Alan Kula's Odd View Of Free Speech

It seems that the Pieman has returned to the Burma Shave type signs that he previously used in 2004 when OCEAN supported Bonnie Kraham in Monroe for the State Assembly.

What are Burma Shave signs?

They look like this:

Great poetry it ain't, but it does seem like a pretty straight forward sentiment. 

Yeah, so?

Well, a fellow named Alan Kula has a problem with it.

Here's what he posted on Facebook:

Anyone in touch with someone from the Town Clerks office in Woodbury? On Ridge Road heading toward RT105 someone put up small signs sending some sort of message that makes no sense. Unless these were approved by the Clerk's office I would like them removed first thing Monday.

I will be calling.

so?

Well, first of all, does it really make no sense to suggest that you should know the facts before you vote?

But more to the point, let's say that Alan Kula honestly can't get his mind around that.

Why does that mean that the signs should be removed?

Is there a new Kula test for free speech?

If Kula doesn't understand, then you don't get to say it?

Mistreating Ralph

The Uncle has been accused of being just a Caruso bashing site.  

How unfair!

We bash so many others as well.

Actually there is a different site that appears to go out of its way to create the impression that Ralph is a lying megalomaniac.  

I'm not recommending them, they're filled with rumors and out right lies.  

But if you're going to accuse us of painting a terrible picture of Ralph, you should see who's really doing that.

For What It's Worth

The Uncle's new blog (this one) has passed 15,000 page views.

That's either 15,000 different people reading it once

or one terribly lonely and bored person reading it 15,000 times

or some mix in between.

What should that mean to you?

Not much, I guess.

Ordered To Volunteer?

So, now that Caruso's own district (the folks who know him best, perhaps?) have voted him off the Republican Committee, which sitting member of that happy group will Ralph order to resign so that Don (the Ankle Biter) Siebold can appoint Ralph to the vacancy?

Switching Gears

With the primary done and almost two months until the election, the Uncle is switching from sprint mode to marathon.

The posts will keep coming, 'though not necessarily on a daily basis.

But, whatever the pace, keep your eyes on the prize.

If you're interested, this might be a good time to catch up on previous posts.

To read other posts by Uncle Betty click here.

The Invisibles

In November the Republican line will carry six names for the Town and Village Boards.

Town Supervisor - Ralph Caruso, Town Council - Lyn Prestia and Tim Arone.

Mayor- Mike Queenan, Village Trustees - Tim Egan and Tom Flood.

The thing is, Ralph Caruso only wants Lyn and himself on that line.

He's running four other candidates on the Perverse Woodbury ticket for the other seats.

He very much wants Queenan, Arone, Egan and Flood to lose.

So...

It will be quite interesting to see what signs the Republican Committee will put up.

Who appears on their website.

Who is mentioned in their ads.

Stay tuned, this is going to get interesting.

To read other posts by Uncle Betty click here.

We All Remember

Caruso: “I've always depended on the blindness of strangers”

Tim Arone is on his way.  Ralph Caruso Isn't.

In the Republican Primary for Town Council Tim pulled in 284 votes.

The second nomination went to Lyn Prestia with 253 votes.

Doc Cooper finished out of the running with 220 votes.

This puts a major crimp in Ralph Caruso's plan to take over a majority of the Town Board.

Now he's got to hope that Cooper, still running on the Woodbury Perversion line, can win, despite having been rejected by a large number of Republicans.  

But the cherry on top was Caruso getting kicked off the Republican Committee.

The Republicans of Ralph's own district, the people who know him best, voted to replace him with Arone and Queenan.

Didn't Caruso learn the lesson from last year's election?

The only way he can win is if he runs unopposed.

Ralph had hedged his bets by running no one in District 9,  so now he can have Don Siebold appoint him to a vacant seat.

Now, Ralph has to tell one of the current Committee members to take a hike so Don can appoint Ralph to that seat.

That's got to be embarrassing. 

"Hey Donny, I got locked out, lemme in!"

But here's what you have to keep in mind.

Taking over the Town Board would have been nice for Ralph, but the real prize is the Village Board.

And now he's seen that people who know who he is and what he's doing don't want to vote for him and his puppets.

So he is going to have to rely on those Woodbury voters who have no idea who he is and what he does.

People who have no idea that Ralph's number one puppet in the November election is Tommy Burke, who is on the Democratic line.

