In Monroe, Tax Hike Tony Wants You To Buy Him a Car
The latest news from the Orange County Legislature — involving the overthrow of Chairwoman Katherine Bonelli — and Monroe Town Supervisor Tony Cardone's latest way to steal from you.
Congratulations. We're four days into a new year, and the Town of Monroe has already belly-flopped into a swimming pool of shit. That didn't take long, huh?
But before we get to that, I want to direct your attention to our friends at the Orange County Legislature. This year, Local Dobby the House impersonator, Crooked County Executive Steve Neuhaus, is back on the ballot. So is Soft on Crime District Attorney David M. Hoovler — How are those investigations into South Blooming Grove coming, Mr. Hoovler? — So are most, if not all, of your elected representatives in the legislature.
For this reason, I will take some time at the Gazette to cover what's happening in Goshen. Unlike in Monroe, for fans of functional municipal governments, signs of real progress are happening at the County level.
Did We Seriously Just Quote Henry Ford?
Yup. We sure did at 18:52.
It's unclear from the video who read this quote other than that it came during the endorsement period for Kevin Hines to serve as the next Chair of the Orange County Legislature. Hines is Orange County District 12's current representative, covering Cornwall, Blooming Grove, and New Windsor. I want you to remember that Kevin Hines represents Cornwall. That will be important as we continue discussing Clovewood’s impact on Cornwall's Satterly Creek. Hines has been described to me as an honest, no-nonsense kind of guy. I don’t know him, so I always begin by giving every politician the benefit of the doubt. Remember our system here at The Monroe Gazette: Everyone gets three strikes. It’s only after that third strike that I start to write about you. You get a fun nickname like Tax Hike Tony if you continue to strike out afterward.
At the January 2nd meeting, Kevin Hines won the election for Orange County Legislature Chair over former Chairwoman Katie Bonelli. Bonelli, by the way, represents South Blooming Grove. Let’s hope Mr. Hines is much more responsive concerning the ongoing White-Collar Crime Spree in that village than she was.
For example, I may have evidence to show that both Fake South Blooming Grove Mayor George Kalaj and Village Clerk Kerry “I Didn’t Get Your Email” Dougherty committed perjury. Mr. Kalaj did it from Florida, which is why he wasn’t at the most recent South Blooming Grove Village Board meeting. We have a witness. A FOIL for their email logs will prove the rest. So, there will be more on that story in a future post. For now, you just need to ask yourself one question: Is the Orange County Sheriff and Soft on Crime David M. Hoovler going to do something about this? Or is that White Collar Crime Task Force like the Arson Taskforce: Something that makes for great headlines in media outlets that don’t do any fact-checking, like The Photo-News, but does little in reality?
2025 presents all three men (Hines, Hoovler, and Orange County Sheriff Paul Arteta) with an opportunity to answer that question.
Now, I know most people don't remember this sort of thing, but … Adolf Hitler had a portrait of Henry Ford in his office.
Hitler also told The Detroit News, back in 1931, that "I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration." So, call me crazy, but if I had a city in Orange County made up of over 40,000 residents — almost all of whom are Haredi Jews — I probably wouldn't be quoting noted antisemite Henry Ford in my endorsement of the new legislative chair. Let alone quoting Henry Ford on the floor of the Orange County legislative body.
I'm sure it wasn't intentional. Many people were taught the sanitized version of Henry Ford in school when they got to the Industrial Revolution. Plus, we tend to lionize corporate executives here in America. This is bad because some of those executives are dumb. For example, Elon Musk designed a vehicle so poorly that it was hard to tell if it exploded due to a bomb or because of how he built it. (It was a bomb. But the fact that people even had to ask that question tells you everything you need to know about Elon Musk.)
Other executives, like Apple’s Tim Cook, will loudly tell you that their smartphones aren’t spying on you; but then pay multimillion-dollar settlements because they are. The point is that CEOS aren’t superheroes. We need to stop treating them as such and tax them appropriately.
