Monday, December 17, 2012

Brawl at the Hillside?!

Rumor has it former Sheriff candidate Kevin Costello and Ulster Legislator Jim Maloney both had a lot to drink recently at the Hillside Manor and got into a huge fight that allegedly turned into a World Wrestling Federation style argument with chairs being thrown around and both had to be asked to leave by the owner. No word on who won but my money would be on Costello.

I would of loved to be a fly on the wall to see both those heavyweights going at it. Allegedly Maloney before he left pleaded with the owner for a slice of cheese cake.

Any who, we have a real treat for all of you guys, we were able to get a still shot of the argument at the Hillside. After we do some checking on it's authenticity, we will put it up!

Wizard of Quigs Endorses The Shake Weight

After a long town board meeting, I need to relax, shake of the likes of Councilman Morrow, Gadfly Robert Barton and that pesky Bill Kimble. That's why the Wizard of Quigs proudly uses the Shake Weight. It fits easily in my left palm and I give it a few jerks to the left and a few jerks to the right and after a few minutes all my stress and tension is released. It also is good at working off all those cookies I eat, I'm the Wizard of Quigs for cripes sake, I have to look good!  I don't want to end up looking like the guy behind my curtain. The Wizard of Quigs highly recomeds the Shake Weight this holiday season.

Quigley to Tap Kitchen as Dep Sup?



 Looks like the father and son team are close to reuniting, we hear on good authority that Supervisor Jim Quigley plans on tapping Councilman Eric Kitchen as Deputy Supervisor to shore up his support. Councilwoman Chris whatever her last name is this week, and John Morrow are on the same page, so with Morrow's planned run for supervisor, Quigley needs Councilman Kitchen for his vote and for his support. It's funny how politics makes strange bedfellows because we hear that Quigley thinks Kitchen is an idiot and Kitchen thinks Quigley is a arrogant jerk. They both may have a point.  On second look, maybe this duo will work!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Wizard of Quigs shorts Out During Town Hall Meeting



For those of you who have not been to an Ulster town board meeting recently, this is an actual snapshot of last months meeting to adopt the 2013 budget. However, three seconds after this picture was taken, the board meeting had to come to an abrupt recess after Jim "behind the curtin" Maloney, spilled grape soda and McDonald's secret sauce on the keyboard, shorting out The Wizard of Quigs. 

Good news is The Wizard of Quigs made a full recovery about five minutes later, blamed his predecessor for the malfunction and the meeting was able to continue. During the recess Legislator Maloney was able to regroup with  a strategy session at Friendly's, Maloney felt so bad about shorting out the Wizard of Quigs that he wolfed down three Jim Dandys. Legislator Maloney confirmed this saying " well you know, the Wizard of Quigs' first name is Jim and I was eating a Jim Dandy. It makes me feel closer to the Wizard of Quigs when we're not together."  Maloney also wanted it to reflect for the record that he ate those three Jim Dandy's  in only three minutes. ''As the assessor of the town I know that if I only used three minutes and was given five, I have four minutes to spare. I want to donate those minutes back to the taxpayers in the town of Ulster said Maloney proudly, they deserve those minutes back.  Any who, the Wizard of Quigs short out seems to be water under the bridge and for now all is well again in the Wizard of Quigs' town of Ulster.


We are also pleased to report that the Wizard of Quigs has agreed to appear on this blog as he did today to provide us with regular news updates and product endorsements . Stay tuned to see the Wizard of Quigs later this week with a very important update for our readers.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Open Thread

Who knew Mike Spada's man boobs would attract us such a large audience. Our numbers have spiked significantly. We welcome you! As we look to expand our lampooning of truth mixed with a little bit of satire. Here is an open thread, what's going on in Ulster politics?! Whatya hearing? We wanna know the dirty little details. Leave them in our comments section.
NOT SO FAST QUIGGY!!!



Before Supervisor Quig's sister was his confidential secretary (who he proposed a 15% raise for in this yrs budget) she was none other than Mike Spada's book keeper. Maybe the Supervisor's secretary can give some insight on some of the RRA alleged shenanigans?? What a tangled web we weave...

