Cuckoos At The Convention
Monday night's convention of the Ramapo Democratic Committee clearly demonstrated the lack of any leadership - or normalcy - in the nearly-defunct Preserve Ramapo organization. Two years ago, when Preserve Ramapo sought to take over the Ramapo Democratic Committee in another failing effort to gain some power, they had a respectable number of people win area elections to get seats on the committee. Still, as with every election, they ultimately failed.
On Monday, they had far fewer seats than they did two years ago, but at meetings held prior to the convention at the home of Joe Meyers, a county legislator and leader of the Preserve Ramapo group, they decided to once again attempt a takeover of the committee. To gain control of the committee, one group of people needed to rally enough votes to elect a Chair of the committee that was of their mindset.
Two years ago, they supported Joe Meyers. This year, they supported Scott Goldman, who has often put his name forward for public office. This year, he sought to challenge Ramapo Councilman Daniel Friedman in a Democratic Primary for his seat, but submitted about 200 signatures to the Board of Elections to get his name on the ballot. He needed over 1,600, so he never made it anywhere.
On Monday, Preserve Ramapo members first tried to disrupt the meeting, as they always do, by yelling incoherently. "Point of order!" shouted Bob Rhodes, Chairman of Preserve Ramapo, at the top of his lungs. Rhodes kept screaming, but never actually made a legitimate point of order. At the same time, Joe Meyers, sporting a new beard of sorts, began yelling as well, only he did so while slumping in his seat. It seems he did not want anyone to see him yelling clearly, so by slouching in his chair amid the crowd of his loyalists, he hoped to make noise but not be recognizable. Maybe that explains the beard...
Not wanting to be outdone, Bruce Levine, who was Preserve Ramapo's candidate for supervisor in 2009, kept flailing his arms in a desperate bid to get attention. Wearing a long trench coat in the heated auditorium, Levine flailed about while his hair seemed to be moving in directions of its own, a mass of white bobbing around as he launched out of his seat.
Meanwhile, Bob Rhodes quickly realized that others were getting far too much attention. He elbowed his way past Bruce Levine to get to the front of the room, and stood on the dais yelling at the attorney who was chairing the meeting. At this point, Rhodes once again was the center of attention as he shouted demands at the calm attorney, who asked him to be seated.
Someone who wished for the meeting to resume its normal course asked Rhodes to sit down, at which point he responded with profanity, causing boos to erupt at him from the audience. With hands outstretched at the cruel twist of fate that led him to become the most unpopular man in the room, he sheepishly left the dais.
Enter Scott Goldman, the choice candidate for Chair of the committee by Preserve Ramapo. Wearing rumpled clothing, Goldman, who had unshaven scruff but a very large protruding mustache and wildly unkempt hair a la Bruce Levine, moseyed his way to the front of the room in an attempt to make a request of some sort. It didn’t seem like he got very far, as he shuffled his way back to his seat moments later.
With everyone thoroughly confused – Preserve Ramapo members not knowing what they wanted to happen at this point, and others watching the proceedings as they would a train wreck, the yelling continued for a few more minutes. Every so often, Bruce Levine would jump out of his seat to register an arcane objection or second a motion that he shouted was made but still needed to be seconded, according to the technicalities of public meetings. Rhodes, a few rows back, kept yelling- sometimes barely even words, which caused those in the room to wonder if he was in some sort of writhing pain. As for Meyers, he went unseen for some time, as he had likely sunk from the bottom of his chair all the way to the floor in an attempt to hide himself. As for Goldman, he just walked around unsure of his surroundings and at a loss of what, if anything, he was there to do.
Ultimately, raspy voices grew tired of yelling, and a semblance of calm was restored to the convention as they proceeded with a vote for Chair. The vote was quite clearly against Scott Goldman, the Preserve Ramapo choice, and in favor of Mona Montal, who once chaired the committee several years ago.
While the convention may have seemed amusing to those who were not involved in preparing for it, it was quite serious, and if they had been successful or even nearly successful, it would have resulted in very serious consequences for everyone, further emboldening them to create more distractions and pointless fights using their weapons of choice: Hatred, Division, Ignorance, and Lies.
With their smoldering organization losing something once again, one can only hope that they will continue to slowly fade away, having lost supporters, money, and quite clearly, anything remotely resembling the sane behavior of a normal human being.
