Letter to the Editor

Dennis Leahy and his ticket

By William Lobb, Montgomery
Posted 10/16/19

You don’t need to look to Congress or Pennsylvania Ave., in Washington, to see this government is broken. You don’t need to look farther than Bracken Road, Montgomery.

Our town is in …

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Letter to the Editor

Dennis Leahy and his ticket

Posted

You don’t need to look to Congress or Pennsylvania Ave., in Washington, to see this government is broken. You don’t need to look farther than Bracken Road, Montgomery.

Our town is in serious trouble. We are being run by special interests and their lawyers, not by the people the taxpayers elected to represent us.

I decided I needed to understand the people I’d consider giving my vote for Town Supervisor.

Brian Maher was never a consideration. I was a Republican for 40 years. I hear he’s not a bad guy, but I left that party and all it now represents in 2012. Montgomery needs a sea-change.

I didn’t like Rod Winchell at all when we started our dialog. He is running as an independent and he has rejected much of what the local Republican Party has come to represent. After talking, openly, on a variety of subjects, I changed my opinion of him.

Mr. Winchell cares about our town and has witnessed, as have I, the sad fact that our government has failed us.

I disagree with him on his position on these monstrous warehouses—14 now—and that we can’t do much of anything but sit back and ride this mess out—and try to protect the town from lawsuits. That’s a little too fatalistic for me. I think his ‘promise’ of a 5 million dollar sewage treatment plant—long before any of the rest of us had even heard of the Medline project—was a mistake. I admire Rod’s desire and work to not raise taxes, but there is a fine line between refusing to raise taxes, and allowing infrastructure to collapse. I was seriously considering voting for Rod. I respect Mr. Winchell, but I can’t vote for him.

I met Dennis Leahy in a 2 1/2 hour, face to face sit down, a few weeks ago. Dennis is rightfully proud of his tenure as mayor of Maybrook. He spoke of his early struggles during the recession of the past decade. He spoke of how the village managed during those tough times, and his plan for the future of Maybrook, he showed me the designs for the village. I was impressed by the detail of the plan and the work and thought that has gone into it. Not just pictures of a pretty Main Street, but funding and zoning. Zoning and design that worked for the good of all. I thought about how badly our town needs a plan for sound, balanced economic development that fits into the texture of our town.

He talked about the realities of necessities like sewage treatment, and the cost of replacing the villages old and failing waste water infrastructure. He spoke realistically about funding that project—things like sewage treatment cost money, that money comes from taxes, there are ways to manage costs and taxes. I was impressed with his knowledge of methods to manage and mitigate costs. Dennis is a moderate, as am I. We spoke of, what I see, as the need for a big win to take back control of the town board. Dennis explained to me that in his role as mayor he’s learned to work across party lines. He told me we need a board that works together—Republicans and Democrats—for the good of the town and tax payers—not special interests. I agree with him on this.

Dennis Leahy has a plan, and an intimate understanding of the challenges we face in Montgomery. I have a gut feeling he will represent us and work for us. I know I am going to fully support Dennis and his ticket on Election Day. I encourage you, for the life of this town we all love, to do the same. We are not ready to roll over be run by outside interests. Neither is Dennis and his ticket.