To the Editor:
I enjoy your political coverage in the City of Yonkers. I watched as Councilwoman Corazon Pineda-Isaac loudly attacked both Mayor Mike Spano and his entire family at her announcement. I was in the room and was shocked that she chose to take that path.
Anyone in Yonkers who is paying attention knows that Mayor Mike Spano has served 12 years. Usually, after 12 years, (or in some cases 8 years), the voters grow tired of their politicians and throw them out of office. Just ask Mario Cuomo or Rob Astorino.
But that is not the case with Mayor Spano, and I would ask why? Clearly, the people support the job he has done over three terms, and they were willing to give him a chance at a fourth term.
I have heard that some polling has the Mayor at a 70% approval rate. So the big question is, how do you run against a candidate that has 70% approval?
If I were advising Councilwoman Pineda-Isaac, my answer would be not to attack Spano or his family personally. The people of Yonkers know that the Mayor has a large family, and that members of his family serves in various jobs in Yonkers government and the Yonkers public schools.
Many of us believe that a new administration, or a new mayor, would bring in their own people to fill some of the jobs that are filled by the Spano family. So how would that improve my life as a Yonkers homeowner and taxpayer? Or a mother or father of a student in the Yonkers public schools?
We want our candidates for Mayor to give us suggestions to these questions, and to the question how will you make our families safe? Or safer than under Mayor Spano?
It would be nice to have a female, Latina as Yonkers Mayor, but that is not enough to get my vote. And I think a lot of democratic voters agreed—they had hoped for more.
Now we move onto the general election, and Mayor Spano’s opponent is republican councilman Anthony Merante. Merante appears to have the financial resources and fund raising to get his name out to the people.
I am willing to take a look and listen to Merante and see what he has to say, but the same rules apply to him that applied to Corazon; give me your plans or ideas about moving the city forward.
In one of your recent stories about term limits, I appreciated Merante admitting that he made a mistake in voting for an extension of term limits four years ago. You NEVER hear politicians anymore saying that! We all make mistakes!
But then Merante went on a diatribe against the Mayor and his family. It was the same personal attacks that I heard for Councilwoman Pineda-Isaac. That will not win an election and I believe does the opposite, it turns off the voters.
If you are going to go after Spano on term limits—then congratulate the mayor on his 12 years of leadership and say it is time to move on. That would be honest, because both Merante and Corazon have supported the Mayor and voted with him for most of his 12 years. You can’t just flip the switch and say he’s no good.
I think the voters are smarter than that.
Sincerely, Doug Maxwell, Yonkers
Editor’s Note: Piggybacking on Mr. Maxwell’s thoughts, in the days before the democratic primary in June, WNYC Radio show host Brian Leher did a segment on the Yonkers Mayor’s Race. A Yonkers voter called in and asked, “Last year, when Andrea Stewart-Cousins was a shoe in for reelection, and now I believe that Mike Spano is a shoe in for reelection why would two Latinas sacrifice their political careers and commit political suicide?
“Virginia Perez ran against Andrea Stewart Cousins and now Corazon. They must know that they didn’t have any chance whatsoever at winning. These two had promising careers. You have to admit that there are good things happening in the city, with the economy, education and safety,” end of caller’s question.
One guess is that both Virginia Perez and Councilwoman Corazon Pineda-Isaac thought that they could strike lighting in a bottle, and pull an upset victory. It is interesting that the caller linked these two: once they were close friends and aligned politically. Now they can’t stand each other
The other thought is that both thought that their political friends and allies would come to their aid. That did not happen in either election,
Pineda-Isaac raised $50,000 for her campaign, not a small amount, but maybe not enough to win a Yonkers election. But with that amount of money, her campaign should have been more visible.
The other argument, that Pineda-Isaac and Margaret Coleman, were going to split the opposition vote against Spano, didn’t hold up. If you combined the vote totals of both, Pineda 21%, Coleman 11%, they still fall short of Spano’s 68%.
To the Editor:
I was dismayed to learn that the petitions for a term limits referendum were tossed out, not because of any improper decision making by the City Clerk’s office, but for the simple fact that there were not enough valid signatures submitted, and other flaws.
Yonkers City Clerk Vincent Spano recused himself from reviewing the petitions, so all of the naysayers on social media blaming him are way off. I read the report and encourage others to do the same, here is the link –https://www.yonkersny.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/38934.
The word that best describes the petitions submitted is imcompetence. I saw a photo online of Councilman Anthony Merante, a candidate for Mayor, with Phil Zissman an attorney and former Yonkers Inspector General, proudly submitting the petitions.
The petitions they submitted were nonsense, not even close to reaching the threshold. Included in their submission were petitions collected by non registed voters, voters outside of yonkers, and other flaws, including missing the deadline to file and have enough time to file another 2,500 petitions if they were rejected.
Who was overseeing this operation? I would hope that Mr. Zissman would have enough knowledge to have reviewed what he was submitting? And it certainly doesn’t look good for Merante, and his ability to oversee and manage an operation like this, if he wants to be Mayor with a budget of $1 Billion.
Maybe the thought was, lets submit a garbage petition and blame the rejection on the Spano’s. The pity of this failure is that I bet enough of us would have overturned turned limits and brought it back to 3 terms.
As Joe Biden says-What a bunch of Malarkey!
Paul Turcino, Independent voter Yonkers
“Last year, when Andrea Stewart-Cousins was a shoe in for reelection, and now I believe that Mike Spano is a shoe in for reelection why would two Latinas sacrifice their political careers and commit political suicide?
“Virginia Perez ran against Andrea Stewart Cousins and now Corazon. They must know that they didn’t have any chance whatsoever at winning. These two had promising careers. Er c
“You have to admit that there are good things happening in the city, with the economy, education and safety.”
One guess is that both Virginia Perez and Councilwoman Corazon Pineda-Isaac thought that they could strike lighting in a bottle, and pull an upset victory. It is interesting that the caller linked these two: once they were close friends and aligned politically. Now they can’t stand each other
The other thought is that both thought that their political freinds and allies would come to their aid. That did not happen in either election,
Pineda-Isaac raised $50,000 for her campaign, not a small amount, but maybe not enough to win a Yonkers election. But with that amount of money, her campaign should have been more visible.
The other argument, that Pineda-Isaac and Margaret Coleman, were going to split the opposition vote against Spano, didn’t hold up. If you combined the vote totals of both, Pineda xx, Coleman xx, they still fall short of Spano’s xx.
To the Editor:
187 Minutes
That’s how long Trump knowingly failed to act while his armed supporters stormed our nation’s Capitol. Instead, he watched the violence unfold on cable news, and even sent messages of encouragement by social media, telling the insurrectionists that he “loved” them. This is one of many disturbing details in the most recent indictment against Trump, where he was charged with four federal criminal counts, including conspiracy to defraud our country in an unprecedented attempt to remain in power.
According to the indictment, Trump deliberately lied about voter fraud, then used those lies to try to pressure local officials to illegally overturn election results and create a fake slate of electors. He then pressured Vice President Mike Pence to toss out the legitimate results and count the fake electoral votes instead.
When all that failed, the January 6th insurrection was Trump’s last desperate attempt to cling to power. Elected officials and law enforcement officers were attacked, simply for doing their jobs—acting on the will of the people and certifying the election results. It was violent, destructive, and in some cases, fatal.
There can be no more serious crime than a conspiracy to overturn the foundation of our democracy itself: the vote of the American people. Fame, fortune, and former office cannot and should not prevent someone from standing trial and being held accountable for their crimes.
Sincerely,
Robert Stauf, Yonkers
