Town of Coeymans: George McHugh’s Little Uganda

Unless George McHugh and his Coeymans Town Board sold the Town to a billionaire Russian pot-grower (See our articles, “The Russians are Coming!!!” (June 28, 2019) “Please don’t Mug Me! Just Pot Me!” (July 5, 2019)), the last time we checked, the Town of Coeymans was still in the sovereign territory of the United States of America and the State of New York but if we rely on the “facts” — or should we say the ‘factoids’ — we read in the Ravena News Herald and the crapola coming out of Coeymans Town Hall, we probably should be looking for Coeymans somewhere in the Russian Republic, the People’s Republic of China, or Uganda! What’s happening in Coeymans has no resemblance to anything American or Constitutional! But the corruption may soon be coming to an end (See our article, “Net Closing in on Coeymans & McHugh” .)

The Founding Fathers and the Constitution of the United States, and the New York State Constitution provide for free elections and assurance of democratic rule in the federal system and in local governments, and for freedom of expression and a free press. There is no provision in the Law of the Land made for replacement of elected officials with appointees, nor for Town Hall nepotism, nor for misinformation and a lying press and a corrupt media institution.

Article II, Section 1 of the New York State Constitution reads:

Every citizen shall be entitled to vote at every election for all officers elected by the people and upon all questions submitted to the vote of the people provided that such citizen is eighteen years of age or over and shall have been a resident of this state, and of the county, city, or village for thirty days next preceding an election. (NY Const art II § 1)

That’s the Law and free citizens should not have to put up with loopholes, lies, and conniving when selecting their public officials at the polls. When you hand them your vote and confidence, that becomes a contract and they are obliged to do their part!

Freedom of expression is one of the most treasured rights protected by the Constitution of the United States as well as by the New York State Constitution; Americans, despite the extreme politization of the mainstream media, sincere Americans recognize that in order to participate in a democratic form of government, citizens must be well-informed, and the press and media have the obligation and responsibility, to obtain, check, and report true facts that the public can rely on when making decisions or forming their opinions. Again, citing the Bill of Rights of the New York State Constitution,

Every citizen may freely speak, write and publish his or her sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press. (NY Const art I § 8)

A very important part of that section needs to be highlighted: “being responsible for the abuse of that right.”

In addition to the Law, there are volumes written on Codes of Conduct and Ethics for the press and for journalists, who, if professionally employed to report the news, must adhere to those ethics. Local media — a good example of an abuser is the Ravena News Herald — appears to have missed the bus when it comes to press and media ethics. (See our article, “News Herald Still Tries to Polish a Turd” .)

We can all agree that because of their influence, positions, and the power they wield, public officials, whether appointed or elected, and the and members of the media and press must be held to high standards of accountability, far higher than the average citizen. Now isn’t it about time that we held politicians and media in Albany County and particularly in the Town of Coeymans to an acceptable standard of conduct?

If law and professional ethics aren’t enough, public opinion should close the gap. According to a major public opinion survey organization, the Pew Research Center, the majority of Americans expect the press to report true facts. In a recent survey, Pew reports:

A majority of U.S. adults (59%) reject the idea of adding interpretation, saying that the news media should present the facts alone, a recent Pew Research Center survey found… One thing the public does approve of to encourage clarity in presenting the news: fact-checking. The vast majority of registered voters say that fact-checking is a responsibility of the news media. And even those who oppose interpretation of facts generally favor the fact-checking role of the news media.

Fully 81% of U.S. adults want facts without interpretation believe fact-checking is a major responsibility of the news media; 86% of U.S. adults who think some interpretation of news is OK believe that fact-checking is important. So we can agree that most Americans want true facts that are fact-checked in their news media.

Both the US Constitution and the NYS Constitution provide for fair elections and freedom of expression and press, the majority of Americans expect that elections and voting be fair and honest, and a great majority of Americans expect that the news media report fact-checked, accurate, and truthful news and information. It’s that simple.

When we pick up a local newspaper like the Ravena News Herald we can’t help but believe that something has gone terribly wrong! The reporting is partisan, partial, and propaganda.

We think that most, if not all, of our readers would agree with the above. We think that most of our neighbors and fellow Americans, yourself included, would fundamentally reject any conduct that does not comply fully with these very reasonable and fundamental principles of American democracy. And we’d expect not only our local officials but also those government agencies, whose responsibility is to oversee local government, to abide by the US Constitution, the NYS Constitution, our laws, and the expectations of the American public. Right?

We also have the County District Attorney (P. David Soares) and the New York State Attorney General (Letitia “Tish” James), and the county and state Boards of Election, all of whom have the duty to investigate and to prosecute abuses. Those offices and boards are responsible for ensuring the integrity of public servants and elected officers, and elections, and to enforce the laws, and investigate and prosecute abusers. Sure, we have them, but why aren’t they doing their jobs? (See our articles, “McHugh Poll Misconduct to be Investigated”, “Coeymans: Gross Misconduct! George McHugh, Supervisor, and Douglas Keyer, Chief of Police, Must Resign!”, and “County & State Boards of Election, NYS Attorney General on Notice”.)

Well, that’s clearly not happening in a vast number of communities, most notably right here in the Town of Coeymans, which has apparently turned into a community of sheeple, self-serving special interests, and an elite class with it’s cowing, butt-kissing trolls-in-tow. The two-class system doesn’t include the majority of residents! In the Coeymans community there are the arrogant elite and their trolls-in-tow, and then there’s the rest of us. (See our five-part series, Coeymans: Poster-Child of the “Sick Community Syndrome.”)[1]

According to New York Consolidated Laws, Town Law – TWN § 52.
The supervisor shall be the chief executive officer of a suburban town and head of the administrative branch of town government.  He shall be responsible for the proper administration of town affairs, law enforcement and the maintenance of peace and order in the town.

George McHugh has failed miserably in that role and has conspicuously abused the office of Supervisor.

With election in 2019 of George D. McHugh and his mob to fill Coeymans Town Hall with so-called “elected” officials representing not the residents and community of the Town of Coeymans but clearly representing their own innterests and those of a few local business organizations, many of whom are associates of McHugh or his board members. Even before George McHugh was officially in the Supervisor’s office in 2019, immediately after election he moved to combine the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals into one board, and then to pack it with either relatives of town board members or local business owners with less-than-honorable plans. We’re talking specifically about the appointment of Albert Collins, owner of Collins Fuel and Excavation and father of former town board member Zachary Collins,[2] who is filling an Albany County Legislature seat,[3] and Robert Nolan, owner of Nolan Propane, a major business and developer in the Town of Coeymans. (See our article, “Nolan, Biscone, Miller vs. Albright & Sons: News Herald a Day Late and a Dollar Short”.) We should also mention that McHugh appointed one of his “Friends of Coeymans” thugs, Nathaniel Boomer to the Board, apparently to reward him for his intimidation services during the 2019 campaign. (See our articles, “’Friends of Coeymans’ a.k.a. ‘Fiends of Coeymans’: McHugh’s Thugs”  and “The Coeymans Clowns, the FoC, Are True to Their Reputation: Thugs”.)

In addition to McHugh’s thugs intimidating citizens at public meetings and harassing others representing ‘undesirable interests,” like environmental conservation and integrity in government, the McHugh thugs calling themselves “Friends of Coeymans” but known locally as “Fiends of Coeymans,” were at the top of the suspects list when town officials and residents began receiving Poopsenders packages through the United States Postal Service. Yes, residents were receiving feces though the mail, and McHugh’s friends were the prime suspects. (See our articles, “Coeymans Only Gets Sicker; Criminal Perps Being Investigated” and “Information on the Poop Senders Investigation” https://wp.me/p2jPFe-3MI.)

The CoViD-19 pandemic did much to add to general fear and anxieties, and had a catastrophic effect on participation in local government and, clearly, on voter turnout for the elections in November 2019. If American voters are disillusioned and apathetic about elections in good times, they were morbid about anything having to do with news media and government in 2021. As a result of the anxiety and apathy, voters made some poor choices. One of those poor choices was to re-elect George McHugh and his mob.

If the conduct of McHugh supporters in 2019 was not enough, and McHugh’s actions as Town Supervisor, with the support of his puppets on the Town’s boards didn’t send alarm signals to anyone with eyes to see and a brain to think with, the events leading up to the 2021 elections should have closed McHugh out of the Town Supervisor’s office for good. (See our article, “George McHugh: Conspiracy, Misrepresentation, Possible Fraud?“.)

But thanks to local news media, particularly the Ravena News Herald and its staff of McHugh cronies, much of the information was kept from public scrutiny.

One significant event was a two-car accident that occurred on September 8, 2021, on US Route 9W, in which George McHugh, then campaigning for re-election, was involved. The accident was “investigated” by the Coeymans Police Department, under the “expert” supervision of Coeymans Police Chief Douglas Keyer, or should we say under the supervision of George McHugh, Keyer’s boss. There were conspicuous conflicts of interest involved, and both civil and criminal violations on the parts of McHugh and Keyer, including obstruction/impairment of justice, defamation, etc. There is good reason to believe that the Police Accident Report was fabricated to favor McHugh. (See our article, “McHugh Tries to Put a Spin on Accident”.)

It is indisputable fact that McHugh, with the willing cooperation of members of his Coeymans Police Department, most scandalously that of Coeymans Police Chief Douglas Keyer, did everything possible to underhandedly disadvantage and defame the other party, to make himself, McHugh, look better. After all, he’d do anything for another two years in the Supervisor’s office. More on that later.

George McHugh Misused Public Resources for Personal Benefit

On Thursday, September 9, 2021, the day after the accident, in a video recording made prior to an official public Coeymans Town Board meeting, a video made of George McHugh, the Coeymans Town Board, seated in Coeymans Town Hall in the public meeting space, and video-recorded as part of the Town Board meeting, McHugh and members of the Coeymans Town Board openly discussed the September 8 accident, and McHugh, together with his 4th wife, Rosemary McHugh, published misinformation and false facts. That video was then published on the Town of Coeymans official Facebook page and was accessible by and viewed literally by hundreds of members of the public. McHugh openly defamed the other party in the accident, and misused Town of Coeymans government and public resources to perpetrate his unlawful conduct. (See our articles, “McHugh Tries to Put a Spin on Accident”.)

Early in December 2021, Mr. Laszlo Polyak, the other party in the accident, filed an extensive Notice of Claim against the Town of Coeymans, including George McHugh, the members of the Coeymans Town Board, Coeymans Police Chief Douglas Keyer, Coeymans PD Detective Edmund Seney, and Coeymans PD patrolperson Kelly Arnold, citing numerous charges of misconduct, both criminal and civil, against the defendants. The charges are currently under investigation.

George McHugh’s Election Misconduct

McHugh is the Candyman! At the November 3, 2021, elections McHugh was observed to be delivering boxes of candy to polling places, particularly in the Town of Coeymans, during a period of heavy voting activity. McHugh’s conduct was in clear violation of election law, and could be interpreted as unlawfully influencing voters or vote-buying. The incident is or should be under investigation by oversight agencies, particularly the Office of the New York State Attorney General, the Albany County District Attorney, the Albany County and New York State Boards of Election, and others. (See our article, “McHugh Poll Misconduct to be Investigated”.)

McHugh’s Arrogance and Conspicuous Political Nepotism

One of the candidates in the November 2021 elections was Laura Jane Barry (R), who ran for the office of Town Clerk; Barry was opposed by Sherle L. Slingerland (D). Barry received a total of 1,234 votes, while Slingerland received 881 votes; according to the Board of Election tallies, Barry was the clear choice of voters on November 3. Two months later, on January 1, 2022, Barry took the oath of office and officially assumed the elected office of Coeymans Town Clerk. Two days later, on January 3, only two days after taking the oath, Barry unexpectedly submitted her letter of resignation, citing “medical reasons” for her resignation but gave no further details about her alleged medical condition, and according to an article appearing in the January 13, 2022, issue of the Ravena News Herald, “Barry refused to comment further on her reasons for resigning.” According to the News Herald, Barry did not mention any “medical reasons,” even though she could have confirmed McHugh’s statements, but she didn’t. Most if not all readers should find this turn of events not only bizarre, but very suspect. We think Barry’s only medical condition was a severe case of cold feet!

Why bizarre? We think there’s a more sinister reason for Barry’s resignation after months of campaigning, a successful election, two months lead-up to taking the oath, taking the oath, and then, out of the blue, resigning. Something happened in those two days and it wasn’t a medical diagnosis! We all know that the most common cover-ups used by politicians for suspicious resignations are “I want to spend more time with my family” and “health issues.” Does McHugh and his mob really really think we’re that gullible? Well, some of you are because you swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.

Why suspect? Because no sooner had Barry resigned (on January 3) than McHugh had hand-picked his “confidential secretary” and sister-in-law, Candace McHugh, to be Coeymans Town Clerk! McHugh appointed his sister-in-law, who has no experience in the duties of Town Clerk, on January 7, barely 3 days after receiving Barry’s letter of resignation. Sounds like a set-up, doesn’t it? That’s because it is a set-up.

Read More:

The Ravena News Herald – A Dirty Rag
Laura J. Barry: Case of the clerk with cold feet?

Of course, residents in the Town of Coeymans are certainly aware that the Coeymans Town Board annually designates the Ravena News Herald to be the Town’s official newspaper, the place where you’ll find all the news McHugh and his mob want you to know about in your lovely Town of Coeymans.[6] If it seems that incest is best in Ravena-Coeymans, it’s because it is part of the culture; everyone has his or her hands in the other’s pockets or panties.

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Notes:

[1] Coeymans: Poster-Child of the “Sick Community Syndrome.” Part I
Coeymans: Poster-Child of the “Sick Community Syndrome.” Part II
Coeymans: Poster-Child of the “Sick Community Syndrome.” Part III
Coeymans: Poster-Child of the “Sick Community Syndrome.” Part IV
Coeymans: Poster-Child of the “Sick Community Syndrome.” Part V

[2] McHugh and his Town Board take good care of themselves. On January 29, 2021, the Coeymans Town Board gave notice of a Resolution Authorizing the Transfer of Certain Lands Owned by the Town of Coeymans to Albert F. Collins Jr. and Lori Collins, in which two parcels of land were to be transferred to the Collins for $66,300.00, which “represents the amount owed by the Town to Collins & Son, Inc. under a contract for prior cleanup work performed on the property.” That must have been on hell of a cleanup job! How many Coeymans residents knew about this and was it published conspicuously or even reported in the Ravena News Herald? (See our article, “Coeymans: Send McHugh and His Nuggets Down The Tube.”)