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Comptroller DiNapoli's Damning Report on RRA


Daily Freeman Story  w report

“The agency awarded a contract for the hauling of waste to landfills to a vendor who was paid $388,515 during the audit period (but) who did not meet the requirements set forth in the bidding documents,” the audit report stated. “As a result, there is no assurance that goods and services are procured in the most prudent and economical manner, that goods and services of desired quality are being acquired at the lowest possible price and that procurement decisions are not influenced by favoritism, extravagance, fraud and corruption.”

The auditors said the agency board was aware the vendor identified as Spada’s “did not possess the required experience, qualifications and insurance coverage” but still approved the contract. The auditors also said the vendor had not obtained required workers’ compensation insurance.

“By awarding this contract to an unqualified vendor, the agency hindered competition by excluding other trucking companies with experience, qualifications, and necessary equipment,” the auditors wrote.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Quigs' Hypocricy


Note: Mr. Maloney please do not lick the screen, hun.



When Jim Quigley was running for Supervisor against Nick Woerner, part of the whisper campaign against Woerner was nepotism. The fact that Woerner employed his Aunt as his secretary became a campaign issue that Quigley used as a reason for change in Ulster. What did Quigley do when he got elected Supervisor? He appointed his sister to the job. If that's not hypocritical enough in his 2012 budget that was just approved, he gave his sister a Maloney size raise of a whopping 15%.

But after skimming through the budget a bit, this new position really takes the cake as far as Quigs' hypocrisy. A new budget director at a 21k salary has been approved. Are you kidding me? Why does Jim Quigley, the former CFO of a billion dollar company and self proclaimed watchdog need a budget officer? This is the guy that ran on being able to be a financial wizard in the town. What happened to the buck stops here? Guess that was shot down, no pun intended.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Supervisor Quigs Cutting off his Nuts to Spite his Face




Earlier this year we reported the story that our highfaluting Supervisor, Jim Quigley, was considering a run for state senate in the newly created 46th senate seat, rumor was that Dean Skelos and the state GOP leadership put a quick stop to it, their hand picked candidate George Amadore was going to be the Republican nominee and they told Quigley they would do whatever they had to, to make his life hell if he ran. And by rumor, we mean anyone that follows local politics even a little bit knows that's pretty much how it went down. Quigley put his tail between his legs and ran off, deciding not to run. 
Well this past Tuesday was election day and while there are absentees yet to be counted, it looks like George Amadore will lose to Cecilia Tkaczyk, in large part because of the absolute beating Amadore took in Ulster county. You can bet right now Jim Quigley is pretty pissed he pussied out of running because while he probably would not of won Ulster County, he would of been very competitive. This is not to inflate Quigs' head. He would of done better in Ulster County because he has run county wide and is known better here. Tkaczyk ran an extremly negative campaign which worked, specifically in Ulster county. Why? Pretty simple, it's a new senate seat, and the negative ads by Tkaczyk against Amadore, where really the first glimpse folks got of this guy. In essence, while the ads largly distorted Amadore's record, they became fact to many new voters unfamiliar with George Amadore. Amadore did not respond to these ads, which really was a big mistake on his part. 
Jim Quigley may have also hesitated from running because this is the four year anniversary of his first electoral run, where he was defeated by a slim margin in a huge Democratic year,  If not for Obama on the ballot in 2008, he may very well have become County Comptroller.  There is an even bigger reason why running for the senate was too much of a risk for Quigley. You see Quigs'  running for any office where the numbers of the race present a risk that he would lose (we hear he'll examine them to a science), would be too much of a risk for Quigley. Jim Quigley has a big ego and low self esteem, a bad combo for a politician to say the least, which is why, I never take it too seriously when I hear Quigs' name thrown around for higher office. Quigs puts his name out as a possible candidate, just so people will talk about him and stroke his ego. 

Sure he wants to run and has wet dreams of being Ulster County Exec but Quigley wont take the risk of losing, he desperately needs to present to the public this image of him being a political power player and lets face it he's got a long way to go. He got elected in a 2:1 Republican town and has not had a serious challenge since his 09' victory.  If Quigley wants to be the gop power player, he's got to play like one and take a risk, give up the Supervisor's gig and run for a real office. As scary as it sounds, had Quigley primaried Amadore and won, he probably would of become our Senator, sticking it to now soon to be former NYS Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos in the process.  Ah, Quigs, what could have been.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

A Few of Jim Maloney's Favorite Things



What is it with Ulster town officials and their cookies? But hey it could be worse, some former town officials were into the actual scouts!

