Horton’s pre-Troy career was entirely in partisan political operations: Campaign Manager for Republican Supreme Court candidate Thomas Marcelle in 2022, then Field Representative for U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro until Molinaro lost his seat in November 2024. No journalism. No government communications. No records law. Carmella hired him the next month.
At the April 23, 2026 council meeting, Horton testified that his only FOIL training was a single in-house walkthrough of the GovQA software portal. He could not recall the name of the staffer who conducted it. Corporation Counsel Morrissey, who also could not recall his own FOIL training, confirmed he had trained Horton on which exemptions apply.
The record: a resident emailed Horton twice about removed park benches and received no response. His FOIL request came back with no records. A second resident’s FOIL request received nothing. The State Committee on Open Government was “dumbfounded” by the city’s Flock camera denials. Horton had been in the role four months when the first complaints were documented. They have not stopped.
Sources: Troy City Council Law Committee and Finance Meeting, April 23, 2026 (transcript); Troy City Council Regular Meeting, January 8, 2026 (transcript); Troy City Council Committee Night and Finance Meeting, May 21, 2025 (transcript); Mayor Mantello Announces Hiring of City Communications Director, troyny.gov; LegiStorm — Alex Horton