Troy Democrats have council pick

Republicans haven’t been told who’s the District 2 candidate

The Democrat-controlled City Council has chosen a candidate to fill the vacant District 2 seat, but Republicans are still in the dark.

Councilman Anasha Cummings said Tuesday a selection has been made to fill the seat representing the North Central and South Lansingburgh neighborhoods.

Cummings, a Democrat representing District 4, declined Tuesday to name the appointee.

Theseatopeneduponfeb.4 when former Councilman Mark Mcgrath, a Republican-conservative, resigned a week after the Times Union published an article about a voicemail in which Mcgrath was heard using racial slurs.

The council eventually will vote on the selection.

Republican Councilman Jim Gulli of District 1 said the Democrats haven’t shared any information about who they’ve interviewed despite his requests to be informed.

“We’ve heard nothing,” Gulli said.

Cummings said an announcement would be made later this week about the person selected to fill the position. Cummings said Gulli and fellow Republican Council President Carmella Mantello would be contacted about the appointment prior to the April 4 council meeting.

“Jim and I have not been a part of this process,” Mantello said. She added she was not inclined to support the appointment since no information has been shared.

Both the Democrats and Republicans have selected candidates to run in the November election for the District 2 council seat. The GOP has endorsed Kim Ashe-mcpherson, a conservative who formerly served as an atlarge councilwoman. The Democratic candidate is Mary Sweeney, an employee at the Rensselaer County Board of Elections.

Ashe-mcpherson said Cummings told her there were eight qualified candidates. She said she spoke only to Cummings for an hour on March 13 about the position but didn’t consider it a true interview.

Sweeney could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

When Mcgrath resigned there was discussion that a minority should be appointed to take his place. Sweeney and Ashemcpherson are both white. District 2 includes the city’s poorest areas and one of its largest concentrations of minority voters.

Mcgrath won re-election in 2017 to a two-year term by a single vote.

Mcgrath left office as a result of the 12-second voicemail recording in which he be heard saying, “That f---ing n----r. F--ing c--n f--k. Hey ... it’s Mark Mcgrath, give me a call, will ya?”

The copy of the voicemail given to the Times Union had the recipient’s name bleeped out.