Holier Than…Nothing At All
County Legislator Joe Meyers may hate many different people and ideas, but there is one thing he loves above all: Himself. There is nobody in politics today that carries themselves with the same air of self-righteousness like Joe Meyers, the only Preserve Ramapo candidate to have ever held county office.
Most recently, Meyers separated himself from his legislative colleagues on the issue of the decade: legislative redistricting. Every ten years, by law, governments that have representatives from man-made districts, such as Congress, state legislatures, and the county legislature, have to remake those districts in accordance with the new Census figures, so that each representative will serve the same number of people in their position. This year, county legislative districts are being redrawn based on the 2010 U.S. Census Data.
As in the past, the legislature has created a committee on redistricting. They have begun by holding several public meetings and hearings in different areas of the county to gain public input. However, Legislator Joe Meyers has gone out of his way to discredit his legislative colleagues by going on the attack against the redistricting process and one of the Co-Chairs of the committee, the well-respected and experienced Ilan Schoenberger.
Legislator Meyers has gone on the record saying time and again that he believes the process is fixed, that it is a “dog and pony show” (From the E-Mail “Redistricting in Ramapo: A Message from Legislator Meyers,” sent 2/22/11, 8:33 AM). Meyers believes the entire county legislature will “punish” (Same e-mail as above) him and said, “He [Ilan Schoenberger] plans to use the redistricting process to put my street into a Monsey district where I can’t win re-election” (Same e-mail as above). Does he mean to say “a religious district,” but used the code term of “Monsey” that he and his followers constantly use in conjunction with the reference to “those people?” One wonders.
Joe Meyers believes he is the only spokesperson for most of Ramapo. In fact, he has actually said that the legislature will likely be “robbing most of Ramapo of their only spokesperson (i.e. me) in the County Legislature” (From the E-Mail “Redistricting in Ramapo: A Message from Legislator Meyers,” sent 2/22/11, 8:33 AM). And yes, he did in fact put “(i.e. me)” in that e-mail.
Meyers’ self-righteous attitude that places him as a holier-than-thou political figure has led his overly-obsequious-and-often-factually-incorrect supporters to call him just that – the most honest politician in America. However, wouldn’t it be interesting if it were crystal clear that Joe Meyers was nothing short of a fraud? What would his supporters say if his hypocrisy and steady stream of lies were brought clearly to their faces?
Reserve Ramapo has found groundbreaking information submitted by Legislator Joe Meyers himself – that show that Meyers is, in fact, holier than…nothing at all.
During the public hearing on redistricting held at Ramapo Town Hall on Wednesday, March 2nd, a loyal supporter of Meyers, Peggy Hatton, rose to speak. During her statement, she said that Joe Meyers was “really honest.” She then went on to tell a little story about how she gave a contribution to Meyers’ 2007 campaign for the county legislature. She said Meyers called her back and told her he was returning her check because he had a strict policy that he would not take contributions from people who lived outside of the legislative district that he was running in. Hatton related that she was so impressed with his ethics and honesty. “When was the last time a politician gave back money??” she asked. A noble man indeed.
It appears that this supposed “policy” of his, namely, of not accepting contributions from people who live outside of his district, was a mantra that Meyers had repeated at different times during his 2007 campaign and on other occasions. Meyers repeated it to demonstrate that he was better than other politicians, and wasn’t in it for the money.
It turns out that this was nothing short of a lie – a front designed to make people believe in Meyers and believe that he was somehow superior or “holier” than others. Reserve Ramapo has uncovered the truth about Joe Meyers and his “policy.”
Here is the truth:
TRUTH: Joe Meyers not only took contributions from outside his legislative district, he accepted dozens of contributions from residents across the county, in numerous legislative districts that he did not represent, a clear contradiction to a promise he made again and again.
TRUTH: Joe Meyers accepted contributions even from outside Rockland County entirely, and throughout New York State, including places such as Port Washington, Forest Hills, Sag Harbor, Sands Point, Mohegan Lake, Rego Park, Plainview, New Rochelle, Lawrence, and even Albany, a clear contradiction to a promise he made again and again.
TRUTH: Joe Meyers even took money from outside New York, including the states of New Jersey, Connecticut, and Arizona, a clear contradiction to a promise he made again and again.
Now let’s take a look at some of the numbers:
In his first campaign filing of 2007, Joe Meyers listed 86 individuals (besides himself) who had given his campaign various contributions between January 15th and July 15th of 2007. 36, or over 40%, of those contributors were from outside of his legislative district, a clear violation of the promise he made repeatedly that he was not and would not accept contributions from outside his legislative district.
