I would like to respond to the July 13th letter to the editor: “Vote for the People, Not the Power-Hungry.” The writer makes the point of the Journal’s July 6th editorial, “Vote for People, Not Parties.” Right from the start, compare the two titles. As a member of the Democratic Party, the writer is assuming that every party member has an agenda, no matter who the person is! The writer wrote, “While many local candidates might not run on a specific agenda, the political party that they are aligned with certainly has one!” The writer goes on to insist that local Republicans “seems to be more concerned with holding power than improving the welfare of their neighbors.”

I strongly take issue with that accusation. The writer has never taken the time to have a conversation with me about concerns for our town and assumes that I’m a Republican so therefore don’t care about our neighbors’ needs. The writer’s letter is yet another example of the continued divisiveness based on political party, listing examples that the Democratic Party is the only party that cares about human rights and tells you to “Vote Democratic,” while claiming local Republicans don’t care about the welfare of the town’s residents. What the writer fails to understand is there are things a town board is not legally able to do. It’s easy to list issues in an editorial without understanding reality. It’s easier to place blame on party because this is the mantra of the day — the party over people mentality — Democrats care about you, and Republicans don’t!

While I can’t list everything accomplished over the past four years, let me share a few. As part of the town board, we support our town recreation department. It utilizes nearly $500K to provide yearlong youth and senior activities as well as summer jobs for local youth. Our board secured a $200K grant to repair the Berme Road village park. The board amended zoning laws to protect our water supply. We believe in transparency of government, and this town board utilized the Open Meeting Law which allows for meeting participation through video conferencing (Zoom). We created a town YouTube channel and Facebook page as well as expanded the use of the Public Access Channel 23 on Spectrum where video of all town meetings is available. Because of my technology background, I became the town’s representative to March Gallagher’s bipartisan Ulster County Broadband Task Force. I managed the town Wi-Fi project at Lippman Park which brings internet to the park and transfer station as well as reliable phone service providing for much more reliable 911 service.

As a councilman, I work every day on issues that benefit our town and ALL residents regardless of party. While I am registered Republican, I have always been fiercely independent, and have proudly represented all Wawarsing’s residents equally. More and more voters in the town of Wawarsing have had enough of the two major political parties. The fact is, of the 7,119 registered voters in our town, 2,611 identify as neither Democrat nor Republican, representing 37% of registered voters. There were no clear majorities at this year’s Republican and Democrat caucuses. Out of 150 people who attended each of those caucuses, winners and losers were decided by a three-vote margin. None of those 2,611 voters, including NOPs (No Party), had any opportunity to choose a candidate for those two lines.

In his Farewell Address, George Washington warned us that the worst enemy of government is loyalty to party over nation. This year a group of town and county residents, me included, decided that we have had enough of extremist party politics and decided to form a new voting line, NO PARTY (NoParty.info). To do this each candidate had to gather signatures from voters regardless of what party they aligned with. Let’s send a clear message this year that it’s time to put people first. Let’s stop dividing our town according to party lines and misguided assumptions about people because of their party registration. It’s easy to vote straight party line, but do you know who you are voting for? This year take the time to get to know who is running and how they will represent you. It should not be about party, but about the competence and character of the people running.

Paul Tuzzolino, Councilman

Town of Wawarsing