It's a Damn Shame

As a registered Democrat, I was heartily disappointed when the Democratic committee selected Clem Campana to run for mayor over Lynn Kopka.  Don't get me wrong, I like Clem, I really do.  He's a great guy but he never had a chance of beating Carmela, NEVER.  Not with voter fraud hanging over his head.  Kopka, clear in the voter fraud issue, was the PERFECT candidate to take on Carmela. It's a shame that the committe members were too blind to see that.  A damn shame.

As for the debacle of Jerry Campana's placement into Conway Court, I've already made my opinion of that clear.  THA is currently Republican run.  The Campana family didn't "pull in a favor" to get Jerry placed.  I have said and continue to believe that some republican operative or operatives saw it as an opportunity to put the  proverbial "nail in the coffin" of his mayorial campaign and that's just what happened.  How shameful. Damn shameful.  Do I think Carmela had anything to do with it? NO.  I think some low level Republican flunky saw it as an opportunity to earn brownie points and pulled this stunt without her knowledge.  If I were Carmela, I'd be pissed because it makes her look bad. That's a shame too.

Now the Dems have to figure out who they can run that has a shot at winning.  Maybe Bill Dunne.  He's clear of voter fraud and term limited off the council.  Then again if I were Bill I'd run for the hills before I'd run for mayor.  Hey, here's an idea.  Why don't they endorse Jack Cox, Jr's candidacy?  He's planning an independant campaign anyway and it would save the Democratic Committee the trouble of trying to talk someone else into a losing proposition.

Somethings Just Not Right

When talking senior housing, there’s only two ways apartments open up: someone dies or someone is moved into a skilled care facility.  It is not standard for seniors to only wait a few weeks for an apartment.  My aunt waited over 7 months for her placement into Kennedy Towers , considering herself lucky at that.  She’d been told that the wait could be as long as 18 months.  Troy politics has always been a little on the nasty side.  Personal attacks are nothing new is this arena.  Targeting a candidate’s family, however, isn’t usually part of the play book.  Until now. 

I wouldn’t expect the Campana family to be familiar with the standard processes and procedures for placement into one of THA’s senior complexes.  I fully expect the staff at THA to be familiar with the federal requirements and to properly apply them.  Something’s just not right at THA and its been just not right for far too long.  There’s house cleaning that needs to be done there.  I sincerely hope that HUD performs an in-depth investigation into THA’s operations.  At the very least, all applications approved by the woman who approved Jerry Campana’s application should be reviewed to see how many others she may have erroneously placed. 

Whether the Campana Family was misled by Troy Housing Authority staff or that staff chose to ignore the federal requirements, is yet to be seen.  The anonymous tipper should not have singled out Jerry Campana in the complaint.  The complaint should have been broader.  Personally, I think someone saw this as an opportunity to create political havoc for Clem Campana’s mayoral campaign. It sickens me to think that a dedicated, hard-working, inspirational 80 year old veteran may have been used as a pawn in a political game and that’s just not right.