by Eric Wolf Schoen
Chris Johnson is an incredibly nice guy. An excellent Legislator. But he is breaking the law by having his primary residence listed not the place where he lives. He must vacate his County Legislative seat immediately.
This is a no brainer. Johnson says he waiting for a legal opinion. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out. You don’t score a run in baseball unless you have touched 4 bases. No points in basketball unless you get the ball in the basket. Can’t bake a chocolate cake without chocolate. And in Westchester County you can’t represent a district unless you live there full time.
In the 80’s we had a similar situation with a Yonkers City Councilman who wanted to continue serving even when he didn’t live in the district. A group of us fought it and the official ultimately resigned.
The situation with Johnson is a little more complex because there is an affordable housing unit with government subsidies involved. In 2010 he purchased an affordable housing unit located in the 16th district, verifying last May it was his primary residence. Ten days later, Johnson signed papers to purchase an $800,000 house, which is in the 15th district, certifying that was his primary residence.
The county charter requires legislators to live in the district they represent. Johnson’s primary opponent says he no longer does and must resign. It’s not resign. By living outside the district you have vacated the seat. No ifs, ands or buts!
Johnson told the Journal News that he sleeps on a couch in the affordable unit which is in the district from time to time. He said he is allowing a relative and that relative’s girlfriend to live in the affordable unit. Which opens up a whole other can of worms. Affordable units are supposed to be occupied by the ones who qualified for the unit in the first place.
This is the only part of this mystery that needs investigation. Is it legal for the affordable unit to be used by someone who did not initially qualify for it. If there is one case like this there’s probably hundreds. Mayor Mike Spano has called for an investigation into what occurred here. The funding source should investigate what occurred and if it is illegal make Johnson pay back any subsidies he illegally obtained.
But this whole thing is a no brainer from the county legislative side. Mr. Johnson does not live in the district he represents. That’s the whole story, forgetting about everything else.
Let’s hope this situation comes to a conclusion promptly. Laws are meant to be followed! And no one is above the law! Frankly it’s pitiful how long this situation has been allowed to go on. I can’t believe it took so long to bring ‘The Johnson Family’ situation to a head.
As an aside if Johnson was collecting a pay check and should not have been, the County and District attorneys need to see if any monies need to be clawed back.
A former County Legislator once told me that all the legislators on the County Board have enormous egos. What do you think?
Ron DeSantis
Many politicians announce they are running for office everyday of the week. They hold a press conference, a call with supporters, there’s a million ways to do it. I know Ron DeSantis is buddies with Twitter’s Elon Musk, but that was no reason to try a new way to announce that he was running using a new part of the Twitter platform.
Here you are in second place for the Republican nomination and you are going to try out new technology to make an announcement? You have to be crazy when there are so many proven methods for candidates to stake their claim for office.
The whole mess that occurred with over 700,000 people trying to get on to hear the announcement crashed the platform and was an embarrassment to DeSantis, Musk and the whole Twitter operation. These things need to be perfected before they are used widespread otherwise you have the situation that occurred here. We have seen this before.
And Mr. DeSantis’ way of speaking was not conducive to the platform anyway! You were unable to see him talking, and you can tell a lot by looking into someone’s eyes and viewing their facial expressions.
9:30 P.M. Robocalls
If Congress wants to do something to benefit Americans, they have to deal with these crazy robocalls we get on our landlines and cell phones. The other day I got a 9:30 p.m., yes 9:30 p.m. call from Hilton Hotels trying to sell a hotel package.
Now I have had no affiliation with Hilton for a long time, and I don’t know how they obtained my number. But I am early to bed, early to rise, and I was sound asleep at 9:30 p.m.
Having your name put on the ‘do not call’ list as I have many times still does not work. These companies must be getting suckers to take advantage of their
offerings or they wouldn’t be making these calls.
Congress needs to tighten up the robocall law. 8:00 a.m. calls are early too, and there must be a way to ‘escape’ the list. If you want to with penalties for companies that break it.
Public Pressure Works
As I mentioned last week as we went to press, companies are starting to feel the pressure regarding the elimination of AM radio from their new cars. Ford has agreed to put in AM radios in their new cars for the next year, but what after that?
AM radio is a primary means of emergency communication and has been for years. Give your Congressman a call and remind him or her to pass legislation mandating the continuance of AM radios in cars, electric and gas for the future until we come up with better technology to provide what AM radio provides us with now.
Memorial Day
What glorious weather we had for Memorial Day weekend this year. Let’s remember and never forget that the holiday is more than hot dogs and hamburgers. It is our time to remember those who died protecting our country.
Every year PBS has a beautiful concert remembering those who gave their lives and honoring veterans who served and escaped tragedy. My only fault with the PBS special is that very obscure patriotic music is played and sung and I feel the large crowds would like to join in singing familiar tunes. Maybe it’s me, but this seems to be the case every year. What do you think. Send a note to risingmediagroup@gmail.com to let me know if you agree with me! God Bless America!
Listen to Eric Schoen on the Westchester Rising Radio Show Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM, go to WVOX.com and click the arrow to listen to the live stream or download the WVOX app from the App Store free of charge. Reach him at thistooisyonkers@aol.com.