So, I get it when it comes to Henry Ford. If you weren't taught anything about Henry Ford in school, you probably got some whitewashed impression of him thanks to the propaganda efforts by the Ford Motor Company. Again. It's fine. I understand. But you should know the truth because if you're reading this, you're an intelligent person. The truth is that Henry Ford was not only a virulent Antisemite whom Hitler loved, but he was also responsible for spreading antisemitism throughout the United States at Ford dealerships.
All that said, the replacement of Katherine Bonelli as Chair was a long time coming. The end of her, and Tom Faggione’s, reign of terror began during a legal battle involving the Orange County Democrats. This is a much longer story that you may be familiar with. In brief, it involves Isaac Sacolick, the brother-in-law of Orange County Commissioner of Human Resources Langdon Chapman, threatening to sue the Democratic members of the Orange County Legislator, and Katherine Bonelli, as Chair, saying that the County would not indemnify or provide legal protection to those members. This decision by Bonelli resulted in an Article 78, which Bonelli lost — and then appealed — wasting tens of thousands of dollars of your money in the process. Something to remember if you live in Orange County Sewer District 1 and you have to pay for upgrading, and then replacing, that sewer plant for the next thirty years. (No. I’m not kidding. Monroe, Woodbury, Palm Tree, Chester, and South Blooming Grove residents will pay higher fees for this for the next 30 years.)
That whole StarCIO thing is a saga in itself. One we don’t have time to get into beyond that Bonelli wasted your money for no reason other than to be vindictive — or because Neuhaus told her too — and Neuhuahs hasn’t kicked Langdon Chapman out of the county’s government because he’s called Crooked County Executive Steve Neuhaus for a reason.
Is everyone on the same page?
Tom Faggione, who represents Deer Park, Mount Hope, and the City of Port Jervis, was replaced as leader of the County Republican caucus last month. This January 2nd, 2025, Legislature meeting was Bonelli’s turn to face consequences. Well, the first time, she’ll face consequences this year. South Blooming Grove residents can help run her out of the legislature this November.
Two Orange County Legislature Meetings Will Be Accessible This Year.
Some important news came out of this meeting too.
First was during an, at times, weirdly tense discussion about having two meetings of the legislature held at night so that the public can attend — those will be held on May 1st, 2025, at 6 pm and September 4th, 2025, also at 6 pm, respectively — Legislator James O'Donnell, representing Blooming Grove, Middletown, Goshen, and Wawaynda, called the back and forth, “the most disorganized” he had witnessed in “all his years in the legislator.” Although I haven't written about Orange County's governing body much in 2024, I have watched all the meetings. So either Mr. James O'Donnell hadn't attended anything involving the redistricting (he had) or he was being a sore loser. Why? Mrs. Bonelli had just lost her re-election as chair, and they both represent Blooming Grove. Mr. O'Donnell did not reply to a request to comment as of press time to elaborate on why he felt this way. But I gotta tell you, I’m really tired of some of the men around here being so goddamn emotional all the time.
Mr. O’Donnell’s statement was probably also a great argument for term limits too. But let’s stay on track here. (Note: On January 9th, Legislator O’Donnell replied to our request for comment from January 3rd. In responding to the question of why he described the back and forth the way that he did, O’Donnell and said, “Usually Amendments are focused and specific. This was just the opposite. All over the place. How many, what time to start, 1 meeting, maybe 2. Maybe 3.”)
The other thing is, there was very clearly a bunch of these legislators who did not want the public to attend more meetings. It was correctly pointed out by Legislator Genesis Ramos, who represents the Town and City of Newburgh, that Orange County — unlike other counties in our region — held its legislative meetings during the work day. This was countered by saying, "We tried having meetings at night, and nobody came." That's probably true, but it's also not quite the point. The public has a right to attend. Even though you don’t have to do so legally — something Senator James G. Skoufis should fix instead of passing borderline useless legislation about town and village websites —You should make these meetings accessible. Whether or not the public shows up doesn't matter. It’s about access, not attendance.
