Yepsen to make decision on try for Saratoga Springs mayor

PHOTOGRAPHER: David Lombardo

Democrat Joanne Yepsen will announce Monday whether she is running for mayor or seeking re-election to her post as one of two Saratoga Springs representatives on the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors.

She was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2005 and won a fourth-term in 2011 without any opposition.

Yepsen previously told The Daily Gazette that there was a lot of encouragement for her to run for mayor. At that time, Yepsen said the question she was asking herself was, “What can I do for my city in the future?”

The city’s Democratic Committee chairman, Charlie Brown, has said that Yepsen had an “exploratory committee” helping her decide whether to run for mayor or her supervisor job.

Her inner circle includes Steve Napier, a Democratic political consultant who most recently worked on the successful mayoral campaign of Lou Rosamilia in Troy. He had some connection with Yepsen’s state Senate bid in 2010, when she lost to Roy McDonald.

“I will be working with Joanne throughout this election season,” Napier said in an email on Friday.

Yepsen’s decision-making process was thrown a curve ball last month when current Mayor Scott Johnson, a Republican, announced he would not seek a fourth term in office. It’s not clear who the Republican nominee would be.

If Yepsen decides to run for mayor, she could be starting in a monetary hole, with her supervisor’s campaign committee carrying a negative balance of $3,240, according to the January filing with the state Board of Elections.

In an email, Yepsen said the negative balance is an error that is in the process of being corrected by her treasurer. According to records with the state Board of Elections, though, this campaign committee has had a negative balance since the fall of 2011.

State Board of Elections spokesman John Conklin said the negative balance was probably a mistake with the filing.

“They probably need to amend a previous filing or reload a previous filing to correct the mistake,” Conklin said. “A negative balance, by itself, is not a violation of the law, however it may indicate a larger problem and it certainly would be a problem for transparency with regard to the filings.”

The announcement is scheduled for noon at Lillian’s Restaurant.