Provide reaction to Putnam County tourist bureau controversy

Behind The Story

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Gunder is a freelance video journalist.

4 replies on “Main Street Merchants Respond (Video)”

  1. Profiting two ways for basically the same job has shady written in capital letters. If an investigation can show these are really no-show jobs then the taxpayers should be reimbursed and she should face jail time. The same investigation could identify enablers or possible co-conspirators who should also be held accountable. White-collar crimes need to have the same results as any other crimes. And perpetrators need to fear and expect real consequences. You would think people who want “take our country back” would find this a no-brainer.

  2. As someone who’s been a political activist most of my life as well as having a small business on Main Street, I can tell you that the only way we merchants are ever going to get “taxpayer justice” is if we get together once in awhile (organize) to share our concerns and put together a united front to go after the politicians and their cronies who are screwing us. Sadly, it has been my experience that my colleagues are woefully ignorant of the hard facts about how local politics works and/or most are reluctant to get involved. Also, most people, including ordinary citizens, do not understand the role of Government in their lives to begin with, or that we actually are SUPPOSED to get something in return for the monstrous taxes we pay to live here. What a concept!

    Please don’t get me wrong- I am not for one second excusing the behavior of the Putnam GOP Cabal that is running our county and having such an effect on our livelihoods. What I am recommending is that the merchants and business owners must become more pro-active if they hope to change things and bring Cold Spring the financial support it so desperately needs and deserves as Putnam’s premier tourist destination.

    Unless we can demonstrate some clout, these public “servants” will continue to walk all over us. If you doubt what I’m saying, just wait a couple of weeks and see what happens as a result of all the “scandals” that are being revealed. See if anything changes, if the tourism website gets fixed, if we get our advertising money, if any of the people involved even bother to RESPOND to our concerns. You must understand that for the Ruling Class, those who belong to The Club, we are just the “little people.” Honestly, in my experience in dealing with them, we are just not that important.

    If you want to change that attitude, it will require hard work and persistence. On the other hand, maybe there are those who feel that it’s not that much money or not worth the effort. If that’s the case, then things will never change and we will continue to lose out on the financial support that is rightfully due to the Village stakeholders.

  3. One other thing I’d like to add for those of you who are sending me emails and comments that I’m running a vendetta against the GOP. Please be aware that I am a lifetime registered Republican (you can check the County records) and an “equal opportunity” would-be reformer who will call out governmental wrong doing regardless of which party is guilty. I have zero loyalty to the GOP, Putnam or otherwise, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I’d lose my right to vote in the primaries, I would change my registration to an independent, aka a “blank.” Even with that, things have gotten so bad that I may just do it anyway.

  4. Would some news source please find out and publish the facts about Libby Paraki’s several (six?) months of leave from her two tourism positions — net pay $120,000 a year — and clarify if she continued to collect this windfall while being absent from both jobs while helping her husband’s stab at running for the Republican presidential nomination? If so, Ms. Pataki needs to refund $60,000 to Putnam taxpayers and those who funded the nonprofit because no money should have been paid for two no-show jobs.

    Also, what happened to Mary Ellen Odell? When did she abandon the Tea Party mantra of the best government is less government? Once she got into office, she paid back all those who helped elect her with government-paid jobs. We saw faithful supporters receive titles and good pay: Vincent Tamagna was suddenly a transportation expert, Bruce Walker became a government administrator and the county exec needed an administrative staff with two new secretaries/publicity liaisons and a personal bodyguard/chauffeur. I grant you it’s a party, but it ain’t no tea party. Dear editor, while you are at it, please give taxpayers the the complete bill for Odell’s repeated redecoration of her third-floor offices in the newly completed Putnam Government Center. Even the drapes from Mr. Bondi had to be replaced.

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