Naturally Good
Montauk
June 29, 2009
To the Editor,
We hope that most of you have heard by now of our decision to sell Naturally Good. It was a very hard decision to make, as it has been our life and our livelihood for almost 17 years. The new owners, Lauren Mavro and Andrea Katz, are bringing new energy and enthusiasm with them, as well as their knowledge — Lauren is a nutritionist, and Andrea is a natural foods chef. We wish them all of the best.
We’d like to thank you, our customers, for all of your support. We have made so many friends through Naturally Good, and although we look forward to our “new” lives, we will miss the pulse of Naturally Good.
Thanks for coming in, eating our food, listening to our music, enduring our jokes, sharing your lives with us, and for staying even though there was a little too much laughter coming from the kitchen.
We are indebted to you all, and look forward to seeing you all here on the other side of the counter.
And don’t panic, it’s still organic!
Sincerely,
AMY HUBBARD
LORI HUBBARD
On the Ford Store
East Hampton
June 29, 2009
Dear David,
Hope all is well with you. I just wanted to give you an update on the Ford store in Wainscott. We are currently down to four new vehicles and six used vehicles. The support from old East Hampton has been great, as you can see. I had estimated we would be done with the cars by the end of June. I am happy to say, by popular request, we will probably have to go into July.
There seems to be two reasons for the surge in sales. As we near the end, people want to buy their last car from Bob Plitt and/or they are not looking forward to the ride west and want to put it off for a few years.
Whatever the reason is, I want to say thank you again to all those who have made our closing a lot easier by helping us sell vehicles right here in Wainscott. And by the way, to all our customers with Plitt Ford Lincoln Mercury license plate frames, watch them, they seem to be disappearing. I think they may have achieved collector’s status. I saw one on eBay in the morning at $9, and by the afternoon it was gone. I’ll keep you posted.
Yours to command,
JEFFREY R. PLITT
Stick to Acting
Amagansett June 29, 2009
Dear Editor:
Robert Cooper has told me many times that if you don’t learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it.
It seems that every time the Democratic machine in East Hampton Town has problems, Alec Baldwin writes a letter to The Star defending the actions of whoever is involved.
I have often wondered who writes Mr. Baldwin’s letters for him. Where are the voices of David Gruber, Bob Schaeffer, and other members of the Democratic Party who have over the past two years defended Bill McGintee and said that in the end it would be found that he did nothing wrong.
Let’s get back to history: Alec Baldwin said in his letter that Bill McGintee “had bad luck and he made bad choices.”
Why doesn’t Mr. Baldwin ask Mr. McGintee’s fellow police officers what they think of him for what he did back in the 1990s? Mr. McGintee’s goal in life, it seemed, was to become chief of police in East Hampton. When it didn’t seem to be working out, he went to Bob Cooper and made allegations of police misconduct against his own fellow officers behind closed doors. When that didn’t work out, he decided to run for supervisor, and we all know what has happened since.
Bill McGintee seems to be good at having other people do his dirty work for him and take the fall. Ted Hults was the latest sucker. As far as I am concerned he is a vindictive, malicious, greedy-for-power-and-money individual who cares for no one but Bill McGintee.
What is puzzling to me is why the Democratic machine and Mr. Baldwin are still attempting to place blame on past administrations for the financial crisis. If Mr. McGintee had not lied before the 2007 election, he would not have been re-elected, would not have collected two more years of salaries, perhaps not been able to buy a condo in Florida.
While he will move to Florida, the employees, retirees, senior citizens, and taxpayers of East Hampton will be paying years down the road for his financial mismanagement of town finances. While Mr. McGintee lied, the Democratic Party covered it up. Now we are to believe Mr. Baldwin that the same people involved in the cover-up are going to be able to fix it? Mr. Baldwin should stick to acting. We are smart enough, I think, not to drink the Kool-Aid.
What we should all remember is that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Sincerely yours,
ELAINE JONES
Chairwoman
East Hampton Independence Party
Cablevision Rip-Off
Montauk
June 28, 2009
To the Editor,
Thank goodness there was a printed letter about the Cablevision rip-off.
We, too, have been paying for fewer and fewer stations. We had a box put in for my mom who can’t see well, and I had to put tape on her remote so she stays on the proper settings. How sad.
I wish I could bring the (Cablevision doesn’t give a damn) people into her living room to see how sad the situation is. Mom sits up really close and is able to see. However, she can’t flick to her favorite stations.
When we went to the office in Southampton, we received the same response, “too bad.”
My husband took out Cablevision in our home hears ago, and we haven’t been sorry.
The fee given for the box after a year will be $12 extra. We help with the cost, but this is terrible.
Does Cablevision realize many customers who have TVs might be old, frail, and have TV to pass their days?
Perhaps the town board members can start searching out a company that’s less greedy and has a drop of compassion for senior citizens.
ROBERTA WICKLEIN
Political Fodder
Amagansett
June 28, 2009
Dear David,
It was the same old same old Democrat mantra. Of course I am referring to Alec Baldwin’s letter in last week’s Star.
