Reanimated Corpse of Unpopular Group Disturbs Town Meeting
The James G. Skoufis aligned members of the Town of Monroe Democratic Committee are working overtime to give Supervisor Tony Cardone another term in office.
Walmart is about to raise prices specifically because of Trump’s tariffs. Before, high retail prices were blamed on supply chain problems stemming from the pandemic, corporate consolidation — Many Americans are lucky if they have two places to buy groceries, for example — and price gouging.
All three of those problems are still with us. So is inaction by our local governments. For example, here in Orange County, the New York State Comptroller’s office called out Crooked County Executive, Steve Neuhaus, and the Orange County Department of Weights and Measures for not properly testing its equipment. That equipment determines the prices of many of the products we buy at the store. Yet another reason not to vote for the Crooked County Executive this Fall.
If Walmart raises prices, you can bet every retailer will do the same. As America’s largest retailer, what Walmart does, others will use as permission to do as well. So all of this means if you think the grocery store is expensive now, things are about to get worse, and there are only two people 100% responsible for this: Donald Trump and Russell Vought. If you don’t know who Vought is, he’s the man behind Project 2025, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and one of three people who tell Trump what to do. The other two are Stephen Miller and Elon Musk. If you find yourself represented by a Republican, like say Congressman Mike Lawler, you might want to remind the Congressional Republicans that they have the opportunity to fix this tariff insanity at any moment. It’s Congress, not the President, that has the ultimate authority when it comes to tariffs.
Unfortunately, The Democratic Party Sucks
Instead of consistently communicating with our friends and neighbors about the danger their wallet, their life, and their country is in, the Democrats are doing insane shit. Here in Monroe. Over in Albany. And down in Washington. Today’s story is about the insane shit in Monroe. But I don’t want to let the rest of the party off the hook. So let’s touch on that here.
With the Republican party, you know who they are at this point. It’s Pro-Trump. Pro-Corporate America, Pro-Fascism. Of course, they don’t say that. In fact, they cry when you call them Nazis. So instead, they tell you about trans kids playing women’s sports. So let’s talk about that for a second: The number of trans kids playing women’s sports in America is way less than the number of kids with measals right now.
As of this writing, according to the CDC, there are 1,204 measels cases. Can you guess how many trans kids there are playing women’s sports right now? It’s not a thousand. It’s not anywhere close to that.
In fact, one study from UCLA put the number at around 100. That’s right. 100. Across America. That’s how many trans kids there are playing women’s sports. And if you don’t like that? That’s cool. I don’t think trans athletes should play in women’s sports where contact between competitors is involved. But that’s just my opinion. I’m sure you have yours. In fact, I know you have yours. That’s because Donald Trump’s presidential campaign spent $215M to bombard our nation in anti-trans advertising. But here are two important points:
1. My opinion is just that. An opinion. It’s not policy. I’m not about to run for School Board and loudly demand we ban trans athletes from women’s sports. In fact, my position is the opposite: Leave these fucking kids alone. Stop being a weirdo obsessing over what sport any kid wants to play. Why do you spend that much time thinking about this at all?
America has an obesity epidemic. We should be encouraging more kids to play sports, not less.
You have an opinion? Great. But you don’t have the right to force everyone to follow that opinion either. Just ask this guy who saw too many brown people at the neighborhood pool and got mad about it.
I also reserve the right to change my opinion at any time. I could be flat out wrong, and if so, I hope someone will tell me, so that I can publicly say that I’m wrong. Opinions aren’t written in concrete. Everything should be negotiable. That’s how you keep society functioning.
2. More people are getting gouged by Trump’s tariffs at the Monroe Walmart on a daily basis than the total number of trans athletes playing women’s sports in America. Think about that for a minute.
Then tell me with a straight face that this trans athlete thing is as big of a problem as you think it is. Or that the Republican Party wants you to believe it is. Because I promise you my friend, it’s not. On the list of problems America has? This one is at the bottom.
The other thing the Republican Party runs on is immigration.
When Elise Stefanik runs for Governor against Kathy Hochul in 2026, it’s a safe bet that all you’ll see from Stefanik are ads about immigration and trans athletes playing women’s sports.
