During the last forum at Town Hall which was not attended by Mr Feiner, his opponent for the Supervisor position, Mr Robert “Bob” Bernstein, had the spotlight shone on himself and the Town Clerk candidate Sherron Brunson Fantauzzi. The fact that Mr Feiner and Ms Beville chose to not attend the event was nothing short of disrespectful to the residents of Unincorporated Greenburgh and those in attendance.
Several people have stated that Mr Feiner, speaking on behalf of himself and Ms Beville, did not attend because the Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations were campaigning for Mr Bernstein and against him and they are a partisan group. Ironically, the CGCA is run by Madelon O’Shea, who insists that all meetings, functions and discussions remain non-partisan. The League of Women Voters may or may not be partisan but the moderator, Ms Sue Weisfeld was specifically chosen as she has been known to be fair while forcefully maintaining control of a forum and the time constraints necessary.
We’ve always maintained Mr Feiner is shrewd. He proved it again by not attending the forum and then having a one-half an hour commercial run on the cable access channel immediately after the forum ended. It allowed him a relatively captive audience, a half an hour of uninterrupted and unquestioned time to talk about what he wanted to discuss, not what residents might be interested in hearing. It reminded us of the night he went to the NAACP forum about WestHelp and never answered any questions and rambled on about everything but answering the questions that were asked. ABG is relatively sure we’ll see a repeat performance of that behavior again tonight.
Watching the video he produced found him in front of numerous locations discussing topics relating to where he was. One location he illegally entered to film his commercial was the Elmsford Fire Company, a private corporation who did not authorize his film crew to enter or film there, where he professed his love of the villages volunteer firefighters. At the end of that video, he must have realized he offended the paid firefighters in the three Greenburgh Departments and quickly praised them too. ABG understands why he filmed this piece there. The paid firefighter’s union has endorsed his opponent, Mr Bob Bernstein.
He spoke in front of Frank’s nursery (loss to Greenburgh: $3.5M), WestHelp (loss to Greenburgh: $1.2M/yr), the Fortress Bible property (loss to Greenburgh: up to $8M), the Theodore Young Community Center and so on. At each location he staked his claim against Mr Bernstein as being against what he was trying to do at each of these locations. ABG believes Mr Bernstein was on the right side of each of these escapades. Mr Feiner could be found weaving half-truths with out and out lies about Mr Bernstein. We already have documented that Mr Feiner is ethically challenged and in desperation is resorting to lies to make his case for re-election. Residents are smarter than that but Mr Feiner is hoping they will only remember what he has said, not what he has done.
Mr Feiner has been in office for 22 years now. In the beginning, when many residents tired of the Anthony Veteran administration, the voters decided to try something new with Mr Feiner. What we have learned in those 22 years is that the old saying about how “power corrupts” is absolutely true. While Mr Feiner may have been a logical and even good choice 22 years ago, his lack of management skills, lack of private sector knowledge and experience, lack of ever working in the real world has shifted his focus from doing the right thing for residents to favoring developers, contributors and special interest groups.
This September 10th is the date for the Democratic Primary. The outcome will decide who will be the endorsed candidate of the Democratic Party in the November election. It’s not about which yard sign was more impressive or readable when speeding down our residential neighborhood streets. It’s not about wondering who will help you as you watch your possessions float away during a misting rain because overdevelopment has no place for the water to go. It’s not about standing in the shadows of a larger than zoned-for building wondering how to watch a sunset in our Town. It’s not about watching our already overdeveloped green space turn black from macadam. It’s not about wondering if traffic will begin to move in time for you to play with your kids before they go to bed. It’s not about watching our seniors move out of their homes of 30 and 40 years into a subsidized studio apartments because taxes became greater than their Social Security checks. No, it’s about the fundamental and sweeping changes our Town has gone through and deciding if enough is enough! It’s time to return Greenburgh back to it’s residents. It’s time for A Better Greenburgh!
