http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2010/06/hold-jim-langan-accountable-for-his.html

hold Jim Langan accountable for his lies-- pass it on... Hi all...

I just picked up this week's issue of "The Hudson Valley News" (came out this Wednesday)...

Page 3 has article on my campaign kickoff for progressive gubernatorial run-- falsely describing me as saying this:

"Andrew Cuomo is too beholden to special interests like the teachers' union."

Fact: I did not say this (truth is that, unlike Langan, I have never equated unions with special interests).

Langan's blatant lie on this is unacceptable.

[note-- also unacceptable-- I ran into Langan himself tonight just a few hours ago reporting at the county Dem committee's annual nominating convention and asked him if he had gotten the letter I had sent him on this...believe it or not, the man refused to admit he had put false words in my mouth in the article-- and on top of that Langan actually had the gall to also tell me to my face tonight, "I'll have to check my notes"(!!!)]

Email him today a note on this at [email protected] ask him what's going on!

Fact: During my re-election campaign last fall, for the last seven years I've served in our County Legislature, and for the last fifteen years I've been a community activist, I have always stood strongly FOR and WITH teachers, unions, and teacher unions (and yes, I was even a member of NYSUT and UFT when I taught Math in the Bronx for five years at the Belmont School of Global Studies).

[recall my debate with Dealy last fall on Cablevision-- I pointed out on air-- union is not a 4-letter word-- and yes-- for last 15 years I've also been the one organizing annual Labor Day rallies for Dutchess Co.]

Check out http://www.petitiononline.com/joel4ny -- in my campaign website I make perfectly clear that I stand in strong SOLIDARITY WITH teachers, unions, and teacher unions-- and I even mentioned to Jim Langan at the press conference last Wednesday that a big reason why I'm running is the fact that I know there's a huge statewide coalition that includes NYSUT that's pushing for a stock transfer tax on Wall Street to help balance the budget and avoid county/school property tax hikes-- and the fact that by 3-to-1 ratio that NY'ers strongly support re-implementation of a tiny stock transfer tax on Wall Street...

[see more on this @ http://www.petitiononline.com/stocktax ; http://www.ABetterChoiceforNY.org !]

Fact: Much of my campaign for governor, actually, is about standing UP for unions-- not bashing 'em.

Langan should be ashamed of himself. Period.

[his standing up to fascistic idiocy in Hyde Park doesn't give him pass to lie in print, folks-- pass it on!]

Joel
444-0599/876-2488
[email protected]

p.s. Sadly, this whole episode dredges up unpleasant memories of the Hudson Valley News' decidedly unfair coverage of my campaign last fall....recall how just before Election Day last year Langan actually described me in his column as a "socialist"(!)...and how his newspaper also described my proposal to save hundreds of thousands of county tax dollars annually with a bail loan fund as loans for "criminals"-- when I have made it clear for the past five years (see http://www.OARTompkins.com for model for Dutchess) that what we're talking about here is a United Way loan fund (as in Tompkins)-- only for SOME ACCUSED of NONVIOLENT MISDEMEANORS-- not "criminals"...
[recall-- http://issuu.com/hudsonvalleynews/docs/9-30_hudsonvalleynews ; blog posts:
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2009/10/why-cant-hudson-valley-news-print-truth.html ;
http://dutchessdemocracy.blogspot.com/2009/10/part-ii-why-cant-hudson-valley-news.html ]





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