Two elected jobs called 1 too many
Rensselaer Democrats tell mayor-legislator he needs to make a choice
The cantankerous political struggles between the city ’s seven Democratic Common Council members and the Republican mayor are boiling over as the Democrats move to prevent city officials from also serving in the Rensselaer County Legislature.
The city Democrats want to emulate the neighboring town of East Greenbush by legally requiring politicians to choose between serving at the local level or in a county office instead of holding two elected positions.
Republican Mayor Michael Stammel also is chairman of the Republican-controlled county Legislature, earning $53,682 in combined salaries. That’s $30,000 to lead the legislature and $23,682 as mayor. City Democrats plan to amend the city charter on Jan. 20 to force Stammel — the city ’s only elected Republican — to pick which four-year term of office he’ll run for this year.
“If it’s something they feel so strongly about, why didn’t they do it years ago? They ’ll be happy to give up one of the positions instead of losing two,” a defiant Stammel said Wednesday.
Council President John Defrancesco said the move is about ensuring city residents having the best service possible from the mayor instead of splitting loyalties with the county. The Council, Defrancesco said, wants to have the matter resolved before the petitioning for the fall elections begins in February.
“We feel the mayor should be dedicated to the city,” DeFrancesco said.
Stammel won a special 2019 election to fill the last two years of Democratic Mayor Dan Dwyer’s four-year term. Dwyer died in November 2018 while in office.
Stammel was a county legislator when he ran successfully for mayor. There have been several Republicans who have held both town and county offices simultaneously, but they haven’t usually run for both offices at once. County political operatives said running for two offices at once would invite defeat as voters would not like casting votes for the same person in two elections.
Stammel said he would veto action taken by the Democrats even though they would override it. There is a question of whether city voters would have to approve this charter amendment or if the Common Council can do it.
Stammel, a retired Amtrak employee, said he is weighing running just for one of the two seats. County Republicans have pressured him to run for a fifth four-year term as county legislator. Stammel said his decision for which office to seek would be influenced by finding a good choice to run as the Republican candidate for the other post.
East Greenbush has a similar law preventing officials from holding an elected town office and serving in an elected county post. Legislator Tom Grant, R-east Greenbush, resigned as a councilman on the Town Board when he was elected to the Legislature in 2017.
Legislature Vice Chairwoman Kelly Hoffman, R-north Greenbush, serves on both the County Legislature and the North Greenbush Town Board.