Capitol Attack, Riot Resolutions
Passed Routinely – Then, Oops!
By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
COOPERSTOWN – After last month’s hour-long fiery debate at the county board meeting over resolutions expressing contrary views on the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, both resolutions went through routinely at today’s meeting as part of the consent agenda.
Well, almost.
County Rep. Rick Brockway, on Zoom from his West Laurens home, answered a question his wife was relaying to him from a caller.
“We didn’t pull either of them,” replied Brockway. “They didn’t pull theirs, so we didn’t pull ours.”
“Rick, you’re not on mute,” one of his fellow Zoom meeting participants called out.
“Dave told me not to object,” Brockway continued, an apparent reference to county board Chairman David Bliss, R-Cooperstown/Town of Middlefield.
“RICK, YOU’RE NOT ON MUTE,” all the Republican county representatives called out in unison.
Interviewed by phone later, Brockway said he wanted to remove Resolution 158 – proposed by Republicans, it objected to BOTH the Capitol attack and summertime riots in cities across the country – from the consent agenda.
“I wanted to have a voice vote,” he said, so voters would know where each representative stood.
Resolution 159, proposed by county Rep. Andrew Stammel, D-Oneonta, decried ONLY the Capitol attack, not the riots.
Last month, county Rep. Danny Lapin, D-Oneonta, called it “false equivalency.” But its sponsors, Ed Frazier, R-Unadilla, and Dan Wilber, R-Burlington, didn’t budge.
In the end, both resolutions failed last month.
At this month’s meeting today, the consent agenda, which gangs routine resolutions to speed up approvals, passed unanimously with no comment – miraculously, it seemed – until Brockway’s interjection.
Question:
Where is there a problem?
It seems pure common sense that if one had issue with what occurred on Jan 6, that they would also have issue of much greater damage, violence, threats, and death over this past summer.
This article smacks moreso of exposing an embarrassing lack of mute…perhaps in hopes to garner anti-Republican fodder….than expressing the volume at issue: Has the violence, murder, arson and literal occupation of a city portion of any light in comparison to Jan 6…where only fractions, if any, had occurred.
This article maintains little, if any, intellectual journalistic merit to the reader….unless a motive is desired. No?
The real question might be why the County Board feels the need to weigh in on either the riots over the summer or the attack on January 6. None of the events would seem to be under their jurisdiction.
Do Otsego County and associated Towns and Villages have any local
matters to attend to ?
It looks like prettty straight-forward reportinng to me. What is your problem with it? maw
Why is this an issue with the county board. Don’t they have enough to do running the county? This is not what they were elected for or paid to do.
If you are against lawlessness then you need to be against ALL not just when it fits your agenda!
County officials should focus on county business. This nonsense and it is exactly that should be left to our elected “deplorables” in Albany and DC.