Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Journal:Ashley To Run For City Council

                      Race for City Council
Retired OPD Sergeant Ashley, a republican plans to run for City Council.  Mr. Ashley has been a lifelong resident of Ogdensburg and has dealt with every level of society.  He was an employee of Ogdensburg and has dealt with various departments via his 38 years of tenure. 

Mr. Ashley has been a good employee while on the OPD and has done some volunteering...I want to know what his fiscal stance is and his ideas on providing affordable services to the community.    The City  is faced with NYS fiscal crisis, decreased tax base, and increasing costs. How he plans on handling these issues are my concerns.  I am sure or at least hope these issues will be brought up before the election.  Let's not forget A & A Fencing, a fencing business that Mr. Ashley has been running.

                           Mrs. Rupp for County Clerk
Mrs. Rupp has started putting up election signs for her run for County Clerk.  Her team has been busy with fundraisers, great and meets, and they will be a force to contend with come November. Galvin fired her as his first action as an appointed clerk...therefore it appeared little thought went into that decision.  That may have  been his first mistake because the voters appear to be rallying around Mrs. Rupp.  

Journal Article

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rupp is not qualified enough for the position and shes proven that. She had a job in the DMV and Patty offered her a chance to be her first Deputy. Because of her friendship with Ritchie she accepted the position. This position is out of the scope of the CSEA union and at the pleasure of the County CLerk. She bypassed and employee who has over twenty years experience on the job, a much more qualified person and accepted this position.
When Ritchie became Senator whe temporaraliy run the Department. The first big blunder she made was giving an employee accept another job while holding her position open for her for a year.. Leaves of absence are frowned upon... She thentried to backfill that position and when the legislators refused to fill a position they might have to lay someone off from Rupp then tried to shift the blame of working short to the legislative body.... The decepancies in the rest of the department and the manpower needed was obvious to her predacessor so he laid her off accordingly.
The rest of the staff has expressed their feelings about the new Clerk in an open letter to the Journal and seem to e quite supportive of him and the fine job hes doing..
Mrs Rupp has whined constatnly since being appointed and whined much moe since being let go from the position..
You state voters are rallying around her... Who?? The republicans will of corse who else?
Whats wrong with supporting the lady that the new clerk appointed for firstDeputy.. Ms Streeter was appointed by the new Clerk because she is much more competant for the positiion than Rupp... Rupp was appointed because she was friends of Ritchies. Ritchie was called upon by the Republican party bosses to support Rupp because of the social status in her community not her work abilities for sure.

Anonymous said...

We NEED many more choices for Both the City Council and the Mayoral race in the BURG. The Status Quo must NOT be our city's future.

As has been said this is NOT about the cult of personality. Hard decisions are ahead . The economy INSPITE of the warm and fuzzy rhetoric is HEADING for another double dip. Many prominent economists and YES even investment advisors are very WORRIED right now .

Housing has tanked, Return on Investments are tanking, the stock mkt is tanking YET again and we can NO longer afford NICE guys who have no clue . And we still have UNsolved murders, a street drug crime wave , deteriorating neighborhoods and only 27 % paying property taxes .

Ogdensburg needs NEW Leadership-- the status quo is no longer good enough.

I ask that several people in your 30'- 60's with good judgement and track records of success to step up to the plate and OFFER your talents to get Ogdensburg MOVING in the right direction. RUN for office.

Party affiliation is NOT a concern here -- TALENT is !!!

Anonymous said...

I agree with the talent statement however I have concerns about Mr. Ashley...
My concerns is not about his speaking ability nor his love of the City. Wayne is a long time city employee. He owes favors and he has them coming. How would he perform in issues concerning retirees.. What if retirees were forced to pay a percentage or higher percentage of for say medical insurance.. Could he be fair in his decisions or would he abstain from voting on such issues. Abstaining on any issues is a weak excuse for anyone including judges and attornies etc. Decisions are to be favorable to the city and its taxpayers not themselves.
Wayne has had questionable dealings with people at times however its true he has given the city great service and volunteersare needed.
I think he would be a good councilman if he could get by abstaining on voting on hard issues and dosnt owe the city manager anything.. However with the deal being struck for his medical insurance and his retiriing bonus I doubt that.....

Mary Rupp... I wont say much.. I agree with the first blogger.. I think she lacks credibility and the expertise to really run that department.. Friendship appointments are not good appointments but on the other hand political appointments can be questionable at times.. I would alson prefer the person with twenty years plus experience to run.. Just because you have money dosnt mean your a capable choice. Just because you have the backing of Nancy Martin dosnt mean you are the best canidate.

Anonymous said...

You are RIGHT on target with Mr Ashley.

Many doubt VERY much he could be OBJECTIVE when in fact he has a VESTED interest in Both HIS retirement and HIS Health INSURANCE at stake .

His claim of Knowing former colleagues in existing city departments is not a GOOD indicator of one's ability to make contrarian and very difficult rightsizing decisions that WILL have to be made in this downwardly spiraling economy.

The worsening recession or depression ( your choice) will most likely negatively impact city payroll and fringe benefits ( the largest component of the city budget). I want someone with years of experience in balancing and operating complex budgets

Anonymous said...

We need any and all canidates. We need someone with an interest in running for mayor. the only names to date are Nelson for sure, Shollette is one name mentioned but Sam Lamachia has been mentioned.. Nelsons statements in the news today stated hes proud of what he has accoomplished.. What? Waterfront developement and browfields cleanup.... Remember all of this cosmetics t our waterfront has come at the expense of decaying city in general... This city has decayed beyond belief and I give Nelson the full credit.
Prim and Proper everything Prim and Proper.. Cosmetics and a false sence of what really is... Industry gave upon us years ago.. Only the Bridge and Port Authority has assisted us in drawing something other than Prisons and Pervet housing.. Sure the salaries are great and they sure spend money but really most of them live elsewhere.. Think about it... lWe need a fresh approach to things and time to go against the status quo.....

Anonymous said...

If you can talk to the employes of the County Clerks office and ask them hard questions it wont take long for you to realize that Mary Rupp did not get the job because of her skills and knowledge. The new guy is doing a fine job and not o his own. He asks questions and advice from his employees. My vote goes to him.. I dnt like friendship promotions and favorisim as it had been in the County Clerks office.

I found out also that the first bloggers statement about Rupp giving a leave is oompletely true. She gave a leave then tried to backfill the position. When denied by the legislators she tried to make them look like villians... Least Nancy Martin did...

Anonymous said...

Wayne if you can say publically you will give Art Scorria and Justin Woods the Boot. YOU GOT MY VOTE !