You won’t see any solutions to any of the problems we have.
You know why? Because, as you’ve seen from the Trump presidency’s first 100 days, MAGA has no solution to offer you. If you’re poor? Fuck you. If you’re not white? Fuck you. That’s MAGA’s entire position. And when things don’t go their way? They’ll blame the Democrats.
As far as Immigration goes, I want to remind you that it’s something the Republicans can fix. Right now. They have a supermajority across Congress, the Court, and the Executive Branch. Tomorrow, they could pass a comprehensive immigration reform and border security bill. In fact, they were going to do it last year, but Trump called and begged that they not do that. You know why Congressional Republicans won’t solve the border and our immigration issues? Because then they’d have nothing to run on.
See how all this works? Or do you need me to tell you that this “Big Beautiful Bill” they’re trying to ram through Congress represents the largest wealth transfer in American History from you, me, and the rest of the working class to the wealthy.
So yeah, they’re bad.
But The Democrats? They’re spineless, weak, ineffectual, and we have the polling data to back that up.
Whether it’s South Blooming Grove, Albany, or Washington doesn't matter. They offer you nothing. Just bullshit.
Like what’s happening in Monroe (covered below) or with cryptocurrency regulation in Washington. Something one of our state Senators, Kristin Gillibrand, seems hellbent on passing. Even though the bill does nothing to regulate or prevent the President and his family from making hundreds of millions of dollars through their scam cryptocurrencies. (You don’t need to understand crypto beyond this: It was a good idea that was turned into a Ponzi scheme. I’m not your financial advisor, but you should not put your money into crypto. These days, Libertarian monopoly money has become a way for foreign governments and other bad actors to pay people off without detection. It shouldn’t be a shock that authoritarianism came back on the rise around the same time crypto became a thing. This is how many of these Far Right nutjobs in our country get their money from Russia, for example.
The Democrats also have a tendency to ignore things happening right in front of them.
-For example, turning a blind eye to what’s happening in South Blooming Grove because you want to be Governor someday (See: Attorney General Letitia James.)
-Turning a blind eye to the Trump administration’s crusade to cut and cripple Medicare and Medicaid by not passing the New York Health Act. Why not? Becausey you don’t want to upset the private equity companies that own more and more of the healthcare system. (See: Assemblyman Chris Eachus, State Senator James G. Skoufis, and others across the State including Kathy Hochul.)
-Turning a blind eye to the now former president’s declining health and cognitive abilities because of hubris, arrogance, and not wanting to give a woman a chance at the wheel. That’s what the Biden administration, along with the corporate media, did.
There’s more fuckery to be documented. For example: State Senator Skoufis slept with his former Chief of Staff and got away with it. There was never an impeachment inquiry into his behavior, even though the same sort of behavior got former Governor Andrew Cuomo to step down. And right now, Cuomo is using millions in corporate money to help you forget that his policies and decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic killed over 10,000 New Yorkers.
The Woodbury Democrats have clearly decided to work for real estate developers like Wayne Corts, and even enlisted some of the local Republicans, like Local Bigot Brandon Calore, to help turn Woodbury over to the real estate developers.
And the Monroe Democrats? Well …
Let’s talk about the Monroe Democrats.
James G. Skoufis started this local shit show. He did not want me to run for Town Board, and he screamed at everyone to make sure I wouldn’t even get an interview with that committee. I’m only half-kidding about this.
Actually, the truth is, Mr. Skoufis — like Governor Kathy Hochul — knew the ACE Farm annexation was coming before anyone else did. That’s why he spent a good portion of last year trying to merge the Town and Village of Woodbury. Because when it came time for the DEC to decide who had lead agency status, they would look at Kiryas Joel’s two municipalities (The Village of Kiryas Joel and Town of Palm Tree) versus Woodbury’s now one, merged municipality.
Skoufis wants to take political control over both Monroe and Woodbury. Monroe with David Rabbitts as Town Supervisor. Woodbury, with Brandon Calore as Mayor, and Kathryn Luciani, his buddy, re-elected as Town supervisor. (You’ll notice the Committee to Elect Woodbury Democrats has not once issued any denial that they’re planning to cross-endorse the January 6th Truther, and potential Proud Boy member, Calore this Fall.)
