Woodbury Library Spends Thousands to Retain Hate Group's Law Firm
$25,000 reserved for legal expenses, a Board President bullying pregnant Town employees, and Board members hiring their family members: This is a lesson in how not to run a public library.
Just a short post today, since I forgot there was a Woodbury Town Board this evening (7:30pm on Thursday, September 19th.) As a reminder, Town Board meetings are held at 615 Route 32 on the ground floor.
If you’re upset about the change to the Ethics Rules, or if you think Councilman Brandon Calore should resign for allowing antisemitic conspiracy theories to spread on his Facebook Group — and not to mention assaulting a disabled teenager — you should be there.
If you’re upset that the Woodbury Public Library is spending thousands of your dollars on a building the tax-paying public does not own, you should be there.
Oh. Wait. Sorry. We haven’t got to THAT story yet. Let me back up.
I had to make this post today because:
There’s a meeting tonight, and the Woodbury Town Board consists of morally repugnant people who verifiably lie to their constituents, all while facing little to no fact-checking from the people (that would be the Woodbury Public Library Board) who claim to be fact-checkers. Here’s another example from Councilwoman Luongo just this week. You’ll notice no fact check has been issued on that claim by the Library,
I’ve been swamped with DM’s that all say “Why is Library Lady Mad?!”
So if you don’t mind. I’m going to briefly address that second point, since I’m not part of the fact free Families of Woodbury Facebook Group, and I haven’t been able to formally respond to the unhinged, paranoid delusions on there of the Woodbury Library President, Cathy Schmidt.
(She thinks The Monroe Gazette is some kind of psyop that I’m running.)
Given that she’s also transferred $250,000 to upgrade and expand a library facility not owned by the public or the Town, it’s worth paying attention to Mrs. Schmidt’s behavior.
Instead of fact-checking people spouting misinformation — as she claims is now her mission — Mrs. Schmidt is having a meltdown for reasons I’m about to explain.
I’ll remind you that, since I started The Monroe Gazette in February of last year, we’ve only had to issue one correction. Compare that to The New York Times, which routinely issues corrections throughout the year.
Welcome to the Party, Cathy.
Yes. It’s ridiculous that I have to take time away from actual reporting to do this, but when you live in Orange County, you repeatedly find one thing to be true: There are a lot of idiots that live up here. And many of them have never faced any real consequences.
So when they DO face consequences, in this case in the form of an actual reporter doing their job to hold influential people accountable, they lose their fucking minds.
And when they lose their minds, reporters have to drop what they’re doing and respond to it because nobody else will.
Definitely not some of our local Facebook Group admins. And apparently, not our local fact-checkers.
It sucks. I’ve got shit to do on at least six different stories right now, but here we are.
So, as quickly as possible, let me explain “Why Is Library Lady Mad?!” and why, if you’re a Woodbury taxpayer, you’ve spent thousands on a law firm that is currently engaged in calling anyone and everyone opposed to Mr. Joel Stern’s hate group, United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove, antisemitic.
This situation started last week when I got up to speak at the Woodbury Village Board meeting. Seated directly to my left is Mrs. Cathy Schmidt (glasses and wearing the grey shirt). She and her friend, seated next to her on the left, were muttering the entire time I spoke, and you can see me address them briefly. (They didn’t like that I was addressing the public with my comments.)
I start talking at 52:26
After that meeting, Mrs. Schmidt and other members of the Woodbury Library Board started to appear in the Woodbury United Facebook Group I keep telling you to join.
(You should still join it and just block these idiots.)
I’m not going to recount the long, rambling statements they’ve made. But I will provide you with a list here of reasons why Mrs. Schmidt and the Library Board are desperately trying to distract from The Monroe Gazette’s reporting.
The $1,750 Gift
We’ll start with Elan Luding and Mrs. Ellie Pastel. Mrs. Luding wrote this op-ed endorsing Woodbury Town Supervisor Kathyrn Luciani, stating, “Remember to Vote Row B for the Right Team at the Right Time.”
So, there’s not much more to say here about Mrs. Luding, other than, after the angry mob showed up at the last Woodbury Town Board meeting, Mrs. Luding is assisting Mrs. Luciani in doing some damage control for the deeply unpopular Woodbury Town Board. (You tend to be unpopular when you amend a Town’s Ethics Code to hire your own children and pay them with taxpayer money.)
That’s not quite what fact-checkers are supposed to do, but what do I know? I’ve just been working as a journalist since 1998.
But let’s talk about Mrs. Ellie Pastel, because during the November 28th, 2023 Woodbury Public Library Board of Trustees meeting, she did not recuse herself, and voted, to give her husband, Michael Pastel, $1,750 to form a non-profit organization on behalf of the Library.
No objection or mention of the relation between Mr. and Mrs. Pastel is mentioned in the library minutes.
