Listen in if you can today from noon to 1 pm to another special end-of-summertime edition of "The Real Majority Project" with Rich C. and yours truly-- on WVKR 91.3 FM http://www.WVKR.org (437-7178)...
Our special guest will be Deborah Dietrich, Ex. Dir. of Opportunities, Alternatives, and Resources!...
[G.O.P./Conservative cand. Dealy attacks me in current Millbrook Independent for being for a bail fund]
Fact: Dutchess County could easily save well over a million dollars a year for local taxpayers with a bail loan fund like Tompkins County's-- solely for those merely accused of nonviolent misdemeanors-- with a program here like the United Way agency Opportunities, Alternatives, and Resources in Tompkins (long supported by G.O.P. and Dems there; see http://www.OARTompkins.com ).
Fact: The Daily Freeman published a strong editorial four years ago in support of a bail loan fund here, and even Dutchess County Sheriff Butch Anderson recently told me personally he was upset about the increasing waste of taxpayer dollars with so many people sitting in our county jail that used to be bailed out for low amounts by employers or family-- but aren't any more because of the recession.
Fact: Specifically, there are often over sixty folks sitting in our county jail with bail of $2000 or less (roughly the limit for Tompkins bail loan fund), and the vast majority of the judges in Dutchess County are Republican; anyone with bail set at $2000 or less is clearly not a serious threat to safety.
[don't let same old tired, idiotic, warmed-over, rehashed racist attacks from 2005 win!...(they didn't then;
who else remembers the disgusting mailings G.O.P. sent out all over Dutchess that year re: bail fund?]
For too too many years too too many closed minds in our county government have flushed too too many
county tax dollars-- and too too many lives down the drain-- enough, folks!...
[don't want to wait 'til 2525 for Dutchess to get off dime?...email countylegislators@co.dutchess.ny.us!]
My track record of getting cost-saving initiatives passed-- and goals for the future-- are all here: http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2009/08/dutchess-progressive-help-make-it.html ...
Pass it on...
Joel
489-5479/876-2488
joeltyner@earthlink.net
[donations still very much needed, folks-- at "Keep Joel" 324 Browns Pond Road Staatsburg, NY 12580!]
[and don't forget: http://www.SteinbergforSupremeCourt.com p. conf. today 1 pm Market St. Courthouse!]
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Seven more pathetic attacks from Dealy rebutted here...(hopefully Millbrook Independent will print 'em!):
1. Dealy attacks me on taxes, glossing over long history of REPUBLICAN majority in our County Legislature pushing through many years of tax hikes (fact is Dems have never done this, folks).
Fact: In November 2007 the first Democratic majority in thirty years was elected to our County Legislature; last December was the first time Democrats had a real opportunity to truly impact the county budget for this year. Last December our Democratic majority cut the Republicans' proposed budget by five million dollars, stopped the G.O.P. plan to raise sales taxes in the county by six million dollars, stopped the Republican drive to completely eliminate our county's Human Rights Commission, the county water lab, and $1.5 million in crucial funding for many nonprofit agencies-- while leaving the total county property tax levy almost a million dollars below the 2008 levy. The County Executive's vetoes (which no G.O.P. legislator wanted to override) added literally nine million dollars to this year's tax levy. Period. [recall Mr. Dealy's odious introduction to us courtesy of red-baiting Mr. Muggenburg:
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090728/OPINION02/907280303/1004/OPINION ]
2. For shame-- Dealy attacks me for opposing a 50% hike in LOOP bus fares for seniors and the disabled and a 75% hike in LOOP bus fares for others who need to ride bus to get to work or college.
Fact: The LOOP bus system ended last year with an $809,000 surplus and ended 2007 with a $560,000 surplus, according to our County Comptroller Diane Jablonski-- while eleven routes were eliminated (including route 7 through Clinton)-- yet Dealy supports jacking up LOOP bus fares on our elderly, working class, and people with disabilities? Disgusting.
