Everyone Is Challenging Signatures In Orange County, So Why Aren't You? (Part 1)
A brief history lesson involving United Monroe and Third Party Ballot lines.
Pictured Above: No. Your eyes do not deceive you. That is indeed a blast from the ugly past involving New York State Assemblyman Karl Brabenec. Seen above attempting to steal the United Monroe third-party ballot line in 2016. His attempt was challenged in court, and despite some irregularities (like what you see in the example above), Brabenec successfully stole the ballot line. Brabenec recently ran unopposed in 2024 and currently collects a salary of $142,000 yearly.
Don’t feel too bad about what Karl Brabenec did to John N. Allegro. John N. Allegro is someone we can factually and legally describe to you as a bigot. That doesn’t make the above actions any less shitty. Both things can be true. John N. Allegro sucks. Karl Brabenec did a shitty thing. We’re still living with the results of this New York State Assembly race today. Karl Brabenec still serves in the New York State Assembly, representing New York’s 98th District. That includes a big chunk of the Town and Village of Monroe.
John N. Allegro would go on to lose against Karl Brabenec in the Republican primary that year — citing “voter apathy” — when the reality was that nobody liked him. The very existence of United Monroe proves that the “voter apathy” claim made by Allegro was bogus. How can you simultaneously argue “voter apathy” when United Monroe had just seen 9,000 voters come out for Dan Castricone and 7,000 for Tony Cardone? As it turns out, there’s no such thing as voter apathy. It’s a myth. The reality is that voting is difficult and time-consuming, and it’s intentionally designed to be that way by both Democrats and Republicans.
Part of the success behind the Satmar Bloc Voting Bloc in Woodbury’s Highland Lake Estates and Woodbury Junction neighborhoods, for example, is because there’s an organized effort to ensure people get out and vote. That is not something we should be fearful of. It’s something we should be inspired by. So far, non-Haredi voters have repeatedly failed to do this consistently. As far as I know, there is no counterweight to the non-Satmar voters in Southern Orange County, and there hasn’t been since 1972. That’s on the people living here. But it’s also on New York State Democrats and Republicans to not automatically provide a ballot to every registered voter by mail.
(As a reminder for the upcoming June 2025 Democratic and Republican Primaries, you must manually request a ballot by mail through the New York State Board of Elections. The page to do so is here. It’s also worth remembering that New York State Republicans tried to sue to stop you from accessing a ballot by mail. Just in case you were confused as to which of our two political parties is the fascist one. That lawsuit was led by Elise Stefanik, who until recently was President Trump’s pick to be ambassador to the United Nations. To my great shame, instead, Elise Stefanik is still the Congressional representative from New York representing my old home of Glens Falls and Potsdam. (Potsdam, by the way, despite being represented by Stefanik, is already in a recession thanks to Trump’s tariffs. Once again proving that MAGA Nazis like Stefanik don’t give a fuck about their own voters.)
Do Not Underestimate How Unpopular MAGA Is
The fact that John N. Allegro made the “voter apathy” claim in the first place just demonstrated how little he actually thought of the people of Monroe.
The truth is, John N Allegro hijacked United Monroe, and was trying to use it to advance his own political career. In the process, Allegro, alongside other United Monroe Executive Committee members like Mike Egan — helped create America’s first official theocracy with the Town of Palm Tree.
Pay attention to that last point, Woodbury. It will be really important as we talk more about ACE Farm in the days and weeks ahead. If you’re a Woodbury resident, and you want to get a jump on things, you should start reading about the Establishment Clause and the history of Kiryas Joel and Palm Tree. Woodbury does have a nuclear option it can use. Provided the people running both the Town and the Village are smart enough to use it. Actually, they shouldn’t use it. What they should do instead is meet with the people running Kiryas Joel and work out a compromise involving ACE Farm and future annexation requests. Then, if Kiryas Joel tells Woodbury to take a hike, the Town and Village can go ahead and use the nuclear option. But what do I know? When you have big brains like CJ Graziano around, I’m sure he’s got a great plan he will share with us all real soon. Right CJ? You got a plan for this ACE Farm thing, right? I mean, you got time to put out long screeds about local journalists. So surely you’ve got time to figure this shit out.
Since the 2016 Assembly Race and birth of Palm Tree, John Allegro has fucked off to Florida. Only occasionally resurfacing anytime Tax Hike Tony (Monroe Town Supervisor, Tony Cardone) needs someone to defend him on Facebook. Why? Remember: There is no Tony Cardone without John N. Allegro and Mike Egan’s United Monroe. Cardone was United Monroe’s hand-selected candidate, which makes it hilarious that former United Monroe diehard Paul Phelan is out there gathering signatures and campaigning against Cardone. We’ll talk more about Phelan in part two.
