In November 2019, Colonie has a town-wide election. Voters will choose candidates to serve as Supervisor and fill four Town Board seats. It can be tough to learn about local candidates. In order to help learn where the candidates stand on key issues, SAVE Colonie sent relevant and timely questions for all candidates running for these positions.
Thanks to Supervisor Candidate George Scaringe and Town Board Candidate Rick Field for responding in detail. Below are our questions and their answers. We are disappointed all candidates didn’t take time to answer these questions, or the previous round, but are sharing the answers received for information purposes.
You can read our first round of questions and candidate answers here.
SAVE Colonie Candidate Interviews, Round 2: Ethics
1) Our research shows that developers and others in Colonie often make political contributions within a short time before their projects appear before the Town. Will you commit to refusing developer contributions to your campaign?
Field: No – but we need strong disclosure requirements for all developers and companies doing business in front of the Town.
Scaringe: No – However I believe strongly that the Town must require all developers and their related legal entities to disclose ALL political contributions. That goes for attorney’s practicing before the town and professional consultants such as the Town designated engineers, major vendors and CPA firms. Anything contributed needs to be fully disclosed under current election and political disclosure laws.
2) Will you support a change to the land use law to require that applications identify whether they or their affiliated legal entities and members of their immediate family have made political contributions within 24 months to Town Elected officials and Town committees and list the amount of the contribution and the recipient?
Field: Yes – I believe that greater disclosure is critical to the public trust.
Scargine: YES – I believe that sunlight and disclosure are critical to the public trust.
3) Will you agree to update the Town’s ethic laws including the expansion of the Town Ethics Board to 7 members, and include multiple political parties, and provide a process for making ethics complaints?
Field: The ethics board should be expanded, diversified and strengthened to provide greater oversight and protection for taxpayers.
Scaringe: I have no issue with expanding the Ethics Board to 7 members, and include multiple major and minor political parties to better represent Town residents. Also, I believe the scope of the Ethics Board should be expanded to provide greater oversight and protections for taxpayers.
4) Will you require that the Town review its town designated engineering (TDE) practice and evaluate whether the Town should 1. Continue to utilize TDE’s in the current manner; or 2. Hire a professional planning staff and employees to conduct these reviews, or 3. Expand the eligibility list of engineering firms to more than two engineering firms and 4. Require that every selected TDE firm will not represent clients in the Town of Colonie?
Field: The Town of Colonie designated engineers should not be able to represent businesses before the Town Boards. I do believe there needs to be some outsourcing of planning analysis and would support increasing the number of TDE’s working in conjunction with an INDEPENDENT and EXPANDED Colonie planning staff.
Scaringe: I do not believe the Town of Colonie designated engineers should be able to represent businesses before Town boards. I do believe there needs to be some outsourcing of planning analysis and would support increasing the number of TDE’s working in conjunction with an INDEPENDENT and EXPANDED Colonie planning staff. Any firms added must be prohibited from doing business in front of the Town of Colonie.
5) Although required to make such disclosures, planning board members have often failed to recurse themselves from consideration of projects in which family members, by blood or marriage, have a financial interest. How should this issue be addressed when it occurs?
Field: Town law should be changed to require that planning board members must recuse themselves from any vote where there is a conflict of interest, personal, family or business connection, with the project before the board.
Scaringe: I would work to change town law to require that planning board members must recuse themselves and be prohibited from any vote where there is a conflict of interest, personal, family or business connection, with the project before the board.