The Omerta Report

We reported last week that John Parete would win reelection as Chairman of the Legislature, which  he did. We hear after Peter Loughran failed to get the support he decided not to run but that didn't stop bitter Democrats from voting against Parete. By all accounts Parete has been a great and effective Chairman and the Dems that voted against Parete did so to suck up to the Don, who is often at odds with Parete, a strong Cahill ally. Talk about hypocrisy, Hector who has been crying for a year that he got screwed out of the Chairmanship because Parete went to the GOP for support did just that last week. At the 11th hour and out of pure desperation we hear Hector went to the GOP himself the night of the vote. Some friends of ours tell us Hector tried to recruit Minority Leader Ken Ronk  to run against Parete, that Brutto filglio di puttana bastardo!! Good for Ronk for having integrity and declining to do so, a young guy not tempted by foolish power grabs is impressive in the life. Loyalty is a valuable thing to have in this thing of ours especially these days.

The Noble's

We were a little surprised that Alderman at Large Noble may not run for reelection. In the Sunday Freeman, Noble, who is arguable Kingston's most popular Democrat, said that it was unlikely that he would seek reelection if Shayne Gallo was the nominee for Mayor this year. That is so telling of the type of climate Gallo has created these last three years because Jim Noble never says anything bad about anyone, much less the leader of his party and the City's chief executive.

While trouble has been brewing between the two men almost from day one, this is the first time we recall outside of our circles that Noble has publicly said he would not run with Gallo, who is captain of the Kingston crew and known for being vindictive to anyone that dares to question or talk out of school against him. It has gotten so bad privately between the two, that they rarely if ever speak, certainly not outside of things specifically relating to city government. Noble has went as far as to take his name off the Gallo/Noble fundraising committee. That committee is their joint account that they use for their campaign. While they are two separate offices, historically Dems and Rep candidates in Kingston run as a team for the offices of Mayor and Alderman at Large. Unlike President or Governor, they are not a team on the ballot. Voters vote for a Mayor and an Alderman at Large respectively, not always but 99% of the time Kingston voters elect a Mayor and Alderman at large of the same party despite that.

Kingston's top bully can't be happy with Noble's defection not only does it show he doesn't have his shit together, Jim Noble is very popular and doesn't need Gallo and it hurts Shayne's campaign. If Noble teamed up with the right candidate for mayor this year, say good bye to Shayne Gallo and if Jim himself ran, forgetttabouuuttit, Gallo need not apply, he would get his ass handed to him in any primary he ran in against Noble. Plus expect the Fire fighters and Police unions to endorse Jim Noble strongly. Gallo has already suffered in the pocket book because of Noble turning his back on him, we hear the last two boat ride fundraisers that Gallo has done solo without Noble, have not raised anywhere near the money that he was able to raise when he had the help of Noble's name on the ticket. Gallo's brother T.R. started the boat ride event and it continued with Sottile and than Gallo. An event that Kingston Democratic Mayor's have used as a unity event for their party for over twenty years and one that his own brother started, Gallo has ruined. Not surprising though, any event that's propose is unity mixes with Gallo like oil and water.


We feel it would be short sided and frankly selfish if Jim Noble took his ball and went home after all his years of service and it just empowers Gallo and his erratic behavior.  Jim Noble is the highest vote getter every time he runs and would trounce Shayne Gallo in a primary or general election. The guy is as nice as they come, never has a bad word to say about anyone, has paid his dues and knows city government like the back of his hand. Jim Noble is also a good earner and a highly valuable and respected Captain and his retirement would mean light envelopes for a lot of made guys, I don't see them being happy about this. Noble who is a plumber by trade has a lot of friends and has done a lot of favors for his constituents, including emergency plumbing issues on the arm for years. He is unbeatable and Gallo knows that. By contrast, Shayne Gallo is nothing more than an insecure little man living in his brother and father's shadow. Underneath his yelling and vindictiveness, he's a guy with low self esteem that feels if his name was Shayne Smith he wouldn't of gotten elected. We have stated on this website before we love Gallo as a person, he's a very special man, brilliant and caring and a guy that can inspire you and in many ways is better and more talented than his late brother. In short, Shayne Gallo could be elected to state wide office, he really has that much potential.  However, his denial and refusal to get help for his mental heath issues, that he sees as a sign of weakness cause him to be riddled with extreme anger, guilt, rage and paranoia that severely effect his judgment at times.  If he doesn't address his demons his downfall is certain. Wasted talent, currently to his friends and so many people that put their ass on the line for him, he is viewed as nothing more than a bully with daddy issues.