When you cut through all the drivel, the political message in Mr. Baldwin’s letter was, you can’t trust the Republicans with the environment, and the Republicans share the blame for the financial problems in town government today — problems that occurred totally and completely during almost six years of Democrat town control — not too original and not too accurate.
Using facts and documented information, let me respond to the professional imagination of Alec Baldwin:
The state comptroller’s recently completed draft audit report on town finances for 2004 through 2008, which was reported on the front page of The Star last week, lays out in great detail how the Democratic-led town government took a financial nose-dive during the McGintee administration.
I have been told the report has multiple references to the deteriorating state of the town’s financial condition during the McGintee years. The conclusion is backed up with detailed charts and schedules that trace the town’s robust financial condition that existed when the Republicans left office at the end of 2003 and its deterioration over the last six years to its current dismal state under Democratic control.
The report supposedly contains references to dozens and dozens of missing purchase orders and back-up documentation for millions of dollars of payments for the Justice Court project. This, of course, raises serious concerns about why and how the money was spent. The report supposedly contains dozens of findings of mismanagement and undocumented transactions, including the misuse of the community preservation fund.
When the Republicans last controlled the majority on the town board in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003, Supervisor Jay Schneiderman asked the state comptroller to come to Town Hall to review cash controls and associated risk. The comptroller’s office conducted the review and made several good recommendations that were implemented, but that was it, several recommendations. Finances were being handled competently and professionally.
To respond to Mr. Baldwin’s statement about a long history of “mom and pop” financial management in the town, I would say the work of the state comptroller’s office clearly shows mom and pop arrived in Town Hall on Jan. 1, 2004, when Bill McGintee and his team moved in. This conclusion is based on the work of the Democratic state comptroller — not partisan political operatives.
Just the other day I spoke to a town department head who said, when you (the Republicans) were running the town in the early 2000s, we were always kept informed on where we were with our budgets. He recalled how monthly reports were provided to town board members and all department heads, which is one of the reasons why after four years in office, Jay Schneiderman left the town with a greater surplus than was there when he began. That is an indisputable and documented fact.
Mr. Baldwin’s non-supportable and overused refrain that the Republicans are bad for the local environment is an attempt to rationalize in advance the upcoming large donations his political action committee, the East Hampton Conservators, already know they will be making to the East Hampton Democratic party. This in spite of the fact the East Hampton Democratic Party and their elected officials are responsible for the biggest environmental travesty in the town’s history — the abuse and alleged illegal use of the community preservation fund. By the way, the Democrats’ abolishment of the Natural Resources Department and attempt to fire Larry Penny runs a close second.
The charges of abuse and illegal use of the community preservation fund do not come from local Republicans, but rather the Suffolk district attorney and the Democratic state comptroller. That is a fact.
In his letter, Mr. Baldwin said, “the dismantling of the sullied community preservation fund program is their [the Republicans’] goal.” Not only is that statement untrue with respect to the future, it is certainly not reflective of past history. But then again Mr. Baldwin never has been one to let the facts get in the way of his arguments. After all he is a professional actor who regularly deals with non-reality.
It was a Republican town board majority in 1997 that adopted the resolutions that allowed the community preservation fund to be put up for public referendum in 1998. The Rovian Len Bernard was one of those town board community-preservation-fund yes votes in 1997, and one of the yes votes in 1998 that led to the public referendum that established the community preservation fund. Who said Karl wasn’t an environmentalist?
It was a Republican town board majority that in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 utilized community preservation fund money in accordance with the law to acquire over 1,000 acres of land for preservation. The fact the transactions during those four years were conducted properly and in accordance with the community preservation fund law was supported by the recently issued state comptroller’s report on the fund, which covered 1999 to 2008. The report found no problems with how community preservation fund money was used in East Hampton before 2004. However, beginning in 2004, when the Democrats took control of the town board, the report describes a long list of community preservation fund abuses. Those are the facts.
The fact the community preservation fund is a sullied program in East Hampton today, as Mr. Baldwin states, is because of the abuses of the program by East Hampton Democrats. Elected East Hampton Democrats, by their actions, have brought the community preservation fund to the precipice in terms of continued public support.
Also, through the alleged illegal activities of East Hampton Democrats over the last five years related to the community preservation fund, the possibility of community preservation funds being adopted in the five Suffolk towns that don’t have such funds now is greatly diminished because the East Hampton Democrats have provided tremendous political fodder for those who oppose the idea of a community preservation fund.
Republicans in East Hampton, far from wanting to dismantle the community preservation fund, want to restore it and build it back up into the program that was so effective in preserving open space during the four years there was a Republican majority on the town board, and those are not just empty words, like those that so freely flow from the tongues of local Democratic power brokers like Mr. Baldwin. They are words that are supported by a Republican record of support for and the effective and legal use of the community preservation fund.
Mr. Baldwin once told me back in the early 1980s, when he was staying at my parents’ home in Amagansett, that he loved the East End because of its great beauty and environment. Let us not forget that up until the early 1980s the town of East Hampton for decades was managed primarily by Republicans at the town and state level.
