Letters to the Editor

I’m sure most of you that read my letters and understand them will remember my letter entitled: New Year but the same old Games. In that letter the majority caucus called a quarterback sneak appointing an interim director of central services giving that person a $5,000 raise.

First to go under the microscope is Onondaga County. Just south of us. Let’s look at the numbers for Onondaga County:

Conflict of Interest: A situation in which a person is in a position to derive personal benefit from actions or decisions made in their official capacity. One must ask if that is the case in the treasurer’s office. We have a situation where an elected official is the head of a department that reports to the County Legislature.

A snowball gets bigger and bigger the more you roll it around in the snow. The county’s snowball started back when a county treasurer retired and appointed a successor. Now that in itself wouldn’t have been a problem, but the fact that the appointee may or may not have a high school diploma is questionable.

So by now most of you have heard that the new U-Haul that is being developed (in the old Nestle Building 30) was heavily vandalized last evening and has suffered damage. Between this, and other incidents harmful to the quality of life of the community that appear to be on the uptick, it is time something more was done.

It is 2016 on the calendar but in the Oswego County Legislative chambers you would think it was still 2015. The games that were being played in 2015 are now in OT. This is the second OT and almost ready to go into Sudden Death. In this case, it was a promotion with a raise. (Sounds a little like Onondaga County).

Is a political situation, especially in the context of a two-party system, as is the case for countries such as the United States, in which opposing political parties find common ground through compromise, in theory? This is in contrast to partisanship, where an individual or political party only adheres to their interests without compromise.

A quote from one of the Republican Party’s heroes:
“The problem isn’t that people are taxed too little. The Problem is that government spends too much”
President Ronald Reagan
Now if only our Republican majority at the county level would only read and follow one of their hero’s words we would be so much better off.

After hearing that your county taxes are going up 2.8% this year, you now know why the elections are always before the budget vote. Those legislators that voted to raise your taxes and not to reduce the budget are glad you voted for them before you found out they were going to raise your taxes.