Wake The Sleeping Giant

Meeting after meeting systematically finds The Paul, whom I’ve dubbed “The Paul” because he acts as though he is the “King” of Greenburgh, brazenly and openly lying to the public for his own goals. Unfortunately, he is  supported by an equally inept and complicit media. I’ve dubbed the Town Board the “Stepford” Board because they show up like automatons and vote ‘yes’ to anything The Paul tells them to. A recent statement at a Town Board meeting by Councilman Sheehan where he says the Board members were independent thinkers was almost laughable. 

I’ve developed nicknames for all the Board members too. Kevin Morgan, a former Greenburgh police officer, who held real promise when first elected has probably been the biggest disappointment. He has been dubbed “The Henchman” because it seems he does all of The Paul’s dirtiest work. One example I was told of by a resident was that he made an alleged private phone call one evening to have some buddies on the Greenburgh Police force arrive at Town Hall parking lot to intimidate former Councilwoman Sonya Brown and another resident. As the two stood under the canopy and talked, a police SUV positioned itself in the parking lot’s north side and watched them from a distance. When the resident approached the police car to see who was driving, the car took off. As Brown and the resident left in separate cars to Brown’s home, stopping for gas first, there were two other Greenburgh police cars following them the entire way. Another was recently publicized by former Councilwoman Sonya Brown, that he “went after” her and had his daughter challenge Brown’s petition signatures, ultimately disqualifying her petitions.

Diana Juettner, recently convicted of complicity of the same charges as The Paul in the Fortress Bible discrimination case, sits on the Board for almost as long as The Paul and hardly says “Boo!” Another attorney/academic, she comes from Ardsley and apparently has the support of that village’s voters as she is always reelected. She may actually spend most of her evenings on the dais without saying any more than, “Yes” to The Paul’s every motion. 

I’ve dubbed professor Francis Sheehan, “Back Pocket” because we believe he is in The Paul’s back pocket, penning most of the Boards ridiculous bills into the laws The Paul requests. I believe most of them are sloppily written and are nothing more than a form of taxation disguised as fees and registrations. 

Ken “Newbie” Jones was a breathe of fresh air that we have quickly begun choking on. Another attorney, Jones neglected to inform his Parkway Homes neighborhood that The Paul was giving up 88 North Road for a group home when the area is saturated with them The Wyndover Woods apartments is a veritable enclave of group home residents. 

During a recent Town Board meeting, Jones told a resident to “Sit down! Sit the f*** down!” He has also accused the resident of being dangerous and out of control. While this resident’s only danger to the Board is the information he wields against them, he deserves two apologies. One for being spoken to like that and the other for the comments about him Jones irresponsibly made to the Journal News.  

As a life-long democrat, I’ve never been more disappointed. I was hopeful when Suzanne Berger ran against him and even when Bill Greenawalt ran against him twice that the Town might see an elevation in integrity. I was saddened too when The Paul, who knows how to keep his hands clean, had “his people” go after Patricia Weems’ ballot signatures when she was trying to run against The Paul. Weems, a small business owner didn’t have the resources to fight back. After all, incumbents have stacked the system in their favor.

I’ve dubbed a group of concerned citizens the G10, which originally started out as the G8, a loosely based of ten or so people that faithfully show up to Town Board meetings and are critical of The Paul’s actions, illegal or otherwise. Yet, he continues to win re-election with a core group of voters who vote for him regardless of his performance. And as a shrewd politician, he knows how to say what people will (mis)interpret as his being concerned about them. We also hear him repeatedly lie to residents to appear as though he cares but in realty he’s going to do what he pleases. He did just this with at Mazzaro Park, promising to install security cameras that will never materialize.

It’s time the residents of Greenburgh wake up! It’s time they stop ignoring The Paul’s illegal actions, the guilty verdicts rendered against him by the courts, the wholesaling of every available piece of undeveloped property in the Unincorporated Town and after 22 years initiate a change. We need a Greenburgh Republican Party not chaired by a RINO, insulated from The Paul by a Village, and offer other candidates to challenge the machine The Paul has crafted for his benefit, not ours. It’s time for the voters to make a change for the better. If the Democrat’s Robert Bernstein, cannot win the endorsement in their upcoming primary, the Democrats will have little choice but to award their endorsement to The Paul. ABG hopes the voting democrats will rally behind Bernstein and somehow wake the sleeping giant for a positive change in Greenburgh.

-Bill
Note: Bill is the founder of ABG and now a contributing writer from afar.