The Schenectady County Sheriff’s Office on Friday charged 59-year-old Michael Coleman with fourth-degree criminal mischief in connection with the vandalism.

The vandalism was first reported on Oct. 1 at the corner of Main Street and U.S. Route 20 in Duanesburg, but Coleman did not remember when exactly the incident occurred when he confessed to the vandalism, according to Schenectady County Sheriff’s Detective Peter Minahan. Office.

Schenectady Republican Committee Chairman Thomas Kennedy plans to file federal hate crime charges in civil court against the chief financial officer of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region.

“When you portray someone as Hitler or Nazis, it’s so dehumanizing and for this person to do that is really despicable,” Kennedy said.

Comparisons to Nazism in American politics have long been called out by anti-Jewish hate groups as inherently inappropriate. The genocide between 1941 and 1945 resulted in the deaths of approximately six million Jews.

Locally, the shadowy group The Kennedy Project, which ran a social media campaign against then-state Senate candidate Michelle Ostrelich, and former GOP Schenectady City Council candidate Jeff Moore were sentenced in 2022 and 2023, respectively. because they made political analogies with the Nazi regime.

Rabbi Matthew Cutler of Congregation Gates of Heaven in Schenectady said it is imperative to report any accusation of this nature, regardless of ideology (the cult leader is liberal). Aligning the symbol against a political enemy, he said, diminishes “the message of history” and ignores the pain felt in the Jewish community.

“I can’t speak for Donald Trump because I can’t understand some of the things he does,” Cutler said. “It confuses me, but I know that my response has to be one of very clear messages and I have to live up to my own personal standards – and invoking symbols of hate is not the way to do it.”

New York/New Jersey Anti-Defamation League regional director Scott Richman said he’s seen plenty of Nazi symbols emblazoned on objects ranging from bathroom stalls to lawn signs. Although the intent and context differ from case to case, he noted, the use generally has a negative impact.

“It’s not just downplaying the Holocaust,” Richman said. “It undermines World War II. You’re somehow comparing Trump’s actions to World War II and what the Nazis did, which is horrible.”

Schenectady County Democratic Committee Chairman Frank Salamone said in a statement that he did not know Coleman or the alleged vandalism well enough to comment on who committed the “despicable act.”

“As we have previously stated, there is no place in our democratic process for criminal activity – and the use of Nazi imagery is all the more abhorrent,” Salamone said. “I trust that the criminal justice system will hold the appropriate person or persons accountable.”

Salamone specified that Coleman is not associated with the county Democratic committee.

Coleman is a registered independent, according to online records from the New York State Board of Elections.

The Duanesburg resident has publicly shared progressive and anti-GOP views on social media. He shared a Reuters article about pro-Israel supporters clashing with pro-Palestinian supporters at UCLA, posting: “How ironic. Israelis are also attacking Palestinians in the US.”

Aside from online political speech, he spent nearly 15 years as an accounting specialist in the non-profit sector, according to LinkedIn. The Purdue University graduate’s career has taken him from Indiana to the Hudson Valley to the Albany area.

It began working with the Ronald McDonald House of the Capital Region in April 2020. The group is dedicated to providing support to families and children facing medical challenges in the Albany area.

“I recognize that the Ronald McDonald House has a lot of good things going on in Albany, and for this guy to do what he did is certainly inconsistent with their mission,” Kennedy argued. “I would think they’d be just as upset (with him).”

Capital Region RMHC did not respond to a request for comment. Coleman also did not respond to a request for comment.

The fourth-degree criminal mischief charge was dropped the same week Coleman was also charged with petit larceny for allegedly stealing Conservative campaign signs at the corner of Herrick Road and Courtney Drive.

After Kennedy noticed a bunch of signs missing from the venue in October, party officials placed a hidden camera in a nearby tree. On November 4 and 5, the camera allegedly captured images of Coleman bending over and grabbing signs. The case was handled by state police.

Coleman is scheduled to be arraigned in Duanesburg District Court on both charges on Dec. 4.

The charges follow what has been a contentious campaign season peppered with moments of tension and allegations of theft of local campaign materials among Democrats and Republicans from Johnstown to Saratoga Springs. Kennedy said hundreds of signs went missing during the height of the campaign season.

Conservative Assembly candidate Joseph Mastroianni allegedly stole an email from his opponent, MP Angelo Santabarbara, at a residence in Scotland in mid-October, according to Ring camera footage obtained at the scene. He too was eventually charged with petty theft.

In early November, a Schenectady school district employee sent Mastroianni a letter filled with extremist rhetoric calling for “Death to all who secure our border” and describing all his supporters as traitors. Santabarbara received an angry letter from the individual in 2022 as well.

“We need to denounce this at the strongest levels,” Kennedy said.

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