44°
To the editor:
Recently, on May 12, former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos was sentenced to prison for multiple counts of public corruption, bribery, and conspiracy. The conviction of the 30-year state senator from Long Island casts a shadow upon our political process no New Yorker should be proud of.
For Hudson Valley residents, in particular, his legacy lives on. In 2014, he came to Dutchess County and hand-picked Sue Serino to run for the Senate. He called upon his New York City and Long Island real estate and charter school donors to fund her campaign. Not only did they do this, but they also paid for expensive attack ads against Sen. Terry Gipson that paved the way to her victory. To this day, Serino has yet to denounce the criminal Skelos, despite the audacity of his crimes, which are shocking.
The man was caught on a wiretap pledging support for tax breaks for wealthy New York City developers in exchange for campaign donations. He fought to protect fracking interests so his son Adam could get a no-show job from a fracking company. The list goes on ... Skelos’ legacy of selling out Hudson Valley residents to the highest bidder needs to be called out. In addition to that – we need legislators who will champion real reforms, like banning outside income, increased transparency, and ending corporate campaign finance loopholes that let special interests pour unlimited secret money into our political system.
Unfortunately, Serino has done neither of these things.
Christopher Rand
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