Thank You Woodbury

It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the people of Woodbury for the past four years. I will forever be inspired by the determination and dedication of my fellow Town Council members…as well as grateful to the many people I have met and worked with while in office. I am proud of what we accomplished, proud that, during my term, in many ways, we improved the quality of life in Woodbury.

On December 31, 2007 my term ends. Like many of you, I'm looking forward to spending the holidays with family and friends both old and new.

I’m not entirely sure what I'll do after that. However, I do know that I will not fade into the sunset. There is still so much that needs to get done. I like what I saw and heard from the many residents I spoke with before, during and after this election campaign. Their future and the future of Woodbury are worth fighting for and I will always play an active part in that fight.

An old teacher taught me a valuable lesson when he said, “No matter how hard the loss, defeat might serve as well as victory to shape the soul and let the glory out.”
As one door closes another door opens…but first, before I go, I would like to make a few comments about the recent election just to set the record straight:
As you all may know, I'm a results guy, so, no matter the reason, I admit that my campaign fell short of its goal last November. However, I will always remain humbled by everyone that believed in me enough to give me their time, support and precious vote.

In September, at Woodbury Day, my opponents were having difficulties setting up their Committee to Elect Woodbury Democrats tent. I stopped what I was doing to help them. When it was set up we all shook hands, agreeing to run a clean campaign and just stick to the real issues before us.

We did just that until two days before the election.
I was disgusted when I read the flagrant lies contained in a flyer, those same Committee to Elect Woodbury Democrats, handed out in Timber Ridge and Brookside in an attempt to unethically influence the outcome of the election. This flyer had three blatant lies specifically aimed at voters who were also home owners that the Committee knew were extremely upset because they felt victimized by questionable re-assessments the former Tax Assessor authorized.
By stating in the flyer that, "I hired the Tax Assessor, I knew of the plan to increase those assessments and I approved the plan to increase those assessments my opponents confused voters with lies while stealing their votes and destroying my record in the process.

Number 1,
I wasn't even on the Town Board when the Assessor was hired.

Number 2,
By State law, the Town Board has absolutely no say in what the Assessor does and is never asked to approve any of the Assessor’s actions.

Number 3,
My family and I suffered too, as my home was re-assessed by the same Assessor’s questionable methods as well.

Long before anyone thought about the election, The Town Board had many discussions about the Assessor’s term, start dates, duties and the fact that once appointed the Assessor operates independently of the Town Board.

John Burke, the Supervisor, who claims to have brought back open government and accountability, while he does the exact opposite, knew all along just what the role of the Assessor was.

Therefore, I was in shock and disbelief when the Times Herald Record reported that John Burke was the one, secretly, feeding these lies to the Committee to Elect Woodbury Democrats.

We may never know why John Burke, a retired High School Principal, a person who I trusted and respected chose this unprincipled path of lies and character assassination instead of debating the issues openly and honestly. Perhaps it was because he was allowed to run unopposed.

Carlton Levine and Amidee Haviland lll put their names on the flyer. Even if they somehow didn’t know they were spreading lies, which I find hard to believe, shame on them for not checking the facts first. What a disgraceful and tarnished way for both of them to enter public office.

In fact, The Times Herald Record was so appalled, by the whole sordid episode, that their Editorial of November 13, 2007 called for them all to ”…resign and give Woodbury voters a chance to have an honest election.”

The people of Woodbury deserve much better than this from their elected officials.

History has shown us that candidates and their political committees, who willingly use any devious methods necessary to win, will act in their own best interests first instead of the interests of the people they were elected to serve.

Let their conduct and the conduct of others, just like them, operating in Woodbury, serve as a warning to the people of Woodbury to beware and remain vigilant.

As a life long Martial Artist and Instructor of both adults and children, I have always taught that we should live by the Principles of the Black Belt: Respect, Humility, Perseverance, Honestly and Self-control.

We can only hope when these newly elected officials take office they dig deep down inside themselves and develop some of these principles.

No matter what happens…The fighting spirit of what you and I believe in will live on…The spirit…of doing what is right for Woodbury by putting results for residents first and foremost over any self serving partisanship lie filled agenda.

I shall return…