Samuel Rivers vs J. Gary Pretlow

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PERMIT #3036WHITE PLAINS NY

Westchester’s Most Influential WeeklyVol. IV NO XLXII Thursday, July 29, 2010

www.westchesterguardian.com

R. Abady: Wood Bat League, Page 25; Watson: The Medicine in Medical Marijuana, Page 6; Abady: Orr Update, Page 4 Heller: Afghanistan - Time to Come Home, Page 7; Limato: Hillary 2012, Page 8; Deskovic: Prosecutorial Miscounduct, Page 9

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Page 2 The WesTchesTer GuardIaN Thursday, JuLy 29, 2010

abady & seife: showdown in Mount Vernon .................. 2, 3, 16, 17, 21editor: abady-changing Places in the Orr case ............................ 4, 12Letters to the editor ........................................................................ 4, 12Opeds amos: Ocean Zoning ......................................................... 5, 10

Guynup, sherer: swimming Our dirty Waters ................. 5, 12Watson: The Medicine in Medical Marijuana ....................................... 6heller: afghanistan - Time to come home ................................... 7, 13Limato: hillary 2012? ...................................................................... 8, 11deskovic: Prosecutorial Misconduct and the complex disimone case ............................................................ 9, 13silberberg: dori Wood-Black robe dreams ....................................... 10Lasalle: Television reviw: “V” 2009-Present ....................................... 11Westchester calendar ......................................................................18-19Westchester Theatre directory ............................................................ 20silberberg: There’s Oil in Them Thar Bags ......................................... 21classifieds/Legal Notices ..................................................................... 22Westchester Blotter .............................................................................. 23spear: stratospheerius is Out of This World ....................................... 24Westchester sports: r. abady: Wood Bat League ............................... 25ackerman – shimmering stars .......................................................26-27

Solar. Thermal. Wind.

J. Gary Pretlow, age sixty, was first elected to the state assembly in 1993 and has represented the 87th district covering Mount Vernon and parts of yonkers ever since. In the 2008 election, Pretlow won over twenty times as many votes as ralph Pearson, the second place candidate.

This time around, however, Pretlow faces the biggest threat to his comfort-able seat in albany since he went there eighteen years ago. he is being chal-lenged by thirty year old Mount Vernon political activist, samuel rivers, the man behind the popular local blog, “Mount Vernon exposed,” in which rivers is

relentlessly critical of local politicians who betray the public trust.

“albany is dysfunctional,” rivers said. “We have an assemblyman in Mount Vernon who has been there for eighteen years, and is front and center of the corruption in albany. It’s time for the taxpayers to retire him.”

Pretlow is chairman of the racing and Wagering committee, and advo-cated state takeover of the bankrupt Off Track Betting corporation to keep it afloat. he is also chairman of the New york state association of Black and

Continued on page 3

showdown in Mount VernonUpstart Sam Rivers Takes on Political Dinosaur, Gary PretlowBy Sam Abady and Andy T.C. Seife

Page 3The WesTchesTer GuardIaN Thursday, JuLy 29, 2010

Continued from page 2 Puerto rican Legislators, and was one of the principal sponsors of cynthia’s Law which made reckless assault on a child a class d felony.

Pretlow cites legislation he spon-sored mandating that social workers obtain specified training before performing certain tasks as one of his greatest legislative achievements.

“Prior to legislation I passed, anyone could consider themselves a social worker, and I didn’t see that as being proper,” Pretlow said. “People go to social workers for various reasons. My feeling is whoever they go to should have the necessary educational back-ground and experience to deal with their problems.”

rivers sees Pretlow’s eighteen years in albany differently. “he’s done abso-lutely nothing for Mount Vernon and yonkers,” rivers said.

The challenger is hard at work researching Pretlow’s financial backers and voting record. rivers, a fiscal hawk, pointed to Pretlow’s record of having consistently voted for proposed spending legislation. according to Project Vote smart, Pretlow voted against only two bills since 2006: one which increased the number of charter schools in New york state from 200 to 460, and one which granted residential permits within a one mile radius of empire state Plaza where the state legislature is located.

Notably, Pretlow opposes the No child Left Behind act co-authored by former Massachusetts senator, Ted Kennedy, and passed by congress in 2001 during the George W. Bush administration. The act inaugurated standards-based education reform, and compels states to improve individual student performance and increase testing of basic skills in reading and math.

