I support Vinny Tamagna to be the next mayor of Cold Spring. I read with interest about campaign finance and found that Vinny filed Form CF-05, which is the form for exemption from filing financial disclosure reports when the receipts or expenditures of the town or village candidate will not exceed $1,000 for the campaign, as required by the state Board of Elections (Missing Numbers, Oct. 8).
Vinny will be spending a modest amount of money compared to his opponent, who since June has raised, as of a disclosure report dated Oct. 7, $19,873.64 and spent $13,627.76. Vinny remains independent and puts the community first. This kind of campaign spending by his opponent is a huge waste of money for a village with under 2,000 residents and only 834 registered voters as of February.
Carol Powell, Cold Spring
Having been a resident of the village for more than a quarter of a century under the stewardship of four mayors, I am well aware that small-town politics can be fraught with factionalism and grandiose personalities. At no time was this more apparent than during the Roger Ailes era, which pitted neighbor against neighbor and created a huge schism within our village.
It was through the dedication and hard work of Mayor Dave Merandy and Trustees Marie Early and Fran Murphy that the schism has begun to close and our village move forward. I am deeply concerned that the Better Together team will in fact create fault lines along the closure.
There was a certain arrogance in holding the Better Together kickoff rally on a Saturday in April, without a permit, at the foot of Main Street, tying up traffic on the busiest day of the week. Is this a harbinger of how things will be done under Vinny Tamagna and company?
This arrogance was on full view in The Current forum on Oct. 13 with Trustee Kathleen Foley. Tamagna was pedantic without saying much and was not in control of the facts and frequently unfamiliar with the initiatives the current board has undertaken regarding village infrastructure. It struck me that Tamagna could only talk about community peripherally while grasping for credit; Foley had her finger on the pulse of the villagers who supply the lifeblood to our community and gave credit where it was due.
But this is no surprise. Foley’s long tenure with the Historical District Review Board and her work with Girl Scouts as well as other civic-minded endeavors prove that she has Cold Spring’s future at heart. This is a leader who knows how to bring community together and she has assembled a smart, hardworking team to stand with her. I’m standing behind Kathleen Foley, Eliza Starbuck and Tweeps Phillips Woods.
Rian Keating, Cold Spring
In a political ad, mayoral candidate Vinny Tamagna states he “partnered” with the Village of Cold Spring to assist in getting grants totaling almost $2 million. His efforts were limited to making a phone call to elected officials or making a last-minute public announcement. That is when he involved himself in the grant process. Making a last-minute phone call or issuing a press release after many officials have already completed the process is not “partnering.”
What is particularly disturbing to me is that Tamagna, by taking credit this way, diminishes the time, effort and hard work of those who were actually responsible for the grants: then-state senator (and future governor) George Pataki, state Sen. Vinnie Leibell; Assemblywoman Sue Kelly; County Executive Bob Bondi; and most especially, Mayor Anthony Phillips. They are the ones our residents owe a debt of gratitude to.
I am supporting Kathleen Foley for mayor, and one of the many reasons is because she won’t wait to make a last-minute phone call or public comment. Kathleen will be in the forefront of all solutions to the issues facing our wonderful village.
Bill Mazzuca, Cold Spring
Mazzuca is a former Philipstown supervisor.
Please forgive me, as I know it means revenue for a small local newspaper, but I found the Oct. 22 print edition of The Current downright obscene with the amount of begging for votes that Kathleen Foley spearheaded in the form of ads. Between interviews with the candidates and the political ads, large in number and size, advertising Foley for mayor, I think I will just wait for the three or four remaining pages of her autobiography in book form rather than cast a vote her way.
Gregory Bochow, Cold Spring
First off, let me say I am wishing the best for all the candidates this year. At this time I am endorsing Vinny Tamagna in his candidacy for mayor of the Village of Cold Spring, not because I agree with him, or even am likely to agree with him, on many issues, but because he shows the ability to behave in public in a civil manner.
Some may see this as a trivial point. Others may even think misbehavior is an asset, at times. It is neither. Proper civic behavior is a mark of maturity, stability, and fair play. And these are the characteristics I look for in a candidate for elective office.
Frank Haggerty, Cold Spring
