To the editor;

I find it amusing that Jason Clark, a man who was never elected to his legislative seat but was put there by the democrat party boss, and a man who has served less than a year on the Board, has set himself up as the person with the background, knowledge and expertise to define the finances and operations of the County, to the public. He has sent forth several lengthy epistles and promises to further educate the public on the financial condition of the County, albeit with a distorted vision of what he sees.

This self-appointed financial expert is the same man, who at one of last month’s committee meetings, suggested the Board should include in its 2015 budget, millions of dollars from a land claims settlement with the Mohawk Tribe. He forgot that the Board had not yet formally passed its resolution to approve the general terms of the agreement and that the agreement has not yet been “agreed to” by the other involved entities, they being Franklin County, the Mohawk Tribe, New York State and last but not least, the United States Congress.

It is not bad enough Mr. Clark wants to spend what little money we already have but now he wants to spend money years in advance of the county receiving it. He and all of the other Democrats present at this past Mondays board meeting, voted down a republican offered resolution that would have insured and locked in a commitment that seized and forfeited monies would be used to pay for the renovations to and relocation of of the district attorney’s offices, estimated cost $175,000 tax dollars. He also continues to falsely claim that the county’s credit rating was “upgraded” even after he has been corrected several times. It is this complete lack of critical thinking that has gotten the County into the financial situation it is in.

Decisions to pick up costs for worker’s comp for all firemen and rescue squad in the county ($200,000-$300,000 per year), to fix a bridge in a legislator’s home district just before an election even though it is not the County’s bridge ($250,000), with another perfectly adequate county owned bridge a quarter mile away, the results of which will be the county highway departments inability to accomplish badly needed work on county owned structures or to have to contract with private business to get the work accomplished; to give money, ($10,000) in excess of what was needed, to a fishing tournament in the Board Chair’s hometown when a State Senator has just contributed ($10,000) to that need; to spend County money ($7,000) on new transformers for the fair because the legislator representing that district organizes the fair and the chair of the finance committee sits on the fair board; to pay over ($60,000 per year) on a lobbyist to represent the interests of the County in Albany, even though we have three elected Senators and four elected Assembly persons who are our elected lobbyists, are all examples of how we chip away at any fund balance the County could have. Make no mistake, the fund balance increased because of the influx of over a million dollars of unbudgeted Indian compact gaming funds, not through anything this legislature did.

Added to the mix are the months of scheming by several democrats to consider spending up to ($750,000), recently reduced to $175,000, to rearrange and renovate office space when we continue facing fiscal distress, raising the salaries of assistant District Attorneys in spite of pending contract negotiations with employee bargaining units and a 2% tax cap.

The public needs to be aware of and scrutinize the ways that tax payer money is wasted on pet projects, giveaways and the lack of consideration given to the consequences of one’s actions and ask if a person who is part of the group that is wasting their money is the one they want to put the “spin” on the state of the County and its finances and continue to sit as a county legislator.

There is an alternative to this wasteful spending and lack of financial common sense and responsibility------ replace those who are responsible for doing so. There is someone in District 12 who will be responsible, will tell you the truth and will watch out for your hard earned tax dollars --- John Burke. If you are happy with the way that your county government is being managed by the current democrat majority, then by all means vote for Jason Clark and the Democrat party candidates. If you believe a change is in order and others will be better stewards of your money then vote for the well qualified candidates running for seats on the county legislature on the Republican, Conservative and Independence ballot lines. You will see a change.

Joe Lightfoot, District 3 Legislator (Canton, Morristown, Oswegatchie)