To the editor:
The last letter I wrote was partly about Term Limits. Interestingly today, at the County Legislature Meeting, I watched my legislator of District 9, Alan Sorenson, leave before the most important part of the meeting started - presentation to the public of the new maps proposed for the Redistricting process, and the floor was opened to comments by constituents with much to say.
“Redistricting - the process of redrawing districts within a jurisdiction to reflect results of the reapportioning process as a result of the Census.” Only done once every 10 years, it is an extremely important process with manipulation of district boundaries due to population changes, and sometimes is affected by political interests. Sullivan County only had a 37% participation response to the Census, next to the lowest response rate in the state. For each person who was not counted we lost up to $3,000 in Federal aid. Obviously, very bad for us, and certainly should be of maximum interest to a Legislator who has so much going on in his district - Rock Hill.
The meeting was much like other County Board meetings - a disgrace. The Chairman especially, showed little interest in the comments of the public, on his cell phone. When confronted, Mr. Doherty was his usual rude and childlike self. But it is Mr. Sorenson’s behavior that I would like to address. This wasn’t a spur of the moment meeting. One can only speculate the reason why he had to leave a meeting of this importance. The last time I had an issue with Mr. Sorenson, was when he had the deciding vote to relieve Doherty of his Chairmanship. It is important that we remember things like this for when it is time for us to vote. With all due respect, Mr. Sorenson has been an effective legislator in the past, but it is time for him to think about not running again. And that goes for a number of other members of the Boards in the County. It also means that other responsible people need to step up and be ready to lead.