Greenburgh: Die Another Day

We recognize The Paul is the media darling of the leftist media to the point of disbelief and disgust. ABG made contact with a past candidate who was quoted as an anti-Feiner resident in an online post by on another (Gannett) site. The entire slant of the article was that Feiner was bulletproof and unbeatable. The former candidate didn’t think so nor does ABG. Greenburgh Republicans and Conservatives have been adrift in the sea of Westchester politics without real leadership.

So what’s the answer? We’ve seen several good candidates rise to the challenge of running for office in Greenburgh to no avail. It’s not that they’re unqualified, they are. Greenburgh will certainly not get better under their new stewardship . The Democratic faithful routinely come out and vote the party line, which is about six thousand or so votes. That means Paul Feiner, running unopposed, will get some six thousand votes - it is so sad.

In the last County Board election, Democrat Alfreda Williams won the County Legislative seat. Listening to her at forums has proven the democratic faithfuls put the lesser candidate in office. Williams offers little except to follow in lock-step her democratic handler’s instructions voting against anything republican and for everything democrat. That’s not the kind of representation the Town needs. There are no benefits for Greenburgh residents. Can anybody break this “Gimme more” mindset and help Greenburgh get good representation? While we can only hope, we’re not confident that Greenburgh will see any change from the Republican Party.

At the county level, Astorino’s talking heads are continuing the “poor-me” whipping boy facade. That performance would be masterfully played out in tandem with Westchester Republic Chairman Douglas Colety. His Democratic counterpart, Reginald Lafayette, has little need to flex his democratic muscles as the democrats, for the most part, are in control of the County, and especially the County Legislature. We’re not convinced campaigning as a fiscal conservative worked for Astorino, as much as Westchester may have simply been tired of the Spano tenure.

The Westchester County Association was backing Astorino and his efforts. Who are they, really? Well, they are backed by the über-connected lawfirm DelBello, Donnellan, Weingarten, Wise & Wiederkehr LLP, based in White Plains, New York. They tout themselves as “a highly successful law firm with a strong regional presence”. Their “regional presence” has produced the appointment of fellow attorney/employee Kevin Plunkett as Westchester County’s Deputy County Executive. Talk about the ability to influence the County Executive from the inside. And to ensure nothing inappropriate is going on, let’s have William Mooney, a Republican and former Democratic County Executive Alfred DelBello, a Democrat, be the figureheads. Mooney does the public appearances but DelBello is the behind the curtain wizard, occasionally out front, making sure his agenda plays out the way he wants.

The Republican Convention this year was a lot of rah, rah, rah, we’re going to take back the County, the State and the Federal seats in government everywhere. Douglas Colety will go to the microphone and start his Republican banter in front of the republican faithful of lower taxes, breaking the stronghold in the legislature, great candidates, yada yada yada, rule the world! But he won’t be doing any of it for Greenburgh. At the after-election “celebration”, there will be a lot of back-slapping of Chairman Colety, with the same old rhetoric of taking control in the next election, ousting the democrats and putting up great candidates. Most importantly to us, the cost to Greenburgh is immeasurable, but until the Republicans get off their butts and get in the game, Greenburgh loses. 

It’s time not only for new blood, but new thinking. The Republican Party continues to operate from a playbook that hasn’t been updated in decades. Part of the political game needs to include new players and jettisoning some of the existing ones. Only then can we expect to see better balance in government. Greenburgh, as well as we, can only hope.