Ex-Glenville Chief, author of controversial Troy PD report, is frequent GOP donor

State Board of Elections records reveal that ex-Glenville Police Chief Michael Ranalli, the author of a controversial rebuttal report claiming that Troy Police Sgt. Randall French did not lie to internal affairs officers investigating the shooting death of unarmed civilian Edson Thevenin, is a frequent donor to local Republicans, having given over $1,500 to Republican candidates for state and municipal office since 2008.

Foremost amongst Ranalli's contributions is nearly $600 given to Glenville Supervisor and County GOP boss Chris Koetzle; another $110 was given to the Koetzle-alligned Focus on Glenville committee.  No such contributions were made to Koetzle's predecessor, Frank Quinn, who was Supervisor when Ralalli was appointed police chief in June 2006.

Ranalli was closely linked to Koetzle during his tenure in Glenville, having been appointed to a four-man senior management committee in one of Koetzle's first decisions as Supervisor.  Also appointed to the committee was Town Attorney Michael Cuevas, a longtime GOP operative and current candidate for State Supreme Court; records show that Ranalli was also a contributor to Cuevas's 2015 campaign for Schenectady City Council.

Koetzle and Cuevas's former employer, the State Assembly's Republican conference, has also been a significant beneficiary of Ranalli's political contributions, with $125 going to then-Assemblyman Jim Tedisco and another $650 to Long Island's Michael Fitzpatrick.  Ranalli's personal contributions to Assembly Republicans pale in comparison, however, to those of relatives residing in his Niskayuna household, which account for a whopping $4,685 in combined contributions to Fitzpatrick's committee and the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee since 2000.

Odd how suburban Republican parties in Schenectady County being in the pocket of the police always seems to slip under the radar...