Terence P. Ward's Letter to the Editor April 24, 2013

The reason politics makes strange bedfellows is simple:  the issues are not black and white, and thoughtful people look deeper than the labels and work with the people that will get the best results.  That's precisely why I will be writing in Don Kerr and Rebecca Rotzler for New Paltz Village Board:  I support a single, efficient government for all of New Paltz, and I believe that these two candidates represent my best hopes of achieving just that.

These letters are always short, so for the sake of providing more than glib platitudes, I will focus on just one candidate, Don Kerr, and what value I believe he will bring to our community.

Consolidation is a big issue right now, and it's one that I have backed since before Elliot Spitzer's fall from grace.  The state will force us to make one from two eventually, either passively as Cuomo has or directly, so we need to decide if we want to create that government, or have it defined for us.  With all the information on the table, we can and will make a better government than anything Albany defines for us.

But all information isn't on the table, and for months our elected officials have engaged in a cycle of hiring consultants, forming committees, and chastising citizens who ask questions.  Anyone who asks pointed questions about the process or the result is defined as "anti-consolidation," as if we were choosing up kickball teams instead of deciding how we and our descendants govern ourselves was some kind of game to be won.

Politics isn't a game, and I take a dim view of my neighbors who are more interested in gaming the system than they are serving the community.

That brings me to Don Kerr.  He's been asking questions, and been rebuffed.  I'd rather see him in a position where it's hard not to give him answers, because his questions will lead to a consolidation process which is less driven by the egos of our current Gang of Ten, and more by actual data.  It's nice that the state is dangling money for us to throw at consultants and merge offices, but I want this plan to be fiscally sustainable and to make our lives simpler, and the only way to do that is to ask tough questions, and take the time to answer them fully.

And believe it or not, there's more going on than consolidation talk.  One of our biggest ones is a failing sewage system faced with increasing demand.  Politicians never say so directly, but heavy rainstorms result in your poop floating down our river.   No one claims to know how much New Paltz poop ends up in the Wallkill, but Riverkeeper's data suggests swimming there isn't a good idea.

Don Kerr's experience with water and sewer is unrivaled by anyone now serving on or running for the board.  When the poop hits the fan, I want Kerr at my back.