How Corrupt, Dumb And Disrespectful Can A City Hall Be? (You May Have Difficulty Believing This!)

In April of 2023, third ward resident Lola Roberts submitted her 8 pages of signed petition to the Columbia County Board of Elections to get on the ballot in the fall to run for one of the two third ward council member seats.  Shershah Mizan and I also submitted ours on time.  All three of the petitions were accepted by the BOE and the three of us were on that fall's ballot, vying to represent the third ward on the Hudson Common Council.  You remember who came up short.

I recently obtained copies of Lola's signed petition papers from two years ago.  Within ten minutes of perusing the petition's pages -- and with the help of my original walking list from 2023 -- I had easily found five signatures that should not have been accepted by the BOE.  No one made objections to those invalid signatures (there is only a three-day window to do so once the BOE accepts a petition!), and the BOE didn't see any of them in their own reviews of Lola's petition if they even bothered to take a cursory look at it.  It's almost as if the BOE made sure Lola got on the ballot, faulty petition notwithstanding, so that I would have less of a chance to get on the council.  (For more about the BOE making a "mistake" related to my candidacy and petition two years ago, read here: Just An Honest Mistake?).

This article will quickly highlight the most egregious, most obvious and most concerning invalid signature found on Lola Roberts' petition, with the others to come at a later date.  This so-called error, which was likely intentional, has implications far beyond the borders of the third ward. 

Common Council president (then and now) and Worth Avenue/third ward resident, Thomas Depietro, signed Lola's petition on March 19, 2023 (see line 1 above).  It seems that Tom and his wife were the first to sign the petition.  Fifth ward resident Verity Smith signed the bottom of that page as the witness to the five signatures on it.  She, too, apparently wanted Lola Roberts on the Common Council.  

Just over two weeks later, on April 6th, the same Thomas Depietro once again signed Lola Robert's petition, with Claire Cousin's signature at the bottom of that page indicating that she was the witness to the six signatures on it.  While Cousin may not have been aware that Tom had already signed Lola's petition, certainly Tom was aware that he had already signed it.  His short-term memory can't be that bad, can it?

When I try to convey to people how bad things are at 520 Warren Street (including the Common Council), I tell them that is rotten to the core and there is little to no chance of fixing things unless we wipe the slate completely and start over.  For 15 months, Lola Roberts has been an invalid (and, in my estimation, useless) member of the Hudson Common Council, and both she and Tom Depietro should be considered fraudsters, cheats and losers.  It is time for them both to resign from the Common Council.  This kind of crap can't be tolerated any longer if Hudson is to thrive, let alone survive. 

Screenshot of Lola Roberts covering her face in frustration 
of Rob Perry after asking him a question at a meeting last August.

How did things get so deplorably ugly and dysfunctional around here?  Is there something in the water?  Has it always been this way?