To the Editor:

I have always been both annoyed and fascinated by ants. They are able to overwhelm prey much larger than themselves and build elaborate ‘anthills’ to dwell in.

As a kid I used to step on the large anthills I would find on our property in an effort to destroy their home. However, to my surprise within a couple of days the ants had rebuilt the damage I had caused. Truly amazing creatures. What is it that makes them so amazing?

It’s that fact that they are masters at working together. One single ant is useless but when combined with many others they can do amazing things. Why am I writing about ants?

I think there is an analogy that could be made to politics, even at the local level. A recent editorial by Jason Clark continues the finger pointing blame game that seems to get St. Lawrence County absolutely nowhere. He states that it is Republicans fault the county has a dangerously low fund balance because they were in control in 2005 and 2006 and should have seen the housing crash coming.

First of all a bubble is hard to see while in it. If that weren’t the case we wouldn’t have market bubbles. I’m aware that some were warning of excesses in the housing market but that doesn’t necessarily mean a bubble. It could’ve meant that we would experience a period of time of low to no growth in the housing sector but we all know that’s not what happened.

New York was particularly hard hit by the collapse as a significant portion of tax revenue came from the now struggling banking industry. Clark’s reference that county legislators should have seen that coming ignores the fact that the states’ troubles spilled over to the local governments including our county.

Tax revenue to the state dropped significantly, pension assumptions were proved to be wrong causing the state to reduce payments to St. Lawrence County as well as require local governments to contribute significantly more toward retirement plans as the return assumptions were not adequate. The Comptroller of NYS at that time was a democrat.

If we follow Jason Clark’s logic shouldn’t he have seen the coming doom too and prepared for it? The fact is, like the rest of us he didn’t fully understand the severity of what was happening and as a result had to cut aid to local governments and increase required retirement plan contributions.

I say enough of this petty finger pointing. Our county faces some serious challenges that I think can only be solved by working together.

However, that is not what I am seeing in the current legislature. I was shocked and frankly embarrassed at how I witnessed our county legislators question department heads at a board meeting I attended. They showed no respect and it seemed as though these county employees were on trial. There was no spirit of working together. That has to stop, department heads and legislators need to work together. Like ants, we can accomplish great things when we work together and getting the county back to financial health will be a monumental task.

My name is Chad Colbert and I am running for Legislator for District 11. I want to work together to make great things happen. I would appreciate your vote on November 4th.

Chad Colbert

Candidate St. Lawrence County Legislator District 11