With his people in place, any time the Village of Kiryas Joel — or Joel Stern’s un-elected regime in South Blooming Grove — wants to annex some land from Monroe or Woodbury, they can get it.
Remember: Both un-elected South Blooming Grove co-mayors, Joel Stern and Yitzchok “Isaac” Ekstein are big Skoufis campaign donors. Stern gave Skoufis $10,000. Ekstein gave him $10,000. Their friends also pitched in. The State Senator swears that their money has had no impact on his actions. But we all know that’s bullshit. The State Senator refuses, for example, to speak to the DEC about the continued environmental violations being committed by Joel Stern’s friends on the Clovewood property.
Nor has Skoufis said anything about the Village’s repeated failure to hold Village elections for two years in a row.
Oh, and the Village of South Blooming Grove also hasn’t paid their water bill right now, so some residents are going without water. So, do tell us Mr. Skoufis, if Mr. Stern and Mr. Ekstein’s large campaign contributions haven’t influenced you, where are you?
Trying to pass a pro-Trump, fascist mask ban? Well that failed. Thanks in no small part to readers of The Monroe Gazette.
Make no mistake my friends, James G. Skoufis wants to run for Congress. Everything happening in Monroe, South Blooming Grove, and Woodbury are all for that reason. Skoufis is hoping the wealthy real estate developers in our region will help buy him a seat.
And Mr. Skoufis has help. He has the Committee to Elect Woodbury Democrats, run by un-elected Woodbury Village Trustee Rhonda Fabbro, her son (the actually elected Village Trustee, Matthew Fabbro) James Freiband, Wila Freiband, Tyler Etzel Jr., and Republican turned Democrat John U. Keleman. Among others.
Over in Monroe, Skoufis has the help of David Rabbitts, Brandon Bernard, Weird Asshole Paul Phelan, Christina Kiesel (see below), former Townboard candidate Bill Kazdan and his wife, and Convicted Felon Tim Mitts.
Tim Mitts, by the way, has never publicly denounced any sort of connection with Skoufis, nor has he released his tax returns and list of real estate transactions his LLCs have been involved with. As previously reported by The Monroe Gazette, Mr. Skoufis is alleged to have assisted in facilitating real estate transactions that Mr. Mitts benefited from. In exchange for Mitts running a Conservative Party Primary challenge to Dorey Houle in 2024, which was successful, and turning the New York State Senate race last year into a three-way General Election. And I don’t mean the fun kind.
You see. I told you all this for a reason. You can fix this situation. When you do nothing, the freaks, weirdos, and the corrupt take over your local political infrastructure. And that’s why nothing works in this country anymore, because change starts at the local level, and the local level is controlled by the freaks.
The thing is, most of us are being worked to death and don’t have time for this bullshit.
I get that.
But. No one else is going to do it. You have to do it. Help is not coming. This is what you got. And this is true of the local Republican party too. MAGA is not popular. If it was, then President Trump wouldn’t need executive orders to work around a Congress that he controls the majority of.
Locally, Town of Monroe Board member Dorey Houle, is a loser. We have the votes and two elections for the State Senate to prove it.
Monroe Town Supervisor Tony Cardone only got a second term as Supervisor because he ran unopposed due to the literal plague.
“Team Monroe” is not made up of popular people.
Pictured Above: Remember this flyer. We’re going to get back to it at the end of the article. Also pay attention to Mr. Elias Cunningham’s name on the graphic. Mr. Cunningham has refused to answer any questions concerning who is funding his work on behalf of Brandon Calore’s campaign for Mayor over in Woodbury. Mr. Cunningham has been closely associated with former Assemblyman — and Red Skull lookalike — Colin Schmitt. Given that Calore is a January 6th Truther, and Schmitt legitamately appeared on a bus of protestors, Woodbury and Monroe resident should demand Team Monroe, and Brandon Calore in Woodbury, clarify their positions on the terrorist attack on our nation’s capital.
One last thing …
You know how many Cardone lawn signs I’ve seen in Monroe for his upcoming primary? Two.
