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Ilan Schoenberger, Rockland’s Democratic boss, county legislator, and Ramapo Director of Finance, is a political operator without peer. When he needed to groom a face man to replace an ailing Herb Reisman as our Ramapo Supervisor he plucked a willing Christopher St. Lawrence out of relative obscurity. And then there was Ryan Karben, an ambitious young lawyer who followed in Schoenberger’s footsteps as the go-to guy for New Square. Now we have Pat Withers, a man with absolutely no record in community service, who, thanks to Boss Schoenberger, was able to snatch Ellen Jaffee’s vacated seat on the county legislature. It is remarkable how well Republican and Democratic leaders can work together to stop a real reformer from getting a seat in the game. Much to the chagrin of the backroom boys, Joe Meyers was neither discouraged nor intimidated by Boss Schoenberger’s dirty politics. Damnation! That cur is back again in the Democratic primary running for the seat that the bosses denied him just a few months ago. Usually the backroom boys run around in private saying nasty things about anyone who opposes them. But Joe presents an unusual challenge. He has real support in the Democratic community, as proven by the 28 to 2 vote he received in his county legislative district for Jaffee’s vacated seat. So, in desperation, the backroom boys decided that this time they would have to go public with their big lies. They haven’t just distorted Joe’s record as a real defender of his community; they have totally invented his record. The theory seems to be that if the lies are big enough and if you spend enough money spreading them around, Joe will not have enough money to defend himself. How wrong they are! The backroom boys are making millions buying land zoned for single family homes, breaking our zoning codes, and building 16 units per acre. The people who Schoenberger, Karben and St. Lawrence represent are rich and ruthless, and they are determined to send us a message: Put your tail between your legs and run away. Well, we are not going to be intimidated, and we are not going to run away. Robert I. Rhodes, Ph.D.
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