Tooker challenges Molinaro

Debora Gilbert at The Columbia Paper reports: Dutchess County resident Susan Tooker threw her hat into the ring at the annual Columbia County Democratic Committee dinner Sunday night, announcing her decision to run against Marc Molinaro (R) in the 103rd Assembly District. A working mother, registered nurse, nurse practitioner and union member, who is pro-choice [...]

Greene Dems nominate Woodin for County Judge

The Greene County Democratic Committee picked David E. Woodin as their candidate to succeed retiring Daniel K. Lalor as Greene County Judge in a meeting held tonight at Lange’s in Acra. Woodin has clerked for Hon. John J. Fromer, Hon. James J. Battisti, Hon. George J. Pulver and, for the past 19 years, for Judge [...]

Cuomo’s plan for New York

Roatti at The Albany Project dissects Andrew Cuomo’s 250-page policy details he just released in his quest to become the next governor of New York. A few of his thoughts: * There is a lot of great stuff on Albany reform. Cuomo is promising to veto any gerrymandered redistricting and also a reform of campaign [...]

Columbia County Dems back Schneiderman for AG

Columbia County Democrats Friday endorsed Eric Schneiderman for Attorney General. Schneiderman is largely backed by upstate Dems, while NYC-area Dems (and Greene County Democrats) support Kathleen Rice. Capitol Confidential reports Columbia County Democratic Chair Christopher Nolan previously supported Eric Dinallo.

School election results

Cairo-Durham school election results: School Budget Passed 551-527; Library Appropriation Failed 477-581; Biomass heating system Failed 433-625. Board Member results: Greg Koerner-Fox – 584; Thomas Plank – 564; Beatrice Clappin – 537; Pat Ublacker – 512; Nicole Maggio – 472; Dean Pectal – 456; Sam Mozzillo – 338. The Daily Mail reports Catskill results: Catskill [...]

Vote Tuesday in school board races

Voting for school board members and issues takes place Tuesday in both counties. From The Daily Freeman: Greene County Cairo-Durham (Polls are open noon to 9 p.m.) Cairo-Durham Middle School cafeteria. Catskill (Polls are open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.) Catskill High School gymnasium. Coxsackie-Athens (Polls are open 1 to 9 p.m.) District elementary schools. [...]

Greene County Dems endorse Rice for AG

Jimmy Vielkind at Capitol Confidential says Tom Poelker of the Greene County Democratic Committee, and two other upstate county Democratic leaders are about to endorse Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice for the Attorney General race. Cindy Emmer, chairwoman of the Chemung County Democratic Committee, and Mike Kunzwiler of the Oswego County Democrats are also [...]

Nearly all local school districts planning job cuts

Kyle Wind in The Daily Freeman: More than 250 jobs will be eliminated in the region if voters approve school district budgets as proposed Tuesday. All the districts in the area with except Hunter-Tannersville, in Greene County, plan to cut faculty and staff members in response to projected reductions in state aid, and, in some [...]

Green Party nominates Hawkins for Governor

Saturday New York’s Green Party nominated Howie Hawkins for Governor. Gloria Mattera, long-time peace activist from Brooklyn, was nominated for Lt. Governor. Colia Clark, a long time social justice activist from Harlem, won the nomination to run for the U.S. Senate for the seat presently held by Democrat Chuck Schumer. Cecile Lawrence, a resident of [...]

Chris Gibson opens campaign headquarters in Kinderhook

Republican Congressional candidate Chris Gibson opened his campaign headquarters in his hometown of Kinderhook Thursday, May 12, packing the small space with loyal supporters down the street from Ichabod Crane High School, where Gibson was the point guard and co-captain of the basketball team. The candidate sat down for a few minutes with WGXC to [...]

Gibson opens Kinderhook campaign headquarters

The Chris Gibson for Congress Campaign has opened its headquarters at 12 Broad Street directly across from Bagel Tyme cafe in the village of Kinderhook. The campaign invites neighbors and friends from Columbia County to meet the candidate on May 13 from 5 to 8 p.m. Kinderhook-native Gibson is the Republican nominee to challenge incumbent [...]

Hudson school notes

Lynn Sloneker’s Unmuffled keeps the closest eye on the Hudson school system. Several recent items: From “Rumor Patrol: Rees running?: Board member Patricia Abitabile – re-elected to a second term in 2009 – submitted a letter of resignation from the board, effective June 30, during a closed door session, April 27. Abitabile’s decision to quit [...]

