Throw The Bums Out! Again And Again!

Way back in the distant past (about 6 years ago???) Sue Kelly was our Congresswoman. Then she decided that KJ's votes were more important than those from the rest of us. We bounced her out of office and voted in John Hall.

Then Hall made the same mistake as Kelly so we bounced him out of office and voted in Nan Hayworth.

Hayworth decided that voting with her party was more important than voting for her distrrict. After Irene she voted against FEMA funds that we desperately needed.

On taxes, jobs, equal pay and most other issues she's ignored the district and looked to her caucus instead. 
It's time to bounce her.

Does that mean that Sean Patrick Maloney will do a better job? Dunno. But we do know that if he doesn't we can bounce him too.

We have to make the point that we demand accountability and that we will bounce every single Congressman we get unless and until the message gets through.

Incumbency only means that you have a record that we can grade.

And we plan to grade harshly!

Ralph Of The Living Dead

Ralph Walks.

And talks.  And lies.

Yay!

Welcome back Ralph.

For those of you who have missed Ralph's last minute lie,  it's back!!!!

Here it is:

It's truly lovely.  At least one lie per paragraph.  Let's take a closer look:

Don't be fooled by James Skoufis‘ color brochures and commercials. He can afford them because he accepted $72,000 from Sheldon Silver for his campaign. So if he is elected to the Assembly, what do you think he is going to vote for  . Whatever Sheldon Silver tells him to. He is just using Woodbury as his stepping stone to Albany

So, James has the support of the Democrats.  How'd that happen?  Is Ralph claiming that Roddey doesn't have the support of his own party?  But that's the small one,  the wonderful point here is Ralph has figured (all by himself?) that James is running for the Assembly as part of a secret plan to get to Albany.  Holy Hambones!

Most importantly, over the last three years, Skoufis has voted for a resolution to dissolve the Village of Woodbury. The Village is our sole protection that prevents the hasids or any other groups from establishing their own village within the town. If elected, he will continue to try to dissolve the village.

Actually, James, along with Ralph's own buddies on the Town Board, asked Albany to make the Town and Village a single political unit.  This would still pervent any new villages in Woodbury.

Skoufis also forced the lnitiative Law on the town. Briefly, in order to bring an issue to the town board for a second time, you need to collect hundreds of signatures and petition the board in order for them  to consider for a second time. This useless and senseless law was introduced by Skoufis as a payback to the independence Party for listing his name on their ballot line duringa previous election.

OK, this one is sooooooooooo stupid it proves this letter came from Ralph.  The Town Board has always had the right to introduce  any resolution it likes once, twice, seventeen times.  But the public has only been able to beg the Board to consider its issues.  What the Initiative law does is give the public the power to demand (by petition) that the board consider something the public wants.  It gives the public a way to get the Board's attention.  Or as Ralph calls it "useless and senseless."

Skoufis has preached increasing the hourly wage, decreasing taxes, but has no plan as to who will pay for the cost. You will pay for the shortfall in higher taxes and prices.  

I love the idea that you will pay for tax cuts by paying high taxes.

While taking credit for helping victims of Hurricane Irene, it actually was the the Woodbury Community Association that raised most of the money.

How dare more than one group help people in need!?!

Skoufis claims to scrutinize the town budget line-by-line, but the town budget is actually prepared by the Town Supervisor and his department heads. He has little, if any, input on the budget.  

Ralph was actually once on the Town Board (quite briefly), but why assume he paid any attention to what his job was.  Yes, the budget is PREPARED by the Supervisor.  The Supervisor then must submit the budget to the members Town Board, who look at it (line by line if they're doing their job responsibly) and then vote whether or not to accept it.  Sleep through that part, Ralphie?

Finally, in desperation, he continues to bash Assemblywoman Calhoun and Senator Larkin over collecting.their salaries and pensions which the law entitles them to. But on August.16, 2012Skoufis voted to authorize the Supervisor to submit a Section  211 waiver to the NYS Civil Service Commission so that the new Woodbury Police Chief could double-dip as well collecting his NYC pension and his salary as chief.

     

OK Ralph, listen closely (or ask the Ankle Biter to explain):  Your boss, State Sen. Bill Larkin, is collecting his State Senate salary and his State Senate pension at the same time.  He's getting paid for the same job twice.  Legal?  Yes.  Ethical?   Less certain.  The Chief worked for the NYPD for decades.  He retired.  He gets a pension.  He took a new job here.  He gets paid.  Follow?  Two different jobs.

l strongly urge you to vote for Kyle Roddy for the NYS Assembly on the Republican line. He has real municipal experience in public administration and will diligently represent our Town in Albany. 