Pretlow is a career politician who has been in office nearly twenty-seven years. he was President of the Mount Vernon city council from 1984 to 1992, and has been a democratic district leader in Mount Vernon since 1980. In stark contrast, rivers is an upstart who has never held elective office.

rivers was scathing about Pretlow’s role in changing the election Law to protect career politicians, what rivers calls the “Incumbency Protection act.” Pretlow voted to increase the number of votes a political party must garner to field candidates for office. any increase protects mainstream parties which back incumbents, and makes it harder for challengers to gain a foothold in future elections.

rivers is also critical of what he characterizes as Pretlow’s “disdain” for sensible state spending. he called Pretlow “the main poster child” for spin-up aid, a legislative trick to close a current budget gap by taking money from the following year’s budget.

rivers also decried Pretlow’s history of taking money from special interest groups, especially gamblers and the gaming industry he backed at the expense of schools and the working class.

“Taxpayers have an 8.9% tax increase. We are one of the only districts in Westchester county that voted down the school budget. yet, he secured money to bail out Off Track Betting,” rivers said. “he’s working for the special interest groups, but he does not work for the common man.”

If elected, rivers vows to change albany’s spendthrift habits with taxpayer money typified by old pols like Pretlow whom rivers said “tax and spend New yorkers into oblivion.”

rivers promises to cut taxes, audit city governments for waste and misman-agement, require state supreme court justices to run in primaries, and improve local schools.

“The schools in Mount Vernon are horrendous,” rivers said. “We cannot have a $203 million budget and always cry ‘we’re broke.’ That’s the first thing we need to fix. We need to audit that because that’s the community’s main concern.”

Pretlow responded, “I’ve been instrumental in securing tens of billions of dollars for the yonkers and Mount Vernon school districts. I’ve worked with governors from Mario cuomo to david Patterson to increase education, and I’ve been at the forefront of getting more dollars for the communities.”

In 2009, rivers ran for a seat on the Mount Vernon council and lost. Police claim to have found rivers unconscious outside a New rochelle restaurant in april of that year. curiously, they confiscated his cellular telephone and gun, but never filed any charges. some say this incident caused rivers to lose that race.

rose Marie Jarosz disagrees. she also ran for Mount Vernon city council with rivers. she said both candidates, who ran on the conservative Party line, were not successful because the democratic machine has a stranglehold on Mount Vernon, and is threatened by upstart reformers.

“People tend to vote for row a without any knowledge of qualifica-tions of the candidates,” she said. she emphasized this year’s race for the 87th assembly seat is different. rivers “does not drink from the public trough,” she said, and is “independent of any party’s corrupt influence.” she predicts that will give rivers the edge to upset Pretlow.

Jarosz told the Guardian about rivers, “I believe he is really qualified. he’s a whistleblower. he gets down and finds corruption” and “is not afraid

Continued on page 16

showdown in Mount VernonUpstart Sam Rivers Takes on Political Dinosaur, Gary PretlowBy Sam Abady and Andy T.C. Seife

New York Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, Mount Vernon Activist Samuel L. Rivers

Page 16 The WesTchesTer GuardIaN Thursday, JuLy 29, 2010

Continued from page 3

to go after and confront those who are corrupt.” On his “Mount Vernon exposed” blog, rivers announces “With corruption, everyone pays.”

his anti-corruption activism has gotten rivers in trouble, but not deterredhim. One official targeted by rivers is Terrence horton, commissioner of Mount Vernon’s department of Public Works whom rivers describes as “hope-lessly corrupt.” rivers took pictures at the dPW yard located at 33 canal street to document workers’ abuse of public vehicles for their private needs. horton had rivers arrested and charged

with criminal trespass even though he was on public property.

Mount Vernon has three sitting judges, Mark Gross, helen Blackwood and adam seiden. all refused to preside over the case which was transferred to New rochelle because rivers previously filed ethics complaints against them. he charged Gross with illegally trying to qualify for a Mount Vernon pension as a public employee when, in fact, he represented the Water department as a private lawyer; he charged Blackwood with making an illegal $10,000 contribu-tion to the Mount Vernon democratic committee to buy the party’s endorse-ment; and he charged seiden with representing clients before the Mount Vernon Planning Board which rivers contends is prohibited because seiden is a sitting judge.

rivers, by his lawyer, notified Mount Vernon he intends to sue for false arrest, malicious prosecution and violation of his civil rights. The trespass case goes to trial this fall.

reginald Lafayette is the Westchester democratic chairman and democratic commissioner on the Board of elections. rivers said Lafayettte promised him the democratic Party’s backing in two years in exchange for rivers dropping out of

the race this year. according to rivers, Lafayette explained it was vital Pretlow have twenty years in the assembly because this will entitle him to a much fatter retirement pension.