Ed Ecker Sr., Henry Mund Sr., Hugh King, Mary Fallon, Mike Finazzo, John Behan, Perry Duryea, etc., were all responsible for that great place Mr. Baldwin described in the early 1980s. State Assembly Speaker Perry Duryea, working with people like former town supervisor Ed Ecker, did tremendous work preserving thousands of acres of land in our town.
Mr. Baldwin would have you believe the Democrat gods swooped down on East Hampton in the mid 1980s and created East Hampton from scratch. Not the case, it took great work by many great Republicans to make East Hampton what it was, and it now will take great Republicans to fix what the Democrats have so thoroughly broke over the last five years to get it back to where it should be.
Rather than a bunch of Neroian violin players like Mr. Baldwin, Bill Taylor, Ed Gorman, and all the current Democratic candidates who stood around and fiddled when East Hampton was burning, we need people like Bill Wilkinson who was front and center over the last three years trying to get people to listen to what was happening in Town Hall and what needed to be done to fix it.
Those Neroian Democrats have now released a financial plan after the fire has destroyed the community preservation fund, the town’s finances, and the town’s once-good name. Their plan copies many of the positions and actions Mr. Wilkinson has been advocating for almost three years. As Mr. Wilkinson has stated, “You can’t show up after the revolution is over and say I’m here to help,” an astute observation from a very intelligent and talented man.
Sincerely,
LEN BERNARD
—
Mr. Bernard is a former East Hampton Town Councilman and budget officer. Ed.
Feral Cat Poem II
I tried to go 90 days
without poeming my fascination
for feral cats.
Nine therapists tell me
it’s my unconscious admiration
of their outlaw stance:
I envy their defiance of domestication.
What baloney.
A tenth adds that I also am obliged
to herd them into my car,
take them for inoculations,
and release them.
That’s not going to happen.
I won’t, and you can’t make me.
ED HANNIBAL
Look Out the Window
Springs
June 29, 2009
Dear Mr. Rattray:
In your editorial “Beach-Parking Bonus” you failed to mention the aggravated town residents waiting to buy those 10,000 beach-parking permits from the exasperated town workers who had to spend 15-plus minutes reviewing each application and painstakingly typing information into a computer. Factor in the dollar value of a person’s wasted time while standing in line, and the salary and overhead costs inherent in processing applications against $25 per permit, and I wonder just how much profit was actually realized for the people of the township? Who did the cost-benefit analysis on this project?
Mr. Rattray, you also need to get out more, or at least look out the window. You speculate that “the new permit put an end to the reputed practice of buying used vehicles that have old, faded East Hampton Town resident parking stickers” that keep the ocean-beach lots “choked” with cars.
Speculating here: That dreary days and torrential downpours all month long kept the hordes away from ocean beaches.
LYNNE W. SCANLON
No Alternative
East Hampton
June 29, 2009
Dear Mr. Rattray,
It’s a good thing you are running a newspaper, rather than running for office. Speaking for myself, I have not voted for the beach permit fee with my checkbook, as you surmise. I was given no alternative if I wanted my children to be able to use our God-given beaches.
And fees for parking? Egads!
Sincerely,
CARLA ASH
Free Parking
East Hampton
June 29, 2009
To the Editor:
Your editorial “Beach-Parking Bonus” (June 25), cannot go without comment. As I read your words, I see: “It is all about money and nothing else matters.”
You miss the point. If money were the only consideration when fees (taxes?) are imposed on the hard-working residents of East Hampton, then many town employees would have been fired already from their jobs to make it easier to balance our overwhelmingly unbalanced budget. Other values — human values — must be factored into the equation, and rightly so.
You seem to ignore the unspoken promise that has existed throughout East Hampton’s history that, when all else fails, the beaches will always be available to the residents.
Your justification for continuation of the parking fees, in addition to all of the money it brings in, is, in your own words, speculative. You espouse some convoluted premise relating to an inundation on beach parking lots of old cars with old permits. You claim that so many of these vehicles abound that there is no place for people to park and go to the beach. I have never before read of this problem in your newspaper. But of course, I have only been reading your paper for 40 years.
If your theory, and it is no more than a theory, is correct, which I doubt, then the problem is easily solved by printing newly-designed free parking permits for residents, instead of taking the giant leap of suddenly charging everyone to park at the beach — a charge that extends not only to ocean beaches, which seem to be your primary focus, but to all beaches within East Hampton Town. Many of which have no parking problems.
You go on to support your specious argument by stating that “East Hampton residents, it appears, have voted with their checkbooks, shelling out for more than 10,000 permits already.” What a ridiculous, ill-informed statement. The residents have no choice. If they want to park at the beach, something even the poorest of us used to be able to do for free, they must pay for a permit or they risk an even higher fee if they get a parking ticket.
I would love to see the residents actually get a vote on the question of whether or not they should be charged to park at their beaches. I do not think you would come out with a 10,000-to-0 result in favor of institution of a resident-parking fee.
Additionally, you go on to say that since this is such a popular (your conclusion) and lucrative experiment, why not expand it to more places where the residents can pay to park. You are sliding down that slippery slope of taxing, taxing, taxing, and you are trying to take us all with you. Hold on. Where does this end?
