FUNDING UNDER FIRE
Pols blast funding for pro-charter group; Commissioners say special interest group trying to influence vote
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Three members of City Council said they are concerned funds from a special interest group were given to a local organization in an effort to influence Tuesday’s charter referendum.
On Thursday during a press conference at the Holiday Inn, Commissioner of Accounts John Franck, Commissioner of Finance Michele Madigan and Commissioner of Public Works Anthony “Skip” Scirocco said that $17,500 has been given to It’s Time Saratoga — a group that is urging people to approve the proposed charter — by Political Action Committees.
The current charter, under the commission form of government, has an elected mayor and four elected commissioners who serve as members of the city council and supervisors of specific departments.
The proposed charter calls for a council-manager form of government.
If the proposed charter passes Tuesday, the city would hire a full-time manager to run the day-to- day operations of City Hall while city council members would serve solely in a legislative role.
It’s Time Saratoga defended the funds — which are ultimately coming fromthe Inter--
national City/County Management Association, a nationally recognized good government group.
“Of course the International City/County Management Association is giving It’s Time Saratoga money,” said Patty Morrison, a spokeswoman for It’s Time Saratoga. “They are a nationally-recognized group formed to promote professional local government and prevent corrupt practices. We applied for a grant and were thrilled to receive it.”
A mailer by It’s Time Saratoga was recently sent out to city residents.
“The nature of this mailer, which was to denigrate our beautiful city and personally insult elected officials, now makes a lot more sense, as the PACs and people funding it don’t actually live in or know anything about Saratoga Springs, but instead exist solely to promote the interests of their organization and its members,” said Madigan. “These PACs are trade associations of-andfor City Managers, so of course they’d push for a change, repercussions be damned, as it would mean a job opportunity for one, or more likely several, of their members.”
Each commissioner accused the International City/County Management Association of trying to buy Tuesday’s election.
Franck did say the funds are legal and were reported properly but the commissioners had questions about it.
“Our question is, why? Why? $15,000? It’s unheard of. Any election I have ever been around for the last 12 years you don’t have $15,000 from Washington, D.C. I was the treasurer for Scott Murphy when he ran for Congress; it was tough to get $15,000 from Washington D.C. from outside lobby companies for him and he ended up becoming a congressional candidate and winning,” Franck said during the press conference Thursday. “To have something for just the form of government for this city of 28,000 people seems just very odd to me. They won’t answer that question of why that money came.”
Morrison said the real story is the financial disclosure information for SUCCESS, a group which wants to keep the current charter and the commission- style form of government.
“It reads like a Who’s Who list of Saratoga, made up primarily of builders, developers, and bankers. These individuals wield a lot of political power in our city government. It is no wonder they have invested over $22,000 and counting in their donations, to keep and protect the status quo. Commissioners Franck and Scirocco are also using the powers of their office and their personal campaign funds to lobby against change,” said Morrison. “Our mission runs counter to these few elite individuals. We want to promote accountability by ending entrenched candidates running unopposed, promoting termlimits and ending lifetime health care for part time politicians. We want to promote professionalism by separating legislative and executive powers and creating real checks and balances. The people making decisions about whose street gets paved or plowed first or whose building fees get waived should not be accepting campaign contributions.”