ON CROTON DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE BRIAN PUGH & ELECTIONS MOVED TO NOVEMBER, IN THEIR OWN WORDS

The following letter was published in last week's Gazette:

ON CROTON DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE BRIAN PUGH & ELECTIONS MOVED TO NOVEMBER, IN THEIR OWN WORDS

To the Editor:

Candidate Brian Pugh is very proud of the effort he made in 2011 to move village elections from March to November.  In fact, this “accomplishment” seems to be the cornerstone of his current candidacy for village trustee.  In letters to the paper, in paid political advertising and on the Croton Dems candidates’ website, the Dems relentlessly tout Pugh’s referendum as an important reason to vote for him.

Candidate Pugh also ballyhooed this “accomplishment” last year during his unsuccessful run for Town board.  This apparently stuck in the craw of the current leader of the Town Democrats (who is also the former chair of the Croton Dems), who took to the pages of this newspaper to lambaste Mr. Pugh for misrepresenting the impact of this work.  On Mr. Pugh’s claim to have saved Croton taxpayers money, the Dems’ former party leader had this to say: “Proponents of moving the elections from March to November said it would save taxpayers money.  In truth it will not save anything.  The cost just got shifted to your county tax bill.”  

Even worse, the former party leader revealed the true motivation behind Mr. Pugh’s campaign to move the elections.  Mr. Pugh may publicly say that this initiative “increased voter turnout and encouraged democracy,” but, according to the former party leader, privately Mr. Pugh bragged that a very “important factor” in supporting this change, and in fact “the real purpose behind the election day shift” was to “make it hard for anyone other than a Democrat to win an election in Croton.”

The Cortlandt Dems current leader (and former Croton Dems’ party leader) didn’t support candidate Pugh for election to the town board because he felt that Pugh’s efforts to change the date of village elections was nothing but a selfish attempt to promote Pugh’s own political aspirations, because Pugh’s “only interest is in winning elections.” 

Now the Dems expect us accept the misinformation and political chicanery of Mr. Pugh’s “accomplishment” as an endorsement of his “qualifications”.  If all he has to recommend him is that he led a misleading and selfish campaign to disenfranchise village voters, that doesn’t say a lot.  Or perhaps that says it all.

ROBERT WINTERMEIER