Catskill school candidates meet tonight

Catskill School Board candidates Michael Bulich, Catskill; Carthette Burnett, Catskill; Francesca Daisernia, Leeds; Ronald Frascello, Palenville; Randall Griffin, Leeds; Matthew Leipman, Catskill; Tracy Powell, Palenville; Carol Schilansky, Leeds; Christopher Van Loan, Catskill; and Lisa Warner, Catskill will answer questions at 7 p.m. tonight at Catskill High media center, according to The Daily Mail’s Jim Planck. [...]

Hatala drops out of Hudson school board race

Lynn Sloneker at Unmuffled reports Hudson City School District Board of Education candidate Josh Hatala notified Superintendent John Howe that he was withdrawing his name as a candidate for election to a seat on the Board of Education at the May 18, 2010 Annual Budget and Election Vote. Hatala wrote on his candidate Facebook page, [...]

Gibson says stimulus didn’t; would abolish Homeland Security

The Republican Congressional candidate Chris Gibson would abolish the Department of Homeland Security, and says the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was “a loser for our country, but especially for our area,” in an interview with Jimmy Vielkind in the Albany Times-Union. He writes: “[Gibson] said that the regional management of the conflict is good [...]

Murphy hires a campaign manager, Gibson meets volunteers

From Jimmy Vielkind in Capitol Confidential: Rep. Scott Murphy’s re-election campaign buried a tidbit in two e-mails they sent soliciting campaign cash before a deadline: Murphy has brought on Mitch Wallace as his campaign manager. A Wisconsin native, Wallace has been involved in several campaigns there and in other states. Also this weekend, Murphy’s Republican [...]

Rural Democrats choose Dinallo for AG

Jimmy Vielkind of Capitol Confidential was at the Democratic Rural Conference this weekend in Niagara Falls: As expected, Eric Dinallo won the straw poll for attorney general here at the Democratic Rural Conference with Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice finishing second and Sean Coffey finishing third. Dinallo had the support of 21 county chairs [...]

WGXC at Hudson Children’s Book Festival

Just as WGXC’s Kaya Weidman was about to sit down and interview Fidel Mareno, who was going to talk about Native American rights and the American Indian Pow Wow Aug. 14 in Stephentown, Didi Barrett showed up. We had asked the Democratic candidate for New York State Senate representing Columbia and much of Dutchess counties [...]

Five candidates for two Hudson school board seats

Five candidates are vying for two seats for the Hudson City School District, Board of Education: Carrie Haddad, Joshua Hatala, Justin Cukerstein, Peter Merante, and Mary Daly. Unmuffled says: Daly is the only incumbent in the field. This is her third run for the board. Her first attempt, in 2004, was unsuccessful; she was subsequently [...]

Cairo voters approve new library

Cairo voters today approved a bond to finance a new library for the town, 53 to 47 percent. Totals: 283 yes, 248 no, 531 total voting. The vote at Resurrection Lutheran Church today determined Cairo will build a new library. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has offered the town a $3.07 million low-interest loan (4.25 [...]

Cairo voting now on library bond

Voters in Cairo today are turning out to Resurrection Lutheran Church until 9 p.m. to determine whether Cairo will build a new library. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has offered the town a $3.07 million low-interest loan (4.25 percent) and, if the town accepts the loan, a $200,000 grant with a local share match of [...]

Molinaro announces re-election campaign Friday

Marc Molinaro will announce he is seeking re-election for the 103rd Assembly District with three events on Friday, April 30 in Dutchess and Columbia counties. Molinaro will be at Promenade Hill (intersection of Front and Warren Sts.) In Hudson at 11 a.m., at Tivoli Commons (86 Broadway) at 12:30 p.m., and in Pleasant Valley at [...]

With Greene County, Lazio climbs to 51.5

Jimmy Vielkind in Capitol Confidential: Greene County Republican Chairman Brent Bogardus endorsed Rick Lazio lat night, bringing to 51.5 percent the amount of the Republican delegates the Long Islander has in his corner for his question to become governor. “The Executive Committee of the Greene County Republican Party interviewed gubernatorial candidates this weekend,” Bogardus said [...]

