It seems that the County Legislature has finally sorted out who's in charge and appointed committee heads. The bigger problem, though, isn't just who's in control, but the total process botch that made it clear that key legislative conversations happen in private, for both parties. I'm completely with the Journal's editorial criticizing routine caucuses, and pleased that they printed a small notice about it regularly. (They also followed up with a piece on state government.)
Unfortunately, I can't respond with anything other than hysterical laughter to Marty Luster and Barbara Mink's letter supporting caucuses. I like Barbara Mink, but why would she co-sign a letter with a former state legislator, in support of the institution that both houses of that legislature abuse constantly? Luster might have tried to overthrow Sheldon Silver, but he still seems completely wedded to the culture of secrecy and power that makes Albany so incredibly useless to its citizens and opaque even to federal investigators. He has negative credibility on this issue, and this letter is a sad statement about his lack of interest in actual, you know, democracy.
There's a brief note on village elections, including Dryden, though I don't see Freeville there.
Meanwhile, the proposed Dryden DOT building that sparked a series of Village of Dryden annexations never got sorted out, which I think is sad testimony to the efficiency of our state government and this project's main sponsor, State Senator James Seward.
And someone decided that flattening school bus tires was a good idea, closing school for a day. It's amazing how much damage an individual or a small group can do.
Posted by simon at February 7, 2009 11:52 AM in Village of Dryden , politics (local) , politics (state) , schools (Dryden)