Monroe's Crazy Week Could Shape Town, Village's Future

Village Elections. Town Planning Board Meeting on Monroe Commons, and why Dorey Houle wants to hurt your chances of standing up to the alleged "Bloc Vote."

This is going to be a bit of a crazy — but no less important — week for Monroe. So, I’m going to touch on a couple of things you should be aware of.

Then, we’re going to look at how New York State Senate candidate, and Town of Monroe Councilwoman, Dorey Houle.

One of Dorey’s campaign positions threatens everyone in Orange County’s ability to stop the wealthy real estate developers from creating The New City of Kiryas Joel.

Monroe’s Crazy Week Ahead

1. Tonight is a Monroe Town Board meeting at 7pm over at Town Hall (1465 Orange Turnpike, Monroe, NY 10950.)

Our friends from 651 Lakes LLC and Meadow Hill Subdivision LLC are not on the agenda this week.

However, I’d like to encourage readers to attend and take advantage of the Public Comment period. In order to make a public comment, you have to sign up with the Village Clerk (she’s at the table on the far end of the meeting room), preferably before the meeting starts at 7; but you do have a short amount of time after the meeting has begun to sign-up.

This is important because tomorrow, March 19th, there is a Town of Monroe Planning Board meeting, where the huge Monroe Commons project will be on the agenda.

At tomorrow’s Planning Board meeting, there is NO public comment allowed concerning Monroe Commons. That’s because the public comment period for that project conveniently ended in December, just before Christmas and during Hanukkah.

So, since Planning Board Chairwoman Franson, and Supervisor Tony Cardone, don’t answer emails, the best way to voice your opposition about Monroe Commons is at tonight’s Town Board meeting during Public Comment.

2. Village Elections are tomorrow at Village Hall (7 Stage Road) from 9am to 9pm. If you live in the Village it’s absolutely imperative that you vote, and get your friends and neighbors out to do the same.

As we’ve seen in South Blooming Grove’s village elections, the hanhallah are well organized and have developed a tactic of writing in the names of their preferred candidates.

You have every right in America to write-in the name of the candidate you prefer. That’s not an issue with me.

But, again in this specific case, it’s also true that this write-in tactic subverts the democratic process when two unannounced, and unvetted, candidates suddenly win an election.

And then those candidates go on to behave in ways that are detrimental to all residents, both Haredi and not.

I’ve interviewed two of the announced Monroe Village candidates.

You can read Trustee John Karl’s interview here.

And you can read my interview with Trustee Behringer here.

I would love and welcome a chance to interview all candidates, regardless of what interests they may represent.

But that opportunity, at the moment, has not been afforded to me.

Dorey Houle’s Dumb, Dangerous Anti-Democratic Stance On Voting

I need to first kill a myth in order for everyone to understand this larger point:

The power of the “Bloc Vote” is exaggerated. This is a myth that dates back to the 1950s when the Satmar in the Haredi community began organizing politically in New York City.

Is there a “Bloc Vote”? Yes.

But is it as large as the political machine within the Satmar community want you, and our politicians, to think it is?

Not at all.

In South Blooming Grove’s 2021 Village Elections, the write-in candidates Guttman, and Rosner received 684 votes and 680 votes respectively. A difference of 400 votes between them and the other two candidates.

In 2021, the population of South Blooming Grove was 3,921.

3,237 residents did not vote in the election.

If 500 more of them did, then the “powerful” bloc vote would have been defeated.

If you look at the most recent election in the Village of Woodbury, you can see the “Bloc Vote” for Trustees James Freiband and Matthew Fabbro here.

It’s about 333 votes for Fabbro and 326 votes for Freiband. Overall, only 4,341 people voted.

As of 2021, the population of the Village of Woodbury is 11,645.

So, over 7,000 people in the Village did not vote in the most recent election.

If 800 more of those people voted, it would have been enough to stop the allegedly powerful bloc vote.

So, how is Dorey Houle proposing to obstruct your ability to counter the Bloc?

Dorey Houle Wants To Make It Harder For You To Vote

Over on Dorey’s campaign website, you’ll see a blurb that states the following:

Protecting Local Elections

At the end of the legislative session, very quietly, a dangerous bill was passed by both houses of the state legislature and signed by Governor Hochul. The purpose of this bill, meant to destroy our democracy, is to align local elections with presidential and gubernatorial elections. The sponsor of this bill is none other than James Skoufis. [Emphasis Added]

Despite my best efforts, Dorey Houle has not replied to requests for comment to clarify this statement and explain how boosting voter turn out is dangerous and “meant to destroy our democracy.”

The bill she’s referring to eliminates these random, off-year elections where voting turn out is at its lowest, and the power of the bloc vote — such that it is — is at its highest.

Dorey’s posiiton is to undo this legislation and give the power back to the bloc.

It’s worth asking Mrs. Houle why she wants to do this, and make it harder for people to get out and vote.

So, if you do attend tonight’s Town of Monroe Board Meeting, you can also ask Dorey this question.

But be warned. Supervisor Cardone has already exercised censorship in questions for Dorey that he deems are of a “political” nature.

I don’t think there’s anything political about asking her why she wants to empower the bloc vote in Monroe and Blooming Grove elections at the expense of everyone else.

That’s just my opinion though.