Please consider supporting The Front Page with a paid subscription: HERE
The one thing I am absolutely certain about when the Queensbury Town Board meets tonight is that they will not be addressing the board’s ethics problem.
After all, they haven’t for the past 18 months.
On February 11, 2025, the Ethics Board ruled that town councilman Tim McNulty was not in compliance with the town’s Ethics Policy because he was also chairman of the Warren County Republican Committee.
He was serving two masters.
“There appears to be an inherent appearance of a conflict of interest when a Queensbury Town Board member also serves as the chairman of a local political party,” the Ethics Board wrote. “It provides an opportunity for that Queensbury Board member to further or make personal gains, in status and power and influence as the leader of a local political party. It also provides those same possibilities of gains to the political party that he is the prime member of, similar to his `family’ or `tribe.’
“In our opinion, it is obvious that holding these positions simultaneously provides the opportunities to make decisions that benefit that person and his group/family/tribe rather than the citizens of Queensbury. We conclude that this creates the appearance of a conflict of interest,” the Ethics Board wrote.
And that left McNulty in violation of the town’s Ethics Policy.
Eighteen months later, he is still in violation.
I’ve reminded the Town Board repeatedly since then that it has not addressed this ethics violation and it is clear they are sick of hearing from me.
I’m sick of telling them.
I’m sick of writing about it.
It’s disappointing that other members of the community have not lent their voice to the cause, because this was an opportunity to draw a line in the sand between government and politics and make it known it is not acceptable for the head of a political party to essentially control the vote of the other board members.
One member of the Ethics Board resigned this spring and the Town Board advertised for candidates. They interviewed them last month.
One candidate said during the interview, “Ken Tingley - He’s got a problem.”
If he was trying to ingratiate himself to the Town Board, I’m sure he was successful.
At least two members of the board immediately agreed with him and one said that I was on a “violent rampage.” They talked about me some more and about how my complaint was not “helping anyone.”
After four decades in the newspaper business, the tactic was familiar. This was the classic political ploy of blaming the person delivering the message as the problem and not the person in violation of the Ethics Policy.
I readily admit I do have a “problem,” because I believe elected officials should follow the rules.
That elected officials should serve the people first instead of their party.
That they should address their own shortcomings when they are pointed out by the Ethics Board and act accordingly.
The belief by this one Ethics Board candidate that the problem is me, not the Town Board member who violated the Ethics Policy, should immediately disqualify him from serving, but I suspect it makes him a leading candidate.
The Ethics Policy is the standard for behavior adopted by the town and to ignore it - as this Town Board has done - is a travesty.
The Ethics Board has pointed out the violation and been ignored. That is a slap in the face to every member volunteering their time.
Yes, I have a problem.
Yes, the Ethics Board apparently has a problem.
Does anyone else have a problem with these bullies?
I again urge Queensbury voters not to re-elect Tim McNulty, Anthony Metivier, Rachel Hajos and Scott Gushlaw for failing to act on this complaint.
Since the Town Board is unwilling to act, I’m hoping the voters will.
Citizens Bank has drawn national attention for lending money to ICE to help build detention centers.
Some local activists have made it a point of protesting in front of the local Citizens Bank in Glens Falls, and Substack columnist Robert Hubbell wrote last week it is making a difference.
“In small towns across the country, people organized protests and lobbied the bank’s leadership to stop financing ICE facilities,” Hubbell wrote. “Their determination paid off when Citizens Bank announced in July that it would wind down its financial relationship with the private firms that construct ICE detention centers.
“The story is inspiring and instructive, especially in its affirmation of the power of small groups to coordinate and highlight the corporate actors who facilitate Trump’s authoritarianism,” Hubbell continued.
“So here you have an answer to the recurring question: What can we do in the face of authoritarianism?” Substack writer Harry Litman wrote. “By all means, stay informed; call out the lies; keep the faith around the dinner table; join in communities such as this one. But the wreckage from the Trump policies lies all around us. Find the Delaney Hall and Citizens Bank in your part of the country. Then ready your slingshots.”
Don’t forget tonight’s “Let’s Talk” film forum at Crandall Library.
Will Doolittle and I will moderate a discussion about the film Orwell 2+2=5 after its 6 p.m. viewing.
The film recounts the life of 1984 author George Orwell and his reasons for writing the book after World War II, while also connecting current events with authoritarianism.
The event is sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Glens Falls and is aimed at being a follow-up to the “Fact-Checking for All” program last month and about how truth can be manipulated.
We all know how this goes. We have all these plans to do things during the summer and then, well, it gets away from us.
One of those should be one of the Chapman Museum’s walking tours in Glens Falls.
There are just two left over the next two Fridays.
On Friday, Aug. 21, the “Her-Story of Glens Falls” will showcase remarkable women and their connections to Glens Falls, while on Friday, Aug. 28, the “More of Glens Falls” tour will look at the historic buildings, businesses and people who shaped Glens Falls.
The tours last about 90 minutes and begin each Friday at 11 a.m. Make sure to register by calling the Chapman Museum 518-793-2826. Cost is $20 for non-members and $15 for members.
The threat of ICE still appears substantial, especially after it announced last week that its officers will soon be outfitted with electric gloves to help officers gain compliance from combative individuals.
It’s not clear if they mean illegal immigrants or those protesting their tactics.
The gloves are called “Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter (GLOVE).” ICE plans to spend $20 million to purchase thousands of the devices, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The gloves would deliver “painful electric shocks” according to The Associated Press report.
The devices are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky.
It’s been a warm summer here in the Northeast, especially with the humidity, but nothing like what they are experiencing in Europe.
The New York Times reported last week that the stifling heat in June led to a major uptick in deaths.
It reported that approximately 16,000 more people died in Europe during the heat wave in June than usual, according to an analysis by European Mortality Monitoring Network. It pointed out that many of the deaths were in northern European countries like France, Belgium and Germany.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and his play “The Last American Newspaper” is being produced by Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany Sept. 25 to Oct. 18 . He currently lives in both Queensbury, N.Y. and New Orleans, La.
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.