Amherst Times

The most important race in the upcoming November election is the race to seat 3 new people on our Town Board. Council members Mike McGuire, Bill Kindel and Bill O’Loughan’s seats are up for grabs.

There will be 4 Republicans and 3 Democrats seeking these 3 very important seats. The number of Democrat and Republican voters in Amherst is roughly equal.

There is a great need for the voters to get to know the men running for these seats. The voters must understand what each of the 7 men really stand for and what they will try to get done in Amherst.

The BS rhetoric about lowering taxes without cutting deep into services and laying off town workers is a joke. If any candidate makes this promise, mark him of your list. We all know politicians lie during their campaign to simply get votes. Catch them in their lies and challenge them.

Ask candidates the hard questions about what they really plan to accomplish in Amherst. The voters must demand all 7 candidates be in an open forum where questions are asked by the public. A “Meet the Candidate” forum like this, held in one of our local high schools, would draw voters.

During the next 2 months I will report on the happenings of candidates who may affect Amherst. The reports will include a listing of the heavy contributors to the candidates. We will see whether the developers continue to heavily support the Republicans candidates financially.

It may be just a coincidence but, past Town Boards have approved over 95% of developers requests to build in Amherst. The Republicans have controlled the Town Board for last 100 years compared to the Democrats two years.

Various conclusions may be drawn from the fact that developers, contractors and many others connected to the building trades, including sectaries and attorneys, donated heavily to the Republican candidates. This large sum of money greatly helped Republican candidates win, and remain in control of, the Town Board. Presently there are 5 Republicans and two Democrats on our Town Board.

Democrats have refused to take any contributions from people in the building trades. There are no fat cows out there to hand over large sums of money to them. There isn’t another group of people in Amherst who can in anyway match the amount of money the Republican candidates have received in the past from the extended family of the building trades.

When questioned about how much money various Republican candidates have received from building trade connected people, the first words out of the candidate’s mouth is usually something like, “No one can buy my vote” followed by, “Are you challenging my integrity?”

I am not saying that large donations can buy any politician’s vote or support for any special interest group. I am simply going to follow the donation trail. My job will be to put up the candidate’s name, political party, and who their main contributors are. You will be able to draw your own conclusions and ask questions of the candidates you are following.

I hope this information will be useful to the voters at election time.