That’s right. Two.
If you’d like to see them, one is over by the school bus garage. The other is right next to the Captain’s Table, which hosted the Cardone fundraiser. (And yes, if you’re thinking, “Wait. Does a member of the Town of Monroe Ethics Committee have a Cardone campaign sign outside on their lawn?” The answer is yes. Yes they do.)
So don’t take my word for it. These people are deeply unpopular. The thing is, if some of the local Democrats keep up with their bullshit, these deeply unpopular individuals are going to cruise to re-election. I’ll have that story in just a minute.
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A United Monroe Member Is Back On Her Bullshit
We’ve talked about United Monroe a bunch already. Including just recently. If you’re new or not from the area, my recommendation is to just watch the documentary, “City of Joel”
What you don’t see in the documentary is that United Monroe consisted of two internal groups: Team Normal and the Freaks. The Freaks wound up taking over. So what became a civic group about a movie theater purchased by the Town, mutated into something that helped create America’s first official theocracy, the Town of Palm Tree.
The Freaks were the Conservative Republicans, Libertarians like failed State Assembly candidate John Allegro, and a handful of Democrats.
Team Normal was (most) of the other Democrats. But you did have some goobers in that group too. Like current Town Board candidate Paul Phelan (seen below in a United Monroe video holding up a sign endorsing Tony Cardone), and Cristina Kiesel.
Here’s what I’ll tell you about the Goobers:
Once, I went to a United Monroe member’s house with Emily Convers, the Chairwoman of UM. There, the Goobers put together a PowerPoint presentation that they were super excited about. But, in the words of Mrs. Convers, said to me after seeing the presentation, “That looked like Nazi propoganda.” Thankfully, that PowerPoint never saw the light of day.
I can’t say if Mrs. Kielsel had her hand in the PowerPoint; I honestly do not remember.
Most of my time in UM was entirely limited to working directly with Mrs. Convers. This was because I thought the Goobers were Goobers and John Allegro was an asshole. History proved me right on both fronts.
But I share this story about the PowerPoint to illustrate that, while there were people in United Monroe who meant well — and had legitimate concerns about Harley Doles's behavior, which I did share at the time — they were drowned out by the idiots making PowerPoint presentations that looked like Nazi propaganda.
And it’s the Goobers who are still with us today.
That’s how you get to Tony Cardone as your Town Supervisor and Dorey Houle on the Town Board. And Mike McGinn, too, until Maureen Richardson knocked him off the Town Board.
(You would have been rid of Walking Penis Sal Scancarello too, had Bill Kazdan bothered to do even a tenth of the amount of campaign work involved that Richardson did. There’s a reason why, despite being on the same ticket, Kazdan performed poorly in the Fall 2023 election. It’s way easier to talk shit than get off your ass and knock on doors.)
That brings us to Cristina Kiesel, who is also currently the Sergeant at Arms for the Town Democratic Committee and a failed political candidate like United Monroe’s John Allegro.
Mrs. Kiesel ran for Town Clerk in 2021. She lost. She is also a member of an organization confusingly called the Monroe Downtown Revitalization Committee. Despite the organization having no connection or affiliation with the Village of Monroe. Or the actual committee operated by the Village that’s focused on revitalizing the downtown area. (We contacted Monroe Village Mayor Dwyer, whom Mrs. Kiesel has feuded with, and accused of misappropriating money. We also asked Mrs. Kiesel about her committee and its relationship to the Village. Neither party responded to our request for comment.) A source with direct knowledge of the situation between Mayor Dwyer and Mrs. Kiesel said, “Kiesel has zero affiliation with the village. She applied for a 501c3, but has nothing to do with them.”
It’s difficult to tell if Mrs. Kiesel ever received the 501c3 status. There are 621 registered not-for-profits in the 10950 area code according to the IRS’s Tax Exempt Organization database. None can be found in Monroe under “Downtown Revitalization Committee” or “Monroe Downtown Revitalization Committee.” The Monroe Downtown Revitalization Committee did not reply to our request for comment to clarify its status and provide it’s last three Form 990s. These are forms that tax exempt organizations are required to fill out each year.
