Rob Doherty, the arrogant, immature, vindictive and maskless chair of the County Legislature - who has been sued in State Supreme Court / Sullivan County for defamation by Legislator Luis Alvarez and who this week was the recipient of an official complaint by Legislator Joe Perrello - now wants this resolution (below) to censure others in the Legislature.
It's up for a vote before a Special Meeting of the County Legislature later today, without first going through any legislative committee.
It's obvious that Doherty will almost certainly avoid any censure himself, because it takes a five-vote majority to do so. (Legislator Nadia Rajsz introduced a resolution in her Health & Family Services Committee recently in an attempt to censure Doherty but it failed). Doherty always claims he has the five votes needed to steamroll his agenda, which is very often harmful to residents.
But let's be clear: this resolution is squarely aimed at only four legislators: Perrello, Alvarez, Rajsz and Ira Steingart. They have been publicly critical of Doherty (with good reason) and each of them has been the target of Doherty's boorish behavior.
We are not surprised that Legislators Mike Brooks, George Conklin III and Nicholas Salomone Jr. all vote with Doherty on virtually every issue. Brooks, the vice chair of the body, even told Rajsz that she was too emotional when she was offended by Doherty's inflammatory rhetoric towards her and Alvarez.
But Alan Sorensen - the most experienced legislator in the room by far and who holds the key to Doherty getting his way on this and other matters - needs to think hard about enabling Doherty (and County Attorney Mike McGuire) to continue their bullying and intimidation tactics. That's what this resolution is about, plain and simple.
Sorensen himself bragged about how he conducts himself ethically, but his talk is cheap until he confronts this madness head on.
