This letter was published in this week’s issue of The Gazette.
To the Editor,
It must be that Croton Democratic Chairman Paul Rolnick hasn’t been paying attention if he has to ask what Croton United stands for. So to save him the trouble of actually doing his homework, I’ll spell it out for him.
Croton United stands for sustainable fiscal management. For doing long range planning, setting priorities for projects and only initiating those that the village can actually afford. The Democrats stand for piling debt upon debt upon debt with no thought for the future until the village is run off a fiscal cliff.
Croton United stands for inclusive government. For encouraging the public to participate and for actually listening to, and considering, their ideas and opinions. The Democrats stand for excluding the public, except for their special friends, from their deliberations because they believe that it is a “distraction,” and even ignoring most of the recommendations of committees that they themselves have appointed.
Croton United stands for open, lively and respectful discussion and debate of all issues affecting the village. The Democrats stand for unanimously passing whatever laws and resolutions Mayor Wiegman wants with little, if any, discussion and no public debate.
Croton United stands for thorough analysis of all proposed actions and performing honest, comprehensive cost/benefit analyses wherever appropriate. The Democrats stand for ignoring the real costs of their actions so that they can unanimously approve their pet projects without concern over how they will affect taxpayers in the future.
Croton United stands for total transparency in government and keeping the public fully informed of what their government is doing in their name. The Democrats stand for secrecy and obfuscation. For forcing their constituents to file repeated Freedom of Information Law requests, and then not even responding properly to those requests.
Croton United stands for village officials who maintain the highest ethical standards. The Democrats stand firmly behind a mayor who falsified his time records in order to force the village to pay for his, and his family’s, health insurance premiums and who has been less than truthful on more than one occasion, not only to the public, but also to his fellow board members.
Croton United stands for campaigning on the facts associated with the issues in question. The Democrats campaign by misleading the electorate, as was confirmed by two citations from the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee confirming that they made misleading statements during last year’s campaign.
Those are just a few of the things Croton Unites stands for, Mr. Rolnick. If you follow our campaign closely over the next several weeks, you’ll learn a lot more about what we stand for and how we plan to ensure that, in the future, the village board will act solely in the interests of all of the citizens of our village.
Sincerely,
Joel E. Gingold