The Republican Party is deliber­ately misleading the people of Dutchess County

Hours after Dutchess Coun­ty Legislature Chairman Rob Rolison received the Repub­lican endorsement, the New York Republican State Com­mittee sent robocalls and mail­ers to the residents of Dutch­ess County blaming Sen. Terry Gipson for the energy tax. This awful tax was part of the 2014 budget, written by Dutchess County Executive Marc Moli­naro and shepherded through […]

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State education standards fail kids

New York state sets the standards for what should be taught and how it should be taught. It defines the tests for evaluating the achieving of its goals. It provides guidance in the ever-changing teaching support through texts, chang­ing methods of teaching and technology. The state process is flawed at every endeavor on its part. […]

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Election Integrity must be preserved

Printed in the Poughkeesie Journal 2/2/2012: Valley Views Nothing is more fundamental to our democracy than the right to vote. The New York State Legislature should be commended for improvements made last year to both the absentee ballot application and the affidavit ballot envelope. While New York state has made improvements, other states around the […]

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Hayworth Business Policies Strike Out

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.” She […]

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Politics Trumps Voice of the People

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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Corporations Are Not People

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 “Citizens […]

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Independent Redistricting

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 for […]

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GOP kills bipartisan county redistricting

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 partisan […]

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Goldberg has served with honor, wisdom

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 stood […]

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Barrett celebrates volunteers, voters

As we enter the holiday season and look ahead to 2011, I want to take this moment to thank friends and neighbors in the 41st Senate Districtfor the extraordinary opportunity to run to representthem in Albany. I am honored by the 37,000 citizens who voted for me andinspired by the many hundreds of citizens who […]

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GOP Councilmen send Mixed Message

After every budget, the six Republican councilmen who control the Town of Poughkeepsie council praise themselves as fiscal conservatives fighting for the taxpayers. Yet every year our taxes go up. There are several reasons why our taxes went up (MTA taxes, state mandates, insurance costs, newly imposed unfunded charge-backs by our Republican County Legislators). These […]

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