Rensselaer County GOP Majority Lied to Public on Social Media
At the regular meeting of the Rensselaer County Legislature on Tuesday, January 12, a resolution was presented and titled: “Resolution Calling On New York State To Accelerate The Delivery Of The Potentially Life-Saving Vaccine To Rensselaer County.”
This resolution was passed with full bipartisan support of the Legislature. “A bill urging NYS to work harder to deliver this, much anticipated and needed, vaccine to the people of Rensselaer County is and will continue to be the focus of this Legislature,” said Minority Leader, Peter Grimm.
The Republican Majority, immediately following the regular meeting, posted on its Twitter account that, “In a 19-0 bipartisan vote, the Legislature unanimously adopted a resolution urging Governor Cuomo to stop the obstructions and release vaccines to Rensselaer County” with a resolution titled, “Resolution Calling On New York State To End The Obstructions And Accelerate The Delivery Of The Potentially Life-Saving Vaccine To Rensselaer County.”
The Resolution the GOP posted on its Twitter account is not the resolution that was voted on and does not contain the same content as the resolution passed by the Legislature. “What the Republican Majority has done is intentionally lied and misinformed the public,” said Legislator Mark Fleming. “The Democratic Minority supported the resolution in good faith to bring vaccination distribution to our residents as quickly as possible, but we will not let the GOP use the pandemic as a tool for political divisiveness between our Governor and our County,” echoed Grimm and Doran.
Deputy Minority Leader Cindy Doran finds it difficult to believe that the Republicans are sincere in their efforts, when as a member of the County’s Health Committee, she has been working for months to get the top GOP leadership to comply with mask wearing while working in the County Office Building.
“In light of the events of the past week, it should be clear to everyone that it is time to end the inflammatory rhetoric and deception that has become all too standard in politics,” added Grimm.
This deceitful action by the Republican Legislators clearly shows that they have joined County Executive Steve McLaughlin in his habitual and unsubstantiated attacks on the Governor. “The County Executive and Republican Majority are more interested in a political hit-job than working collaboratively with State officials to provide the residents of the County with vaccines as quickly and efficiently as possible,” continued Doran.
The Democratic Minority, in keeping with open and honest government, call on the County Executive and Republican Majority to post the certified resolution that was voted on and supported by all of the members of the Legislature.
The members of the Legislative Minority are: Minority Leader Peter Grimm, Deputy Minority Leader Cynthia Doran, Mark Flemming, Erin Sullivan-Teta and Carole Weaver