Questions You Should Ask Joel Stern & Dorey Houle's Awful New Videos
We take a look at Mrs. Dorey Houle's new racist vibes campaign commercials and questions every South Blooming Grove resident should ask their un-elected mayor, Joel Stern.
1:30pm Update: The South Blooming Grove Board of Trustees meeting for this evening has been canceled.
Residents are encouraged to copy and paste the 30 questions, found below, and send them to Clerk@vosbg.com (Village Clerk) and Joel Stern directly at JStern@vosbg.com. You can CC me at bjmendelson@duck.com to confirm that these emails were sent and received by the Clerk and Mr. Stern.
Subject Line: Time To Answer These Questions, Mr. Stern
Tonight, the South Blooming Grove Board of Trustees will meet at 8 p.m. at Village Hall (811 Route 208.)
Once again, no agenda is available—at the time of this writing, just after 10 a.m. on the same day of the meeting—to inform residents of what will be discussed or voted on. See for yourself. There is no agenda listed for Monday, September 9th.
So, after the Call to Action Box (the thing that asks you to subscribe to this newsletter), I’m going to provide a list of questions residents can ask South Blooming Grove’s de facto Mayor, Joel Stern. Given that the actual Mayor is nowhere to be found.
Again.
To answer a frequently asked question from South Blooming Grove residents: The Mayor is alive.
At least physically. The guy looks like he’s been mentally out to lunch since getting elected Mayor in the Fall of 2020.
South Blooming Grove Mayor George Kalaj is not attending SBG Village Board meetings because legitimate crimes are being committed.
That’s because I warned him explicitly that he is now aware of crimes being committed by the village, and should he participate in them; he would now be criminally liable and open to prosecution from the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
Ever since that email exchange, Kalaj has been absent.
Here’s the most recent example: Kalaj was not at the last meeting, where the Village approved spending over $100,000 for a still undefined “emergency” situation that directly benefits four properties owned by Mr. Stern.
That’s the kind of crime Mr. Kalaj could have been prosecuted for if he had voted to approve the “emergency” resolution.
Not to be outdone in our South Blooming Grove Douchebag Power Rankings: When asked to clarify the nature of the previously unannounced “emergency,” Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer Al Fusco Jr. said nothing.
It's not surprising, given that he sat there for nearly two hours, listening to people ask to speak to the Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer, and Fusco just sat there making a face that said, “I think $80,000 is probably not enough to charge the Village for this job.”
(Note: The Village of South Blooming Grove would not reply with FOIL requests concerning how much Mr. Fusco charges to provide Building and Code Enforcement services to the Village. He previously charged the Town of Chester an annual retainer fee of $80,000. So that’s where the number comes from. Residents should ask how much Fusco Engineering charges the Village to do essentially nothing.)
But before we get into questions residents should ask Mr. Stern at tonight’s meeting; I want to direct your attention to a couple of advertisements you may have seen on YouTube and television starting over the weekend.
Dorey Houle: Nothing to Offer You But Vibes and Fear
Hey Siri, show me something that isn’t racist, but feels racist:
Are you done laughing?
No?
Good. Because she has another one:
Still laughing?
Well, here’s something way less funny than the 45 total seconds of horrific bullshit I just exposed you to:
Dorey Houle was originally a Village of Monroe Trustee. She did not finish her term. Instead, she ran for a seat on the Town of Monroe Board and won. During the campaign and after, she claimed she was going to serve as “a bridge” between the Town and Village of Monroe.
In the words of Village of Monroe Mayor Neil Dwyer, after Mrs. Houle won her seat on the Town Board, and after being appointed as the liaison for the Village of Monroe by Monroe Town Supervisor Tony Cardone, he “hasn’t seen her once.”
This tracks because not only does Mrs. Houle not respond to any questions from the media—later telling her followers the media is out to get her instead—despite running to represent all of Orange County, she has also not been present once at a single meeting in South Blooming Grove.
Not once.
Now, you may say, “So Dorey Houle is a climber just like Democrats James G. Skoufis and Congressman Pat Ryan,” and you would be right.
She is.
And I don’t care what political party you belong to, if you say you’re going to do something, and you don’t do it, then fuck you, the people have the right to fire you from your job.
Or, in this case, not vote for you for higher office.
But Dorey Houle’s complete and total inability to govern or show up for the people she expects to vote for her simply because she’s the Republican candidate isn’t the worst thing about her.
The worst thing is shit like this:
Mrs. Houle was aware of not only the alleged contamination of the Village of Monroe’s Well #4 — the Well sits on Town-owned property on Schunnemunk Road — but also knew about an oil spill earlier this year. One that threatened the drinking water of over 20,000 people — including most residents of the Village of Monroe — and she … Yup. You guessed it.
