Letters to the Editor - The Millerton News - 2-17-22

Amenia Strong candidate doesn’t have a leg to stand on

In James Vitiello’s response to your two-part article on his and the other Amenia Strong (AS) candidates’ failure to comply with state’s campaign finance laws, he tries to distract attention from his violations by making vague allegations of wrongdoing on the part of his opponents. He wrongly attributes to them a mailer that said it was not paid for by any candidate and claims incorrectly that such mailings are “patently illegal.” Here, he shows a lack of knowledge of the rules and concern for learning them.

The rules allow anyone to spend money in support or opposition of candidates provided they don’t coordinate their spending with the candidates and clearly state on any literature that the expenditures were not made by a candidate (which Mr. Vitiello admits the literature he saw stated).

It also requires that an Independent Expenditure Committee be filed with the New York State Board of Elections (NYSBOE) and disclosure reports filed. In the case of the literature Vitiello wrongly connects with his ballot opponents, an Independent Committee was registered with the BOE and it filed the required disclosures listing its donors and expenditures.

So, what we have is Vitiello once again throwing mud at his former opponents when he admits he is the one who broke the law.

He may think his failure to disclose who his donors were is “relatively benign,” but he denied Amenia voters the opportunity to see who was paying for his campaign. The individuals he claims did something illegal in fact complied with the law, unlike him, and disclosed their donors, which can be found on the NYSBOE website, www.elections.ny.gov.

Also, the BOE recently changed the rules to allow for fines up to $15,000. I leave it to your readers to decide whether fines that large would be levied against something “benign.”

Vitiello should file his required disclosures so the voters can see who was really behind Amenia Strong.

Councilman Brad Rebillard (AS), also remains out of compliance according to the BOE website. Let’s hope he takes his responsibilities on the Town Board more seriously.

Kenneth Monteiro

Town Councilman Leo Blackman’s 2021 campaign treasurer

Wassaic

If only taxes were regulated like cannabis

Recently, I read The Millerton News’ coverage of cannabis possession and sale legality.  The Village of Millerton voted “yes to cannabis.” The Town of North East (in which the village is located) voted “no.” The State of New York has voted “yes.”

All of the positions are under the federal government’s vote of “no” to legal sale and possession, making such action in the U.S. still a crime.

How is it that different governmental jurisdictions can pass conflicting legislation?

Too bad we can’t choose to apply this practice to the Internal Revenue regulations.

Just a thought.

Barry Fenstermacher

North East

Ukraine — Russia

Now, here is a simple idea:

A non-aggression pact or non-aggression treaty between Ukraine and Russia, which is acknowledged by NATO or by the individual NATO countries.

The devil is always in the details, but this could be the road to addressing Russia’s security fears and avoiding a NATO commitment never to admit Ukraine.

G. A. Mudge

Sharon, Conn.