I hear his Ulster Jeep doubles as a grave yard for old big mac boxes

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Taggard Pleads Guilty





Former Town of Ulster Police Chief Matt Taggard plead guilty to a deal that will save him from going to jail. In a plea bargain Taggard plead guilty to official misconduct, that while involved in the boy scouts, Taggard failed to report sex crimes against underage victims.
 
First before going any further, I think we should first congratulate our new Police Chief Tony Cruise who has officially been named as permanent Chief of Police. It took some pride swallowing (and thankfully that's all this time) but Quigley did the right thing and stopped the b.s. and appointed Cruise.  For those that forget, Quig's gave the personal committee, who originally unanimously recommended Cruise to be appointed a hard time. Councilman Eric Kitchen said that he felt he was getting lectured like a child who stole a cookie, by Quigley at the time. (See below on how Quigley feels about his cookies)  Quigley backed off and did the right thing, good for him.
 
Now getting back to Quigley's little boy scout Matt Taggard, it will be interesting to see how Quigley is effected by this scandal. Matt Taggard was Quigley's inside guy during his election for Supervisor in 2009 and Quigley appointed Taggard Chief of police OVER Deputy Chief Sinagra. Despite Sinagra having superior credentials. Also despite rumors about Taggard's personal indiscretions all over town. Quigley admits he knew about the rumors. Bottom line Supervisor Jim Quigley exercised extremely poor judgement on this matter. I can see some interesting mailers if Quigs decides to run for reelection next year.

Sad State in Ulster





Last week we talked about the fact that in last year's town of Ulster budget Supervisor Quigley was cited by Ulster County Comptroller Elliott Auerbach's office for not including the safety net costs in his 2011 budget. Well rumor is Auerbach is now 2-0 against Quig's, because we hear EA's office was correct and that County Exec Mike Hein will indeed charge the town of Ulster for the safety net costs from last year in 2012, which presents more bad news for the Ulster Supervisor, who released his budget last week with a whooping 9% increase. These safety net costs will be on top of that increase! ROTLMAO just thinking how Quigley got himself into this mess. I mean this is Jim Quigley the financial wizard, you know '' James E. Quigley the third, The Buck Stops Here!"  More like Supervisor Quigs trying to pass the buck and his shortcoming on to the backs of us taxpayers. So no I am not rotlmao, or loling, Im sad by the fact next year, just like almost every other year, the town of Ulster will our raise taxes and decrease services. Sad face indeed!! :(

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Supervisor Quigley Set to Jack Taxes By 9.3 %...AGAIN






Town of Quigley Supervisor Jim Quigley (well at least he thinks that's the name of the town) has proposed another near double digit tax hike..since taking office, the Republican, Conservative has raised taxes almost every year, some in the double digits. The tax hikes are always someone elses fault.  For his first term, he blamed them on the former Supervisor, than he decided to blame it on the safety net costs. How about taking some responsibility Mr. Quigley? After all he is the Supervisor and will tell anyone who will listen what a great CPA he is and financial wizard. 

However, my fellow residents of Ulster quickly realized while we had to get rid of Woerner, Quigley sold us a bill of goods and failed to deliver on his promises. To the Ulster Supervisor it seems he is more concerned about advancing his political career than running our town. The rumor is he wants to run for County Executive in two years, he's gunna have an uphill battle, because unlike Quigley, Hein has made the difficult choices and actually lowered our taxes.


Maybe it's time that Mr. Quigley think outside of the box ad start lowering some expenses. When Quigley took office, he slashed the salary from Supervisor from 45 thou, to about 27 thousand. In the current budget he has raised his salary back to 45 thousand. Mr. Malloney who is the town assesor has a town cell phone and a nice take home vehicle, I think its a brand new Jeep, rumor is that he is requred to use a Jeep becasue the shocks hold up his signifigant weight. Not sure which is more bloated Maloney or Quigley's budget.


Why for example did the Supervisor's clerk need a raise of more than 15%.. especially when I beleive the Supervisor's clerk is Quigley's sister. NEPOTISM at it's finest.

We also have to wonder if Quigley put the safety net costs in this years budget, unlike last year which resulted in the town facing more embarrassment when the County Comptroller's office issued a report citing the town of Ulster as breaking the law by omitting them.

Fially, Quigley is exceeding the 2% tax cap that is in effect. Gov Cuomo's tax cap is there for a reason, to provide NY residents with real property tax relief. Overriding the cap is really irresponsiable of any town leader, it reaks of smuggess and arrogance on the part of Quigley.

