Sullivan County Chairman Faces Removal Attempt
During the latest legislative meeting, District 8 Sullivan County Legislator Ira Steingart proposed a resolution to oust Legislator Rob Doherty from his position as Chairman of the Legislative Body.
“I think it's an embarrassing time for us, to be quite frank. I decided not to run again. Because for the first time, I'm embarrassed to be a legislator with how we conducted ourselves and how people were treated,” said Steingart.
The resolution was brought up during the Planning, Real Property, and Economic Development Committee meeting, and not everyone was in agreement with Steingart regarding the timing and the venue for voting on this matter.
George Conklin, Legislator for District 5 said, “Personally find this all very troubling, and very unfortunate. That being said, we have an election coming up in less than a month, and then there's going to be a time when that new legislature, which is going to be a new legislature, however it turns out, will then be picking a chairman. And I'm willing to wait to that time. I'm not interested in entertaining this.”
Nadia Rajsz, the Legislator for District 2, expressed that she has, at times, felt bullied due to the actions of the chairman.
“I have been bullied, harassed, , disrespected by not only another legislator, but a chair who's the face of the legislative body. Have to say that not one of his supporters stopped him publicly from doing what he, what he was doing. When that C word was posted on our website, that was an immense embarrassment. And now one of you guys addressed it with maybe you did privately, but not publicly. It's an embarrassment to all of us that we continue to operate that way.”
Doherty was absent from the meeting but informed Radio Catskill that he considered these proceedings to be political theater, emphasizing that this wasn't the first instance of such actions.
The resolution was voted down 3 to 2 with George Conklin, Michael Brooks, and Nicholas Salomone Jr. voting no.
