Thursday, April 17, 2008
Berardi Drops Bid For Executive
Bill Berardi, today, dropped his short bid for Ulster County Executive. I like Bill and I think he could be a great asset to Ulster County but he is not a politician. And, that's a good thing. I hope Berardi will stay involved and take a look at Mr. Hein's candidacy and join a team that is ready to move Ulster forward. I think the two of them have a lot in common and at the end of the day the same goal : To make Ulster County the best place to live, work and to raise a family.
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10 comments:
Jeremy:
You say that Bill Berardi is not a politician as if that's a bad thing. I think that is exactly what Kingston and Ulster County need-a leader/public servant who places the needs of the citizens and taxpayers before his/her own and the desires of his/her political party.
I have never met Bill Berardi, but his comments regarding issues around Kingston are right on the mark and indicative of a well-educated person who is not afraid to stand up for WHAT is right, not WHO is right. Wouldn't it be nice to have a local government by the people, of the people (not politicians), and for the people?
Dave Donaldson and Susan Zimet should take notice as they could learn a lot from Mr. Berardi about selfless service and dedication to the community.
Yes to the above. There are a few people in my family who are blog-addicts and they have always been telling me to read Bill Berardi on this or that.
He does show a great deal of insight, common sense and smarts about community affairs.
Thank you for that Bill and please stay involved...smitty
I agree with Mr. Mack that it is a good thing to bring in new blood rather than sticking to career politicians. I think Mr. Hein has the support of some people who's judgement I trust. That would be diminshed by any socially conservative leanings. The prior party affiliation is not a problem though. Please clarify if Mr. Hein is currently "clinging" to right-wing dinosaurs.
Mr. Berardi dropped out of the race because he saw the process as closed. I doubt that he is a big fan of Mr. Hein or the nominating process. Only Kingston, Marlborough, Saugerties and Marbletown responded to his request to meet with Democratic town committees.
He noted in a letter to the Lincoln Eagle "I read recently that the Committees in Esopus and Hurley endorsed our current County Administrator Michael Hein. I also understand that our current Sheriff endorsed Mr. Hein.(This seems to me like using taxpayer money to buy endorsements but I guess in politics you take what comes your way.)
Hurley and Esopus didn't even give Mr. Berardi the courtesy of an interview. Politics as ususal.
9:28 The facts are that Hein is the best person for the job.
This shows thst this process is not open to "outsiders". Taking nothing away from Hein, how can these committees endorse him before they even give the other candidates the opportunity to speak to them. Weeks ago Mr. Berardi formally asked for time of each committee to give a presentation. Many of the committees never responded to him. Ask yourself is this an open process? If not, then why not? Why would they not even give him the opportunity to speak. I also noticed he did not get an opportunity to speak at the Dem womens forum. Did he even get invited? How can these committee people be representing the interests of their fellow democrats by simply endorsing the first person threw the door because they liked what he said. This committee is becoming full of agendas and I for one am very turned off by the fact that they seem to be forcing an inside candidate down our throats by not even giving the other candidates an opportunity to give a presentation. I am not a Zimte fan, but shouldn't she get the benefit of coming in to say her piece. Sounds like the fix is in.
Greetings Jeremy,
Contrary to what 9:58 AM implied Bill Berardi was invited to our Annual meeting last Monday. We tracked down his office number and called. I asked the assistant for his email address, sent him the invitation, and we spoke. His schedule did not permit his attending at all -- he is a CPA and the party was for Tax Day eve.
However, when we spoke he said that he was NOT an officially announced Democratic candidate for County Exec, yet. Only Hugh Reynolds had announced his name, in the newspaper, where I saw it. He was still planning visits with Town Committees to share his ideas and listen, to DECIDE if he would seek the Dem nomination.
We invited every officially declared Democratic candidate for those two offices we could learn of. (We also invited Maurice Hinchey and Eliott Auerbach, who both sent messages, and Kevin Cahill.)
Ulster County Democratic Women is scheduling Democratic Candidates' fora for the County Executive and for the Comptroller candidates. All Democrats who have officially announced their candidacy will be included. These will be well-publicized to Democrats and open to the public so all the Democratic candidates can be seen and heard together, in a fair and neutral setting, before any Democratic convention.
At our regular Monday, May 12 UCDW meeting we will discuss the Charter, duties of the two top offices and the transition.
I hope that we can all approach this process in a fair and deliberative fashion that will educate voters and foster genuine good will for our eventual Democratic nominee.
Warm reagrds,
Julie McQuain, President
Ulster County Democratic Women
www.UCDW.org
Thanks for everyone's kind words and interest in our Government - you know of the people, for the people, by the people - it's our responsibility.
To set the record straight...or if my press release (if room permitted)was posted in it's entirety said that my inquiries were responded to by Marlboro, Marbletown, City of Kingston, Saugerties and the Ulster County Democratic Women's reception.
How much you wanna bet that the process became more closed since the Sennett-Bradley debacle last Fall?
I'd say if you put money on that--you'd most likely win that bet. Fear motivates more than anything else, especially in politics. The only thing we have to fear is the silly cronies themselves.
I had to ask myself what Montesoori, as good as the idea and funds may be, have to do with the opening of the Kirkland--and what does James Childs saying a prayer to open the certainly secular remarks bring to anything--especially when the entire room hushed in silence, as if to say, well, we are just tolerating this T.B.(and MOST of us know what that might stand for). I am only sorry I was perusing the upstairs and not appearing in Mr. Blaber's fine photos of the ribbon cutting ceremony after an exasperatingly long speechmaking process with extra mutual bloviation.
And guess what--it doesn't mean Berardi can't run as an independent either. After all, isn't THAT the supposed main IDEA behind the county exec office, and what better way to inaugurate same than with that sort of bid, especially if the Dems continue this apparent blacklisting or at least closure of the process before it starts?
Finally, I apologize for my "run-on sentences". I say the only things we have to fear are run-on sentences themselves!!
Beradi may be playing possum - can't he still get signatures and force a primary?
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