Dillon Moran’s Special Election Problems
Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran and Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi have continued to insist that they will not agree to move forward to appoint someone to fill the vacancy created when Commissioner of Public Works Jason Golub resigned until the city establishes a date for a special election. Mayor John Safford and Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll have expressed concerns that setting a date and organizing an election are not simple tasks and have argued plans to make a temporary appointment can and should move forward while election issues are being addressed.
Moran and Sanghvi have repeatedly rejected proposals by Safford to begin interviewing the six candidates who have expressed interest in being appointed to fill the vacancy. The two instead continued to accuse Coll and Safford of using their concerns about the propriety of some of the proposed election plans as an excuse to block a special election despite both Coll and Safford repeatedly stating their support for one as long as it was legal.
In the meantime, as proof of the relevance of Coll’s and Safford’s reservations, Moran has called for six different dates for a special election over the last month and a half as he has bumbled his way forward. He has proposed various dates in November, as well as in December and January including November 5, the date of the Presidential election. This was clearly illegal given the date of Golub’s resignation, but Moran didn’t bother to confirm this before pushing for it (as did ill-informed members of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee who turned up at public comment to support the November 5 date) . Moran has never explained his rationale for choosing these various dates nor has he discussed his reasons for continually abandoning one date and moving on to another.
In frustration, Safford and Coll presented a resolution at the Council’s October 11 pre-agenda meeting that stated the entire Council supported a special election and granted Moran, as Commissioner of Accounts, full authority to take whatever actions were required to hold one.
Here is the resolution:
So, having gotten a resolution establishing his authority over selecting a date and organizing the election, what did Moran do? He announced he would vote against the resolution.
When you watch the video below of the meeting, remember that Moran carries on lengthy attacks on Mayor Safford and airs other grievances despite the fact that the proposed resolution would give him full authority to shepherd to fruition the special election he claimed to be seeking.
Among his many grievances, Moran claimed the Saratoga County Republican Commissioner of Elections (the county appoints one Democrat and one Republican Commissioner) had already stated publicly that he will not approve a special election for Saratoga Springs. Moran did not indicate where he had gotten this information, and there is no record of the Saratoga County Republican Commissioner of Elections, Joe Suhrada, opposing the election either in the media or in any correspondence with the city before the pre-agenda meeting.
Moran consistently opposes anything Mayor Safford proposes no matter what the substance. His ploy this time to avoid supporting Safford’s resolution was to insist he would only vote for it if the resolution were amended to add that the city would sue the county if Suhrada blocked the special election. This was, to say the least, an unusual demand since the city obviously cannot pass a resolution authorizing a lawsuit before any offensive action has actually been taken.
Not surprisingly, Moran’s intemperate remarks about the Republican Saratoga County Election Commissioner prompted an equally intemperate response from Suhrada later that week. Moran pointed out that Suhrada is also the chair of the Saratoga County Republican Party, but up until recently, Moran was the vice chair of the Saratoga County Democratic Committee. His name as vice chair is still on the county website, but he told the Council he no longer held that title. Long time Democratic Election Commissioner Bill Fruci was the County Democratic Committee treasurer during his time in office and the current Democratic Commissioner Cassie Bagramian was a member of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee.
An Excerpt From The Pre-Agenda Meeting
Dillon Moran: “I have a target on my back.”
At the regular meeting of October 15, 2024, the Council took up the Mayor’s resolution. Moran voted against the resolution again, but this time for a different reason.
Gone was the demand that the resolution contain a declaration that the city would sue the county. Moran now claimed that giving him the authority to pursue the election would, in his words, “put a target on my back.” He claimed that, somehow, this would allow “the Mayor’s friends” to sue him.
Moran chose the opportunity of this discussion to oddly wander into an attack on those criticizing him for hiring a lawyer at $1,250.00 an hour.
Commissioner Sanghvi asked City Attorney Tony Izzo to come to the microphone. She asked him whether this resolution would make Moran individually vulnerable to a lawsuit. Izzo responded that if there were lawsuits, they would be directed to the entire Council as it was a Council decision.
Despite this, Moran voted against the resolution. In a rare split between Moran and Sanghvi, Sanghvi voted along with Safford and Coll to adopt the resolution which passed
Video Excerpt Of Discussion And Vote For Mayor’s Resolution
Politicians Behaving Badly
In the October 17, 2024, edition of the Times Union, Saratoga County Republican Commissioner of the Board of Elections Joe Suhrada threw down the gauntlet in response to the city’s proposal to have a special election on January 28. In language reminiscent of Moran, he called the idea of having an election in late January a “horrible idea.”
In a wandering statement, again reminiscent of Moran, he cited multiple reasons for refusing to allow an election. He vigorously asserted that having an election in late January would discourage participation, whereas having the election in November of 2025 would draw more people.
He then told the TU that the city should seek clarification from the New York State Attorney General as they had been directed to do by the NY State Board of Elections weeks ago.
In a further bizarre twist, the New York State Board of Elections refused to comment on the debacle, asserting that it was a local matter.
The original letter to the city from the state Board of Elections claimed that a special election was impossible. It referred the city to the New York State Attorney General’s Office regarding the city’s authority in the matter as stated in the city charter. The city has reached out to the Attorney General’s office but has yet to receive a reply.
According to David Harper, the city attorney, the state Board of Elections told him in a phone call that the letter they had sent was in error and that the city could hold an election. So, for the state Board of Elections to now refuse to comment to the Times Union on the local conflict was particularly strange.
Can The Adults Please Step In
It should be clear now that Mayor Safford and Commissioner Coll’s concern that the city proceed cautiously and cooperatively with the county in pursuing a special election was merited.
The Council has made it clear that it wants a special election. The question is what is the way forward? Moran and Suhrada seem unfortunately to share some common character traits that will make putting an election together challenging.