Dutchess County NY is on the brink of flipping blue, led by a strong slate of progressive Democratic candidates like Joash Ward, the brilliant and inspiring young candidate for Mayor of the City of Poughkeepsie. Local Republicans, led by [failed GOP candidate for governor] county exec Molinaro and the aging mayor of the City of Poughkeepsie & Molinaro toady Rolison, have reacted with a slew of fear and hate-based mailers. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney's response? He endorses the Republican mayoral candidate (and anti-gun control advocate) who has been central to the county looting of city coffers (to the tune of $18M since 2013). Maloney is actively obstructing democratic progress — and is depending on no news coverage to show how he is betraying both the city that elected him and his colleagues in congress. (Molinaro will run against the Sean’s democratic colleague freshman Representative Congressman Antonio Delgado next year with Sean’s help here. ) Unfortunately, there is no reasonable local coverage of the corruption in Dutchess as the state/national press thinks Molinaro is a joke and won't bother covering him and our local USA Today is so compromised that the republicans always point to the local paper's articles (actually press releases) to demonstrate what a good job they are doing. (And as a thank you, the paper's opinion editor took a buyout this year and was promptly hired for jobs at both the city & the county). In these precarious times, we need leaders who will take a stand against the hate mongering and bigotry of Trump’s GOP, not endorse it.
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