LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!! PART ONE: THE COUNTY
Dear Nieces and Nephews:
It is January and the jockeying for position, playing to the audience and other political dances have started, setting the tone for how our government will work in the coming year.
Legislative bodies are announcing changes to committee assignments in the new year and Orange County has done so as well.
One of these changes almost made your Auntie spit.
Orange County Legislator Mike Anagnostakis, a Town of Newburgh Republican who has clashed with his party at times and recently announced his departure from the caucus, has been removed as chairman of a committee he led for five years in what he denounced on Friday as an act of “political retribution.”
The Health and Mental Health committee is responsible for many things but most noteworthy at this time is the County-owned Nursing Home, “Valley View”.
Brescia denied in an interview that the move was retribution, but said that he and his fellow Republicans had grown tired of Anagnostakis criticizing them or “trying to show us up as ignorant,” and saw no reason to continue rewarding him with a chairmanship.
Steve Bresica*, your position on Valley View was very clear: you maneuvered in a a manner that would almost guarantee forming an LDC to SELL Valley View.
Legislature Chairman Steve Brescia said Monday that the new county executive, Steve Neuhaus, and his administration initiated the idea of forming a local development corporation to sell Valley View, an approach that Ulster County and other counties have used to privatize their nursing homes.
The 17-3 vote, which took place around 8 p.m., came with a slight let-up in what had been a 16-day dash toward privatization. Instead of voting on the proposed transfer immediately after the public hearing, as originally planned, Republicans agreed to meet again at an unspecified date to vote. https://www.recordonline.com/article/20140320/NEWS/403200328
Orange County Legislature Chairman Steve Brescia has released a draft of the short document, just over two pages long, that would effectively end a three-year, partisan battle over the future of the county’s 360-bed nursing home by putting it in the hands of an independent board of directors in order to sell it.
L Stephen*, more embarrassing for you, is that you clearly did not then and do not now, understand a key component of your role in the government: to act as the Chair of a separate but equal branch of the government, not to rubber stamp the initiatives of the County Executive in the executive branch.
Apparently,you do not need Legislator Anagnostakis to show your ignorance.
And, besides, Jimmy O’Donnell does bring the Valley View residents their cupcakes every week.
Oh, no! there appears to be something wrong with Jimmy's cupcake!!!
Congress, anyone?
*to whom we refer also as "L. Stephen" to avoid any confusion with the absent, Steve Neuhaus.
posted by Auntie Alibi @ 10:16 AM
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