Howdy.
This is a very busy week at The Monroe Gazette.
We just interviewed Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, and we have another interview coming with state Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas, and State Senator Andrew Gounardes.
All of these interviews — and more — will be transcribed here and will air on The Finley. (The Finley is available, for free, where all good podcasts can be found.)
I was also at the nearly four-hour Town of Monroe board meeting last night concerning the town’s proposed relationship with Friends of I.C.E., the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
So, today’s post is going to be a little shorter than usual. If you’re a masochist, you can watch the full meeting here:
Once again, 99% of the people who spoke were against the town entering into the arrangement with the Sheriff’s department.
The one man who spoke in favor of this deal began by saying Tony Cardone isn’t a racist and … Then made a series of racist remarks. (You can see that at 1:56:07)
Mr. Cardone started the meeting by declaring that he never called anyone a “spic.” The Monroe Gazette has direct knowledge of a recording in which a town employee states that Mr. Cardone repeatedly used that slur to denigrate him.
We also just received video, shown below, detailing the Town of Monroe Maintenance Department’s porn collection.
An anonymous tipster tells us there’s been an ongoing sexual-harassment case, in the maintenance department, related to this porn collection.
The tipster declined to give a name out of fear of retaliation from Mr. Cardone and Mrs. Houle. Both have a demonstrated track record of being vindictive. Just ask current Highway Supervisor, William Brown Jr.
Note: This video is explicit and contains adult material. Viewer discretion is advised.
Pictured Above: Porn alleged to be owned by the Town of Monroe’s maintenance department. But like, not even good porn. Weird boomer born, in magazines no less.
“He Fills Their Heads With Lies!”
That’s what Town Board member Dorey Houle said about The Monroe Gazette at the end of last night’s meeting. So, of course, we asked Mrs. Houle to comment on what, specifically, was a lie — don’t let our flip nature fool you; we fact-check everything before publication. And wouldn’t you know it, Mrs. Houle did not write us back.
What I appreciate about her statement, and Scancarello’s and Cardone’s, is that they’re clearly losing it. Bullies do not like to be bullied.
I hope you remember that: your elected officials work for you. You do NOT work for them.
If you elect, whether knowingly or not, a bunch of bullies (Calore, Luciani, Luongo, Rinaldi, Cardone, Houle, Scancarello, Freiband, Fabbro, Skoufis, and Neuhaus), it’s your responsibility to push back until they do their job.
And remember, their job is to represent you — not use you as a stepping stone to higher office. That’s what Dorey Houle has done. She was elected to the Town Board in 2021 without finishing her term on the Village Board. She said she would represent the village on the Town Board, did not do so, and then ran for state senate twice — accomplishing so little that all she had to run on was racist fear-mongering like this:
I don’t go to meetings all that often, but when I do, I’m there to bully the bullies. That is literally the job of every journalist: comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I just prefer my phrasing.
Regardless, I encourage you to do the same.
Instead of investigating the porn collection. Or the second consecutive sexual harassment incident in the last two years. Or Mr. Cardone’s use of a hateful slang term for our Latino brothers and sisters, Tony Cardone, Dorey Houle and Sal Scancarello spent between $15,000 and $20,000 of public money to harass Councilwoman Richardson instead.
That, by the way, was the “mysterious” agenda item — pictured above — that appeared late on Friday night and had no explanation provided.
Mr. Cardone, much like the $750,000 he wants to spend on the Sheriff’s department, deliberately scheduled an agenda item to attack Councilwoman Richardson just prior to his re-election campaign, where she’s the challenger.
How? Mr. Cardone hired an HR firm to manage the complaints Mrs. Richardson filed, one that would side with his version of reality.
For example, one complaint involved Mr. Scancarello’s attack on Councilwoman Richardson at his “fascist food truck spectacular.”
The HR firm hired by Mr. Cardone didn’t find any wrong doing, despite the evidence of Mrs. Richardson having to go to the emergency room, after Mr. Scancarello, a grown ass man, elbowed her in the chest.
I asked Mr. Scancarello twice last night whether he had ever apologized for attacking Councilwoman Richardson; he made the face people make when they step on a LEGO., and did not answer the question, which then resulted in a tirade at the end of the meeting involving a “democratic judge.” Yes. Seriously. Watch at 3:35:48.
Sal, you did tell me to “bring it,” (1:43:28) and I did.
But like all bullies, after I brought “it” up, Sal, Dorey and Tony threw a massive temper tantrum, even blaming Councilwoman Richardson for my behavior.
Mrs. Carol Hawxhurst — the person with a Cardone campaign sign on her lawn and the sole public supporter of Cardone’s stunt of involving the sheriff’s department at the October 6th meeting — also consoled the Town Board during public comment. According to direct messages viewed by The Monroe Gazette, Mrs. Hawxhurst claims to be the creator of Preserve Monroe (she is not) and to have been responsible for the Rye Hill land-preservation (she’s also not).
Mrs. Hawxhurst also misstated the issue I raised about the Rye Hill purchase. Everyone — except Scancarello, Cardone, and Houle, who pushed the dinosaur–theme-park idea and went out of their way to make it happen — is happy the land is preserved. Me included.
