Mayor's budget fuels election speculation

Proposed spending is down, tax hike under 5% as 2009 race nears

Published on 10/3/2008 by the Times Union written by TIM O'BRIEN, Staff writer, Times Union

ALBANY — In the conference room where Mayor Jerry Jennings unveiled his 2009 budget this week, portraits of his predecessors circle the room with his photograph front and center. There is no space for anyone else.
And based on the reaction to the mayor's $160.9 million spending plan, political observers think Jennings appears to be intent on keeping it that way. His budget, $1 million less than the current one, takes steps many consider proof the mayor plans to seek a fifth term next year.

"I think it means he is going to run again, which is why I think he did anything he could to keep the tax rate under 5 percent," said Dominick Calsolaro, the First Ward Common Council member who is pondering a run for mayor.

Rumors about Jennings' intentions, and who might run in his stead, abound, even though the mayor said as early as March 2007 he intends to run again.

"I call it Albany's version of fantasy football," said Council President Shawn Morris. "Everybody tries to put together what's really going to happen."

Morris, too, says she is considering a run. She and Calsolaro have met with other dissidents on who might challenge Jennings if he runs again. Calsolaro has pushed opponents to back a single candidate.

"We're still meeting. No decisions have been made," he said. "I am still thinking of it. I still think the city is teetering on the brink of a cliff. I think we need a change."

Jennings has remained active in Democratic politics. He was behind the formation of the Albany City Democratic Committee, at a time when he was feuding with the County Democratic Committee and its co-chairmen, Frank Commisso and David Bosworth, and the party was split between the city and the suburbs.

Just last week, Jennings was instrumental, along with leaders of the towns, in dumping the co-chairs in favor of returning to a single leader. County Legislator Dan McCoy, a city firefighter, was elected to the two-year post and vowed to reunite the party.

Robert Van Amburgh, the mayor's executive assistant, said Jennings will announce his plans at "an appropriate time."

Albany County Comptroller Mike Conners, a longtime friend of the 60-year-old mayor, said Jennings will run again "in what may be the toughest election he has faced to date. Between the crisis on Wall Street, Washington, D.C., and in the statehouse of New York, times could not be tougher. I am sure he will fight to finish the job he started in 1994."

The mayor's budget calls for leaving 62 jobs vacant including 10 in the police department and 20 in the fire department. Calsolaro reads that willingness to cut public safety positions as a sign the mayor wants another term.

But Calsolaro saw evidence in another area of the budget: Last year, the mayor sought to borrow $1.9 million for sidewalk and road repair. This year, the amount is $5 million.

"The mayor is tripling the money for sidewalks and street repair," the council member said, "and it just happens to be an election year."

Staff writer Carol DeMare contributed to this story. Staff writer Tim O'Brien can be reached at 454-5092 or at tobrien@timesunion.com.