What if the government placed a fee or tax on The Star for each place The Star “parked” a bundle of newspapers for sale? You would have a whole host of reasons why that would be wrong. But the bottom line would be the same as the erroneous conclusion you draw in your editorial — money extracted from the people (or a corporation) in any form is good. Take, take, take.
Of course, elimination of the permit fee would cause the town board to seek the money elsewhere. Maybe they might even consider adding the fee to the permits sold to visitors, renters, and people who use our beaches for commercial advertisements and events. After all, by your numbers, we are only “8,800 year-round households,” a miniscule number by comparison to the nonresidents who enjoy our beaches without the burden of paying taxes in addition to the parking fees. Sounds like you could collect even more money from them than from the over-taxed residents of East Hampton. Think about it.
Just a thought: If an East Hampton resident canceled his or her subscription to The Star they could afford at least one of those beach-parking permits you are so enthusiastic about, with $10 left over for the movies.
Message to Republican and Democratic candidates: Do not renege on your promise to remove the resident beach-parking permit fee.
BEVERLY BOND
Second-Half Taxes
East Hampton
June 29, 2009
Dear David:
The East Hampton Town Board imposed a “cost-saving effort” of cutting out the traditional reminder to property owners that their second-half taxes were due.
In my opinion, this was a shortsighted move that contributed to more-than-double the normal number of late payments. That made the cash flow even worse, and the stress level of those who live here greater.
By sending out second-half notices for the past many, many years, the town set up an expectation by residents that a bill would be sent. If the bills were not going to be sent out, the town should have put full-page advertisements in the papers to alert people of this decision. It’s called a caring government approach.
In the spirit of our community, I propose the town do what it can to have the county waive the penalties and fees for one full month, take out the ads, and thereby start to get back on track.
Yes, I’m running for town councilwoman, and this type of governmental shortcoming is one of the reasons why.
Sincerely,
THERESA QUIGLEY
Candidate for Town Board
On Your Watch
Montauk
June 29, 2009
Dear Editor,
So Ben Zwirn and Deb Foster’s financial committee have 100 questions for the Republican candidates to answer.
There is, though, only one question that needs asking, and it is a very simple one. Where the hell were you, Deb Foster, Pat Mansir, Pete Hammerle, and Brad Loewen, when this financial disaster was happening on your watch?
When you have satisfactorily explained this to the people of East Hampton, maybe then, and only then, can you question others.
Thank you,
BILL CAMPBELL
Cleaning House
Montauk
June 28, 2009
To the Editor,
I got involved with the East Hampton Democratic Party just before the last election. I was not involved in the selection process. I went to fund-raisers, obtained signatures to place names on the ballot, and I poll-watched on Election Day at the Montauk Firehouse.
You can imagine my sense of horror and outrage as our town’s financial mess unfolded in this very newspaper. My first reaction was to resign my position as a Democratic committeeman in protest, but voting for the pro-big business, pro-ostentatious development Republicans was simply not an option for me. I don’t want high-speed ferries running in and out of Montauk Harbor, Fort Pond Bay, or Sag Harbor.
My horror and embarrassment turned to anger, which I channeled into my goal of cleaning house on the existing town board, with the sole exception of Julia Prince, the newest board member, who inherited this mess. I’ve watched her attempts at reform and addressing town problems be thwarted again and again by the sitting board.
Toward this goal, the Democratic Party has nominated an exceptionally qualified slate of honest candidates. Obviously, many of my fellow committee-members felt the same way I did — that house cleaning was in order. This led the committee to select Benjamin Zwirn, Patti Leber, and John Whelan as the Democratic candidates for positions on the board.
This slate of candidates displays an involvement in different aspects of the town, both in and out of government, that makes them uniquely qualified to deal with the town’s financial crisis. It will take an exceptionally good working relationship with the county government and New York State to address our problems in an orderly, manageable, humane way. I believe these candidates are the ones who can get it done.
Sincerely,
RICHARD ROBERT VALCICH
Difficult Questions
Amagansett
June 28, 2009
Dear David,
The most difficult question for the next town board will be how to handle the financial crisis. Democratic candidates are taking the public into their confidence and sharing their ideas. Ben Zwirn, a supervisor candidate, has announced the organizing principles of his plan to reform the budgeting, oversight, and public information processes and intends to provide further detail shortly. He and the Democratic town board candidates, responding to the request of a nonpartisan group of distinguished citizens, have rated the 100 recommendations of a proposed financial action plan the group developed.
The Republican candidates, in contrast, have offered no plans of their own and have refused to respond to the nonpartisan inquiry. According to your paper, their campaign manager told them not to. She said she had asked the G.O.P.’s candidates not to answer the survey and added, “There has to be direct contact and communication with the people first. . . . We’re doing this grassroots approach, going door to door.”
