The start of early voting for a special election to determine the next Public Works Commissioner in Saratoga Springs is just days away. After a fraught political saga leading to the election, a Democrat is mounting a write-in campaign.
In October, Hank Kuczynski was unanimously appointed by the Saratoga Springs city council as interim Public Works Commissioner after his predecessor Jason Golub took a governor-appointed role in August.
He initially took the post to make sure the city’s second-largest department had leadership during budgeting season, and planned to step down after a special election picked someone to fill the remainder of the term through 2025.
After city Democrats failed to nominate a candidate before the deadline, the only hopeful on the January 28th ballot will be Republican Chuck Marshall.
Kuczynski says the decision to run as a write-in candidate was easy.
“The Democratic Committee said, ‘we’d like to give the people a choice, would you do a write-in campaign?’ and I said, ‘well I’ve never done one, but if you’re willing to do the work, I’m glad to be your candidate because I love the job,” said Kuczynski.
Kuczynski served as deputy mayor more than two decades ago. He vowed Wednesday to prioritize the interests of city residents over developers and contrasted himself with Marshall, who chairs the city’s planning board and serves as Stewart’s Shops’ Real Estate Director.
“What will he do in the Greenbelt? This is the city in the country. So, if you’re willing to do development and change the characteristics of neighborhoods, what will happen to the characteristic of the city. And, lastly, his corporate entity that he works for is expanding across state lines—Vermont and New Hampshire. His job is to go in and re-fit these stores, dig out gas tanks, put in new gas tanks, expand the logos, expand the business. That’s his job. You cannot do the Commissioner of Public Works job when you’re in Rutland, Vermont or New Hampshire. I know that Skippy and Tommy used to spend 40 to 60 hours just being in the city, being around and dealing with problems,” said Kuczynski.
Otis Maxwell chairs the city’s Democratic Committee. Maxwell and other Democrats in the city have criticized their GOP counterparts for what they call “underhanded maneuvering” to have only one name on the ballot. The city council seemingly called off the election, but after a suit by the Republican Committee chair Mike Brandi and Marshall, a county judge ordered the election to proceed.
Maxwell initially told WAMC Democrats were weighing a legal appeal, but now with limited time until voting begins their focus is on the campaign.
“Yeah, we don’t want to talk about this. We’ve got an election campaign going. We have a candidate, and the problem is you have to write him in. So, all our focus is on A. we have a great candidate and B. you have to write him in. We want to talk about Hank,” said Maxwell.
Democratic Saratoga County Supervisor Michele Madigan says the Democrats are feeling confident despite the uphill battle.
“I mean I’m amazed at what we’ve been able to pull off in a short period of time. And one of the thigs the Democrats have is good data, and we’re using that data, we know who our core voters are, were really reaching out to them and I think we’re going to be successful,” said Madigan.
Early voting begins Saturday.
