NYS Assembly Candidate: The Police Are Coming If You Don't Mow Your Lawn

Known to locals for his far-right letters to the editor in the local newspaper, Tom Lapolla spoke at last night's Village of Monroe Board of Trustees meeting.

The Tuesday, June 4th, 2024 Monroe Village Board meeting was all of ten minutes.

There’s nothing wrong with that.

Especially when you compare it to the near three-hour marathon Board meetings that are held by the Town of Monroe every other week.

But since this is Southern Orange County, sometimes ten minutes is all you need for things to go off the rails.

This meeting was no exception.

Here’s what happened before things got nutty:

-After 32 years, Diane Martini, secretary to the police chief, is retiring. 32 years is an amazing accomplishment, and The Monroe Gazette thanks Diane for her service to the community.

- Brian Berberena was hired to work as a Part Time Code Enforcement officer. This is great. The Village (and Town) desperately needs more code enforcement officers. Especially with the Town Board (Cardone-Houle-Scancarello) continuing to approve short term rental applications regardless of the negative long term consequences to the community.

-Five bids were received for the South Pond Dredging project. The lowest bid was just over $1.2 million. This project is nearly a decade in the making. I really, truly, hope that this time, with this bidder, we’ll finally see it get moving.

-The South Orange YMCA Color Run will be held on Saturday, October 5th, from 7am to 12pm around Crane Park. The Village approved the permit for the event and over time for the Village PD to monitor the event.

-The first meeting was held concerning upgrades of the playground equipment at Crane Park. It’s a long process but the children Trustee Ferraro and Play By Design met with to gather feedback are VERY excited about the project and shared plenty of ideas with the Trustee and consultants.

And before we get to public comment, I just want to point out that, unlike South Blooming Grove, the Village of Woodbury, and the Town of Monroe, there was no mention of any sort of time limit for public comment.

Best practice in New York State is to have public comment at the start of the meeting (on Agenda items or without) and then at the end of the meeting (on anything) with no time limit.

Although, for those of you who want to get home to watch the Mets stink up the place, a ten minute maximum for each speaker is sometimes mentioned as the gold standard if time limits are to be enforced.

That brings us to Mr. Tom Lapolla, who will be on your ballots this Fall in an effort to unset Chris Eachus as your 99th District Assembly representative.

For the most part, Eachus has been a pretty good — NOT GREAT — representative for the parts of Orange County he serves.

For those curious, Mr. Eachus represents: Parts of Monroe, Harriman, Woodbury, Highlands, Cornwall, and New Windsor. He also represents Palm Tree.

There are 5 Assembly Districts in Orange County.

The other ones are 104 (Newburgh), 101 (Most relevant for Southern Orange County: Blooming Grove, Chester, Goshen Village), 100 (Wallkill), and the 98th (Other parts of Monroe, Tuxedo, Warwick, and Goshen.)

Mr. Lapolla is probably best known for writing crazy shit in to The Photo-News, and The Photo-News not exercising any sort of editorial restraint and running that crazy shit without a fact check.

Yet another strike against our local (and only) print newspaper.

“You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts”

-Former United States Senator, Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Here are some lowlights from Mr. Lapolla’s questionably sane letters to The Photo-News over the years:

-From 2022, Mr. Lapolla endorsing the potentially antisemitic Dorey Houle:

“But we here in the 42nd Senate District will not be deciding that race, we’ll be deciding between our own progressive, James Skoufis, and Dorey Houle. Dorey is pro-life, pro-family, pro-second amendment, pro-police and is unequivocally opposed to any program that usurps parental rights in our schools, which we’ve been witnessing across our nation these past few years. So, if you want New York State to continue on its socialistic downhill spiral, then once again vote for James Skoufis, but if you want to see our state move “in the right direction,” then come November, please vote for Dorey Houle for state senator. And while you are at it, pull the lever for Lee Zeldin as well as Colin Schmitt, two more leaders looking to put a stop to this socialistic onslaught.” (Source) (Emphasis Added)

Colin Schmitt, it should be noted, was supportive of the insurrectionist movement and big lie concerning the 2020 Presidential election to keep former President Trump in office. So was Lee Zeldin.

-From 2020, after Planned Parenthood commemorated the anniversary of Roe v. Wade (since overturned) Mr. Lapolla:

“Since that fateful day more than 60 million Americans have been killed in their mother’s womb and countless women who regret their abortions continue to suffer physically and emotionally - something Planned Parenthood persistently fails to acknowledge.” (Emphasis Added) (Source)

I, for one, would like to see where that 60 million number comes from. I found a Fox News article citing data from the National Right to Life Center. So … Uh, yeah. Neither source there is credible.

I’d also like to see some citations from the women Mr. Lapolla claims to be speaking for who regret their procedures, including those who may have required them in order to save their own lives. (My ex-wife among them. I promise you, Mr. Lapolla does not speak for her.)

Mr. Lapolla has also been strangely quiet since Roe was overturned, concerning the peril women across America now find themselves in when seeking an abortion, including an 24% increase in maternal deaths as a direct result of this court decision.

Mr. Lapolla also has not said anything concerning funding for social service programs for our nation’s children. Perhaps he believes those programs are part of the “socialistic onslaught” he is looking to stop.

If you’re anti-abortion, that’s fine. I respect and appreciate your opinion.

