Mount Vernon’s Best Interests Come First
This past weekend I made another tough choice and once again put Mount Vernon’s interests above my own.
As some of you may have already seen in the news, I withdrew my court case challenging the results of the June Democratic Primary. I also endorsed my former opponent, Shawyn Patterson Howard, for mayor of Mount Vernon.
Although I’ve ended my court case against the Board of Elections, I still hope that there will be a review of voter books and records because of the disturbing number of people who were dropped or were missing from the voter rolls.
Regardless of what happens with the voter rolls, I must prepare Mount Vernon for an orderly transition. That transition would be best served if the reins of power are handed to Patterson Howard.
There’s a simple explanation for my endorsement. Over the past three and a half years the public has witnessed non-stop obstruction and interference in my administration led by forces that want to keep Mount Vernon chaotic and unstable so that they can divert public attention from their agenda. All the litigation over the years and politically manufactured controversy has been caused by a jealous City Council and special interests that want the gravy train to roll again. The simple truth is the City Council has NEVER been right on an issue. Wrong on Memorial Field. Wrong on the sewers. Wrong on garbage trucks.
Wrong on anything that matters to the people.
They have caused every unnecessary fiscal expense to stop me from serving you. This is not blame… these are facts. And I take responsibility for defending the interests of the people every step of the way, regardless of how it looks. Time will reveal hard truths that will cost us more in the long run because as Dr. MLK warns, “there is such a thing as being too late.”
The special interests’ agenda has consisted of squandering millions of taxpayer dollars on projects overseen by friends and cronies whose work has left us a legacy of failure that includes the decade-long shuttering of Memorial Field, an unusable and closed YMCA building, an unfinished emergency operations center and poorly documented, interest-free loans that in some cases last for decades.
While all these questionable deals and projects were hatched and perpetrated, Patterson Howard worked in a neighboring city, building up the Yonkers YMCA while the Mount Vernon YMCA crumbled and closed despite more than $1 million in bogus “renovations” under a former administration.
By many yardsticks, the Yonkers YMCA under Patterson Howard appears to be a successful institution with a secure future, and I’m hoping she will help Mount Vernon achieve something comparable.
One fight I’m not ending is the one against City Council’s illegal efforts to remove me and certain members of my administration from office before my previously negotiated departure by September 30. The City Council’s action is their latest example of overreach since I took office in January 2016. I’ve obtained court orders and decisions warning the City Council not to interfere in my administration, but it continues at the behest of the crony network.
The special interests’ primary agent has been Councilman Andre Wallace, who voters resolutely rejected as their choice for mayor in the Democratic Primary, putting him in last place. Despite the voters’ rejection, Wallace cooked up an interpretation of the City Charter that persuaded the City Council to name him “acting mayor.”
Why? Because the cronies are not interested in the public’s choice for mayor. This group believes that Mount Vernon is a treasure that should benefit them only, so they are pushing their minion forward in a failed attempt to seize control when the ballot-box count didn’t go their way.
That’s why we have an “acting mayor” unsuccessfully trying to appoint “acting commissioners.” Wallace is acting alright, but he’s not mayor and in whose interests is he acting?
When I leave office in September, I will hand the reins of power to City Council President Janice Duarte, as outlined in the City Charter. The General Election in November will determine a mayor-elect, and Duarte will hand the office over to the winner. That is in Mount Vernon’s best interest.