There are a lot of new people here, so let me explain briefly the Tax Hike Tony nickname: Tony Cardone and Dorey Houle raised taxes in Monroe by nearly 11% in 2025. They will need to do so again in 2026 and 2027. This is to compensate for the absolute mismanagement of the Town’s finances during Cardone, Houle, and Sal Scancarello’s tenure on the Town Board. This can be, and should be, something you hold Dorey Houle, Steve Thau, and Tony Cardone accountable for this November. (Sal Scancarello is not yet up for re-election. But if enough people start asking him about his kid allegedly threatening to kill Satmar residents on his TikTok account, maybe Sal will resign. Speaking of Scancarello, I’ve been told the charges were dropped involving his alleged assault on fellow Town of Monroe Councilperson Maureen Richardson. This is something Convicted Felon Tim Mitts keeps ranting about on Facebook. Mitts, despite being someone running on the Conservative Party ballot line, is also openly praising Fossil Fuel Loving Freak David Rabbitts. Something that is very weird, given that Rabbitts is a Democrat. Unless I’ve been right all along in that Mitts is just a Meat Puppet for James G. Skoufis, and he’s trying to harm Maureen Richardson’s candidacy. (Spoiler Alert: I’m always right about stuff like this. Mitt’s frequent praise for Rabbitts also tells me Mitts is scared shitless of having to run against, and lose to, a woman.)
But having seen the video immediately following Scancerello striking Richardson in the chest, which resulted in her going to the emergency room that same day, I’m just going to remind you of something else. Who do you see in the picture below?
That’s Orange County District Attorney, David Hoovler. Sitting to David Hoovler’s right is Joel Stern, the self-proclaimed “Village Executive” of South Blooming Grove. (Reminder: There is no such role as Village Executive anywhere in New York State, and Mr. Stern’s repeated use of the title may constitute fraud. The kind of thing Hoovler would be in charge of prosecuting.)
Under Joel Stern’s Elon Musk-like reign of terror, Stern is not the Mayor of South Blooming Grove. That would be our local Donald Trump, George Kalaj. The thing is, residents of South Blooming Grove have been left with little recourse in getting rid of Stern. Something State Senator James G. Skoufis has been completely silent about.
By the way: I’ve seen Skoufis’s weak-ass timeline sent to South Blooming Grove residents, claiming he’s been responsive to their needs. You’ll notice that, despite not holding an election as legally required to do so in March of 2024, Skoufis hasn’t said ANYTHING about that in over a year. I guess when you take $10,000 from Joel Stern and $15,000 from his co-mayor, Isaac Ekstein, there isn’t much to say, right James?
Now. I know for a fact — because I’ve talked to them — that the Orange County District Attorney’s office is investigating South Blooming Grove and Mr. Stern. So, does anyone care to explain what Mr. David Hoovler is doing sitting next to a man he’s currently supposed to be investigating? Anyone? Anyone? No? Well, neither did the Orange County District Attorney’s office, when asked for comment about this picture. Crooked Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus also didn’t know, having failed to reply to requests for comment about this picture as well. (If you’re wondering where I got it from, it’s literally taken from Joel Stern’s United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove newsletter.)
You might be asking, “BJ. What does that have to do with Sal Scancarello?” Well, a lot. Because like with Local Bigot Brandon Calore — who allegedly assaulted a disabled teenager at a Woodbury ice cream shop and was arrested for doing so — District Attorney Hoovler did not prosecute Brandon Calore. Based on the picture above, he doesn’t look like he’s going to be prosecuting Joel Stern for anything either. So, the fact that charges were dropped against Sal Scancerllo doesn’t mean he’s innocent of assaulting Maureen Richardson. It just means Orange County has a soft-on-crime district attorney who doesn’t like prosecuting his friends or anyone who’s going to help him stay elected. He also doesn’t seem to be big on doing his job. Just ask the family of Megan McDonald.
We also need to be honest here about the Town of Monroe. No candidate, not even Convicted Felon Tim Mitts, can avoid raising your taxes to fix Tony Cardone’s mess. That’s just the truth. Your taxes are going to go up. If it was me — and it’s not — I would have probably just let David Rabbitts win, because he has to raise taxes, and then destroy him in the next election cycle because he raised your taxes. But again, it’s not me. I ain’t running.
However, call me old fashioned, but you probably don’t want to re-elect the people whose fiscal malfeasance put you in that bad situation in the first place. Right? Because whatever the tax hike might be under Rabbitts, Mitts, or Richardson, it’s going to be at least twice that under Cardone. I can safely say this because Cardone already told one Monroe resident that the 2025 Tax Hike was a “correction year,” indicating that he won’t raise taxes again. The thing is, he’s done so much damage to the Town financially that if Cardone doesn’t raise taxes, the Town is going to continue to spiral financially. That’s great news if you’re the City of Kiryas Joel or South Blooming Grove, and you’re looking for opportunity and real estate to expand into. Maybe that’s Tax Hike Tony’s plan … And probably another reason not to vote for him.
Why am I telling you about ancient political history involving the Town of Monroe?
For three reasons.
