Classic Vince Riggi - City Council Seat Vote 02/27/12
Channel: SchenectadyReport
Date: 2012-02-28

Feb 22 2012 Times Union Article
SCHENECTADY — After it exposed a fissure in the city Democratic Party, the City Council appears to be finally filling its vacant seat with accountant John Mootooveren, a candidate who failed to win election in November.
The choice, however, is not unanimous. City Council President Denise Brucker decided to move ahead with a vote on Mootooveren at next Monday night's City Council meeting despite no apparent support from half the council.
Brucker has said she only needs three votes, and the other council members aren't unified on a second candidate.
It has taken almost three months to fill the seat after it was revealed the city Democratic committee promised Weed and Seed coordinator Marion Porterfield the spot if Mayor Gary McCarthy was victorious. McCarthy won the city's top post, but Mootooveren got bumped out for City Council by Vince Riggi, who ran on the Alliance Party and Republican lines.
Mootooveren's running mates, Brucker and new council member Leesa Perazzo, wanted him to have the job, while Democratic council members Peggy King and Barbara Blanchard have appeared to be behind Porterfield.
Riggi expressed his displeasure with how the party was looking to debate the issue internally, so he forced a public interview of anyone interested — which brought out five other candidates.
Meanwhile, as the weeks went on, supporters for Mootooveren and Porterfield occupied the microphone during City Council public comment periods.
But on Tuesday night, Brucker presented the issue at City Council's committee meeting under the "administrative efficiency" committee, a unrecognized committee name she said existed last year. Herself, Perazzo and Carl Erikson voted to put a resolution on Monday night's agenda to hold a roll call vote on Mootooveren's appointment. King and Blanchard said nothing.
Riggi once again expressed displeasure with the process, and Erikson retorted that Riggi needed to pick a candidate to get behind. He did — Joe Lazzari, a former Republican county sheriff candidate who interviewed during the public process.
Mootooveren seemed relieved outside City Council chambers Monday as he and Porterfield had silently attended City Council meetings for months during the debate.
"I think they're using common sense and doing the right thing," Mootooveren said.
In other city business, Riggi asked why a discussion about the city possibly owing the county more than $1 million was going to be discussed in executive session. Daily Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore asked to be heard and also protested the move. City attorney John Polster said there is a threat of a lawsuit involved, and therefore negotiation strategies had to be talked about behind closed doors.