She did nothing about that one, either.
(I mean, aside from having Mr. Jay Westerveld, volunteering for her campaign, try to spin and downplay the severity of this ecological issues Mrs. Houle knew about and did nothing to respond to. I guess that counts as doing something …
And it’s not just the alleged well being contaminated or the oil spill; it also includes the known hydrogen sulfide contamination directly caused by the Village of South Blooming Grove that’s harming the Village of Monroe’s Crane Park. Mrs. Houle has said and done nothing about that one either, but Mr. Westerveld is on Monroe Matters and other Facebook groups trying to downplay the severity of that issue for her as well. What a guy.)
So, not to put too fine a point on this, Dorey Houle has time to film campaign ads but no time to warn 20,000 of her constituents about the contamination of their drinking water.
Before we move on, let’s look at the claims made in these videos:
“I’m a cop’s wife.” Well, that’s cool. I think our men and women in uniform are underpaid, undertrained, and underappreciated. But are you entirely defined by what your husband does? This is 2024 woman, who cares what the man you’re married to does? What do you do? I mean, aside from clearly nothing, as I just explained.
“Would he make it home safe?” Since your husband retired in 2022, I don’t think this is a legitimate question you’re asking yourself anymore, now is it? But hey, I’ll play on this one. According to crime statistics released by the NYPD in April of this year, overall crime is down almost 5% compared to this time last year. Murders were down just over 30%. According to the MTA, crime in the subway system is down 23%. Does that mean things are perfect in NYC? Nope! Incidents of reported rape are up 5.1% and robberies are up 7.2% compared to this time last year. When you have a city of 8.3 million people, shit is going to happen. That doesn’t justify or excuse it, but Mrs. Houle is implying violent crime against police officers is up right now, and that is not at all the case.
One additional point on this: The NYPD Commissioner told Fox News — yes, really — that people (re: politicians like Dorey Houle) were taking advantage of bail reform to make the city look bad. He told that to Fox News!
“I’m running to get tough on crime and keep our neighborhoods safe.” If she was serious about getting tough on crime, why hasn't Mrs. Houle attended a single meeting in South Blooming Grove or the Town of Woodbury where actual crime is happening? The South Blooming Grove Village Board refuses to turn on a system that was installed to help treat their sewage so it wouldn’t contaminate Monroe’s parks and infrastructure. Where has Mrs. Houle, as a Town Board member and Liaison for the Village of Monroe, been on that one?
Oh. Wait. She means crimes committed by brown and black people, right? Mrs. Houle isn’t concerned with actual criminals, almost all of whom in our area are white.
Well, bad news for Dorey on that one, since crime levels — according to fellow Republican and District Attorney David Hoovler — have been about the same in our county for years now.
“We can’t trust Kathy Hochul and James Skoufis.” Yes. That’s true. But here’s the difference between Skoufis and Houle: Skoufis sucks. But does he suck enough to replace him with someone who knows about the drinking water of 20,000 people being contaminated and not alerting the appropriate authorities about it? Nah. Let’s be clear: A day of reckoning is coming for Mr. Skoufis, but it won’t come at Mrs. Houle’s hands. It’s going to come from one of you brave souls reading this post and deciding to primary his ass the second this election is over and in the books. The second this is over, the Left of the NYS Democratic Party and the Working Families Party should team up to make sure Skoufis isn’t even on the ballot next time. That’s how you take him down. Not with some crazed, washed-up fascist rodeo clown.
“Bail Reform puts dangerous criminals back on the street.” Are we seriously still talking about bail reform? There is no connection between any increase in crime from when Bail Reform was implemented in 2019 to the present. None. I don’t care what Fox News and The New York Post (same owner) says, like CNN and MSNBC, Fox News is not a reliable source of information. There was a pandemic-related spike in crime, and that spike, according to the FBI, has subsided as COVID-19 has become endemic. (Endemic here meaning, because of all the dumbasses who didn’t get vaccinated and refused to wear a mask, COVID will be around forever, instead of being eradicated when we had the opportunity to kill it.) Is the bail law perfect? Fuck no. It should have been modeled after the New Jersey version of the law, which allowed the judge to refuse bail in specific instances. I’m not the only one who thinks this. So does John Oliver in this presentation from 2022:
To say the law is putting “dangerous criminals back on the street” is hilariously false and sounds like a talking point cribbed from Rupert Murdoch.
