To the Editor:

I have to respectfully disagree with the headline chosen for the recent Enterprise article [“Governor appoints Melanie laCour to Berne Town Board, ending crisis,” Jan. 17, 2025].  It mischaracterizes the appointment of Melanie laCour as a Berne Town Board member. That appointment certainly doesn’t address the actual crisis in Berne.

The actual crisis began when the ruthless and aggressive Randy Bashwinger totally corrupted the Berne GOP as chairman, and it will not be over until he and his cohort, Mr. [Dennis] Palow, are out of politics and out of public office. They have historically harassed women they perceived as political enemies until they walked away from town service. 

We all owe Ms. laCour a debt of gratitude. And she needs to be supported. Residents now need to stop the apathy and care enough about the town to go to the meetings to understand what she is facing. 

The GOP “leadership” has historically harassed experienced and knowledgeable women on the town board and planning board and driven them from office. If they perceive someone as a political threat, they will stop at nothing; they are ruthless. They drove women from employment in the town hall and smeared female candidates with their widely reported, and well documented false and libelous nonsense. There are well documented examples.

Bashwinger, Palow, and [Sean] Lyons, hired a law firm (without town board approval) to “investigate” Dawn Jordan. She was backed by the Democrats, but she is a person with undeniably conservative values and a person who engendered great fiscal responsibility into town policy. She very objectively and effectively advocated for the town while working very cooperatively with people like me. We have clearly different ideologies.

After that taxpayer-funded “investigation,” to further intimidate Dawn, Mr. Palow lied publicly about the content of one of her emails in a slanderous video he published on YouTube.  

Karen Schimmer, another town board member, was similarly treated by the hijacked “GOP.” Like Dawn, she was “investigated” (at your expense) because Mr. Bashwinger was upset with her opinions.  Both she and Dawn were victims of sham investigations and were long publicly ridiculed on local Facebook pages where they, or any supporters, were blocked from posting any defense.

These “GOP” connivers made Emily Vincent’s life miserable to drive her from town service. They failed to drive her off the planning board but were absolutely vicious in their attempts. She had hosted a meet and greet for Angelo Santabarbarra, a Democrat, on her farm and this apparently made her a political enemy.

In a recorded public town board meeting, Mr. Palow, as deputy supervisor, publicly and inappropriately declared Emily guilty of a code violation saying that anyone who violates local codes should not be a planning board member. Publicly declaring someone guilty of something they didn’t do with no process is ridiculous.

Also in that board discussion, nepotism was brought up as another issue that disqualified Emily from a seat on that board. It was suggested that “roommates” of the same sex share opinions and attitudes and so shouldn’t be on the same board.  

Emily had a young female agricultural intern living on her farm who was, at that time, a planning board alternate. The board was to discuss appointing her as a full voting member that night. 

Mr. Palow and Mr. Lyons publicly portrayed them as being in a homosexual relationship repeatedly referring to them as “roommates” and tabled the decision over nepotism concerns. The intern, who had long-term plans in Berne, understandably moved away instead. The shameful recording and transcript have been published by The Enterprise repeatedly.

Having hosted interns on the farm, Emily had posted the living accommodations online. Her farm got mis-labeled as a bed and breakfast on Google Earth. She could not get that corrected, but being a trauma nurse commuting to New York City and running a successful farm, correction wasn’t a priority. 

She was clearly too busy to run a bed and breakfast. Mr. Palow and Mr. Bashwinger publicly misrepresented this as an unregistered business that also disqualified her from the board. They acted as though they had just noticed it at the meeting. But before the meeting, Mr. Palow attempted to inquire about a room by email using a false identity! Emily right clicked on the email properties and the actual sender, Dennis Palow, was identified. How ridiculous.

When all these very dirty, dishonest tricks didn’t work, they illegally removed Emily from the planning board as a voting member. Funded by a GoFundMe campaign, she took these violators to court and won back her position on the board.

Then, Mr. Bashwinger and his low information supporters ridiculed Emily on social media over a driveway. Bashwinger had Emily charged with a “new driveway” violation. She was given a time period to pay to install a culvert pipe. If she didn’t comply, she would be charged with installing a driveway without a permit.

This is municipal extortion. Such culvert pipes on a town right-of-way are routinely provided free by the town (and there was already a pipe in place anyway). This is all documented. 

Not being terribly clever, Mr. Bashwinger was not aware that Google Earth can display historical satellite images that clearly document that the driveway was there years before Emily even owned the property. As far as I know, the violation was never resolved and still hangs over her head.

So, Ms. laCour is not just stepping into a board seat to straighten out some honest mistakes. She is making herself vulnerable to attack by these aggressive, misogynistic political attack dogs.  

Five GOP endorsed board members walked away from their positions prematurely since the GOP gained full control in 2020. Other board members have openly complained about severe dysfunction and harrassment. I wouldn’t expect Palow and Bashwinger to treat this new board member better than the board members they endorsed. Those two are Berne’s crisis.

Joel Willsey

East Berne