Second, Legislator Ramos, read a prepared statement from the floor concerning her interactions with now-former Chairwoman Katherine Bonelli. I'm sharing it with you because it's nearly word for word what we've covered here on The Monroe Gazette corning Tax Hike Tony's treatment of Councilwoman Maureen Richardson during Monroe Town Board meetings. It also represents how the Woodbury Town Board has consistently treated residents of the Town of Woodbury. I'm beginning to think the problem isn't specific to Tax Hike Tony or Clovewood Kathryn (Woodbury Town Supervisor Kathryn Luciani) but more representative of how the Orange County Republican Leadership thinks and acts. Right from Crooked Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus calling you all soft and consistently telling tall tales about his adventures at the border, all the way down through Tax Hike Tony and Clovewood Kathryn.
If that's true, and you're a Republican? You deserve better. Obviously, not all Republicans are bad. Duh. You just saw that demonstrated during this Orange County Legislative meeting. More than a few had enough of Chairwoman Bonnelli, and they kicked her and Faggione out of power. That’s what we need more of. We need more good Republicans kicking out these weird, mean assholes who have infested their leadership. That’s why there’s reason to be optimistic about your Orange County legislature in 2025. Not only are they up for re-election, but many Republicans just made a very public commitment to work together with the Democrats to get shit done.
And, if you’re reading this, you know I feel the same way about the Orange County Democrats. I think they need to kick out all of the "We need to Run to the Right and Keep Taking Corporate Money" Democrats like James G. Skoufis and Pat Ryan. Hey, listen, bozos, that didn’t work after Nixon trounced McGovern, and it didn’t work after Reagan trounced Carter. It’s not going to work after Trump squeaked by — in terms of the popular vote — Harris either. The Democratic presidents you did wind up electing (Clinton and Obama) wound up selling out the working class just as badly as Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushes. In fact, you can make a strong argument that Trump beat Clinton and Harris specifically because of the decision by the national Democratic party to run to the Right after Nixon clobbered McGovern.
A fun fact about that clobbering: The Democratic establishment hated McGovern and did everything that it could to sabotage him before McGovern sabotaged himself with Tom Eagleton. If that sounds familiar, it should, because the Democrats worked to sabotage Sanders in both 2016 and 2020.
The Democrats are working to sabotage themselves here in Monroe in 2025. Just like they have in Woodbury by thinking James Freiband isn’t past his expiration date like Biden was. Senator Skoufis wants to run his hand-selected candidates for the Town of Monroe Board. So if you think Fabbro and Freiband are bad, prepare to lower your expectations for Monroe.
I’m sure Skoufis’s picks will look out for your best interests just like he did in 2024 in Woodbury (attempting to merge the Town and Village) and South Blooming Grove (doing literally nothing.)
Hey. One more thing while we’re down this road: If you’re fed up with both parties, almost a majority of Americans are, you should join me in the Working Families Party. That’s the party that puts the working class first. Not the corporations like the Democrats. Not these weird assholes like the Republicans, either. You can change your voter registration right here.
Let’s close this section out with the statement from Legislator Ramos.
Statement From Legislator Ramos on Katherine Bonelli's Time As Chairwoman:
"Today marks a significant change in the Orange County Legislature as we transition from politically motivated and divisive leadership to one that I hope will promote greater collaboration, transparency, and community-driven decision-making. All 21 of us are elected to represent the best interests of our individual districts, but ultimately, we represent Orange County as a whole. Every decision we make impacts our constituents across the county, and it has been painful for me to witness how we have missed critical opportunities and endured a culture of gaslighting, politically driven decision-making, and division since I began my term in 2022. This culture has been subtle but has profoundly impacted this legislative body.