Showing posts with label September 10. Show all posts
Showing posts with label September 10. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Back To The Wall (Running Scared 3)
It’s no secret that Mr Feiner campaigns 24-7-365. It’s also no secret that Mr Feiner uses Town resources as though they were his personal campaign tools. And while he may legally be able to get away with this, it is morally dishonest and contemptible. Undaunted nevertheless, Mr Feiner instructed the Town videographer to begin playing his campaign commercials immediately following Thursday night’s “forum” at Town Hall that he did not attend. The Town Clerk didn’t attend either. Mr Feiner chose to campaign at a local supermarket rather than attend the forum. Perhaps he’s learned they might be closing based on his policies and wanted to get his last campaign licks while he could?
The forum held at Town Hall was disappointing from the perspective of not having all the candidates present to discuss what it going on in the Town and ideas that can help the Town. A staffer called our office immediately after the forum to make the comment that the event was really a non-event because Mr Feiner and Ms Beville failed to attend. A resident mentioned he and his wife had seen Mr Feiner at the supermarket campaigning and didn’t actually expect him to show up. The League of Women Voters’ moderator for the evening’s forum, Ms Weisfeld, waited a half an hour past the original start time to allow Mr Feiner an opportunity to arrive. It was wasted time.
Underneath his well-cultivated, disheveled, “woe-is-me” facade, is a shrewd and calculating politician. Mr Feiner knows that he his not a great public speaker. He also knows that Mr Bernstein is quite an accomplished public speaker, having been on the receiving end of numerous visits from Mr Bernstein at Town Board meetings, blog posts and letters to the editor. As such, ABG is of the belief that Mr Feiner took a calculated risk with his decision to not show up at the forum, knowing he could not compete with an issue savvy, seasoned trial lawyer, saving himself from being a verbally trounced again and unable to defend his record. In his mind, it would be better to pass and just give any reason for not being there and hope for the best at the next forum in Hastings-On-Hudson’s James Harmon Community Center, in a democratic leaning, Feiner-friendly Village.
ABG’s guess is that Mr Feiner will not have a strong performance in Hastings or in any other public venue with other candidates present. He does do reasonably well going one-on-one with promising residents anything they want to hear – and then doing what he wants anyway. It’s common knowledge at Town Board meetings, Mr Sheehan usually controls Mr Feiner’s outbursts and off the wall ideas. But since Mr Feiner recently threw Mr Sheehan and his family “under the bus” with a lawsuit and accusations of lying on ballot petition signatures, it remains to be seen how “helpful” Mr Sheehan will now be? Ms Juettner, along with Mr Feiner were recently found guilty of violating the Fortress Bible Church’s Constitutional rights and then losing their appeal of the guilty verdict. Why haven’t they been disbarred and removed from office? Mr Feiner’s lawsuit against Mr Sheehan also accused a group of nuns (Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament) of lying on their ballot petition signatures as well. Is there no one Mr Feiner will go after to run unopposed? Apparently not.
In the end, it seems Mr Feiner is more concerned with maintaining the corrupt status quo. The airing of his own campaign commercials in a non-stop loop as informational videos is reprehensible. He has chosen to avoid public scrutiny and to play “scripted” pieces instead. Again, he is shrewd if nothing else. His yard signs have magically begun to appear next to Mr Bernstein’s yard signs. That’s normal in a contested race. Although sadly, Mr Feiner’s supporters have already started to remove Bernstein signs in many locations, thinking this will help Mr Feiner’s campaign.
Removing yard signs. Not participating in forums. Running campaign videos on the Town cable access channel. Suing fellow Board members. Slandering nuns. Violating the civil rights of churches. The list, while seemingly endless, all amount to lying to the public. And for what? To maintain a power base and remain in office? The reality is Mr Feiner is running scared! His lawn signs say “Paul and Judith” with the slogan, “Keep Paul on Call”, even giving his home phone number. His slogan should be, “Keep Paul’s Back to the Wall”. This is nothing but campaign schtick to the willfully ignorant, headline reading public and party-faithful who vote the party-line regardless. While some may believe this past Thursday night’s forum might be considered a non-event, the choices were made clear. We want and deserve representatives who aren’t afraid to show up and face the music, even if the music isn’t a song anyone can dance to.