[3] The County Legislator’s seat was left vacant in 2021, when George Langdon, representing the Town of Coeymans and previously a sitting member of the Town of Coeymans Town Board, a member of George McHugh’s so-called Comeback Team, was forced to resign in disgrace from the Albany County Legislature. McHugh moved quickly to tap another of his Comeback Team, rookie Town Board member Zachary Collins, son of McHugh appointee to the Planning Board/Zoning Board of Appeals, to run for Langdon’s vacant seat, even though Collins had not completed even half of his 4-year term on the Town Board to which he was elected in 2019! That’s exactly what the Albany County Legislature needs: corrupt inexperienced puppets elected by sheeple.

[4] Chief of Police Douglas Keyer himself is in the hot-seat as we write, since he is named in the pending Claims as having abused his office as Chief of Police, as having knowingly engaged in clear conflict of interest, as having obstructed or impaired a police investigation, and as having conspired with George McHugh to influence the process and outcome of a police accident investigation, among other charges.

[5] “Gabler Realty revitalizes long-vacant Main St. building,” RNH, January 13, 2022, p. 1.

[6] Re: New York Town Law. The promulgation of notice provisions in the Town Law frequently deters effective publicity. Although the Town Law does not suffer from the politically oriented designation procedure of the County Law, its provisions often cause confusion and injustice, however. Unlike counties, towns need not designate an official newspaper but have the option to do so. Being an “official newspaper” does not mean that everything pertaining the events in a municipality must appear in the newspaper but legal notices, notices of hearings, various administrative and legislative actions are examples of what should be published in a municipality’s designated “official newspaper.”

 

Some Food for Thought: Make the Change!

Attention All Independence Party Members
Caution: All Other Parties

Since the disgusting performance of the major political parties, the Republican and the Democratic, and the thuggery and bullying that went on during the so-called campaigns, which were nothing less than a neonazi display of mindlessness, we’ve been taking a serious look at the political party options in our Central New York region, and have come up with a real opportunity for voters who have had enough of being castrated and deprived of their voices in local and regional politics.

The Answer: the Independence Party.

We are making this statement based on our investigations of the Greene County New York Independence Party; we have serious reservations about the leadership of some of the surrounding counties, particularly Albany County, but Schoharie, Ulster, Columbia counties need some prodding to support each other. That’s a problem with their leadership (their committee chairs and executive committees) not with their membership. Independence party members, that is, the real people who register Independence Party are the salt of the earth. Real people, working hard to better their communities, and sick of the lies and stuffed shirts the major parties offer at each election.

True, there are some genuine people in the New York State Legislature, and one name pops up right away, Assemblyman Chris Teague, a Republican supported by the Independence Party, who is a genuine people  person. We’d like to hear from readers if there are any others like him. Just for kicks and giggles.

The Independence Party in Greene County, NY, has almost 2000 registered voters countywide, and that doesn’t count the non-Independence supporters from the other parties and those supporters not affiliated with any political party! The Greene County Independence Party has voter power big-time as well as being attractive to those Americans who want to put the “I” back in INDEPENDENCE, and leave those others who live in dependence on the failures of the Republican and Democratic Parties and those parties riding on their coattails, like the Conservatives and other useless fluff on the political scene.

Greene County’s Independence Party family is an active and outgoing group, who reach out to those neighbors looking for truth and integrity in politics, community organizations, everyone without exception or discrimination or snooty arrogance. The Greene County Independence Party is there to help rebuild our communities!

Some of the other counties in New York (like Albany, for example, who sold the Town of Coeymans down the river, backed a maverick sneak for Greene County Sheriff, among other scurrilous backroom political freak show acts), Greene County is up front, open, welcoming, honest. Anyone who knows Smalbany knows that if that were not true, we’d be singing another tune. Trust us!

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IMPORTANT NOTE

Greene County Independence Party

There are those out there, mostly the puppets of the major parties, who have nothing good to say about anything if it’s not going their way. And there are those out there who are sucking us dry when it comes to our rights and liberties, even our guaranteed right of freedom of expression (free speech).

We mention this because in our extensive research we have found some absolutely ridiculous claims being made in the media regarding the Independence Party’s name, because it contains the word “Independence,” which they want to change! They claim that Independence in the party’s name “confuses people” and causes them to register thinking that they are registering as voters independent of any political party, that is, as non-party affiliated voters.

Anyone with half of a brain would discard such rubbish not only as idiotic but also offensive to the voters registering. Such a statement would mean that voters are ignorant, can’t read, or are totally stupid. It’s a half-hearted, desperate attempt to try to further confuse the people. We could use the same stupid reasoning when talking about the “Republican” or the “Democratic” parties, but we’re far too genuine to play their idiotic games. After all, just about every foundation document in our nation’s history contains the words “republic” or “independence,” less frequently “democracy” or “democratic.” They are part of the American political vocabulary and carry huge meaning and significance. But does that fact come up as confusing people?

When you register to vote please understand that when you register as an Independent you are registering as a member of the Independence Party; if you want to be completely “independent” of any political party, that is, if you don’t want to be associated with any party, you need to register NOP or no party affiliation. There is a difference and we want you to know about that fact.

The Editor

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Everyone wants Independence votes!!!

In Greene County, the Independence Party includes almost 2000 registered voters in 12 communities. That’s a lot of votes and is the reason why candidates running for office at all levels run to the Independence Party to get the Independence voters to support them. This is extremely important for candidates who are concerned that their own party, the Republicans or the Democrats, won’t carry them through the election, or refuse to provide needed support, and they won’t have the votes to get elected. Everyone wants Independence votes!!!

Independence Party Members Working to Get their Own Independence Candidates on the Ballot

Enough is enough, people. Independence Party members in Greene County, at least, have to get together and stop giving the farm away! Why are Independence Party members wasting their time handing their votes to failing parties’ candidates? Why aren’t Independence Party members working to get their own Independence candidates on the ballot, and finally clean up local and regional politics for a starter?

They’re waking up and saying, “Hey! We have great numbers, a great vision, a great group of people working for the community. We can do it!”

The answer is likely that the Independence Party members simply don’t know the power they have! it’s the best-kept secret out there in politico-land. Why? Because, unlike Greene County Independents, the leadership in the surrounding counties see a good thing for themselves when they can play power-broker games with the major parties and their candidates. Most of the other counties and the State Committee are out of touch with everyone and everything but themselves. Greene County Independents are some of the first to wake up and smell the tires burning. They’re waking up and saying, “Hey! We have great numbers, a great vision, a great group of people working for the community. We can do it!”

Smalbany and many others agree, although some of those “others” are running scared and trying their best to kill any so-called “third party” from exposing the major parties’ failures. One such villain is Mario Cuomo, you know, the monkey-faced, angry, enraged governor of New York state who lets his only supporters out of the jails to endanger the lives of the rest of us. Cuomo is out with a vengeance to do a hatchet job on the third parties. He and his party handlers are running scared. They see the writing on the wall!

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, remarks in a speech: “We’re not going to make America great again. It was never that great,” and his audience gasps (August 15, 2018).That’s the kind of leadership our major parties provide!

Here are some numbers from the Greene County Independence Party. Note that Greene County is a small county in terms of population, and is historically Republican (old Republican, that is). So, when you get numbers like these in the major population centers in Greene County, it means something big is happening:

Registered Independence Party Members in Greene County NY (Source Greene BoE)

When you think about it, in most local elections a candidate is elected by 1 vote! Just think of all the recent elections where the major parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, couldn’t even come up with a candidate to run against the incumbent or the other party’s candidate, and then think that if the Independence Party ran a candidate, a real person, a people’s candidate, how different things would be.

Only Voters Change Things, Not the Politicians

The major parties are always preaching change but they never come up with any. Only the faces change; the circus goes on, business-as-usual. The fact is, only voters change things, not just registered voters but registered voters who truly want to make a difference, who truly want change, and who realize that they have the power right now right in their hands to make those changes. One of the first changes is to change your party affiliation from Republican or Democrat to Independence Party. Send the bastards a message!

Be Proud: Be Independence!

Fact is: The only thing you give up is your vote in the primaries which is not really a choice at all, because the party is telling you who you have to choose from. In the elections, you don’t have to vote for any major party candidate; you don’t have to vote for your party’s choice. You can vote for anyone you like! Use your head, not some label forced on you. Be yourself, appear at town and village meetings, be a good citizen and an even better neighbor, and be Independent. You’ll shine in the crowd, and you’ll be happier with yourself.

Acknowledgements: Special thanks to the late Mr George Acker, Sr., previous Chairman of the Greene County NY Independence Party (GCNYIP). Mr Acker was a devoted and committed man to the best interests of the Greene County Independence Party, his community, and his neighbors throughout Greene County. He will be greatly missed, Thanks also to Ms Irene Beede, Administrative Assistant, GCNYIP, and Ms Elisa Jarvis of the Greene County Board of Elections (GCBOE) for their much appreciated assistance and inputs making this report possible.

 

Coeymans: Poster-Child of the “Sick Community Syndrome.” Part I

The recent elections in Albany County (NY) and in Greene County (NY), particularly in the Town of Coeymans (Albany County, NY), and the towns of New Baltimore (Greene County, NY), for example, have exhibited a troubling pattern forming in what was once a multi-party, participative democracy, free and courageous nation: Amid finger-pointing, immorality, self-service, and failures in our public servants, the main political parties, the Democratic and the Republican parties, have become irrelevant, frequently unable to muster up candidates to provide voters with a choice. Moreover, the third parties have become ballot brokers, political prostitutes, selling their support for future favors, and backing some of the worst scoundrels the polls have ever been sullied with.

The 2019 Local Elections:
Examples of the “Sick Community Syndrome”©

This analysis and commentary is based on the model of domestic violence and abuse, and shows how domestic violence and abuse plays out on a community scale in the framework of what I call the “sick community syndrome.” [anonymous]

Voting Normally Works….
Unless you live in a sick community. Coeymans Town Hall will experience an acute bout of parasitic infestation in January 2020, when the McHugh mob is sworn in.

The Sick Community Syndrome.

The sick-community syndrome is alive and well. It has become a permanent resident, it appears, in our communities, in the shady and corrupt characters running for office, misinforming the public and defaming incumbents, opposing candidates, or anyone,  who had clear who availed themselves of their guaranteed constitutional rights of free expression and freedom of assembly. Ignoring clear and conspicuous exemplary performance and records of accomplishment, the shadow figures intimidated residents and brainwashed the willing; this would have sent up red flags to most observers but not in a sick community. What’s worse, and with the Town of Coeymans as our poster-child, the fact that the least qualified candidates — and the most corrupt candidates — were elected to replace incumbents with records of accomplishment. This situation raised many questions and led us to coin the phrase “sick community syndrome” to describe the municipalities which, like the Town of Coeymans and towns like it dotting Albany and Greene Counties in New York, have a history of such self-destructive, self-abusive behaviors, marked by widespread abuse and psychological violence perpetrated on an apathetic and depressed — morally and economically — community of what can be called most accurately: sheeple.

Background Facts

The Town of Coeymans as the Poster-Child for “Sick Community Syndrome”

What about us?!?
You elected them and abandoned us!!!

The 2019 midterm election campaign scene in the Town of Coeymans, for example, included:

Two incumbents: 2-term Town Supervisor, Phillip Crandall (Dem), multiple-term Town Councilman, Tom Dolan (Dem), and a young man new to the political scene but not to town government, Michael McGuire (Dem), who is the Town of New Scotland Assessor.

Coeymans Opted to Oust Incumbents with Proven Track Records of Fiscal Responsibility, Economic Growth, and Vast Improvements in Infrastructure and Environmental Concerns. Why?

The Smalbany blog (nonpartisan) reported extensively on the candidates and the campaigning but in synopsis:

1. George D. McHugh, an attorney closely associated with local big business interests, a long history of ethics violations, a pattern of misinformation, disinformation, malinformation, and outright lies. A womanizer, married 4 times so far. McHugh was a one-term Coeymans Town Supervisor in 2000-2001, but did not run for a second term. His reasons for not having run for a second term change with the weather. He’s a skilled liar.
2. McHugh’s running mates included the son of a local family business (fuel oil and other products), Zacchary Collins (30), and a local man Brendan Lefevre (34), both with no life or political experience or any experience to speak of at all., In fact, Lefevre didn’t live in the Coeymans area until recently, and then returned only to take up residence in his father’s basement. Neither Collins nor Lefevre own any property in the Town of Coeymans but will be calling the shots for residents who do own property and pay property taxes. 
3. Upon reliable information, George D. McHugh never attended a Coeymans Town Board meeting save for one appearance at which he made a presentation on behalf of one of his business interests. Collins and Lefevre may have been seen at one Coeymans Town Board meeting shortly before the elections, but that is an unconfirmed report. They couldn’t be bothered to attend town board meetings but now are going to be running things as the Coeymans Town Council.
4. The McHugh campaign was extraordinarily expensive in terms of money spent in a local political campaign. Initial estimates indicate that the campaign spent in excess of $20,000. Final campaign finance reports are still pending, and we will obtain them and verify the exact amount spent. Will McHugh disclose every source of campaign money he and his group received? Support includes promises of future benefits to be received from LaFarge-Holcim, Carver Companies, Port of Coeymans, Coeymans Industrial Park, organized business groups in the town, and private interests. It’s all about money!
5. George McHugh is former owner of the local newspaper, the Ravena News Herald, and close friends with the current owner/publisher, Mark Vinciguerra. While the Ravena News Herald tried but failed to make a convincing appearance of fair and balanced campaign reporting, and the News Herald was monumentally unsuccessful in masking their flagrantly biased support of the McHugh group.
6. The far more disturbing aspect of the McHugh campaign was the clear close involvement of a group calling itself, Friends of Coeymans, which was in fact a trio of local thugs, Jeffrey “Jeff” LaQuire, Nathan “Nate” Boomer, and Christopher “Chris” Hagen. The so-called Friends of Coeymans made it a point of appearing at most public meetings of the Town of Coeymans boards, harassing the board members, intimidating pubic attendees, staging pubic comment together with collaborators, and generally making any meeting into a three-ring-circus affair. The bullying and thuggery reached such a point that the Town Board found it necessary to have police presence at meeting to ensure order. According to their Facebook page, they assure followers that their work has just begun! What does that mean to Coeymans residents? To residents who want to participate in local government? Who want to exercise their guaranteed rights? We’ve already seen the neonazi tactics used by the Friends of Coeymans and now we read that their work has just begun!
   

