Editor, The Spotlight;
“For too long, the Legislature has prioritized political gamesmanship and fiefdoms over and above the people’s business.” — Jeffrey Kuhn, April 1.
This is an excerpt taken from a press release issued by former candidate for the Albany County Legislature, and current Chairman of the Bethlehem Democratic Committee, Jeff Kuhn, announcing a slate of “progressive” democrats for the Albany County Legislature. Mr. Kuhn, also in that press release, describes what he terms “the redistricting debacle” involving the county legislature.
This slate included 16-year incumbent Charles Dawson, who is seeking his fifth four-year term in the Legislature. Mr. Dawson has the ignominious record of not only casting his vote in support of the 2011 legislative lines, which were determined by the courts to have violated the federal Voting Rights Act, but also for voting in favor of legislative lines in 2002 that also prompted a federal Voting Rights Act lawsuit.
It is odd that Kuhn would endorse Charlie Dawson, when Dawson has such a lousy track record on the very issue emphatically raised in the press release; Kuhn suggests this as the sole issue to oust long term incumbents from the legislature.
Mr. Chairman Kuhn apparently thinks that Democrats in Albany County’s 35th Legislative District (the 35th district is located entirely within the town of Bethlehem’s borders) are disinterested in the voting record of our county representatives relating to the disenfranchisement of minority representation, and the resulting significant financial burden to tax payers stemming from unnecessary legal battles.
He’s wrong.
Bethlehem voters have watched carefully this drawn-out and costly spectacle, and will hold legislators with voting records like Charles Dawson’s accountable at the voting booth.
Sean Raleigh
Bethlehem
Editor’s Note: Raleigh has submitted a petition to run in the Democrat primary for the county Legislature seat in the 35th district.
