Last week, the Democratic candidate for County Executive, Dan French, announced his opposition to the use of fracking to recover natural gas from shale deposits in New York State. He said, “The time for moratoriums and half measures is past.” He went on to call for an outright ban on fracking because of its...
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Shame on the Republicans in the Dutchess County Legislature. On April 7, they tabled ground-breaking domestic violence legislation (introduced by the Democratic legislative minority) that would have begun the process of GPS tracking of alleged abusers. They did not even allow discussion. Assistant Majority Leader Angela Flesland even had the audacity to suggest that...
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By William McCabe As Americans, our deep concern goes to the people of Japan as they cope with the triple-disaster of the earthquake, the tsunami, and the subsequent radiation leaks from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. We admire the dignity and calm which the Japanese people have shown in their response to these tragic...
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The Poughkeepsie Journal covered U.S. Rep. Nan Hayworth’s talk with business leaders (“Hayworth talks business with local leaders, Feb. 4). In the article the congresswoman stated the following: “If you look at the expenditures in the so-called stimulus — nearly a trillion dollars that have not had perceptible net benefits for the Hudson Valley.”...
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At its January 24th meeting of the Dutchess County Legislature, the Republican majority once more confirmed its commitment to the dubious practice of gerrymandering the boundary lines of the legislative districts in which they will make their own bids for re-election.
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January 21st marks the first anniversary of the unfortunate 5-4 “Citizens United vs. The Federal Elections Commission” decision of the Supreme Court that gave the rights of personhood to corporations and shifted more political power and influence to lobbyists and large corporations. This decision ranks among the worst decisions in the Court’s history. In...
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Every so often in politics, a legislative body comes together and passes a good government reform – something that places the voters’ interest ahead of political gain. This happened in 2009, when the Dutchess County Legislature’s Democrats were joined by a Conservative and three Republicans in passing a law that created independent redistricting procedures...
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In 2009, the Dutchess County Legislature, led by Democrats with bipartisan support, passed a law creating an independent redistricting process. There would have been equal representation from both parties, inherently promoting compromise. Instead of embracing this nonpartisan effort, on Dec. 7 the Republican supermajority repealed independent redistricting, moving us backward into an era of...
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We object to Ron Ray’s letter, “Dems need a leader: Tyner, not Goldberg” (Dec. 4). Dutchess County Minority Leader Sandy Goldberg is an exemplary public servant, someone who has dedicated years of her life to representing her constituency, with no thought to herself or political expediency. Sandy has both reached across the aisle and...
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