Town resident Dan Barton said it best at a recent town board meeting:


“I do not think that there should be any override of any tax increase (cap),” said town resident Robert Barton. “We’re being taxed to death. ... The continuing increase for all levels of taxation has gotten out of hand.”

Not often, I would agree with malcontent Barton but in this case, well said Mr. Barton, well said.



Monday, October 8, 2012

Supervisor Quigley's Disappointment





Having to come to the realization that Chief Taggard would not be coming back as police chief, after he was charged with alleged misconduct, took some time for Supervisor Quigley to swallow (again, no pun intended).  It also took a lot of pressure from his fellow gop Councilmen for Quigs to pull the trigger. A full month passed after Taggard's suspension and Quigley finally conceded  in an interview with the Freeman that he was prepared to ask Taggard to resign as Chief of Police. However, Quigley's stubbornness on the issue, his failure to put his personal friendship with the Chief aside hurt him with his town board and with town residents. Some of those residents have nicknamed Quigley, Supervisor Peterno, in response to his handling of the matter. So I guess it should come as no surprise that the appointment of a new permanent Chief to replace Taggard has turned into a circus.


Lt. Athoney Cruise who was appointed acting Chief, and was the ranking officer in charge at the time of Taggard's suspension, was recommended to receive a permanent appointment as it's new Chief by the Town's personal committee. This did not sit well with Supervisor Quigley because the personal committee, which is made up of ELECTED TOWN BOARD MEMBERS,  actually had a opinion. You see in the town of Quigley, I'm sorry, I mean the town of Ulster, board members are not allowed to have an opinion. That is politics 101 in the Jim Quigley school of Government, just ask star pupil Kelly Myers. It got so volitial that town board member Eric Kitchen descrbed it this way:

 Councilman Eric Kitchen said Quigley was unfairly reprimanding board members for recommending the next chief be selected from within the town department.

“This is a democracy,” Kitchen said to the supervisor. “You have your opinion, I have my opinion. We can all agree to disagree, but I can’t feel like a child who’s being yelled at by his father (for) stealing a cookie out of the cookie jar.”

This is ot the first time Supervisor Quigley has decided to dish out some of his fatherly advice, click below;

Fatherly Advice Quigley style!!!

 To be fair, Supervisor Quigley loves his afternoon cookie..or two, or three or sometimes four. Come to think of it by the looks of it so does Supervisor Myers, is that what Quigley teaches in politics 102?  It's Wednesday, Kelly does that mean  you reach for a choclate chip or a nutterbutter?  My guess is both but I digress.

Currently, Lt. Cruise is still the officer in charge but there still has not been a formal vote to make him Chief and everyday another name pops up for the job. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Nicky Woerner tries to get the job, or at the very least a spot in Quigley's government cookie class ( we hear he's a fig nutton type guy).  However, Lt. Cruise has picked up some important support from former Chief Watska who endorsed him to be Ulster's permanent top cop. This also rubbed Quigs the wrong way because it is in violation of  the Quigley School of politics 103, that states department heads and especially former department heads should be seen and not heard, in response to the Watska endorsement, Supervisor Quigley had this to say to the Freeman:


Supervisor James Quigley said Watzka should have encouraged the Town Board to follow established policy when appointing the next chief instead of making a public endorsement among candidates.

 “The letter is very disappointing from a person who led this department in a distinguished manner, who came in at a point and time when this department needed leadership, provided that leadership and organization, and now he’s advocating that we ignore the processes that were put in place under his leadership,” Quigley said.


There are a lot of things Quigley can describe as disappointing and they are all staring him right in the face. However, Watzka's letter should not be one of them.










Tuesday, August 7, 2012

BORED IN ULSTER

The staff at Ulster Insider is reallly bored with the political season this year. Town races are not up this year and the Gibson/Schreibman race is nothing that we are really excited about. We expect Gibson to win in a landslide.

Speaking of Congress, our own Congressman Maurice Hinchey was given a very prestigious award from the Woodstock film festival-- Our Congressman was honored with the spirit of Woodstock award for his life long advocacy of the arts.


On a county level we hear Mike Hein had a very successful birthday party, while our staff were unable to attend we hear about 250 people were there. 