While my colleagues and I may not always agree, the recent split in the supermajority highlights the failed leadership characterized by self-serving motives. The current movement towards a change in chairperson of the legislature underscores the common ground and shared goal we possess in seeking change, unity, and better leadership for both the county government and all residents. I, along with a few other colleagues who did not fall in line with previous leadership, experienced firsthand the consequences of speaking truth to power.
It was disheartening to witness the previous leadership willing to compromise their integrity during the IT investigation committee. False narratives were created in an attempt to discredit me during that process. Fortunately, I prevailed against those attacks on my character.
Additionally, the actions of the previous chairwoman created potential personal liability for those of us who spoke out, as we were denied legal representation. This situation has not only wasted taxpayer money, but has also led to an unnecessary appeal against a decision that was rightfully made in our favor and, as a result, continues to burn through taxpayer money.
Today, I recognize that challenges will persist, because it is the reality of being part of any legislative and governing body. However, it is abundantly clear that the time has come for the reign of fear to end. We must have the ability as legislators committed to collaboration to tackle our community's essential issues without the distractions of credit-seeking, and political control which undermines the collective efforts of the legislature, bipartisan initiatives, and overall progress in our county.
Our communities elected us to advocate for them, to be innovative and solution-oriented. This necessitates leadership that fosters an environment conducive to such work. I am genuinely elated that we now have the opportunity to serve our constituents in ways they deserve, reflecting the diverse needs across the county."
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Who Doesn’t Want a $64,000 Town Provided Car of Their Own?
We've already spent some time discussing the increased risk of local disasters thanks to climate change and why it's important for your town, village, and city not to dip into their reserves constantly. But this point can't be stressed enough. According to the Federal Reserve, future losses due to climate change-fueled flooding are projected at $24.4B. More than $17B of that damage will not be covered by insurance. Guess who has to help make up the difference? That's right. It's your friends at FEMA and your local government.
So when you have a situation like the one that played out in the Town of Chester under former Town Supervisor Bob Valentine and the one currently playing out under Tax Hike Tony in the Town of Monroe, your town isn't going to be able to come to your rescue. Something to keep in mind since we had historic levels of flooding here in 2023, and a big-ass Forest Fire next door to both Chester and Monroe in 2024. Both the flooding and the big ass fires are going to become everyday occurrences in our region. Which, honestly, is frightening if you followed how poorly Tax Hike Tony and Soft on Crime Dorey Houle kept local residents informed of the dangers of the Jennings Creek Fire.
Not only will the Town of Monroe not be able to do much for you if a storm damages your home, but they may not even tell you that a natural disaster is heading your way. At the time of this writing, the Town of Monroe does not have an emergency disaster plan, and neither your former State Senate Candidate, Dorey Houle, nor Monroe Town Supervisor Tony Cardone, have responded to requests for comment to explain why that is. (Neither, by the way, does Mr. Skoufis’s choices for the Monroe Town Board. Better get to work, boys.)
How your Town Supervisor, for example, spends your money is always important. But now with Climate Change, it could be the difference between life and death. That means these 2025 Town Supervisor races in Monroe and Woodbury are paramount. Ditto with the Mayoral race in the Village of Woodbury, and if the Village of South Blooming Grove can even be bothered to have one as well. They missed the last one, now the subject of a New York State Division of Election Law Enforcement investigation. Something Governor Kathy Hochul's office has not responded to concerning whether or not the governor pledges not to interfere with. De Facto Village of South Blooming Grove Mayor Joel Stern has bragged about having access to the governor in the past, including just last month in his United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove newsletter.
Clovewood Kathryn in Woodbury and Tax Hike Tony in Monroe are not paragons of fiscal restraint. Last year, Clovewood Kathryn, despite the Supervisor's job being part-time — the Village of Woodbury does all the heavy lifting in terms of departments and services — made herself the highest paid Town Supervisor in Woodbury's history. Then, she threw out the Town Ethics Code after hiring her son to work at the Animal Shelter. The reason for changing the Ethics Code was explicitly stated to allow other Town Board members to hire their kids. After Luciani's son left the Animal Shelter under mysterious circumstances this Fall, Luciani and the Woodbury Town Board have refused to go back and fix the Ethics Code despite the enormous public outcry over the change in the first place.