   Neonazi-like Clown Characters:
   LaQuire – Hagen – Boomer

7. The LaQuire-Boomer-Hagen trio did not limit their activity to public comment but frequently followed public attendees around videoing and recording their conversations, photographing attendees, and making comments about or to attendees during meetings. The trio not only have become despised and ridiculous public figures, they also host an abusive Facebook page that provided commentary, disinformation, personal attacks, and other obnoxious publications. It was purest neonazism in action and it was, regrettably effective.
8. The McHugh group received Republican (R), Conservative (C), and Independence (I) party lines on the ballot. Those endorsements will become something those parties will learn to regret. Lie down with dogs and wake up with fleas!
9. The majority of Coeymans voters opted to choose the greed and narcissism of a small group of corrupt clowns and to abandon their children’s and grandchildren’s best interests! The majority of Coeymans voters chose shame and guilt over and above responsibility to their community and to their children. Why?

A Majority of Voters — Not Necessarily the People of Coeymans — Elected Three Men of Questionable Character to Replace Incumbents with Proven Positive Performance. Why?

It’s difficult for a reasonably thinking mind to grasp Why? given the facts and the available options, the majority of Coeymans residents who bothered to go to the polls, actually voted for one of the most scandalous groups in modern Coeymans history!

On November 5, 2019, voters went to the polls, to elect Coeymans Town Supervisor, two Coeymans Town Councilmen, and one County Legislator. When the polls closed it was announced that the McHugh group had succeeded in receiving the majority of votes. The Coeymans Town Board was now 100% Republican, packed with McHugh and big-business puppets, and two incumbent Republicans, Daniel Baker and Kenneth Burns had already been exposed as moles on the Town Council, and both Baker and Burns proved their dubious characters according to past activities on and off the board.

Comeback Team (McHugh) Supporters Make their Way to the Polls
The Result of the Comeback Team’s Brainwashing!

The Smalbany blog reported extensively on the campaigning, including an extensive interview of Mr. Phillip Crandall, former Town Supervisor, and published in both excerpts and in full transcript. George McHugh refused to be interviewed and refused to debate Mr. Crandall on at least 3 occasions.Voters seemed to ignore McHugh’s cowardice.

This 2019 local campaign behavior was on the one hand, characterized by considerable publication of the challengers’ background and conduct, principally that of George McHugh, who had a past rich in questionable conduct and more recently, bare-faced lies that were easily exposed. His running mates were as unimpressive as McHugh was impressive (negatively). In contrast, the incumbents. Phil Crandall and Tom Dolan, and candidate Michael McGuire, were experienced, civil, productive, and forthcoming. Mr. Crandall, for example, was able to run down a long laundry list of accomplishments and programs, including remarkable fiscal recovery during his two terms.

So why does a whole community, that is, those who actually go to the polls, ignore the available factual information in favor of being fed disinformation and malinformation, to elect clearly morally, ethically, and clearly substandard and undesirable candidates like McHugh, Collins and Lefevre, while abandoning incumbents, like Crandall and Dolan, and a professional administrator like McGuire, who provided proof of their the high-quality performance and productivity. We are not pointing out pie in the sky accomplishments but accomplishments, which were clearly obvious day-to-day to anyone on the street, anyone enjoying clean air, soil, water, parks, and new sidewalks and newly paved streets!

This Behavior of Residents Raises Many Troubling Questions

Such community behavior raises many troubling questions about how the so-called voting public process facts, the value they place on truth and integrity, and why they would abandon incumbents with undeniably excellent performance records only to elect a man of highly questionable ethics, George McHugh, whose campaign was based largely on contradictions, lies, and the neonazi tactics of the Friends of Coeymans — Jeff LaQuire, Nate Boomer, and Chris Hagen —, and two inexperienced young puppets — Zachary Collins and Brendan Lefevre —, who would function conspicuously as McHugh’s tools on the Coeymans Town Board.

These are some of the questions we hope to clarify, if not help to answer, including:

• Why do people stay in sick communities while denying that they are being abused?
• Why do residents in sick communities refuse to confront the reality of the abuse and avoid changing?
• Why do residents in sick communities deny facts and truth about abuse, and call the messenger a liar?
• When offered a choice, why do residents in a sick community choose bad judgement over common sense?
• Do voters elect bad candidates out of shame and guilt, and is that behavior a way of punishing themselves?
• In other words, How do the abused, the victims then become self-abusers?

The abuse becomes the norm; anything else is not normal for them. Common sense would seem to indicate that a community should be able to choose how they want to live and, since it is a viable option, for the victims to do what they can to escape their abusers. But they don’t choose to escape their abusers! Instead, they hand them the keys to the community, and the vicious cycle of abuse continues and worsens.

The New Normal.
Abuse becomes the Norm.

Editor’s Note: If anyone already has the answers to these questions, please share them with us. You’ll save us a lot of research and writing time, and we can move on to other equally scary topics. But if you don’t have the answers, read the continuing installments of this series, Coeymans: Poster-Child of the “Sick Community Syndrome.”

Part II of this series is due to be published on
Saturday, November 16, 2019.
Stay tuned!

 

New Baltimore: Home of the PortaPotty Polls! Blumpkin* Ballots!

New Baltimore, Greene County, Albany County, perhaps the entire nation has a problem. The problem is that the country is run by political party committees that do their own thing without consulting with anyone outside of their own organizations.

Another problem is that once voters think they elect someone to public office, they may not have really elected anyone at all! That’s what happens in the case of the so-called “unopposed” candidate: they’re elected without a vote. But it’s even worse when the political parties are the ones who hand pick the candidates for you. That’s democracy? We think not!

• = Poop.

First of all, anyone who gets on the ballot has to be approved by a party committee or at least get past the county board of elections, which is run by party members. Just check out your Greene County or Albany County Board of Elections and you’ll see entries for Repukelicans and Democraps, but no entries for independent voters. There’s where you have no choice.

Let’s look at what’s happening in the Town of New Baltimore at this very moment.

 

Great Boilin’ Blumkins, Batman!
They sure can cook up a mean batch of self-importance but can’t conjure up any answers …. or candidates!

You basically have the Democraps and the Repukelicans, who then go after the fringe parties like the Conservatives, Independents, etc. and negotiate for their “endorsements.”

Apart from the fact that the Democraps can’t come up with anything better than recycled losers and a racist rapper, they have no shortage of arrogance.

The New Baltimore Democrats are run by an all-white, all-female party committee who can’t come up with any real candidates and haven’t done so in the past two elections. They are incompetent but that doesn’t stop them from being biatches. A contributor recently asked the New Baltimore Democrap Committee a couple of very reasonable questions:

On Wednesday, September 5, 2018,  we wrote to Eileen Vosburgh, Janet Kash, Doreen Davis, and Beth Schneck, the Democratic Party Committee members for New Baltimore,

Good morning!

We are preparing an article on the state of elections in New Baltimore and would like to have your comments on the following:

(1) Mr James Eckl’s qualifications and commitments to the residents of the Town of New Baltimore if elected to be the New Baltimore legislator in the Greene County Legislature. Particularly, we’d like to know Why? Mr Eckl and the Greene County Democratic Committee feel he is qualified and the right choice to be Legislator.

(2) We would like to know Why? the Greene County Democratic Committee and the New Baltimore Democratic Committee were unable to put a candidate on the ballot to oppose Mr Alan vanWormer as candidate for the elected office of Town of New Baltimore Superintendent of Highways? (A similar question could be raised as to the fact of Mr Jeffrey Ruso’s unopposed candidacy for the office of Town Supervisor in 2017).

We are preparing a preliminary article in preparation for the September primaries and would appreciate your confirmation of receipt of this communication.

We would be grateful for your response to the above questions by September 7, 2018, before 5 p.m.

Janet Kash replies on Friday, Sep 7, 2018:

“The thing is, [name redacted], if you want to talk to a candidate, you contact the candidate. Thank you for your interest in the race.”

We followed up on our request writing on Friday, Sep 7, 2018 to to Eileen Vosburgh, Janet Kash, Doreen Davis, and Beth Schneck:

Good morning!

“Can you please confirm that you received our inquiry and that you are working on a response?”

Janet Kash replies on Sep 7, 2018, 4:02 PM

to me, copied to committee members Keltoneov, Doreen, Beth

“No reply is happening”

So much for transparency and openness in government. Those are Democraps talking. Those are the women who run the New Baltimore Democrap party and their response to YOU, the voters and residents of New Baltirmore.

Wouldn’t New Baltimore residents, tax payers, voters like to know whey the New Baltimore Democrats can’t come up with any candidates and, when they do, it’s only to recycle a multiple loser and to run a racist rapper for Congress?!?!

---

Antonio Delgado
Rapping Radical “God Bless Iraq” Dem challenges Republican for upstate congressional seat

If you think Congress is a bunch of clowns in business suits the Democraps want you to add a racist rapper to the mix.

Antonio Delgado has two things going for him:
His color will get him the Black vote, and his last name is likely to get him the Hispanic vote. His racism and total lack of values will get him the liberal Democrat vote.

“Meet New York City liberal Antonio Delgado. Before moving upstate to run for Congress as [House Democratic leader] Pelosi’s candidate, Delgado was an L.A. rapper called AD the Voice,” said the ad paid by the Congressional Leadership.

It then bleeped out provocative lyrics about having sex to a porno flick.

The ad also claimed that Delgado “laced his lyrics with extremist attacks on American values,” criticized American presidents and “minimized 9/11” as footage of the burning World Trade Center towers appeared on the screen.

[Source: “House candidate’s ‘offensive’ rap lyrics called out in attack ad” https://nypost.com/2018/08/17/house-candidates-offensive-rap-lyrics-called-out-in-attack-ad/, last accessed on October 3, 2018.]

[Editor’s Note: We have searched the web for lyrics of “Ad the Word,” Delgado’s pseudonym as a rapper, but they seem to have disappeared from the web. Normally, simply googling an artist’s name and lyrics or songs will turn up dozens if not hundreds of hits. Not so for Delgado! His keepers seem to have made everything disappear from the web…everything that would reveal the low-life character of Antonio Delgado, racist rapper!]

---

Perhaps you, residents, voters in New Baltimore would like to ask the Democratic Party the same questions. Here are their contact details:

• Eileen Vosburgh: Tel. (518) 756-8113, email Keltoneov@aol.com
• Janet Kash: Tel. (518) 915-4034, email janetkkash@aol.com
• Doreen Davis:  Tel. (518) 678-0317, email: doreendavis3@gmail.com
• Beth Schneck (also Green County vice chariman): no phone available, email: bschneckPhoto@gmail.com

Me likey New Baltimore! They likey one party elections!

The New Baltimore Repukelicans are no better. We’ve contacted incumbent Greene County Legislator Patrick “Pat” Linger (R), asking him to share with us and New Baltimore voters what he’s done during this past term in office. He’s running again on the Repukelican ticket asking to be re-elected, so wouldn’t you all, as voters and residents in Greene County and the Town of New Baltimore be interested in what Mr Linger thinks he’d done for you while in office. Here is what we asked Dingleberry Linger:

Dear Mr. Linger:

We note that you are running again for County Legislator and are actively tracking the candidates and balloting and campaign activities of your opponent parties and their candidates.

In view of the upcoming elections, we would like to ask you to provide the following information within the next 5 business days:

• Please share your most significant accomplishments over this term of office as Greene County Legislator, and provide a brief description of each.
• Please share your most significant accomplishments over this term of office as Greene County Legislator that most directly affect the residents and taxpayers of the Town of New Baltimore.
• Please share your most significant support to any one resident or one family in the Town of New Baltimore as County Legislator.
• What have been the most important pieces of legislation drafted by you during your term of office as Greene County Legislator?
• What have been the most important pieces of legislation voted on (YES) vote during your term of office as Greene County Legislator?
• What future legislation do you plan for Greene County as Greene County Legislator, if re-elected?

As incumbent seeking re-election, you will likely be running against Mr James Eckl. Briefly, what makes you a better choice for voters in New Baltimore?

Thank you for your prompt attention to this request. If you feel you need more time, please provide a reasonable date by which we can expect your responses.

We look forward to your responses.

And again:

Dear Mr Linger:

On August 15, 2018, we sent to you a request for information on your last term in office as Greene County Legislator.

We requested a response within a reasonable time and find now that more than 20 days have lapsed since our first contact requesting the information shown in the email below.

Please have the courtesy and show the respect your constituents deserve by either responding with your achievements or at least a refusal to provide your information. A non-response will be interpreted (1) as a statement that you have not accomplished anything in your last term, and (2) that you don’t have the respect for your constituents that is required for re-election.

If we do not hear back from you by Friday. September 7, 2018, 5 p.m., we will assume (1) and (2), above, and contact Mr James Eckl for his statements, and publish accordingly.

Despite our follow-ups, Repuklican Mr. Linger refused to respond in any way whatsoever so we must assume that Mr. Linger has ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING during his term in office as County Legislator representing the Town of New Baltimore.

---

Editor’s Comment: We do want to note that Mr Linger has plenty of time to spy on the activities of the other political hopefuls in New Baltimore and to share that information in great detail with his political cronies. Here’s a recent example:

From: Patrick Linger <lingerems@yahoo.com>
To: Jeff Ruso <jrruso56@yahoo.com>; Kathy Yahoo <katysheba@yahoo.com>; Michael Meredith <mmeredith@fedex.com>; Barbara Finke <barb.finke@yahoo.com>; Edward Barber <edbarber@mail.com>; Scott Briody <sbriody@its-inc.com>; Chuck Irving <faithmiracle18@yahoo.com>; Alan VanWormer <nbfdprez@yahoo.com>; Nick Dellisanti <nadellisanti@gmail.com>; Jean Horn <jhorn38@aol.com>; Skip Aierle <laierle@aol.com>; Christine Byas <christinebyas1@hotmail.com>; Rob Krasney <rhkrasney@aol.com>
Cc: Robert Van Etten <rpveci@gmail.com>
Sent: Fri, Jul 13, 2018 12:13 pm
Subject: Re: Petitions

Good afternoon, 

I received the following from the County BOE last night in reference to what the Dems filed petitions for. I had to specifically ask, but Alan and I were also authorized by the Independence Party. We will have Republican, Conservative, and Independence lines, with no primary. There is a bit of good news for the Legislature, Durham is a (D) now and will switch back to (R).  Athens is (D) now and the incumbent, Palmateer, is not running so chances are good for the (R). Greenville is (R) now and the newcomer (C) is running unopposed at this point so we’ll keep that one. 

This is what the Democrats filed today.  Now we know the landscape of what November will bring.

Independent (party for a day) petitions can be file up to August 21st.

We will be looking over their petitions to see if any chance to challenge.  A quick look today shows no real opportunity to do so but we will take a closer look tomorrow.

Bottom line is they have three county wides (treasurer and two coroners) and legislative candidates in:

Catskill:  But only two so that is good.  Joe Kozlowski and Christopher Hamilton.