Our Assemblyman Kevin Cahill is running unopposed, the staff at Ulster Politics are a little disappointed with Cahill. What happened to the guy in 98 that was full of life and boundless energy, now Kev is just content to be an Assemblyman and it disappoints us. C'mon Kevin, where is the fire? 





Monday, August 6, 2012

Sup. Quigs to DA






"District attorneys have their own way of prosecuting cases," he said. "Some prosecute in the newspapers; some prosecute in court."

ouch!! Temper Temper Supervisor Paterno, do you see your hopes of being Executive fading??? Rumor has it Quigs is telling anyone who will listen he may end up in front of a grand jury answering questions, well I sure hope the District Attorney does not read the Record! Gadzooookss!!!

Supervisor Quigley or Supervisor Paterno?




Supervisor Jim Quigley is in a politically pickle, pardon our pun,  over what he did or did not know when he appointed disgraced Police Chief Taggard  shortly after taking office in 2010. Taggard was recently placed on PAID leave by the Ulster Town Board after being arrested by state police on charges of official misconduct. While the charges allege that Taggard did not report abuse that he had knowledge of, there are rumors that much more serious charges may be coming down the road. Sources tell Ulster Insider that Taggard was charged quickly with the minor misconduct charge to get him out as Chief. Getting people to speak out against a sitting Chief can be very intimidating.

Taggard who was Quigley's inside man during his 09 race for town Supervisor was rewarded handsomely by Quigs, Taggard was appointed Chief after Chief Watzka was forced out. Taggard was also promoted over than Deputy Chief Sinagra who was much more qualified. Many Ulster police officers retired after Taggard's appointment. Rumors of Taggard's questionable relationships were well known throughout town for years, while nothing was ever proven you have to question why someone like Quigley with high political asperations would appoint this guy as his Chief of Police.

 As stated earlier, Taggard remains on paid leave. From what we have been told the votes to bring Taggard up on former charges by the town (which is required to take him off of a paid leave) are there but Supervisor Quigley aka Supervisor Paterno wont have any of it.


Why Mr. Supervisor? The people deserve to know!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Quigley to Dep. Chief Sinagra: No Health Care For You!

Details still emerging but we were appalled that Supervisor Jim Quigley has chosen to deny health care for former Deputy Chief Sinagra. We know of the Quigley/ Sinagra feud but we hope that our esteemed Supervisor would not deny a town officer that protected his and my community his health care.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Ulster Comptroller's Office: Supervisor Quigs Stop Breaking the Law


 Thankfully the buck does not Stop w Mr. Quigley!

 Freeman Story

Ulster Deputy Comptroller lambasted Supervisor Jim Quigley for breaking the law as it relates to properly reporting social service figures. Supervisor Quigley who tells people at board meetings "he has the County under control", apparently does not have the control of  the People's Watch Dog Elliott Auerbach, who beat Quigley in 2008 to get the job.


“We feel that you have misled your constituents in presenting a budget without accounting for a known, non-discretionary expense and recommend you take action to correct the budget immediately,”

-Joe Eriole, Ulster County Deputy Comptroller

Quigley claims that he is paying for costs in a different way that the county does not like. Mr. Quigley has a history of doing things his way, (Unless Senator Skelos calls, then he is more like the puppy a few posts down, Quigs and gop attack puppy Kenny Ronk like to go on walks together according to several Ulster Report sources.) just ask him about the additional title he gave to Maloney, until the state told him it was, what's that word I am looking for? Oh right, Illegal! ..more details on that this week.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

NYS GOP TO QUIGLEY: DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!




The staff at The Ulster Report heard that Supervisor James Quigley wants to run in the newly created state Senate district that has our town in an open seat. However when Supervisor Quigley made inquires with top GOP brass he was swiftly shot down and told that he would be buried if he ran for the seat. Seems the GOP has other plans for our Senate seat and it does not involve our esteemed Supervisor's ambitious political career. Can you say: Asemblyman Amador? I guess there are still things money can't buy.

ROTLMAO


Alen Sorenson on hydrofraking and try not to laugh, Potential conflicts of interests. Surly you jest, Mr. Sorensen!

The staff at The Ulster Report literally feel off our chairs when Allen Sorensen suggested that the Sullivan County ethics policy be updated to avoid a potential conflict of interest regarding Hydrofraking. Mr. Sorensen who appears to be against Hydrofraking, needs to be consistent and agree to a full environmental review of Ulster Garden's North and he needs to recuse himself from the project. The town of Ulster Planning Board is the lead agency on this project; between the conflict Sorensen may have with Mandelbaum, and the fact the town insurance guy is the newly minted head of the planning board there is at the very least an appearance of a conflict and special favors with Ulster Gardens.

