Politics in the Friendly City

Two weeks from today, the election will be over, but the next fourteen days promise to be mean--at least in the Hudson mayoral race.

Incumbent mayor William Hallenbeck has reportedly taken to campaigning on his opponent's HIV positive status and some unspecified information he claims to have about him, from his past career in law enforcement, which he promises will "shock people." Victor Mendolia responds to Hallenbeck's eleventh-hour lapse into negativity on his campaign website: "A Desperate Man's Only Campaign Issue: 'My opponent has AIDS.'"

Meanwhile, although a crawl on his campaign website claims that he "IS currently in talks concerning the best format for a Public Debate," Hallenbeck has so far not accepted Mendolia's invitation to participate in a town hall meeting, moderated by Berkshire Eagle editor Francesca Shanks and Greg Mosley from Operation Unite, scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 26, at 2 p.m., in the auditorium of the Second Ward Foundation, at the corner of North Third and Robinson streets.