Of politics, printing & disgrace

It is a cold, rainy Friday, 50 years to the day since JFK's motorcade made its way through Dallas on a campaign swing. Since everyone else is covering that one, I thought I'd address politics and news a little closer to home, and a little more recent.

Item: Sausville wins...for now

One of my political idols, Tip O'Neil was quoted as saying, “All politics is local.” This has certainly been the case for anyone following the vote for Supervisor in the Town of Malta. This one was closely watched for a couple of reasons. One, is given Malta's explosive growth, the choice of leadership will have much more emphasis than perhaps some of the other towns in Saratoga County. And, if incumbent Paul Sausville once again could turn back the challenge of Democrat Cynthia Young, he would be in position to lead the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors come January.

Despite the latter item, it is not necessarily a given such candidates will prevail. Milton Supervisor Frank Thompson was in a similar position two years ago and he lost a primary to Dan Lewza, so nothing is for certain.

And, as of today, anyways, 2 ½ weeks after the election, Sausville won. By one vote. And only after two write-in votes were declared invalid by Saratoga County Supreme Court Justice Robert Chauvin.

Elections decided in a courtroom are never a good thing, and Sausville can hardly claim a mandate here (not even within his own party, as 3^rd party candidate Peter Klotz, whom Sausville defeated in a primary last month, received over 400 votes in the general election.) Young may even file an appeal. Plenty of uncertainty, and I can't help but wonder how many in Malta are kicking themselves for not voting (or worse, saying their vote doesn't matter) on Election Day.

UPDATE: On Monday, November 25th, Young did indeed file a notice to appeal Judge Chauvin's ruling. The Ballston Journal's Faith Gimzek has been all over this story since Election Day, and provides some great detail here. This race may be far from over. Cue the hanging chads.

Item: Wormuth finally steps aside

While there as been uncertainty coming out of Malta, there has been an absolute stench emanating from Halfmoon. But, starting today much of the odor may be gone as Supervisor Mindy Wormuth has finally stepped aside.

Wormuth's political career has been consistent in regards to accusations of conflicts of interest in her decisions. Maybe it was a questionable property sale last year to a developer (Scott Earl) looking to do business with county.

Or perhaps it was when she formally recommended a candidate (Christine Abele) earlier this year to head up the Saratoga County animal shelter. Abele had listed Wormuth as a reference on her resume. Didn't seem to matter a bit that the businesses of Chris Abele, Christine’s father, had also donated more than a few bucks politically to Wormuth.

Or, quite possibly it was the bribery charge brought on by the Feds against her in support of mixed martial arts. This one caused the good folks of Halfmoon to have to see a picture of their Supervisor being led into court in handcuffs. Can't imagine many of them will miss her. Or will be listing her as a resume reference again, either.

Item: All the news fit to print?

Regular readers of my column from my newspaper days know my love of that medium. And, while I follow many local and national publications on-line, I still subscribe to print editions of the Times-Union and Saratogian. Both publications have been delivered to my doorstep for years. In recent years, the Saratogian has used the TU's circulation staff; my newspapers are delivered by the same person, at the same time.

This is not a big deal. However, recently the Saratogian decided to have their printing handled by the TU as well. Now, the paper had not been printed in Saratoga for years. I can still remember back in the day waking out of the Parting Glass in the wee hours of the morning, and passing by the Saratogian building and watching the presses roll. That was until they outsourced the job to the Record in Troy, but the difference was negligible.

The move to the TU, alas, has been a disaster. While it has generated a crisper looking copy, the print is now much smaller, and for many, difficult to read,

Plus, it's what is inside, more accurately not inside the copy that has been the story. The Saratogian now has a ridiculously early deadline. Which means if it didn't happen before say 7:00 pm, you won't read about it in print for at least 48 hours, if at all.

And, they have been getting grilled over it. The reader's forum comments (which, to their credit they have been publishing) have blistered them on this on a regular basis since the change. Many of these have been for lack of local sports scores from the night before. Ditto for town or school board meetings held after dinner.

To make matters worse, in print the newspaper consistently directs their readers to check the Saratogian website for such stories. A website which any fool with internet access can get for free. So, why exactly would anyone pay for the print edition?

In the category of pissing of their customers with a change, this one is in the New Coke echelon. Not to mention a serious misjudgment in regards to as whether or not print editions are still important.

UPDATE: Merely a day after this blog was first posted, the Saratogian printed a column by publisher Michael O'Sullivan in which he announced an upcoming paywall for portions of the on-line edition his newspaper. I don't believe this will improve the print edition timeliness at all, but maybe it will throw us paid subscribers a bone. 

Until next time, keep smilin'.