Blog Master G

Last night most of the candidates running for city and county positions in the November 8 election came out to answer questions and take jabs at one another as part of an event hosted by the League of Women Voters of Saratoga County in the Saratoga Springs High School gymnasium. When we arrived and saw how full the parking lot was, I was really encouraged. But apparently the debate wasn’t the only thing happening last night since the crowd in the auditorium wasn’t as numerous as the cars outside. The turnout wasn’t terrible, but for a city of nearly 30,000, we could’ve done better. Perhaps the turnout was, sadly, a small indicator of the national interest in politics.

It’s revealing, too, that the bigger story in today’s Saratogian is not last night’s debate (page 2A; no online version of the story), but that a movie called “Aftermath” is being filmed downtown (Hollywood comes to Caroline Street). Americans tend to care more about entertainment than government and electing the men and women who will be making decisions that affect all our lives.

Regardless, I’m glad I went to the debate last night. Though it went a bit long (2 hours) and the format was stifled (no audience questions, same question asked of all 10 city council candidates, etc.), it was good to see all the candidates on one stage.

First it was the four candidates running for the two Saratoga Springs seats on the county board: incumbents Phil Klein and Skip Scirocco; challengers Joanne Yepsen and Cheryl Keyrouze (vote Yepsen and Keyrouze). Then it was the ten candidates running for the five seats on the Saratoga Springs City Council: Mayor Michael Lenz and challenger Valerie Keehn (vote Keehn); Accounts Commissioner Stephen Towne and challenger John Franck (vote Franck); Finance Commissioner Matt McCabe and challenger Mary Anne Macica (vote McCabe); Public Works Commissioner Tom McTygue and challenger David Bronner (vote McTygue); and Public Safety Commissioner candidates Ron Kim and Larry Britt (vote Kim).

The most enthusiastic candidates of the evening seemed to be Yepsen, Kim, McCabe, Franck, Macica, and Broner, though I wasn’t sure what Macica and Broner were talking about half the time. With less than a week to go until election day, the campaigning will no doubt get even more heated from here on out. Saturday Jen and I will be helping to distribute more Democratic campaign material.

After the debates, Jen, Justin, and I went out for post-debate recap martinis at Nine Maple.