I think we need expertise and professionalism of the highest order to solve the town’s financial problems. I am a lawyer and have run an organization and raised money to meet a payroll. I want to hear from the candidates what they would do to solve our problems, not wait for them to take a poll. I can’t count on having them find me at home in their grassroots campaigning to hear what they think. And I shouldn’t think anyone would like to know that the candidates’ decisions will depend on what their campaign manager tells them to do.
Holding out on difficult questions may be politically savvy. It doesn’t inspire confidence that the candidates would be willing to share information with colleagues and the community, or make tough decisions when necessary.
Sincerely yours,
JEANNE FRANKL
East Hampton Town
Democratic Committee
Pig in a Poke
Amagansett
June 28, 2009
Dear David,
I am old enough to have witnessed a lot of chutzpah during political campaigns. However, the reaction — or lack thereof — by the Republican candidates for town supervisor and town board to the financial action plan’s 100-question survey was pretty amazing.
For the Republican chairwoman to blatantly declare that she had asked her candidates not to respond to the survey, which was sent to the candidates of both parties — well, it kind of blows the mind. Her reason: The bipartisan group which had worked on the project was “politically motivated.” (Note: This group included such lifelong “Democrats” as Fred W. Thiele Jr., Bonnie Krupinski, Margaret Turner of the East Hampton Business Alliance, and Paul Rickenbach Jr., mayor of East Hampton Village. In addition, she didn’t like the way the questions were posed.
These survey questions were divided into five categories: taxpayers’ savings, financial health, accuracy, credibility, and transparency. Furthermore, the candidates were encouraged to add to their short answers by making more detailed comments on the back page.
Will someone please explain the meaning of this statement by the Republican chairwoman: “Most of the points [of the survey] are going to be covered in the debates. More importantly, I think the constituency has been ignored, and I don’t think these questions can be seriously considered until the elected people hear from the constituency.”
Does this really mean that the Republican candidates are not going to tell their constituency any of their plans for solving the town’s real problems until after the election? Sounds like buying a pig in a poke.
It is pretty obvious that the Democratic candidates, Ben Zwirn, Patti Leber, and John Whelan, have ideas and plans about the governance of East Hampton that they want to share with all the electorate early on in the campaign.
Wasn’t secrecy and lack of transparency the cause of the current financial mess?
Sincerely,
LARRY MARCUS
Built Backwards
East Hampton
June 25, 2009
To the Editor,
When is the other elephant in the room going to be recognized? Our new Justice Court was built backwards! Who was responsible for allowing this to happen? It sickens me every time I drive by this eyesore. Furthermore, this stucco structure may fit perfectly in Florida, but has absolutely no place in East Hampton.
This is a town that has always taken pride in its architecture, and this was the town’s opportunity to put a stamp on the public spaces. How is that that private projects are so scrutinized and must fit in with the general character of the community, yet the new public building that was built using taxpayers’ dollars may be the only stucco building in East Hampton and was built backwards.
As an East Hampton taxpayer, I want answers.
ADAM M. MILLER
Stepping Forward
East Hampton
June 28, 2009
To the Editor,
Congratulations to Jeffrey Fisher and Steven Schwartz for stepping forward to form the East Hampton Group for Good Government. It was heartening that so many put political affiliations aside and attended the inaugural meeting on June 27 to share their expertise with others, including several politicians. Hopefully, the efforts of the group will lead toward the re-establishment of an honest government representing all.
DON BROOKMAN
Pay Attention
Amagansett
June 28, 2009
Dear David,
On Friday, the pouring rain did not dampen the enthusiasm of East Hamptoners who attended the Democrats’ first meet-the-candidates party at the new Rugosa restaurant. Cheerful optimism was in the air, sparked by the very warm reception given to the introduction of the Democratic Party’s candidates for this most-important local election.
The scene was smiles and excitement all around in response to meeting and hearing from the slate of highly qualified and widely experienced candidates for supervisor and the town board: Ben Zwirn, Patti Leber, John Whelan, as well as Scott King for highway superintendent; Fred Overton, town clerk; Catherine Cahill, town Justice; Eugene DePasquale, tax assessor, and for town trustees, Christopher Russo, Steven Lester, William Taylor, John Gosman, Jr., Joseph Giannini, Joseph Lombardi, Juan Castro, Joe Peel, and Richard Madan.
Of course, we hope and believe that all East Hampton voters should have many opportunities in the near future — not limited to three forums — to meet and hear all the candidates in order to learn their specific plans. That’s just plain commonsense.
Wasn’t it Mark Twain who said, “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated?” For those folks who have already written off Democratic chances in November, it might be wise to sit up and pay attention. The campaign has just begun.
Sincerely,
BETTY MAZUR
East Hampton Town
Democratic Committee
Pleasure of Meeting
East Hampton
June 28, 2009
To the Editor,
On Saturday afternoon, about 100 East Hampton residents and friends had the pleasure of meeting and talking with candidates for positions in town government, representing all parties, at a cocktail reception organized by the East Hampton Group for Good Government. The group was formed in response to everyone’s shock at the revelation of the town’s financial problems and concern about how they were being addressed.
My thanks go to the Group for Good Government and especially to our hosts, Jeffrey and Patricia Fisher, for a wonderful event.