[recall my June 16 PoJo op-ed "Options To LOOP Fare Hikes" @ Amer. Lung Association of NY website
http://www.alany.org/atf/cf/%7B3ADABC12-D6E0-407C-9464-9209C6DB0D0E%7D/ART-7-16-09%20Poughkeepsie%20Journal.pdf ]
3. Dealy attacks me for daring to propose modicum of safety from electricians' licensing in our county.
Fact: Even Clinton's Richard Morse (who had been quoted repeatedly in Journal and Freeman as an opponent of this legislation) stood up and publicly stated at a Red Hook Town Hall forum last August 6th that with my amendments incorporated into the law that it was much clearer to him that contractors who can prove they've been doing quality electrical work are grandfathered into this fundamental consumer protection law.
Fact: Without licensing Dutchess is a magnet for dangerously unlicensed and unqualified electricians-- as Putnam, Orange, Rockland, Greene, and Westchester counties all license electricians locally, along with Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey (and three-fourths of states across the U.S.).
Fact: In every single one of those counties the revenue from the law has exceeded the cost-- making $!
[note-- thx much to Barbara Hugo and Bill McCabe for doing background research to back this up]
Fact: 3.9% of all fires in New York are due to electrical wiring (besides another 8% due to overloading cords/outlets, and another 8% from electrical appliances) according to the NYS Office of Fire Prevention and Control-- and "nearly half (47%) of the residential building electrical fires where equipment was involved were caused by the building's wiring" according to the National Fire Data Center.
[see: http://www.dos.state.ny.us/fire/firewww.html ; https://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/tfrs/v8i2.pdf ]
Fact: Unfortunately, there are far too many out there still doing electrical work leading to dangerously open splices, wires scotch-taped together; too many who don't understand current, amp interruptions, grounding, low-impedance fault current path, and the difference between bonding and wiring on swimming pools (too many still try to bring current back to panel board: wrong).
Fact: People here in our region have actually smelled their electrical wiring smoldering inside their walls just in time-- before their houses caught fire and burned down. The problem with electricity is that it's behind the walls-- it's hidden, like sheetrock; one loose connection can cause havoc, and problems can crop up in a week or in ten years; it's not like painting or siding, where mistakes can be readily seen. [see http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SafeWire -- and join 39 others on board; comments there too]
4. Dealy attacks me on the increased costs of our county's Resource Recovery Agency.
Fact: As Dealy, knows, I've helped lead the Democratic majority in investigating and questioning this, following up on superb investigative reports in Pok. Journal; see http://www.petitiononline.com/zeroyes .
5. Incredibly and pathetically-- Dealy actually attacks me for asking for money for car repairs last year(!).
Fact: Yes, I sent an email out to my list last fall on this-- but it went far beyond my district (it actually went to about a thousand people in the region)....(and I'd love to bike around county, but cannot do this)...
And-- the fact is also that since last fall I've also actually co-sponsored legislation to cut my own pay (see http://www.petitiononline.com/cutlgpay )-- after I gave up a $53,000/year teaching job in 2005 to devote myself fully to being a county legislator (sorry-- not everyone wants to be a shark on Wall Street and destroy the foundations of our economy). Pat Dealy should be ashamed for attacking me on this one; none of my opponents have ever sunk this low. Period.
[and yep-- many I know are still wondering why the Freeman, Gazette, & Townsman printed this too!]
6. Dealy attacks me for supporting campaign finance reform(!).
Fact: For the last twelve years I've documented through research of public records the millions of our county tax dollars involved annually in legalized kickbacks in our county government (links between county contracts and large donations)-- and pushed with former County Executive Lucille Pattison (and two Poughkeepsie Journal editorials) for campaign finance reform as in Rockland County (see http://wwww.petitiononline.com/cleangov ; over 50 signed on so far; join us!). It's time to do this.
