Letter To The Editor – A Conflict of Interest In New Lebanon

To the Editor;
I am writing to address the extreme Conflict of Interest surrounding  appointments made at the Town Board Meeting of the Town of New Lebanon on 3-14-2012.  The Ethics Board has had two vacancies for some years now and one member is absent for five months of every year, and should also step down. In January of 2012, there were only two present and available members of the Ethics Board, but there was also an applicant that was highly qualified and had served for the final six weeks of 2011 to complete a newly vacated seat. Due to a false rumor that upset Councilman Bruce Baldwin, this good man was not re-appointed in January, and the Ethics Board remained non-functional as a result, despite there being a pending complaint awaiting due process.
The Town Board passed a motion to hold off on Ethics Board appointments until March and solicit Letters of Interest from the public as is proper procedure. However, this “proper” procedure is implemented selectively at best. In any case, appointments to the two Ethics Board vacancies were made on 3-14-2012 at the Town Board Meeting, following the third Executive Session of the year to date. This Executive Session was held to update the Supervisor and Councilman Baldwin, both of whom were absent for the candidate interviews. In MY thinking, they should both have abstained. As expected, the man who had submitted TWO Letters of Interest and was available in January was passed over and two other residents appointed.
One of the appointees is an attorney named Christopher Steadman. If that name has a familiar ring to you, it may be because he is the same Republican attorney that snuck into the Town Democratic caucus this past fall, physically shielded from view by two of our Town Councilmen, Bruce Baldwin and Doug Clark. Even after the Democratic Chair, Leonard Brown, announced that the caucus was a CLOSED CAUCUS and would all non-Democrats please step out, Steadman remained and even proceeded to announce himself to the Democratic audience as a candidate for Town Justice!!
Despite objections to and complaints from the public re: the illegal actions of Steadman and the two Councilmen, none of the three of them faced any consequences for their violation of NYS Election Law and Penal Code that applies to Interfering with a Caucus. Baldwin was also found guilty by the Ethics Board of using his Town email account to campaign for Steadman, which is also a violation of NYS Penal Code. Complaints were made to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department and the agency refused to accept the complaints, stating that it was Department POLICY to not accept complaints against officials!!!! The District Attorney, Paul Czajka supported the Sheriff’s Department decision in February of 2012, directly to ME.
At the Town Board meeting of 3-14-2012, four councilmen voted on the applicants for the Ethics Board vacancies. Two of these Councilmen were Bruce Baldwin and Doug Clark, the very same two men that assisted Steadman in his infiltration of the closed caucus and Baldwin, who violated NYS Penal Code. Christopher Steadman was appointed to the Town Ethics Board and the original, well qualified applicant was again passed over. Now, maybe I am just getting old, but appointing Steadman to the ETHICS BOARD after what he did at the caucus, AND allowing his two co-conspirators to VOTE him into that position, smacks of EXTREME Conflict to ME! How our Town Supervisor and Attorney allowed this to happen defies common sense. Nice going, VERY Ethical!
We would like to know what the people of New Lebanon think about this corruption in their town government.
Respectfully,
JJ. Johnson-Smith
Shaker Road, New Lebanon