To the Editor:
(Town of Sullivan, NY –Oct. 2014) I usually do not write letters to the editor; however, I feel that the candidacy of John Salka for the 121st Assembly District is important enough to do just that. I have the utmost respect for Bill Magee and appreciate everything he has done for Madison County, but there is a lot more to do to turn Albany around.
I have known John for all of the seven years he has been on the Madison County Board of Supervisors. He does not just go along to get along; he is thoughtful and diligent in his process when he comes to decision-making. Because of his position in the healthcare field and obvious leadership skills, when John was first elected to our board, he immediately was appointed to chair of the Public Health Committee.
John has proven time and time again that he can take the heat of rough politics and still make good decisions, always working with people to get things done.
We are at a crossroads right now in the 121st District. Do we stay with a known quantity that votes Republican but erases that voting record clean by supporting a downstater who leads the Assembly and leads the assault on your gun rights, state mandates, and who doesn’t have a clue on how bad the upstate economy is?
I would like all of you to think about that question. Make no mistake: at the Hamilton forum Thursday night, the quote was made that in returning the incumbent to office, you will get ‘more of the same.’
We cannot survive more of the same.
Albany plays a constant shell game with your money. One example people repeat often is, “I thought that the lottery money was going to schools.”
Well, folks, it does, but if $10 from the lottery goes into funding education, $10 is cut from the general fund allocation to same. There is a wash, simply replacing the source.
At the county, 100 percent of your property tax collected goes directly for mandated services. That should not be called a county property tax, but a state property tax.
Around the year 2000, the state Comptroller said the state pension fund had so much money in it that anyone with 10 years of service in tier three or four would not have to pay in anymore. In that same timeframe, the county’s contribution for fewer employees than in year 2000 went from $45,000 to $5 million of your hard-earned money annually today.
The Board of Supervisors has tried to get out of the system, but the state would not let us out.
Because the state cannot afford to.
New York state outspends – by far – more on Medicaid than anyone else in the nation. Do these things sound like something you want more of the same?
We live in a beautiful state, the Empire State. I have always been proud of that slogan; however, we will never get back to that former status unless we are willing to truly sit down and understand the issues before we vote and are willing to send to Albany leaders who go along with the whitewashing of scandal and play shell games with your tax dollars.
You choose: the path we know because the past was good at some point in history and the shell game makes us all feel good? Or the path where understanding the problems we face in the 121st District is the first step in resolving them instead of sweeping them under the rug for a few pieces of Silver?
I am supporting the Republican candidate John Salka for New York State Assembly because of his passion for the job and his in-depth knowledge of our issues locally.
John Becker, Sullivan