. Or, stay the course and stop torturing yourself in shallow water. Just plunge into the abyss to drown yourselves with the suffocating asphyxia of City Council squabbling, bad budgets, fiscal incompetence, proliferating lawsuits, increased taxes and the rampant dysfunction that makes up the seedy underbelly of the commission form of government.
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As is his MO, Brandi does not allow for direct response. So good at dishing but hides when time to get feedback. You may know the law. I studied and teach personality disorders. So, while I can not ethically diagnose from a distance, I have enough experience working with clients who have similar behaviors, so I can make a rather well formed conclusion. You are pretty much an open book when it comes to these things.
HINT: Sometimes it’s better to be quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
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Duke – Another one who chooses not to use full name at be open to a reply. I am home, whether in Saratoga Springs or down south. Who are you (or right, we don’t know) to tell me what to care about?
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