Hirschey is wasting taxpayers' money ~ Letter

Watertown Daily Times Hirschey is wasting taxpayers' money
THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010


I was shocked when I saw the recent ad by the anti-wind coalition. In this ad, the coalition compares windmills placed in the windiest sections of New York to the attack on Pearl Harbor, in which more than 2,400 American soldiers lost their lives. Coalition members are comparing their disappointment that cocktails on their summer home patios won't be the same anymore to the murder of 2,400-plus Americans on Dec. 7, 1941. This ad is incredibly disrespectful and Cape Vincent Town Council member Brooks Bragdon should be ashamed to be a member of this coalition.

Cape town Supervisor Urban Hirschey recently had an audit done for the town's finances because he and the Cape anti-wind group had themselves convinced that former Supervisor Tom Rienbeck and others on the town board were corrupt.

What did Urban's auditor find? Nothing. Urban assumed the audit would take two weeks, but because Supervisor Rienbeck's accounting was so accurate and thorough, the auditor was done in a day. Will Urban make taxpayers pay for this frivolous audit?

Urban's anti-wind group already wasted thousands of our tax money in their 2007 frivolous lawsuit against the town. Of course, they lost that lawsuit.


Just recently, Urban's anti-wind group almost dragged us into another frivolous lawsuit against town board members, but they realized they'd lose this lawsuit too, so they withdrew it last week. The chairman of Urban's anti-wind group, John Byrne, said they withdrew the lawsuit because after the November '09 election "the make-up of the board had changed."

If this is the real, reason, why did the anti-wind group file the lawsuit in January 2010 and schedule a court appearance in February 2010?

Urban has also already squandered the allotted money for the supervisor's cell phone by buying an expensive phone with all the bells and whistles. He still has 10 months of expensive monthly payments for coverage. Will Urban make taxpayers pay for this wasteful spending?

Last month, Urban was expected to compete an annual financial report to the state comptroller, but Urban didn't want to do the report and didn't even want to learn how to do it. So he hired Mr. Rienbeck and paid him $2,000 to do it for him. Is this $2,000 coming out of the town budget?

So how does the minority that elected Urban feel about his leadership now?

Cory White

Cape Vincent