With Alan DeForrest and Allen Sorensen being in charge of this project; Ulster Supervisor Jim Quigley should appoint Micheal Vick as the new Dog officer of our town.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Ulster Report Trivia




The staff at the Ulster Report are big fans of trivia so here is a trivia question we would like you are viewers to answer, the prize will be transparency in government of course.


What former Assemblyman's brother is the town of Ulster's Insurance consultant?

Bonus Question: What former Assemblyman and current Chairman of the Ulster Planning Board was just awarded the Insurance contract for the town of Ulster?


And to make it fun: Who would you rather : Jim Quigley, Chaz Buno or life long abstinence?

Leave your answers in our comment section. Happy trails.

What Say You Quigley's Shill??


The staff at Ulster Report have tried unsuccessfully to post a comment on the blog: Ulster is your town too, which is run by Joe Toscano who is good friends with Supervisor Quigley.

We just had a few questions for him.

1. Why did you put up a post against the Ulster Gardens project and than take it down almost immediately with a glowing endorsement of the project? Was it because you got a call from Supervisor Quigley?

DID THE CALL SOUND ANYTHING LIKE THIS:  Quigley Voicemail as found on Youtube..note you can now play this masterpiece anytime by clicking our "In the News Section"

2. Knowing what we know now about Mandelbaum and his special ways he finds to get around our NYS elections laws, do you still think it's right to rush this project?

3. As a fellow town resident that claims to love the town do you agree that Supervisor Quigley should ask for a full environmental assessment of the project to make sure our town is protected? After all what is the harm????

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Supervisor Quigley Fires Animal Control Officer


I'm Sorry Supervisor Quigley - Rover


“I was employed by the town and I did what I was told,” she said. “I never made a decision to euthanize any of these dogs and 600 dogs have passed through my hands since 2002. Though (2010) the total that were euthanized was 11 on 600 dogs and all of a sudden in 2011 ... the town made the decision to euthanize 5 dogs.”

Quigley said he could not dispute the procedural steps taken by Trnka when determining to have dogs euthanized.

 The staff at the Ulster Report are very upset for Rover (above) who has no home and no one to take care of him as he wanders RT. 9W looking for something to eat.  Rover wants Supervisor Quigs to know how sorry he is for not being a purebred like all of the Supervisor's dogs.

Furthermore, Rover represents a bigger problem in the town, if you are like Rover and not in the in crowd with the supervisor, you may be left out in the cold begging like poor Rover and his buddy Animal Control Officer Susan Trnka who last week ws fired by the Supervisor.


We hear Officer Trnka's record was impeccable, and we wonder the Supervisor's real motives for removing her from her position. What say you?

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Does Town of Ulster Planner Have Ties to Ulster Gardens Developer?


 Town of Ulster Planner Alan Sorensen, who serves as the Minority Leader of the Sullivan County Legislature, received a $500 contribution in June of 2011 from MJJ,LLC. Is that Mandelbaum? To be honest, we are not sure and are not making any accusations but being we do know that Mr. Mandelbaum has several different companies and uses similar names as the corporate contribution below "MJJ", we feel it's appropriate that we ask the question: Has the town planner ever taken a political contribution from Mr. Mandelbaum? If he has than there is a very clear conflict of interest. Lets not forget that the planning board (which we have already talked about that fiasco) is the lead agency on Ulster Gardens, not the town itself.



Y 12779 250.00 22-JUN-07 FRIENDS TO ELECT ALAN SORENSEN 2007 July Periodic B County Legislator 9
MJJ, LLC
P.O. BOX 688
NEW HAMPTON, NY 10958
500.00 17-JUN-11 FRIENDS TO ELECT ALAN SORENSEN 2011 July Periodic B County Legislator 9


December 10, 2011 DEVELOPER MANDELBAUM PLANS 50 MILLION DOLLAR PROJECT IN SULLIVAN COUNTY RECORD..Click to read story.