“I turned him down flat,” rivers told the Guardian. “I refuse to be bribed with party backing in two years just so Pretlow can get more money from the state after he retires,” he said. “Who pays him that higher pension? The taxpayers, that’s who. Pension money does not grow on trees.”

democratic Party backing undoubt-edly would assure rivers an election victory in 2012. he was asked why he refused to wait.

“albany needs to be reformed now,” he said. “citizens living in Mount Vernon and yonkers need economic help now. If they can’t wait, I can’t wait,” he said.

Pretlow generally votes with the progressive wing of assembly democrats. For example, he sponsored legislation to legalize same sex marriage; prohibit gender identity discrimina-tion to protect transsexuals; expand rent control; fund the New york racing association; and believes there should be no term limits for governors. he favors decreased spending on law enforcement as a percentage of the state budget; supports proposed medical marijuana legislation; wants to restrict gun owners’ rights; increase the minimum wage; and opposed the Bush administration’s No child Left Behind act.

rivers is more conservative than Pretlow. he opposes same sex marriage; wants to decrease, not increase, rent control; would sponsor legislation to cap property taxes at 2.3%; favors term limits for all elected officials; wants to reinstate the star Tax rebate program; will protect gun owners’ rights; and favors educational milestones estab-lished by No child Left Behind.


Political Showdown in Mount Vernon

I refuse to be bribed with party backing... Sam Rivers



rivers is candid about his disap-pointment with black leadership at the local and state level, saying they have lined their own pockets instead of looking out for their poor constituents, the people most severely impacted by the state’s economic miseries.

Pretlow believes voters will choose him because of his experience. “I will pit my twenty-six years of public service against his blog any day of the year,” he said.

rivers remains unfazed. he believes his intellect, political activism, and

professional experience as a real estate broker have prepared him for the assembly.

“everything boils down to the real estate value of the house. If real estate is going well -- which is horrible in Mount Vernon -- then the rest of the commu-nity will fall in place,” rivers said. “If you can’t sell your house, and there are a lot of foreclosures, the city will take your house, meaning we have less money that will go to the schools, which means the kids are going to suffer, and they’re going to end up on the streets and even-tually end up in jail.”

Mike sklar is a Mount Vernon businessman. he noted rivers is “a young guy,” but insisted “if we had a thousand of those guys, we could turn things around” in albany. sklar turned

to rivers to help get his property taxes reduced.

“some within the political machinery may tell sam to ‘tone it down’,” he said. “But sam’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers. he doesn’t give up.”

sklar is angry at Pretlow because he did nothing to move local government to repair broken highway lights on the cross county Parkway, causing a safety hazard, and voted for a state school budget sklar called “unsustainable.” sklar confronted Pretlow at a recent convention and told him, “I hope you lose.”

damon Jones is a prominent black labor leader and president of the northeastern chapter of a national orga-nization of black police and corrections officers. he strongly supports rivers against Pretlow.

“he’s very knowledgeable about education, safety, and issues in the community,” Jones said about rivers. Jones admires rivers for his dogged determination to end corruption in Mount Vernon. “rivers is fighting a system that is corrupt on certain levels, where our freedoms are quelled for political purposes and political agendas,” Jones said.

Jones cited the role rivers played in exposing a local weapons manufacturer


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Political Showdown in Mount Vernon

Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow,Mount Vernon Activist Samuel L. Rivers



that received million dollar federal grants. It caused much controversy, and yet, was not covered by the media. according to Jones, rivers pushed it to the forefront of public consciousness.

Tom Keller is the Mount Vernon republican chairman. he noted the 87th district is heavily democratic which works in Pretlow’s favor. “Gary’s had a free ride for a long time,” he said. Keller has known rivers since he was a boy and played Little League with Keller’s son.

“I’m very impressed by his knowl-edge,” Keller said of rivers. “a lot of what he said I happen to agree with. he’s shaking things up with the research he’s doing.”

Keller thinks “the stars must align right” for rivers to beat Pretlow. however, he said unprecedented voter outrage animating the Tea Party move-ment may make the difference in handing rivers an upset.