We know that it's unlikely that Jim Noble will run for Mayor, we don't know why but we have come to terms with the fact that it is not a job that he wants.  His nephew Steve Noble on the other hand, has stated that he is seriously considering it. Che Palle!!  We mean that with no disrespect, it takes balls for anyone to run against their boss but to run against Shayne Gallo?  That takes balls of steel. Especially for a long shot candidacy like his that may almost ensure Gallo's reelection if he follows through. If Gallo is reelected best believe Noble's job will be cut from the city's budget in 2016. Not that we feel Gallo is worried about his candidacy, in fact we are pretty sure that him and his attack poodle Zweben are laughing about it. Even for us it is tough for us not to say to this kid : What the fuck are you doing? Go home and get your shine box!  Come back in ten years when you've earned your strips, Steve has never held elected office and just got his button with the Democratic committee last year. We see major issues with Noble's candidacy, the first and most critical is we do not feel that Steve Noble can beat Shayne Gallo head to head plain and simple. Secondly, if former Majority Leader Bill Reynolds or current Majority Leader Matt Dunn decide to run and there is a three way race, it heavily favors Gallo. Plus the Independence party would likely support Dunn and the WFP probably leaning toward Noble;  and with Gallo's Conservative party endorsement, it sets up a general election nightmare for the ultimate Democratic nominee. Unlike Steve, we do believe that head to head either Dunn or Reynolds would beat Gallo and our money right now is on the hopes that Dunn runs.

Not to say Steve Noble is not qualified, to be honest we don't know if he is or isn't and for someone in the life that follows this stuff pretty closely not to know what your qualifications are says something. Try explaining it to the AVERAGE VOTER in a short period of time because that will be Steve Noble's biggest challenge, he will have to convince the public, that gets their information from the local papers and who follow the race maybe a month before hand that he is competent and will do a better job than his boss. Again, the average voter does not know how fucking loney tunes Gallo really is,  a lot of voters like Gallo and his family and Gallo fiscally has done a decent job.  It will be a tough fight for anyone running against Gallo, he has the name and the power that of incumbency .  An untested timid candidate like Steve Noble is not the guy to do it in our humble opinion. Gallo loves to play dirty and will label him a disgruntled subordinate  that literally shovels bull shit for a living at the Kingston Zoo and unqualified to run a 34 million dollar budget and the personal attacks and whisper campaign will be in full swing with nothing off limits.  We know in reality that Steve is a smart guy and an excellent grant writer and has gotten a lot of grants for the city, even assisting Gregg Swanzy in the economic development office on some grants for Kingston that didn't necessarily have anything to do with Noble's own job or department. Perception is reality though and Gallo will make this guy look weak. Steve's main strength in the campaign is probably his wife and honestly would be the better candidate than he will be. We've seen Julie in action  and she's one tough cookie. Noble also has a big family that will help and will get some votes simply because his last name is Noble. 

One strength we feel that Steve Noble has that would help him in the general election is his chance to win the Conservative line from Gallo. We were a little surprised that little Dick, the Chairman of the Conservative party in Kingston dismissed his chances saying he had "zero chance" at it. Cahill forgets that Jim Noble has run with the Conservative party's support in the past and his wife, Steve's Aunt has many friends within the party from her tenure working with Nina Postupack and she is a registered Conservative herself. Steve's father is also a registered Conservative we believe, couple that with the handful of people that a Conservative party primary will draw, we think Steve could knock Gallo right off the line, which would be Gallo's only line, unless he creates his own.

