Supervisor Quigley's Disappointment

Having to come to the realization that Chief Taggard would not be coming back as police chief, after he was charged with alleged misconduct, took some time for Supervisor Quigley to swallow (again, no pun intended).  It also took a lot of pressure from his fellow gop Councilmen for Quigs to pull the trigger. A full month passed after Taggard's suspension and Quigley finally conceded  in an interview with the Freeman that he was prepared to ask Taggard to resign as Chief of Police. However, Quigley's stubbornness on the issue, his failure to put his personal friendship with the Chief aside hurt him with his town board and with town residents. Some of those residents have nicknamed Quigley, Supervisor Peterno, in response to his handling of the matter. So I guess it should come as no surprise that the appointment of a new permanent Chief to replace Taggard has turned into a circus.


Lt. Athoney Cruise who was appointed acting Chief, and was the ranking officer in charge at the time of Taggard's suspension, was recommended to receive a permanent appointment as it's new Chief by the Town's personal committee. This did not sit well with Supervisor Quigley because the personal committee, which is made up of ELECTED TOWN BOARD MEMBERS,  actually had a opinion. You see in the town of Quigley, I'm sorry, I mean the town of Ulster, board members are not allowed to have an opinion. That is politics 101 in the Jim Quigley school of Government, just ask star pupil Kelly Myers. It got so volitial that town board member Eric Kitchen descrbed it this way:

 Councilman Eric Kitchen said Quigley was unfairly reprimanding board members for recommending the next chief be selected from within the town department.

“This is a democracy,” Kitchen said to the supervisor. “You have your opinion, I have my opinion. We can all agree to disagree, but I can’t feel like a child who’s being yelled at by his father (for) stealing a cookie out of the cookie jar.”

This is ot the first time Supervisor Quigley has decided to dish out some of his fatherly advice, click below;

Fatherly Advice Quigley style!!!

 To be fair, Supervisor Quigley loves his afternoon cookie..or two, or three or sometimes four. Come to think of it by the looks of it so does Supervisor Myers, is that what Quigley teaches in politics 102?  It's Wednesday, Kelly does that mean  you reach for a choclate chip or a nutterbutter?  My guess is both but I digress.

Currently, Lt. Cruise is still the officer in charge but there still has not been a formal vote to make him Chief and everyday another name pops up for the job. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Nicky Woerner tries to get the job, or at the very least a spot in Quigley's government cookie class ( we hear he's a fig nutton type guy).  However, Lt. Cruise has picked up some important support from former Chief Watska who endorsed him to be Ulster's permanent top cop. This also rubbed Quigs the wrong way because it is in violation of  the Quigley School of politics 103, that states department heads and especially former department heads should be seen and not heard, in response to the Watska endorsement, Supervisor Quigley had this to say to the Freeman:


Supervisor James Quigley said Watzka should have encouraged the Town Board to follow established policy when appointing the next chief instead of making a public endorsement among candidates.

 “The letter is very disappointing from a person who led this department in a distinguished manner, who came in at a point and time when this department needed leadership, provided that leadership and organization, and now he’s advocating that we ignore the processes that were put in place under his leadership,” Quigley said.


There are a lot of things Quigley can describe as disappointing and they are all staring him right in the face. However, Watzka's letter should not be one of them.