The source added, “The Village has utilized marketing companies to handle its events and she [Kiesel] got bent and badmouthed them [the Village.]” They also suggested that we, The Monroe Gazette, ask Mrs. Kiesel about where the money went from the raffles and other fundraising she did—stating that some of the money raised did go to a canopy over the Shoe Repair Shop. But that the rest of the money raised went unaccounted for. Mrs. Kiesel did not reply to our request for comment, nor did the Monroe Downtown Revitalization Committee to discuss the claims made by the source.
Mrs. Kiesel’s Cyberbullying Campaign
According to statements made by Councilwoman Maureen Richardson at the May 19th, 2025 Town of Monroe Board meeting, Mrs. Kiesel and others have engaged in a cyberbullying campaign against her. Mrs. Kiesel did not reply to our request for comment on this matter.
So, we had to do some investigative work on the 3rd circle of Hell that is Facebook.
From what we can tell, Mrs. Kiesel, Paulette Plenn Browne (the formr Treasurer of the Town of Monroe Democratic Committee), and other members of the Town Democratic Committee have been feuding with Councilwoman Maureen Richardson.
You might be wondering why, and I’ll point you to the first half of this article. The Democratic party, on the local, state, and national level, is now filled with people who want to put themselves and their political ambitions ahead of their community.
In the case of the Monroe Town Democrats, you have the people who want to put the community first (Richardson, Rivera, and Stephens.) And then you have the people who want to put James G. Skoufis first (Rabbitts, Bernard, Phelan, Kiesel, the Kazdans, and two other people we’re about to talk about.)
We can say this about Mrs. Kiesel because of the following Facebook Post by the Monroe Downtown Revitalization Committee. (By the way, registered 501c3s aren’t supposed to engage in politics. So take that for what it’s worth when looking at the following:
One person actively participating in Mrs. Kiesel’s cyberbullying campaign is Mrs. Plenn Browne.
Below for example, you can see Mrs. Plenn Browne’s attempt to gaslight Monroe residents into thinking Councilwoman Richardson had NOTHING to do with the fight and advocacy against putting a dinosaur theme park in the Town of Monroe. (Yes. Seriously. That was a whole thing.)
The entirety of Preserve Monroe — and Richardson’s political platform — sprang from the Councilwoman leading the charge against the Dinosaur theme park. That is how she wound up on the Town Board in the first place. (We contacted Mrs. Plenn Browne about her comments and claims that Richardson had nothing to do with the dinosaur theme park, but did not hear back from her.)
During Mrs. Kiesel’s cyberbullying campaign, Mrs. Iris Conques also took a swipe at the Councilwoman, stating, “Finally, a candidate with people skills for once.” Given that in his first official campaign statement, literally in the first sentence, Mr. David Rabbitts lied, I gotta question whether or not this statement is true. But to each their own. (We also reached out to Mrs. Conques about her comments concerning the Councilwoman. Mrs. Conques is a member of the Town Democratic Committee.)
This Facebook comment, left by Mrs. Conques, led to a couple of messages sent to Mrs. Conques by Councilwoman Richardson through Facebook Messenger. The contents of which Mrs. Kiesel then read into the public record during the May 19th Town Board meeting during public comment.
Now, some of you may not agree or like that the Councilwoman responded at all to Mrs. Conques. And I understand that. I also can’t say for certainty that Mrs. Conques was cyberbullying Mrs. Richardson like Plenn Browne and Kiesel. What can be said factually is that Mrs. Conques made a nasty comment about the Councilwoman, and the Councilwoman responded to her in a private forum. Or what was private, until Mrs. Kiesel read Mrs. Richardson’s comments into the public record.
I’ll also say, the people who don’t like this are probably Boomers. Not a thing wrong with being a Boomer. But. This generation didn’t have to put up with online trolls. Millennials (my generation) and Gen Z (Mrs. Richardson’s generation) did.
So it’s easy for the Boomer generation to say “Turn the other cheek” when our two generations know that turning the other cheek doesn’t work. Don’t take my word for it either. An Internet troll that people turned the other cheek toward, twice, got himself elected president of the United States. The correct approach to dealing with online trolls is to adapt the follwing philosophy:
Fuck Around and Find Out
If you’re going to bully people on the Internet, or at a Town Board meeting, you’re going to be called out for it.