What we’re not happy about is Tony Cardone’s incompetence, which allegedly cost the town nearly $30 million and has contributed to a (so far) 14% tax increase since 2024. But I guess honesty isn’t valued by these people, judging by how much they cry when they are fact-checked.
There’s only one person responsible for me: me. But because they’re afraid of me, Your Republican Town Board majority decided to gang up on Councilwoman Richardson like the gutless bullies they are.
Good news, sports fans: early voting starts this Saturday at Monroe Town Hall at 9am. If you want to send two of the three clowns home (Houle, Cardone), vote for The Monroe Gazette’s endorsed candidates: Beth Stephens, Luis Rivera and Maureen Richardson.
Sadly, you’re stuck with Slippery Sal Scancarello until next year.
Don’t worry, much like I plan to do with Brandon Calore while he exists on the Woodbury Town Board, I’ll continue to remind everyone that Sal Scancarello is fully responsible for costing the town $30 million and for the 14% tax increase since 2024.
Buckle up, Baldy.
South Blooming Grove, FOIL, and Kathy Hochul
Ok. There’s a lot going on with FOIL and South Blooming Grove. We’ve been quiet on that front because the village has stopped cooperating with our FOIL requests. When they do cooperate, they produce just enough to avoid a lawsuit but not enough for us to complete our story.
For example, the village failed to hold elections in March 2024 and March 2025. After requesting the records in December, we finally received the Terms of Office paperwork they filed — which they filed it incorrectly with the State. That was almost a year after we submitted our FOIL.
What we need is documentation showing whether the trustees were being paid on a two‑year term (as they should be) or a four‑year term (which Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein asserted). We’ve requested those records as well. The Department of State took no position on the incorrectly filed paperwork and essentially told The Monroe Gazette that South Blooming Grove residents have to sue to determine its validity.
Another example: the village issued a Stop‑Work Order for Clovewood this summer. We received the order, but it’s mostly blank and there are no accompanying records we requested. So if you’re wondering why there’s a Stop‑Work Order, your guess is as good as mine.
The most recent statement I received from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) sheds a little light on the situation there …
DEC continues to closely oversee the site [Clovewood] and respond to community concerns. In response to complaints of turbidity in the Satterly Creek, DEC inspected the Clovewood site and issued five Notices of Violation since October 2024 – three for water quality and stormwater violations, and two for violations of the incidental take permit for endangered and threatened species. DEC’s most recent inspection was on August 21, 2025. DEC is actively directing the developer to come into compliance, continues to monitor the site, and will undertake all necessary enforcement actions to ensure the protection of public health and the environment.
The Village of South Blooming Grove issued a Stop Work Order for the Clovewood development on May 7, 2025. The Village lifted the Stop Work Order on July 10, 2025, after the developer provided an engineer certification of sediment basins and a schedule of work. [Emphasis Added]. Please reach out to the Village of South Blooming Grove for additional information on their recent inspections of the Clovewood site.
That engineer certification? We didn’t get it in our FOIL request either.
The DEC is still being sued by the Town of Blooming Grove, and I have a lot of DEC documents to review. Unlike South Blooming Grove and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, the DEC has been mostly good about providing records.
The EPA, regarding South Blooming Grove’s water crisis, has not been as cooperative — but that’s a story for another time.
We’ve reported before that Mid‑Hudson News is a rag published by Trump EPA Region 2 head Mike Martucci. Its editor, Hank Gross, committed journalistic malpractice in his “reporting” on a phantom ethics complaint in the Village of Woodbury. Despite being fact checked and presented with evidence about the erroneous claims in their story, Mid-Hudson News has never issued a correction.
(Hey, Hank — still waiting for that report on MAGA Woodbury candidate Brandon Calore and the Orange County Ethics Board investigation into him. I know for a fact you were made aware of that ethics complaint multiple times.)
If you read Mid‑Hudson News, you’ll also know the publication often serves as a mouthpiece for State Sen. James G. Skoufis, frequently publishing his press releases as news articles.
You may have seen the story in which Skoufis criticized Gov. Kathy Hochul’s vetoes of his bills. If you missed it: Hochul vetoed roughly seven bills sponsored by Skoufis.
Our responses:
1. LOL.
2. How can anyone re‑elect this fool, given that the governor just made it clear his name — and his bills — are mud?
3. We don’t like Hochul, but her spokesperson calling Skoufis “a camera‑hungry clown” was spot on.
4. AHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHA. Eat shit, loser.
But on a serious note …
Skoufis’s FOIL bill, which Hochul vetoed, would have actually broken the FOIL process and created ways for state agencies to avoid complying with the law. We’ll explain more in an upcoming interview on The Finley.
That doesn’t absolve Gov. Hochul on FOIL though. Her office has obstructed, for most of the last year, two FOILs relevant to southern Orange County, submitted by The Monroe Gazette.