“I’ll back the Blue and Crackdown on violent crime.” Violent crime is down. Fact. So, I’m very confused as to what exactly Mrs. Houle is going to do for her constituents as a State Senator besides “backing the blue” which is something we’re already doing. In May, Governor Hochul announced $127M in funding for police departments to invest in better tools and technology to solve crimes. So, what in the fuck does “Back the Blue” mean here exactly? And if violent crime is down, how does Mrs. Houle plan to “Crackdown on violent crime”?
She’s got nothing to offer you but vibes and fear.
It KILLS me that Mrs. Houle is so bad at her job that she’s giving us all “the gift” of another two years of Skoufis.
Thanks for nothing, Dorey.
Now let’ 's talk about the kind of criminal we do need to crack down on …
Questions for South Blooming Grove’s de facto Mayor Joel Stern
At the last meeting, for 16 straight minutes, Mr. Joel Stern replied to resident questions with a litany of lies.
You might be wondering, “Well what am I supposed to do about that?”
The answer is an easy one. It’s time to ask very simple yes or no questions, and record that those questions were asked, and — in all likelihood — that those simple yes or no questions went unanswered.
That’s the kind of thing you can provide to an attorney for a potential lawsuit.
(Hint. Hint.)
So, what questions should you be asking? Here are just some that I think are worth inquiring about at tonight’s meeting. If you don’t have time to ask all of these, print out these questions and pass them to the person next to you until all questions have been answered.
Mr. Stern, do you work for a company named Windsor Global?
Is Mr. Jacob Gold your direct supervisor at Windsor Global?
Are you aware that Mr. Gold is the second largest investor in Keen Equities?
Did you, at any point, disclose your financial relationship with Mr. Gold to any of the Village of South Blooming Grove’s respective Board members?
Did you, at any point, disclose your financial relationship with Mr. Gold to any of the Village officials, employees, and consultants?
Did you recuse yourself from any discussions and votes concerning Keen Equities’s Clovewood project?
Did you share with Mr. Gold any confidential information concerning Village business directly related to Clovewood?
Did you suggest that the Village of South Blooming Grove retain special counsel, Nora Murphy, for the express purpose of her voicing her support for the Clovewood project during April’s DEC call?
Did you suggest that the Village retain Special Counsel Nora Murphy to investigate the creation of a public safety division that your organization, United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove, would directly benefit from?
Did you disclose to Mrs. Murphy your financial ties with Mr. Jacob Gold?
Are you a founding board member of the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove?
Did you hire Mr. Robert Rosborough to represent United Jewish Community in the UJC’s lawsuit against the Washington Central School District?
Did you hire Mr. Rosborough to represent the United Jewish Community in the UJC’s lawsuit against the Village of Washingtonville on behalf of Moche Halpern?
Are you the liaison for the Village of South Blooming Grove to the Washingtonville School District?
Do you think it was a conflict of interest to sue the school district you also represented as part of your duties as their official liaison?
Did you hire Mr. Rosbourough to appear on April’s DEC call to speak in favor of the Clovewood property?
Did you disclose to Mr. Rosbourough your role as a paid Village employee of South Blooming Grove?
Do you know a man named Avaraham Bur Jacobowitz?
Did Mr. Jacobowitz provide funding to your organization, the UJC, in order to sue the Washingtonville Central School District?
Did Mr. Jacobowitz provide funding to your organization, the UJC, in order to facilitate Mayor George Kalaj’s campaign for Mayor?
Did Mr. Jacobowitz provide funding to purchase the home of Mayor Kalaj?
Did Mr. Jacobowitz provide funding to your organization, the UJC, in order to advocate on behalf of Keen Equities and the Clovewood project?
Are you aware of Mr. Jacobowitz’s Capital Hill development currently before the Village Planning Board?
Have you disclosed your financial relationship to Mr. Jacobowitz to the respective Boards of the Village of South Blooming Grove?
Did you share with Mr. Jacobowitz any confidential information concerning Village business directly related to Capital Hill?
Have you recused yourself from any discussions involving this Capitol Hill project?
Is United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove a registered and active not-for-profit organization in compliance with the IRS?
Have you ever referred to the non-Satmar Jewish residents of South Blooming Grove as “Half-Jews?”
Have you ever referred to the residents of South Blooming Grove as “goyim?”
The Southern Poverty Law Center defines a hate group as the following:
“The Southern Poverty Law Center defines a hate group as an organization or collection of individuals that – based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities – has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics. An organization does not need to have engaged in criminal conduct or have followed their speech with actual unlawful action to be labeled a hate group. […]Hate groups vilify others because of their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity – prejudices that strike at the heart of our democratic values and fracture society along its most fragile fault lines.
Do you believe your organization, the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove, meets the definition of a hate group as defined by the Southern Poverty Law Center?