Wednesday, November 09, 2011

GALLO WINS!

The votes have been cast and counted. Shayne Gallo and Jim Noble win the race for Mayor and Alderman-at-large in the City of Kingston. In the short month plus, he must assemble a fresh cabinet and prepare a strategy to lead this city in a prosperous new direction. 
 
Ron Polacco did a damn good job as the opposition candidate. I give him credit considering he had little help from his party. The fact that he kept it clean earns him the respect of the Gallo campaign. 


Facing a contentious primary while earning a living was daunting but Shayne still eked out a narrow win in September. I was not so lucky.
   
While the team doubled down for the General, I all but abandoned my campaign for the Legislature. That is until this past Friday when I put up my lawn signs. I figured, hey, why not? With no literature and avoiding doors throughout the district, I still got 400+ votes. For those who did so, I sincerely thank you for your faith in me.
 
While Gallo and company are set to advance our city starting January, I expect to get back to what I do best; Building homes in Ulster County. As someone who lost his seat on the County Legislature, I somehow feel free. Free from all that comes with county government and the malarkey that goes on at the 6th floor. Will we settle the fate of Golden Hill before my exodus, I dont know. To think we are trying to save it from the Death Panels that Sarah Palin warned us about is ironic since the Tea Party is now pushing to privatize it. 

 
I will continue this Blog long after I am out of office so that I may bring you info and internal insight that the local press may miss, or the far out articles that catch my interest. I'm not going away.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mike, never go away, ever! We need your insight and wit. And, I suspect we will be seeing even more of that once you've been set free. Look out Ulster County!!

The Gallo team has much to be proud of. It was a hard-fought battle, but I look forward to watching Shayne turn Kingston around.

Anonymous said...

Hello, with all due respect to your comment about Polacco, I was told by a few people in the GOP that Polacco told the City Committee that if they wanted to help, great. If not, he won the Primary by himself and he would win the Election by himself too.

What also hurt Polacco is that he didn't try to mend fences with Turco-Levin and with Joe Marchetti. Both individuals could have really helped Polacco.

As you can see Marchetti got more votes than Polacco did.

Anonymous said...

Something tells me Polacco is going to play a role in turning Kingston around. The other republicans not so much.

Anonymous said...

I echo the thoughts of 8:52 AM. You are a bright light in our community...smitty

Anonymous said...

So who is getting jobs in the new Gallo Administration. You getting a job Mike? Is Brian Woltman getting a job? Is Zweben going to be corporation counsel?

Anonymous said...

When talking about jobs, the better thing to ask is who is not getting hired . . .

Anyone who is recommended by Frank Cardinale or the city committee best look elsewhere.

Frank picked his horse, he abused his power, he ignored his own bilaws, he lost , and now it is time for him to resign so the city committee move on.

Mike Madsen said...

To 8:52 ...Of the eight of us who supported Shayne since February, I doubt you'll find the hope of getting a job through the city as the motive. We saw in Shayne what the electorate eventually came to agree come election day.
Yes, there are positions to fill during such a transition, but I'd be fine spending more time on the construction site instead of meetings. Serving the public a Alderman and Legislator costs more in lost wages than it pays, but we do so anyway because our desire to guide our community through tough times compels us. Like a neurosis.