In Order To Defeat The BP Wind And Art. 10 Threat, WPEG Tells Us We Have To Be Team Players...Right??? Oh Well, Maybe Not!!!

A few months ago Cape Vincent Supervisor Urban Hirschey announced in the WDT he would not seek  re-election in Nov. 2013.

The WDT also reported… 

 “Councilmen Brooks J. Bragdon and Clifford P. Schneider will square off in the Republican primary for a shot to succeed Mr. Hirschey.  When asked who he’d be supporting, Mr. Hirschey said he is “going to support the winner.”

Then later Mr. Hirschey changed his mind and decided to run in Nov. and he gave this reasoning in the WDT.

“ Town Supervisor Urban C. Hirschey will run for re-election after all.  Mr. Hirschey said Monday that he has changed his mind, partly because Councilmen Brooks J. Bragdon and Clifford P. Schneider were poised to square off in the Republican primary for the top position and likely would have split the vote. “

Anyone see anything odd about these announcements?  Well, if you were around during the 2011 election season you should see something real odd and also just a bit hypocritical!

Back in 2011 when the WPEG Republican candidates Hirschey, Byrne, and Schneider ran for election, there was  conjecture that I would try to run a more  publicly anti wind candidate for at least one of those positions. 

I was hoping a candidate would step up that was much more aggressive about being anti wind and opposing Art. 10.

I was heavily criticized and attacked  for taking this stance.  The attacks centered around a few themes from the supporters of Mr. Hirschey and the WPEG candidates... 

I was not a team player.

 I was clueless about CV politics.

But the most common theme of the attacks was, I and my candidate, if I could find one, would split the vote and that would help the pro wind candidates, and destroy the WPEG candidates chances!!!

So now it is 2013 and let’s take another look at what Mr. Hirschey said recently about why he has reversed his earlier decision and decided to run for re-election this fall.

“Mr. Hirschey said Monday that he has changed his mind, partly because Councilmen Brooks J. Bragdon and Clifford P. Schneider were poised to square off in the Republican primary for the top position and likely would have split the vote. “

So I guess when the top CV position came available it just wasn’t all that important for Schneider and Bragdon to be team players, and not split the vote.  Could Schneider and Bragon despite all the previous team player, split the vote  hoopla targeted at me, not come to an agreement for just one of them to run for Hirschey’s seat so as to preserve the team?  Apparently neither was willing to back off such that Hirschey in his own words needed to step  back into the election to prevent them from splitting the vote!

So did Mr. Hirschey have to step back  in to discipline the troops?  Did Councilmen Schneider and Bragdon not understand that as they “squared off” against each other in their personal quest for the top CV political position that they could spit the vote for town supervisor and thereby help the pro wind, Gary King, Harold Wily agenda???  Did that all of a sudden  not matter to them?  Could they not figure that out, especially after all the grief they and others spit at me about the same thing?

Did Bragdon and Schneider not understand CV politics? Are they not team players when it actually comes to their personal agendas to seek the top CV office?

So where is all that hoopla  now from WPEG, and the Republicans about Schneider and Bragdon  not being a team players and splitting the vote?  The silence on that subject from the troops and the “team”  is suddenly  very deafening isn’t it???

Did Mr. Bragdon and Mr. Schneider not  use good political judgment in deciding to square off for the CV supervisor seat to the point that Hirschey felt it was an important enough of a political threat to the Republicans that he had to reverse himself and step back in, in large part to stop Bragdon and Schneider from squaring off and splitting the vote?   

Which for me begs a question. 

Councilman Schneider is one of the principle architects of the town’s defense against the State’s Art. 10 threat. Much of which is highly political.   One of the prime mantras from Schneider and others about their Art 10 defense to protect our community  is we have to be “reasonable”.   But when it suddenly came time for he and Bragdon to take a shot at CV’s top office, he and Bragdon weren’t  so willing to use clear political reasoning,  or be "reasonable" when it concerned their personal political agendas. 

 As such it makes me wonder,  are he and Bragdon also not  using good judgment in appeasing the heavily politically laden  Art. 10 process???