There is no question that Shayne Gallo will have the Conservative party's designation, that's set in stone. Cahill denies it saying that an executive committee will decide but he's full of shit, he knows Gallo will have the line and will deliver it to him on a silver platter.  Gallo owns Rich Cahill, it's an odd relationship, neither Cahill or Gallo had any use for each other before 2011, Cahill called Gallo Roger Clinton and Gallo dismissed Cahill as a joke.   After getting elected Gallo gave Cahill a spot on the City's fire commission that came with a nice shiny badge that made Cahill feel important. It was a smart move on Gallo's part, by doing so he silenced  the biggest loud mouth of the right wing in Kingston and Gallo has had virtually no opposition since taking office from that side of the aisle. Taking the Conservative line away from Gallo would be big for two reasons. If the GOP puts up a half way descent candidate this year like B.A. Feeney, who is rumored to be considering it and Gallo loses the Dem primary and stays on the Conservative line, which he will, it could be enough votes for a Republican victory.  Gallo will most likely create a party line of his own so he may appear on the general ballot anyway but it's the difference of his name appearing on row D or row K.

Gallo's big edge in the primary against Hayes  that he eked out by six votes was electability. While the Hayes team tried to paint Gallo as unstable and Hayes as more electable, it didn't work Gallo was able to counter  that by proving he was the most electable in the general election, touting the two lines he already had two lines under his belt, Gallo wouldn't of even went through with the primary against Hayes if he hadn't already been endorsed by the Indy and Working Families party.   This time Gallo won't have either of those lines going into the Democratic primary,  and touting the Conservative line won't do Gallo too much good in a Democratic primary.  Gallo lost the support of WFP after firing Jen Fuentes,  and his ace in the hole was the Independence party with Joe DiFalco as Chairman but that was taken from him last November. Joe DiFlaco, husband of Gallo's secretary Ellen DiFlaco was chair of Kingston's Independence party and Joe would tell anyone that would listen that he was party boss and  Mayor Gallo and Gallo supports only need apply for his line if they sought political office in Kingston. We don't know the name of the new Chairman but we know that former Gallo henchman Jeremy Blaber was hired by the guy to get him on the ballot against DiFalco , turns out  Blaber got more signatures and  some how ousted DiFalco in his reelection bid as a State Committeeman by a single signature, we believe DiFalco's term ended on Dec 31st. Proof that payback is a bitch, both Fuentes and Blaber worked hard and where loyal to Gallo only to be fired by him. It also proves that every signature and every vote counts in an election especially a local one but we all knew that already.

Kingston Alderwoman Elisa Ball announced that she would not seek reelection. Ball has done a lot of great things and we feel should have stayed on for at least another term. We respect her decision though and wish her the best. With Ball out Ward Six is a toss up that the gop likely could pick up next time around. The most logical choice for Republicans is Joe Corchran after his strong showing in the last election but we hear that Ron Polacco may also be interested in running for his old seat again. There are still more Democrats than Republicans in Ward Six but it will be a toss up likely to go to the Republicans. We have not heard of a Democratic candidate yet but there will be one for sure.

In other council races it looks like a lot of our predictions were premature and with the Alderman at large position up in the air, you could see a lot of changes to the common council. Brad Will, Matt Dunn,  Mariann Mills and Debby Brown are all playing it close to the vest on their intentions this fall. Assuming Noble doesn't run for reelection as Alderman at Large we wonder who will take his spot? Even if Noble runs what will Gallo do? With a Dunn/Noble ticket or a Noble/Noble ticket will Gallo field his own candidate for Alderman at large or just run a separate race for mayor and ignore that spot all together. Knowing Gallo and his need to micro manage, he will run his own candidate for Alderman at large smart money says Maryann Mills. Mills would run we think, especially if Noble decided to call it quits. Mills however would have a primary as well on her hands most likely by Brad Will or a former Alderman. If our family is smart and their goal is to unseat Gallo they would offer the job to Jimmy Sottile, he'd easily win an open seat for Alderman at large, he still has the passion for being in public service but family and professional obligations that prevent him from getting involved. Alderman at Large is a job he's had and liked, it's part time and a different commitment level than being Mayor. Sottile would strengthen and bring an extra level of credibility to Dunn or whoever the Dem nominee is against Shayne.


We wish congratulations to Majority Leader Dunn on another term as  Majority Leader. As a two term Alderman and now as two terms as Leader could this guy be our next Mayor?? While we would love it to be Bill Reynolds, we are not holding our breath.


We know we are late on this but our condolences to Governor Andrew Cuomo on the passing of his father, a great Italian and former Governor of our great state.