Sincerely,
DORIS NATHAN
Solid First Meeting
East Hampton
June 28, 2009
To the editor,
The citizens of East Hampton have reason to cheer. A new group, calling itself the East Hampton Group for Good Government met on Saturday afternoon at an event given by Jeffrey Fisher and his wife, Patricia, at their house. Roughly 90 people gathered to have a chance to talk to about a dozen candidates who have indicated their intention to run for various East Hampton town offices in the next election. It was a solid first meeting of the new group. Both the candidates and the voters felt that the chance to hold such discussions was a wonderful way to begin to address some of the problems that plague the town.
TOM FRIEDMAN
Good Government
East Hampton
June 29, 2009
Dear David:
The East Hampton Group for Good Government is off and running. Thank you for your excellent introductory coverage about our formation and purposes. In furtherance of those goals we had a lawn party on Saturday at which all the candidates for town offices and town trusteeships were invited. Attendees included Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, Bill Wilkinson, Ben Zwirn, Theresa Quigley, Dominick Stanzione, Patti Leber, and others running for various positions. All of them were introduced, but there were no speeches.
This was an informal opportunity for regular citizens to meet their potential representatives. We would like to thank all those who attended, inaugurating what we hope will be more events of this type, nonpartisan, nonconfrontational, and very civil.
As you know, the restoration of respectful dialogue in our political arena is one of the tenets of our new organization, accompanied by what will be a sustained voter registration drive. We have discovered a profound lack of knowledge among prospective registrants and voters about the form of our town government, as well as its current problems.
Our Web site, www.ehggg.org, is now up and we encourage all those interested in the restoration of good government to our town to visit the site, to join our organization, to learn more about the situation, to register to vote, and to exercise the proper role of a concerned citizenry.
Sincerely,
JEFFREY FISHER
STEVEN SCHWARTZ
East Hampton Group for
Good Government
Springs School Kids
Music to dads’ ears
a gaggle of
giddy
gigglin’
girls
Laughin’
screamin’
yellin’
splashin’
in the pool
the more the merrier
brown and white
girls
sunshine
watermelon
in my excitement
forgot to check
for illegals
KEVIN REYNOLDS
Hospitality
East Hampton
June 20, 2009
Mr. Rattray,
Much thanks to you and The Star for the hospitality heaped upon us at The East Hampton Star All-Star Awards gala at Fresno restaurant.
My wife and I think our daughter, Mary, is pretty wonderful. It is nice that others think so as well. Thanks for our kind words and noble actions.
ARTHUR and EILEEN GOLDMAN
Shark Tournaments
East Hampton
June 27, 2009
Dear Editor,
The protesters at the shark tournament were focusing on animal cruelty — and the idea of cutting out a beating heart and passing it around seems sadistic, even to this jaded biologist — but I am writing about something else: conservation and ecological effects.
Many sharks are facing extinction. About one-third of the species are threatened with extinction, primarily due to overfishing, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Great hammerhead and scalloped hammerhead are considered globally endangered. Smooth hammerhead, great white, basking, and whitetip sharks are globally vulnerable to extinction, along with two species of makos and three species of threshers.
Research has shown that removal of adult sharks from the population is occurring so fast that many species stand no chance of survival. Biologists are concerned about the long-term survival of the ocean’s top predators. Some of the more threatened species, like mako and thresher, are highly prized in shark tournaments. Over the past 30 years, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has reported makos and threshers have each lost about 75 percent of their populations. I don’t think a hunting contest for whooping cranes or other endangered land animals would be permitted.
Removal of top predators from the ocean can have cascading effects lower down on the marine food web, with unexpected consequences. For example, a few years ago the depletion of sharks was found to be related to depletion of scallops because sharks can eat predators of scallops. So, when there are fewer sharks, there are more scallop predators and, thus, fewer scallops.
Fishing tournaments are not the major cause of shark population crashes, but they add insult to injury. A catch-and-release tournament would allow anglers the thrill of catching them without contributing to the depletion of these ancient species.
DR. JUDITH S. WEIS
Department of Biological Sciences
Rutgers University
Lovely Bird’s Life
Amagansett
June 29, 2009
Hi,
I truly love the swans, as do many of the people who visit Town Pond. This is a young couple with, at one time, seven cygnets, with one white one.
Now, there are only four, and the tragic problem is that the female has lost many of the flight feathers and will not be able to fly. Or has she been attacked by something. Maybe her mate is attacking her. Mute swans will attack their own.
I fear for this lovely bird’s life. In the pond are muskrats that eat the baby mallards; we have a few now.
Is there any one out there who can help? It will be very sad to see the female die.
Thank you for listening,
REMMI WOLF
Finest Health Care
East Hampton
June 29, 2009
To the Editor,
I have a question on health care for the president and our members of Congress: If the health care plan they are trying shove down our throats is so good, will they be giving up the plan they have as elected officials. I mean, if it is good enough for us it should be good enough for them, right?
If Tim Bishop, Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Barack Obama are willing to put us on the plan, they as leaders should be willing to lead by example and take the same route as the rest of us. In an ideal world where people stand by the things they profess to believe in, that would happen. The real world, on the other hand, is much more cynical.