Cairo: Only Harry so Harry and Bill are running unopposed.

Halcott, Hunter, Lexington:  Only Larry G. as we did not have a candidate.

Athens: Michael Pirrone

Windham, Ashland, Jewett, Prattsville:  Lori

N. Baltimore: James Eckel

Some have multiple lines as detailed in info below Elisa sent me.

Coxsackie (2 legislators), Greenville, Durham totally unopposed so long as no independent line is created.

Please advise your candidates accordingly of what we have.

And he goes on in a later email:

Treasurer-Lee (DEM, WEP,IND)

Coroner-Robert Gaus/Joshua Lipsman(DEM,WEP,WOR,IND)

Leg Cat-Joseph Kozlowski(DEM,IND,WEP,WOR) & Christopher Hamilton(DEM&IND)

Leg Car- Harry(DEM&IND)

Leg HuHalLex Larry (DEM&IND)

Leg Athens- Michael Pirrone (DEM,IND)

Leg WiPraJeAsh- Lori (DEM,IND)

Leg NB- James Eckl (DEM)

-Pat

On Tuesday, July 10, 2018, 7:29:10 AM EDT, Patrick Linger <lingerems@yahoo.com> wrote:

Good morning all! 

I think I can safely speak for Alan when I say thank you for the work on the petitions! I submitted them to Brent yesterday with 62 total Republican signatures, plenty to cover the 5% needed. He also has the Conservative petitions and the Independence petitions. Thank you Shelly, AnnMarie, and Jeff Ruso for the help with those! The BOE has the signed authorization from the Conservative committee to allow us to submit petitions for their line, but did not yet have the same from the Independence. They have until July 16 to authorize.

Greene County Youth Fair is July 26-29 in Cairo. As many of you know, the Republicans staff a booth/table in the big tent for the weekend. Our time slot is Saturday, July 28th, 9am to Noon (Our usual noon – 3 was already taken). Anyone who wants to attend is welcome to join me (and hopefully Alan) there.

The next regularly scheduled committee meeting (4th Thursday) is July 26th, 7pm at the Boathouse.

Thanks!

-Pat

So, New Baltimore voters, we can clearly see what Pat Linger, your Repukelican County Legislator has been doing; it’s no wonder he can’t come up with any accomplishments in the legislature! He’s too busy doing other things.

You know, Jim Eckl may be a two-time loser but compared to Linger, Eckl’s starting to look real good…if only he could shake the Democrap stench he’d have a chance. Can you do that Jimmy? Can you shake those three wenches from your back? Can you be a real man and run on your hind legs? Try it. Make a commitment to New Baltimore voters that you can do better than Linger and maybe we’ll throw in a couple of good words for ya. 

---

The New Baltimore Repukelicans ran their candidate, Jeff Ruso, unopposed for Town Supervisor. In other words, Ruso was not elected, he was declared elected by default. Ruso then immediately appointed his predecessor, Nick Dellisanti, to be his deputy. Dellisanti refused to run again, paving the way for former loser Ruso, who ran for the supervisor office once before and lost. So now New Baltimore residents have an unelected Town Supervisor (Ruso) and an unelected Deputy Town Supervisor (Dellisanti). Of course we can’t fault the New Baltimore Repukelicans for the New Baltimore Democraps’ failure to run a candidate but we can fault both Ruso and Dellisanti for so openly and glaringly pleasuring each other publicly and at the New Baltimore public’s expense: Dellisanti clears the way for loser Ruso and loser Ruso invites RINO Dellisanti back into the Supervisor’s office! Now that’s the way to run elections…in North Korea!

As we have already published in several articles, the incumbent Repukelicans in New Baltimore Town Hall consider themselves above us all and feel it’s unnecessary to respond to residents’ correspondence; their appointees and employees like Gordon Bennett (Sole Assessor) and the Board of Assessment Review, a tool to reward or to punish by means of its incompetence, play their politics games and reward their friends while cheating others; while the Democrap and Repukelicans steal your right to vote or not to vote for candidates by their refusing to put up candidates and run candidates unopposed, who would be “declared elected,” even if they got no votes at all.

Both parties have turned our polling places into portapotties.
Both parties have turned your ballot into a blumpkin.
Both parties have turned your voice into a fart.
Are you happy with your Democracy now?

Stay tuned for our follow-up article on how you are being denied your vote and the problem of Alan Van Wormer.

 

Smalbany Knew, the Daily News Knew, Greene County DA Stanzione Knew, but New Baltimore Supervisor Ruso Didn’t Know.

 How can New Baltimore Town Supervisor Jeff Ruso deny that the Town of New Baltimore forced Highway Super Jordan to resign? How can New Baltimore Town Supervisor Jeff Ruso say he wouldn’t know if outside authorities were investigating the New Baltimore Highway Department and Highway Superintendent Denis Jordan? How can Ruso be so ignorant of what’s going on in his town and everyone else is reporting on it, including our Smalbany blog for the past at least 4 years, the Greene County DA, the state Comptroller’s Office, the Daily News and Hudson Valley 360, just to name a few. But Ruso knows nothing?

So finally the Catskill Daily Mail picked up on the Denis Jordan scandal in New Baltimore. Congratulations, Daily Mail, it only took you about 4 years to get off your dumbasses and inform the public about what has been going on in New Baltimore for almost 20 years.

Congratulations, Daily Mail, but you fell short of any real reporting. But that’s no surprise, given the quality of the overall reporting. But then, you’re not called Hudson Valley 360 for nothing. You see, 360 means that you’ve made a totally nonsense turn only to arrive where you started from. Now does that make sense? They keep inventing themselves and are now the Hudson Valley 360. They’re not fooling anyone, really. We all know that they are not in the pubic information or the news business, they’re main focus is advertising. Just pick up one of their so-called newspapers and you won’t have any trouble seeing what we mean. In fact, Columbia-Greene Media Corp or CGM as they like to refer to themselves,  a division of Johnson Newspaper, is a full-service advertising agency and publisher of digital and print newspapers (judging from that sentence lifted from their website, their English ain’t all that great, either).

But the Catskill Daily Mail print news and Hudson Valley 360 did put out a blurb and a blurb it was, about the Town of New Baltimore Highway Superintendent’s so-called “voluntary” resignation. Now an involuntary resignation is when you get fired, and that’s what it’s called, “fired,” “terminated,” “pink-slipped.” So a resignation, by definition, is necessarily “voluntary,” isn’t it? Now, you may be given the opportunity to resign or be fired, in which case you have a choice and you might resign, instead of being fired. But that’s still not really what happened in New Baltimore, and we all know it, including Mr. Jeff Ruso, who knows damned well both he and his predecessor, Nick Dellisanti would have given their right arm to be rid of that incompetent dodo, Denis Jordan.

Since 2013, we’ve published at least 42 separate articles about Denis Jordan or that mention Denis Jordan in some negative context. How could you possibly not know?!?!

Smalbany Articles about Denis Jordan

And we know that Mark Vinciguerra and others at the Columbia Greene Media Corp. were well aware are what’s going on in New Baltimore because they read this blog and, to make matters even worse for Columbia Greene Media, we’ve informed them directly about the wrongdoing in New Baltimore. So, again, we have to ask, Where have you been for the past 4 years, CGM?

Columbia Greene Media is one thing. They are a private advertising and “news” reporting company and can do whatever they like.

New Baltimore Town Hall
Home of the Ho’s

But when it comes to our elected officials, that’s were the big buck stops! That’s why, when we read the blurb in the Daily Mail and on Hudson Valley 360, we almost had a fit. Here’s why…

---

But first a little historical — or histerical, or both — background:

In the article “New Baltimore Highway Superintendent Resigns; Department Under Investigation,” published in the Daily Mail and Hudson Valley 360 on about June 12, 2018, the author, Richard Moody, reports our illustrious New Baltimore Town Supervisor, Jeff Ruso, as having “denied that the town forced Jordan’s resignation.” What a load of steaming New Baltimore bullshit! Ruso and his predecessor, former Town Supervisor Nick Dellisanti, would do anything to rid themselves of that boil on their butts, Jordan. But they didn’t have the balls to do anything. We have personal knowledge that Ruso and Dellisanti were looking for any way possible to get rid of Jordan and they both knew, as did their predecessors, former New Baltimore Town Supervisors Susan O’Rorke and David Louis and their Democrap boards at the time, what was going on in the New Baltimore Highway Department under the direct supervision and authority of Democrap dodo Jordan. The problem was that Democraps take care of Democraps and most were on Jordan’s favors list. So they didn’t want to kill the goose laying their golden eggs, did they?

So the Democraps over several election cycles ran New Baltimore and Jordan remained a Democrap as long as it served him. Jordan ran successfully 4 times and has been New Baltimore Highway Superintendent for almost 20 years. How does it happen that someone with barely a high-school diploma, no education beyond high school, no training in engineering or a related field, never attended any continuing education courses in highway maintenance or related subjects, although there are quite a few very good ones like the Cornell Local Roads Program (CLRP), but was allowed (by voters and with little supervision by the Town Board) to run a complex department spending hundreds of thousands, millions of tax payer dollars?!? Well, it’s called local politics, the favors system, and very little county or state oversight. It’s criminal so why isn’t it covered in the local press, like any other crime or cases of corruption? Because locals like to keep their very dirty laundry hidden.

But Dellisanti and Ruso are supposed to be Republicans? Right? Correct. And they bend over willingly to get the Conservative and Independence parties to endorse them and their candidates, not that there are that many. That explains why Dellisanti and Ruso were so keen to get rid of Jordan not only because he was ignorant and incompetent, and corrupt, but because he was overconfident, thinking that he had his voter base (after all, he took the last election by one vote only. Big base, right? But then there’s the fact that absentee votes were mismanaged and no one demanded a recount.)

While the Democraps in New Baltimore are and have been corrupt and crooked writ large, the Repukelicans are hell bent on ignoring the people and taking care of their visions of “prosperity” — the problem is that they don’t have any appreciation of local culture or history, they have no intelligence or training in government, civics, economics, development, and they want to run the town like a business, which does not work.

Former supervisor Dellisanti, for example, came from downstate, around New York City. In terms of New Baltimore and its culture and lifestyles he might as well have been from Uranus. He didn’t have a clue how to deal with locals. Two terms and out he went — he “voluntarily” decided not to run again for office; after all, it’s easier to quit than to learn or to fight for what’s right.

Current Supervisor Jeff Ruso ran for Town Supervisor back in 2011 but lost to Democrap Susan O’Rorke, a real bitch and a super-disappointment, Dellisanti ran against O’Rorke in 2013 and won; he was re-elected to be Supervisor in 2015. When Dellisanti decided not to run for a third 2-year term, his deputy, town board member Jeff Ruso, who lost his bid for Supervisor in 2011, ran. Ruso ran as a Repukelican — the New Baltimore Democraps didn’t come up with a candidate, so Ruso was unopposed. When there’s only one candidate to choose from, that’s not democratic process; you can vote for yourself and be the only voter and stil win. That’s just about what happened with Ruso in 2017, when he finally was elected — no one ran against him — unopposed, the only way he could win. (We asked voters in New Baltimore to withhold their votes for unopposed candidates, not to give them any numbers; more than 33% of New Baltimore voters who went to the polls responded by not casting a vote for unopposed candidates. That was a clear message to Ruso and others running unopposed.

Back to the Jordan scandals …

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What’s even worse is that New York Town Law practically handed Supervisor Dellisanti and Supervisor Ruso the very tools to have gotten rid of Jordan but they never moved an inch to do it legally. They had the power of the purse string and could have used financial strategies to get control over Jordan and stop his illegal activities. They had the power to call Jordan before the town board and have him report about what he was doing. But they didn’t. They could have called Highway Department employees before the Town Board and questioned them. But they didn’’t. They could have asked the Greene County DA to step in and help get rid of Jordan. They didn’t. They could have made a petition to the New York State courts to remove Jordan for a great many reasons. But they didn’t.

In the meantime, Jordan was having his way with taxpayer dollars and playing all sorts of favorites games while ignoring very serious problems in Town’s drainage and roadways.

Thanks to Jordan’s negligence, incompetence, indifference, and utter vindictiveness, some property owners in the Town of New Baltimore have suffered incredible losses and damage to their property and the Town of New Baltimore supervisor, who is the chief financial officer of the Town, and the New Baltimore Town Board, instead of making good and playing fair, seeing that justice is done, simply handed the problems over to their insurance company who then handed the case over to their lawyers, who did everything to deny residents and taxpayers justice! That’s our New Baltimore democracy at work. That’s what at least 4 Town Supervisors and their boards have done to residents and taxpayers in New Baltimore by not taking action against Denis Jordan.

New Baltimore Town Supervisor should hide his face in SHAME when he admits that the Town of New Baltimore is not investigating Jordan. He’s also either damned ignorant and stupid or a bare-faced liar when he claims that if outside authorities are investigating, “I would not know anything about that.” That’s simply too stupid or too crazy to believe. How on earth could outside agencies be investigating a Town of New Baltimore department and a Town of New Baltimore elected official and the Town Supervisor, Jeff Ruso, claims he knows nothing about it?!? Maybe someone should investigate Ruso for severe brain damage!

How is it that this Smalbany blog has known about these “investigations” since last year – and reported on them, although exact details were not available. How is it that the Office of the New York State Comptroller is investigating and Ruso knows nothing about it? How is it that the Columbia Greene Media Corp, the Daily Mail, Hudson Valley 360 know about the investigations but New Baltimore Town Supervisor Ruso doesn’t know anything about the investigations?

This stinks of more lies and corruption and it gets worse because Jordan is a Democrap and the New York State Comptroller’s Office is a Democrap-run office in a Democrap state administration. Greene County DA Joseph Stanzione is a Republican as is New Baltimore Town Supervisor Ruso and the majority of the board. We’d like to think that justice will be done objectively but we all know better than that.

We need to see a public outcry, a public demonstration of solidarity in New Baltimore. We need to see our neighbors in Coxsackie, Greenville, Coeymans, Catskill and Coeymans show up at the next New Baltimore Town Board meeting on July 9, 2018, at 7 p.m. to make many, many voices heard demanding fair play and justice in our towns, and a stop to the lies like those we are hearing from Jeff Ruso and others. We need honesty, integrity, fair play and justice in our towns. All American government starts in our towns and villages, our hamlets and in our families. What we allow to happen at home we soon find in the White House!

YES!!! The State Comptroller’s Office and the Greene County District Attorney did receive complaints and we know where those complaints came from. We also know that at least Nick Dellisanti and his sidekick Jeff Ruso have known for the past at least 4 years what was going on and did little or nothing. We want to see something done NOW, Mr. DiNapoli and Mr. Stanzione. Did you hear us? We said NOW!!!

