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Peoples column

Commission must return

Editor, OBSERVER: New York state adopted the Moreland Act in 1907 to permit the governor “to examine and investigate the management and affairs of any department, board, bureau or commission of the state.” The soon-to-be-gone Gov. Andrew Cuomo invoked the Moreland Act in 2013 to “probe systemic corruption and the appearance of such corruption in state government, political campaigns and elections.” Through the then Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, who himself had to resign in 2018, for physically abusing women, a number of experienced prosecutors were appointed to carry ...

Sex harassment not a party issue

Editor, OBSERVER: I couldn’t agree more with the Commentary written by Rolland Kidder, that was published in the OBSERVER (Aug. 10). While I am not in any way condoning the recently documented inappropriate behavior of Andrew Cuomo, I do not believe any reasonable person would state that what he did is even close to the inappropriate behavior with women that was clearly admitted to by Donald Trump. It is interesting that Democrats, as well as Republicans, across state and the rest of the country have no hesitancy (appropriately so) to condemn Mr. Cuomo’s actions but Republicans ...

People’s column

It’s premature to opt to preserve Editor, OBSERVER: In an article “Motion to Preserve 23rd Congressional District Falls Short” (July 30), the OBSERVER reports that county Legislative Chairman Pierre Chagnon requested that the county legislature pass a motion urging the “preservation of existing boundaries of New York State 23rd Congressional District.” The article goes on to report that, despite heavy voting along party lines, the motion failed to move forward to the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission. For the chairman to propose such a motion before ...

Columnist’s mask take is ‘spot on’

Editor, OBSERVER: Thomas Kirkpatrick’s opinion of face masks for children is spot on! Thank you for having the guts to express what so many of us are thinking. The progressive agenda has to be stopped. Our young people in public schools should not be indoctrinated by the Critical Race Theory garbage. This country is under attack from within. Marxist ideology has no place in the USA. The Biden administration’s policy at the southern border would be laughable if it were not so obviously politically motivated and dangerous. Keep the opinion pieces coming Mr. Kirkpatrick. ...

Form county panel now

Editor, OBSERVER: The League of Women Voters of Chautauqua County strongly urges the County Legislature to prepare for redistricting now. Now is the time to focus on the creation of an exploratory bipartisan work group to lay the groundwork for the bipartisan redistricting committee or commission as required by our county’s charter. According to Section 2.01 of the county charter, once the official committee or commission is appointed, its members have only three months to study the population data and make recommendations in the form of a local law to the Legislature. This ...

State must help disabled

Editor, OBSERVER: It’s a shame that the state of New York doesn’t want to subsidize nonprofit agencies that service disabled children and adults and their families. Families with disabled children and adults can’t get all the help and services they need from the non-profit agencies due to a lack of funding from the state of New York. The agencies can’t afford to pay their support staff a livable wage with benefits because the state is too cheap to subsidize agencies. The individuals who benefit from these agencies depend on the services and their support staff to help ...