7. Dealy mentions inviting me to debates (but doesn't tell whole story; see a bit below for more on this).
Fact: Dealy neglected to mention in his letter to the editor that I responded to him long ago on this (Aug. 4th to be exact)-- telling him literally a month ago that Sept. 23rd, Oct. 7th, and Oct. 21st were all fine with me, and that I suggested the League of Women Voters would do a great job moderating (as they have done for many years at the Clinton Town Hall candidate nights every other year). Curiously, Dealy never answered the Aug. 4th response email I sent back to him (why?)....(again-- see below)...
[generally speaking I'll debate anywhere any place any time but would prefer League of Women Voters]
Finally, again, the fact is that Dealy's campaign told the Millbrook Independent last month he was endorsed by the Working Families Party-- while trying to hide the fact he's endorsed by the Conservative Party (interestingly, his letter to the editor this week glosses over this); see http://www.CPNYS.org for more on their reactionary pro-life/anti-estate-tax, pro-regressive-tax agenda...
[Specifically, for example, Dealy's buddies in the Conservative Party of NYS want to "eliminate the New York State estate tax...staunchly reject any effort to reinforce current abortion laws...support constitutional amendment that will define marriage as union between one man and one woman"-- and oppose Clean Money Clean Elections campaign finance reform supported by 70% of New Yorkers (see http://www.CitizenActionNY.org for much, much more on Clean Money Clean Elections reform).]
Sadly, Dealy has made it all too clear that his campaign this fall is all about attack, attack, attack-- with no new positive or original ideas...
Haven't we had enough of this from his "death panel" right-wing buddies at the national level?...
Naughty naughty...Real Dealy?...Raw Dealy.
Not even Labor Day-- the man has desperately resorted to throwing everything but kitchen sink at me...
The people of Rhinebeck, Clinton, and Dutchess County deserve much better than Mr. Dealy: far better.
[will someone please talk to this man and tell him to stop boxing himself into a corner w/this garbage?]
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[here below: the email letter I sent to Dealy himself almost immediately after he emailed me (same day);
what do YOU think is reason why Mr. Dealy has chosen not to respond to me on this...even in Sept.?]
[why is it over and over again I've noticed so many G.O.P. folks can't abide LWV-moderated debates?]
From: Joel Tyner
To: Pat Dealy
Subject: Re: District 11
Date: Aug 4, 2009 2:10 PM
JT: Hi Pat!...
PD: Hello Joel;
PD: My name is Pat Dealy and I am seeking to represent the people of Clinton and Rhinebeck in the County Legislature on November 3rd.
JT: I hear!...may the best man win...
PD: I bet you share my enthusiasm for giving the voters a chance to see us discuss our qualifications, ideas, and records in person.
JT: Amen...
PD: Please accept my invitation to appear at two “town-hall” style forums (September 23rd at the Clinton Town Hall and October 7th at the Rhinebeck Town Hall). On September 23rd, let's discuss property taxes and the County Budget and on October 7th, we should cover other issues of specific interest to the people of Clinton and Rhinebeck like the LOOP service, Dutchess Community College, and the RRA. Both meetings should encourage a free-flowing dialogue with voters.
PD: On October 21st, we should have a debate at the high school along the lines of your debate with Ray Oberly in 2007. I thought, as a voter, that is was an effective venue.
PD: I invite you to work with me to establish some ground rules and to identify and recruit fair and effective moderators.
JT: I'm ok for all three of those!...
JT: [...and hopefully Clinton United or the Clinton Business Association or some other organization will sponsor the traditional Friday-in-October candidates night for Clinton Town Board candidates and county legislator candidates as well...]
PD: I look forward to working with you.
JT: Sounds good...
JT: Hm...ground rules...how about two-minute openers, two-minute closers, 1-minute rebuttals allowed to other's answers to questions, flip of coin to see who goes first?...
JT: [or...three-minute openers, two-minute closers?...your thoughts?]
JT: As for moderators...hm...can we possibly get folks from Mid-Hudson League of Women Voters?...(see http://midhudson.ny.lwvnet.org/ ; I've found them to be pretty fair in the past)...
Joel
489-5479
Sincerely,
Pat Dealy
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From http://www.OARTompkins.com ...