“There’s an anti-incumbent senti-ment going around. If people in albany can’t come up with a budget and get it together, who knows?” he said. “stranger things have happened.”

helena edwards writes the “straight Talk in Mount Vernon” blog which, like the “Mount Vernon exposed” blog, is critical of local leaders. edwards strongly supports rivers.

“he’s a very hard worker,” she said. “he has the interests of people at heart and would make a very good representative.”

edwards is married to Mount Vernon city court Judge, Bill edwards, now acandidate for the Westchester Family court. rivers helped collect petition signatures for edwards’s judicial race.

To present a balance profile of the 87th assembly district race, the Guardian repeatedly contacted Pretlow’s supporters to no avail. They either refused to respond, or promised to respond and then did not return tele-phone calls.

Mount Vernon Mayor clinton young would not speak up for Pretlow. Neither would state senator ruth hassell-Thompson whose district covers Mount Vernon. Neither would

anyone at the Westchester democratic committee.

assemblyman Michael spano, a lifelong republican recently turned democrat, represents the 93d district in yonkers. his brother, former state senator Nick spano, is a lobbyist for the yonkers raceway casino in spano’s district. he told the Guardian he has worked closely with Pretlow on an array of issues, including tax breaks for the raceway casino.

“I find him to be honest, and a dependable, hard worker,” spano said about Pretlow. “he’s built a strong resume and he’s done it very quietly. he’s not the type to have the glitz and throw roses around himself. he’s solid, reliable, and he gets the job done.”

Pretlow is endorsed by the democratic and Working Families Parties. “I believe in the principles of the democratic party,” Pretlow said. “I believe the government can provide solutions and maintain order in society, provide help for people by whatever their fortunes aren’t able to help themselves.” Mount Vernon is overwhelmingly democratic.

rivers is a registered democrat, and plans to mount a primary challenge to Pretlow in september. he also got the nod from the conservative, republican, and Independence Parties. hence, even if rivers loses the september primary, he will still have the other ballot lines in the November general election.

currently, petition workers across New york state are collecting signa-tures to organize the new Tea Party. If it is constituted before the November election, rivers is likely to receive that party’s endorsement, too.

Pretlow is confident his many years of public service have earned him the loyalty of Mount Vernon voters who will send him back to albany in November. rivers believes voter outrage over high taxes and entrenched, do-nothing incumbents will help him achieve an unprecedented upset over Pretlow in November.

Showdown in Mount Vernon

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a true account.a friend and I went shopping recently at

the Wall Mart supercenter in ulster, New york. These supercenters are incredible places: five six-packs of coke for $5.

The cashier was a bewildered looking older gentleman who sported a soft white beard stained yellow by years of cigarette smoke. he began the check out, placing each item in its own separate plastic bag.

“you know you can put it all in the same bag” I offered.

“Nah, you should take as many as you can,” he said. “They’ll be worth something someday. The oil in them.”

I pondered this, and decided to find out what each bag was worth.

uline based in Waukegan, Illinois, is North america’s largest supplier of plastic grocery bags. The company employs over 2,500 people nationwide and sells thousands of packaging products. It boasts twice in a promotional video currently on youTube that its representatives answer uline’s “phones faster than 911.” In the same video, the company says “99.3% of uline’s orders go out correctly.”

a floor representative at uline explained the plastic grocery bag, or industry model #s3631, sells for about thirty-four dollars per thousand. That’s approximately three and a half cents per bag.

But the oil in them? how much can three and a half cents buy, a few tablespoons of oil?

“I had this idea once” the Wall Mart cashier continued, “for a science-fiction movie about a group of treasure hunters in the future who are looking for a treasure. and when they find it, it turns out to be a load of Wall Mart plastic bags.” he laughed to himself.

he is not alone in his polyethylene obsession. In some places, where folks appreciate the actual cost of grocery bags, the bags have been banned and using them criminalized. Bans currently exist in china, Bangladesh and california. In our nation’s capitol, plastic bags carry a five-cent tax.

a treasure of plastic Wall Mart bags can be found today in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an island of garbage the size of Texas circulating the Northern Pacific. unfortunately, the technology to convert them back into oil still eludes us.

Green WorldThere’s Oil in Them Thar Bags By Eric Silberberg

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Samuel Rivers vs J. Gary Pretlow