Our job will be to convince those voters to take the time and make the effort to learn what's going on.

To read other posts by Uncle Betty click here.

Trump Explains

The Pieman reports that The Donald The Trump has released the following:

When I talked about Fiorina's face, I wasn't talking about her face. Only a perverted Mexican rapist would think that I was talking about her face. I was talking about her PMS.

The networks all called me to apologize for misquoting me.

Fiorina called me and apologized for her face.

I love women, I cherish them. They all tell me I'd make a wonderful woman. I'd be the best woman.

I'd be so much better looking than Bruce Jenner. I have super models calling me, telling me I'd be beautiful. And my breasts would be so much better. They'd be yooge, yooooge!

Arone or Stay Home

If you're planning to vote for Tim Arone, what are you waiting for?

Get up.

Get Dressed.

Go to the Polls.

If you're running late, skip getting dressed.

If you're not voting for Tim, it's a great day to sleep in.

bullet voting

Bullet voting, voting for a single candidate despite having the option to choose two or more, can be a very powerful tool.

For example, voting in the Republican Primary for only Tim Arone doubles the power of your vote, and that ain't gechate lebe*, to coin a phrase.

If you happen to agree with the Uncle's choices in the Republican Primary (and, since you are all very smart people, I must assume that you do agree) than the most powerful way to vote would be:

For the Town Board Tim Arone and neither Prestia nor Cooper (both Caruso choices).

And for the Republican Committee

    Only Carol Herb in District 1.

    Only Tracy Maggio in District 3.

    Both Tim Arone and Mike Queenan in District 5 (we are lucky enough to have two good people running there and if they both win then Ralph Caruso will lose his seat on his own committee).

    Only Cliff Ader in District 6.

and

    Only Tom Flood in District 7.

If these folks win Tim can continue to keep Ralph from grabbing unlimited power and maybe the Republican Committee will start having announced meetings open to the public.

You gotta hope.

*chopped liver

To read other posts by Uncle Betty click here.

Meanwhile, Over In Monroe

Tonight (Tuesday, 9/8) at 7 PM the Monroe Town Board will vote on KJ's two annexation petitions.

The Board will be meeting in KJ at the Bais Rachel Paradise Banquet Hall ( 5 Israel Zupnick Drive).

All are welcome.

Let's hope they have a really good air conditioning system.

A little More Specific Please

After the previous post, Anonymous (catchy name, that) commented:
From what I've read, this is a Ralph Caruso and allies bashing site. Yes, it's a blog and subject to opinions, but I caution readers to beware -- not everything you read or hear is true. Some of the people doing the bashing haven't even lived in town long enough to know what's really going on. Do your homework and get both sides of the story, something this blog does not give you. Vote based on facts, not on what your friend, Facebook, Uncle Betty or anyone else tells you. Be informed!

Dear Anonymous #1 (Lord, I wish you folks would make up names for yourselves), four things:

1. "not everything you read or hear is true" 

Would you be a little more specific?  If you think something is incorrect, point it out. Otherwise, you're not really saying anything.

2."Some of the people doing the bashing haven't even lived in town long enough to know what's really going on." 

Since everyone seems to prefer anonymity, I have no idea if that's true or not. But then again, neither do you. What do you base that on?

3."get both sides of the story, something this blog does not give you" 

While the Uncle has a definite point of view, the comment section is here to present opposing views and facts. As yet, you haven't presented either, merely vague aspersions. 

Say whatever you want here. Make your case. Be specific. Everything, except baseless accusations of felonies (the Uncle would prefer to avoid lawsuits), will be left up for all to read.

By the way, none of Ralph's websites (Republican Committee, Committee for the Perversion of Woodbury) seem to allow comments.  

4. "Vote based on facts" 

Precisely what the Uncle has been saying. There are a hell of a lot facts up here, which of them do you dispute? Did Caruso run anyone against Burke? Did Manny run anyone against Caruso? Were there invisible candidates we somehow overlooked? Come up with your facts!

To read other posts by Uncle Betty click here

The Single Most Important Point

The most important point to understand about Woodbury politics is that we don't have political parties.

At least not in the conventional sense where there are Republicans and Democrats putting forward opposing candidates and positions with smaller, independent parties representing other views.

