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The High Road or The Low Road | June 2, 2008
David McFadden has run for Mayor twice [elected the first time and lost the second time] and is now running for Village Trustee. In all three of his campaigns, he creates issues where none exist, with his favorite focus being on “exclusive government”. David defines “exclusive government” as government run by “a handful of individuals” whose “principle concern is maintaining a tight grip over power, not running an effective government”. See his May 29 article titled, “Breaking the Grip of One Party Government.”
In this article, David writes that the election of Charlotte Worthy and Jim Hays “…would result in a continuation of exclusive government”. He further describes “exclusive government” as voting “in lockstep” with the Mayor on issues coming before the Board Of Trustees. This neatly sidesteps Jim’s and Charlotte’s long and credible records of apolitical service to the Tuxedo community. They are both respected, skilled, knowledgeable professionals, with established track records of giving considerable time, talent and energy to furthering the interests of our community, even before deciding to run for the two open Trustee seats. To say they stand for “exclusive government”, denigrates the substantive accomplishments and character of these two candidates.
If we go backwards in time to David’s first year as Mayor, when Trustees Hansen and Vernon voted in lockstep with him on virtually every issue of substance that came before the BOT [07/2005 to 06/2006], this did not constitute exclusive government or even one party government according to David. Why? Because he was Mayor, and these two Trustees, also elected officials, consistently supported his particular legislative point of view.
We went an entire year without hearing any mention of either exclusive government or one party government. Then in the June 2006 elections, Vernon and Parker did not run, and Houston Stebbins and Larry Darby were elected. Suddenly, David no longer had a three to two lock on votes since only Hansen remained a loyal supporter. The Village voters sent David a very clear message with the election of Larry and Houston, so how did he react? Once again, the words exclusive government and one party government started to creep back into his political lexicon.
In political science 101, you are taught if you repeat something enough times with conviction, there are some people who actually start believing there may be validity to whatever it is you are saying. David states in this same article that, “It is not in our best interest when a handful of individuals run the Village government.” The reality is that under NY State law, all Villages are run by just five elected individuals – in short, a handful. What David needs to do is to stop creating issues about “tight grips on power”, “exclusive government”, “one party government”, and “polarization” and focus on the real issues that will help all Village voters decide whom to elect on June 17th.
Perhaps David McFadden feels that Village government is exclusive if he is not included.
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