Did You Just Pay for a 30M Dorey Houle Campaign Ad?
Supervisor Tony Cardone's weekly "public service" radio program on WTBQ turned into a campaign advertisement as Dorey Houle stepped in to host the show.
I woke up this morning with plans to recap the June 18th, 2024, Village of Monroe Board meeting.
Honestly, I forgot the Conservative Primary was today.
Thankfully, many of you did NOT forget, and I’ve been inundated with messages about it.
So, let’s get right into this morning’s stupidity. And if you’re reading this before the polls close at 9 p.m., vote if you’re registered.
Unfortunately, New York State does NOT have an open primary system. So you must be registered as a Conservative Party voter to vote in the Conservative Party Primary.
Closed Primaries are an antidemocratic method meant to limit voter choice, and it’s often why you get extremely stupid/corrupt/evil/incompetent candidates to choose from in the general election each Fall. (The reason being that there’s a low voter turnout in the primary, and to win among the small group of people who do come out and vote, you have to be loud, stupid, crazy, and or evil to get their attention and votes.)
It’s one of the many things we will need to change if you want to put our political system into the hands of the people — that’s you — and not the wealthy and well-connected — Like our friends at Keen Equities LLC.
Let’s start with an easy one: The Town of Monroe Councilwoman and acting supervisor, Dorey Houle, is a fascist.
When asked to condemn her antisemitic campaign against Tim Mitts for the Conservative Party Ballot line, only Councilwoman Richardson and Councilwoman Bingham issued statements condemning her.
Today, Orange County Democratic Committee Chairman Zak Constantine took a minute from trying to turn Woodbury into South Blooming Grove to also comment on Mrs. Houle’s antisemitic campaign against Mr. Mitts.
In a statement to The Monroe Gazette, Mr. Constantine said:
“Dorey Houle's reliance on stoking fear and division to achieve her political goals is consistent with the toxic culture that her and Supervisor Cardone have fostered in town government. It's no surprise that in her campaign for State Senate, Houle is desperately working to divide the community against each other with divisive rhetoric to distract from her lack of meaningful accomplishments.”
Now, let’s turn our attention to our friends at WTBQ.
As you know by now, Der Fuhrer (Monroe Town Supervisor Tony Cardone) has a weekly radio show that airs on WTBQ every Tuesday at 9:30 am.
If you are a Town of Monroe taxpayer, you may or may not also know that you’re paying for this weekly radio show. Whether Mr. Cardone is flipping the money he receives through his invoices to the Town back to WTBQ is unknown.
But if I can put my opinion hat on for a second, I’ll point out that Mr. Cardone is already one of the most well-compensated politicians in Orange County. In fact, he gave himself a $5,000 raise this year after violating New York State’s Taylor Law to retaliate against William Brown Jr.
That compensation package also includes a generous travel stipend. This stipend is supposed to cover all of Mr. Cardone’s travel in his official capacity as Supervisor, including his trips to WTBQ.
But Mr. Cardone insisted—and threw a fit when questioned about it by Councilwoman Bingham, as seen in the video below—on invoicing the Town specifically for his travels to and from WTBQ, including days when he is not scheduled to be on the air.
This tantrum included Der Fuherr stating that, if the Town no longer wanted to process his WTBQ invoices, that he would stop doing the show.
Did that strike anyone else as odd?
Why Would Cardone Say That?
Because WTBQ is a pay-to-play operation.
They take money for air time.
So, it is not unreasonable to assert that Mr. Cardone is specifically invoicing his WTBQ trips to the Town of Monroe so that he can give this money under the table to Frank Truatt (Station Owner) and Joy Taylor (aka “Taylor Sterling”) the station manager.
Otherwise, why would he have been so defensive about all this?
Meanwhile, Mr. Truatt and “Taylor Sterling” claim that the time slot provided to Supervisor Cardone is meant to fulfill their public service requirements to keep their FCC license.
I’ve reported this situation to the New York State Comptroller’s office for investigation. If you’d like to do the same, email them a copy of this article at muni-newburgh@osc.ny.gov
Now, just so we’re all on the same page here: This time slot on WTBQ, as claimed by Supervisor Cardone, is viewed as a benefit to the Town of Monroe, the Village, and the Village of Harriman. According to the station itself, this timeslot is meant to be used for public service.
Public service. Public benefit. When hosting the show, Cardone is supposedly acting officially as Town Supervisor.
Got it?
So Why Did They Run a 30-minute Campaign Commercial For Dorey Houle Today?
That’s right.
Listeners tuning in for what is allegedly Der Fuher’s weekly public service radio program instead heard Joy Taylor speaking with Dorey Houle about the primary, with Mrs. Houle explicitly asking people to come out and vote for her today.
There’s nothing in the public service here, given that Mr. Mitts — Mrs. Houle’s challenger today in the primary — was not contacted by WTBQ and offered the same opportunity to be heard.
So, it wasn’t like a debate or an educational segment.
This was a full-blown campaign advertisement.
Questions sent to New York State’s Board of Elections were directed to the BOE’s Division of Election Law Enforcement. If you’d like to file a complaint about Mrs. Houle’s campaign ad this morning during a Town of Monroe public affairs time slot, you can fill it out here.
So, you know something actionable happened here because otherwise, they would comment on it.
I know this because the NYS BOE has been very friendly and accommodating with all media inquiries I’ve sent them concerning what’s going on here in Southern Orange County.
They’ve written book-length replies to almost every question I’ve sent.
The Comptroller’s office did not comment when asked about the WTBQ invoices.
The FCC has not yet responded to me, but they usually take a few days. I’ll let you know what they say when I hear from them.
Until then, consider this …
If it’s true that Cardone is using taxpayer money to pay WTBQ under the table, then that means you and I just paid for a 30-minute Dorey Houle campaign advertisement on WTBQ.
To be clear, the Town has denied that there are any receipts or proof that Cardone is giving the money he’s reimbursed to WTBQ; however, what Mr. Cardone does with the money once it’s in his pocket is a different matter—one that only law enforcement can and should investigate.
We can’t take Mr. Cardone’s word for it because he’s a verifiable liar.
What we can do is continue to point out why Dorey Houle is a danger to all New Yorkers and that Der Fuherer and his Friend (Sal Scancarello) are unfit for public office.