Archive: Opinions

The following was submitted to the Village of Lansing Board of Trustees at Monday's meeting and was entered into the minutes:

We, the Voice of the People party, were the first challengers to the seemingly undefeated Community Party, in at least a decade. We found the process very eye-opening and also disconcerting. We encountered deception and intimidation amongst the techniques used by this party. In order to encourage competition in the political process of our village (not discourage it), we request that a set of guidelines be developed by the village and be given to any future candidates wishing to run for office in the village. Below is, what we feel should be the basic rules/guidelines. If followed by all parties, it would make for a non-intimidating environment and would encourage more participation in the political process of our village (which is what we all want after all).

To be clear, this request for a set of guidelines came before the election outcome was known. Just before the April 22 Candidates Forum, we informed the incumbents Julie Baker and John O’Neil (in the presence of Dan Veaner, the moderator of the forum) of our experiences and requested that after the April 24, 2012 elections a thorough review and evaluation of campaign procedures be conducted and the Board of Trustees for the Village of Lansing draft a set of guidelines of conduct for future parties to follow.

This request is not as a result of our loss, rather out of concern for behaviors that should be discouraged/disallowed during a campaign process within our village. We also learned that if one is asked to serve for the Village (say for the Planning Board) and they are not a member of the Community Party then they would be strongly urged to become a Community Party member. There is no place for this sort of coercion in our village. Diversity is critical for our village to remain a healthy and welcoming place for all and ensure that everyone’s voice is represented (not just the voice of one party).

For some background, the Voice of the People is a grassroots party that arose because of concerns of decisions being made by the Community Party that will negatively impact our neighborhood. We are not a professional party, we do not have any elected or appointed officials within our party. We rely solely on the largess of our friends, neighbors and supporters. We have no political experience nor background – we are simply residents of our village concerned about the direction our village is taking and with a desire to ensure the needs of all residents are represented.

During our brief campaign period we encountered the following very disturbing incidences which we hope will never occur again if we develop a guideline document for future election campaigns:

1. John Dennis (a member of the Community Party and part of the nominations committee for that party) approached us, without disclosing his party affiliation, before we were even on the ballot. He represented himself as a neutral party interested in helping our campaign, but before he could do that he insisted upon a face-to-face meeting after having spent 45 minutes on the phone with him answering his numerous probing questions. He tried to manipulate us into making negative statements about the incumbents. He was unsuccessful in doing so as our campaign was not a smear campaign, rather one out of a legitimate concern about real issues impacting the quality of the lives of our neighbors. His obvious goal was to uncover information from us that could be potentially damaging to our efforts. He never actually ever intended to support us in any way. His questions were leading, trying to get us to say derogatory things about the current trustees and challengers.

2. Several of our supporters were approached, sometimes multiple times, by the incumbents, face- to-face with the goal of changing their minds about their support for us. Our supporters found their interactions uncomfortable, and in one case, bordering harassment. One of our supporters was accused by one of the incumbents of “running against us” (clearly with the goal of ostracizingthisfamily). The result was very effective as it absolutely intimated our supporters so much so, a few were very uneasy about putting our signs on their lawns.

3. We had many people unwilling to sign our initial petition because they didn’t want the Community Party to know they were supporting us. Some were landowners in the village and they feared retaliation that their land wouldn’t get the necessary approvals from the Village. Some were neighbors of the incumbents and feared their support for us would create hardship for them in their neighborhood. Some were just citizens wanting to serve for the village and feared that they would not be given an opportunity if it was known they supported us.

4. Many of our campaign signs were pulled down. This is illegal.

5. On Saturday, April 21, there was a private event held for us (Voice of the People), hosted by Northwood Apartments, inviting their renters to meet us (not the incumbent candidates). Two Community Party members, Larry Bieri and Mary Furry, were amongst the very first people to arrive at this event (although neither of them live in these apartments). They did not disclose to us they were Community Party members, but began to disrupt this event. They were argumentative and belligerent. They were not interested in meeting us or listening to us, rather to argue with us and point out (in public) why they disagreed with us. When asked why they were in attendance, they had no answer. Larry Bieri was there with a clipboard taking notes, with the obvious intent of reporting back to his party about who was in attendance, and what weweresaying. In fact, Mary Furry went as far as to tell me “You must trust the Community Party to do the right thing.” The notion that one party is right and that anyone opposing them is wrong is an absolutely offensive thing to say to anyone and has no place in our village. She went on to criticize me in front of other voters and explained to them why she couldn’t vote for me – never disclosing that she was a Community Party member. Discrediting a challenger is par for the course in a political process, but should be done honestly by disclosing ones party affiliation so that observers can make assessments in an unbiased, honest manner.

6. The April 22 Candidates Forum was initially an invitation from us to the incumbents for a debate. The Community Party Campaign Chair, Robert Schleileen, took a very significant role in
the arrangements of this event – changing it from a debate to a forum and then outlining the rules we needed to follow. The hour before the forum was to begin Mr. Schleileen approached us requesting that their one candidate be exempt from the rules we had agreed to weeks before, claiming an inability to speak publicly. This is an example of how rules apply to everyone else, but the Community Party can act as it wishes. Something we encountered numerous times.

To regain trust and respect amongst village residents, and to encourage others to run for political office in our village in the future, we are requesting that the Board of Trustees develop a set of guidelines that will ensure that future candidates do not feel intimidated, harassed, or cheated because of the actions of any party members during a campaign period. We understand one cannot control the actions of the general public, but one can and must control the actions of the members of ones’ party who hold formal or informal positions.

We have been told by many people that they really admired our courage for running as they felt that there was an unspoken understanding that no one dare challenge the Community Party. We now understand why they were so concerned based on our first-hand experience. Below is what we believe should be a first draft of guidelines befitting our village political process.

Guidelines of Conduct for Political Campaigning in the Village of Lansing, NY

1. Party members must disclose their party affiliation when interacting with the opposition or other registered voters. Deception will not be tolerated.
2. Removing/destroying/tampering with party member political signs is illegal.
3. Intimidation and harassment of Village residents will not be tolerated.
4. Party members should act in a respectful manner when engaging with the opposition and
whenever in a public event where village residents are in attendance.

Submitted by: Yasamin Miller, Brian Goodell (Voice of the People Party)

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