- As we exclusively reported, Hochul had a representative in Woodbury before the public announcement discussing the ACE Farms annexation — asking how her office could help smooth the process for the Village of Kiryas Joel/Town of Palm Tree. We filed the following FOIL on April 28, 2025:
Any and all records (emails, text messages, WhatsApp messages, Signal messages, notes, documentation, and other related errata) sent to and from Kelly Allegra and received by Kelly Allegra, concerning ACE Farms, Elozer Gruber, Acres Road II Holding LLC, The Town of Palm Tree, and the Village of Kiryas Joel from 1/1/25 to 4/28/25. 2. Any and all records (emails, text messages, WhatsApp messages, Signal messages, notes, documentation, and other related errata) sent to and from Jacob Adler and received by Jacob Adler, concerning ACE Farms, Elozer Gruber, Acres Road II Holding LLC, The Town of Palm Tree, and the Village of Kiryas Joel from 1/1/25 to 4/28/25
Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office has repeatedly delayed this FOIL. The next date we expect to hear from them is Nov. 16. Based on their previous responses, we anticipate they will wait until about 6 p.m. on Nov. 16 (seven months after our request) and then ask for another extension.
That brings us to the South Blooming Grove FOIL. If you don’t think The Monroe Gazette will sue Gov. Kathy Hochul, you haven’t been paying attention.
On February 21st, we requested the following:
Records Requested: All records (emails) sent and received by Jacob Adler, Director of Jewish Affairs, and Eva Wyner, Deputy Director of Jewish Affairs to the following domains:
@VOSBG.com
@UJCofBloomingGrove.org
@ujcbg.org
From 1/1/21 to 2/21/25 concerning the Village of South Blooming Grove.
Search Terms requested: Joel Stern, Isaac Ekstein, Village of South Blooming Grove, UJC, United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove.
If you’re wondering why the director of Jewish affairs appears in both FOILs, it’s because Joel Stern specifically names Mr. Adler in his testimony for the Gonzaga Park court case (still ongoing). From what we understand from Stern’s testimony, Mr. Adler is the direct link between Joel Stern, Isaac Ekstein, and Gov. Hochul.
Eight months later, Gov. Hochul’s office rejected our request for these records, citing:
“Please be advised that responsive records have been withheld pursuant to Public Officers Law § 87(2)(g) because they constitute “inter-agency or intra-agency materials” which are not: statistical or factual tabulations or data; instructions to staff that affect the public; final agency policy or determinations; or external audits.”
But here’s the thing:
In the Town of Monroe, their roughly $11,000‑a‑month attorney, Brian Nugent, tried to rely on a blanket FOIL denial, claiming no records can be released because of the “inter‑agency exemption.” That’s not how the FOIL law works. You must release all responsive documents and then mark each document where there is a redaction, citing the specific legal ground for each such redaction.
Joel Stern’s United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove is not a government agency. (This too is part of the lawsuit between the Town of Blooming Grove and the DEC, in which the DEC treated Stern’s United Jewish Community and the Village of South Blooming Grove as a merged entity. No such merged government agency exists.)
Because the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove is not a government agency — despite its name and despite representing a single Satmar group rather than the broader Jewish community — the inter‑agency exemption does not apply.
We sent a FOIL appeal to Governor Hochul’s office on Oct. 10. They have until Oct. 24 to respond to that appeal; however, we will generously allow until Oct. 31 for her office to reply. If we do not receive a satisfactory response from Hochul’s office, we will proceed with legal action.
One Last Thing
We’ve run into a problem.
The Monroe Gazette reported that Town of Woodbury employees won’t receive raises in the proposed budget. The story: Town Supervisor Kathryn Luciani, Town Board member (and mayoral candidate) Brandon Calore, and their associates are slated for raises — but town employees are not.
Other employees told us that sneaky title changes allowed select individuals to get pay bumps in the new budget, while others received nothing.
Woodbury Town employees were reportedly told by Luciani and Calore that the reason they’re not getting raises is “because of the village.” That explanation is false, especially given the large tax increase this same town board pushed through last year, in part to fund Luciani’s generous salary for what is essentially a part‑time job.
After we exposed Brandon Calore’s ties to South Blooming Grove through his employer, a company called CIOFFI (which is being sued by the Village of Woodbury), our Facebook account was taken down. That was back in June. Now, after we reported on the Woodbury Town Employees speaking out, our Facebook account was taken down again.
I am not currently on Facebook. I used a burner account (Charlie Puddles) to alert some residents about this. At the moment, we don’t have access to our official Facebook account; a contact at Meta is looking into it.
If you want to send us news anonymously, use the first two options:
- Download the Signal app and message us at 646-331-8341
- Mail (no return address): The Monroe Gazette, PO BOX 5, 996 Route 17 Stop 2, Arden, NY 10910
You can also contact us at:
- Email: BJ@MonroeGazette.com
If you see anyone on Facebook claiming to be me or The Monroe Gazette, they are not. If I get the account restored, I’ll let you know. Paid subscribers can also use the Substack chat function to reach us.
P.S. If you live in Woodbury, I hope to see you at this week’s Village Board meeting. I brought hell to the Town of Monroe, and I intend to do the same this week in Woodbury.
