TRR photo by David Hulse Incoming District 9 Legislator, Republican Jim Carnell, is pictured taking his oath of office from County Clerk George Cooke during a December 5 ceremony at the government center. Carnell, who won the election last month, was on hand the following day as Republicans helped appoint Joann MacKinnon to a vacant District 4 seat. (Click for larger image)

Legislature is back at full strength

By DAVID HULSE

MONTICELLO — The Sullivan County Legislature returned to its full nine-member roster on December 6 when Joann MacKinnon, widow of the district’s late representative Gordon MacKinnon, was appointed by a deeply split 5-2-1 vote.

MacKinnon’s appointment brought on charges of deal-making by one member of the Mamakating Democratic Committee. District 4 is solely located in Mamakating and, shortly after MacKinnon’s death, Legislative chair Rusty Pomeroy (D-3) said the Legislature would seek recommendations for a replacement from the town’s Democratic committee. The committee, by a 7-4 vote, had turned aside MacKinnon’s candidacy and chosen Jonathan Rouis as its candidate for the appointment.

Speaking before a special meeting of the Legislature, Mamakating Democratic Committee chair George DeSio pressed for their selection and threatened to support a Republican candidate in the next election if MacKinnon was appointed. “She is a vicious, vicious person,” he said of MacKinnon.

MacKinnon did not attend the session.

The Legislature’s majority Democratic caucus earlier had agreed with the Mamakating choice, supporting Rouis, but only by a 3-2 margin.

This left the deciding votes in the hands of the Republican majority, who were still smarting from the Democrats appointed replacement of resigned Republican District 9 Legislator Steven Kurlander, with Democrat Sean Reiber.

DeSio claimed their voting for MacKinnon was a deal to help insure the votes to reappoint Pomeroy as chairman in January.

County Republican Chairman Greg Goldstein would give no specifics other than to say that, “Yes, we considered it and we believe we’d be better served by Mr. Pomeroy’s reappointment.”

But minority leader Rodney Gaebel (RC-5) said, “no way.” Gaebel said the three Republicans simply voted their consciences and no deal of any kind had been made.

The issue came to the floor on Thursday when Chris Cunningham (DC-1) asked the Republicans to abstain from the appointment vote, which he said should be the decision of Democrats replacing a Democrat.

But Gaebel rejected Cunningham’s argument, recalling that this was the second time a replacement vote came up and the last time, when a Republican was replaced, Republican candidates were not even interviewed. “You have short memory about the first time,” he concluded.

Gaebel, Jodi Goodman (RC-6) and the Jim Carnell (RC-9) joined Democrats Bob Kunis (D-8) and Pomeroy in supporting MacKinnon, while Cunningham and Kathy LaBuda (D-2) were in opposition.

Leni Binder (D-7), who was said to have supported Rouis in caucus voting, said she was honoring the position of the Mamakating committee by abstaining.

MacKinnon would have to seek election to the remainder of her husband’s term next fall and then seek election to the full term when the entire legislature is elected in 2003.

In unrelated business earlier, the Public Works Committee voted to reverse the county’s earlier, decision to close their Monticello landfill and agreed to go ahead with a $25 million expansion project. Sullivan must acquire an adjoining easterly, 90-acre parcel, which is needed for the so-called, “over-fill” expansion, that involves using older cells as the base of a larger crowning cell.