The last vitriolic sputters of a dying coup

For some of the Spa City’s vanquished Democrats, November has been a month of introspection; a time to reflect back upon their tenure and look forward to a life out of the public eye. For others, the waning moments in the public eye are a time to brutally castigate the rest of the world for the own shortcomings.

Such is the case with the soon-to-be banished Keehniacs. In a little more than a month, the Movementarians that powered a little-known special education teacher into one of the more influential seats in city government will be sent packing with little more than the tatters of the Democratic Party to show for their two years of usurping office.

Firing the first finger toward the sky was Hillary McLellan, the captain of ousted Mayor Valerie Keehn’s cheerleading squad. In a missive to county Democratic Chairman Larry Bullman and using prose oddly reminiscent of the anonymous postings left on area blogs before the election, McLellan all but blamed Keehn’s loss on Bullman because he didn’t support one Democrat over another.

Of course, she doesn’t seem to think anything about the bitter back biting between Keehn and disjointed Public Works fixture Tom McTygue. No, alienating a sizable contingent of the party didn’t seem to factor into the loss, in the world according to McLellan. Nor did the fact that main claim to fame for her “party” was stealing an election and then usurping city hall from the people qualified to run it.

“Don't expect to see much of me in next year's campaign, either at fund raisers or as a worker bee,” she stated in the E-mail, all but giving Bullman the finger. “If you have any integrity, any really commitment to leadership, you will help those who seek to rebuild the [Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee], not use it as a tool for trying to destroy true Democrats like Val.”

Keehn was the next to jump on the bandwagon of blasting the city Dems. In an interview with the Spotlight this month, the deposed mayor reaffirmed the notion that her supporters plan to take their ball and go home rather than make amends with party leaders. In a truly delusional moment, the mayor even seemed to think her supporters could “go it alone” during the next election cycle.

“I think we have the ability, the will and the desire, but if that’s the approach they’ll take, I don’t know,” she said.

The interesting thing to note here is Keehn’s insinuation that there is a “they” instead of “we” involved in the Democratic schism. This is to say that Keehn doesn’t see herself as the leader of the movement as much as a cog moving it forward. Let’s recall, it was this same contingent of Dems that saw an opportunity to hijack the city government in 2005.

The Republicans were facing all but chased from the council largely due to their dickering in the Dryer scandal and national election trends. The Keehniacs gained two seats of five seats and probably thought at least one of the other three could be easily swayed into backing charter reform. By pushing through charter reform at a time when city Republicans were week, the Keehniacs could literally amputate the McTygue from his post and then concentrate their firepower on getting a figurehead mayor into office, and voila, a gravy train for political appointments.

But it didn’t work out that way. And the only way the Keehniacs stood a chance in city government was to unseat McTygue, their arch rival and main proponent against charter reform. In chess terms, they sacrificed their queen to checkmate the king; the game goes on but without a clear opponent on the other side.

Already, the minions of this failed movement are plotting in the shadows to take another run at the jackpot. Oddly enough, all the mentions of Keehn in this posting have been deleted, which might suggest she’s been divorced by the movement she rode into power, or at least they realize her political future ends come New Year’s Day.