Today, we will focus on just one new for 2025 example of fiscal irresponsibility involving Supervisor Tony Cardone. It came during the Thursday, January 2nd, 2025, Town of Monroe Board meeting. There were many dumb decisions made at this meeting — some we’ll talk about in future posts — but this was the most egregious for reasons I will explain.
The fun starts at 24:18 when Cardone takes up mileage reimbursement rules and regulations for 2025. If you're joining us here, we've covered multiple issues with Supervisor Cardone traveling to WTBQ in Warwick and insisting that the Town of Monroe reimburse him for the expense.
What's important to keep in mind is that Tax Hike Tony, who just raised taxes by nearly 11% on Monroe residents in 2025, would need to raise taxes another 10% in 2026 and again in 2027 to keep the Town from entering a financial death spiral. That is a 30% tax hike over the next three years, on top of the higher sewer fees Monroe residents will be paying to upgrade and replace the Harriman Sewer plant. Oh, and by the way, I mentioned that Clovewood Kathryn is the highest-paid Town Supervisor in the history of Woodbury, making ~ $64,000. While insisting that he be reimbursed for his mileage expenses, Tony Cardone makes $186,000 a year as your Town of Monroe Supervisor. That makes him the second-highest-paid public official in Southern Orange County, behind only Town of Woodbury Police Chief Kevin Watson. Watson makes over $200,000 from the Town of Woodbury, and additional money — the total amount is unknown — through private security contracts he holds with vendors in the City of Kiryas Joel.
When questioned about the mileage reimbursements previously, Tax Hike Tony threw a temper tantrum and threatened to stop going to WTBQ. Which would be totally fine, given that Town residents had heard him saying weird antisemitic shit on the air back when his buddy, Soft on Crime Dorey Houle, was running for State Senate. She lost, making her the only person to ever lose twice to James G. Skoufis, an entirely beatable Democrat that nobody seems to have any genuine enthusiasm for. Since Cardone has a majority on the Town Board with Houle and Scancarello, he got to keep his reimbursements over the objections of Councilwoman Mary Bingham and Councilwoman Maureen Richardson last year.
This year, when Mary Bingham questioned Cardone at this meeting concerning the mileage reimbursement, Cardone again got emotional, proving once again that there are no excuses for not electing women to public office, given these local men (Skoufis, O'Donnell, Cardone) have constant emotional meltdowns. During his latest outburst, Cardone said at 31:56 that Bingham was picking on him and suggested that the Town buy him a car. Both Bingham and Richardson replied nearly simultaneously, "We have cars." But here's something you should know about Cardone's suggestion. On September 23rd, 2014, the Town of Monroe authorized the purchase of a Chevy Tahoe from Healy Brothers for $36,825. No information about what the car was for or who would use it was provided in the minutes and agenda from that meeting. I know. I foiled it.
Long-time Town of Monroe residents used to refer to this vehicle as the Harley Mobile because former Town Supervisor, Harley Doles, would drive it everywhere, and it was often spotted parked outside of his home. (Hey, my family has been here since 1988. I'm a 2001 graduate from Monroe-Woodbury. I was here on and off in Monroe throughout the Doles years. I remember these things. One thing I clearly remember is seeing the Harley Mobile parked outside of his house.) The Harley Mobile can also be spotted in the documentary film that was made about United Monroe and the Kiryas Joel annexation, which became Palm Tree:
You may remember the Harley Mobile from such incidents as when Harley blocked someone's car at the Bourbon Street Bar & Grill. That someone was a member of United Monroe, who had frequently criticized Doles at Town of Monroe meetings. It was covered in the Times-Herald Record back when they did local news.
