The City of Troy, New York, "Where Henry Hudson Turned Around."

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

AROUND TOWN

Finally, an article on the first female Deputy Mayor of Troy. What took so long? Monica Kurzejeski was unanimously approved as Deputy Mayor last Thursday night. The remainder of the article isn't really an article. Rather, it's a press release. Couldn't someone do a more in-depth article on the first female deputy mayor?

There is more here than a story about gender. A chief executive's choice of appointees says something about the chief executive and the tenor of the administration. More interesting is the fact that Ms. Kurzejeski is the first Deputy Mayor that is not steeped in the rough-and-tumble world of local, municipal politics. We're not sure if she's been steeped in anything. If she has been, that's between her and her god.

Mark Pattison's Deputy Mayor was a Schenectady Councilman, a registered Democrat and a frequent attendee of political fundraisers. Deputy Mayor Crawley was heavily involved in Republican politics, in Brunswick and then Troy. Pete Ryan had been on the city council and also in the county legislature.

Kurzejeski is not steeped in partisan politics. She was not a regular attendee of Democratic fundraisers. In fact, we are not even sure she is enrolled in a party. She may be the closest thing we have seen to a bureaucrat. That is, a bureaucrat in the classical tradition, not bureaucrat in the pejorative sense.

Kevin Glasheen, also appointed Thursday night as Corporation Counsel, is a democrat. However, he is not what is commonly referred to as a "hack." He succeeded in the private sector and has not waded often into the muck of local politics.

What does this say about Madden? His first real executive decisions are the selection and appointment of people that are outsiders to Troy, partisan politics. We'll have to watch and wait to see if the experiment works when Madden's opposite number, someone who is lifelong politicians, takes off the gloves.

There's an interesting article here. Will a journalist explore the story?

Congratulations to both Monica and Kevin.

In other news, a Trojan Horse virus has infected the Troy City School District computer servers. Yes, a Trojan Horse virus - Troy City School District. Irony. Odysseus is considered a person of interest. Priam and Hecuba were not available for comment.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

If anyone has ever had any doubts about who's righting this blog then let me help you out. It's Bill Dunne and this post just proved it. This is exactly why he is not being held on by this administration. So glad that our mayor caught on to this man and has kicked his ass to the curb.

Anonymous said...

Why do you think that categorizing Monica as a non-hack, along with Glasheen, is a bad thing or critical?

Not sure who rights this blowg but I dowt its Done.

Anonymous said...

so your obsession with tut continues.. you tell someone to get help when your the one in desperate need.

Anonymous said...

I see the GOP Dunne-is-gone circle jerk started early this a.m. Lucky us.

Anonymous said...

Who cares if Monica's political or not? You suggest her lack of political affiliation automatically makes her competent and qualified for the job. It doesn't.

Anonymous said...

I agree. Bill Dunne is clearly righting this blog.

Anonymous said...

Nationwide polls indicate that the average American is no longer interested in the political class. The political class is petty and self-serving. This is not an experiment. This is a memo. We no longer want the harry's of the world in charge.

Anonymous said...

I say, give the new administration a chance. If they mess up, it couldn't possibly be any worse than it was under Lou. For the sake of the future of this city we all need to put politics aside and do the right thing. And the constant running down of Harry's administration is just foolish and immature. Many good things were accomplished under his watch. The same as with Mark Pattison. They both have their good points and bad points. The constant running down of past administrators is exactly what is wrong with Troy, and why we're in the mess we're in now. The obstructionist tactics and games need to end, in order to move forward.

Anonymous said...

Its writing, not righting!!!!! You dont spell Vary well.

Anonymous said...

Can't wait for Dunne to be gone. Taxes will plummet, no more shootings, GE will move their HQ here, it will be sunny and 80 degrees all the time and the infrastructure will immediately become state of the art. Almost forgot, Dunne takes the debt with him. I never knew that. Liberation day is soon.

Anonymous said...

Not much is said about Pattison because he has faded away, unlike Tutunjian who is having a hard time being a nobody! He better get used to it!