OAR Bail Funds Program
The Bail Funds Program addresses the economic stratification in our community by providing interest-free bail loans of up to $2,500 to rigorously screened Tompkins County residents, who lack the means to post bail.
Applications for bail may be denied if the prospective bailee has:
1. been issued warrants or detainers;
2. violated parole, probation, or orders of protection; or
3. been determined to be a flight risk.
4. has forfeited an OAR bail in the past or has failed to follow OAR's weekly contact requirement while released from jail utilizing OARs bail program.
The Client Service Worker cannot review specifics of the internal review process with the client. Bailees must maintain weekly contact with OAR pending resolution of their cases and are encouraged to use our services while they go through the court process.
Bail loans are made from private and county dollars donated or loaned to the agency explicitly for this purpose.
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This sent to us in June from OAR Ex. Dir. Deborah Dietrich (debster61953@earthlink.net)...
Dear Dutchess County Legislators,
I recently read about the effort to pass a Bail Fund in Dutchess County in Dutchess Democracy. Our agency here in Tompkins County, Opportunities, Alternatives and Resources (OAR), was cited as an agency providing interest free bail loans to those incarcerated in our county jail. OAR has been around since 1976 and since then has provided bail to those unable to afford it themselves if they meet certain criteria. Since 2006, the County Legislature has allocated funds to OAR to supplement those funds raised by private donations. Last year, the Legislature appropriated $10,000 for this purpose and OAR bailed out 70 individuals. This resulted in substantial savings to county taxpayers through a reduction in the number of inmates boarded out to other county jails. In fact, it saved approximately $466,000 in board out costs. OAR makes interest free loans of up to $2500. A large number of OAR bailees are acquitted, have their charges dismissed or are given non-jail sentences. Without bail assistance, these individuals would have spent unnecessary time in jail at considerable taxpayer expense. In 2008, this program saved both our clients and TOmpkins County an estimated 5300 incarceration days. OAR also has had a very modest forfeiture rate over the years. Last year, for example, OAR had 5 bails forfeited out of the 70 bails made.
According to the jail statistics released by the NYS Commission of Correction probation report dated 6/15/09, Tompkins County jail housed 67 inmates and boarded out 12. Of these 63% were unsentenced and 37% had been convicted and sentenced to jail time. On the same day, Dutchess County housed 258 and boarded out another 100 inmates with 85% of these unsentenced and only 15% convicted and sentenced.
I urge you to consider the creation of a county funded Bail Fund in the interest of justice. I would be glad to assist you in any way to achieve this goal.
Deborah Dietrich
Executive Director
OAR
9607)272-7885
[below from October 2006]
Where did the bail fund money originally come from?
OAR records show that starting in 1984, community members and organizations were invited to invest in the bail fund. 46 investments, from $50 to $3000, were made. 8 were returned to the investors 10-15 years after they were given. The fund is now made up of the 38 remaining investments plus interest minus monies from forfeited bails. The total of the fund is $15,734 of which $13,400 is presently being used for active bails. By the end of today, we expect to have lent out an additional $1500 leaving just $834 in the fund.
Our records do not show any county monies yet in the fund. An infusion of $10,000 from county funds will immediately increase the number of bail loans and immediately decrease the number of people in our jail and who are being boarded out to regional jails.
What are the criteria for lending bail money?
Bail fund clients must be Tompkins County residents who plan to stay in Tompkins County. Their co-signers must live and work in the County. If a client has warrants or detainers outstanding or has been charged with criminal contempt they are not eligible. A pre-trial release agreement must be signed which obligates the client to contact OAR at least once a week and to behave in a “fully lawful manner.” If a client forfeits the bail, a warrant is issued for their arrest and their co-signer is responsible for paying their OAR bail loan. The fund has lost $8600 to forfeitures over its 22 year history. We ask clients to reimburse the 3% court fee as well as the bail itself.
How many bail fund loans have been given by OAR? How many are outstanding at this time?
