If the Republican Party is serious about being the anti-corruption party, it’s going to have to do better than simply engaging in slightly less corruption than its Democratic counterparts.
Case in point, officials in Suffolk County, New York took an emergency vote and canceled a contract that would have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal advertising to the county’s newspaper of record the South Shore Press.
Legal News Online reports that those taxpayer dollars were instead allocated to a competing newspaper owned by a GOP party contributor.
Each year, the county allocates a significant amount of revenue to purchase space in a newspaper of record for publishing legal notices regarding foreclosures or hearings that are required by law to be made public.
The emergency resolution which canceled the existing contract with South Shore Press was introduced by deputy presiding officer Steven Flotteron and passed unanimously by a vote of 15-0, with three legislators absent.
What makes the sudden switch appear suspiciously political in nature is the fact that the competing newspaper the Smithtown Messenger is owned by publisher Jim Cotgreave who serves as Vice Chair of the Smithtown Republican Party. Cotgreave has also hosted fundraisers for Republican candidates and has been a contributor to sitting county legislators.
Normally, there is a four day minimum requirement to introduce proposals before votes can be cast on resolutions like the one that redirected the legal advertising revenue to the Smithtown Messenger. However, Suffolk County legislators invoked a “certificate of necessity” to justify bypassing that requirement.
News director for the South Shore Press Stefan Mychajliw protested the last minute switch, saying that his newspaper had been designated by county legislators to serve as the newspaper of record for all of 2024. Mychajliw said that six weeks of legal ad inserts had been proofed and approved for publication on July 31 by a county official.
Mychajliw stated that no reason has been provided to explain the county’s decision.
If Republicans wish to be seen as the party of anti-corruption, engaging in questionable, last-minute decisions that offer a clear financial benefit to their politically connected associates undermines that image in a big way.
Whether the NY Attorney General’s office decides that Suffolk County legislators crossed a legal line or not, actions like this don’t exactly pass the sniff test of political integrity.
Start the discussion at community.amgreatness.com