Our 2009 Recipient:
Ms. Blodgett was honored by the Dutchess County Youth Bureau as its Teacher of the Year award before her retirement from John Jay High School in 2001. At John Jay, she ran the in school suspension program for 23 years. Her retirement has allowed her the time to become more involved in the community.
She currently serves on the Architectural Review Board for the Town of East Fishkill, as vice president of the East Fishkill Community Library Board of Trustees, secretary of the Dutchess County Mental Hygiene Board, chairman of the Children and Youth Subcommittee of the Dutchess County Mental Hygiene Board, task force member of the Building Bridges: Schools and Organizations Working Together, vestry member of the Church of the Resurrection, and co-chairman of the Special Events Committee of the Center for Lifetime Learning at Marist College.
Ms. Blodgett is also coordinator of Democratic Inspectors for the Town of East Fishkill. As such, she works on Election Day from 5:30 a.m. to well after the polls close at 9.
Sunday, Sept 13, at Le Chambord
from 11:30am to 2:30pm.
There will be a silent auction.
The award is named for the late Dominick Cannizzaro, who served three terms as Supervisor for the Town of East Fishkill.
Proceeds benefit a charity chosen by our honoree, the Dominick Cannizzaro Foundation and the East Fishkill Democrats.
]]>Our next meeting, on Wednesday, Aug. 12 (this week) is our caucus.
Here is a more formal notice:
Wednesday, the 12th day of August, 2009 at 7 pm
The East Fishkill Public Libray
380 Route 376 (next to town hall)
Hopewell Junction, NY 12533
for the purpose of selecting and nominating various candidates to be voted on at the General Election to be held on NOVEMBER 3, 2009, and for the transaction of such other business as may properly come before the meeting.
Please attend!
Our regular meeting will immediately follow the caucus.
SAVE THE DATE:
THURSDAY, APRIL 16TH
The a special meeting of the Dutchess County Democratic Committee’s full membership will be held in the James Earl Jones Theater at Poughkeepsie Day School on Thursday, April 16. Barbara Jeter-Jackson will get official meeting notices and proxies out to all members, either by email or U.S. mail shortly. Agenda is below.
To: Democratic Committee Members
From: Jane Barber Smith, Chair
Subject: Special Meeting to vote on VoteBuilder on Thursday, April 16
There will be a meeting of the full Dutchess County Democratic Committee at Poughkeepsie Day School, 260 Boardman Road, Poughkeepsie 12603, on Thursday, April 16. Sign in starts at 6:30 p.m. Meeting starts at 7 p.m.
This is a special meeting as requested by full committee vote at the last meeting held i on February 10th. Edgar Santana, Deputy Executive Director of the NYS Democratic Committee, will be on hand to give us a full demonstration of VoteBuilder, the web-based program that has been under discussion for most of the past year. We will need to vote at this meeting on whether or not the Committee will expend funds to contract for this service to use in our 2009 coordinated campaign. We will also vote on a By-Laws revision regarding filling of vacancies at endorsement meetings.
We look forward to seeing as many as possible
The East Fishkill Democratic Committee will hold a meet-and-greet meeting on Wednesday, April 15, 2009, from 6-8 p.m. at Gian Bruno’s, 2593 Route 52 (Taconic Plaza) in Hopewell Junction.
The event is open to all East Fishkill Democrats. The committee will provide free pizza and soda.
The committee’s goal is to spread the word about the committee and its work, and to introduce its members to the greater East Fishkill Democratic population. There are several elected offices on the ballot in November, and potential candidates may wish further information.
Reservations are not required.
For further information please contact
Dianne Averill, membership chair
East Fishkill Democratic Committee
845-896-4250
The committee regularly meets on the second Wednesday of each month at the East Fishkill Library, from 7-9 p.m. The committee holds an annual citizen of the year award brunch, and participates in local parades and in East Fishkill Day in September. Other events are being planned for 2009.
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To Members of the Dutchess County Democratic Committee and Friends:
The Committee’s annual Issues Forum this year will be held at Poughkeepsie Day School on Saturday, April 18 at 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the Dutchess Young Democrats. Chairs of the Issues Committee are Fred Bunnell and Jonathan Smith.
This forum will be a series of panels and discussions on the important issues that face us in Dutchess County today. Tell your friends. Bring your friends.
Congressmen John Hall (NY-19) and Maurice Hinchey (NY22) are invited speakers, and the panel topics are
ZERO WASTE
BUDGETS – FAIR & BALANCED
GOOD GOVERNMENT
& HOW TO GET ELECTED IN DUTCHESS COUNTY
Please find registration information on the attached flyer.
Preregistration is suggested. Call the Democratic Office at 845-485-1934. Leave a voicemail message and give your name and phone number if you plan to attend, You may pay at the door or send a check made payable to the Dutchess County Democratic Committee to P.O. Box 5005, Poughkeepsie, NY 12602. The cost is $20 including lunch and $12 without lunch.
See you there!
]]>The East Fishkill Open Space Preservation Committee invites East Fishkill residents to a program “Why Should We and How Can We Preserve Our Open Space” on Monday, April 20th at 7:30PM in the Town Hall. Speakers will be Matt Shurtleff from The Trust for Public Land and Rebecca Thornton from Dutchess Land Conservancy. Refreshments will be served.
]]>February 8, 2009
Dear Editor,
I would like to respond to Legislator James Miccio’s recent letter to this paper regarding the recent Dutchess County budget process. I’m glad he got to “the truth of the matter” (his words) because I was getting ready to blame the Republicans for the “flaws in the county budget.”
He states that the “majority caucus passed a budget that raised property taxes by 11%.” Ouch! If that were “the truth” it would certainly hurt. But I just received my tax bill for 2009 and my bottom-line property taxes actually decreased by $32! So where is this 11% increase? Every homeowner I’ve spoken to has either seen a property tax decrease or a very slight increase (3% is the highest I heard). If you personally know someone whose property taxes went up 11% could it not be because their assessed valuation went up? Please let all us know how many homeowners you personally know of who have seen an 11% increase in their property taxes if you would really like to expose “the truth of the matter”.
Legislator Miccio also complains of how the budget was discussed in the Legislature. I agree, from the outside it certainly didn’t sound so pretty. But you know what? Being a new legislator, you may be unaware that for the 30 years preceding your joining the Legislature, the Republican caucus had a stranglehold on the Legislature and the budget process was just as ugly, with the minority Democrats never being allowed any input into the budget.
Maybe if the county executive had not submitted such a ridiculous budget in the first place all of this contention would not have happened. As a longtime resident of Dutchess County, I find it hard to swallow that yourself and the other Republican legislators did not know what was in Steinhaus’ budget before it was sent to the Legislature on October 31st.
One final question: If you had been in charge of the Legislature during this budget period, how would you have handled things differently? Please be truthful.
Sincerely,
Al Marotta
14 Zerner Blvd.
Hopewell Junction, N.Y. 12533
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It is no surprise that the Republican National Committee and its blog site are after our new Democratic candidate in the 20th Congressional District. And, of course, getting Democrats on unpaid taxes is the name of the game today, Tuesday, February 3.
Yesterday the RNC charged Scott Murphy with tax evasion and improper involvement in an Indian auction site like eBay. Today’s Albany Times Union article should provide everyone with good talking points to combat the unfounded accusations. Scott was upfront about these things in his interview, I assure you.
See the article copied below, and also at this site (copy and paste in subject bar):
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=766276
The East Fishkill Democratic Committee meets on the second Wednesday of every month in the Alley Room of the East Fishkill Community Library at 7:00 pm.
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