(Photo taken from the League of Women Voters’ website)
November is right around the corner, which means election season is too. This year, Saratoga county is holding local elections for the five city council positions: Mayor, Supervisor, Commissioner of Public Safety, Commissioner of Public Works, and Commissioner of Finance.
Last week, on October 24, the Skidmore Democrats and Skidmore Republicans co-hosted the Meet the Candidates event on campus. Each candidate running for local office was given the opportunity to speak in front of the student body.
Notably, this year’s elections in Saratoga are revealing the rigid feelings between incumbent officers and their challengers, or rather those that oppose the establishment. These feelings came to light when Michele Madigan, the 10-year Democratic incumbent of the Commissioner of Finance, was pitted against Patti Morrison in the primaries. Although their race was close, Morrison’s win triggered the resignation of many Saratoga County Democratic Committee members.
The string of resignations from the Democractic Committee was extremely disruptive for Saratoga politics. Without enough members, the Committee could not function for weeks — only recently were all positions refilled. Those that resigned are now supporting Madigan’s campaign.
Along with the tension between Madigan and Morrison, this year’s local election has uncovered domestic abuse charges.
In less than a month, two candidates in the Commissioner’s race have had domestic abuse allegations filed against them; their names are Kendall Hicks and Steve Mittler.
It recently came to light again that Kendall Hicks, who is running for the Commissioner of Public Safety, was charged with third-degree assault and second-degree reckless endangerment in 2013, according to a police report from the county of Gloversville.
The report states that Hicks unlawfully used his military vehicle to force another vehicle to stop while in traffic. Hicks approached the female in the vehicle, who was allegedly his girlfriend at the time, and as she exited the car, he struck her repeatedly causing injury. After immediately fleeing the scene, a warrant was put out for the arrest of Hicks, prompting him to turn himself in days later.
When challenged by his opposition Robin Dalton in March 2018, Hicks denounced these allegations. According to the Times Union, Hicks stated that the charges against him had “no merit” and were “old, incomplete and misleading.”
The defensive claims of Kendall Hicks has not halted Dalton, as well as other Republican candidates, to use the police report against him and his campaign.
Even more, the Independent candidate for the position of Supervisor, Steve Mittler, has been accused of domestic charges against his ex-wife during the time of their divorce.
In his Facebook post earlier this fall, Mittler states that the situation stemmed from “a telephone exchange in 2018 that resulted in [his] use of hurtful and seriously regrettable language.” Mittler’s ex-wife filed an order against him in court, which he claims “prohibited [him] from making negative comments.”
Those that oppose Mittler claim that “negative comments” could not meet the threshold for his ex-wife to file an Order of Protection against him.
The information pertaining to Mittler’s case in court has been sealed and cannot be accessed.
This year, Election Day falls on Nov. 5. As voting day approaches, Skidmore students should be considering each Candidate’s campaigns, and the issues that they emphasize. The complex issues – both official and unofficial – of this year’s local election demand the attention of Saratoga’s voters.
The League of Women Voters Education Fund has created a comprehensive tool to outline your candidates for this election; it can be found here. Even more, video footage of Candidate campaign speeches can be found on this website. For more specific information about each candidate, be sure to check their official campaign websites.
The Names You’ll Find on the Ballot Plus Their Endorsements:
Mayor:
Meg Kelly — Democratic, Working Families, Independent
Timothy A Holmes — Republican
Supervisor:
Tara N. Gaston — Democratic, Working Families
Stephen J. Mittler — Republican, Conservative, Libertarian
Matthew E. Veitch — Republican, Conservative, Independent
Commissioner of Public Safety:
Kendall Hicks — Democratic
Robin O. Dalton — Republication, Conservative, Independent, Libertarian, Serve American Movement (SAM)
Commissioner of Public Works:
Dillon C. Moran — Democratic
Anthony J. Scirocco — Republican, Conservative, Independent
Commissioner of Finance:
Patty Morrison — Democratic
Michelle Madigan — Working Families, Independent, SAM