Under Barack Obama’s plan, Congress will be exempt from being subject to its own laws. While we the people will be victims of socialized medicine our glorious leaders will enjoy the finest health care our money can buy, for life, no less, so much for equality, so much for an imperial presidency and his house of lords being subject to the same rules as the peons who serve them.
This is why socialism and communism do not work. Everyone is equal under these beliefs, but some people are more equal than others. Barack Obama and the fawning Congress that bows to him are hypocrites; more of the “do as I say, not as I do” gang that has run our country into the ground for the past 20 years. How long will you sit there scratching your heads before you realize change was a bumper sticker and you were a sucker?
MICHAEL D. BOUKER
Primary Roadblock
East Hampton
June 28, 2009
To the Editor,
Watching Congress perform during the current economic crisis should make it clear to even the most myopic observers that Congress itself is the primary roadblock to a quick, reasonable resolution of the problem. One can’t deny that the past eight years of congressional and executive buffoonery is responsible for the current mess. Nor can one deny that changing the ruling party has done little to alleviate the problem. The self-interest and debt service of our politicians so restricts and inhibits their performances that they are stuck in the same box that produced the crisis. It would not be unfair to mention the overall level of incompetence and ignorance that they bring to the table, but incompetence alone would be insufficient to have brought us to our knees.
So they debate budget deficits, global warming, and health care, and they are all oxymoronic in the overall scheme of things. Global warming is for real. Economically and politically (see Tom Friedman on Iran), we are without choice. Face it and deal with it.
Health care is even more ridiculous. We are almost third world in our coverage. Europe and Japan stare us in the face, and we stick our tongues out. We appear deranged about it because we are. Insurance companies flood congress with tens of millions of dollars to sustain the status quo. Yet while health care behavior isn’t criminal and global warming is somewhat more so, deficits are a capital crime and should be treated as one.
Every time a politician talks about government spending and deficits he or she should be tied to a tree in a public square and beaten with a stick or a wet towel. The federal deficit might reach $1 trillion in the next year and could go even higher due to the need to stimulate the economy, but it a miniscule drop in the bucket compared to the overall debt of the American people, which is somewhere around $50 trillion. The entire world isn’t worth $50 trillion, but we owe at least that much?
The reason why no politician ever mentions the $50 trillion is because they know that we will never be able to pay it off. The debt burden is really staggering, but the political implications are even worse. They know that they have governed a country that has essentially decimated its middle class by design and that the capitalist system as we practice it is an enormous disaster for 90 percent of the people. They know that only the top 10 percent of the country reaps the benefits of growth in our gross national product. They know that they have screwed the American people, and their criminality is beyond question.
So, if the Congress is criminal, as well as useless, who needs it? We could let Mr. Obama rule by decree until we come up with better system. The debates on global warming and health care focus on the problems of the proposed solutions rather then on perfecting the proposals. If 80 percent of a proposal is workable and it is significantly better than what we have, we are obligated to go for it.
Similarly, we should apply the same degree of scrutiny to our government. Two hundred fourteen congressmen voted against the global warming proposal without presenting alternative options. Are they simply stupid, too obligated to their benefactors, or criminals? Obviously, they are in the wrong business.
Given the level of entrenchment of our two political parties, they will never take the necessary measures to police themselves. They have no obligation to do so. The longer they are in office, the more they obstruct the democratic process. The only real solution is term limits. (How useless is Joe Biden?) Allow them six years in government and obligate them to leave. Don’t allow them to lobby or deal with government contracts. Pay them big salaries and give them lots of assistants. Government as community service, instead of self-service. Make our democracy the best in the world instead of just pretending we’re the best.
NEIL HAUSIG
Mockery of Regulation
Sag Harbor
June 22, 2009
Dear Editor,
The United States Senate is right to question — and view with skepticism — the Obama administration’s proposal for preventing another financial debacle: more power for the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to regulate banks and other financial institutions and large corporations (powers they already have but failed to use to prevent the current financial and fiscal mess). For it was the very Federal Reserve Board that caused the current mess by not doing its statutory job.
Indeed, the Federal Reserve Board, even under normal circumstances, lacks credibility, being riddled with conflicts of interest in its membership: The very banks and corporations that it is supposed to regulate are represented on its board. Self-regulation, rather than outside regulation, a k a fox-in-hen house regulation.
It is no surprise, then, that the Federal Reserve Board’s chairman at the time, Alan Greenspan, and the head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Timothy Geithner, caved in to Henry Paulson, the chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs, when he and others — encouraged by Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae to grant more home ownership loans — pressed for relaxation of the ratio of banks’ reserves to their liabilities so they could make more mortgage loans than normally permitted. This led to the big banks making a large volume of subprime loans to people who could not afford them, which, combined with the fraud known as derivatives, led to the collapse of the United States’ financial edifice.
