The Valenti Puzzle

OP-ED BY MARK PETERLIN

Franklin Rooseveltโ€™s first vice president, former Speaker of the Houseย John Nance Garner, famously said of the vice president position, it wasnโ€™tย โ€œworth a pitcher of warm spit.โ€ The reason? Because unless the presidentย is incapacitated in some fashion, there is almost nothing to do. The onlyย reason that there is a โ€œvice this,” a โ€œlieutenant that,” or a โ€œdeputy ofย the other thing,” is to serve in the event that the chief executive in theย post is unable to complete his term.

Now we come to the puzzling case of Anthony Valenti, current trustee andย deputy mayor of Airmont, who is running for reelection on the Phil Giganteย ticket. Mr. Valenti previously served as deputy mayor to our former Mayor,ย Dennis Kay, who passed away while in office. Anthony could then haveย completed Mr. Kayโ€™s mayoral term. That, after all, was the job he wasย being paid an additional salary to do. But, when Dennis Kay died, Anthonyย Valenti refused to become the new mayor.

According to Airmont Trustee Ralph Bracco, โ€œValenti was supposed to takeย over. I was against Boesch becoming mayor. I, as well as several otherย Trustees, attempted to talk Valenti into becoming mayor. We wanted aย special meeting to discuss it as a board. Itโ€™s a sorry thing that we lostย Dennis Kay, he was a great mayor. It was a positive working relationship.ย We reluctantly appointed Boesch after we were coerced into doing it.โ€

Surprisingly, because of course she knew that he had already declined toย complete Mr. Kayโ€™s term as mayor, Mrs. Boesch then chose Mr. Valenti toย serve as her deputy mayor.

We seem to have prima facie evidence, based on historical precedent thatย Mr. Valenti does not want to accept the responsibilities that come withย being deputy mayor. This leaves us with the question, โ€œWhy does Mr.ย Valenti want to be deputy mayor?โ€

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