Who’s The Boss?

State Fair Hound recently sent an inquiry to the New York State Fair asking why it has been over a month since the most recent announcement of an act being added to the Fair lineup. We hadn’t received a reply when NewsChannel 9 on Wednesday reported the shocking news that Director Troy Waffner no longer holds that post. Channel 9 reported that Waffner had been on leave from his job as director for about eight weeks.

No explanation has been revealed by the Governor’s office, though syracuse.com reported that “Several vendors and other sources familiar with the State Fair have told syracuse.com that Waffner has seemed to be under pressure to drive harder bargains on fees and related deals with vendors, especially those who book fairgrounds space outside the actual duration of the fair itself.”

So it sounds like Waffner was removed by the Governor due to policy changes and perhaps disagreement about how the Fair should conduct its business. But Gov. Hopeful clearly has a lot to learn about the New York State Fair, especially if she thinks that a replacement or interim director can slide into the job fewer than 100 days prior to opening day and have no problem. Waffner is a real pro with substantial experience and expertise that is essential to meet the substantial demands of the job.

For this year, Sean Hennessey, an assistant commissioner with the state Department of Transportation, will direct the Fair. Prior to his appointment to DOT in December of 2015, Hennessey had been a state regional building supervisor and a commissioner of elections for Jefferson County, but it doesn’t look like he has experience that would lend itself to managing the Fair.

Yikes.

Is the Gov going to provide any further information on why this change is being made and especially, why it’s being made now? If she was dissatisfied with Waffner, she could have replaced him months ago, but since she didn’t it seems only logical that she would keep him on for this year rather than bring in an unproven replacement. Troy isn’t in a position to disclose any grievance he may have since he will remain employed by Ag and Markets, but we strongly suspect that he’s not happy with the events.

Three months from now, the State Fair will be underway. Although Fair spokesman Dave Bullard gave Channel 9 a positive spin, we’re not buying it. Those of us who love our Fair have every reason to be apprehensive about how it will go. We hope that Hennessey will have the good sense to lean heavily on the unsung staff members who work diligently every year to make the Fair great.

But this change, at this time may indicate that he will instead be beholden to politicians and bureaucrats who try to manipulate the Fair from Albany. Gov. Hopeful has the authority to do that, but she has to be willing to accept the consequences for failures and problems it causes. She’s already given us reason to doubt her judgment and competence with this ill-advised, poorly-timed move.

State Fair Hound wishes Troy Waffner the best. He was a top-notch director and a class guy who deserves better than this.

We’re still waiting for more announcements on what we’ll see at the Fair while wondering what else hasn’t been done during this transition and how the Fair will be affected. It’s a scary time for Fair fans.