The race for Common Council president appears to be heating up. Gossips learned today that Claire Cousin intends to run for the position of Common Council president, joining Dominic Merante and Margaret Morris. Cousin was appointed to the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners by Mayor Kamal Johnson in 2020, and she continues to serve in that position. In 2021 and 2023, she attained the position of First Ward supervisor, each time running unopposed. Last year, she unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Didi Barrett to be the Democratic candidate for the 106th Assembly District. In December 2024, Cousin resigned as First Ward supervisor because she was moving from the First Ward, where she lived in a house owned by Galvan, to the Fifth Ward.
The news that Cousin is planning to run for Common Council president raises the question of whether Tom DePietro intends to seek a fifth term in that position.COPYRIGHT 2025 CAROLE OSTERINK
UPDATE: Here's the word today (Saturday, February 1, 5:10 p.m.) from the Hudson Wail.
Five hours ago:
And so the Hudson political circus proceeds to carpet-bomb its populace with yet more comedy!
ReplyDeleteAlas, the sigh of relief exhaled by first ward residents over the sudden, yet certainly welcome, emigration of Claire to the fifth ward may have been premature.
The outcome of her laughable primary challenge of Didi Barret was quite revealing: While she won the majority of Hudson wards, the one she lost by a landslide was the first ward, the one she was supervising.
I wonder if maybe she had her music playing a little too loud or perhaps just didn't tend to her front yard the way it's customary - it did seem first ward residents liked her a lot less after they had made her their supervisor.
My advice to Hudson voters: Don't even consider voting for Margaret or Dominic - it would be too sensible a choice. Live a little and vote for the meme candidate - it'll provide more entertainment, trust me. YOLO!
Well, the primary against Didi was the first time that first ward residents had an actual choice since Cousin had no other opponents for supervisor. The primary results spoke for themselves. We saw all that we needed to see by her record: poor attendance and she completely let 11 Warren happed during a meeting she did not bother to attend. Only speaking out against it after there was public outrage. And also while ignoring her job as supervisor she ran a failed year-long primary campaign for state assembly, spending almost a half million dollars, funded by mostly state taxpayer “matching funds” and California based super PACs. So should we expect a nationally focused and funded political agenda targeted at our modest common council?
DeleteSorry, I’d rather have my neighbors and proven public servants in our council and not people’s whose life’s career seems to be running for office, and whatever benefactors they’re beholden to.
Hudson has become a test lab for billionaire’s social experiments (Galvan, Spark, PAC funded astroturfing of council meetings). Most of us just want the sidewalks and roads to be safe, water and sewer system to function, and fair services from our tax dollars.
It is concerning that Hudson is slowly being sold out to corporate interests. Our mayor sleep-walks through a conversation with Galvan and before you know it, they sell a big structure on Warren St to the county to use as a voting machine storage unit. A fully property-tax-exempt voting machine storage unit, mind you.
DeleteClaire's failure to alert her ward of this sale either bespeaks ignorance or poor judgement. Whatever it does say about her, it is not a glowing endorsement for her run for council president. Incompetence should never be rewarded.
It’s always that whole attribute to either incompetence or malice thing. Although the mayor has no authority to block the sale, he was informed of the county’s attention, according to the other town’s supervisors that claimed to have given him the heads up. So if he knew about it he could have used his bully pulpit to sound the alarm. And like National Grid and many other issues that are of concern to residents, he went with his usual “lol, what am I supposed to do? I told them to stop. Ask Didi to do something.” So again, is this because Galvan wanted it, or he just doesn’t understand the value of an underutilized block of the most valuable real estate in the city? Either way there’s no explanation.
DeleteThe supervisors were even more inexcusable. We have FIVE supervisors that represent us to the county and none of them sounded the alarm. If I recall, two voted yes, one abstained because he works for Galvan, and two did not show up, Cousin being one of them. Only until public outrage after the fact did any of them say it was a bad idea.
Again, malice or incompetence? Does it matter?
Of course, absolutely no one saw this musical chairs coming at all…
ReplyDeleteClaire steps aside to make way for Randall's unelected appointment (Supervisor), Tom steps aside to make way for Claire (Council President)... fans of this season can see what is coming next...
~
If Claire runs (again), this time for the role on the City Council that requires real work and time, she would have to answer/explain to voters:
1️⃣ How the 1st Ward's 11 Warren St fiasco happened on her watch when she did not attend County Supervisor meetings, which lead directly to lost housing opportunity for Hudson + 1st/2nd Ward.
2️⃣ Why she vocally supported Galvan's "affordable" housing with a large PILOT tax break, but then as predicted, it turned out not to be "affordable". See reference below. Also significant lost tax revenue for Hudson.
3️⃣ Why HCHC, which Claire cofounded/leads flipped support on Galvan (Hudson Depot Lofts) right around the time when Claire moved out of her 1st Ward Galvan residence?
