[caption id="attachment_8443" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Art Baer, captured in a news image about a Hillsdale bank opening."][/caption]Hillsdale supervisor and former Board of Supervisors chairman and budget officer Art Baer, who tussled with Republican and Conservative party chiefs at the end of 2010 over their decisions about county government precluding direct board actions, has abandoned his lifelong role as a Republican to officially change his Board of Elections party affiliation to independent. “At this point and time, even though I have a lot of respect for the Republican supervisors and the Board of Supervisors, I think the county Republican Party is off-base and wrongheaded, and are not focused on the issues that are facing the majority of residents in the county,” Baer said in a Register-Star story about his move on February 1. “From my perspective I think I can continue to serve the rest of Hillsdale by being independent.



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Baer was elected as Hillsdale supervisor in 2003 and 2007; in 2007 he ran as a representative of the Conservative and Hillhttp://www.columbiapaper.com/index.php/the-news/1804-by-diane-valdensdale First parties when his candidacy wasn’t backed by either the Democratic or Republican parties. Baer said it was “more than likely” he’d run for Hillsdale supervisor again. Columbia County Republican Party Chairman Greg Fingar didn’t return phone calls seeking comment before press time. Another supervisor, former Democratic minority leader Jesse DeGroodt, also recently changed his affiliation to no party when he resigned as minority leader in December.