But I’d very much like to see anyone who is pro-life be just as vocal in their support of federal programs to feed and take care of children as they are in their opposition to abortion.

That has not, yet, been the case with Mr. Lapolla.

Also from 2020 Mr. Lapolla said:

“More recently we’ve heard talk about “packing the Supreme Court,” and you can only surmise as to why: In order to politicize the only non-partisan branch of the federal government, with its veiled attempt to legislate laws through the judiciary, specifically laws that will continue to allow the abortion industry to flourish. (Emphasis Added.)

And then in a reckless attempt to reshape our constitutional republic there are those who want to jettison the Electoral College without fully understanding the risks associated with doing so. Simply put, the larger states would eventually politically, by sheer numbers, devour the smaller, less populated states, which could only be described as “national suicide.” (Source)

So, it’s plainly obvious at this point in 2024 that the Supreme Court is very much a partisan branch of government, and one in desperate need of ethics reform.

As far as the Electoral College goes. First, here’s why it exists. As you’ll see, the Founders themselves said this was an imperfect system that would need to be revisited and revised as time goes on. That’s their words. Not mine.

And here’s why it shouldn’t exist:

-In 2019, to State Senator Skoufis, “Not only do I implore you to vote against any legislation that will expand abortion in our state, the child whose life may be terminated as a result of that legislation does as well.” (Source)

So, here we have Mr. Lapolla speaking on behalf of non-existent children everywhere.

And finally, this is like my all time favorite thing. It’s a banger that I constantly reference when people ask me about the crazy people who live among us here in Southern Orange County.

I am running this baby in full:

March 2023:

“Now who did you say was “radicalized”?

Earlier this month a document was leaked from the FBI, which warned against “radical traditionalist Catholic[s].” By what standards did the FBI use to formulate this assessment? Is the elderly couple who attend daily Mass, adhering fully to the doctrinal teachings of the Church, are they “violent extremists”? Are the young millennials who pray the Rosary outside the local abortion clinic branded as “extremists” too? And dare I ask what about the good and holy priest who preaches against the evil of sin, which sadly continues to be normalized by the “world” even to the point of calling it virtuous - is he a threat as well?

This memorandum, in conjunction with the recent military-style arrest of prolife advocate Mark Houck, a devout Catholic, at his home in front of his family, only suggests that the FBI have themselves become radicalized. This is unquestionably a First Amendment constitutional crisis, and certainly not a partisan issue - and unless promptly rectified, it will only be a matter of time before the FBI is knocking on your door.” (Emphasis Added.) (Source)

You hear that everyone? Especially Orange County Catholics: The FBI is gonna get you, sucka!

Let’s fact check this real quick:

-The FBI document (found here) has since been disowned by the agency. There was no evidence to be found that the FBI directed anyone to investigate Americans who were Catholic. This investigation was conducted by the Republicans in Congress. So, again, don’t take their findings up with me. Take it up with them if you disagree and think the FBI is out to get catholics. I promise you it’s not.

-Mark Houck never denied physically assaulting a 72-year-old man who was working as a volunteer at the Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center in 2021. That’s why he was arrested. He was also later acquitted. So, that’s why Houck was arrested. It had nothing to do with his beliefs. He physically assaulted an elderly man.

Why Mr. Lapolla chose not to mention that in his letter is worth asking him.

“You Can Go To Jail For Not Cutting Your Lawn”

Mr. Lapolla began speaking at 7 minutes into the ten minute Village Board meeting.

He read from The Photo-News and zeroed in on a single line in a recent article describing potential penalties for code enforcement violations.

One of the penalties listed is “jail time.”

He then described his time as a NYC firefighter and the heinous code violations he’s seen that may warrant jail time.

The Village Attorney clarified, despite Mr. Lapolla’s frequent interruptions of her, that the penalties for violating village code are at the discretion of the code enforcement officer.

She then said, “I doubt seriously that anyone’s going to get thrown in jail because their lawn is to …” That last word is inaudible, so I can’t make out what she said there.

Mr. Lapolla then dismisses what the attorney says by saying, “We’ve heard those words before in the past.”

We have?

Where?

From whom?

From the FBI that Mr. Lapolla says is out to get the Catholics?

Lapolla closed by saying, “Be very careful how you write this law because it impacts the whole community. And threatning people with jail time, even subtetly, is a very scary notion.”

Mr. Lapolla did not comment on the garbage issue that has been plaguing both the Village and Town of Monroe, nor did he discuss rampant issues involving the lack of code enforcement officers to monitor the short term rentals.

He also did not mention the absentee landlords from Brooklyn and other locations who intentionally neglect their property to lower the value of the homes around them as part of a larger effort to buy up more land for hanhallah.

Why he didn’t mention any of that in speaking out against the harsh penalties is beyond me.

Especially because we’ve seen that stiff sentences do lead to change in Palm Tree. A town that Mr. Lapolla would represent if elected to the 99th Assembly District.

But if I can wager a guess, it’s simply that Mr. Lapolla (and other fascist enablers) want to play to everyone’s fear while not offering any sort of long term solutions themselves.

So, did you get all that?

Policing people’s lawns? Tom Lapolla does not support that.

Policing women’s bodies? Tom Lapolla supports that.

So glad these are our choices for electoral representation in Southern Orange County: A fascist enabler and a Democrat who takes orders from their State Senate counterpart, who has numerous conflicts of interest of his own.