1060 bail loans have been given through the years. 21 are outstanding as of today.
Why do we give bail loans?
Judges often call our staff directly after assigning a bail to ask if we can loan the bail amount so the person need not wait in jail. The people we bail out have not been sentenced. They are simply waiting for their turn with the courts. If they are sentenced they will serve their assigned jail time. Others will have their charges dismissed or be assigned alternatives to incarceration. Waiting in jail disrupts the productive parts of life such as employment and family responsibilities, costs taxpayers about a $100 a day, and over burdens our limited jail space. Thus lending bail monies to those without means increases reentry success, reduces recidivism, provides equity to people living in poverty and saves tax dollars. It is one of those rare win-win situations.
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Yes We Can-- If We Pull Together (40 examples of my initiatives passed in Co. Leg.)...
1. The fact is that the Democratic majority's proposed 2009 county budget cut spending by over five million dollars to keep the total property tax levy almost a million dollars below the 2008 levy-- and the County Executive's vetoes ended up adding nine million dollars to the 2009 tax levy. Recall-- the County Executive's original budget (which all G.O.P. legislators went along with, by the way) would have raised our sales taxes by $6.1 million countywide. [recall http://www.petitiononline.com/stopcuts ]
2. Created Independent Dutchess Energy Alliance: $1 billion in savings on electric bills over ten years.
[based on successful green jobs/retrofits example of Cambridge, MA-- see http://www.CambridgeEnergyAlliance.org ; also Town of Babylon's http://www.LIGreenHomes.com ; much thanks to Co. Leg.'s Tom Mansfield, Pete Wassell, Bill McCabe, and Marge Horton on this too]
3. For $153,000 added to 2009 county budget so ten Senior Friendship Centers could stay open five days a week.
[ http://www.co.dutchess.ny.us/Countygov/departments/aging/agindex.htm ]
4. For tens of thousands of dollars to be added to our county budget for 2005 for senior home care.
[ http://www.co.dutchess.ny.us/CountyGov/Departments/Aging/Srservdirectory.pdf ]
5. Led the fight to stop the Republican drive/proposal to end county-run senior home care in the county.
[ http://www.hca-nys.org/documents/NursingHomeWithoutWalls.pdf ]
6. For $100,000 added to county budget so homeless veterans/others not turned away from shelter.
[ http://www.HudsonRiverHousing.org ]
7. For Dutchess to keep using lever voting machines and state/federal gov.'t to make sure we can too.
[ http://nylevers.wordpress.com/ ]
8. For a zero-waste approach to resource recovery in our county: save money, create clean green jobs.
[join over 25 other Dutchess residents on board this-- at http://www.petitiononline.com/zeroyes ]
9. For cost-saving green roofs, rain gardens, wind turbines, composting toilets to be on county property.
[ http://www.GreenRoofs.com ; http://www.RainGardens.org ; http://bianys.com/node/418 ; http://www.petitiononline.com/goldpoop ; http://www.CompostingToilets.org ]
10. For solar panels on County Office Building/22 Market St./Poughkeepsie (then all county buildings).
[ http://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/mar08/030608.htm ; http://www.HVCE.com ]
11. For free energy audits of all county bldg.'s done by company like Johnson Controls, Honeywell, etc.
[ http://www.JohnsonControls.com ; http://www.Trane.com ; http://www.Honeywell.com ]
12. For chronic Lyme disease sufferers to no longer be jerked around by HMO's and insurance industry.
[ http://www.ILADS.org ; http://www.UnderOurSkin.com ; http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A02100 ]
13. For Dutchess to save on power costs w/Municipal Electricity Gas Alliance (like Putnam, Ulster, Sullivan, and over a dozen other counties).