ABG urges the Town’s registered democrats to vote in the upcoming Democratic Primary on September 10 and help to make A Better Greenburgh.
The forum held at Town Hall was disappointing from the perspective of not having all the candidates present to discuss what it going on in the Town and ideas that can help the Town. A staffer called our office immediately after the forum to make the comment that the event was really a non-event because Mr Feiner and Ms Beville failed to attend. A resident mentioned he and his wife had seen Mr Feiner at the supermarket campaigning and didn’t actually expect him to show up. The League of Women Voters’ moderator for the evening’s forum, Ms Weisfeld, waited a half an hour past the original start time to allow Mr Feiner an opportunity to arrive. It was wasted time.
Underneath his well-cultivated, disheveled, “woe-is-me” facade, is a shrewd and calculating politician. Mr Feiner knows that he his not a great public speaker. He also knows that Mr Bernstein is quite an accomplished public speaker, having been on the receiving end of numerous visits from Mr Bernstein at Town Board meetings, blog posts and letters to the editor. As such, ABG is of the belief that Mr Feiner took a calculated risk with his decision to not show up at the forum, knowing he could not compete with an issue savvy, seasoned trial lawyer, saving himself from being a verbally trounced again and unable to defend his record. In his mind, it would be better to pass and just give any reason for not being there and hope for the best at the next forum in Hastings-On-Hudson’s James Harmon Community Center, in a democratic leaning, Feiner-friendly Village.
ABG’s guess is that Mr Feiner will not have a strong performance in Hastings or in any other public venue with other candidates present. He does do reasonably well going one-on-one with promising residents anything they want to hear – and then doing what he wants anyway. It’s common knowledge at Town Board meetings, Mr Sheehan usually controls Mr Feiner’s outbursts and off the wall ideas. But since Mr Feiner recently threw Mr Sheehan and his family “under the bus” with a lawsuit and accusations of lying on ballot petition signatures, it remains to be seen how “helpful” Mr Sheehan will now be? Ms Juettner, along with Mr Feiner were recently found guilty of violating the Fortress Bible Church’s Constitutional rights and then losing their appeal of the guilty verdict. Why haven’t they been disbarred and removed from office? Mr Feiner’s lawsuit against Mr Sheehan also accused a group of nuns (Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament) of lying on their ballot petition signatures as well. Is there no one Mr Feiner will go after to run unopposed? Apparently not.
In the end, it seems Mr Feiner is more concerned with maintaining the corrupt status quo. The airing of his own campaign commercials in a non-stop loop as informational videos is reprehensible. He has chosen to avoid public scrutiny and to play “scripted” pieces instead. Again, he is shrewd if nothing else. His yard signs have magically begun to appear next to Mr Bernstein’s yard signs. That’s normal in a contested race. Although sadly, Mr Feiner’s supporters have already started to remove Bernstein signs in many locations, thinking this will help Mr Feiner’s campaign.
Removing yard signs. Not participating in forums. Running campaign videos on the Town cable access channel. Suing fellow Board members. Slandering nuns. Violating the civil rights of churches. The list, while seemingly endless, all amount to lying to the public. And for what? To maintain a power base and remain in office? The reality is Mr Feiner is running scared! His lawn signs say “Paul and Judith” with the slogan, “Keep Paul on Call”, even giving his home phone number. His slogan should be, “Keep Paul’s Back to the Wall”. This is nothing but campaign schtick to the willfully ignorant, headline reading public and party-faithful who vote the party-line regardless. While some may believe this past Thursday night’s forum might be considered a non-event, the choices were made clear. We want and deserve representatives who aren’t afraid to show up and face the music, even if the music isn’t a song anyone can dance to.
ABG urges the Town’s registered democrats to vote in the upcoming Democratic Primary on September 10 and help to make A Better Greenburgh.
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