Callicoon deserves better

To the editor:

When the three Republicans on the Town of Callicoon Town Board killed the town’s hopes of getting free electricity for years to come, they claimed they were acting in the interest of the taxpayer. In fact, they left Callicoon taxpayers on the hook for thousands of dollars in engineering fees. These expenses would have been covered by a state grant if the town had gone forward with the project.

In all, the board rejected well over a quarter of a million dollars in grants and incentives, and increased the financial burden on town residents. But did they really save New York State taxpayers any money as they claim?

Not a dime. The $125,000 grant from assemblywoman Aileen Gunther won’t go back into the till; it will go somewhere else. Another town will get that money. And New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) incentives can only be used to fund renewable energy projects, so that money will go someplace else too.

So if the Republicans on the board weren’t really saving the taxpayers any money, what were they up to? The only logical explanation is that they were trying to advance their own political agenda—by derailing a project that had been championed by supervisor Linda Babicz.

This isn’t the first time Callicoon residents have had to pay a price for partisan politics. When Republican supervisor Greg Semenetz was defeated in the last election, Republicans on the board immediately created a paid position and hired him to fill it. Although Mr. Semenetz had been fired by the voters, his Republican cronies wanted to make sure the town’s taxpayers had to pay to keep him around anyway.

Callicoon residents are paying a very high price for cronyism and hardball partisan politics; we deserve better.

Conflicts of interest in Pike election

To the editor:

In the March 1, 2007 River Reporter, an editorial, “Keeping conflicts of interest out of elections,” bemoaned “(t)he controversy over the recently appointed director of elections in Pike County.…” Since then, Pike Democrats have warned against the corrupting conflict of interest in Mrs. Yolanda Goldsack’s presence as Director of Elections.

We predicted trouble this year with her husband, Bob Goldsack, a candidate for office. Sadly, these predictions were realized. The favoritism Mrs. Goldsack showed by accepting her husband’s flawed petition to be placed in nomination as a Democrat in the upcoming election means not only Mrs. Goldsack has violated the law by failing to adequately inspect all petitions, but also suggests she has acted the political operative instead of the neutral public servant.

It is past time for Mrs. Goldsack to be replaced. A deafening silence rings from the Pike County Board of Commissioners on this. Where does it stand on conflict of interest? Are the commissioners not fully dedicated to democracy? Could it be that Mrs. Goldsack’s continued presence is but the symptom of an underlying problem? Could the real pathogen lie in her superiors’ negligence? Her removal would go a long way to settling that concern.

At the very least, the Pike County Commissioners should require that Mrs. Goldsack recluse herself from this election cycle. In defense of the democratic process, it is time for all voters to demand that the Pike County Commissioners serve the public interest in free, fair and efficiently conducted elections by removing Mrs. Goldsack from her position. In the words of the same editorial cited above, “…when it comes to something as important as our votes, election officials ought to be, like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion.” Mrs. Goldsack is hardly above suspicion. She is tainted.

Greenlaw for school board

To the editor:

Bill Greenlaw is one of the most qualified candidates running for Delaware Valley (DV) School Board. Though Greenlaw’s name hasn’t appeared on the ballot before, he is no stranger to our community and our school board.

As a single dad of children currently attending our DV schools, Bill has made time between his son’s swim meets to still be a part of school board meetings for years. At meetings, Bill respectfully offers his ideas to the board. These ideas often come to fruition, such as revamping and publicizing the student handbooks on the DV website.

Greenlaw believes strongly in accountability and integrity among public officials. He pushed for videoconferencing of the school board meetings a couple years ago, and that vision of Greenlaw’s was realized by the school board.

Greenlaw is an independent thinker who is willing to listen to everyone’s viewpoint. He told me once he doesn’t care if someone is a Democrat or Republican, nor if someone agrees with his opinions. He asks everyone he knows to vote and be an active citizen. He exemplifies good citizenship and patriotism.

Finally, Bill is a policy expert. Bill is such a knowledgeable person because he always carefully listens to everyone’s opinions, attends nearly every school board meeting, reads the local news with a critical eye and analyzes every public document and statement from our school district.

On May 19, vote Bill Greenlaw for DV school board. He truly deserves our votes.

Vote “no” on eliminating highway superintendent

To the editor:

The upcoming May 19 vote on proposed elimination of the elected town highway superintendent to in favor of a Department of Public Works is a flawed concept at best. In reality, this idea that has been the brain child of our state government, as seen in the rejected proposal in this year’s state budget. That was the front door attack on the concept of local home rule by the New York City powers that control our state government.

The second path that has taken root in our township is based in advice to our town board. This idea came from the Association of Towns of the State of New York, a state-sponsored advisory group to local government. Its agenda is set by the political powers in Albany, wishing to eliminate as many aspects of local government as possible to make it easier for their own ideas to be imposed on us. The old joke, “I am here from Albany to help you,” resonates with regard to this decision before you, the voters in the Town of Tusten, whether to keep your elected officials.

To sell this idea as promoting more effective town government is misrepresentation, like the promises of a used car salesman. It’s a bad idea, in plain simple English. It’s a power grab in which you lose. Please vote “no” on May 19 for the good of our town.