Dennis Kessler is not a happy guy. Although he wasn't one of the finalists chosen by the Monroe Community College search committees, Kessler eventually made a favorable impression on many students and faculty. He was seen as a local candidate that the MCC Board of Trustees could agree on - a compromise choice for college president.

But in its meeting on Saturday, the board was deadlocked, unable to choose between Kessler and former Monroe County Legislator Bill Smith. (The board failed to nominate another candidate, Broome Community College President Laurence Spraggs.)

Now the board will start the search process again. And Saturday's result may affirm what critics have been saying all along: that some Republicans are manipulating the search to give the post to Smith.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Kessler said he was discouraged that the board wasn't able to choose a president on Saturday. And he called the board's selection process "politically charged."

"Looking at the outcome," he said, "I don't think you can come to any other conclusion."

"It's a very big disappointment to me," Kessler said. "It's not so much that it is a personal disappointment. It's a disappointment for the community, a disappointment for students and faculty."

If the board had selected Spraggs, Kessler said, "I would have been the first to congratulate him."

Kessler said it is unfair to put him in the same category as Smith.

"I applied legitimately," he said. "I was the first choice for Finger Lakes Community College. The negotiations broke down in the contractual stage. This was the only other position I applied for, and I feel I was dumped on and lumped into the controversy by everyone, including your paper."

At Saturday's board meeting, the 10-member board was evenly split between Kessler and Smith. David Ladwig, Mike Nuccitelli, Richard Washof, Ilene Flaum, and Lori Van Dusen voted for Kessler. Richard Guon, Wayne Zyra, Kenneth Goode, Richard Mackey, and John Parrinello voted for Smith.

Parrinello nominated Smith against a backdrop of jeers and booing. Two search committees had determined that he was not qualified to be MCC's president, and the push for his candidacy has been widely viewed as political cronyism. Parrinello and Guon are long-time Republican Party loyalists, Zyra is president of the Republican-dominated County Legislature, and both Richard Mackey and Kenneth Goode worked for previous Republican Monroe County administrations.

"By appointing Mr. Smith, I feel we fail as a board for this college," Van Dusen said.

Smith and Kessler were added to the list of finalists after some board members, led by Parrinello, publicly complained about the absence of local candidates. Since Kessler is local, the GOP's rationale for sticking by Smith seems to have evaporated.

The process now shifts to finding an interim president. The MCC board will send a recommendation to the SUNY chancellor for approval. The interim president cannot be considered for the permanent post.

Shifting the presidential search to one for an interim president hurts the Upstate area, Kessler said.

"An interim president does no good," he said. "That's merely a caretaker's position. And Upstate is in critical condition. MCC's leadership is needed here. We need an advocate for the college and the community at this critical time."