When interviewed about why he needed the Harley Mobile, Doles gave the Times Herald Record's Chris McKenna a non-answer while throwing the former Highway Superintendent, Anthony Rizzo, under the bus. The car was a central campaign point by Tony Cardone. When United Monroe ran Tony Cardone for office — never forget that you have John Allegro, Mike Egan, and the United Monroe Executive Committee to blame for Tony Cardone's existence — getting rid of the Harley Mobile was something Cardone ran on.
Today, the Town of Monroe owns a variety of vehicles. Just not one that's exclusively available for the Supervisor. If he's anything like Clovewood Kathryn — also seen driving around the Woodbury Town Vehicle for her own personal use like grocery shopping and picking up the kids — maybe Cardone wants to go joyriding while he’s well enough to do so. As you'll recall, there are multiple allegations against Kathryn Luciani and Deputy Supervisor Gretchen Weiners (Theresa Luongo) involving their joy ride to the Jersey Shore this Summer using the town-provided car. Maybe Tax Hike Tony wants to go to the beach as well?
I’ve seen accusations online that Cardone wants a Harley Mobile of his own so that he doesn’t have to tell Town Taxpayers where he’s going. That’s probably true. But given that we can verifiably demonstrate that Cardone is Luciani’s advisor, what’s more likely is that he saw Luciani abusing the Woodbury-supplied vehicle and figured, who will stop him from doing the same here?
So, here we are, a decade later. We haven’t wholly power-washed the stink of United Monroe off this place. Mike McGinn, who ran with Tony Cardone, is on the Monroe Ethics Committee. So is Mike Egan, who was on the Executive Committee of United Monroe. But I guess they figured you all forgot about them, and so now’s the chance to take every taxpayer in Town for a ride. Literally.
Tony Cardone — who makes $186,000 a year from your money and gets reimbursed for driving everywhere he pleases, and who also ran for Town Council on a platform of "Fuck Harley Doles and his Chevy Tahoe" is now asking for a car of his own. Those Chevy Tahoes aren't exactly affordable right now, by the way. The price has doubled to ~$63,000 for a new 2024 model.
Yet another “tremendous” financial suggestion by the Town's Supervisor and Budget Officer.
Now, listen, he will try to lie his way out of this. You can see that during Public Comment at the end of this meeting, beginning at 57:00. Cardone blames the Rye Hill land purchase for the Town’s woes. He claims there’s new revenue coming, which isn’t true. Then, he called the 2025 tax hike a “correction year.” At no point did he mention how his bungling of the Rye Hill land purchase exponentially increased the final purchase's cost either because it’s never his fault, much like it’s never Luciani’s fault, much like it’s never Steve Neuhaus’s fault. That will be Cardone’s whole 2025 campaign for Supervisor if he’s well enough to run. Blame blame blame. No responsibility taken. It’s everyone else’s fault. Things will be just fine. It was a correction year. You’ll see. (If Cardone isn’t well enough to run you’ll have a different problem. Assuming Skoufis is still going with his plan to support Dorey Houle for Supervisor in return for her not running against him again for a third time. Remember that Houle voted in favor of all of Cardone’s poor financial decisions. She enabled this mess. Dorey Houle is just as responsible for this financial disaster as Tony Cardone.)
But you should know there is NO getting out of the financial black hole pulling in the Town of Monroe. You have three choices then:
You can elect the warm bodies Skoufis dug up to enact whatever his next harebrained scheme is — remember, Skoufis spent a big chunk of 2024 trying to merge Woodbury's Town and Village in order to benefit the real estate developers. He’ll do the same with Monroe, too.
You can re-elect the people who put the Town on its current path of financial ruin: Houle and Cardone.
You can elect people who can stop the bleeding. It won’t be easy. In fact, it’s going to be really fucking hard to fix this mess. But they’ll get it done.
I think the choice is clear. Do you?
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