As political party caucuses for the March 18 Saranac Lake village elections approach, voters of both major parties should remember that politicians are in the business of persuasion. While citizens running for office may try to convince the public that they are more closely aligned with one set of beliefs than others, there is no better way to tell their true allegiances than by analyzing the votes they cast in public office.

Since Saranac Lake’s current board of trustees was organized on April 15, 2024, trustees have voted on 372 separate resolutions and numerous procedural motions (to amend or table bills). While the majority of these votes were routine and unanimously approved, 44 resulted in at least one member “present and voting” disagreeing with the rest.

Tabulating the percentage of times each member of the board voted with each of the other board members on these contested votes yields the following: Trustee Sean Ryan showed the strongest affinity among trustees, voting 79.1% of the time with Mayor Jimmy Williams. This might be expected, as Ryan formerly worked at one of the mayor’s businesses and the mayor promoted then-candidate Ryan in the 2024 Republican caucus. Trustee Ryan also voted 79.1% of the time with Trustee Matt Scollin.

For his part, Trustee Scollin voted with Mayor Williams 74.4% of the time, the same percentage of agreement between Democrat Trustees Kelly Brunette and Aurora White. By contrast, Mayor Williams voted 20.9% and 2.3% of the time with Democrats Brunette and White, respectively. Scollin voted with Brunette 39.5% of the time, and with White 16.3%. The partisan gulf between Mayor Williams and Trustees Ryan and Scollin on one side and Trustees Brunette and White on the other, as reflected by their voting records, is wide.

Of the 44 contested votes cast by board members, Matt Scollin — who announced this week his intention to seek the Democratic Party line in his reelection bid — voted 26 times against both Democrats Brunette and White.

One particular vote where Trustee Scollin dissented from his Democratic board colleagues thwarted an effort to modify and strengthen Saranac Lake’s workplace harassment policy.

Mayor Williams appointed Scollin Deputy Mayor in 2023, following the mayor’s altercation with Saranac Lake’s former village manager. Mayor Williams put Deputy Mayor Scollin in charge of investigating the incident.

Also, just one week after shootings by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement officers in Portland, Oregon and Minneapolis, Minnesota — where Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, lost her life — it is worth highlighting another resolution where Trustee Scollin voted against the board’s two Democrats.

Last year, Trustee White sponsored Resolutions 88-2025 and 119-2025, assuring village residents that the village police department would not use its resources or personnel to assist federal forces in enforcing immigration efforts, a resolution consistent with village police policy. Trustee Scollin voted with Mayor Williams and Trustee Ryan to kill both bills.

In their place, Trustee Scollin offered an altered version of White’s bill, Resolution 126-2025, which removed the key language, “… the Village of Saranac Lake Police Department and its officers shall not perform or support the functions of a federal immigration officer or otherwise engage in the enforcement of federal immigration law.”

Trustee Scollin began his political career working for former Congressman Bill Owens before switching over to become regional director for Congresswoman Elise Stefanik. Perhaps he learned from the congresswoman, who evolved from a GOP centrist to full-on MAGA, how to blow with the prevailing political winds.

Trustee Scollin may now claim to have returned to the Democratic fold, but his voting record over the past two years suggests otherwise.

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Mark Wilson lives in Saranac Lake.