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Roger Hull says he will challenge Gary McCarthy in a rematch of their battle four years ago for mayor of Schenectady in an effort to knock Democrats out of the majority and focus on building the city’s neighborhoods.

The former Union College president and Alliance Party founder lost to McCarthy, a Democrat, in November 2011 by only 89 votes. This year’s mayoral race will be more difficult, Hull said, but he is determined to unseat McCarthy because “he is not a leader.”

“We have to focus on the city that has neighborhoods crumbling, roads in a disgrace and property values that have fallen 20 percent since he became mayor,” said Hull, 72. “Taxes continue to go up, and it’s not a supportable model. McCarthy is Mayor McTax.”

McCarthy said the truth is “quite the contrary” to Hull’s argument. He said the city has been focused more on the neighborhoods in recent years.

“I look forward to the race,” McCarthy said. “I clearly focused on the neighborhoods starting four years ago with code reviews, knocking down burned-out buildings, and we’re doing more demolition that needs to be done.”

McCarthy pointed to his Home Ownership Made Easy in Schenectady program that works to create opportunities for home ownership in the city as a priority that other cities have not addressed as aggressively.

Last week, in an event invitation posted on Facebook, McCarthy, 58, announced he is pursuing a second term and plans to formally announce his re-election campaign at 10 a.m. Wednesday in City Hall.

McCarthy narrowly defeated Hull four years ago in the tightest mayoral race in memory. The final tally was 4,792 for McCarthy to 4,703 for Hull.

“We have a challenge, and it’s a big hill to have an incumbent,” Hull said. “As a former college president, I will cite a philosopher: Casey Stengel said, ‘They say you can’t do it, but sometimes that doesn’t always work.’ ”

Hull is seeking to run for mayor on the Republican and Alliance party lines. He will have to file a petition and gather at least 5 percent of the number of votes cast for governor in the last gubernatorial election in the city, or 543 signatures, to run on an independent line, according to the Schenectady County Board of Elections.

Hull is the founder and CEO of the Help Yourself Foundation in Schenectady, which works to help disadvantaged students. He attended the University of Virginia and moved to Schenectady to head Union College after serving as president of Beloit College in Wisconsin.

Hull said he plans to focus his campaign on enhancing the city’s neighborhoods, a promise he said McCarthy and his fellow Democrats on the City Council made to residents but failed to keep.





“One of the dumbest things I have ever heard someone say is what Mayor McTax said, that taxes are high but property values are low,” he said. “If you are a homeowner in Schenectady and the mayor is saying that the values are low, that doesn’t do any good. It does you a lot of harm.”

McCarthy became mayor in April 2011 after fellow Democrat Brian U. Stratton stepped down to lead the state Canal Corp. He served on the City Council from 1996-99 and 2005 until taking the mayor’s seat. He was elected City Council president in 2010. He was previously an investigator in the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office for about 30 years.

City Council

Republicans have lined up four candidates to run for City Council. Councilman Vince Riggi, who is not registered with a party, is seeking re-election. City Republican Committee Chairman Michael Cuevas is also entering the race.

Riggi, the only non-Democrat on the council, said he is running for another term because he made a promise to city residents to rebuild neighborhoods and he is looking to help fulfill that promise.

“The Democrats say they are focused on neighborhoods, but they are broken promises that have led to broken neighborhoods,” he said. “I want to keep my promise and get a plan that will make the neighborhoods what they once were.”

Riggi, 69, said serving on the council the past three years made him realize the need for political diversity. He said he has worked well with the rest of the council, but they don’t share the same ideas.

“Our ticket gives us political diversity,” he said. “People believed in my message, and this will be my message times four.”

The two other council candidates are Tom Verret, a Conservative, and Ann Rigley, a Republican.





Verret, 50, is a funeral director at DeMarco-Stone Funeral Home. He graduated from Hudson Valley Community College and was born and raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, before moving to Schenectady more than 25 years ago. He is married with four children.

Rigley is an independent photographer and founder of the Stockade Station. She attended Christopher Newport University in Virginia. She is a single mother.

Cuevas said he believes the joint Alliance and Republican parties have strong candidates for council and mayor. He touted Riggi as “the voice of real Schenectadians.”

“Roger endorsed Vince four years ago, and we’re proud of what he has been able to accomplish,” he said. “We’re really excited to have him running for re-election. With the support of new council members, we can do great things.”

Cuevas said he decided to enter the race this year because he wants to move the city in a new direction and out of the downward spiral he says Democrats have contributed to for years.

“I have seen what Schenectady once was, compared to what it is,” he said. “I saw what happened to my property taxes, and I have seen what happened to property values. So many of our neighborhoods were proud and thriving, but now we’re in decline. We need people in office that care more about the city than the politics.”

Richard Naylor, the city Democratic Committee chairman, said the party welcomes competition. He said neighborhood revitalization is an ongoing effort, with progress already taking shape.

“There are initiatives in the neighborhoods, like in the Union-Nott area and some development on Jay Street and Van Vranken,” Naylor said. “I think there is a goal of expanding those efforts and doing a lot more in the neighborhoods. Everybody is committed to that.”

Cuevas said he is hoping city residents will see beyond party lines. Democrats have a 21⁄2-to-1 party enrollment advantage over the GOP and have held control of the City Council for more than 30 years.

Cuevas ran against Brian U. Stratton for mayor in 2007 and previously served as corporation counsel for the city. He also served as chairman of the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board under then-Gov. George Pataki. He now works for an Albany law firm.

Council members Leesa Perazzo and Ed Kosiur, both Democrats, are seeking another term. The City Democratic Executive Committee also endorsed Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas, who sits on the board of the Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority, and John Polimeni, who is on the board of the Schenectady Municipal Housing Authority, as candidates for council.

Naylor boasted that the Democratic candidates have a strong background of community involvement.

“They are focused on trying to improve the neighborhoods and also to develop jobs and economic initiatives,” he said. “They are working together as a team with the mayor in that direction. The whole theme is progress in the city.”

Hull said he’s looking forward to the campaign, and although they don’t agree on everything, he believes his running mates understand the key issues and are determined to benefit the city and its residents.

“If I am elected mayor, I want to work with people like Vince, Tom and Mike who have the best interests of the city at heart and are not tied into any party,” Hull said. “I want people who care about the city and are independent thinkers. And they are all of those things.”