Matt Nelligan

As most of you know I used to be Chair of the GOP in the City of Schenectady. When I was chair, we had money in the bank, a growing number of committee people and I made sure the basic work of a chairman was always done. We filed reports on time at the Board of Elections, we got our candidates on the ballot, held fundraisers and did what we could to rebuild in deep blue territory. I ran for Mayor in furtherance of that cause.

Unfortunately all of that progress has been squandered. The City Commitee has no money, has not held a fundraiser since I left, has a shrinking membership and now the Chairman has failed in his most basic duty- helping get candidates on the ballot. The Committee has also not filed any legally required campaign disclosure reports since I left in 2023. As a result of the Chair's incompetence, Democratic candidates will walk into office without opposition this fall. Those folks are all tools of the current Mayor (someone who also The City GOP Chair has a close relationship with ) Overall Chairman Kennedy has done more to elect Democrats in Schenectady than any other person. The Schenectady Democrats should give him an award.!

One final thing. Was I disgusted by the City GOP and most especially the Chair nominating a guy that ran against me in 2023 for Mayor for City Council this year? Absolutely. Ed Varno ran on the nutty left wing working families line in 2023. He did so at the behest of Gary McCarthy and John Polemini, as a way to block Marion Porterfield from getting either the Democrat or Working Families Line. Since the GOP is so small in the city we needed Porterfield ( a real candidate and elected official) to win one or both of those primaries in order for us to have a chance. Ed Varno allowed himself to be used by McCarthy to effectuate his plan to make sure that didn't happen. Chairman Kennedy is well aware of this and yet, he still brought Varno on the Committee and tried to run him for office as a Republican. It's shameful behavior.

The Democrats made these petition objections and threw his candidates off the ballot but did he criticize or attack them in his comments after it happened ? Nope. He criticized me. Its nice to know I'm still living rent free in his head.

The bottom line is this- Chairman Kennedy failed to meet his most basic responsibility to the party by successfully ensuring that his candidates gained access to the ballot. He didn't even know enough not to witness his own signature or properly date some of those he gathered. It's pure incompetence. He should resign but I'm sure he won't.

Then again what should we expect? Hire a Buffoon to do a job and all you can expect is Buffoonery.

Sad