Again, we do not know that Mr. Madelbaum made the above contribution, or if the two are connected. We are just asking the questions

Ulster Gardens Developer : "Nothing to be Ashamed of"


 (Excerpts from record story below. Click link below (Record online Mandelbaum for full story)

Business with government

You know what else they have in common?
They do business with various levels of government — and they say they're not looking for favors.

"There's no secret and I have nothing to be ashamed of.

-Jonah Mandelbaum


Supervisor Quigley just say no!

Supervisor Quigley please protect our town and say no to Developer Jonah Mandelbaum until more questions have been answered about this guys track record and until a full environmental study can be completed. I don't know bout you but this just sounds like it smells! JONAH MANDELBAUM AND HIS 57 ASSOCIATES HAVE KEPT THE PEOPLE OF NYS IN THE DARK THROUGH LOOP HOLES IN OUR STATE'S CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS, DON'T LET HIM DO THIS TO THE TOWN OF ULSTER. WE RE NOT FOR SALE!!!!!!!


RECORD ONLINE MANDELBAUM ONE OF NYS'S WEALTHIEST DONORS

"They need money to pay the bills, to get name recognition, to get TV spots to educate the voters about your position. It (getting elected) is about the money," says Taylor, a registered Republican, who also gives to Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-Hurley), John Hall (D-Dover Plains) and state Sen. Bill Larkin (R-Cornwall-on-Hudson) — and wants Republican Orange County to have a bigger say in Democrat Cuomo's administration. "What we do is within the law. But ethically and morally, is it right? It's not good. It's not pretty. But that's what it is."

It's also difficult for the average person to find out just how much a donor is giving.
For instance, Mandelbaum — or his businesses — donates under several names, including Jonah Mandelbaum, JDM Holding, MJJ Building of Orange County, and 57 Associates. His wife, Donna Applegate, also gives, as could her companies.

Donors get around the limits

If you try to track the donations, you'll find that, since 2009, Mandelbaum gave $62,900 in his name to the campaigns of candidates like Gov. David Paterson and Orange County Legislator Melissa Bonacic, daughter of the state senator. But if you search with his wife's name, you'll find that she gave $12,500 to Cuomo. And if you use an address they both use, you'll find another business, Devon Management, gave $5,000 to John Bonacic. That kind of perfectly legal giving from different entities allows you to avoid the $150,000 donation per person limit, or the $5,000 corporate limit.

So does this:
You don't just give to a candidate. You can give to political action committees and to legislative party committees, which are controlled by legislative leaders. This encourages loyalty to party leaders, who then control votes.

"If you know what you're doing, you can give as much as you want to anyone you want," says Horner of the system that already allows you to give more to legislators than to congressmen or senators. "It's a deliberate effort to keep people in the dark."

Thursday, January 26, 2012

What Effect Will Ulster Gardens Really Have on Our Town?


 Developer Jonah Mandelbaum faced a tough crowd at the public hearing of his project Ulster Gardens (aka Roundout Gardens North), this past week from neighbors that expressed very serious concerns about the impact that this project would have on the quality of life in the town. Issues of traffic were brought up, as well as the large size of the project.

Lets not forget we are talking 164 units, 50+ of those units are "affordable housing",  the staff at The Ulster Report is very concerned at the way this is being rushed through. It's being rushed through with strong support from Supervisor Quigs who got testy at the public hearing from neighbors voicing their concerns and from what we hear there may be video (stay tuned).

 When Rupco built Woodstock Commons, the town of Woodstock had Rupco complete an F.E.I.S., which stands for : Final Environmental Impact statement.

An F.E.I.S. is pretty much a tool for decision making. It's a document that will describe the positive and negative environmental effects of what is being proposed (the proposed action being Ulster Gardens) and is an essential resource for the planning board  to be able to look at to determine how the quality of life or quality of the human environment will be effected.

We feel it is really important that the town ask Mr.Mandelbaum to complete that study.  There is so many unanswered questions to a lot of  serious issues that could have potentially devastating effects on our residents and the local environment.  Besides the endangered species that could exist on that site like the Indiana bat and certain turtles; there was a draft E.I.S. done in Sept. 2006 that said the proposed site is considered highly sensitive for containing Native American era archaeological deposits. It also should be noted that Woodstock Commons (which was required to complete the study) is about half the size of what is being proposed for Roundout Gardens North.

There is no down side to having this done, it can only benefit the town and it's residents. We are not against development but why not have the best information possible so an informed decision can be made in the best interest of the town and our residents. What say you Mr. Supervisor?

