Treated as private party affairs, public officials usually don’t take sides in primaries. So, when I asked Kingston Mayor Steve Noble who he was supporting in the June 25 Democratic primary for the 103rd Assembly District Democratic line between incumbent Sarahana Shrestha and challenger Gabriella Madden, I wasn’t expecting much. Surprise, surprise, as TV’s Gomer Pyle might have said.

It was the second to last question asked on the Me and Mario show during an hour-long Q&A with Hizzoner on our WGHQ call-in program last Friday.

As expected, Noble didn’t take sides, not exactly. Nonetheless, his guarded response to those pundits who parse tea leaves and peruse chicken bones in quest of insight like cohosts Mario Catalano and me, was revealing.

Instead of comparing the candidates with each other, Noble compared the last two Assembly members, Shrestha and former assemblymember Kevin Cahill.

Communications between the mayor’s office and the assemblywoman’s office weren’t the same as when Cahill represented the city, the mayor said. By “the same," he clearly meant not as good. This from a three-term Democratic mayor about a first-term assemblywoman.

“I feel like that in the last year and a half, I have not necessarily had as close a relationship with our assemblyperson as I did previously,” were the mayor’s exact words. (My thanks to Kingston Wire editor Dan Barton for taking time out of his busy Monday to transcribe.) “There are some really lofty goals and perspectives our assemblyperson has that I agree with [but] I’m not sure that I’ve seen the kind of local work that maybe I was used to previously.”

Even the loquacious Catalano seemed at a loss for words after that bombshell.

Before either of us could ask “What about Gabi Madden?”, Noble volunteered what has been Madden’s featured pitch before the various town and city Democratic committees the two have been soliciting for about the last several weeks.

He knows “Gabi,” he said, choosing the familiar, from her employment in Cahill’s office, where she rose to chief of staff and most recently with state Senator James Skoufis, D-Orange County.

“I’ve known Gabi for quite some time,” the mayor said. “She seems down to earth and seemingly willing to kind of fight for a variety of issues in our district.”

In a nutshell, Noble summed up the distinction between these two candidates.

Madden, 28, with no legislative record of her own, is riding on the coattails of well-known state legislators. But working for someone in office is not nearly the same as being an elected official. That hers is a well-known family name is a bonus.

As with any elected official, the record of Shrestha, 42, after 13 months in office, is open to scrutiny. She is clearly a different kind of cat than Cahill, whom she defeated in a Democratic primary in 2022. Insofar as that record pertains to their intergovernmental relations, the chief official of the county’s largest municipality appears less than enthusiastic.

We should get a better read on how grassroots Democratic committee members feel about these candidates when the full committee meets to endorse a candidate via Zoom at 6 p.m. on Feb. 26.

Captain Pat to the Front

If campaign fundraising means anything, and it most surely does, freshman Congressman Pat Ryan, D-Gardiner, is off to a flying start in his quest for a second term.

I get this not from any insider info but from the recent filings of three would-be Republican opponents. Alison Esposito, a retired New York City police officer who ran for lieutenant governor in 2022, announced last week that she had raised just over $250,000 since announcing for Congress last October.

Esposito ran a credible race for lieutenant governor against former Rep. Antonio Delgado, losing by about 380,000 votes (46 percent) with almost 6 million being cast. The State Board of Elections called it the closest race for governor and lieutenant governor since 1994.

According to federal campaign financial disclosures, Ryan raised almost $3,150,000 over the last election cycle which began in January of last year. He has a tad over $2.1 million on hand, she just short of $200,000 in the bank.

A third candidate with the memorable name of Lovelynn Gwinn has $7,880 in cash.

Ryan’s 18th CD is expected to be a battleground district in the fall with both sides pouring millions into the contest. However, if Esposito doesn’t soon demonstrate the ability to fundraise, this could very quickly become a one-horse race.

Requiem For a Hero

We hear the word “hero” used when members of our armed forces are killed in the line of duty, as suffered by three army personnel in the Mideast last month. While we mourn their loss, let us consider that not every serviceperson killed or wounded in the line of duty to our country is a hero. Most are just the unfortunate victims of war.

Army Col. Roger Donlon, formerly of Saugerties, was a hero. He was a Medal of Honor recipient, our nation’s highest military honor, for bravery above and beyond the call of duty.

Donlon was a captain in the elite Green Berets in command of an outpost near Da Nang, Vietnam when his unit came under night attack by some 300 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese regulars. Donlon’s MOH citation described how he rallied his men under heavy fire while being wounded several times.

Donlon made the army his career, retiring after 30 years in service. He returned to the scene of the battle about 30 years ago, where he and a former enemy tended to the graves of men from both sides.

Donlon was a regular visitor to his hometown where he advocated for veterans’ rights and spoke at several Memorial Day celebrations. The village hall is named in his honor.

Col. Donlon was 89 when he died at his home in Leavenworth, Kansas last month.

Sgt. Robert H. Dietz of Kingston was also a Medal of Honor recipient. March 29 will mark the 80th anniversary of the action against a German stronghold that took his life near Kirchain, Germany. Sgt. Dietz, then 24, is buried in Wiltwyck Cemetery next to his father.