SamPratt.com

Tagh team celebration

 
ABOVE: Outgoing Town Board member Erin Edwards; attorney Warren Replansky addresses the crowd; video thank-you to resident José Rodriguez; newly-elected Town Board member Joyce Thompson; video tribute to George Bartlett; the scene in Vince Mulford’s Tin Ballroom; and resident Walter Thompson. ||| The celebration was of two nearly simultaneous citizen victories emanating from the Town of Taghkanic: Judge McGrath’s firm ruling against the Wilzig racetrack, and the Columbia County Democratic Party and Taghkanic Tomorrow slate prevailing over Greg Fingar and the County Republicans’ attempt to disenfranchise voters.

Aphoris(a)m

Scoundrels recognize each other immediately, and get right down to scheming; whereas people of integrity may take years to identify their common interests.

Woodsy

The Register gets Sacked

Copake Town Board member Bob Sacks throws the Register-Star editorialists for a loss in the following letter, just submitted this morning:

.................................................

To the Editor:

What a fascinating editorial. I surmise that it was either written by someone who did not go to the court to follow the details of this case or at best it was written by someone who did not grasp the firmness and specificity of election law. The editorial stated, “The Republicans had laudable intentions in trying to keep voters voting where they have the most vested interest, and that in and of itself is a slippery slope not easily interpreted in election law."

How did you decide that the prevention of voting in America was laudable? Exactly where are the good intentions in preventing Americans to vote as they are entitled to do by state law? 

And I would ask how you are able to determine "where they have the most vested interest"? Are you going to tell me and the citizens of Columbia County that the Register Star knows where each individual has the most vested interest? Or are you saying that it is the right of a political party to tell people where they can and cannot vote? In this case you are suggesting that the Republicans should be able to determine when and where it is "correct" for a citizen to vote. Does that sound like American democracy to you?

How did the Register Star determine that election law is not easily interpreted? In fact, it is quite easy to interpret the law, as the courts have done over and over again.  I’m not clear why you so easily dismiss the actions of the court.  The courts have determined that people have the right to choose where they will vote, providing they have a residence in that place.  Your editorial suggests that it should be up to a political party to determine where a person votes, and that is the big slippery slope you wish to ignore.

Robert Sacks

Copake

One dollar, one vote

Sometimes the best letters-to-the-editor are the shortest:

To the Editor:

The justices have affirmed a core principle of Republican government: one dollar, one vote.

Stephen Bowles
Santa Barbara, Calif., Jan. 22, 2010

Go Forth

I’m reliably told that the Silvernail House in Ancram and the Forth House in Livingston (pictured above) are being considered by the New York State Historic Preservation Office for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places.

Clueless

There’s a mind-bogglingly clueless editorial from the Register-Star today, displaying a staggering degree of either bias or ignorance about the recent absentee ballot challenges. While making a few tepid stabs at appearing bipartisan in their criticism of how this was handled, its author appears to have either failed to follow the details of what transpired, or else has an axe to grind. Or both.

Here’s just a few of the many decisions and events the editorial appears to be willfully or negligently ignoring:

1. Case law firmly upholds the right of a person with more than one house or apartment to choose where they vote. It does not have to be a “primary” home; it just has to be a home. This is settled law, no matter how many times GOP lawyers shop for a judge to try to get a different result.
   
2. After hearing arguments from both the Columbia County Democrats and Republicans, the 3rd Department appellate court in Albany specifically cited (and thus reaffirmed) one such precedent, the 2008 “Willkie” case from Bovina, New York, in its ruling.
3. Columbia County Supreme Court judge Jonathan Nichols—a Republican—likewise specifically noted the higher court’s citation of Willkie during the final days of proceedings.
4. Judge Nichols likewise specifically noted that if the Republicans had a problem about anyone’s STAR exemptions or other benefits, that was a matter for the STAR board or other benefit agencies, not grounds for taking away their votes.
   
5. Despite the Register’s suggestion that all parties were acting in good faith in this dispute, Judge Nichols clearly expressed his astonishment at the GOP’s conduct. For example, Republican attorney James Walsh was admonished in his court for misleadingly reading only a portion of an Election Law statute, leaving out the portion that didn't support Walsh’s position. (Note: This damning exchange was omitted from the Register’s report of the hearing.)
   
6. Judge Nichols twice stated that the Republican position was “completely unconvincing” (remarks which the Register likewise erased from its news reports).
   
7. Similarly, Judge Nichols expressed frustration that his repeated orders for the Republicans to produce specific objections to voters were repeatedly ignored. In many court observers’ view, the GOP operatives are fortunate not to have been found in contempt.
   
8. A motion is pending calling for sanctions of the GOP for the manner in which they conducted these challenges.
9. As far as any delays are concerned, the Register upbraids Democratic Commissioner Martin for standing firm for part of one day on the matter of how to proceed with the count. But the Register ignores that once that count began, the Republicans were not prepared to go forward, having not assembled their necessary documents, causing further delay—and then held up the counting of votes for over two months with ham-handed legal actions that proved completely pointless.
   

One wonders whether the Register’s editorial writer actually understood what transpired, or even followed its own reporting (which was itself often protective of the GOP’s increasingly embarrassing performances).

And this is not an isolated incident of the Register encouraging ignorance of the facts about the absentee voting issue; for example, the paper repeatedly published irresponsible letters expressing outrage that people were “voting twice,” even though that inflammatory charge was not raised in court against a single voter during the entire two-month proceeding.

But whether such editorials are the result of flagrant bias or just run-of-the-mill incompetence (again, or both) is ultimately of little import, as the resulting shoddy product is the same.

Crash in Hudson

At right: Reader-contributed cell phone photo

A friend witnessed the immediate aftermath of a harrowing crash today in Hudson, involving a car barreling into the side of Proprietors Hall on the west side of the 7th Street Park. Apparently the driver, a woman in her 50s, suffered some sort of seizure and plowed straight into the side of the building. However, the response from emergency workers was nearly immediate and apparently they were able to extract her safely from the totaled vehicle.

How to make right-wingers' heads explode

Just tell them that the Roberts Supreme Court ruling they’ve been celebrating—which allows unfettered spending on campaign advertising by both domestic and foreign corporations—would also allow Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to support U.S. political candidates.

Harlemville's Finest

Frank Serpico -- known to Columbia County friends as Paco -- is interviewed in today's New York Times.

UPDATE: The reporter, Corey Kilgannon, has posted a video interview as well, in which he manages to get Serpico to watch the Al Pacino movie of the same name with him at the Philmont library.

Hessians

 

Renovations in progress at the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard (Annandale, NY).

Will Meadowgreens rebuild?

In the wake of yesterday's ruinous fire, popular sentiment would suggest that a lot of patrons are looking forward to Meadowgreens rebuilding their restaurant, bar and banquet rooms. But is that actually in the cards?

According to a source in the area food industry with connections to some prominent County insiders, maybe not. Some (if not all) of the investors may be more inclined to try to sell the property, which includes the golf course and other potentially-developable land. The most likely buyers would be the neighboring Columbua County airport, which has long been rumored to be contemplating an expansion. "Running a restaurant was never the main goal of the purchasers," says this source.

On the other hand, this theory would seem to be contadicted by reports that a six-figure investment in new air conditioning equipment and other renovations was made to the clubhouse last year. That would suggest more of a long-term interest in the bar/food/events portion of their investment. Now that the fire has occurred, only time will tell in which direction Meadowgreens goes.