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Chairman Budziak out as Planning Chair; Town Insurance Agent Allen DeForrest In




Chairman Reno Budziak has resigned as Chairman of the town of Ulster Planning board. Rumor has it Budziak resigned after a dispute with Supervisor Jim Quigley regarding the Ulster Garden development, or as we like to call it Roundout Gardens North, that has been proposed in the town of Ulster.

So who is the new Chairman? None other than Allan DeForrest who was appointed to replace Budziak by Supervisor Quigley.

Fellow town of Ulster residents may hear bells go off in their head when they read that name. That's because Mr. DeForrest also carries the town's insurance. Can someone say CONFLICT OF INTEREST???

What we have now in place thanks to Supervisor Transparency, is a planning board Chairman who is essentially beholden to the Supervisor and put in a tough position. Is Mr. DeForrest required to look in what is in the best interest of the town and it's needs or the Supervisor who awarded him an insurance contract?


Lets say for argument sake and this figure could be wrong, that Mr. DeForrest gets a $30,000 commission for being the agent responsiable for the town's insurance, is he going to risk losing that money by coming out and saying anything negative about Roundout Gardens North, a development that Quigley clearly is advocating for, as was evident at the public hearing last night?  I think not, or at the very least there is the appearance of impropriety and that is an issue for Quigs who ran on being fair and transparent.

If it walks like a Supervisor that's being sneaky and quacks like a Supervisor who's being sneaky, more than likely we as residents of the town have a supervisor that is sneaky and really ballsy.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Supervisor Quigley's Taj Mahol?


 Is Quigley trying to build a new town hall similar to his old NYC digs?


When your Jim Quigley and you get 51 votes for County Executive your head starts to swell even bigger than it normally is flaccid. Yes, we are still talking about the head that sits on Supervisor Quigley's shoulders, didn't mean to make anyone feel ill.

Supervisor Quigley who wants nothing more than to be accepted as a player in Ulster County politics, giving up a multi-million dollar job so he could have his ego stroked on a daily basis as Ulster town Supervisor. However, Quigley is finding that's not enough anymore. In our opinion he hates doing the job as Supervisor, as he has told many people and we feel to Quigley it's all about Quigley.

So what to do? Build a new town hall for yourself, of course! Rumors are running wild that a new town hall is going to be built. We have already heard the excuses of mold but as Newt Gingrich would say lets cut the baloney Jim. In our humble opinion, the current modest town hall offices just do not fit with what Mr. Quigley is accustom to.

Quigley went from working in a lavish NYC building right in the heart of Manhattan, with everything at his fingertips to having to listen to Mr. Barton's crazy rants at town board meetings and having to look at Jason Casenza every morning. Will the new town hall be like his old office in the city? A huge skyscraper with a private entrance for the Supervisor, he can have his own little Taj Mahal on our dime. Maybe the Donald Trump wannabe will add some casino games at the new town hall: Jim Quigley presents blackjack, might be a way to pay for this unnecessary expense.

We do not need a new town hall so that Supervisor Quigley can feel important, a new town hall will almost certianly raise taxes more than the double digit increase we already got from Quigley.  The hypocraisy of Mr. Quigley is what really gets us, when this guy ran he came out against having a nice community center for the seniors in the town but it's ok for him to build a new town hall for himself..hmm, a little selfish if you ask me.

Why again is it Dems gave this guy a free ride?

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Quigley Embraces Low Income Housing Development?


 Quigley's Vision for Ulster's Future?

Daily Freeman Story- http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2011/12/25/news/doc4ef64f14aefcd054166972.txt

Town Supervisor Jim Quigley seems like he is rolling out the welcome mat for a housing developer that wants to build mix housing of about 164 units. 112 of those units will be senior housing, the remainder will be "family" housing.

Is Supervisor Jim Quigley trying to bring more low income housing into Ulster?  As a town resident, I sure hope not. Ulster Gardens, the name of the proposed housing site sorta sounds a lot like Roundout Gardens, which is a not so great "family housing" development in the City of Kingston.

We as residents of Ulster must hold the Supervisor and town board accountable and also make sure the out of town developer Jonah Mandelbaum, who has no ties to our community is not given a fancy pilot or tax break, after the double digit tax increase Supervisor Quigley gave us we simply can't afford it!

A public hearing has been scheduled on January 12th at town hall AT 7pm