(As reported in the press...which quoted Claire, at the time an elected/public official, saying: “The insecurity of my situation demanded that I make a move to provide housing stability for my family in the face of this housing crisis"
A - Correct me if I am wrong but the Council President role is not a full-time paid and salaried position? (Versus NYS Assembly paying ~$150k)
B - Does that imply that Mayor Kamal could also turn against Galvan if he moves or is evicted from his 1st Ward Galvan provided housing?
C - Does the Housing Justice Director (Tullo) also live in Galvan provided housing while advocating for more tax subsidized housing and tax breaks for certain developers like Galvan?
4️⃣ Voters may ask about the For The Many / Tides organization (CA SuperPac) donations***.
If the public disclosures are correct almost $500k went into the failed primary bid against Didi Barrett (where Didi won, and outperformed significantly amongst Claire's 1st Ward neighbors; 68% percent vs 32%) in a relatively quiet… and politically not the most important race in the state…. which begs the question…. why would out of state SuperPacs spend so much money in these small races..
πΊ πΏ So… for the folks just turning in ….
Hudson (2 sqm) has;
- 1 non-resident billionaire doing curious housing and tax loophole things… (landlord to many politicos),
- 1 non-resident billionaire doing curious social engineering and political things…. (also direct transfer payments (UBI) or employment and subsidies to many locally active politicos…) and
- 1 non-resident SuperPac doing funky election things… (donations/loans to Claire, and sent astroturf folks [π Brahvan Ranga] for the Rent Control / Good Cause Eviction ordinance debate)....
and all this in a town of 5000 souls….
You would think Hudson had significant mineral rights, great schools, good weather, and nice ocean views…
¯\_(γ)_/¯
π Reference:
> Shot:
https://www.dailygazette.com/hv360/news/columbiacounty/galvan-housing-clears-final-hurdle/article_c2132296-20e3-5a71-bb6f-cd5d0f2fade7.html
> Chaser:
https://archive.is/Pqqgm
π²For the Many / For the Money:
https://ballotpedia.org/Claire_Cousin
Do not vote for any of them! It only encourages the dysfunction -- we should not be spending time and money and having to bother with all of the blah blah blah bullshit ("I'm for the community"; "I know what I'm doing... vote for me, my opponent does not deserve the position...") electing a council president. Like the charter reform idea has in mind, the position should be decided by the council itself. They vote for one member to be in the big chair every two years. Simple, no big deal. This is ridiculous!
ReplyDeleteThe position has become far too powerful. Not too long ago, before Tom's time in the big chair, it used to be that the council president just made sure the meetings ran smoothly -- Claudia (?) used to allow an unlimited amount of questions and comment time from anyone who showed up IN PERSON to the meetings. She wasn't there to control the council, the public and shape the city. She had no interest in any of that.
Sure, times have changed and the city is dealing with tons of crap, but this is not how things should be handled. Hire a city manager who knows what they are doing. If he or she doesn't work out, find another one.
π Oh wait... the only way this gets even more Hudson is if Claire now pulls back after this classic "trial balloon" test, or as we call it in the UK "kite-flying" πͺ
ReplyDeleteSimilar to Kamal's "I am not thinking about running for Assembly, but here are my prepared thoughts and a photo" piece with Tiffany from the Registrar a few weeks ago, which was also not well received.
And then many, like Tom, will claim "I don't read Gossips," while citing news or a detail that can only be found ... in Gossips.
πΈ But wait, there is more.... we now might have a potential 3rd non-resident billionaire entering the Hudson chat with well intentioned donations and programs.
One of Claire's larger donors, Theresa Preston-Werner, is the wife of the Github founder ($7.5B acquisition by Microsoft).
πͺπΊ One thing that might be odd for other residents accustomed to OECD / Commonwealth election norms:
How can candidates in America raise so much money for a small pre-election, then pay themselves 10% of the money, and then still have a campaign that is $100k in debt… and also, who takes care of that debt? I genuinely don't know how that works.
Wouldn't it just be easier to raise private capital (instead of raising donations/SuperPAC funds) and build an honest private business that serves customers and employ residents? Or just get a normal job in Hudson, Hudson Valley, or NYC / Albany like everyone else.
Seems to work well for hundreds of other entrepreneurs and employees across Hudson.
Hudson's 5000 residents cannot afford to subsidize and pay career politicians. We can hardly afford basic public services.
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Small FYI on some billionaires and centi-millionaires… they often have short attention spans… and their kids rarely agree with their vision in the long-term (see Succession)…. they often compete for scarce status (since they can buy anything, see "Luxury Beliefs as Status Symbols"***)...
Everyone taking money/subsidy from Galvan/Spark/Tides/Preston-Werners should think about two things:
1. What happens if the money (or status) dries up?
2. What happens if a competing (say in this case conservative) billionaire shows up and funds their competing version of "Utopia" in Hudson.
This is why the Founding Fathers were so big on self-reliance… small government… individual liberty… but alas… I guess every 3rd generation has to rediscover the road to liberty.
***
https://www.robkhenderson.com/p/status-symbols-and-the-struggle-for
Politics is like baldness, it skips generations.
ReplyDelete