Alderman Will Resigns In Ward Three

Alderman Brad Will the controversial Alderman of Ward Three resigned today. Wow! We have to wonder why he resigned. Alderman Will fought tooth and nail to keep his seat on the council even after he was found guilty by a Kingston panel for ethics violations in regards to voting on matters he had a vested interest in. Alderman Will settled the matter last year by paying a $1,000 fine. There was also residency questions surrounding Will, in court fillings Alderman Will claimed his primary residence was different than the Ward he represented although there was little question in anyone's mind that Will did in fact live in Ward three.

Alderman Will was a staunch supporter of Mayor Steve Noble's campaign and frequently was at odds with Mayor Gallo's administration. Mayor Gallo twice unsuccessfully ran Andrew Champ Doran in Ward three in an effort to unseat Will. Champ Doran who was destroyed in last years Democratic primary came very close in the general election, running on just the Independence party line, Doran came within single digits of unseating incumbent Brad Will who at the time was plagued by the ethics violations surrounding his votes on the Pike plan.

With all that being said, this is a shock, you don't go through a tough primary, an even tougher general election and fight scandal after scandal being thrown your way and than resign months later out of the blue. It had seemed Alderman Will had prevailed in all of the issues and criticism he faced last fall.  He got a slap on the wrist by the ethics panel, and Council President Jim Noble had to be practically forced to enforce a censure and fine on Will. Brad Will clearly had the support of the council and this new administration and big things had been planned that he was very much going to be a part of. It had looked like the only loss Will took on the chin was not becoming Majority Leader, in the months leading to the priamry election last year he was viewed as the odds on favorite to replace outgoing Majority Leader Matt Dunn who chose not to seek reelection.

Bill Carey the Alderman in Ward 5, who at the end of the day was elected Majority Leader for the current session, also expressed shock, Carey went on to say: ''but I understand why". That's nice that Majority Leader Carey understands why but the general public and the residents of Ward 3 would like to understand why too! Alderman Will made no reference as to why he was resigning in his letter to Mayor Noble and we deserve answers. Alderman Will blasted Gallo for two years for having a lack of transparency and than resigns with zero explanation? We respectfully request that Alderman Will abide by those same standards of transparency he demanded in others, and extend those standards to himself and the office that he represented.  We don't think he did anything wrong or are we suggesting that, this is probably related to his work as an Architect, could he be involved with the restoration of the Booth House, which he recently convinced Mayor Noble and the council to give a sweet heart deal to?!  Whatever the reason the public should know and if it is about his job it's very comical. He attacked Gallo and Champ Doran the entire campaign saying there were no conflicts.

There has been no official word on who Mayor Noble will pick to replace Brad Will, some of the names I would assume that are being floated by Party Boss Joe Donaldson  include former Alderman Charlie Landi, who launched a jihad against Gallo to elect Steve Noble. I would also be willing to bet that Andrew Champ Doran will express interest to Noble, after all, the residents of that ward know the guy, where he stands on the issues and the Ward came within five or so votes of electing him as their Alderman less than six months ago. It would be wise of Mayor Noble to reach out to former Mayor Jim Sottile who lives in the Ward and ask that he consider filling the vacancy. Mayor Sottile brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to both the new administration and the new common council that are mostly freshman and appointing Sottile would guarantee that Ward three remain a Democratic seat. Which is no sure thing, Republicans like Jancowski and Nate Horowitz have held that seat, it very much is a seat the gop could pick up.

 Two other names that should be strongly considered by the Mayor both live on the same street in Ward three, on Delta Place off Linderman Ave. The first is Al Nace, who works for Kingston Hospital in an executive position and has strong ties to the civics of our community here in Kingston. Nace has worked hard to promote the Kingston Police Athletic league and donated countless hours to the cause and a lot good positive results have come from his work at the Andy Murphy Center, Nace is also the founder of the tour de Kingston and tour de Ulster bike rides, they are both hugely successful and both were started from scratch by Nace over ten years ago. The other Delta Place resident is Kingston School Board President James Shaugnessy, who is a genius, for real he's an actual genius, he's an MIT graduate served on Mayor T.R. Gallo's technology committee and may have even been the first to run the committee, I don't remember but I believe T.R. put this committee together and had Shaugnessy run it, he also founded and ran a technology business in Uptown Kingston for several years and is a single father of another very brilliant daughter Larissa. Jim Shaunessy was also instrumental in the restoration of the Carnegie Library which is a gem in our city.  Both Nace and Shaughnessy are more civic minded than they are politically minded. In other words they would care more about the city than the politics of the City and isn't that what the voters always say they want? Either would be a breath of fresh air.

After Mayor Noble appoints a replacement, a special election will take place in November to fill the rest of Will's term. It's a pain, the person has to run this year and next year and if there are primaries forget it, it's a lot of hassle. This has happened twice before in recent memory, Shelly Zimbler was appointed by Mayor Sottile to fill the seat vacated by a Judge in Ward one when Chris Burns ran for a seat on the county legislature in a different part of the city. The appointment of Zimbler expanded the Democrats' majority on the council to 9-0 but it was short lived,  Al Teetsil defeated Zimbler in the special election later that year.  Tom Hoffay was also appointed by Mayor Sottile, Hoffay filled the vacancy of Alderwoman Jenifer Ringwood who moved out of the area shortly into her second term. Hoffay went on to win the special elected defeating Phil Cosme and went on to serve several terms and was also the councils Majority Leader.  As for people that may run in the special election that Noble would never appoint: Elen DiFalco and Lenny Walker are both residents of the Ward and we could see either of them making a go for it. Don't anyone underestimate Walker who has wom Ward three as both a Democrat and a Republican, Walker gave up his Aldermadic seat to run a suicide mission, Walker ran as Alderman at Large w Rich Cahill who ran with him for Mayor both losing badly in 2007.