Larger than life

If anyone ever had any doubt about how much larger than life Senate Majority Leader Joe "Hollywood" Bruno is to Saratoga Springs, then just take a stroll down the new and improved Sheraton. Or is that Prime? Maybe The Saratoga?

In an attempt to slide into the groove as the destination of the destination city, The Saratoga has erected a number of larger-than-life portraits depicting those who best exemplify life among horses, history and health. One of those portraits is devoted to the monolithic Republican senator from Brunswick, who's batting a thousand in both Saratoga Springs and Saratoga County.

Yes, Senator Bruno is large in the Spa City. So large, in fact, that he’s managed to crush his only somewhat viable opponent–somewhat meaning not at all and viable meaning inconceivable – in November without as much as lifting a finger to clear the competition. Instead, he had the Democrats do it for him.

Rather than have the apparent audacity to oppose Bruno, the Saratoga County mules and their knock-kneed chairman Larry Bulman decided to turncoat and instead endorse the most powerful Republican in New York over defense attorney and former Rensselaer County prosecutor Brian Premo. And when Premo tried to get his name on the ballot, Bulman was one of the first to cry foul.

True, Premo has the dubious honor of being a Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-Democrat, something that no doubt left a sour taste in the mouths of the party hierarchy. But it’s a bit ludicrous to proselytize vociferously against the Grand Old Party only to throw the one candidate challenging its Grand Poobah beneath a speeding bus.

It's too bad that the Saratoga Democrats can't let the public itself decide whether or not Bruno is deserving of another term in office. But then again, this is Saratoga and he is Hollywood Joe. After all, how many other politicians in New York have a 30-foot-tall portrait on public display.