No discussion can be found in any minutes from the Woodbury Public Library Board about alternatives to hiring Mr. Michael Pastel for this job. (If other options were discussed at all.)
Where things get complicated with the library — and I’ll keep this as brief as I can — is that there are two branches. One owned by Woodbury in Highland Mills, the other owned by a private entity in Central Valley.
It’s not clear, at least until they’ve complied with the FOIL requests, who owns this second library branch, and why $250,000 in public money is being used to fund — and expand it — when it’s not directly owned and operated by the Town.
At the moment, you basically have a rogue organization using taxpayer money to operate a facility the taxpayers don’t own and is seemingly not accountable to anyone.
I don’t know if the non-profit is meant to own this second building in Central Valley or not, but you’re not allowed to gift your husband $1,750 to do a job that could have been done by any number of other attorneys in the area, especially one who doesn’t share a direct relation to a Library Board member voting on such a proposal.
I have nothing against Mr. Pastel. I’m sure he’s good at his job, but this wasn’t appropriate for him to do or for the Board to approve unanimously.
Guess who’s mad that I reported on this? Mrs. Cathy Schmidt.
For the record, Mrs. Pastel was re-appointed unanimously by the current, deeply unpopular Woodbury Town Board members in January 2024. So, I guess abusing public money and giving it to family members is par for the course here in Woodbury with our public officials.
If it’s good enough for the Woodbury Town Supervisor, it’s good enough for the Woodbury Public Library Board.
The Hate Group’s Law Firm
Above: One of the FOIL requests that Mrs. Cathy Schmidt publicly denied exists. There are five total. Two by The Monroe Gazette, three submitted by an interested party. After the first three were submitted, Mrs. Schmidt went onto Facebook to deny knowledge of any FOILs.
Since July 2023, the Woodbury Public Library has transferred funds from different accounts into their Legal fund.
About $23,000 worth of your money.
Why is not clear from the minutes, so I’ve put in a FOIL to get an explanation.
Mrs. Schmidt actively told people over the last two days that she was unaware of any FOILs submitted concerning the library, but there are five. Two were submitted by me. Another party submitted three. All of them have to do with the library's expenditures and fund balances.
This library board approves a lot of expenditures without providing much, if any, detail on them in their minutes.
Here’s what we do know: In July 2023, after another $5,000 was transferred to the Library’s legal fund, the Library Board voted to retain the law firm of Whiteman, Osterman, and Hanna LLP.
If that name is familiar to readers, it’s because it’s the firm that has …
-Sued the Washingtonville School District on behalf of Joel Stern and Isaac Eckstein’s hate group, United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove, in an effort to force all New York State school districts to provide busing, even on days when the school district is closed.
-Sued the Village of Washingtonville on behalf of Mr. Stern and Mr. Ekstein’s associate, Moche Halpern, wherein the firm has claimed everyone who lives in Washingtonville is an antisemite.
-Represents Stern, Ekstein, and Halpern’s United Jewish Community Organization during April’s NYS DEC call, where they, AGAIN, stated that the opposition to the Clovewood development was driven by antisemites.
(That opposition, by the way, includes MANY Woodbury residents who have voiced their opposition to the Clovewood project.)
So, why exactly are Woodbury residents paying to retain the services of a law firm that has called them all antisemites?
Mrs. Cathy Schmidt did not explain this in her Facebook ramblings, and neither did any of the Library Board members hanging out in Woodbury United.
I think nobody should be doing business with this law firm.
Especially given all the “nice” things they’ve had to say about the Southern Orange County community dating back to the ‘90s.
I’ve sent the library people an email requesting comment, but based on two days of unhinged Facebook posts, I doubt I will get an honest answer.
What I’m sure of, because their fragile egos clearly can’t take the heat, is that they’ll be at tonight’s Woodbury Town Board meeting. So feel free to ask them to clarify this situation if you’d like.
Woodbury residents have every right to ask why their money is being used to pay a law firm that represents a local hate group and one that has slandered residents as recently as April.
Accosting a Pregnant Town of Woodbury Employee
Let me take you back, briefly, to the Fall of 2023. The Library is feuding with former Supervisor Thomas Burke. Mrs. Cathy Schmidt writes an op-ed about Burke in The Photo News, concluding with, “Goodbye and Good Riddance.”
Seems kind of harsh, right?
Well, as you’ve probably guessed by now, there’s more to the story beyond Mrs. Schmidt looking to spin things on behalf of her new pals on the Woodbury Town Board.
Woodbury Town Supervisor Luciani was elected to replace Mr. Burke. If you look at the Library’s meeting minutes, you’ll notice the constant pot shots it was taking at the Town ended not long after Mrs. Luciani began her term.
