Rude & Unprofessional Doesn't Begin to Cover This
Monroe Town Supervisor Maureen Richardson decides to derail a Woodbury Town Board meeting; more on that dangerous Jewish Liaison position.
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All I can really tell you right now, for reasons explained below, is that everyone on the Town of Woodbury side — even the man who regularly catches his dick in his zipper — is telling the truth.
And Town of Monroe Supervisor Maureen Richardson is not.
She is essentially trying to strong-arm the Town of Woodbury into signing a shittier version of a deal concerning the Animal Shelter intermunicipal agreement (IMA.)
Now. To be clear: There was ALWAYS a problem with this specific arrangement between the Town of Monroe and Town of Woodbury.
That’s because, if you remember, Tony Cardone made Monroe residents overpay the Town of Woodbury to provide the animal shelter’s services to both towns. He did this to help bolster former Town Supervisor Lying Luciani’s political chances for re-election. He failed. Just like he failed to bolster his own.
But.
The time and place to have that discussion about the overbilling should have been during the discussions between the two NEW supervisors and between their respective boards.
Both were elected to clean up the steaming turds left on everyone’s lawn from two years of Kathryn Luciani in Woodbury and almost a decade of Tony Cardone as a decrepit and fatter version of Vladimir Putin in Monroe.
The time and place to have that discussion was not in public at a Woodbury Town Board meeting.
If that kind of stunt sounds familiar, it’s right out of the Tony Cardone playbook.
In fact, Supervisor Richardson just experienced it at her previous Town Board meeting. So, knowing how shitty it is to be on the receiving end of a ratfucking during public comment, one would think Supervisor Richardson would demonstrate that she was a better person than Tony Cardone.
That did not happen last night.
Instead, the new Supervisor looked like the old Supervisor, even making a snide remark about Chief Watson and whether or not he understood Robert’s Rules of Order.
Now listen, we have ABSOLUTELY criticized Chief Watson, and will probably do so again when we get to those FLOCK Security Cameras on Route 32 around Woodbury Common’s entrances. (It’s a big problem. You don’t know who’s accessing that footage beyond the Woodbury Police department. This puts anyone driving on Route 32 in danger, especially from agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security.)
But. We’re also not a Town Board member. Nor are we the Town Supervisor. I can say whatever I want as a member of the press. I work for the people. I don’t work for any of these fools. But if I were an elected official, I’d act like one. And taking a dig at the police chief in this specific context wasn’t the right thing to do.
Say the guy is corrupt at a campaign stop. Don’t say he’s stupid at a Town Board meeting where he’s just doing his job. You don’t see me following around and heckling Brandon Calore in South Blooming Grove when he (allegedly) was/is doing work for Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein’s buddy, CIOFFI, do you?
And don’t fight with the anti-corruption Town Supervisor in Woodbury, Jaqueline Hernandez, in public, because you can’t control yourself over email.
We’ve put in a FOIL request for the emails between the two supervisors. Since the Town of Monroe’s FOIL system is apparently dead and about to get them sued, we put in a duplicate request with the Town of Woodbury.
We can state that multiple sources have seen these emails and have unanimously told The Monroe Gazette that Supervisor Richardson’s behavior in them was rude and disrespectful.
This behavior was cited by Supervisor Hernandez, in the above video, as being the reason she hasn’t been receptive to responding to Supervisor Richardson. We will share these emails when we receive them.
So, what gives? Are You Guys “Going Negative”?
Going negative implies that we work for someone. We don’t. When you’re a journalist you work on behalf of the people. You follow the facts, and that’s what you report. Sometimes those facts will make people you like look good, and sometimes it won’t.
If you only presented facts that made one side look bad, and not the other, then you wouldn’t be much of a journalist. So miss me with any of that weak shit.
I am, honestly, just as dumbfounded as the rest of you about what’s going on in the Town of Monroe. I have no answers. All I can say to you is that this isn’t what I voted for, and this is not the candidate I supported in my personal capacity.
