Saturday, September 24, 2011

Jornal:County Certifies GOP City Council Primary Results

Is it Name Recognition or Platform?
The Republicans have their candidates lined up for the city council race. Mr. Ashley, retired police officer and the leader of the primary appears to be the voters top choice. Mr. Hosmer gained name recognition when he had a run in with the City Council.  Having a run in with the City  appears to be the common denominator for new business ventures in Ogdensburg.   Jamie Amo edged out Mr. Mooney by 3 votes and became the third candidate for the Republicans.

Mr. Mooney has little to no name recognition but knocked on many doors during his campaign. I spoke with Mr. Mooney and he may have been a challenge to the status quo.

Everyone in town has dealt with Wayne Ashley as a police officer, the dog catcher, or maybe he put a fence up for you. Name recognition is a great things and as a retired City employee I wonder if his loyalty is with the taxpayer. He supports Nelson 100%, let's hope he is an independent thinker.

Mr. Hosmer has his hands full with his new marina. As a member of City council he will have insight to new money and will avoid harassment from the City.

Jamie Amo, well we all know Jamie Amo he may be the wild hair in the bunch.

Journal Article


19 comments:

Anonymous said...

IMO Mr Ashley is only interested in protecting HIS pension and HIS benefits and will never be an independent thinker capable of cutting the city payroll or benefit package as the economy worsens .
He has no experience at all involving policy making and fiduciary responsibility at any level.

I'm concerned that Ogdensburg is in for a very bleak future with the lack of seasoned and sophisticated leadership .

Where in blazes is the younger and middle aged professional talent in this city willing to engage in public service??

And more importantly why is there voter apathy that paralyzes potentially good intelligent people to run for office.?

Thankfully we personally have the resources to move out of here if conditions here continue to decline as they have been .

Anonymous said...

The Author is right about Mr. Ashley and Mr. Nelson, two peas in a pod. Everyone knows his name, he is a nice guy, but he is part of the problem.

We need individuals that are not on there personal gains. The future looks grim. The names will win, end of story more of the same old same old.

Anonymous said...

McGrath, if he wins will need to be very persuasive , as i've little to no confidence in the City Council.

They are all nice folks BUT the living embodiment of "lightweights" who neither have a depth of organizational leadership background nor the intellectual strength to speak out for change and DEMAND accountability from the city manager who is not of the caliber necessary to lead.

OH he talks a good game BUT the results speak for themselves > Ogdensburg has declined on many levels and without strong intelligent leadership and change the future is in serious jeopardy.

The economy will likely worsen and the city will face tremendous competition from more progressive competitors seeking increasingly scarce resources from either Albany or DC .

This is not a game for "good ole boys" any longer . It will be tough , mean and highly competitive and ONLY the BEST ideas will prevail in the competition and remember we are NOT able to enjoy a huge voting population so we have damn little to " lobby with " in the process.

Anonymous said...

STRATEGY FOR VICTORY

NELSON MUST GO!!

MACOY will not take any crap from anyone! A little dry a tought nut to crack! But SOLID!

AMO is a wild hair but if you knew his grandfather and uncles he will go to the mat!

The tossup is Ashley or Hosmer - Hosmer is to quiet now( ? WHY) and has no true answers and Wayne does have some bond with Nelson and the screwed up Ogdensburg Republicans.
( Buy the WAY I'M REPUBLICAN)

McGraph OK
Morley OK
Cielly OK
McCoy OK
Amo OK
Skamperle OUT NEXT TERM
HOSMER/ ASHLEY ????
YOU GOT 4-5 votes don't need them! Nelson and Scorria GONE!

Anonymous said...

I WILL BE SUPPORTING MCGRAPH FOR MAYOR AND HE HAS TO BUILD FROM THE GROUND UP AT CITY HALL. NELSON AND HIS BUDDY SCORRIA HAVE RUINED AND TAKE EVERYTHING FROM THE TAXPAYERS OF OGDENSBURG!
*VOTE MCGRAPH*

Anonymous said...