P.s. Mr. Ruso and your New Baltimore Town Board, you have done a lot of damage and we’ve lost a lot of confidence in you. Payback time is just around the corner and it’s called election day and you are called past history (that’s redundant, we know, but we just wanted the Columbia Green Media Corp to know we can write like they do, too.)

Final Word from the Editor

First of all a word to all our readers who live in La-La-Land and refuse to believe the facts and truth we publish. For four (4) years now we have been disclosing the truth about what has been going on in the New Baltimore Highway Department, New Baltimore Town Hall. We’ve been telling you about what has been happening to honest, hard-working New Baltimore residents and taxpayers at the hands of our elected officials and our town employees. It took four years for the Greene County DA to wake up and do something. It took four years for the local trash media, Columbia-Green Media, the Johnson Newspaper Group, etc. to wake up and tell you all what was and is going on in our town. We’ve been on watch for you and telling you as it was and is happening. You’re welcome, I’m sure.

If you are stupid enough to believe that Supervisor Jeff Ruso, after having been in the thick of it for at least 6 years, can claim ignorance of what’s been going on, ask us. We have had personal discussions with both Ruso and his predecessor, Dellisanti. We’ve been present at meetings to assess the damage caused by Jordan and his team of Yahoos. We’ve spoken to Dellisanti and to Ruso about the work done by Jordan on private properties and both Ruso and Dellisanti admitted they knew but “couldn’t do anything about it.” That’s the truth. But it was a lie. State Town Law, and we told Dellisanti and Ruso, provided a number of ways to solve the Jordan problem; problem was that there were too many cowards in Town Hall to put the law into action.

When residents and taxpayers appealed to the Town to remedy problems in roadwork and drainage in the National Historic District — that was back in 2006!!! — nothing was done. In 2016, when Dellisanti and Ruso personally visited New Street together with Denis Jordan and his deputy Scott vanWormer to view the situation and the damage to private property resulting from Jordan’s negligence and indifference, they were made fully aware of the situation. They did nothing!

When Callanan was paving in the Hamlet and Jordan was nowhere to be found and Callanan, under the supervision of Jordan’s deputy, Scott vanWormer, were dumping tons of blacktop and creating hazards, the Town was informed and they did nothing!

When residents went through the process required by the law of serving the Town of New Baltimore and its officers and board with Notices of Claim, official notices of complaint and claim, regarding the damage done by Jordan during his time as Highway Superintendent, the Town of New Baltimore, under Dellisanti and Ruso, DID NOTHING. Well, they did something: They turned the cases over to the Town’s insurance company, the Argo Group, through the Town’s insurance agent Marshall & Sterling of Leeds, NY.

Here’s Dellisanti’s and Ruso’s idea of fair play and justice for New Baltimore taxpayers: New Baltimore insurers Marshall & Sterling (Leeds, NY), Trident Brokerage, and Argo Group (Bermuda) (the Town of New Baltimore is dealing with an off-shore company enjoying the tax sanctuary of Bermuda! Nice going, patriots!) are being paid to work against New Baltimore Residents and Property Owners with good faith claims for damages. The Albany law firm of Bailey, Johnson, DeLeonardis & Peck P.C. have been hired by New Baltimore’s insurers and New Baltimore to make sure New Baltimore residents, property owners and tax payers don’t get justice and fair play! Isn’t there something wrong with this picture? Don’t WE pay the bills in this town? If we as private citizens damage town property our sorry asses are in jail! Maybe that’s where our Town Board, our Town Sole Assessor, Gordon Bennett, and definitely our Town Superintendent of Highways, Denis Jordan, should be!

For More Information Please Read Our Articles:

• Complacency is a Bad Thing…Especially in Local Government (2017/11/10)
• Is the Town’s Plan to Exhaust Residents Seeking Justice? (2017/11/03)
• Open Letter to Greene County District Attorney Joseph Stanzione 2017/11/02

 

New Baltimore Town Highway Superintendent Harasses Local Woman; Demands Removal of Fence

For some time now we have been investigating the operations of the Town of New Baltimore Highway Department and New Baltimore Highway Superintendent Denis Jordan. We have requested confirming documents and information from the Town of New Baltimore on several key issues. We are reporting on one of those issues in this article. The second issue, that of Mr Denis Jordan’s use of Town of New Baltimore equipment and employees to do work on private property is also included in the following article (Denis Jordan Avoids Duties to Serve Special Friends: The Case of the Disappearing Creek).

Normally, in a small town you expect cliques to develop around political issues and local interests. At the same time, you’d expect that there’d be a certain neighborliness and concern for the community; after all, we are a community. Right? And we’re all neighbors. Right? 

Fence seen from Corner of County Rt 54 and High Mount Road.

Well, things are a bit different in the Town of New Baltimore. You see, you may be a property owner and taxpayer, but the fascists in the New Baltimore Town Administration don’t give a shite about you or your property. They’re too busy promoting their own interests, pushing outsiders to use our town facilities, doing favors for friends and supporters while the rest of the community watches as their property is damaged and the town purse is plundered. What are we getting for some of the highest taxes in the state? Abuse, Abuse, and more Abuse! And for taking care of your property? More abuse, More Abuse, and More Abuse! You might as well move to Coeymans!

Denis Jordan, the illiterate bully Superintendent of Highways in the Town of New Baltimore, can’t seem to find the time to supervise his contractors or to learn how to maintain town drainage but has plenty of time for private projects and harassing local property owners. His recent harassment of Ms Patty Hildebrandt and his defiance of the Town Board and NYS law is sending a very disturbing message out to all residents and property owners in the Town of New Baltimore.You may be next!

The backstabbing in New Baltimore is not limited to town officials and employees cutting residents’ throats, the blood flows in rivulets in Town Hall and between Town Hall and the New Baltimore Highway Department.

New Baltimore Superintendent of Highways Denis Jordan has lost a lot of political capital and credibility in the past couple of years. During that time we have investigated and reported on a number of unethical and unlawful activities that have been going on in the Jordan Highway Department. Those abuses range from retaliation and punishing of Highway Department personnel to misuse of town employees and equipment, and noncompliance with the laws regarding proper record-keeping and contract operations.

The first item in this report concerns a local property owner, Ms Patricia “Patty” Hidebrandt, who has been selected by Denis Jordan and harassed because of a so-called privacy fence she put up. This is no ordinary property owner but one who is highly visible on Route 51, a county road, and High Mount Road, a roadway owned by the Town of New Baltimore. Ms Hildebrandt has been a New Baltimroe resident for more than 40 years and takes immaculate care of her property; she lives in a cute little house in a highly visible spot on the corner of the two roadways. Her home is picture-perfect and the grounds are always manicured and planted with seasonal flowers. The property is an example of how we’d like to see all property in New Baltimore kept.

But Denis Jordan, a Neanderthal, has some vendetta or an ax to grind with this poor woman. You see, he’s hand-picked Patty Hidebrandt out of the hundreds of other properties in New Baltimore, and has been persecuting her for months because, as Jordan alleges, she put up a fence on town property. Jordan wants her to take the fence down and has been harassing her for months.

But there’s no reason for Jordan to make such a demand. The New Baltimore Town Board even agreed that it was not a problem,and  even if the fence is on Town property it’s not in any way posing a nuisance or obstructing any Highway Department operations or plans. Jordan just wants to throw his weight around and it’s easier to bully a woman rather than go after someone else. Bully!

Denis Jordan Spells BULLY

Jordan got former code enforcement officer S. Mantor to send the property owner a letter informing her of Jordan’s claimsand telling her the fence has to be removed “from the town’s right-of-way.” Mantor never went after Ms Hildebrandt because no one really cared; only Denis Jordan cares.

Ms Hildebrandt appeared before the New Baltimore Town Board and the Board approved a temporary “license” allowing the an exception to keep the fence where it was. Jordan brought in his lacky, former New Baltimore code enforcement officer, John Cashin, live-in partner of former corrupt New Baltimore Town Supervisor Susan O’Rorke (D). Cashin decided to hit the road after his live-in partner, Susan O’Rorke, lost re-election for supervisor to Nick Dellisanti. Our guess is that Cashin couldn’t handle the honesty and integrity Dellisanti brought to New Baltimore, and so Cashin decided to join disgraced ex-judge Phil Crandall’s mob in Coeymans, where hiypocrisy and corruption still have a home and are thriving. Cashin appeared with Jordan at a Town Board meeting and spouted some unsubstantiated garbage about the Town Board not having the authority to allow the property owner to keep the fence. The Town Board responded that the matter was researched by the Town Attorney, Tal Rappelea, who wrote up the resolution. This was not good enough for Jordan, so he got his own attorney to critique Rappelea’s findings and the Board’s action.

At the June 26, 2017, public meeting of the New Baltimore Town Board, a vote was taken after Mr. Jordan brought in his own scheister attorney Meave Tooher of the Albany law firm of Tooher and Barone, who read his opinion to the Board. Jordan also told the Board he’d be having the property surveyed. Nice neighbor our Superintendent of Highways, Mr. Jordan, isn’t he? Nice guy to have to work with, too. Just ask the Town Board.

Well, at the June 26, 2017, Town Board public meeting, the Town Board carried the motion by a unanimous approval by full board, to allow the property owner, Ms Hildebrandt,  to keep the fence, saying:

“the Town Board has determined that the location of such privacy fence, notwithstanding having been constructed on town-owned land does not imperil the motoring or pedestrian traffic nor des it impede or interfere with the maintenance of said High Mount Road and…the Town Board has determined that the cost for Ms [name redacted] to remove such fence would create an unnecessary hardship on her.”

The license is temporary and the resolution states explicitly that if, in future, the town needs to use the area, Ms H. would remove the fence at her own expense. The resolution further states that Ms H. would insure the property and hold the town harmless for any claims involving the fence. Sounds pretty fair to us. But That was not enough for Jordan.

The Fence from Directly Across High Mount Road.

Denis Jordan continued his harassment and is continuing it as we write. The result: The Town Board was forced to withdraw its resolution. When the vote had to be taken but before the vote Town Board Member vanEtten stated, “I feel terrible doing this…” Deputy Supervisor Ruso abstained from the vote saying, “I’d prefer more time to consider this so in the meantime I’m going to abstain.”

Several neighbors and friends of Ms H. appeared before the Town Board at the public meeting to express their support and opposition to Mr. Jordan’s harassment, and Town Board members and town attorney Rappelea even pointed out significant errors in Jordan’s attorney’s letter, but Jordan was out for blood and wasn’t going to stop.

Jordan’s Attorney Meave Tooher of the Albany Law Firm Tooher & Barone LLP Can’t Tell A Drainage District from a Right-of-Way!

Meave Tooher, Jordan’s Attorney. Hey, girl! Who doesn’t your hair?

Nevertheless, Mr Jordan dragged his buddy ex-code officer defector John Cashin to another meeting as “concerned resident.” If Cashin had an ounce of integrity and real concern for the town or even the law, he’d find another low-life to hang out with but that’s Cashin, bald, aging, unwanted, and hooked up with another loser, Sue-Sue. Actually, two losers: Sue-Sue O’Rorke and Sue-sue! Tooher. Bla-bla-bla gibberish Cashin and Duh-duh-duh Neanderthal Jordan, so they bring in Crazy-Hair Meave Tooher, the third member of the New Baltimore Stooges. Now they have three. Put them all together, shake them up, add water and you come up with a little less than half a brain. Not bad for three shit-for-brains.

Back to being serious…. A number of residents and neighbors have appeared on Ms Hildebrandt ‘s behalf and addressed the Town Board. One resident, Ms D. Davis, who spoke from experience with Denis Jordan. Ms Davis tells the Board, “I think he’s a bully. If he doesn’t like you, he’ll make your life hell. I personally witnessed him doing favors for private residents using Town equipment…I also witnessed him…” At this point Mr Dellisanti interrupted Ms Davis with, “Dot, we’re not going to listen to this.” Normally, persons making comments during the public comment period have three (3) minutes for commenting. Ms Davis — regardless of what they’re commenting on as long as they’re orderly and civil; it’s part of the democratic process, Mr Dellisanti —  had not used her three minutes before being interrupted by Mr Dellisanti, in fact abusing her rights of free speech in public session. That was wrong. It was wrong because Ms Davis was commenting on personal experience as a witness of Mr Jordan’s unlawful conduct; her comment was not hearsay. (Editor’s Note: In fact, we are reporting on Denis Jordan’s misuse of Town equipment to make improvements on private property in our article, Denis Jordan Avoids Duties to Serve Special Friends.)

Interrupting and muzzling Ms Davis was doubly wrong because Mr Bla-bla Cashin was allowed multiple opportunities to comment, and was speculating, inaccurate, repetitive, and obviously had an agenda. We would question Mr Dellisanti on this unfair conduct in public session.

When asked directly by the Board why Mr Jordan wanted the privacy fence down, Jordan waffled. Apparently he was unable to come up with a good lie right away. First it was because he claimed it caused a problem with plowing but soon realized that that wasn’t going to hold any water; it was a bare faced lie, in fact. Just looking at the fence in the photos proves that. Jordan then decided again to lie to the Board by saying he has received complaints. When asked what kind of complaints and from whom, Jordan answered, “I’m not going to speak. I’ll have my attorney. Councilmember vanEtten persisted, “So you’re not going to tell us anything about the complaints?” and Jordan answers, “No.”

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Jordan to Board

Editor’s Note: New York State Consolidated Laws, Town Law does give the Town Board certain investigational powers including subpoena power, examination of witnesses, etc. We expect that if the Town Board were to have the Town Attorney research this, Mr Jordan could be forced to keep the Town Board properly informed. Letting Jordan get away with his criminality only aggravates an already unbearable situation, undermines the Town Board’s ability to govern, and erodes trust in local government. We would recommend subpoenaing Mr Jordan to provide the information demanded by the Town Board.

Besides, since when does a Highway Superintendent defy the Town Board and bring in his own attorney to mislead the Town Board. Who’s paying for this scheister from Albany? Are we taxpayers and residents paying for Jordan’s fun and games. We’re pretty certain he’s taking the money from the public purse. Attorneys don’t work for nothing unless there’s something in it for them.

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As we reported above, Jordan has been the subject of a number of investigations that adversely affect his credibility and his fitness for office. In fact, the public has shown that they don’t trust him as evidenced by the fact that he was re-elected in 2015 by a margin of only one (1) vote! There is reason to believe that his opponent would have won if there weren’t some irregularities in not counting absentee ballots. We’re also investigating that possibility.