Having been a resident on and off in Monroe since the 1980s, there are way too many people up here who have never been punched in the mouth. And it shows.
The truth is, the only way to stop any bully, whether it’s Mrs. Kiesel — who was banned from Monroe Matters, a popular local Facebook group, for repeatedly calling Monroe resident Russ Ferdico a “child molestor” — Amazon, or President Trump, is to unite and stand up to them. You don’t turn the other cheek. You organize, and then you push them right back onto their ass. That’s how you protect your community. (We attempted to reach out to Mr. Ferdico about Mrs. Kiesel’s repeated accusations of him being a child molestor but were unsuccessful in reaching him. Mrs. Kiesel did not respond to our request for comment on this and other issues discussed in this story.)
So, let’s recap this situation: Because the version of events presented by Mrs. Kiesel at the May 19th Town of Monroe Board meeting is very different from what was actually happening.
A small group of Town Democratic Committee members are harassing their Committee’s nominee — remember that Mrs. Richardson is the endorsed candidate and not Mr. Rabbits — because the small group prefers the James G. Skoufis candidates instead.
At the Town Board meeting, Mrs. Kiesel presented a different version of reality. She got up and read the statement received by Mrs. Conques, but not Mrs. Conques’s statements that triggered it, nor Mrs. Kiesel and Mrs. Plenn Browne’s. In fact, Mrs. Kiesel did not identify Mrs. Conques at all, or mention that she was a member of the Town Demcoratic Committee along wth Kiesel and Plenn Browne.
Instead, as you can see in the video, Mrs. Kiesel played the whole thing off as the Councilwoman attacking a resident of the Town. (Mrs. Conques did not reply to request for comment concerning whether or not Mrs. Kiesel had her permission to read these comments by Mrs. Richardson. Or if Mrs. Kiesel had presented them in the appropriate context. How Mrs. Conques would have remained anonymous had Mrs. Kiesel followed through on her complaint and submitted these messages to the Town is also unclear. Given that Mrs. Kiesel attempted to run for Town Clerk, one would think she would understand how this stuff works.)
You see how different Kiesel’s story is without the context?
Don’t worry. We’re sure The Photo-News will run their version of this story without any context, and probably quote Tony Cardone too because Mrs. Jean Straus has no problem warping editorial coverage to favor Mr. Cardone.
When people tell you who they are, believe them. And what I believe is that like the Committee to Elect Woodbury Democrats, the Town of Monroe Democratic Committee has a whole lot of people looking to put themselves first, not the Town.
Mrs. Kiesel just helped demonstrate that point for us.
This Other Asshole …
Tony Cardone, of course, loved all this. Although there’s something worth noting here, because Cardone is stupid and often tells you exactly what he’s doing. As mentioned, you don’t get Tony Cardone without United Monroe, and that includes Mrs. Kiesel’s efforts to help get him elected. Paul Phelan backed Tony Cardone, now he’s running against Councilwoman Richardson. Christina Kiesel backed Tony Cardone, now she’s attacking the Councilwoman online and public comment.
I’m sure all that’s just a coincidence …
We’ve also covered other instances where Cardone has cut off or otherwise restricted the speech of the public. But that didn’t happen here either. Instead, Cardone did something he never does, which is remove the three-minute timer for public comment to allow Mrs. Kiesel to read the Councilwoman’s private messages to Mrs. Conques into the public record.
During the back and forth between Kiesel and Richardson, Cardone interjected and said to Richardson, “We've allowed you to entertain political BS against Councilman Scancarello. You blew him up right here at this dias." We reached out to Supervisor Cardone and asked him to elaborate on what he meant here.
-Was Cardone talking about how Mr. Scancarello factually elbowed Mrs. Richardson in the chest at a Town food truck festival, which required her to go to the emergency room?
-Or how Mr. Scancarello's son created a TikTok account, where his son can be heard threatening to murder two Satmar men at the local Target? Something, by the way, Mr. Scancarello has neither acknowledged or apologized for.