[ http://www.MEGAEnergy.org ]
14. For saving 30% on lighting bills in county bldg.'s switching fixtures from T-12's to T-8's/metal halides.
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Replace-T8-Or-T12-Lights-With-New-Energy-Efficient-T5-Lighting&id=2117699
15. For new SuperLOOPer discount card at local stores and restaurants for frequent users of LOOP bus.
[ http://content.usatoday.com/topics/article/Tom+Malone/01Ur0if9hQ8Ic/1 ]
16. For Dutchess to hold Home Heating Summit re: home heating oil crisis (as in Ulster, Orange co.'s).
[ http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/September08/10/DC_hm_heat-10Sep08.html ]
17. For Dutchess ESAN "Recommendations for Stream/Flood Management in Dutchess" to be followed.
[ http://www.dutchessemc.org/ESANRecomendations.pdf ]
18. For Green Map added to county website: list farmer's markets/green resources (as in Westchester).
[ http://greenmap.westchestergov.com/ ; http://www.GreenMap.org ]
19. For bike rental program in Dutchess at no cost to taxpayers (as is already in Washington, D.C.).
[ http://www.SmartBikeDC.com ]
20. For bulk-rate discount sale to county residents of rain barrels/compost bins (similar to Lake Co./Ill.).
[ http://www.rainbarrelsandmore.com/lakecountypromotion.htm ; http://www.RainBarrels.org ]
21. For Dutchess County to be part of Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act to save open space.
[ http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=101&sh=story&story=23825 ]
22. For county's Health Department to publicly report on chloramines in public water supplies in county.
[ http://www.Chloramine.org ; http://www.VCE.org ]
23. For listing of restaurants using oils without trans fats to be on county's Health Department website.
[ http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/October08/13/DCL_transfats-13Oct08.html ]
24. Led Dem Caucus in County Legislature in questioning of county's Empire Zone and call for audit.
[ http://www.petitiononline.com/statewar ]
25. Initiated Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency taking back compact fluorescent light bulbs.
[ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/business/24recycling.html ]
26. Initiated increased purchase of cost-saving hybrid vehicles for county fleet
[ http://www.petitiononline.com/hybrids ]
27. Initiated 30% discount on defibrillators for local residents from GE Pickering (see website for more).
[ http://www.GEPickering.com ]
28. Initiated move for Family Justice Center for victims of domestic violence (similar to Orange County).
[ http://SafeHomesOrangeCounty.org/FJC.aspx ]
29. For a link to CarbonRally.com carbon cutting competition to be added to official Dutchess website.
[ http://www.CarbonRally.com ]
30. For an at-store plastic bag recycling law (like Suffolk, Nassau, Rockland, and Westchester counties).
[ http://www.petitiononline.com/recybag ]
31. For recycling plastics #3, #5, #7/recycling bins being placed next to all trash containers in county.
[ http://www.petitiononline.com/zeroyes ]
32. For particulate matter air pollution to be measured in Dutchess County as it was until 2002.
[ http://www.ALANY.org ]
33. For Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies recommend.'s air pollution/quality standards to be followed.
[ http://www.ecostudies.org/threats_from_above.html ]
34. For wetlands (even small ones) in county to be saved from being paved over by developers.
[ http://www.eany.org/capitolwatch/memos%202009/21_WetlandsProtection.pdf ]
35. For cost-saving "Green House Project" nursing home in county-- proven to make seniors happier.
[ http://www.TheGreenHouseProject.org ]
36. For NYSDEC & EPA Enviromapper websites to be added prominently to Dutchess County website.
[see http://www.ToxicsTargeting.com for info/link that should have been added to county website tho!]
37. For NYS Legislature to pass Cahill's A.2759/S.385: HMO's/insurance co.'s finally fully cover autism.
[ http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A2759 ]
38. For real relief for Dutchess Co. property taxpayers-- Omnibus Property Tax Relief and Reform Act.
[ http://www.OmnibusTaxSolution.org ]
39. For greatly expanding current circuitbreaker for school property taxes (bipartisan Little/Galef bill).
[ http://www.petitiononline.com/taxcut ]
40. For ending secret market manipulations on Wall Street causing higher gas/home heating oil prices.
[see http://www.StopOilSpeculators.com Enron loophole closed; "dark markets" speculation continues!]
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