The Meyers Landslide--A Referendum

September 19, 2007
The decisive defeat suffered by legislative candidate Patrick Withers was not only a measure of the overwhelming support that Joe Meyers and Preserve Ramapo have in District 12, it was also a referendum on those in the County Legislature who decided to bypass the people back in January (see that story here). And there was a message about how well an attack campaign will fare in a district where the voters know the issues. As Joe commented last night, his campaign was not going to be swift-boated.

Can you hear me now?
When the 13 legislators decided to ignore the vote of the elected Democratic Committee members, they were setting themselves up for this embarrassing reversal. Maybe they spend too much time listening to each other while remaining deaf to the public's voice. I do know they have the most absurd limit on time for comments from the floor that you will see anywhere in local politics. And to add to the insult, they even turn off the recording videotape when the people are allowed to get up and speak.

Perhaps they can hear them now with a vote that will finish somewhere around 61% Meyers 31% their hand-selected incumbent Withers.

Withers had trouble trying to distance himself from the machine which had installed him in the legislative seat left vacant when Ellen Jaffee moved to the State Assembly. He was particularly annoyed by a cartoon that showed him as a marionette being manipulated by Ilan Schoenberger and Christopher St. Lawrence. Well, it was Ilan who nominated him that night back in January (seconded by David Fried and Pat Moroney). And you might guess that there was some input from the other bosses like St. Lawrence when Withers refused to speak out against development issues like RLUIPA. St. Lawrence is a major enabler of RLUIPA in Ramapo.

As Joe Meyers celebrated last night, one of the most heartening comments to his supporters was the simple statement, "Democracy works." For those legislators who fail to listen to the voice of the people, sometimes they do this at their own peril.

Michael Castelluccio