The New Kid On The Block
By Nancy Muldoon<\/p>\n
I had never met with Ed Miller before today and quite honestly I didn’t know what to expect. We met at the East Side Recreation field. He showed up wearing a New York Yankee shirt and very thoughtfully presented me with a bottled water. He was warm, unassuming, friendly and smiled easily. With his perfect white teeth I kidded him that I thought he was a walking advertisement for dentistry which he attributes his perfect choppers to Dr. Wolpert on Lake Avenue.<\/p>\n
Ed Miller, born in Brooklyn, raised in Queens has lived in Saratoga Springs now for almost ten years and is currently running for the Commissioner of Department of Public Works. His decision to run for public office came last winter when a group of city employee’s came into a public meeting to intimidate the council. <\/p>\n
From Miller’s perspective it went something like this, “What happened was that a city worker called out and intimidated a city official at a public council meeting with his two bosses [Skip Scirocco] sitting there and the Commissioner of Public Safety [Ron Kim] and got away with it. I said something is wrong, I looked at the smile on Commissioner Scirocco’s face and I said you know what? I bet this guy is encouraging these guys [city workers] to do this. This is wrong and I thought it was wrong what the Commissioner of Public Safety [Ron Kim] did also. I said I better look into this.”<\/p>\n
Around the city of Saratoga Springs, Mr. Miller is best known as ‘the hot dog guy’ and he proudly wears his blue collar roots even though some close to him have encouraged him to be quieter about this aspect of his life. Although he is disappointed that no vendors are allowed in his old stomping ground of Congress Park, he keeps himself busy training horses while he goes door to door campaigning for the Department of Public Works. <\/p>\n
Miller is on the local Independence Party Committee and his decision to run on an third party ticket is a very conscious effort on his part. Miller says he wants to give the voters a choice but readily admits that he is not a professional politician. He feels that being a working class guy who actually serves and has genuine contact with the public can only be advantageous to him politically. Mr. Miller also owned a beer distributing company in New York City which he ran for over 20 years.<\/p>\n
I ask Miller what besides encouraging city employees to disrespect our elected officials, what is it about Scirocco that rubs Miller the wrong way he says, “He has not made any attempt to make any cuts or to save the city any money. Hiring and Spending. He hires and he spends. He hired his family, he spent a lot of money, he hired his friends and spent a lot of money. He hired and he spent. That’s what he did and it’s wrong. Not when you should be making cuts, not when you should be looking for federal funds and help with infrastructure to take the burden off the tax payers, no he’s laying it on the taxpayers.”<\/p>\n
I ask Ed about the average salaries of the Department of Public Works and he claims that the guy who sweeps the streets makes about $800.00 a week not including over time, comp time, sick time. He says they make about $19-$20 an hour. Base Pay. “You’d be shocked if you saw the FOIL report.” <\/p>\n
Mr. Miller admits that most of the city employee’s are skilled and are paid well. “You can get more productivity out of them. There are many good workers but they need somebody who is going to be on top of them and tell them what to do.”<\/p>\n
Ed asks me if I have ever seen Commissioner Scirocco around the city and I admit, no I haven’t. “He’s no show Scirocco. You never see him around. He tells you he’s at City Hall in his office then when you call his office you can’t get in touch with him.”<\/p>\n
Miller says he has gone door to door campaigning and he says that out of 200 residents 50 of them admitted that while they may have not agreed with the previous Commissioner of Public Works, the now infamous Tommy McTygue, they claimed that McTygue did his job and worked hard.<\/p>\n
Miller says that he owes no political favors to anyone. “I don’t have to put water lines in for my attorney, I don’t owe Democrats any favors, and I’m going to do what I think this is right for the city.”<\/p>\n
To lighten the mood I ask Ed what his favorite Beatles song is, he pauses then laughs before he says, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”.<\/p>\n
Ed then claims to know the lyrics to more Beatles songs than anyone in spite of not being a big fan of the Beatles but adds that he learned to appreciate John Lennon and his song writing skills much more after he was killed.<\/p>\n
Ed’s favorite thing about Saratoga Springs is the people and he describes John Franck, [Accounts Commissioner] as the most important man in the city.<\/p>\n
Miller is critical of Scirocco’s hiring of an executive assistant and quips, “I can open my own mail.”<\/p>\n
When Ed isn’t working or canvassing Saratoga he likes to read books about Horses and is currently reading a book about Tris Speaker, one of the best Centerfielders of all time.<\/p>\n
If you would like to know more about Ed Miller you may look him up at
Citizens For Ed Miller.com <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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