But then, I was also the guy Supervisor Richardson wanted to run with for Town Board, before she decided not too, and then wanted me to help the Town straighten out some of its administrative and communications mess, before she decided not too. So hey, the joke is on me too here. I had a plan to shut down the Gazette and move on with my life in January. Part of the reason we’re still around is because Supervisor Richardson can’t keep her word.
Which … probably should have been a red flag. But that’s on me. I’m the trusting sort.
But it’s not just me who’s puzzled among supporters of Supervisor RIchardson.
Just ask your friends at Hands Off Hudson Valley. Supervisor Richardson told everyone there she was a supporter of the New York For All legislation, and appeared at Hands Off Hudson Valley rallies.
Then after getting into office said she now no longer supports the bill. Supervisor Richardson then began to berate and condescend toward members of Hands Off Hudson Valley who wanted an explanation on this flip flop. Richardson’s claims that she had read the bill were concerning as well. Had she not read it earlier? And if that’s the case, why the fuck were you outside protesting in support of it?
Supervisor Richardson also told campaign supporters she would put an end to the corruption of the Tony Cardone regime. Only to turn around and create a “Jewish Liaison” position and give it to someone, by their own admission, who does not represent the entire Jewish community of the Town. Thus making this role an offensive farce and demonstration of the kind of corruption you see on the State and National level when it comes to the Democrats.
(If you doubt this, just call Attorney General Letitia James’s office and ask her how that investigation into South Blooming Grove is going. Quit laughing Republicans. Because both the DOJ and Trump White House refuse, and Speaker Mike Johnson’s office, refuse to comment on Letitia James’s inability to prosecute two Haredi men over a conspiracy to commit voter fraud over multiple years in a blue state. So don’t be a MAGA dipshit. Both parties suck, and Trump ain’t fixing it. If you haven’t figured that out yet, just wait until we run into gas shortages this year.)
To add insult to injury, Supervisor Richardson went ahead and appointed the farcical Jewish Liaison—who does not represent 99% of the Jewish Community— to be the liaison for the Senate and Assembly. If you were looking to send a message about being anti-corruption, immediately creating a Jewish Liaison Position and then making that person the point person to Albany is really not helping right now.
Seriously. It’s hard enough as a Jew right now between Jeffrey Epstein, Stephen Miller, Chuck Schumer, and Benjamin Netanyahu. And then locally, you got Joel Stern and Isaac Ekstein. Not to mention State Senator Skoufis making no attempt at all to hide that he only seems interested in the needs of Haredi real estate developers. (Remember his attempt to merge the Town and Village of Woodbury?)
I am deeply concerned we’re going to see a tide of anti-semitism like we haven’t seen since the 1930s for every day these men—and people like Skoufis— wield any sort of power over this country and the world.
So to go ahead and create a position for a small minority of your community, and then make that person your connection to Albany is just lighting a match. Especially when you just sold out your Latino community, who makes up 40% of your population. Where is there liaison during a time when they’re getting snatched off the street by ICE?
We’ll give Town Board member, Mary Bingham, the last word on this until we see those emails:
“While it is within the Supervisor's ability to appoint a liaison, I still am unclear why the Town needs to have Mr. Landau be a liaison to our State and Assembly representatives.
We have several different minority groups within Monroe, and to the best of my knowledge no liaisons have yet been assigned for the Spanish/Latin Americans, Muslim, Ukrainian/Polish, or any other minority groups living in Monroe.”
Bingham added, “I do believe all our state representative have always had an "open door" policy allowing every person to contact their offices and express their concerns.”
We’ll make one addendum to Councilwoman Bingham’s statement, Javier Dam. Javier Dam has a helicopter operating on an unknown to the FAA helipad, that did not receive approval from the Village of South Blooming Grove planning board to be built, and can you guess what State Senator Skoufis has done for Mr. Dam? He won’t even return Mr. Dam’s calls.
That’s a Monroe resident in need of a state representative with an open door policy. So far, he has yet to find one. But the Jewish Liaison does.