BEAN THE CHAIR - NELSON,VAUGN,& POWERS HAVE RUINED THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN OGDENSBURG. MY FAMILY WILL GO BACK TO THE PARTY WHEN THEY ARE REPLACED !!!! LOOK AT THE SIGNS IN OGDENSBURG AND THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE BAILED OUT OF THE PARTY BECAUSE OF THEM! MY FAVORITE WAS DEM. DOUG SHOLETTE BUT HE'S LEAVING TOWN AND REP. MIKE MORLEY WHO ISN'T A RUBBER STAMP TO NELSON. THE REST OF THE COUNCIL CAN GO AWAY1

Anonymous said...

At tonights council meeting watch Skamperle and Vaugn kiss Arts Butt!! Remenber Nelson has to sell out his buddy Scorria to win the Election. This should be a show in its self! Skamp hates nelson but loves Art - they should all spend a weekend at the grandview and we can see who walks out -most of them will be bent over!

M. Dolengy said...

Skamp is an idiot.. Hes a teacher but certainly not qualified to be on our council.. Dosnt understand the issues even when objecting to thing he votes for them five seconeds later.. Powers and Vaugh both knew they would never be reelected. Vugh can try and sign on again with the rich guy from the bay who keeps trying to buy the congressional election. Powers can go back to aby sitting at OCF. Cilley hs to come out sonner or later.
Bill Nelson was a good mayor for about a term and a half. Now he has become a poser, politican with ambitions to impress people and influence elections. We need a mayor not a career politican....

Anonymous said...

Vaugh IS , WAS and will ALWAYS be an Empty Vessel, who is lost in space and takes as gospel whatever theory he has just read in his Business MGT 101 text.

Intellectually he is a lightweight who has a serious case of the wannabes BUT will be a NEVER was soon !

That said this is looking like a "whitewash" so voters at least the more astute ones will take their retribution at the polls come November .

BUH BYE !!

Anonymous said...

MY BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH THESE CANDIDATES IS WHERE ARE THEY - I CAN'T HEAR ANY OF THEM, SPEAK UP ON THE PRESENT ISSUES , IT JUST BLAH- BLAH - BLAH- CRAP . THE STAGE IS WIDE OPEN FOR ANY OF THEM TO STAN OUT! NO SPUNK OR ENERGY FOR THE JOB1 THIS BLOG IS MORE INTERESTING THEN THEM. IF YOU WANT THIS POORLY PAID JOB AND CAN DO IT SPEAK-UP!!!!!WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

SIMPLE answer friend : NO brains in the race - they all have NO clue as to What to do or How to do it and pull this city out of its decades long decline !

The Brains in this town all left as soon as they were educated OR they have enough $$$$$$ and these stupid politicians and i mean ignorant -- can't affect them at all, OR they moved to the River and laugh at the ineptitude of clowns in the local political sideshow for their gentile riverside cocktail party entertainment

Not difficult to understand the $$$ in town doesn't GIVE A DAMN -- They GOT theirs!

The Rest of the citizenry in the BUrg might as well anesthesized since they continually either do not vote or demand a better quality of leadership.

It really is THAT simple -- The talent has left the barn and no else seems to care. They are Too busy huntin n' fishin , n' bowlin and beer ballin.

Anonymous said...

WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM ANY PEOPLE RUNNING FOR ogdensburg city council!!!

Want you View said...

Hosmer - who thought he would be the top vote getter is coached by a politican- we haven't heard from him since he got what he wanted from Nelson & Scorria - so he will play it safe! he is politics first then the taxpayer!
Ashley - got a bump being the top vote getter - is now laying low pretty sure of a victory and playing up to Nelson and the party. He is a Half and Half for the taxpayer.
AMO - better get going - needs a bump- has to let it be known he would fire Scorria - and that party or not He's for the Taxpayer !

*RHINO"S stick out to true Republicans. Why is nelson in trouble?

They are all hidding and this is political bull%#@$! Do we want smooth politicans or Cowards. GO FOR IT BOYS!

