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October 10, 2005

Woodbury race heats up

By Brendan Scott Times Herald-Record bscott@th-record.com Woodbury –

To the patchwork of communities tucked in these rocky hills, it must sometimes seem as if the Orange County Legislature's 14th District is a land besieged. To the south looms the nuclear power plant at Indian Point with its 10-mile evacuation zone. To the east sits West Point, which brings jobs and prestige but withholds thousands of acres from the tax rolls. To the west are the traffic conundrum of Woodbury Common and the exponential growth of Kiryas Joel. It should be no surprise, then, that both candidates vying to represent this area in the county Legislature approach their campaigns with a certain siege mentality. Over the years, Ralph Caruso and Roxanne Donnery have each gained a reputation for aggressively assessing and pursuing each new threat to this area's cherished quality of life. That shared tenacity might explain why the two have so often clashed over matters of politics, motivation and approach. On Nov. 8, they'll go head-to-head for the second time in four years, a rematch sure to be among this year's most-watched local races. For Caruso, this race is just the latest step in a 35-year quest to gain a voice in the community he first moved to "to mind my own business; own my little piece of land." But whatever pretense of seclusion Caruso had soon vanished after the faucets in his new house belched brown water, and his neighborhood had to fight to get municipal water. Caruso said he was "introduced to a government that wasn't as responsive as it should be." Since then, Caruso has been a fixture at all manner of public meetings, where he often rails against taxes or some zoning issue. As legislator, he promises to challenge the county budget process, fight for a larger share of county sales tax revenue and push the county to investigate the urban planning practices of the Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel. These are things Caruso says Donnery should have accomplished after two terms in Goshen. "She's been there eight years," he said one recent afternoon while handing out palm cards at the post office near his Highland Mills home. "What has she done?" Donnery will tell you she has done everything that others in power told her she couldn't – or shouldn't – do. Last year, the Democrat was among a handful of lawmakers who pressed the county to sue the politically influential Village of Kiryas Joel over its plan to tap the New York City aqueduct. She displayed a similar drive in the mid-1990s as president of the Highland Falls school board while advocating for more federal impact aid from West Point. But Donnery says it was while protecting her mentally ill older brother on the school bus that she "learned to take on bullies." "Who's your opponent?" a patron of the Fort Montgomery post office asked Donnery during one of her campaign stops. "His name is Ralph Caruso," she said, pausing to smile, "and he's a bully." While this is a county election, it can hardly be separated from local politics. Caruso heads the Republican committee that refused to support the party's incumbent candidates for Woodbury Town Board. He also works for state Sen. Bill Larkin, R-Cornwall-on-Hudson, who must face Kiryas Joel's potent block vote every two years. Each could prove to be a liability for Caruso. "He would have a hard time taking a stance, when his Senator, who he works for, has put so many dollars into that community," Donnery said. "His actions are what helped empower the bloc vote." Caruso, however, says his public opposition to Kiryas Joel's expansion confirms his independence. His only motivation, he said, is preserving the quality of life of a district surrounded by threats. "I do what I believe is right," Caruso said.