Jordan Has a History of Abuse of Public Office…and a Shithouse Lawyer…

Nothing to worry about! Meave Tooher’s on the case…hmmm…Yup, she is. I heard a flush.

Commenting on Meave Tooher’s, Jordan’s hired-gun attorney’s, letter, Town Attorney Rappelea noted in the minutes:

“I took a look at the letter that was provided [by Jordan] and it was off base…The case law that was cited didn’t have anything to do with fences or right-of-ways or anything of that nature. And the section of law, Section 198 of the [New York State] Town Law has to do with the creation of a special drainage district. That’s nothing to do with fencing or right-of-way licenses. But the point is that we have have this one line, one sentence in our zoning law, and we have to abide by it.”

One sentence in the 119-pages of town zoning law. Get a grip people! Rappelea caved and admitted he made a mistake. The Town Board repealed its decision granting Ms Hildebrandt the temporary “license” to keep the fence. The Board with No Balls!

So dear readers and neighbors, we have Mr. Jordan harassing a local property owner for no reason at all. But this doesn’t affect just one property owner, it affects anyone with a fence, a stone wall, anything that Mr. Jordan thinks is in his definition of right-of-way. You’re all at his mercy now!

Even if Mr. Jordan’s attorney’s are better at bullshit than law, and even if Mr Jordan’s engineering consultants hired with your tax dollars report that in New Baltimore water runs uphill! And even if Mr. Jordan’s attorney Meave Tooher of the Albany law firm of Tooher and Barone, can’t tell the difference between a fence or right-of-way and a special drainage district, Mr. Jordan does have a special talent for avoiding his duties and obligations in favor of, well, doing favors for friends. That’s the subject of the following article. Click here to read about it.

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Editor’s Notes: The source of the information above is from the official minutes of the New Baltimore Town Board in public session. Other information includes documents produced by the Town of New Baltimore in response to our demand for the production of documents under the provisions of the New York Freedom of Information Law.

Denis Jordan’s wife, Diane Jordan, is currently working in the New Baltimore Town Administration as Town Tax Collector, and is running for re-election this November. Diane Jordan is also a deputy town clerk in the Town of New Baltimore town hall.

We are currently investigating Denis Jordan’s relationship with Callanan Industries,  Inc., the company who provided the paving materials for the recent paving of Hamlet streets. The were supposed to lay two (2) inches of blacktop but raised the road surface 4-8 inches, in some spots up to 12-18 inches, creating safety hazards and nuisances, reducing the road width by about 18-24 inches, and causing problems with snow removal operations, according to a New Baltimore Highway Department plow driver. That’s really magic: quote to provide 2 inches of surface and raise the road bed by 8 inches! Wow! That’s fine, though, Denis Jordan has a close relationship with his suppliers. This time to the tune of more than $180,000. And George Amadore, our NYS Senator for the 46th Senate District hands over more than $142,000 from the NYS Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) to waste on truckloads of unnecessary blacktop!!! Somebody’s making money on this deal and it isn’t the taxpayer or property owner!

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A Toothless Town Board? New Baltimore Board Works for Hwy Super!

The list of misconduct and abuses grows and grows and grows for Town of New Baltimore Highway Superintendent Denis Jordan (D). The New Baltimore Town Board just sit and stare into space, wide-eyed, clueless while Jordan makes threats, harasses residents, creates dangerous hazards, damages private property, causes lawsuits against the Town, and even threatens the Board itself. Why does this craziness continue? why hasn’t the Town Board taken action against Jordan as provided under New York State Law? Politics? Cowardice? Ignorance? Indifference? Maybe a little of each but the incompetence and stupidity is damaging the entire community!

Why doesn’t the New Baltimore Town Board read the writing on the wall?

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The entire New Baltimore Town Board met in public session on September 11, 2017. Supervisor Nick Dellisanti, Deputy supervisor Jeff Ruso, board members Shellie vanEtten, Chuck Irving, and Scott Brody were all present. Mr Denis Jordan, the under-fire New Baltimore Highway Superintendent, was sprawled in the last row. Four residents, three of them women, all with complaints against Jordan, were also present.

All four residents have significant claims against the Town of New Baltimore and all the claims are based on Jordan’s abuses, incompetence, and unethical practices. The four appeared at the meeting as a show of solidarity. One of them was to read a public statement into the record demanding answers to explain how Jordan has managed to keep his job while perpetrating all sorts of incompetent and crazy schemes.

We have the text of the resident’s public statement, and we’d like to share it with our readers now:

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September 11, 2017

The Town Board of New Baltimore
New Baltimore Town Hall
3809 County Route 51
Hannacroix, New York 12087

Ladies, Gentlemen, Neighbors:

Subject:        Remarks addressed to the Board in Public Session.

I am here this evening to address the New Baltimore Town Board directly and to get answers to the many questions I have placed before the Town over the past year and a half regarding the lamentable performance of the Town of New Baltimore Highway Department under the authority and supervision of Mr Denis Jordan, Town of New Baltimore Highway Superintendent.

The Town of New Baltimore, in addition to the numerous email notifications and photographic documentation I have provided, has made at least one on site inspection visit of New Street, a roadway owned by the Town of New Baltimore, in response to the ongoing problems of runoff water drainage and the failure of the New Baltimore Highway Department to maintain gutters and storm drains. There is an at least six-year record of the incompetent installation of culverts, drains, and ditches and the resulting damage to private property in and around New Street.

In 2016, the town supervisor and deputy supervisor, as well as board member vanEtten personally visited the site of damage to private property. Mr Ruso himself discovered a culvert that was so poorly maintained that one end could not be identified. Two days after that inspection, Mr Dellisanti, Mr Ruso, Mr Jordan and Mr vanWormer were provided with a tour of the New Street and Madison Avenue East problem areas.  Shortly, thereafter, NBHD crews arrived to clear drainage ditches that had not been cleared of debris and vegetation for at least 2-3 years. They proceeded to identify the blind culvert and uncovered a drainage grate from under 2-3 inches of soil. Mr vanWormer remarked that he had no idea the drain was there, and he’d been with the department for at least 17 years. The department dug up the road, replaced the mystery culvert, installed culverts under two residential driveways, and left a so-called catchment hole and several bizarrely crafted storm drains. The runoff drainage problem was not cured.

The drainage problems were not cured and the department managed to create new hazards and aggravate the drainage situation.

In 2017, the town of New Baltimore Highway Department and its contractor Callanan, appeared unannounced and commenced paving operations in the Hamlet of New Baltimore. I personally sought out and questioned Mr vanWormer about what was planned, since residents were not provided with information, and the Town website merely stated that details would be announced; that notice still appeared even after the paving had been started and even after it had been completed.

The most recent operations of the NBHW department can be characterized best by saying it is half-assed done by halfwits! The epitome of jerry rigging.

Not only were the operations on New Street largely unsupervised by the Highway Department, upon arrival on the day New Street was done, I was practically speechless when I returned home at about 3:00 p.m. to find that the roadbed had been raised an average of 8-15 inches, a huge drop prevented one from using the front entrance to my home, another 10”curb made use of the second entrance a significant hazard. There was a raised sloped edge along the street on the East side measuring some 12-15 inches. You could not exit a car at the roadside and safely get out because of the slope and the drop-off.  The road has been substantially narrowed such that when unloading my car another car cannot safely pass by.

The highway department attempted to cure the drop-off to the residential parking areas by dropping crushed stone. That jerry rigged solution has failed because the stone is either compressing or washing away, leaving the dangerous curb exposed again. It’s incredible but the Department on the West side of New Street, right across the street and opposite the No 18 New St. parking area, deposited a blacktop ramp from the roadway onto the lawn of the Arndt property, apparently so that Ms Arndt can drive her car up onto her lawn. Even more bizarrely that ramp actually fills the drainage ditch along the West side of New Street, preventing runoff from draining along the ditch into the drains.

In another incompetent attempt to remedy the hazards caused by the deposition of untold truckloads of blacktop on New Street, the Department had to pour concrete steps supposedly to allow our entrances to be used. The concrete steps were not provided with a foundation and now vegetation is growing from under the steps. No doubt water can seep under the steps and frost will heave them. The concrete or cement mix used is obviously not the correct mix because the edges are already disintegrating, crumbling. At the top of the steps there continues to be a raised hump of approximately 6-8 inches in height, causing a significant hazard of tripping, and which will pose a particular problem in winter with ice and snow buildup. This needs to be corrected.

The Deputy [Highway] superintendent has already commented that the raised, sloped edge of the road will cause a problem when plowing in winter and will complicate snow removal.

In an apparent attempt to cure the raised edge of the roadway at the garage of No. 10, the Department dropped blacktop to form a sloped grade into the driveway. This sloped grade now forms a conspicuous channel along which runoff from the roadway is conducted into the foundations of No. 10 New Street. We continue to use sandbags there.

In short, ladies and gentlemen, not only has the Department created hazard after hazard, they have each time created a new problem.

There is no explanation why truckload upon truckload of blacktop had to be deposited on New Street to the extent of raising the road surface at least 8-10 inches above the pre-paving level! How much has that cost the taxpayers of this Town?

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Editor’s Note: By any standard we consulted, the blacktop deposited by Mr Jordan’s contractors, Callanan Industries, should not have exceeded 2-2½ inches maximum. We can only speculate that the reason between 6 and 10 inches of blacktop was dumped on New Street was because Callanan Industries sells blacktop. What was in this excessive use for Mr Jordan, we might well ask?

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And where was Mr Jordan when all of this was going on? Well, at 3 p.m. on the day New Street was being literally dumped on, Mr Jordan left early to attend a wake…regrettably not his own.

In the meantime, request after request after request has been brought to the Town to cure the hazards and remove the dangerous situations. The town has shown only indifference, and the incompetence and waste continues.

Rather than respond to residents’ concerns Mr Jordan prefers to harass a local woman property owner because of a privacy fence. Rather than cure the problems and remove the hazards created on New Street and elsewhere, Mr Jordan is off installing culverts on friends’ properties. I have heard of at least two such preferred operations going on in the Town over the past couple of months.

The glaring questions persist: Where is Mr Jordan getting the money to hire his own attorneys when the town has an attorney? Where is Mr Jordan getting the money to hire surveyors to continue his harassment of local property owners. Where is Mr Jordan getting the money to hire Delaware Engineering as consultants to establish that New Baltimore is the only place on Earth were water runs uphill? Where is the accountability? Where is the leadership? Where is the responsibility? Where is Mr Jordan getting the wherewithal to confront this board with his own threats of litigation? What has the board done in response to Mr Jordans now infamous refrain, “Let them sue us!”

Mr Jordan must be made accountable for the untold damage he has done as Superintendent of Highways not only in terms of incompetent roadwork, corrupt contract practices, but also to the trust and confidence of residents in this local government, a town board whose responsibility is to steward the public treasure and to act in good faith and fair play in performing their fiduciary duties to the residents of this town.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr Jordan must be held accountable. Mr Jordan must GO! And he must go NOW!

Need I remind you that this is an election year, and some of you are seeking re-election.  It doesn’t look good.

I am providing a copy of these remarks for the record and ask that the Clerk conform them as part of the record of this September 11, 2017, public regular session of the New Baltimore Town Board.

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Mr Jordan was re-elected two years ago and won by ONE vote. With the public outcries and public knowledge of Denis Jordan’s years of misconduct and incompetence, waste of taxpayer money, abuse of residents, and his alleged favors being done for “friends” of Denis Jordan by Denis Jordan using Town of New Baltimore resources. Jordan’s neglect of his duties and obligations, his ignorance and incompetence, his questionable contracting procedures, and his refusal to respond to good faith questions posed by residents has been brought to the attention of the New Baltimore Town Board for almost 10 years now, multiple notifications, hundreds of photographs and yet Jordan is still there. Granted, two of the town boards were dominated by Democraps (under supervisors David Louis and Susan O’Rorke) and they wouldn’t lift a finger against their fellow Democrap, Denis Jordan. But now we have a Republican-dominated board and still nothing!!!

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Editor’s Note: We have reliable and credible information that Jordan won the last elections by one vote because the Republican and Independent election leaders did not count the absentee votes for that election!!! If that is factually true, someone’s head has to roll. So much for the democratic process and we wonder why people don’t vote.

We have personally inspected the damage and situations described in the resident’s public statement, and we can verify those facts as being true. We have F.O.I.L.ed supporting documents from the Town of New Baltimore and those documents do not paint a pretty picture of the operations of the Highway Department much less of Mr Jordan’s management skills…they’re zilch! We have also spoken to the woman being harassed by Jordan. That woman keeps her property immaculate and takes great pains to keep it beautiful; Mr Jordan made the claims, stating that he had received several complaints about her property but would not say who made the complaints. In fact, he first made the complaints and only afterwards collected any facts. Sounds like harassment, putting the cart before the horse again, Mr Jordan.

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We agree with the resident’s public statement and call on the New Baltimore Town Board to commence legal proceedings to remove Denis Jordan from office, to audit his performance and his recent dealings with Callanan and their paving operations in the Hamlet of New Baltimore, and to prosecute Jordan and his accomplices if illegal activity is revealed!

We want justice and compensation for those New Baltimore residents who have been injured by Jordan and his incompetent operations!

This book should be required reading for the Town Board!

The Editor

 

Campaign to Remove Denis Jordan from Public Office

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Campaign to Remove from Public Office
Town of New Baltimore Highway Superintendent
Denis Jordan
and to prevent his running for public office in future

We have been informed that there is a campaign being organized by residents and taxpayers of the Town of New Baltimore, County of Greene, New York, to collect and organize information and evidence to be used in support of an action to remove New Baltimore Superintendent of Highways, Denis Jordan.

For some time now Jordan has been the subject of numerous complaints and claims by residents of New Baltimore submitted to the Town Board of the Town of New Baltimore, but to date those complaints and claims have not been organized. This has all changed with some recent developments in the town, where Denis Jordan has finally crossed the line.

 

Taxpayers and Residents of the Town of New Baltimore are up in arms and claiming that Jordan:

• Has abused and abuses his office and authority

• Is unqualified and incompetent to hold the office of Town Highway Superintendent

• Has abused his discretionary authorities as Town Highway Superintendent

• Has shown special favoritism to select residents while abusing other residents in the context of his public office

• As the result of the above has wasted public resources and obstructed the operation of good stewardship in New Baltimore Town government

• Has abused employees of the New Baltimore Highways Department

• Has exposed the Town of New Baltimore and its residents and taxpayers to unnecessary and burdensome legal actions and lawsuits

• Causing damage to private property with a wanton indifference, and failure to respond to notifications of dangerous situations

• Jordan has an established pattern of intimidation and bullying among Highway Department employees

• Because of all of the above, Mr Jordan has placed the Town of New Baltimore at risk of losing its insurance coverage or being placed in a higher risk classification, which will result in additional expense and even reduced coverage of the Town of New Baltimore.