What we have, instead,  are candidates who are controlled by Ralph Caruso and those who aren't.

And there are people wearing all different party labels in each of these camps.

As noted before, The Republican Party, the Conservative Party and the Preservation Party are directly controlled By Ralph and the Democratic Committee is controlled by a union of Ralph's puppets and Manny Mangual's puppets (which is to say, Ralph's puppets once removed).

So who stands against Caruso?

Honest members of both major parties and honest independents.

For the Village Board there are Republicans Michael Queenan, Tom Flood and Tim Egan.

For the Town Board there are Democrats David Sutz and Michael Essig and Republican Tim Arone.

The largest problem may be those people who don't know the truth about Woodbury and will just vote their party's slate.

Let your neighbors know the facts.

Vote the candidate, not the party!

To read other posts by Uncle Betty click here

21st Century Supervisor Timeline

There are some points the Uncle is going to make repeatedly in the run-up to the election in November.

First, there is a reason that Woodbury politics seem so confusing. 

Confusion is one Ralph Caruso's favorite tools.

If transparency would unmask Ralph's unending quest for total power in Woodbury, then he's going to muddy the water.

Second, Ralph controls the town's Republican Party, Conservative Party and the Woodbury Perversion Party, and, through Manny Mangual, he holds sway over the Democratic Party.

If you think that Manny has left Woodbury you should attend the Democratic Committee meetings.  Manny is still a member of the Committee and his control of the majority, by way of proxies, continues.

Third, because of the above, parties don't matter in Woodbury. Candidates matter.

The following timeline is one illustration of Caruso's control and methods:


2001
Sheila Conroy ran, for the first time, for Town Supervisor.  She ran as a Republican and with the backing of the local Republican Committee.

She was surprised to see that her Democratic opponent ran no real campaign against her.

She won and a week after taking office she received a phone call from Ralph Caruso "instructing" her on how she was to vote.  

She explained to him that she would make her own decisions.

She never again had the backing of the Republican Committee.

2003
Ralph Caruso and John Burke decided that John should run against Sheila as the Democratic candidate.  However, when John reached out to the Conservative Party for their endorsement without first clearing it with then Democratic Committee Chairman Charlie Serra, it put Charlie's nose out of joint.  

Charlie stopped John from getting the endorsement and he himself ran instead.

The Republican Committee refused to endorse Sheila and she had to walk petitions to get on the ballot.

Despite having no backing from her party, Sheila won.

2005
Ralph's man Bob Donnelly had become Democratic Party Chairman.  He saw to it that John had the nomination.

Again, the Republican Committee refused to do a thing for Sheila.

On the day before the election a flyer was distributed anonymously throughout Woodbury filled with lies about Sheila's record.   

John Burke won.

2007
John Burke runs as a Democrat and Ralph's Republican Committee allows him to run unopposed.  

2009
John Burke runs as a Democrat and Ralph's Republican Committee again allows him to run unopposed.

2011
John Burke runs as a Democrat and, yet again, Ralph's Republican Committee allows him to run unopposed.

2013
John Burke runs as a Democrat and Ralph's Republican Committee once more allows him to run unopposed.

Sensing a pattern here?

2014
After John's death a special election was run to choose a Supervisor to fill out his term.

The Republican's nominated Ralph.

This time it was the Democrats, now under Chairman Manny Mangual, who refused to run anyone against Ralph.

David Sutz ran as a write-in candidate and came close to beating Ralph.

2015
A major outcry by Woodbury Democrats has forced the Democratic Committee to endorse David Sutz.

For the first time in a decade we have an actual choice!

To read other posts by Uncle Betty click here

A Brief Note

Uncle Betty Is Back is back.  Had to take a brief jaunt out of town.

Do remember, you can email the Uncle at WoodburyyUncleBetty@gmail.com and note that there are two "y"s at the end of Woodburyy.

And now, back to our story.

Dear Ralph

Have you happened to notice that there isn't an endless stream of people getting up at Town Board meetings to lie about you?

You know, the way you and John Burke and Carol Mullooly and Don Siebold and Bo Haviland and Hank Sullivan would get up to lie about Sheila Conroy and the rest of her board.

Have you ever wondered why?

The fact is, not everybody sees lying as an appropriate political tool.

Perhaps you see that as a weakness.

We see it as a strength.

To read other posts by Uncle Betty click here.