{"id":333,"date":"2017-08-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/albanyweblog.com\/wordpress\/the-2017-city-of-albany-mayoral-election"},"modified":"2017-08-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-11T00:00:00","slug":"the-2017-city-of-albany-mayoral-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/albanyweblog.com\/wordpress\/the-2017-city-of-albany-mayoral-election","title":{"rendered":"The 2017 City Of Albany Mayoral Election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

August 11, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

A thorough and scathing explanation why incumbent
Kathy Sheehan should be reelected <\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, before we start, I want to make it very clear that everything I am about to say in this article is solely and completely my own opinion.  I’m not going to try to be unbiased like the local Corporate Media outlets pretend to be.  I’m going to tell you what I think and if you don’t like it too bad.<\/p>\n

The Democratic Primary, the real political contest in the City of Albany, will take place Tuesday September 12.  On the ballot we will have a three-way race for mayor, between the incumbent Kathy Sheehan, Common Council member Frank Commisso Junior, and Common Council president Carolyn McLaughlin.  I’m going to do my best to explain why I think that Kathy Sheehan should be reelected as mayor, and why I think voting for either of her opponents is a bad idea.<\/p>\n

\"Mayor Mayor Kathy Sheehan (center) With Frank Commisso, Jr. And Carolyn McLaughlin<\/strong> <\/p>\n

I strongly suspect that a vote for Frank Commisso Jr. is a vote for the return of the old political machine that went out the doors of City Hall with the ascension of Kathy Sheehan in 2014.  An upset victory by him would mean that the 15th ward political machine run by the candidate’s father, Frank Commisso Senior, would take control of the entire City.  That would amount to the return of something very much like the old discredited regime of Jerry Jennings in a new and revived form which would result in the effective annulment of the economic revival that we are beginning to see in our community.  <\/p>\n

As for Carolyn McLaughlin, you don’t need psychic abilities to see that she has little to no chance of winning.  So why is she running?  Perhaps she is trying to draw votes away from Ms. Sheehan so as to help Mr. Commisso Junior win.  Perhaps there is something else that she expects to gain from this quixotic run.  I could speculate more about her motives but I won’t.  So now let’s talk about the incumbent.<\/p>\n

\"Kathy Kathy Sheehan Announcing Her Reelection Campaign
Earlier This Year<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Mayor of Albany Kathy Sheehan, who was sworn in January 2014,<\/a> is finishing up her first term.  She inherited a City from her 20 year predecessor Jerry Jennings that was in ruins both structurally and financially.  She made no attempt to hide this fact during her campaign four years ago.  In her inaugural address, as I’ve pointed out before, she declared:<\/p>\n

As we begin 2014, our structural deficit stands at more than $16 million and our rainy day fund will be depleted by the end of the year. Vacant, blighted and abandoned buildings mar far too many of our once vibrant, diverse and historic neighborhoods. One in four of our residents live at or below the poverty level, and many more struggle to support their families. And property taxes are so high that many families and businesses simply cannot afford to locate here. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August 11, 2017 A thorough and scathing explanation why incumbent Kathy Sheehan should be reelected Now, before we start, I want to make it very clear that everything I am about to say in this article is solely and completely my own opinion.  I’m not going to try to be unbiased like the local Corporate Media outlets […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/albanyweblog.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/albanyweblog.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/albanyweblog.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albanyweblog.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/albanyweblog.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/albanyweblog.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albanyweblog.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/albanyweblog.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}