“Duanesburg has always been known for hardball politics, and that goes a long way toward explaining why the town’s new highway superintendent, Democrat Steve Perog, seems to be getting so much trouble from Republican officials for basically being a nice guy.
Perog is a former Republican who changed parties and squeaked into the job last fall — beating his Republican opponent by just 13 votes. Since taking over, he’s gone above and beyond his job description on several occasions, sanding the parking lots of volunteer fire companies and the community center, filling potholes in the elementary school driveway, etc.
While no one seems to be complaining that he hasn’t fulfilled his obligations to the town, some Republicans — including current supervisor Rene Merrihew and former supervisor Bob Wall — think he shouldn’t be lending a helping hand to others in this fashion. They cite the liability issue, and the fact that town taxpayers are, in effect, footing the bill for others. And technically, they’re right: Perog could conceivably be exposing the town to a lawsuit were an accident to occur after one of his people sanded a driveway or filled a pothole; or if a town worker got injured in the process. We live in a litigious society, to be sure.
Sand costs money, too, and why should a town resident pay the town to have a fire department parking lot sanded if he doesn’t even live in that fire district?
But it also seems the Republicans are being petty — not wanting Perog to score points with townspeople, lest he become so popular they won’t be able to beat him if/when he runs for re-election in a couple of years. That’s small-town politics shining through.
So while Perog deserves credit for being neighborly, he probably should stick to the letter of the law as far as his job is concerned.”
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Front, Scott. Schenectady Daily Gazette 9 May 2009.