*note -Rhinos are Republicans in name only.

Anonymous said...

We have only ONE candidate who has had the courage to speak out : Jim McCOY the rest are NOT forthcoming now SO LOOK out if they get in office they'll be JUST as bad .

Speak up candidates - it is the right thing to do . What are YOU going to DO to specifically to SOLVE this city's problems ??

JAMES R. AMO said...

I HAVE BEEN CALLING FOR THE CITY MANAGER'S RESIGNATION FOR 2 MONTH'S AND IF I AM ELECTED TO CITY COUNCIL I WOULD DEFINATELY BE A YES VOTE TO FIRE ART SCIORRA I JUST WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW MY POSITION!!!!!

Anonymous said...

How bout ALL the OTHER problems Mr AMO ???

How will you increase the tax base , draw business and lower the street crime rates ? What will you DO

. Firing the Manager is a no obrainer -- how bout these long-standing problems -- how will you and ALL the other political wannabes solve our chronic problems

BTW i am NOT a candidate and have ZERO interst in political party BS.

Anonymous said...

SO : candidates what will you do to SPECIFICALLY solve all these OTHER long standing problems ? How will they be addressed and solved ?

NOT HEARING ANYTHING MAKES ME WONDER IF ANY OF THESE CANDIDATES HAVE ANY SPECIFICS ??

Anonymous said...

Elections in Ogdensburg are not about what you know, its who you know!

James R. Amo said...

Once normalcy is restored to the city of Ogdensburg, we will finally be able to focus on the issues at hand that have been put on the backburner in the past few months. One of the bigger things that come to mind is the amount of property that is not on the tax roll. I believe that we need to re-assess the restrictions regarding businesses wanting to locate to the city. We have gone from a thriving industrial community to a dying ghost town. The taxpayers are fed up with having to absorb all the untaxed property that the city continues to accumulate. As each year goes by, it seems like the taxes are going up constantly and there is no reciprocation. I would like to work on a plan, if elected, to bring new business here and work alongside them to make sure they will thrive in our community. Potential business owners should not be frightened to take the first step in making their idea possible.
People are so afraid to improve the outside or their home because they feel that the “assessment police” are outside their home waiting to reassess them immediately to an astronomical amount. We the taxpayers should not have to feel that we’re being held hostage by the city and it is a shame that nobody can update their property without having to pay a downright atrocious amount of money to do so. We realize that our properties have to be re-assessed after work has been done to it, however, sometimes the amount greatly exceeds what we think is a reasonable one. Remember, a lot of people that I have spoken to are on fixed incomes. We should devise a better system of reassessing properties and give homeowners some incentive to do so.
It is no secret that the amount of crime in Ogdensburg has spiraled out of control. I have complete faith in our police department. We have hired some new officers and Officer Pryce has started a neighborhood watch program that seems to be thriving and she is diligently trying to get the community to band together and be proactive. The community should embrace this idea and expand the neighborhood watch to cover the entire city and if you see something, call the police department. Remember, we only have so many officers on a shift and it is difficult to be at several different locations simultaneously. This is where the public could take a more active role in helping to prevent crimes from occurring.
In regards to the reason why the City Manager has not given an explanation to citizens who were granted money by the city and never received it, an independent state audit should be underway. If there is nothing to hide, why not start this immediately? We would like to know where the money is. I would also like to see a complete list of city-owned properties and know if there are any other families living rent and tax free in the city. With that being said, there is only one way that honesty, trust, and integrity can be restored to city hall and the taxpayers. (Mr. Sciorra, if you truly have the taxpayers’ best interest at heart, the best thing you can do is to resign and not make the city council fire you.) The council meeting on October 11th saw a record-setting attendance. A large majority of the taxpayers in attendance spoke in volumes that you need to go.
We need change on the council to bring a breath of fresh air. I intend to be 100% transparent, openly honest, have the taxpayers best interest at heart, total open communication, and if elected I intend to serve with integrity and sincerity. Vote for James R. Amo on November 8th for Ogdensburg City Council.