This list is not complete or exhaustive, since we are now on the track of investigating Mr Jordan and his dealings with local contracting companies, including Callanan Industries, Peckham Materials Corp. companies that have already been associated with Jordan’s questionable practices,  and others, in the public bidding processes, the planning and execution of roadwork, and the estimation of materials used in those projects. The picture is very grim from what we have been able to glean even at short notice. (Editor’s Note:  We’ve requested the bids and the background facts as well as the estimates of materials and the actual materials used by Callanan. We expect to prove serious criminal activity.)

According to informed and reliable sources,  Mr Jordan’s recent escapades and incompetence in conjunction with Callanan Industries’  “successful” but totally botched bid to execute repaving of streets in the Hamlet of New Baltimore, the Highway Department has been deluged with complaints from irate and angry residents complaining of the poor quality or disastrous effects of the work done by Callanan under Mr Jordan’s supervision.

In fact, on Monday, June 26, 2017, when Callanan crews were paving New Street and Madison Avenue, while New Baltimore crews were standing around counting farts on the corner of Madison Avenue and Rt 144, Mr Jordan left early, at around 3:00 p.m., to attend a wake. The wake was for a local but not a relative or close friend of Jordan, which raises the important question of: Couldn’t Jordan have stayed to supervise his contractors work on an important repaving project and stil paid his respects to the family of the deceased? After all, he could have left when the crews left at around 4:30, and had plenty of time to prepare for the wake, which certainly ran until at least 7 p.m. Shows where his priorities are. 

Suspicion was cast on Jordan’s re-election and his win over his former deputy highway superintendent Alan vanWormer; vanWormer lost the election by 1 (ONE!) vote. The election was not contested, which raised suspicions in the New Baltimore community.

We support the residents and taxpayers of New Baltimore in their efforts to clean up local government and to remove corruption, incompetence and crookedness. We urge all of our readers to support those courageous residents and taxpayers seeking to remove Jordan from office and to better local government and quality of life.

I you have any information or a complaint or know of anyone who has information about Jordan or wishes to file a complaint, we are here to assist you. Please contact us directly at rcs.confidential@gmail.com or write to us c/o P.O. Box 422, New Baltimore, New York 12124. All contacts will be strictly confidential and no information identifying you will be shared or published without your express written permission. We also encourage you to leave a comment telling all of our readers about any of your experiences with the New Baltimore Highway Department or Mr Jordan.

Recent roadwork done by Callanan Industries done under t he direct authority and supervision by Mr Jordan has generated a deluge of complaints and general dissatisfaction. According to a well informed and reliable source, the New Baltimore Highway Department has received numerous telephone complaints about the shoddy work done. Rather than call the Highway Department, where it is almost certain that your complaint will be lost in the dust, we recommend you make your complaint known via this blog, and then to write directly to the New Baltimore Town Board. That way you’ll be heard.

Please share this information with your family, friends and neighbors. It’s our duty and obligation to ensure that our New Baltimore community is a model of good government, honest and competent elected officials and public employees, and that our sense of community stands as an example for our surrounding communities. Your contribution to this effort will put all questionable and corrupt elected officials and public employees on notice that we will not tolerate ignorance, indifference, incompetence or dishonesty being paid for with our tax dollars.

Do your part and share what you know!

The Editor

 

 

The RCS Chalkboard: The Board of Education’s Documentation of Stupidity

When we posted our article It only gets worse: 2015 will be more expensive, more dangerous, and more frustrating … (December 22, 2014), we had no idea how prophetic it was going to be. But then we received the January 2015 RCS Chalkboard and it became crystal clear how bad it can really get. It’s getting really, really bad!

This is YOU!
You’ve been programmed, and are being re-programmed! 

First of all, we’ve warned in the past of the misplaced loyalties and the disconnection of the Ravena Coeymans Selkirk board of education from the real people, the real taxpayers, the real needs, the real issues in this community. Back when a small fraction of local voters put the current board of education in office, we correctly noted that the new board was made up of a bunch of insiders, special-interest elitists, most of whom are married to or are close relatives of Guess what? Yes! Teachers.

RCS BOARD OF EDUCATION WANTS ANOTHER $30 MILLION!!!

RCS has it to burn!
and the RCS board of education burns it “responsibly” (as long as you’re paying).

Monkey-mayor “Moose” Misuraca doesn’t seem to have the Moose-Nalls to make any changes in favor of Ravena residents and taxpayers…

Moose balls? More like mouse balls!

But back then we had mummy mayor John T. Bruno in office with Nancy Warner and Cathy Deluca unlawfully or at best misdirecting taxpayer money right and left — now we have monkey-mayor Bill “Moose” Misuraca and Nancy Warner supported by four dildos — Nancy Warner and Cathy Deluca still have their hands in your pocket but monkey-mayor “Moose” Misuraca doesn’t seem to have the moose-balls to make any changes in favor of Ravena residents and taxpayers, he hasn’t made any changes but has simply moved in with Warner and Deluca — and Yes! When the current RCS board of education was voted in, there was some serious voting and poll irregularities as usual — but no one seemed to care much, as usual you all had your heads in the sand and your thumbs up your butts —, and back then we still were dealing with the likes of Gerald “Dirty-Hands” Jerry Deluca and Gregory “Deluca’s Dumplin'” Darlington at the Coeymans police department with their bunch of mobsters. But then Deluca and Darlington cashed in their chips and made off with their pockets full of your tax money while the town of Coeymans board sat stupidly telling you they were all of a sudden short of money. Why was that, we wonder? (For the answers just read past articles in this blog!) But that was then….AND NOTHING’S CHANGED!!!!!

It’s Got to be a Joke!

If you don’t have a copy of the January 2015 RCS Chalkboard you really need to get a copy and see for yourself.

First of all, you will read that the RCS Chalkboard announces that the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District is “Developing Tomorrow’s Leaders Today.” That’s a very frightening thought when you actually read the rag. Here’s why:

The so-called RCS mission statement (in the left margin of the title page) reads: “The Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District strives to be an exemplary learning community whose graduates are well-prepared to excel in a complex, interconnected and changing world.” Nice bit of fiction there and maybe Stephen King can use it in one of his crazy horror novels but those of us living here and watching, listening to, and talking to the products of that school district know better. The real mission statement should read: “Raping and pillaging the taxpayers of the RCS community and feeding them lies and deception while irresponsibly spending, spending, spending, and dumbing down the curriculum to artificially increase graduation rates. Your tax dollars working for the New York State United Teachers union and our egos!”

Here you have an eight-member board under the chairmanship of James Latter who is known to be employed by a Saudi Arabian enemy of the environment, to have unethical connections with various questionable organizations, and who is known to have violated the law and student and family confidentiality. But district voters re-elected him! We then have the sockpuppet Patrick Brown, a hippy attorney, wife…excuse us, husband of Matt Miller…Oops! We meant husband of Mary Partridge-Brown, the personal lap dancer to RCS teachers union representative, Matthew J. “Matt-the-Mutt” Miller, who is known to have been involved with some very shady activities in the past, including double-dipping and making off with school district money to the tune of more than $10,000 a year for several years, in addition to a reduced teaching load to allow him to do union business on RCS time, while receiving a full teacher salary plus complete benefits and incentives. Why is he still there? Your school board at work — in their own interests. We then have Alice Whalen, a former teacher, who has already announced during her term on the RCS board of education that she (Whalen) will be moving out of the RCS area to Guilderland…while she’s still spending RCS school district money and taking her personal stash with her to Guilderland!!! Nice going RCS!

Howard “Bray” Engel, a teacher married to a teacher, and who teaches outside of the district. Need we say more about Engel?

William “Bill”  McFerret…Sorry, that’s defaming the furry little animal that’s a member of the weasel family…McFerran is no less a weasel, though. He’s got an interesting history, too, if anyone has followed the developments over the past 2-3 years in the local RCS athletic organizations’ history. Not very savory.

The remaining three useless widgets, Tina Furst-Hotaling, Michael Jones, and Jason Hyslop have their issues but we’ve made our point.

As for Mr Alan R. McCartney, who came to the district with much experience and even more baggage, he’s gotten comfortable and cozy, knowing how to change his colors as the board composition changes. After all, he doesn’t want to jeopardize his enormous take-home by rocking the boat. There’s money to be had and he’s collecting all he can while making nice-nice with his keepers.

We want to mention also that the RCS Chalkboard has two editors, Robert Hanlon and Sabre Sarnataro. Why is that important, you might ask?

Well, we just barely emerged from a national economic depression. The job market and the econony have not yet even approached recovery. The infrastructures of the communities (Ravena, Coeymans, Selkirk, parts of New Baltimore) are falling apart and in shambles. Since the last census the town of Coeymans has lost about one-third of its population. Businesses, and jobs, are practically non-exist ant in the district.

One of the first things this present RCS board of education did was to take its business — rather the RCS school district’s business — behind closed doors, effectively eliminating the public — that is, the taxpaying community, YOU — from their back-room operations. The number of empty properties, distressed properties, properties slated for demolition, and the number of “For Sale” signs popping up all over the district is very, very bad news for an already stressed out region. We’re told we have to tighten our belts (Nancy Warner, member of the Ravena village council to the town of Coeymans board) while the mayor of Ravena and his brainless sockpuppets allow  the Ravena Health and Fitness Center to hemorrhage more than $6,000 a month of taxpayer dollars while paying its incompetent “director”, Cathy Deluca, more than $30,000 a year plus full benefits to “direct” the village into bankruptcy under current mayor William “Moose” Misuraca, and the town of Coeymans is in an uproar over budget shortfalls and where to find the money to cover them. But the RCS board of education is out there upgrading the RCS high-school football field — but if you’re a graduate of RCS schools over the past 20 years, you probably have nothing but oatmeal for brains, and you’ll swallow every word of the bullshit that appears in the RCS Chalkboard justifying that expenditure while calling it “responsible” spending. Naturally, that bit of propaganda bullshit is on the back page of the RCS Chalkboard.

The front page of the RCS chalkboard is worthy of Stephen King (who may well have written it, except for the mistakes). The front page is dedicated to a plan to “Help RCS Plan for Tomorrow.” How does the present irresponsible RCS BoE want you to do that? Simple: They want you to vote in support of an additional $50 MILLION WORTH OF SUGGESTED NEEDS! Well, the good news is that on the last page of the confusing and double-talking explanation that takes up no less than 8 full pages, they are asking for only about $30,000,000 (that’s thirty million dollars) in addition to the usual budget of more than $40,000,000 (that’s forty million dollars). To give you an idea of how much $40,000,000 is to run the schools under the present administration, that $40 million is more money than the combined budgets of the towns of Coeymans and New Baltimore, the village of Ravena, and the district of Selkirk combined. Go figure! And now they want RCS taxpayers to cough up another $30,000,000 for a capital project while they continue spending to “upgrade” sports facilities, while they consider cutting arts and language programs because there’s no money.

But the real clincher comes when all is said and done, and you will recall that we have an 8-member board, an interim superintendent and two — Yes! Two! — editors putting together, checking the content, and finally approving the expenditure of the RCS Chalkboard, which is allegedly intended to provide RCS Central School District residents and taxpayers with true, accurate, and timely information on what’s going on in the district, but on page one, the title page, of the RCS Chalkboard, in a textbox highlighted for emphasis, we read:

Please be sure to vote on Tuesday, January 13, 2015, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., RCS High School
√ Proposition #1: $28.79 million Projected Tax Impact by 2020: + $12.42 per year or 1.04 per month[+ 0.62%] on a $100,00 RCS home
√ Proposition #1: $1.3 million Projected Tax Impact by 2020: + $2.98 per year or 25¢ per month[+ 0.15%] on a $100,00 RCS home

Now we have a problem with the $100,00 RCS home part (are we supposed to read this to be a ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR RCS HOME?) . Either property values have really plummeted over the holiday season and we’re worse off than we expected or the RCS Central School District’s figures are way off target or the 8-member board, the superintendent and the 2 editors didn’t care enough to read what they published and correct any errors. So what does that say about the rest of the bullshit in the January 2015 RCS Chalkboard? Is it accurate? Is it truthful? Is it reliable? Is it worth the paper it’s printed on? By the way, how much does the district spend on printing the RCS Chalkboard? Do taxpayers have to pay for it even if it’s inaccurate, untruthful, unreliable, full of misleading errors? Why don’t you go to a meeting and ask Mr Latter, Mr McCartney or one of the two editors. Better yet, why not ask RCS teachers why their board’s figures and grammar reflect the quality of education your children are receiving and that’s being paid for by taxpayers — or what’s left of us — many of whom have no children!?!

VOTE NO! ON PROPOSITION NO. 1: DISTRICT-WIDE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT ($28,790,00.00)

VOTE NO! ON PROPOSITION 2 (CONTINGENT): MIDDLE-HIGH SCHOOL SITE WORK IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT ($1,300,000)

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Cuomo’s Tax Break for Vets — Added Burden (Guilt or Taxes) for Us!

Have any of our readers followed the story on the tax exemptions for veterans proposed by Andrew Cuomo? He’s playing a Pontius Pilate game of “I’m giving you a choice but someone’s gotta die — and I’m not getting involved.” game with us. Here’s the bottom line: Either you piss down veterans’ legs and say pay taxes like the rest of us — in other words, we’re going to treat you like the federal government does — and risk being called ungrateful OR we can give veterans a tax break and take on a greater burden ourselves (even those of you who are veterans but don’t qualify for the exemption). Now that’s a genuine, authentic Cuomo-the-homo type choice; in fact, it’s the type of choice we’re constantly being asked to make by our local RCS CSD school board and local governments. Any thoughts on this sleezy proposition? (It’s the Cuomo equivalent slogan, “It’s for the vets!”, comparable to the RCS board of educations tired propaganda slogan, “It’s for the kids!”).

Wounded Warriors Project — Give us your money! It’s for the Vets! (RCS BoE: “Give us your money! It’s for the kids!”)

The latest embarrassing scandal that affects the duping of the American public and their sense of national guilt has recently surfaced when the crooks at Wounded Warriors got exposed. Here’s the bottom line in brief: According to Guidestar, a group that investigates charities, the Wounded Warrior Project might as well be run by the Mafia. In 2012, the WWP received an astronomical $154,958,901, with a measly $4,857,084 going out in grants to veterans’ organizations and $671,194 to individuals. That means that the group only used 3.5% of the money it received for the purpose intended.