Mr. Cardone did not reply for a request to comment on this story.
Dorey Houle, who spent nearly a million dollars on racist dog whistle ads for her doomed 2024 State Senate Campaign and shouldn’t remotely be giving advice to anyone beyond how to lose an election, even got in on the act. Chiding Richardson not to respond to people bullying her online. (Whether or not Houle, who voted for Trump, feels that same standard applies to President Trump is unknown. We asked Houle specifically if the President should stop shit talking Bruce Springsteen, after Springstein bad mouthed Trump at a concert. Houle did not respond for comment. Houle has also previously not replied to requests for comment concerning her screaming at Richardson and physically trying to bully her at Town Board meetings.)
Upon reviewing Mrs. Kiesel’s statements, and the exchange between her and Richardson, we also contacted Town Attorney Brian Nugent. We asked Mr. Nugent to clarify the rules concerning political speech during the Town of Monroe’s public comment.
Rule 13 of the Town Public Comment period states, “Members of the Town Board, speakers and audience members must observe proper decorum at all times. Any statements made during any part of the meeting or during a public hearing by the Supervisor, members of the Town Board, town officials or employees, or members of the general public shall not involve personal, impertinent, or slanderous attacks on individuals, regardless of whether the individual so attacked is an elected official, a town official or employee, or a member of the general public.” (emphasis added.)
So, if you go back and listen to Mrs. Kiesel, reading someone’s private Facebook messages, without providing any context or identify the participants in the conversation, in an attempt to slander them violated these rules. Despite this, Mr. Nugent did not bother to intervene. Nor did Cardone.
We did reach out to Councilwoman Richardson to speak on Mrs. Kiesel’s remarks, and she told us: “As a disabled elected official, it’s not every day you’re inappropriately accused of ableism — especially by a failed political candidate who runs a questionable organization, frequently clashes with the Village of Monroe, and has been banned from local Facebook groups for making defamatory and inappropriate remarks, including calling others child molesters. Unfortunately, this was a normal meeting for Supervisor Cardone who refuses to enforce the basic standards of meeting decorum.”
We also put in a FOIL request to see if Mrs. Kiesel actually followed through on filing an ethics complaint against the Councilwoman as well. As of this writing, it does not appear that she did.
Maybe Mrs. Kiesel will do this around the same time she hands over the financial documents for the Downtown Revitalization Committee.
(Just a fun fact about the Town of Monroe Ethics Committee, since Mr. Cardone suggested Mrs. Kiesel file a formal complaint: One of its members is married to a local restaurant owner. That local restaurant just had a fundraiser for Tony Cardone. Go back and look at that flyer I mentioned. Now let me ask you: Do you really think, if Mrs. Kiesel took up Mr. Cardone’s suggestion, that Mrs. Richardson would get a fair hearing? Don’t answer that just yet. I haven’t got to the part where the person Councilwoman Richardson replaced, Mike McGinn, was appointed to the Town Ethics Board after his election loss. Skoufis candidate Paul Phelan is also still a member of the Committee. And, at least until recently, so too was United Monroe Executive Committee member, Mike Egan. If you think that sounds like the Monroe Town Ethics Committee is stacked with former United Monroe goobers, you would be correct. It is. That’s why it has never ruled against Mrs. Houle or Mr. Cardone on any matter.)
Watching Mrs. Kiesel make her comments reminded me of the bad old days in Monroe.
Back when the idiots took over United Monroe and it was meeting after meeting of Diane Egan ranting about how she didn’t understand how Twitter worked (below), Harley Doles being Harley Doles, and all the people you don’t want making decisions shouting and yelling at people who only sometimes seemed to know what they were doiing.
Kiesel’s cyberbullying campaign and smear attempt during the Town Board meeting was right out of United Monroe’s playbook.
It was like watching United Monroe come back to life. And we can’t let that happen. The last time they were around, they gave away half the Town to the Village of Kiryas Joel. Now its remnants are apparently back to finish the job.
It’s a microcosm of the national democratic party: People putting themselves ahead of the needs of their community, reguardless of the disastorous consequences that will follow.
And if you and I don’t fix this? You and I are in a lot more trouble than we think.