 

Geez Ralph, at least learn how to spell Roddey's name!

The Clam Before The Storm

Caruso Denounces Larkin

Ralph Caruso, in a daring break from his meal ticket, has made a pursuasive argument for kicking State Senator, and reknowned double-dipper, Bill Larkin, out of office.

In this week's Woodbury Gazette Caruso argues that we must judge candidates by the endorsements they accept.  For years the political leaders of Kiryas Joel have endorsed Larkin.  Caruso himself has denounced those same KJ leaders.

The implication is unavoidable.

Kudos Ralph!

Assembling A Split Ticket

So, here are the first two of the Uncle’s endorsements (fat lot of good it will do the candidates).

For the Assembly in the 97th AD we’re going with Annie Rabbitt. She actually has been available to constituents and actually listens (or does a damn fine job of faking it). This matters. Of even greater importance this time around, she’s not Gerry McQuade – if you have any difficulty understanding the import of that, listen to the recording in the post below.

In the 99th AD, the Uncle smiles upon Woodbury’s own James Skoufis. He’s been a terrific member of the town board (to the degree that that board allows terrificness to flourish). His newsletters have actually been informative (as well as being a wonderful substitute for our actually writing something original for this blog). From the start he understood that constituent services meant actually doing stuff for townspeople. Wow, now that’s a concept!

If we want to encourage responsive office holders and discourage the other sort, voting for these two folks seems like a good idea.

Assemblers Dissemble!

Gerry McQuade, Democratic candidate in the 98th Assembly District, promises the Kiryas Joel community that he is with them on all their issues and will be their voice in Albany:

In The Public Interest?

The Monroe Town Board is about to vote to accept KJ's and Ziggy Brach's annexation petition.

And why shouldn't they, you might ask.  After all, it minutely increases Monroe's tax base.

Well, for starters the petition is legally deficient.  It makes no case for the annexation to go forward. 

And there is a good case to be made that, by claiming that there is no environmental impact, it is an example of segmentation, which is illegal under SEQRA.*

Further, Monroe's board (and Woodbury Town and Village Boards) must consider if the annexation is in the general public interest, not merely Monroe's.

So why does the Uncle expect the Monroe Town Board to vote yes?   Any guesses?

*Segemnation occurs when you deliberately break an action down into smaller parts in order to evade SEQRA (State Environmental Quality  Review Act).

Woodbury rejects annexation request

HIGHLAND MILLS — A request by the Village of Kiryas Joel and a member of the orthodox Satmar Jewish community to annex land from the town of Woodbury failed last week to win approval from the Woodbury Town Board.


Board members rejected the request to carve out more than a dozen acres of land from Woodbury, citing a lack of evidence that the annexation would result in a “unity of purposes and facilities,” according to the minutes.

The board also pointed to a suspicion that the proposed annexation was designed to bypass local laws and zoning rules of Woodbury in making their decision.

“We did tremendous due diligence and our conclusion was that annexation was not in the best interest of Woodbury,” Supervisor John Burke said. “We just felt we had a number of excellent reasons for the decision. One doesn’t stand out more than another.”

Of the five members on the Woodbury council, four voted against the request.

Councilman Frank Palermo, who was absent due to a personal matter, sent an e-mail to the council stating his opposition to the request for annexation, Burke said.

Zigmund Brach joined with the Village of Kiryas Joel this summer to try and annex some 12 to 14 acres of Brach’s land on the western side of a ridge occupied mostly by the citizens of Kiryas Joel.

Two large water towers serving Kiryas Joel sit on a half-acre portion of the property.

The petition requests the entire tract be annexed to the Town of Monroe, of which the village of Kiryas Joel is a part.

Members of the Monroe’s council have not yet voted on the request.

The 90-day window for the towns to decide on the request will lapse in the coming week, Burke said.

Should Monroe’s council vote in favor of the request, Brach and the Village of Kiryas Joel may appeal the Woodbury’s denial, Burke said.

“The two petitioners have a right to appeal if they are not happy with the vote,” Burke said. “If it’s appealed then we’ll decide how we want to be involved.”


By Joshua Rosenau - Photo News

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