FOLLOWING THE MONEY

Media coverage of area politics and the '07 campaign is weak. The Record's Jim Franco is balancing reporting with being the acting City Editor. Shawn Charniga has left The Record and there are a number of what appears to be young, inexperienced reporters picking up the slack.

The quality of the Times Union coverage has remained consistent. The quantity has declined.

For our money, the best coverage is provided by Chet Hardin over at Metroland. One doesn't associate Metroland with Troy politics but the coverage has been excellent. Hardin is a throwback to the day when journalists didn't merely parrot back any and all nonsense spouted by a candidate.

The most recent edition of Metroland has a story about Ken Zalewski's run for Troy City Council in ED 5 versus incumbent Bob Krogh. Hardin's coverage is fair and he actually verifies (to the extent possible) what someone says. Both Zalewski and Krogh come off looking fine. Troy Republican Chair Tom Casey? That's a different story.

From the article:

Casey: “He (Zalewski) is raising thousands upon thousands of dollars from special-interest groups. These people don’t know him. They probably don’t know where Troy is,” claimed Tom Casey, chairman of the Troy Republican Party. “Did you look at his campaign-finance-disclosure thing online? None of it is from Troy; a couple of dollars here or there—that’s it.”

If, by 'none of it' Casey means $6,000, he's correct. Hardin did look at Zalewski's campaign-finance-disclosure 'thing.' Almost $6,000 raised by Zalewski comes from Troy. We'd like to look at Mr. Krogh's campaign-finance-disclosure 'thing' but alas? Not available at the Board of Elections on-line site.

As for the rising crime rate, Krogh punts but does not sound as comfortable as Talarico in towing the Administration's tortured line that crime is not on the rise. He makes an effort but his heart's not in it:

Krogh: “I am not too sure if crime is rising. I just think that, with the neighborhood programs, and the neighborhood watches, and the people getting together, they are noticing it more,” Krogh said. “They are looking out for it now. In parts of my district, certainly there is crime. We wouldn’t have a police force otherwise.”

So, in line with Mr. Casey's new standard on where money should come from, we'd like his opinion about the following:

That is the tip of the iceberg. A small sampling of the out-of-town corporate contributions. Hardly all of them. We didn't bother with the out-of-town individual contributions (although they are far fewer).

So, what exactly are the rules here, Mr. Casey? Harry can accept perfectly legal contributions from out of town interests. Can the other side? Or, is it just out-of-town corporate interests that are OK? Please, tell us the rules. We don't want Democrats raising too much money.

Harry's amassed a nice warchest. We're not whining about the origins of the contributions. That's the nature of the business. Why is Casey whining about Zalewski's contributions?