Meeting in regular session, the county legislature voted 18-4 last week to conduct a public hearing on whether the county health commissioner should be a licensed physician, as required by the charter.

Longtime Health Commissioner Dr. Carol Smith will retire at the end of this month. The public hearing is set for April 16, which means the legislature could take up the matter as soon as its May 15 meeting.

With more than two-thirds of legislators voting to advance the proposal to a public hearing, the outcome is all but ordained.

The question is, what’s the big rush?

Unlike Ulster Supervisor Jim Quigley, who put off his retirement until Aug. 1, it would appear the health commissioner, who has health issues herself, gave the legislature scant notice of her retirement plans.

That said, fundamental issues like the qualifications of a health commissioner require more scrutiny than, say, a month.

My experience in government reporting is that whenever there’s a rush to judgment, something smells. It is entirely possible that the new hire, to be called a “health administrator,” is already waiting in the wings. But maybe that’s just my suspicious mind.

Dr. Smith will be remembered as a competent administrator who was well-liked by staff and elected officials. Appointed by former county executive Mike Hein, she served under two elected executives and two stand-ins. For Dr. Smith, it was the best of times and the worst of times; she was county health commissioner during the pandemic.

We thank her for her service.

This Just In: Fundraising Numbers for Shrestha/Madden Primary

The latest campaign fundraising reports on the Democratic Assembly primary between Sarahana Shrestha and Gabi Madden show the incumbent, who reports having raised $39,909, ahead of the challenger, who reports having raised “over $35,000.” Both now qualify for matching campaign funding from the state. Advantage: Shrestha.

Before the Maddenistas go bonkers, allow me a few political absolutes.

Shrestha is the incumbent and incumbents have a huge advantage, even if Shrestha might be vulnerable in her first year in office. To be competitive, a challenger has to have at least a two-to-one fundraising advantage. Close doesn’t count.

And Shrestha is playing her bully pulpit advantage to the max as evidenced by the flood of photos and statements appearing lately in local media. Did anybody notice Madden standing in those gaggles of grinning advocates? I didn’t think so.

A major reform in state campaign finance laws, which allows up to six-to-one matching grants for candidates raising donations from in their home districts, favors neither candidate. Again, advantage Shrestha.

As of Monday, the June 25 Democratic primary is three months away. Madden is clearly the underdog.

Hinchey Flips on Good Cause Eviction

The quick and easy reflection on state Sen. Michelle Hinchey taking a more favorable stance on the Good Cause Eviction issue would be: the two-term Democrat is beginning to feel the heat from progressives and is trimming her sails.

Nonsense.

Hinchey was re-elected in a landslide two years ago over Republican Sue Serino, who bounced back to win a race for Dutchess County executive last year. The most widely publicized state senator in the Mid-Hudson, she has also amassed a war chest of some $245,000, according to state campaign spending reports. Her erstwhile opponent, Patrick Sheehan, has raised but a tenth as much.

Speaking of Serino, I thought it a swell idea for the two county executives, Serino and Democrat Jen Metzger, to meet in the middle of the Walkway Over the Hudson on Friday in celebration of National Women’s History Month.

In effect, they reprised former executives Mike Hein from Ulster and Bill Steinhaus from Dutchess clasping hands on the Walkway shortly after it opened to the public in 2009. They were not celebrating National Dude History Month, however.

The event remains vivid in my fading memory: In ’09, both sides dragged a thick hawser rope to the middle of the Walkway. Hein wore a suit and tie for the occasion while Steinhaus looked like a refugee from a barbecue. Best of all, famed troubadour Pete Seeger sang.

Another Tax in Kingston?

The Freeman reports that the Common Council will consider imposing a real estate transfer tax on properties sold for more than $350,000. The working rate seems to be 1 percent or a minimum of $3,500. Receipts would be dedicated to workforce housing, environmental initiatives and the like favored by City Hall these days.

The rationale seems to be that if a person can afford $350,000 for a property carried on the tax rolls for half that price, he or she would not squawk at paying another 1 percent surcharge.

Consider. By imposing this tax, would city officials kill the golden goose, those deep-pocket transients who come to our fair city and pay two times, three times what properties were worth five years ago?

In short, this is just another transfer of wealth from the private sector to elected officials to spend on what they consider important. Enough, already.

‘I Did Nothing Wrong’

Speaking of Metzger, she called me last week to complain about my use of the word “botched” about her administration’s handling of a sexual harassment case involving the county Human Rights Commission.

We actually had a fairly civil conversation on a subject that remains controversial even after Metzger advanced reforms which the legislature unanimously adopted aimed at dealing with such cases in the future. For those who might have missed some of the details, a complaint of sexual harassment was filed against David Drimer, ex-director of the Jewish Federation of Ulster County, in December 2022. Not so incidentally, Drimer was also a member of the county’s Human Rights Commission.

A Human Rights Commissioner accused of sexual harassment? Tabloid heaven! And he served another eight months in that office after his term expired before resigning when allegations went public.

On the advice of the county attorney, Metzger took the position that since Drimer was not her appointee, she had no authority as the executive to either fire him or replace him when his appointment by former minority leader Ken Ronk expired on Jan. 1, 2023.

“We followed state guidelines. I did nothing wrong,” she told me.

I agree that “botched” was a little strong and I apologize. But while the administration did nothing wrong that we know of, it didn’t do much of anything right, other than to kick the Drimer case up to the state Human Rights Commission for consideration and to route future such cases to the county personnel department.

Consider this: As a former state senator, might Metzger lobby her colleagues for reforms with teeth in state law? Truly, local Human Rights Commissions need clear guidance from on high.