A recent example of Mayor McFadden’s abuse of his authority appeared in the May 21, 2007 edition of our local newspaper. The “Times Herald Record” reported that Mayor McFadden has decided to act against a democratically decided vote of the Board of Trustees. Regardless of a majority vote at the May 16 Board of Trustees meeting NOT to publicly disclose any of the contents of a recently completed forensic report into the Village’s police department under former Chief Culhane, because of the REAL possibility of compromising the position of the Village, the Mayor has chosen to do otherwise because “McFadden and Hansen said there’s no reason to keep it secret.”  How naïve! Trustees Stebbins, Darby and Parker voted to withhold the release until the Village Attorney gave written approval and prepared a summary for the public. (What are the legal implications of the Mayor acting against a democratically decided vote?) The Times Herald news report goes on to state various opinions of the Mayor that in reality do nothing more than expose the Village to yet more legal action. Chief Culhane’s attorney, F. Hollis Griffin, commented ominously: “Clearly, there is an effort being advanced to discredit Culhane.” No comments should be made to the press or in public that could lead to litigation. It is the Mayor’s responsibility to protect the Village, not increase the likelihood of litigation.

The Mayor has accused Trustees Stebbins, Darby and Parker of deliberately concealing the police report but these Trustees were clear about their intent: During the May 16 public meeting discussions, they clearly supported seeking the written approval from the Village Attorney and a summary of the information to be provided to the public.

And then there is another issue…namely the Tuxedo Club docks.  The Mayor in his most recent blog posting tells the community that if only they will vote for him another time, then “déjà vu”, he will miraculously make the legal action instituted by Geoff Isles & Co suddenly disappear. He claims that he has been there, done that, the last time he ran for election. He warns us all (as if we needed it) of the likely cost of the ensuing legislation But he fails to mention that we (the VOTP) have spent over $135,000 on legal costs in this last fiscal year defending the various lawsuits with which his administration has been burdened. This includes a bill for $30,000 (at least) arising from a lawsuit that we could easily have avoided if only he had apologized for, and retracted, his slanderous attack on members of our community. The reality is that the “Isles” lawsuit results from a vote that the Mayor (and Hansen) democratically lost on February 21, which was followed by the disgraceful Isles abusive diatribe at the March 21 public meeting, which the Mayor did absolutely nothing to terminate, followed by the almost glib announcement by the Mayor (on his and the Village websites) that we had received YET ANOTHER lawsuit against the village!! Just ask yourself …”Who is leading our community into the middle of all this turmoil? Do we want to be the source of frequent newspaper articles that are creating a negative impression of the Village of Tuxedo Park? Do we really want a repeat of this for 2 more years?”  NO!!  We need leaders who command respect from the widest cross-section of our community and who will do their utmost to avoid dragging us through the murk and wasteful costs of such irresponsible litigation.