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 ]


 
I found the following article in a previous edition of the HV News.  Mr. Langan is not unfamiliar with targeting elected officials. But apparently he got tired of Tyner and moved on to the current Town Board. What is with this guy anyway? Does he get some pervertial enjoyment with creating chaos in elected officials lives? Do you have to advertise in his paper if you're in office for this guy to give you a fair shake?

But Tyner does make a good point with his accusations of Langan 'ruining his life' and 'wanting to run the county.'
http://issuu.com/hudsonvalleynews/docs/11-11_hudsonvalleynews

TO OUR READERS: On Monday, County Legislator Joel Tyner sent a letter to Hudson Valley News regarding his campaign and recent criticism of his actions at Rhinebeck High School. He has also asked his supporters to fi ll our in-boxes with e-mails requesting we publish the letter. While we feel it’s important to allow our elected officials to express themselves in our newspaper from time to time, we have learned the baggage that comes with helping Tyner address his constituents is simply not worth the effort. From the very beginning, we have tried to be a friend to Tyner. We have printed his letters to the editor, run numerous letters endorsing his candidacy, wrote a halfpage, unbiased candidate profile about him, covered his debates, ran a number of photos of him and published an entire column endorsing him for re-election. This doesn’t seem to be enough for Tyner, though. On the day before Election Day, during a phone interview with Hudson Valley News reporter Christopher Lennon, Tyner became irate and screamed at Lennon, saying he and Executive Editor Jim Langan think they “run Dutchess County.” He further accused the newspaper of trying to “destroy” him. Mind you, this conversation occurred days after the paper ran a glowing endorsement of Tyner by columnist Jonathan Smith. Days later, Tyner logged onto his Twitter page, and between an illegible series of parenthesis and ellipses, wrote something to the effect of “Why won’t Hudson Valley News die?” He’s also written some less-than-favorable comments about the newspaper on his blog. Tyner likes to tell people the local press ignores him. As a new newspaper in town, we’re starting to see why. Nothing is good enough. When the papers report on him, we get it all wrong because we’re part of some vast rightwing conspiracy hell bent on ruining him. When we back off, we’re ignoring him because we’re part of some vast right-wing conspiracy hell bent on ruining him. We hope Tyner rethinks his tactics and public relations strategies, but we doubt that will happen. We do not feel obligated to provide Tyner or any other political fi gure a forum to vent or promote themselves. We will continue to cover Tyner but on our terms, not his.