Kinderhook’s Gibson to challenge Murphy in U.S. 20th Congressional District

WGXC recorded the nomination speech of Kinderhook Republican Congressional hopeful Chris Gibson today at 3 p.m. at the Desmond Hotel near the Albany airport. Click here to listen to an mp3 recording of Gibson’s short speech plus four questions from the assembled media. WGXC’s Tom Roe asks Gibson what he would do to help struggling [...]

Village of Catskill election results

(Brian Kehoe, Vincent Seeley, and Angelo Amato at the League of Women Voters/WGXC Candidate Forum, March 20, 2010 at Catskill Community Center.) From Susan Campriello in The Daily Mail: “Catskill voters selected Tuesday incumbent Village President Vincent Seeley and political newcomer Brian Kehoe for two Trustee positions on the Village Board. Trustees serve three-year terms. [...]

Catskill Candidate Forum

(From left, Brian Kehoe, Vincent Seeley, and Angelo Amato, candidates in the Village of Catskill election.) Current Village President Vincent Seeley, current Trustee Angelo Amato and Democrat challenger Brian Kehoe all participated in the Candidate Forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters and WGXC and held Saturday March 20 at 10:30 a.m. at the [...]

Election results

The Register-Star reports that Carol Weaver will become the Mayor of the Village of Kinderhook, with 77 votes to trustee Richard Phillips, an incumbent, with 69 votes, and newcomer Brian Murphy with 75 votes. In Coxsackie, The Daily Mail reports that Republican Village Trustee John Oliver received 368 votes, Republican Trustee Dianne Ringwald received 356 [...]

Judging the race

Seeing Greene’s Dick May handicaps the race to fill the seat of Greene County Court Judge Daniel K. Lalor, who retires on December 31. In November, voters will choose a replacement, and it will not be District Attorney Terry Wilhelm who says he is not running. May reports Republicans Ted Hilscher of New Baltimore, a [...]

Local state legislators report income

The Albany Times-Union asked all New York state legislators to disclose their household incomes. Locally, the Senators did not respond and the Assemblymen disclosed. Below is information from the senators and assemblymen representing Greene and Columbia counties: James L. Seward, Senate, R-51Responded: NoReported 2009 income: Minimum of $94,000Comments: Lawmaker declined to respond but legislative leader [...]

Greene County election results

Greene County election results STATE WIDE RACES52 of 52 (100%) machines reporting (52 total districts)PROPOSAL #1Vote for 1PROPOSAL #1 YES3540PROPOSAL #1 NO1848PROPOSAL #2Vote for 1PROPOSAL #2 YES3766PROPOSAL #2 NO1546COUNTY WIDE RACES52 of 52 (100%) machines reporting (52 total districts)STATE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE 3RD JDVote for 1Jill Dunn 5336James P Gilpatric 4237COUNTY LEGISLATIVE 009 RACES2 of [...]

Tune in to candidate forums

Click on links to listen to archived recordings of local candidate forums sponsored by the League of Women Voters in Columbia and Greene counties. MP3 audio plays in Quicktime Player in any browser except Internet Explorer. They will not play in Internet Explorer, use another browser. You can download the mp3s with Quicktime Player Pro. [...]

Greene and Columbia County candidate forums

Tune in live candidate forums this week THURSDAY: Claverack and AthensSATURDAY: CatskillSUNDAY: Copake and Greene CountyMONDAY: ChathamTUESDAY: Kinderhook WGXC will have live web streams of each candidate forum for everyone to listen to. In addition, WGXC will post archived recordings of these candidate forums as soon as possible at www.wgxc.org More details below. ((((( CANDIDATE [...]

Today’s local headlines

Mistaken identity muddles Catskill candidacyThe Greenville Press (no web site) CATSKILL – Linda Fenoff scoops everyone with the story of Linda Overbaugh’s now potentially failed candidacy for Greene County Legislator. It seems there are two Linda Overbaughs in Catskill, and local Republicans claim a Board of Elections official put the wrong Overbaugh on the petitions [...]

Today’s local headlines

Armstrong literally outside the tentFrom The Greenville Press (no web site) CAIRO – Les Armstrong was literally outside the tent at the Greene County Youth Fair in Cairo last weekend. While the Greene County Republicans and Democrats both staffed booths with signs promoting local candidates under a big top, Armstrong had his own sign propped [...]