The Federal Reserve Board, clearly, does not need more powers if it cannot be trusted to exercise the powers it already has. In fact, it is rather the Federal Reserve Board that has to be reformed. The cozy revolving-door relationship between the big banks, the Federal Reserve Board, the Federal Reserve banks, and the U.S. Treasury makes a mockery of regulation of the financial markets, including the Securities and Exchange Commission. (It is noteworthy that Tim Geithner was the C.E.O. of Citibank before becoming the head of the New York Federal Reserve Board and, now, U.S. Treasury secretary. Henry Paulson of Goldman Sachs became U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. This revolving door makes nonsense of financial market regulation, making any advice from the Federal Reserve or the U.S. Treasury in this regard automatically suspect.
Besides the cleanup of the membership composition of the Federal Reserve Board, as well as the regional Federal Reserve banks, the only powers necessary to prevent another financial debacle are those of the Office of the Inspector General — preferably an inspector general specifically for all federal banking and other financial institutions, but failing this the inspector general of the U.S. Treasury Department, endowed with additional powers, if necessary, to oversee the functioning of the Federal Reserve system and other federal financial institutions. Such oversight could have prevented the current financial mess.
In other matters than the regulation of the monetary and financial system, the Obama administration does not seem to be receiving necessary and competent advice from its official advisers, consultants, and strategists, political as well as economic. Take, for instance, the proposal to establish a national health care system which, with the current shortage of medical and other health care professionals, is totally impossible.
Competent advisers would have counseled the president to hold off announcing the proposal, but start by first ensuring an adequate supply of health care professionals through scholarships and training programs that bind the beneficiaries to a minimum period of service to the federal government on completion of their scholarships and training programs.
After the launching of the health care manpower program would be the appropriate time to announce and start preparing for a national health care system. Who would then dare to raise objections to the proposed system? Instead, unfortunately, the cart was put before the horse, prompting needless and irrelevant Harry-and-Louise type resistance before the system was ready to be launched.
In any environment where political, social, and economic factors interact, it is always best to refrain from public announcements before preparations have been made and arrangements put in place for launching important national projects.
Yours sincerely,
DAVID CARNEY
Cluck-Clucking
East Hampton
June 26, 2009
Dear Dave,
An American-born Iranian, an author of some renown, while a guest on the Jon Stewart “Daily Show’ and discussing the Iranian election and the populous uprising following it, raised his arms to the sky and shouted, “Thank God for Barack Obama.” On another media outlet the head of Iranians for Change said, “President Obama has handled this uprising in just the right manner.” Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger joined with three other former secretaries to commend President Obama’s handling of the matter. Peggy Noonan, the Wall Street Journal conservative Republican stalwart, writes that Mr. Obama showed “the correct amount of restraint and condemnation” and “handled the situation in a way that befuddled, wrongheaded, politically oriented Republicans did not.”
Republican senators and representatives, foreign affairs experts, Iranian refugees, Iranian activists, and the list goes on and on, all clearly stated that the president’s handling of the American response to the Iranian tyranny was just right, not seeking short-term political posturing and chest-beating, a la George Bush and John McCain, but looking down the road 10 years from now, when the Iranian problem will have grown even more in importance and we will need diplomatic contact more than ever.
Not six months in office as president of a United States in deep trouble fiscally, militarily, and psychologically, a country awakening from eight years of the most ignorant, inept, murderous, and ineffectual presidency and government in the history of America, and they decry Mr. Obama’s every attempt to right our ship of state, nitpicking, cluck-clucking, and obstructing his every move as if they have a better plan? If they do let’s hear it. Where is it? Why weren’t they heard when we were spending billions and trillions on a war of choice? Where were they when thousands suffered in Katrina?
Instead of calling those in opposition traitors and un-American, why did these harpies not speak up about their plans to change the course of a floundering U.S.A.? Because they have none, that’s why! They want only the status quo.
Tax cuts for the rich; labor unions and the middle class decimated; financially ruinous health care leading to the dismantling of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security; lawyers handcuffed; justice denied to the wronged, more Clarence Thomases, and just plain old me first-ism, well, you guys keep bashing Mr. Obama, and we’ll keep loving and supporting him, and hey, guess what? He is the president of these United States and you are not.
RICHARD HIGER
War Crimes?
North Sea
June 25, 2009
To the Editor,
Sixty killed in Baghdad Wednesday evening. It’s June 25, and we are supposed to leave Baghdad and Iraq beginning July 1. Not all troops, but some troops. The other day, 24 killed, 100 wounded in approximately the same area. Now in Afghanistan, 40 killed and 100 wounded. These include children on school buses.
I see a former Kosovo premier arrested for war crimes. He reportedly killed 669 Serbs and 18 other non-Albanians. Sounds familiar.
George Bush, when he was president 43, had killed tens of thousands of civilians, maybe as many as 600,000. Should he be indicted for war crimes? What do you think?
By the way, the former Kosovo premier was indicted at The Hague. Perhaps we ought to think about others who had led us into the catastrophic war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and possibilities of Iran and nuclear-armed North Korea.
Let’s stop fooling around. Get the right people out of office even for crimes they committed three to nine years ago, okay?
And on earth, peace,
BILL SOKOLIN