Those 36 contributors gave him a total of $10,899, while the 50 contributors from within his district gave a combined total of $7,600. Joe Meyers accepted $10,899 from people outside of his legislative district, which amounted to 59% of the total amount he raised, a clear violation of the promise he made repeatedly that he was not and would not accept contributions from outside his legislative district.
During the same period, Joe Meyers received four corporate contributions to his campaign. All four of those companies listed addresses outside of his legislative district, and contributed a total of $700 to Friends of Joe Meyers between May 23rd and June 23rd of 2007, a clear violation of the promise he made repeatedly that he was not and would not accept contributions from outside his legislative district.
In the financial report following the primary election in 2007, known as the 10-Day Post Primary Report, Joe Meyers reported that since the previous filing, he received only one contribution. This was a contribution of $100 from someone who lived outside of his legislative district, given on 9/23/07, a clear violation of the promise he made repeatedly that he was not and would not accept contributions from outside his legislative district.
Between that filing and the following filing, the 11-Day Pre-General filing, Meyers reported receiving several more contributions from individuals outside of his legislative district. In total, he received four campaign contributions totaling $850 from individuals outside his district. He also reported three corporate campaign contributions. All three were from corporations outside of his legislative district, and they gave a combined total of $700, a clear violation of the promise he made repeatedly that he was not and would not accept contributions from outside his legislative district.
In the final campaign finance disclosure report of 2007, the 27-Day Post General report, he reported 12 campaign contributions from individuals. Four of those were from individuals who lived outside of his legislative district, and they did not give the standard $100 contribution his district residents gave. They each gave $950, for a total of $3,800. The other eight combined gave less than half that, a total of $1,750. To summarize, in the final filing, Joe Meyers accepted four contributions from individuals who lived outside his district, for a total of $3,800 in contributions, which made up over 66% of his total contributions from individuals, a clear violation of the promise he made repeatedly that he was not and would not accept contributions from outside his legislative district.
Last but certainly not least, was another disclosure of his corporate contributions. This time, there were two, including one with an address from Arizona and another from Albany. The two contributions were from companies with addresses far outside his legislative district, and totaled $750, a clear violation of the promise he made repeatedly that he was not and would not accept contributions from outside his legislative district.
In total, during his 2007 campaign for the County Legislature, during which he repeatedly promised not to take contributions from outside his legislative district, he broke his promise 45 times by taking 45 contributions from individuals outside of his legislative district, who gave him a total of $14,649.
Additionally, Joe Meyers received nine other corporate campaign contributions to his campaign. Every single one of them was from a company outside of his legislative district, and in total, they gave him $2,150. He received $0 from companies located within his legislative district.
Joe Meyers broke his promise well over 50 times in 2007, by taking $16,799 in contributions from those outside of his legislative district.
The truth that Joe Meyers does not want anyone to know is that he’s the most dishonest politician in Rockland, someone who will manipulate anyone or anything and say anything for his own ends. Joe Meyers has proven himself to be unworthy of public office, and has lied repeatedly about things big and small.
Here is where one can find the actual reports that Joe Meyers filed for his campaign in 2007, showing everything that was related here. You can look at the reports directly on the NYS Board of Elections website to verify everything for yourself. These are reports that the Meyers campaign submitted directly. Here is the link:
Feel free to look up the addresses listed by each contribution on the Board of Elections website to verify which contributors are not in Joe Meyers’ legislative district. Here is the link:
The truth is sometimes hard to swallow, isn’t it, Joe?
Posted by Reserve Ramapo at Monday, March 07, 2011 2:00:00 PM 
Categories: Fraud, Preserve Ramapo, Reserve Ramapo, Joe Meyers, Rockland County, Democratic Party, Republican Party, Town of Ramapo, Ramapo Democratic Committee, Ramapo
Tags: Campaign Campaign Finance Democratic Party Follow The Money Fraud I Love Ramapo Joe Meyers Preserve Ramapo preserve ramapo Ramapo Reserve Ramapo reserve ramapo Robert Rohdes Rockland County Town of Ramapo
Categories: Fraud, Preserve Ramapo, Reserve Ramapo, Joe Meyers, Rockland County, Democratic Party, Republican Party, Town of Ramapo, Ramapo Democratic Committee, Ramapo
Tags: Campaign Campaign Finance Democratic Party Follow The Money Fraud I Love Ramapo Joe Meyers Preserve Ramapo preserve ramapo Ramapo Reserve Ramapo reserve ramapo Robert Rohdes Rockland County Town of Ramapo
I am looking for a list of literary figures (past and present) from the town of Ramapo.
Thanking you,
Mattie Lennon.
mattielennon@gmail.com
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