Here & There Column 10-16-07

We Don't See Too Much BS From This Politician

Politicians or those who think they are politicians come and go like the four-seasons of the year we experience here in Sullivan County.
I have looked, read and listened to most of the the folks seeking office in our towns and county and at times I find it very difficult to get a true taste of where some of these politicians are coming from.
There is so much of the "Good Old Boy" style of politics still affecting what is best for us living in Sullivan County that when an individual steps out of the shadow to present something new, clean and pure I immediately examine the contents to see what is best for all of our county folks.
With many newspaper headlines recently crying for shared municipal services and the fact that taxes worry locals its about time someone steps to the top of the ladder and does something about it.
When anyone says they want to reduce our tax burden in Sullivan County it usually catches my attention but when a "politician" says this message then I really sit up to see what else important they might say.
Jeffersonville Chiropractor Dr. David Sager has launched a campaign that calls for tax reform, environment studies, a need for economic growth, public safety in making the Sullivan County Sheriff's Deputies Road Patrol a permanent part of the county charter, a need to open the walls of the County government, a serious study with regard to religious tax exempt status, the need for a new jail and the need at the same time for sticking strictly to a reasonable budget, the need to reduce fraud within the Medicaid system and the need to for further tax advantages for fixed income senior citizens.
Dr. Sager in making the decision to enter the race for the county legislative says he has made it his life's agenda to try to help people.
It doesn't matter what political party Doc Sager is a member of because he notes "my blood does not bleed Democrat blue or Republican red, but rather, my heart aches for the residents of Sullivan County."
"I cannot sit back as our state, school and county taxes careen out of control. The rate of tax inflation has risen at a far greater rate than our pay or current job markets can sustain and I firmly believe that we are reaching a boiling point. New York State is by many studies, the second most highly taxed state in the union and Sullivan County is statistically among its poorest," Dr. Sager said,.
He clearly says that there has been "foolish waste of a major county resource in the landfill," and he wonders "just where we will be placing our own trash in the coming years."
And he is the only declared candidate or politician or county employee to clearly offer critical views on "the overpriced purchase of a new Department of Public Works (DPW) site in a poor location on a busy roadway and which is affectionately referred to as "Moneywood" not Maplewood as you watch untold additional millions of taxpayer dollars poured into it to make it even suitable for workers' needs."
Here is one individual that calls a spade a spade when he points out that there has been "politically motivated vendettas, back stabbing, nepotism and partisanship on a daily basis," in our county government and he reminds county taxpayers that "this year it's the sales tax, but next years it will have to be something else that they raise."
It is truly time for changes in our county government and we need those seeking political office to be more responsible leaders who will fight to stop the waste going on within county government and someone who will treat the beleaguered taxpayers of Sullivan County with shared consolidated municipal services and true tax reform.