If you live in the Town of Newburgh and are not paying attention to what’s happening in our town government, you may want to start. We’re seeing what happens when elections are decided by a small fraction of the population, when those elected don’t represent the values of the community they are supposed to serve, and when they feel no accountability to their constituents. Below is a small snapshot of what they’ve been up to while no one is minding the store.

The town has failed to take any meaningful action against a proposed ICE facility they have known about since July and instead, passed two toothless resolutions: one passed unanimously expressing opposition to an ICE detention center in the town and the second, hiring a law firm to help them figure out what action they could take in opposition (our tax dollars already pay for a town attorney). Months later they still have taken no action and now we know there is a federal contract of approximately $173k awarded on September 25 for “repair or alteration of office buildings” in Newburgh. It is safe to assume this is for the proposed detention site at 800 Corporate Blvd.. The town’s continued inaction begs the question of whether the council really intends to do anything or if the intent is simply to placate the community until after an election and when it is likely too late to meaningfully oppose this concentration camp.

Meanwhile, the town continues to install new Flock cameras, despite strong bipartisan opposition to the technology, while refusing to respond to multiple FOIL requests of the audit logs that would provide the community with insight into how the town utilizes the technology and whether it has been abused. They also appear to lack even a basic understanding of their obligations under the law and will likely face additional litigation on that issue. As for the data they did produce, they failed to redact personal information of individuals whose license plates were searched including, among other things, home addresses. So if you happen to be someone whose license plate the town searched for any reason, they probably turned that info over to a private citizen who made a FOIL request.

The town is also currently being accused of placing an employee who complained of a hostile work environment on leave since February while they “investigate” and while those accused of creating that environment continue to work. We can add all these litigation costs on top of the $4 million in taxpayer dollars spent fighting rank choice voting and losing multiple appeals. Now rank choice voting is being implemented in the town and, in a surprise to no one, we aren’t getting a $4m refund.

Two of the people responsible for these messes are Councilmembers Manley and Lobiondo yet both are asking the taxpayers for a promotion on Election Day. Councilmember Manley wants to be supervisor and Councilmember Lobiondo wants to be town judge. Neither has taken a public position on the proposed concentration camp and both voted in favor of Flock and the voting rights appeal referenced above.

These governance issues are bad enough, but let’s also think about what we want from our candidates. If you want candidates who show no courage, say as little as possible, use campaign funds for opposition research and to hire private investigators, refuse to engage with constituents whose opinion “they don’t care about” (as one councilmember said at a recent meeting), campaign with a rogue sheriff who is being represented by a white supremacist hate group in his litigation against NYS (which the county government does not support), and refuse to take accountability for mistakes to course correct, then these incumbents are for you.

If you’re one of the people who do not typically vote in your local elections, this one matters more than most for all the reasons above and many more. Take a look at the incumbent’s voting records and the campaign tactics, then decide for yourself. But most importantly, please vote because this is what apathy and low turnout gets us.