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This belongs to you. Take it back...
Sat Aug 14, 2010 at 14:33:35 PM EDT
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| Online readers of the Journal News Website, LoHud.com, seemed remarkably angered by County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef's hasty appointment of his spokeswoman as Rockland County's Director of Tourism. The job, which pays $102,000 a year was given to CJ Miller, a Vanderhoef aide since 2005.
The job became vacant upon the death of director Heather Duke in July.
At question was not only Miller's six figure salary, but questions as to why the job wasn't publicly posted and other candidates considered. Even more readers seemed to question the need for an Office of Tourism for a small, financially unstable and high-taxed county that has no major tourist attractions.
One argument, brought up in the article by Republican County Legislator Ed Day was whether or not the three people in the tourism office should be laid off and the job of promoting tourism outsourced to the Rockland Economic Development Corporation. Day claims the office's budget to be at $528,000 a year. |
| cliffweathers :: SD-38: Vanderhoef's six-figure patronage appointment angers Journal News readers |
Cries of "cronyism" came from LoHud's peanut gallery. And people from different parts of the political spectrum-based on their past comments in the Comments section-were equally upset. Among the 90-plus comments made on two related articles on the matter, readers appeared to be shocked that the County even had a Tourism office. Many called its very existence wasteful. Some of the more notable (and civil) comments are below:
PRResident: I thought we were in a recession? How can anyone justify a minimum $42,000.00 raise in five years? No wonder Rockland County is floundering and taxes keep going up - all of our money is going to Ms. Miller!
Biffo: This jobs-for-the-cronies mentality that Vanderhoef will continue to use until he's gone has to stop. Remember a couple of years ago when he gave himself and his crew substantial, unearned and unnecessary raises? The public outcry was so loud that he had to do an instant reversal. Let's make sure he does the same here. Rockland is not and never will be a tourist county. We don't need to spend a substantial six - or seven - figure sum proving it.
DriveBusiness: This highlights the main problem with government, it's inability to change in a meaningful and timely manner. The Dept of Tourism is a luxury item for Rockland County. When the economy fell 2 years ago, the County should have been assessing services that could be cut and department that could be combined. Instead of prioritizing cuts and services, they will take the easy route and do a percentage cut of every department. It's lazy management.
Nyack51: More cronyism costing us money. What happends if he wins a Senate seat? What is that going to cost in payback jobs? Wish there was aconservative running
Despite the substantial backlash on LoHud's message board there has been no response from the Rockland County Executive's Office as of yet. Perhaps they're short a spokesperson?
Vanderhoef, a Republican, is one of two candidates running for the vacant State Senate seat in the the 38th district. Democratic Clarkstown Town Clerk, David Carlucci, is also running. |
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