A vote for Capurso is a chance to hold county government more accountable

Editor:

It is increasingly rare that Orleans voters get an opportunity to hold incumbent County Legislators accountable.  Every voter in the County has such an opportunity this year as Al Capurso is challenging an incumbent golden boy.  That’s right; one out of seven has an opponent this November 7th.

Capurso’s opponent was all in on the sale of the County Nursing Home. Please indulge the sarcasm, but perhaps he didn’t realize that some of its residents are veterans. On top of everything else, selling it effectively raised legislator salaries by 40% as a consequence of a greatly reduced work load.

As I recall, Capurso’s opponent voted to give the District Attorney a new title (Manager of Public Safety) in 2010, along with a $10,000 pay raise. Six months into the job, the Sheriff and Undersheriff told me they didn’t even know the position existed!

Capurso’s opponent once voted to disapprove of proposed State legislation which would have increased the penalties for criminals injuring a law enforcement officer with a firearm during the commission of a crime. Did you have to re-read that one?  It might have helped had he read the proposed State law before voting to disapprove of it.

I believe—though I could be mistaken—that Capurso’s opponent voted to approve rifle hunting of deer in Orleans County during his current term. This issue is not the “no-brainer” a determined few would have you believe. Approximately 90% of the sportspersons I know oppose it!  It will further remove Orleans hunters from—and gradually reduce their familiarity with—the habitat necessary to support the resource they justifiably value. My guess is that Al understands the subtleties of the issue better than many, but I could be wrong.

But it really doesn’t matter what the public thinks, does it?

It appears some would handle the stone quarrying issue in Shelby by talking it to death. It really isn’t that complicated. The fact is that we are privileged to have a National Wildlife Refuge in a County with enormous environmental assets that we should take pains not to jeopardize. The President of the North American Bluebird Society told me in September that the only place he had ever seen a gallinule was in Costa Rica! He was dumbfounded when I told him I picked one up a half mile north of Route 31 last spring. Where does Al’s opponent stand on Frontier Stone’s proposed operation?

Oh, that’s right; he doesn’t have to say because he has an R beside his name.

Not for nothing, but Orleans County needs more Al Capursos, Paul Lauricellas, Joe Sidonios and Emil Smiths (may he rest in peace) to dare say what needs to be said.

Sincerely yours,

Gary Kent

Albion