SamPratt.com

The ever-credulous stenographers at The Register-Star report outgoing Taghkanic  Supervisor Betty Young as saying: “I got my board back.”

In the past two years, Democrats held a 3-2 advantage on their Town Board; now there will be two Republicans, one Independence Party member allied with Young, and two Democrats. The statement from Young (a former Democrat, who turned Republican in the ’90s) would seem to imply both that she expects to continue to exert control over a majority of the Board, even from retirement; and that this election validated her autocratic management style.

But reporter Joe Gentile neglects to mention that two of Taghkanic’s losing candidates in this cycle are not merely close allies of Young, they are her close relatives.

Her son-in-law, Bob Rochler, lost his bid to become the Town Highway Superintendant (after the incumbent resigned in disgust following Young’s many personal attacks on him and his friend, Town Board member Deborah Gilbert) by a wide margin. And Young’s daughter, Carolyn Sammons, lost her second bid to rejoin the Town Board.

Tyree, a chef and property manager for controversial motocycle buff Alan Wilzig, has attempted to portray himself as independent. Tyree hits some vaguely conciliatory noises in the Reg-Star piece—as if to suggest that he does not plan to either mimic Young’s divisive style, or to use his narrowly-won political position solely to do his master’s bidding.

Not many Democrats in Taghkanic seem to be buying it; but Tyree now has an opportunity to show himself to have his own mind and ideas about the Town.