First, this Fall is your first real shot at killing United Monroe forever. If you get rid of Cardone and Houle, that also means getting rid of Egan and Mcginn. (Mike McGinn is the former Town Councilman who ran with Cardone as part of United Monroe, and Egan, as mentioned, is the former co-leader of United Monroe.) Both have been fixtures on the Town of Monroe Ethics Committee. Resulting in numerous instances of Tony Cardone and Dorey Houle both being reported to the Committee, and then the Ethics Committee not doing a damn thing about either of them. That is absolutely something you can attack Paul Phelan on.
One thing you can’t attack Phelan on is this: It’s not clear if the Town of Monroe ever referred the sexual harassment alleged against now former Highway Superintendent James “Pat Patterson” to that committee. We don’t know. The Town of Monroe refused to comply with our FOIL request for the Human Resources record, and other documentation, concerning Patterson.
And if Paul Phelan loses in the Primary? That’s another United Monroe flunkie down the drain. Meaning that, outside of the United Monroe leftovers on the Monroe Democratic Committee, this Town will officially be free of these people. (And no, I haven’t forgot about the Town of Monroe Democratic Committee. I’ve got a real good memory and a whole lot of patience. I also caught one of them making a pretty bigoted comment involving a recent incident involving ICE in the Village of Monroe. Imagine seeing someone’s Civil Liberties violated, and as a Democrat, your response is to try to dunk on the Village of Kiryas Joel. That’s what a former United Monroe flunkie and Town of Monroe Democratic Committee member just did. So if these people think I forgot about them, boy are they mistaken.
Second: I’m also sharing this story with you as a warning.
Because this Fall? People who don’t usually come out to vote are going to do so. And they’re going to be real mad at the MAGA Nazis (Cardone, Houle, Thau in Monroe, Grazaiano, Calore in Woodbury) and the Schumer Democrats (Phelan, Bernard, Rabbitts in Monroe, Fabbro and Freiband in Woodbury.) It was true, until January 20th, 2025, that what your political affiliation was in a local election didn’t matter. That’s not true anymore.
Not when you have a president telling a fellow dictator that he needs “five more places” because he’s going to send “homegrown criminals” down to your taxpayer-funded concentration camps next.
And yes. CECOT is a concentration camp that is funded by your money
So these people are going to look for someone to punch in the face. The first people they’re going to take a swing at is everyone running on the Republican ballot line. The second are the do-nothing, gutless, Schumer Democrats.
These people are going to come out to vote, and they’re not going to want to vote for either major party. That makes the third party ballot lines, like the old United Monroe line, very important.
See how this is all connected?
It’s also why I’m urging one brave Woodbury resident to step up and give these people an alternative to the Unelected Village Trustee Rhonda Fabbro, her Son, and MAGA Graziano.
And Woodbury, this is just an aside, but … You should not have to vote for a MAGA Nazi because “this is the best we can do.” Bullshit. You had two years to find a good candidate. Instead the Woodbury Republicans stuck you with a guy who sucked so hard that people sat home instead of voting for him again. That’s how you got James Freiband in the first place. Never forget that: CJ Graziano sucked so much, people didn’t come out to vote for him again, and Freiband won on the back of the Satmar bloc vote. That is a statistical fact. That one is on you, Woodbury. But it’s not too late to fix it. You don’t have to vote for The Fabbros. You don’t have to vote for MAGA Graziano. Get out there and get on a third party ballot line. You have plenty of time.
The third-party ballot line is going to be a big deal this November. And while history doesn’t quite repeat itself, it sure does rhyme.
So, I fully expect limp dick fascist State Senator James G. Skoufis to pull a similar stunt to Brabenec’s concerning Monroe Town Councilwoman Maureen Richardson’s Preserve Monroe ballot line. He’s not an idiot. Doesn’t respect women (see: His affair with a staff member which led to his divorce.) Corrupt (see: South Blooming Grove above). But Skoufis is not an idiot.
You, Monroe residents, should all be preparing for Skoufis to try what Brabenec did. He absolutely will. Why? Because it’s annexation time, baby, and the State Senator needs to deliver on all his political promises. Why do you think he’s working so hard to mess with both elections in Monroe and Woodbury? A place he described to one of his constituents recently as “one percent of his constituency.”
And finally …
I split this post into parts. In Part 2, we’re going to talk about the recent signature challenges. All of which you can view here.
A lot of you have reached out to me about Councilwoman Maureen Richardson’s boyfriend challenging petitions, but I think you all missed the bigger story. Look carefully.
Because if you do, you’ll see the mother of State Senator Skoufis’s employee, Anthony Joge, having his mother challenge petitions on behalf of David Rabbitts.
So let me ask you, what exactly is the bigger story here? Someone’s boyfriend challenging ballots? Or the mother of a New York State Senate employee challenging ballots?
Yeah. I think I know which it is. And that’s where we’ll pick up soon.
(Just a reminder, paid monthly subscribers get access to our private Facebook group. Eventually I’ll go back to just posting here once a week, so if you want to get more local news updates throughout the week, that group is the place to be.)