Treasurer

Dan Crowell is the County Treasurer, of course, and you've probably read about his deployment and the confusion regarding his decision not to run for re-election.

Dan is a captain in the National Guard, and his unit was deployed for six months of training in North Carolina at the beginning of February. Russ Bachman, former fiscal manager of the Meadows (the county's nursing home before the Manor was built), has been filling in for him, full time, as interim Treasurer.

We all passed petitions for Dan's reelection as a Democrat in June/July, since he hadn't returned yet. For reasons I'm not clear on, Dan's decision not to run again (because of increased active-duty obligations) did not come until shortly after it was too late to withdraw from the ballot.

So Dan will be on the ballot this Election Day, regardless of what happens. However, the next Treasurer of Otsego County will be someone else, and how he is chosen still seems to be up in the air.

The Democrats in Otsego County are fully behind Russ Bachman, who is running a strong campaign. Many Republicans, including some on the Board of Representatives, also support him. Because Russ had no reason to run when the designating petitions (for a place on the Democratic/Republican tickets) were being signed, he cannot be on either of those ballot lines. We circulated more petitions during the independent petition drive (July/August). This is when most candidates work to get themselves on a second line on the ballot (my second line will be Sustainable Otsego). Russ will be on an independent line.

So far, so good. We have a very strong candidate, with whom most of the Board is comfortable. If this were all there were, our job would simply be to encourage voters to vote for Russ, and not for Dan.

However, the Otsego County Republican Committee had a different idea. They have lined up behind Cooperstown Village Treasurer Edward Keator Jr., and assisted him in a countywide petition drive to get him on an independent line, as well. Again, so far, so good: everyone should have a chance to run for office.

However, the Republicans have mounted an expensive blitzkreig on Russ's petition signatures, scrutinizing – for the first time in living memory – every signature in a county-wide race. Recently, the Board of Elections completed its judgement in this regard, and declared that Russ had enough valid signatures to run. But the Republicans have taken the issue to court, hiring lawyers to argue, it seems to me, that the will of the people – as articulated by a sufficient number of citizen signatures validated by a bi-partisan Board of Elections – is somehow unfair to the other candidate. To argue, it seems, that the only fair way to elect a Treasurer is for no one else to be allowed to run against Keator.

This massively expensive process has just started and it looks to be a long and unpleasant one. When it's done, there will be a two-man race (Dan Crowell vs. Keator) or a three-man race (adding Russ). If Dan is elected, and declines the position, the Board is able to appoint a interim Treasurer (as they did with Russ), in this case, until the next election. There's a good chance that the Board will use that vote to retain Russ, who we have worked well with since he started.

So here's the take-away: VOTE. Three of the four City Reps, including me, are unopposed, and that tends to stifle turnout in an off-year election. However, this year, it really is important to cast your ballot, because the race for Treasurer is a real race, and makes a difference. Russ Bachman knows how to do the job, and knows how to work with the Board, and it would be a shame if he weren't allowed to continue a job well-done.