A 2015  United States Supreme Court ruling said that local governments can’t decide how long they allow election signs to be posted because the signs’ messages are protected by the First Amendment. 

His 8,171-vote lead over Michelle Hinchey suggests that GOP-backed Richard Amedure had a modicum of broader appeal with voters in the 46th State Senate District than the Democrat. And now that a Montgomery County court judge has ruled on lawsuits filed by each candidate over absentee ballots, the nearly 26,000 votes can be counted. Over half of the mail-in ballots were returned by people who will almost assuredly vote for Hinchey — but that still might not be enough to pull out a win.

Jacob Crawford, Albany County’s new Democratic chairman, said of Randy Bashwinger, the new county GOP chairman, “He’s interested in taking his brand of politics to the suburban towns in the county to try to win some of those races. I would look forward to the competition. I think the Trump style of politics is not what the suburban voters of Albany County are interested in or are looking for, and I look forward to taking the competition up to him in the Hilltowns.”

Berne Republican Party Chairman and Highway Superintendent Randy Bashwinger has been elected chairman of the Albany County GOP following his success in establishing Republican-backed candidates in elected Hilltown positions. Westerlo’s GOP chairwoman, Lisa DeGroff, was elected to serve as the county GOP’s secretary. 

A lawsuit filed by a former Albany County employee who alleges that County Executive Daniel McCoy punished her for not backing the political candidates he favored has been settled for four out of five of the defendants, including Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy.

Compromise in the late 1700s moved a new nation forward. We could learn from that example now — on both a national and local level. Where is the domestic tranquility, where is the promotion of the general welfare, where are the blessings of liberty today that the Constitution set out to secure?

A letter to the Enterprise editor this week urges local governments to adopt resolutions that call for New York State to be split into three autonomous regions, effectively separating the upstate region from New York City. Bills introduced by New York State Assemblyman David DiPietro and New York State Senator Robert Ortt last year attempt to formalize the idea, which is derived from a decades-old push to make the New York City region its own state. 

The Berne Town Board has spent more than $15,000 on investigations according to documents received by The Enterprise through a Freedom of Information Law request. All the investigations appear to have been of Democratic town board members. One recently led to a censure by partisan vote; the others were unsubstantiated.

Michelle Hinchey, the Democratic candidate for the State Senate’s 46th District, paid for the lawyer of Hébert Joseph, chairman of the Rensselaerville Democratic Party, who submitted a challenge against Democrat Gary Greenberg’s nominating petition, which resulted in Greenberg’s removal from the primary ballot. Hinchey had distanced herself from Joseph’s challenge when asked about it by The Enterprise in March. 

In the midst of the pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo softened election requirements; candidates now need to collect only 30 percent of the statutory threshold. Michelle Hinchey, a Democratic candidate for the state Senate’s 46th District, is challenging the petition her Democratic opponent for the nomination, Gary Greenberg, had submitted. Greenberg suggested that the challenge is emblematic of insider-versus-outsider politics.