On Monday, they had far fewer seats than they did two years ago, but at meetings held prior to the convention at the home of Joe Meyers, a county legislator and leader of the Preserve Ramapo group, they decided to once again attempt a takeover of the committee. To gain control of the committee, one group of people needed to rally enough votes to elect a Chair of the committee that was of their mindset.
Two years ago, they supported Joe Meyers. This year, they supported Scott Goldman, who has often put his name forward for public office. This year, he sought to challenge Ramapo Councilman Daniel Friedman in a Democratic Primary for his seat, but submitted about 200 signatures to the Board of Elections to get his name on the ballot. He needed over 1,600, so he never made it anywhere.
On Monday, Preserve Ramapo members first tried to disrupt the meeting, as they always do, by yelling incoherently. "Point of order!" shouted Bob Rhodes, Chairman of Preserve Ramapo, at the top of his lungs. Rhodes kept screaming, but never actually made a legitimate point of order. At the same time, Joe Meyers, sporting a new beard of sorts, began yelling as well, only he did so while slumping in his seat. It seems he did not want anyone to see him yelling clearly, so by slouching in his chair amid the crowd of his loyalists, he hoped to make noise but not be recognizable. Maybe that explains the beard...
Not wanting to be outdone, Bruce Levine, who was Preserve Ramapo's candidate for supervisor in 2009, kept flailing his arms in a desperate bid to get attention. Wearing a long trench coat in the heated auditorium, Levine flailed about while his hair seemed to be moving in directions of its own, a mass of white bobbing around as he launched out of his seat.
Meanwhile, Bob Rhodes quickly realized that others were getting far too much attention. He elbowed his way past Bruce Levine to get to the front of the room, and stood on the dais yelling at the attorney who was chairing the meeting. At this point, Rhodes once again was the center of attention as he shouted demands at the calm attorney, who asked him to be seated.
Someone who wished for the meeting to resume its normal course asked Rhodes to sit down, at which point he responded with profanity, causing boos to erupt at him from the audience. With hands outstretched at the cruel twist of fate that led him to become the most unpopular man in the room, he sheepishly left the dais.
Enter Scott Goldman, the choice candidate for Chair of the committee by Preserve Ramapo. Wearing rumpled clothing, Goldman, who had unshaven scruff but a very large protruding mustache and wildly unkempt hair a la Bruce Levine, moseyed his way to the front of the room in an attempt to make a request of some sort. It didn’t seem like he got very far, as he shuffled his way back to his seat moments later.
With everyone thoroughly confused – Preserve Ramapo members not knowing what they wanted to happen at this point, and others watching the proceedings as they would a train wreck, the yelling continued for a few more minutes. Every so often, Bruce Levine would jump out of his seat to register an arcane objection or second a motion that he shouted was made but still needed to be seconded, according to the technicalities of public meetings. Rhodes, a few rows back, kept yelling- sometimes barely even words, which caused those in the room to wonder if he was in some sort of writhing pain. As for Meyers, he went unseen for some time, as he had likely sunk from the bottom of his chair all the way to the floor in an attempt to hide himself. As for Goldman, he just walked around unsure of his surroundings and at a loss of what, if anything, he was there to do.
Ultimately, raspy voices grew tired of yelling, and a semblance of calm was restored to the convention as they proceeded with a vote for Chair. The vote was quite clearly against Scott Goldman, the Preserve Ramapo choice, and in favor of Mona Montal, who once chaired the committee several years ago.
While the convention may have seemed amusing to those who were not involved in preparing for it, it was quite serious, and if they had been successful or even nearly successful, it would have resulted in very serious consequences for everyone, further emboldening them to create more distractions and pointless fights using their weapons of choice: Hatred, Division, Ignorance, and Lies.
With their smoldering organization losing something once again, one can only hope that they will continue to slowly fade away, having lost supporters, money, and quite clearly, anything remotely resembling the sane behavior of a normal human being.
Posted by Reserve Ramapo at Tuesday, October 05, 2010 7:37:00 PM 
Categories: Board of Elections, Town of Ramapo, Reserve Ramapo, Campaign, Preserve Ramapo, Ramapo, Ramapo Democratic Committee
Tags: Reserve Ramapo Scott Goldman Mona Montal Democratic Party Bob Rhodes Bruce Levine Joe Meyers
Categories: Board of Elections, Town of Ramapo, Reserve Ramapo, Campaign, Preserve Ramapo, Ramapo, Ramapo Democratic Committee
Tags: Reserve Ramapo Scott Goldman Mona Montal Democratic Party Bob Rhodes Bruce Levine Joe Meyers
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