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I hear that the Alliance folks are gearing up!!!

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Is Mootooveren a lock for Schenectady City Council?
February 20, 2012 at 5:20 pm by Lauren Stanforth, Staff writer

From left, Mootooveren, King, McCarthy, Perazzo and Brucker

After Mayor Gary McCarthy’s seat went vacant Jan. 1., City Council is finally going to tackle the issue of who will fill it at its committee meeting Tuesday night. In a rare sign of division in the city Democratic party, council members have split on who they want – Weed and Seed coordinator Marion Porterfield or failed candidate John Mootooveren.

You can read about the dust up between City Council President Denise Brucker and who the city Democratic party committee wanted here. It’s become an interesting barometer for minority relations in Schenectady too, as almost only black supporters have come out in favor of Porterfield at every City Council meeting, and likewise mostly Guyanese-American supporters for Mootooveren.

But Brucker said she’s finally going to air the discussion in public and then hold a vote on the seat next Monday. Apparently, there are three votes for Mootooveren, and two for Porterfield. Newcomer Vince Riggi, who isn’t enrolled in a party, made hay out of the issue and asked that the council hold public interviews for those interested. Although some seven people arrived, Democrats were only serious about who they already wanted.

Riggi might abstain from voting, or nominate someone he liked from the interviews, former sheriff candidate Republican Joe Lazzari. But either way, Brucker said she only needs three votes if one person is abstaining.

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Schenectady moves on vacant council seat
Vote will be held next week on naming Mootooveren to post
By Lauren Stanforth
Published 11:15 p.m., Tuesday, February 21, 2012

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 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...................>>>>........................>>>.........................http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Schenectady-moves-on-vacant-council-seat-3348144.php

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Porterfield says she’ll primary in Schenectady
February 22, 2012 at 4:09 pm by Lauren Stanforth, Staff writer

On the heels of City Council preparing to appoint John Mootooveren as its next City Councilman, Marion Porterfield said Wednesday she will run a primary to challenge Mootooveren in November.

In case you aren’t up on this Democratic saga in Schenectady, both Porterfield and Mootooveren interviewed for the council endorsement before the 2011 election. Apparently, only one vote separated them in committee. So the Dems allegedly promised Porterfield that she could have Mayor Gary McCarthy’s Council seat. What they didn’t anticipate is that Mootooveren lost..........................>>>>............................>>>>...............................http://blog.timesunion.com/localpolitics/11090/porterfield-says-shell-primary-in-schenectady/

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SCHENECTADY
Council seat may remain vacant
Mootooveren vote short of required 4
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

It looks like the Democrats may be one vote shy of appointing John Mootooveren to the City Council.
According to Corporation Counsel John Polster, the council must have four votes to appoint anyone to the vacant seat.
    Thus far only three of the six council members say they will vote for Mootooveren today, while two say they will not vote for him and one appears likely to abstain. That would lead to a 3-2 vote, a simple majority — but not enough to legally give Mootooveren the seat.
    Likely to vote in favor are council President Denise Brucker and members Leesa Perazzo and Carl Erikson. They’re searching hard for a fourth vote, hoping they can convince independent Councilman Vince Riggi to vote for Mootooveren.
    Riggi said he’s told Democrats he’s not sure what he will do. He wants to stay out of it, he said, and let them fight it out among themselves.
    The Democrats who don’t want to vote for Mootooveren don’t appear to be budging. Councilwomen Barbara Blanchard and Margaret King said they will vote for Marion Porterfield, a community organizer who was endorsed by the Democrats as the alternate for last year’s election. The Democratic leadership’s plan was to appoint her to the council if the party swept all four council seats and the mayor’s seat. But that didn’t happen; Riggi won a seat instead, with the endorsement of Republicans and the Alliance Party. If Mootooveren isn’t appointed today, Democrats said they will not immediately call for a vote for Porterfi eld. “We’ll go back into discussion in committee,” Perazzo said. She’s hoping Mootooveren gets a fourth vote, somehow. “I feel he’s the one the majority of people want,” she said. And the council needs him, she said, noting his fi nancial background as an accountant for Turner Construction. The council currently doesn’t have anyone who specializes in finances, although Councilman Carl Erikson’s day job at General Electric involves fi nances. “We could really use someone with that strength at the table,” Perazzo said. Blanchard agreed that Mootooveren is “very qualified,” but she said Porterfield’s skills are in even shorter supply on the council. .........................>>>>.......................>>>>.....................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00902&AppName=1

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    “She’s familiar with all the neighborhoods. She comes from Hamilton Hill, and she could add respect for that neighborhood and other lower-income neighborhoods in the city,” Blanchard said. “And we need an African-American representative because it’s 20 percent of our population.”
    Both Mootooveren and Porterfield are non-whites. Mootooveren is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Guyana, while Porterfield is African American.
    Porterfield’s supporters — particularly residents from Hamilton Hill — have come out in force to urge the council to select her. They have described the plan for Porterfield’s appointment as a “promise” and criticized the council for considering anyone else.
    They also described the many ways in which Porterfield has helped residents in her work as a community leader, most recently as coordinator for the city’s Weed and Seed program.
    But others, particularly Guyanese immigrants, have come out in support of one of their own. They have reminded the council that although Mootooveren did not win last year’s election, he came only 39 votes short of winning. They point out that 4,221 people voted for him.
    They have described his knowledge of the growing Guyanese community and his financial background as critical skills f
or the council.