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Publication Date: August 14th, 2025

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Summary:

Hudson voters decisively rejected Tom DePietro (604 to 301) after eight years as Council President, yet he remains in office until the end of the year, and is now setting out to rush through a last-minute “Midnight Charter Commission” that he never pursued while he had a mandate and many years to do so.

The move, reportedly spurred by Gary Purnhagen, reeks of lame-duck opportunism and undermines democratic legitimacy.

History, from John Adams’s famous Midnight Appointments that rocked the nation and some argue helped lead to the 20th Amendment (so-called Lame Duck Amendment), to Westminster norms, warns against such acts. The incoming Council and hard-working mayoral candidates deserve a clean slate to deliver a comprehensive Charter Reform by the people, and the people’s representatives.

The winners should govern. No tomfoolery in the shadows.

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Let the Elected Winners, and the People, Decide

Tom DePietro’s crushing two-to-one loss was no accident. After 8 years as Common Council President, he leaves behind a record of guiding the council’s time toward niche causes and state or national political virtue signaling, while neglecting the bread-and-butter local issues that matter most to Hudson residents. The electorate (of the Democratic Party, which is most of Hudson at this time) rendered its verdict in the June Primary. Yet he remains in office until the end of the year, still positioned to drive his agenda and surprise the council with last minute grants. He is more frustrated than ever.

Most recently he indicated that he now wants to appoint a Charter Change Commission to evaluate changes to the City Charter. Read more on Gossips: Change Is In The Air. In other words, while he might not have enough time to ratify any Charter Changes, he is now trying to influence “who” is chosen, how they are chosen, and what rules would be adopted, regarding the Commission’s processes. He may attempt to “box out” the next mayor’s preferred process, be it Citizen Assembly, or a new 2026 Charter Commission.

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At worst, this is a poison pill administered to Hudson’s governing system by an angry man on his way out. At best, it is late.

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History offers a clear warning. In 1801, after losing to Thomas Jefferson, President John Adams triggered one of the most consequential political crises of the early republic. In his final days, he rushed through a wave of judicial “midnight appointments” to entrench his party’s influence. It was a defining episode in America, hardening partisan divides for years. This event, and others, lead to Congress over a century later passing the 20th Amendment, the so-called “Lame Duck Amendment” to shorten the dangerous gap between elections and the transfer of power.

Read more about “The Midnight Judges” watershed moment in American history.

DePietro, an avid reader and student of American history, should take note. He had eights years as Council President to appoint a Charter Change Commission. He chose not to and spent much of his time as leader giving oxygen to niche culture war issues and last-minute contentious and divisive resolutions and grants (Restore NY) and international relations resolutions (E.g.Israel-Gaza Resolution).

Now, in the midnight hour, DePietro moves with sudden urgency to influence the Charter Change process when he all but ignored and sidelined the issue, and its proponents, for years.

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Misplaced Priorities & A Feckless Councillor

DePietro credited Gary Purnhagen, 1st Ward Council Member, with the idea of creating the midnight Charter Commission. If accurate, this is a textbook display of Mr. Purnhagen’s poor judgment and incoherent representation of the 1st Ward. He was either responsible for, or “took one for the team” in, the committee that brought about the Sidewalk Tax fiasco. He is best remembered for publishing an explanation of his vote for Rent Control (the so-called “Good Cause Eviction”), only to delete the comment after it became clear that the comment revealed that he had not read or understood the legislation he supported. In another episode, he declared support for Alex Madero’s appointment to the 1st Ward Supervisor role at the County level during the winter recess vote, only to abstain when the vote came. These three episodes should remind 1st Ward voters why the integrity and competence of candidates Henry Haddad and Patti Ramoska are urgently needed, particularly with Ms. Morris stepping up to the President’s role.

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Why this is wrong is obvious:

1. At worst, it is a poison pill being administered to Hudson’s governing system by an angry man on his way out.
2. In Westminster-style parliamentary democracies across the Anglosphere, from the United Kingdom to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, leaders who lose elections or even internal party leadership votes resign immediately. A new government is formed within days, ensuring the people’s choice governs without delay. Hudson, by contrast and due to the primary voting system, is stuck with a leader voters have rejected, for months.
3. The historical parallel to Adams and Jefferson is instructive. They began as allies and neighbours, later becoming bitter rivals. Here, DePietro’s well-known animus toward his neighbour John Friedman (one of the early proponents of Charter Change, whom he once physically assaulted during a council meeting), should disqualify him from reshaping the city’s political framework now.
4. His recent radio programs foreshadowed these manoeuvres. One episode featured a guest from a newly formed Hudson-based charitable foundation. Like Galvan, the organisation’s broader mission risks being undermined if drawn into balkanised political disputes.
5. This is not just a bad faith act against the incoming Council President Margaret Morris, who won an overwhelming mandate in the Democratic Party primary and has responded with professionalism and poise. It is also an insult to three of Hudson’s five wards that will have new Common Council representatives next year, along with the re-elected members who will soon be sworn in. The new Common Council should have a voice in shaping Hudson’s approach to Charter Reform.
6. Four mayoral candidates are campaigning on charter reform, working hard under public scrutiny to earn the right to do this work properly with the next council. We owe them and the incoming Council a clean slate to do what DePietro and Mayor Kamal chose not to do, for 10 and 8 years respectively. DePietro presided over nearly a 100 Common Council meetings, but only takes action on this issue now, on his way out, and after ignoring grassroots movements and petitions on the issue.

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A Hypothetical Parallel

Imagine the November 2028 presidential election is over. Donald Trump loses to a Democrat. Between November and the January 2029 inauguration, while still in office, Trump pushes through sweeping executive orders and lifetime judicial appointments to lock in his agenda and limit the next president. Most Americans would see it as wrong, regardless of party.

Now imagine that same year in Columbia County. Board of Supervisors Chairman Matt Murell loses to a Democrat*. In his final weeks, he rushes through major policy changes, bakes in long-term committees, and elevates political voices and loyalists soundly defeated, to constrain his Democratic successor. The public would rightly see it as a rejection of the voters’ choice.

This is the same principle at stake in Hudson this year. Outgoing Common Council President Tom DePietro, after losing by a two-to-one margin in the Primary, is now trying to force through major charter changes in his final weeks. Like an outgoing Trump or Murell in these scenarios, he is acting without a mandate, trying to bind the hands of those chosen to lead next. In any healthy democracy, the winners govern and the losers step aside.

*Close readers may forgive the directionally correct but technically imprecise Murell-DePietro analogy; Columbia County Supervisors, not Columbia County residents, elect the Chairman of the “CC BoS”. The City of Hudson Common Council President is elected directly in a city-wide election.

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Closing Thoughts

Idle hands are the devil’s workshop. If Mr DePietro wishes to use his remaining months well, he should focus on the budget process that the Board of Estimate and Apportionment will begin in a month.

Should he bring his 'Midnight Charter Commission' to a vote, the other ten members of the Common Council should abstain or vote 'nay' to reflect the will of Hudson’s voters and set themselves and the 2026 Council up for success.

Mr DePietro should respect the will of the voters. He should now focus on closing out urgent matters or finishing existing work, not on creating new political traps and poison pills or passing measures that undermine the incoming administration or even worse, muddy the current mayoral election. The newly elected leaders should be given the conditions to succeed and deliver the change voters chose in June (Common Council President) and in November (Mayor’s race).

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Last edited/updated:

August 14th, 2025

Updates: After publication, clarified that the 20th Amendment was not directly tied to the Adams–Jefferson affair, but addressed broader lame duck issues.

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