The only thing that surprised me about last week’s Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) rally in Uptown Kingston calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was why it took so long. The march itself was no surprise; this is how the DSA rolls. Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha was not at the event, but, for the record, took a similar position only days after the Hamas invasion of Israel.

The rally in front of Rep. Pat Ryan’s congressional district office on Wall Street took place almost exactly a month after the brutal Hamas attack on Israel. Maybe they wanted to wait until after Election Day?

Marching to a rally in front of Ryan’s office was more than symbolic; Ryan, D-Gardiner, was one of about two dozen Democrats to vote for the congressional censure of U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, for her remarks in support of Palestinians. Ulster’s other congressional representative, Marcus Molinaro, R-Catskill, voted with the mostly Republican majority. Protestors could have marched to Molinaro’s office, but it’s a long walk to the government seat of Greene County.

Like most fair-minded people, I deplore the taking of innocent lives, but it wasn’t Israel that started this war. And once at war, the object is to neutralize or crush the enemy. That said, Israel could kill every terrorist who invaded and murdered their citizens on Oct. 7 and two or three more would pop up to take their places.

Rather than censuring a member of Congress who a significant number of other members believe was only exercising free speech, perhaps our local members could better spend their time thinking of ways out of this generational morass.

Dept. of Corrections

In the legal profession, they call it coming to court with clean hands: no bias, no prejudice. In opinion journalism, like columns, it’s about getting one’s facts right before offering judgment.

I had called this year’s turnout one of the worst in generations in my first post-election column. In truth, it was rather ordinary, about 40 percent, which in itself doesn’t say much about local turnout.

I had based my conclusions on the number of votes Jen Metzger received at the top of the ticket, unofficially, about 32,500. With around 120,000 eligible voters, that would have meant a less than a 30 percent turnout.

On election night, the Board of Elections reports only those ballots cast. But as we later learned from Democratic commissioner Ashley Torres, another 16,000 voters entered the booth on Nov. 7, as we used to say, but did not cast votes for the unopposed county executive. Those “blanks,” as they’re known, bring the turnout up to ordinary levels.

I also gave Metzger short shrift, for which I apologize, in comparing her totals this year with the 43,000 votes she was given in 2022. But those two years are hardly comparable. Metzger ran in a year when the governor and all area state legislators were on the ballot. There were hotly contested races for Congress, which further swelled the vote. That tide carried Metzger to not only a significant victory over Republican Jim Quigley but to what is believed to be a record vote for county executive since the office was first contested in 2009.

In journalism, accuracy speaks to credibility. We try, really try to get it right the first time. When we don’t, it’s more than embarrassing.

Playing Post Office

A few days before the election, Kingston Mayor Steve Noble released a list of submitted names for a small patch of land in Midtown Kingston across from the YMCA and near the Kingston Wire office that once held the Kingston Post Office. A jewel of city architecture, the “old post office” was demolished some 55 years ago to make way for a fast-food joint.

The city seeks to establish a kind of pocket park on what is now an empty, weedy lot. The city already had detailed landscaping plans on how the park might look. All they need is a name.

I’m of two minds about this. Kingston already has more well-maintained “parkland” by population than any city in the region. Do we really need another one?

How about returning the vacant lot in a busy commercial area to the tax rolls? The site’s too small, counter park advocates. Really? It once held a substantial building, the post office.

As the die has been cast at City Hall and nobody can fight City Hall, my vote goes to the submission “Postal Park.” In memory of that now long-lost treasure of a building, around which so many local lives revolved, might the powers-that-be include in the landscaping a fair-sized replica of a building lost to the memory of all but the oldest of residents?

Meanwhile, in Poughkeepsie

Caught up in the controversies surrounding Ulster’s high-profile contest for district attorney, I probably should have paid more attention to what was going on in the race for Dutchess DA.

Over there, as we refer to the east bank of the Hudson, Republican Bill Grady was retiring after 40 years as Dutchess’ chief law enforcement officer. That alone should have been worth a look-see.

Two men who had worked closely with Grady, Republican chief assistant DA Matthew Weishaupt and Democratic Major Crimes Bureau Director Anthony Parisi, ran to succeed Grady. Parisi prevailed by an unofficial count of about 2,300 votes.

One of the more interesting sidebars in that contest was when Grady, in a recorded conversation leaked to the media, advised Parisi that he should resign to run for the office because he thought the campaign might cause issues with two senior officers in his department competing against each other. According to published reports, Parisi asked his boss whether he had also asked Weishaupt to resign. He had not. Grady quickly withdrew the request. Hopefully, that will not be the last word on what was a long and distinguished career over generations.

Here, we’re more focused on the future. Chief assistant district attorneys need not reside in the county where they serve. Weishaupt has been a resident of Kingston for most of his long career as a prosecutor. His brother, Bill Weishaupt, is the chief investigator for the Ulster DA, having served with both Manny Nneji and Mike Kavanagh. Accomplished sons of a Kingston grocer, the Weishaupts carry an honored name in west-bank-of-the-Hudson law enforcement circles.

Matt Weishaupt, after a distinguished career in law enforcement and after the heated campaign between him and Parisi, will not be back as Dutchess County chief assistant DA come Jan. 1.

Might Ulster DA-elect Nneji, his race decided but for the final official count, consider this veteran legal eagle for the chief ADA post he will soon vacate? Gumshoe brother Billy, too? The Democratic machine that elected Nneji might not concur but he is, after all, his own man now.

(Efforts to reach anyone mentioned above for comment were in vain.)