For example:
Before Mrs. Luciani took office in December of 2023. Not long after Mrs. Schmidt said “Goodbye and Good Riddance”
After Mrs. Luciani took office in January of 2024:
Now, there’s this long saga about Burke, Mrs. Schmidt, and a memorandum of understanding involving a private server. It’s not all that interesting. Three different people have explained this situation to me on three different occasions, and I still don’t understand it.
Then again, I’m an idiot. So, we’ll revisit that issue later after a smarter person than I explains it.
I’m hoping they’ll bring pictures and diagrams.
What we’ll discuss now is this: There was an incident in July of 2023 between Mrs. Cathy Schmidt and a Woodbury Parks department employee.
I’ve spoken to the employee briefly and hope to interview them soon about this. I am in the process of speaking to other witnesses, and I’ve submitted a FOIL request for official Town Records concerning the incident.
But here’s what I can tell you right now:
The Parks employee was 7 months pregnant at the time of the incident.
Mrs. Schmidt — because if it’s unclear at this point, it should be that she’s a bully — verbally accosted this employee, and an incident report was filed.
Mr. Burke requested a meeting with the Town employee, and from there it’s not clear what disciplinary action, if any, was taken against Mrs. Schmidt.
What I can share is that that employee confronted Mrs. Schmidt at the Library Board meeting the day after the incident.
Mrs. Schmidt again shouted at the employee, constantly interrupting her as the employee read from a statement and asked for an apology. None was given, much like Councilman Calore not apologizing for assaulting a disabled teenager.
(Again, what’s good for the Woodbury Town Board seems to be good for the Woodbury Public Library Board.)
This incident is NOT AT ALL included in the Library’s meeting minutes from July of 2023. You can see for yourself here.
Following this incident, and for reasons that are unclear at this time, Mrs. Schmidt decided to go after Mrs. Desiree Potvin, writing a letter to other NYS clerks about her, which brought about a response from Mr. Burke.
(Mrs. Potvin was the Town Clerk until today. She is switching over to the Village after over 20 years of service to the Town. If you think this change has to do with the dysfunctional Town Board, you’ve guessed correctly.)
So, “goodbye and good riddance” is less about whatever beef the Library Board was having with the Town, and more about Mrs. Schmidt not being able to handle consequences for her actions. I have submitted a FOIL for all of these related documents, and I will share them as soon as I get them.
There will be much more to say about Mrs. Schmidt and friends in an upcoming story. As mentioned, there are five FOIL requests in, and I’m sure those will be replied to with the utmost speed and "professionalism exhibited by Schmidt and friends over the last two days on Facebook.
For now, I just wanted to flag this for you. Especially because these Town Board meetings are superspreader events for bullshit.
You’ll hear calls for unity by people doing the kind of shady shit that divides everyone in the first place.
You’ll hear — yes, seriously — calls for “prayers for Woodbury” because I guess Jesus is going to solve this Town’s problems and not, you know, the actual Town Board members with the power to do so.
You’ll hear about “Bloggers” and “negative comments on social media” without any acknowledgment of what those comments are about and why people are making those “negative” (re: factual statements) in the first place.
And you’ll hear that everything is just fine and dandy in Woodbury.
But it’s not. It’s all just bullshit and grievance. That’s what this Town Board has to offer you.
Bullshit and Grievance
And it’s the kind of thing reporters used to call out before they decided the news business was really just the advertising business.
My job is to give a voice to the voiceless and hold powerful people accountable.
I don’t care what these people say about me. I don’t care if I think I’m a bully. That’s fine. I hate bullies and have no problem putting assholes in their place if it means they’ll think twice about harming The People in the future.
I’m flattered that I’ve rented this much space in their heads. But man, if you don’t put your foot down with this Woodbury Town Board and their enablers like Mrs. Schmidt and company, just ask your friends in South Blooming Grove how things are going over there.
Because nobody’s stepping in to help those people. Nobody. And you get a South Blooming Grove exactly by allowing corrupt politicians and their friends to behave exactly like this group of people in Woodbury are behaving right now.
P.S. I fucking love libraries man. One of the first not-for-profits I advised in Chicago was an advocacy organization for public libraries. These facilities are the first line of defense for democracy, and often the last refuge for those who need it most.
The fact that this specific Library Board behaves so disgustingly is an embarrassment to every library across America. Because you better believe the next time the local library budget comes up for a vote, people reading this will think twice about approving it.
This is sick, sad stuff, and it’s not ok. The children who use the library deserve better. The public who use the library deserves better. And the people who need the library and its services the most deserve better than this.
Not all of those people have the luxury of time to stand up and call for change.
So I want to encourage those of you reading this to do so for them.
We need to fund our libraries and ensure they’re available to everyone.
But these people? This specific library board?
Let’s work together to close the book on them for good.