In the meantime, the Officers, Directors and Trustees hauled in $15,415,666 million, with Employee Benefits ($2,226,457), Office Expenses ($12,451,303), Travel ($4,086,509), Promotional Items ($4,055,567) and something called Outside Services ($20,915,404) accounting for roughly 50% of what’s listed as “Overhead Expenses.”

Check out the full story at Wounded Warriors Scam.

THE EDITOR

 

 

Coeymans Is Disgusting!

UPDATE on the Eliminate the Coeymans P.D. Poll
Here are the latest figures on voters in our poll (Status: April 4, 2014):

• 85% want to see the Coeymans P.D. eliminated and the community served by the County Sheriff or the State Police
• 73% would support a referendum to eliminate the Coeymans P.D.
• 58% of participants are concerned about the coziness between the Coeymans Judges and the Coeymans Police
• 37% of participants want to eliminate the Coeymans police department “NOW!!”
• 34%, or more than 1 out of 3 poll participants, feel that their rights were violated by the Coeymans police

Cast your vote at Eliminate the Coeymans P.D.

 So Why is the Coeymans Town Board Still Sinking Taxpayer Dollars in the Coeymans P.D.?
Why is the Coeymans Town Board Still Approving Hiring New Employees for the Coeymans P.D.?

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As we quickly approach the historic quarter-of-a-million readers mark — YES! We’ve almost reached 250,000 readers! — We can look back with pride on the many accomplishments and community improvements that this blog has instigated by providing the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk community with factual information on what’s going on in their communities. And Yes! while we have contributed to many improvements in local life, we are still flabbergasted by the ignorance and insensitivity of local elected officials to the dire straits in local government and their total lack of vision and competency.

Coeymans Today

 In the past we made the excuses for them saying that the Coeymanazis had the majority on the board, or that a senile and corrupt mayor was bullying his programs through, and putting his friends and supporters into power and cushy local jobs. But that excuse seems to have gone the way of the dinosaur since the recent elections when local Republicans won the majority over local democraps in the Town of Coeymans, the Town of New Baltimore and the Village of Ravena. We also recently examined the first six months of the new Coeymans town board in our article: New Coeymans Town Board: First six months…Same old same old. The picture is not a pretty one.

Coeymans Town Board
Visions of Dumps

 The Town of New Baltimore has already made considerable headway to replacing corrupt and incompetent local government with accountability and transparency. Only time will tell whether the new elected officials will allow their authority to go to their heads and become one of the villains they replaced.

But Coeymans is Still Disgusting!

The Town of Coeymans, however, doesn’t seem to have caught on. The Town of Coeymans, it appears, has replaced one set of dolts with another set of widgets. The Town of Coeymans, it seems, hasn’t learned a damned thing in the past 4-8 years about good local government. The elections last November that brought so much hope to the residents and citizens of Coeymans was apparently a sham. The new majority on  the Town of Coeymans town council is not only continuing the pitiful stupidity of the past administrations but is showing even less courage, less vision, and is following the backward track of business-as-usual. Here’s what we have observed in the past six months:

 Two years ago, when we started this blog, we published one of our first articles, the third one, actually, on March 3, 2012, with the title: “Coeymans, New York: A Nest of Hypocrisy” (click on that link to read the article). Since then we’ve published a total of 336 articles that report on local life and politics, informing local residents, citizens and taxpayers about everything they won’t get to read in the Albany Times Union a.k.a. the Albany Times Useless, or any of the Johnson Newspaper Group’s rags, especially the local love-fest rag, the Ravena News Herald a.k.a. the Ravena Nosey Hick. The Ravena-Coeymans community has been the epicenter of ridicule and scandalous reporting by the Times Union, another liberal-democrap rag that has perpetuated the downward spiral of the Albany area.

Looking back on our 336 articles, we published facts on everything from the misconduct of RCS Central School District teachers, bullying in our schools, the inability of the RCS Central School District administration to achieve even a mediocre standard of education while paying ineffectual teachers outrageous salaries, and getting abysmal test scores and graduation rates. Our schools, ladies and gentlemen, are failing and so are our students. Our costs, however, are skyrocketing. The salaries make up more than 75% of the school budget, Coeymans police are harassing our students on school grounds, sports coaches are making six-figure salaries while a large proportion of residents are working two or more jobs just to make ends meet and pay their property taxes. Go figure!

Local Coeymanazi police and Village of Ravena elected officials harass and persecute local teens and youth, while doing everything they possibly could to kill the local Ravena-Coeymans Youth and Teen Activities Center. Ex-mayor John Bruno, “trustee” Nancy Warner, and Cathy Deluca, after having paid a local insider more than $40,000 for used fitness equipment, and Josephine “Josie” Biscone-Bruno got a local man to sign a lease for premises, owned by Bob Fisk, a local insider, for the property finally killed the Teen Center. The Teen Center sold its furnishing to the Athens teen center, which has the support of the village of Athens. After all was said and done, the kids were back on the street and Ravena had another empty building, another distressed property on Main Street. Ex-mayor John T. Bruno was ousted with two of his lackeys, Martin Case, an RCS social studies teacher on reduced teaching load (but receiving a full teacher salary), and Rocco Persico, a RCS CSD school psychologist, in the March 2014 elections. Tell you a lot about RCS schools, doesn’t it?

The RCS CSD board of education has been a hot topic since day one. The spending is outrageous as are the salaries. The board of education is controlled by the teachers who are controlled by the New York State United Teachers, a division of the AFL, both unions. We have reported on incredible misconduct and conflicts of interest in the schools by the teachers and on the board of education. We’ve reported on election and poll misconduct and a number of citizens have complained directly to the New York State Department of Education and have demanded investigations. Too little too late. We’re stuck with special interests running both the schools and the board of education.

Unfortunately, most local residents get their local information and news only from the Ravena News Herald, which is a rag that reports only what’s approved and positive to the local powers to be. Almost always a week late and always saying ‘just the right thing the right way’ to paint a rosy, but false picture of what’s going on in Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk, always 3/4 packed with news from everywhere else, and complete with at least 8 full pages of legal notices. The Ravena News Herald, yours for a mere $1, and not fit to wipe your butt with.
In the meantime, the propaganda and misinformation fills the pages of local media. The lies abound and the frame-ups continue. Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk continues to earn its reputation as a “Nest of Hypocrisy.”

The Coeymans police department has been a subject of particular interest. Of all the local nests of corruption and misconduct, the Coeymans police department takes the first prize. When the Coeymans town board was dominated by the likes of Tom Boehm, Tom Dolan and Dawn Rogers, all recipients of special favors by the Coeymans police department and the local town justices (see our article, “From the Judge Himself: Coeymans Judge Resigns, Insider Exposes Corruption” of March 24, 2014), we demanded that Boehm, Rogers and Dolan get the boot. Boehm and Rogers were ousted last November. Dolan’s life expectancy on the Coeymans town board is very likely to end in the next elections. But the Coeymans town board is still as ineffectual as the last one! Why is that, we have to ask.

Despite public outcry to eliminate the Coeymans police department (see our article and poll at “Eliminate the Coeymans Police Department: Your Vote“, where 85% of participants demand that the Coeymans p.d. be eliminated!). Despite Coeymans town supervisor’s previous efforts to replace the Coeymans p.d. with services provided by the Albany County Sheriff’s Department that would save Coeymans more than $500,000 a year over the first four years and a projected $700,000 a year in the fifth year for law enforcement with no reduction in services! and maintaining a local presence, with local officers, and local equipment the Coeymans town board, still under the now disputed leadership of Stephen Flach, is still pouring money out of town coffers to placate the always hungry and always needy Coeymans police department. Far from eliminating it, the current Coeymans town board is approving more spending and approving more new hires to the already bloated and mismanaged Coeymans police department. All dodo-cop Darlington has to do is ask and the Coeymans town board rubber stamps the expenditure. Why is that, Coeymans?

Coeymans Town Board Congregation

With four alleged “Christians” on the Coeymans town board: Town supervisor Stephen Flach is allegedly a pastor to a local congregation of a Christian sect. Town councilman Peter Masti is an outspoken “Christian,” and the other two members of the majority, Burns and Langdon, also have some distinct “Christian” leanings, you’d expect them to be at least a little more ethical, less hypocritical, more responsible given the unmistakable condemnation of Pharisees and hypocrites in the New Testament, the guiding sacred text for most “Christians.” But somehow all that New Testament stuff has been swept under the carpet by the “Christians” on the Town of Coeymans board. We find it very interesting that four elected officials can forget their Christian ethics once they enter town hall. Be not mistaken, dear readers, we support the non-establishment clause of the US Constitution — properly interpreted and properly understood — but ethics is ethics and hypocrisy is hypocrisy, and hypocrisy is universally despised. So why is it so popular in Coeymans town hall?

Why is it that the four “Christians” entrusted with governing this town are blind to the corruption of the Coeymans police department. One of the worst villains was the adulterer (Yes! Readers! Adultery is a capital sin in the Old Testament and the New Testament; it is also a crime under New York State law!) Gerald “Dirty-Hands Jerry” Deluca, who recently “retired” or “resigned” from the Coeymans police department to become the CEO of the New York State Association of Fire Chiefs. Deluca has been a favorite subject together with his bimbo-bandit wife, Cathy Deluca, who was installed by the former Ravena village mob to be “director” of the illegal Ravena Health and Fitness Center (Search this blog for the poop on that one!). Supervisor Flach calls Deluca a “faithful and loyal employee” and town councilman Kevin Langdon calls Deluca a “father figure.”  Deluca, in fact, not even considering his wife’s corruption, was one of the most despicable scoundrels and liars in recent Coeymans history!!! A lousy cop, a nasty piece of work, and a virtual pig in a suit, Deluca made wild claims of working for a number of special interest organizations while at the same time working for the Coeymans police department. It seems his “Christian” friends on the Coeymans town board — aided apparently by Deluca’s access to confidential and privileged police database information on residents and citizens — was reason enough for Coeymans town elected officials to ignore citizen complaints of abuse and to “turn the other cheek.”  And the résumé and outrageous employment claims discrepancies? It appears the Coeymans town board “Christians” made a special deal with God to give Deluca the capacity to be in several places at the same time; that’s the only way to explain his résumé and his employment claims.

What is most distressing and irking to most local residents and citizens is the fact that the Coeymans town board simply bends over for the Coeymans police department. The Coeymans town board ignores the numbers and simply obeys. A Ravena village justice, Hal Warner, husband of Ravena village trustee Nancy Biscone-Warner (Old Nancy, formerly mayor Bruno’s bitch, supervises her own husband’s court! How’s that for corruption!), recently stabbed a part-time village judge and Coeymans town justice in the back, forcing the Coeymans town justice, whom Warner had trained, to resign from his position. The reason: former Coeymans town justice Phillip Crandall spoke out against the illegal and unfair practices of the Coeymans police department and the favors being shown by Coeymans town courts to special people (like members of the Coeymans town board, for example). Honesty? Integrity? Justice? Fairness? Can’t have a judge like that! So force him to resign. Coeymans living up to its reputation as “a nest of hypocrisy.”

Incest, too, has been a popular them on this blog. Just search the term “incest” on this blog and your stomach will start to turn almost immediately. Count how many times the name “Deluca” turns up. Search the word corruption and see how many times the name “Matt Miller,” “Deluca“, “Warner“, “Darlington” comes up. Enough said.

So, Coeymans, you’ve come a long way to proving how disgusting you can be and how you just love being pissed on by your elected officials. Your town board is there to ensure that your civil rights are abused by your corrupt Coeymanazi police department. Your Coeymans town board is there to ensure that your tax dollars are wasted to the max. Your town board is there to turn Coeyman’s share of the historic and beautiful Hudson valley into everyone’s dump, industrial site, and transfer station. “Coeymans: the Hudson Valley’s Dump.” Coeymans is there to change its name for a handful of coupons for a disgusting and heart-toxic sandwich: “Reubenville.” Coeymans is there for your heavy truck traffic and features some of the best and deepest potholes in the county! The Coeymans town board is right there when a local money-bags wants to put in a bridge and cross Route 144, destroying local environment and putting every driver and his family at increased risk to life and limb with heavy trucks crossing a heavily travelled road, at a poorly visible point! Coeymans again living up to its reputation as “a nest of hypocrisy.”

Well, Coeymans residents and visitors will soon see and experience what we are talking about:  You’ll soon be trying to enjoy the air, the weather, the scenery of the Hudson Valley. But you won’t be able to breathe because of the stench of the dumps and the transfer stations, and the dust the heavy  trucks will be raising on the heavily damaged local roads. If you are out for a ride or your kids are out cruising, the Coeymans police will be hiding, ready to pounce on you or them, cuffing them because they “smell pot” in their cars. And there’ll be some local putting up a dirt bank to hide the Hudson from view. Be ready. Coeymans, the home of “same ol’ same ol’.”  Ain’t life grand in Coeymans?

Anyone and everyone in the Town of Coeymans should be asking the Coeymans town board about the studies and statistics they used to decide to continue paying more than $1,000,000 a year of Coeymans taxpayer dollars on the Coeymans police department when the town could be saving at least $500,000 a year by going with the Sheriff’s Department plan to establish a satellite station in Coeymans. We might also ask what is being done in terms of investigating the many claims and complaints against the Coeymans police department to avoid costly lawsuits against the town. We can ask what the Coeymans town board is doing about the civil rights abuses and obstruction of justice charges against the Coeymans police department. Never mind. We’ll tell you: No investigation. The Coeymans town board is approving more spending and approving more hiring. That’s what. Coeymans, the Police State.

And what about your roads, water, sewerage and waste water treatment? Youth and teens? Senior citizens housing and projects? Culture and history? Civil rights and family values. Vision and planning?  Quality of life in Coeymans? Your Coeymans elected officials, all church-going “Christians”, have their own ideas of the concept of “stewardship” and ethics in Coeymans. Your “Christian” elected officials in the Town of Coeymans have a legacy to protect: Hypocrisy.

 

While they’re taking your firearms and preventing firearm noise in the Town of Coeymans; while they’re arresting your kids because the Coeymanazi cops smell pot (probably on their own clothes), and then demand that they provide information they don’t have (Aren’t you outraged, parents? They’re your kids!); while youre busting your axles in local potholes or risking your lives trying to avoid them; Your lungs are being treated to clouds of toxic dust and toxic fumes, not to mention what they’ve buried in your back yard or the sewerage in your basement! If the dust doesn’t get you, the heavy trucks pulling out in front of you will. Wasting your tax dollars paying for harassment and retaliation by bully-police, crooked attorneys and judges — rewarding the criminals and punishing the inocent citizen. That’s your town at work.