The word is out about the worst-kept not-secret in the county. Joe Maloney, legislator representing voters in Saugerties and Ulster, allegedly doesn’t live in the district he was elected to represent.
Howard Baul, a labor-relations specialist representing members of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), put that allegation on the public record during a testy back and forth at the November meeting of a legislative subcommittee which Maloney chairs.
The only problem, Maloney says, is that the charge isn’t true.
“I own a two-family home in the Village [of Saugerties], which was my primary residence for years,” Maloney explained. “My [inlaws] lived in one half and myself and my family lived in the other.”
When his father-in-law passed away, Maloney said, his mother no longer wanted to live in the house. Together, in 2023, they bought another house, which his financial disclosure forms reveal was outside the boundary lines for the district he represents. Since the purchase, he said, his mother is the full-time resident, and he and his family live between the two houses.
Complicating the explanation of the dual-district residency is that New York election law clearly spells out a legislator’s obligation to live within the district they represent “at the time of the legislator’s nomination and election and also throughout the legislator’s term of office.”
But there is an exception to the rule. County legislators who finds themselves left out of their district as a consequence of a boundary shift due to redistricting can continue to represent their district as if the boundary lines hadn’t changed. After a year, however, they are expected to have relocated to within the new district lines.
The most recent legislative district boundaries were set by the commission on reapportionment on Dec. 29, 2022.
Had Maloney claimed his new home as his primary residence on the most recent financial disclosure forms, the redrawn lines should have presented him with a residency conundrum on January 1, 2024 .
“I hear all these rumors,” Maloney said. “People are saying, hey, they’re going to come after you. Let them come after me. I’m not hiding anything.”
Saugertiesians have three legislative districts.
District 1, represented by legislator Aaron Levine, includes portions of Woodstock and Saugerties. District 2, the district Maloney represents consists of the Village of Saugerties and a portion of the Town of Saugerties — including where his mother is the full-time resident. District 3 includes portions of the Town of Saugerties and the Town of Ulster plus the entire Town of Kingston.
Maloney’s second house, if he were to claim it as his primary residence, would put him 500 feet into District 3, currently represented by first-time Republican legislator, Jason J. Kovacs.
Mulling plans to rent out his property in the Village of Saugerties eventually, Maloney sees the day coming when that change of recorded primary residence will apply to him.
“I live at 79 Latham Circle,” Maloney said. “I own the place. I pay the utilities. If I want to choose that house to be my primary residence, that’s my right as an American. But when that point comes — and it is coming — when I officially change my address I’m coming for Jason Kovacs.”
Maloney’s view is that Baul’s allegation is the out-loud portion of a larger whisper campaign conducted to foul his good name — retaliation, Maloney asserts, for efforts he’s engaged in to highlight ethics conflicts he believes arise from Baul’s behavior on behalf of the union.
“I don’t think he should be negotiating the contract [with the county], with both of his children working inside the county,” said Maloney. “I think that’s a problem for the CSEA, and I’m shocked that Albany, if they’re aware of it, would have been okay with this.”
At the November 18 fleet management review subcommittee, Maloney addressed the perceived benefit to Baul’s son from his father’s negotiations.
“That’s got nothing to do with it, Joe,” Baul replied. “It barely impacts him.”
“We can talk to legal,” said Maloney, “on whether or not someone could file a lawsuit about that.”
If they wanted to talk about ethics, Baul said, Maloney “was representing a district he didn’t even live in, but anyway …”
“I’m going to ask you to leave,” Maloney responded.
“I mean, if you’re going to make it personal, Joe,” Baul persisted, “we can make it personal.”
Maloney, who says he’s been trying to expose “some of the ethical problems” for the last couple of years, added that Baul can anticipate ethics charges filed with the county personnel department.
Maloney’s spouse, Beth Maloney, works as senior auditor in the county comptroller’s office.
“They go around whispering behind my back,” explained Maloney, “trying to talk to reporters, trying to paint me as something that I’m not and that they never will be able to paint me as, and that’s somebody that’s not operating on the up and up. I’ll continue to weed out corruption.”
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