To the Editor:
There are apparently no Democratic candidates in Berne this year and no current board members are Democrats. That is not by party design; it’s because of the very nasty and toxic environment created by the Berne GOP. I am accused of being a part of that problem by some.

In my defense, there was literally no town board transparency in the period I served, especially as the lone Democrat on the board. I felt it was my duty to be sure everyone knew what was going on behind the scenes.

Some thank me for being there and serving the town and in the next breath criticize me for creating the toxic atmosphere by calling out the actions of the GOP board members and highway superintendent. But some paid attention, understood my position and appreciated what I did.

I didn’t create the toxic environment; I was a victim of it. I was attacked repeatedly with false allegations in my state workplace by the superintendent of highways before I was even elected. For five years, I endured GOP “investigations” at the town, county, state, and federal levels all based on false allegations.  I endured numerous illegal “executive sessions” where I was harassed, intimidated, threatened, and ridiculed.

I was even accused of sexually harassing our current town supervisor and this was “investigated” at taxpayer expense. Mr. [Dennis] Palow claimed my use of the word “erection” in an email was an attempt to sexually harass him!  He said he had to look the word up? It is exactly the word used in the law I had cited, a law he admitted breaking in the same email (documentation included).

You simply cannot describe the things the Berne elected officials did in positive terms. I was dealing with some of the most dishonest, toxic people I have ever encountered. If accurately describing what they did is toxic — too bad! 

And I did what I thought was right for the town. As one example, I proved the highway department was not following work safety regulations. I was ignored. Then a vehicle ended up in the bottom of a deep excavation. There were no signs or barricades at the excavation itself (the actual work site) as required by vehicle and traffic law (documentation included).

So I made a motion for a request for proposals (RFP) that was approved by the board. It was to contract a professional engineering consultant for independent, objective, professional guidance to evaluate town operations regarding conformance with safety regulations.

In an official board motion to derail that board-approved proposal, Mr. Palow, current town supervisor, lied about the cost: He said it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars without even advertising for bids.

And he also lied that same night, claiming he had reached out to the Cornell Local Roads Program. He claimed this professional engineering organization had advised him that there were no problems with Berne highways.

It was clear by this language that he had not read the RFP document. At the next board meeting, he lied and claimed he never made those statements in the previous meeting! Because they were not true.

So, his motion eliminated board-approved professional, objective guidance for the highway department operations. A town employee then died because, according to state investigators, safety standards were ignored. Those are the facts. Too toxic? Too bad! He is perfectly comfortable lying about costs and lying about obtaining professional opinions to support his dangerous town board motions.

Nobody will vote out people when there is no transparency and they don’t know what is going on behind the scenes. Representation is not just about doing nice things or volunteering your time to improve the town; it’s a job.

As an elected representative it’s your responsibility to hold other elected representatives accountable for their actions. I volunteered hundreds of hours to this town for decades to help bring about big improvements.

I also did my job and held elected officials accountable for their behavior. But one voice was not enough.  The Democrats should have backed me up and officially made everyone aware of what their opposition was doing.

There are other reasons there are no Democratic candidates. It’s because nobody wants to be continually “investigated” and lied about in government social media posts by elected officials (where, as a victim, you are banned by them from posting any defense).

It’s because there is little or no support if you are unfortunate enough to “win” as a candidate. It’s because it doesn’t matter what the truth is, or what the facts are in Berne with a one-party system.

There are no Democratic candidates, and no Democratic board members because you cannot address the ridiculous town issues in Berne in a positive way. It is unpleasant work. But you absolutely have to talk about any nasty and dishonest behavior, honest mistakes, misdeeds — or whatever. This is because voters need to know what elected officials are doing to make good decisions. Politics 101.

Politics requires opposition to support democracy. Opposition politics is work. Democracy is dead in Berne and the Berne GOP very deliberately killed it while the Democrats stood by, held their tongues, and watched. If there are no choices this fall, I recommend nobody vote for any Berne candidates this year. 

Joel Willsey

Berne

Editor’s note: See related story.