Letters to the Editor

To The Editor;

In the heat of the primary campaign season, it’s easy for the facts to get drowned out by the noise of political finger-pointing and recycled attacks. We see it constantly: candidates, pulling a single corporate name out of thin air like the recent baseless attempts to link Cait Conley to defense contractor, Palantir, in an effort to score quick political points. In the same week that politicians try to bask in the glow of Veterans on Memorial Day, Beth Davidson’s campaign sent out a mailer that was specious in its conception and despicable in its efforts to diminish the record of her Democrat primary opponent. As a Veteran, I found the “hit piece” to be insulting to all who have served our Nation. If we pull back the curtain on these typical campaign tactics, we find a candidate whose actual track record is exactly what our community needs to face modern complex challenges. Cait Conley is not a corporate insider, nor did she ever work for Palantir, nor does she support the paramilitary actions of ICE that we have all witnessed in Minneapolis and other cities. She’s a decorated combat Veteran, a former Director for Counterterrorism on the National Security Council and a former senior executive at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). When we look past the political theater, it becomes clear that her deep expertise in cyber security and infrastructure protection is uniquely suited to safeguard the daily lives of families right here in the Hudson Valley! Finally, a candidate with REAL WORLD expertise and qualifications has stepped forward to represent us. How often do you ask yourself, why don’t BETTER people run for office, well now they are and her name is Cait Conley. Cyber security is no longer just about protecting laptops or securing corporate databases. It is about the physical safety of our neighborhoods, the lines between digital vulnerabilities and physical threats have become blurred, and we need leadership that understands how to protect our local infrastructure from the ground up. Consider where our community gathers, where our kids go to school functions or when families pack local stadiums for sporting events and gather for outdoor summer concerts. Soft target security is paramount! Modern event security relies heavily on digital ticketing, automated access controls, communication networks and localized crowd monitoring systems. A glitch or deliberate cyber disruption to these systems doesn’t just cause a delay, it creates immediate physical confusion and safety hazards in crowded spaces. Cait’s extensive background at CISA where she oversaw the delivery of thousands of physical and cyber security services and tabletop readiness exercises means she knows exactly how local law-enforcement, schools and event organizers can coordinate to harden these venues against modern threats. Even more critical is the invisible backbone of our daily lives; Our Electrical Grid. We live in an era where cyber criminals and hostile foreign actors actively target regional utilities and power grids. A successful cyber attack on our energy infrastructure doesn’t mean just the lights go out. It means water treatment plants falter and refrigeration fails. Hospitals are forced onto back up power and seniors lose heating, air-conditioning and oxygen generators. Defending the grid requires a sophisticated understanding of federal security legislation, public and private partnerships, and rapid incident response. Cait has actually done this work, collaborating directly with national security stakeholders to protect the energy systems that power American towns and cities. We don’t need more career politicians who excel at writing attack mailers and “consulting work” like Beth Davidson and Mike Lawler, but lack of basic understanding of how the modern world operates. We need an independent Voice who has spent over two decades, answering the call to serve as a young teenager that went to West Point after 9/11 and as a Special Forces Officer that led comrades into harm’s way in MULTIPLE OVERSEAS DEPLOYMENTS! She’s used that experience hunting down threats and securing critical national infrastructure. When the primary election day arrives this June, let’s reject the mendacious mudslinging and manufactured distractions. Let’s look at the real world qualifications of our candidates. Cait Conley has the integrity, the battlefield tested resilience and the specialized technical expertise required to keep our communities, our infrastructure and our families safe.

Sincerely,

Joseph Cosmo Damiani, International Airline Captain (Retired)

LtCol. USAF Tactical Airlift Aircraft Commander (Retired)

Clarkstown

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To the Editor,

I will be voting for Cait Conley in the June 23 primary for the Democratic nomination for the Congressional seat in CD17 and I urge you to join me in helping send Cait to Washington. Cait has the background and experience to be an outstanding Representative for all of us in CD17 and we can be sure she will actively promote the interests of us all.

Does this mean that none of the other candidates running for the nomination would make an adequate representative for us? Clearly, any one of them would be superior to Mike Lawler. So why should you choose Cait?

One’s background, experience, program, and platform are of absolutely no consequence whatsoever—unless one can get elected. And this is where Cait far outshines her competition. Cait has been through a lot and she is tough. She is unquestionably the best candidate to defeat Mike Lawler in November. And, as opposed to at least one of her opponents, she keeps her promises and we can rely on her to follow through with her program once we send her to the Congress.

Won’t it be refreshing to have a Representative who actually cares about us? One who will actually advance our interests, rather than those of some ill-defined group whose strength in CD17 is minimal. I certainly think so!

So let’s go to the polls in June and select the candidate who will win the election in November and will actually represent you and me. Please join me in supporting Cait Conley for the Democratic nomination and then for the CD17 Congressional seat. You will never regret that decision.

Sincerely,

Joel E. Gingold

Croton-on-Hudson

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To the Editor,

In 2018 when President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law, the SALT cap limited the amount of state and local deductions which a homeowner could declare on their income to $10,000. 

The “Big Beautiful Bill” that became law last July raised the cap to $40,000. What Congressman Lawler, Mr. SALT, as his new BFF calls him, fails to mention is the cap was set to expire at the end of 2025 anyway.

If Mr. SALT never voted for the “Big Beautiful Bill” not only would we have no cap on our property tax deductions, we also wouldn’t have millions of people losing their health coverage and millions more having their health care costs dramatically raised. These hardships facing working families are due to the Republicans’ making massive cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace coverage. In addition, their cuts and changes to SNAP make  it much harder for families to afford the seemingly endless rise grocery in prices.

The war’s cost to us taxpayers bothers neither Trump (“I don’t think about American’s financial situations.”) nor Lawler, who  recently stated that soaring gas prices caused by the war are “absolutely worth it” to eliminate threats from Iran. 

Don’t be fooled  by these two silver tongued demons, who are pretending the Trump agenda is somehow benefiting working families. The math is not in their favor. Let’s vote out MAGA Mike Lawler and replace him with someone who will work for our common good.

Sincerely,

Wendy Holtzman

Peekskill

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Why Cait Conley?

What brings me to Cait Conley?  Sometimes we just know. And it’s just as much about what she is not. Cait comes from a background and values I can understand, and I have witnessed it first hand. She worked, and continues to work tirelessly, for an ideal that seems to be slipping out of reach in our country–the feeling we may remember when we could walk into our morning, go to a job that gives us a decent living, secure in the knowledge that our children can live safe, happy, and prosperous lives; the feeling of being free from the fear of losing our health care or wondering if we should fill the tank, and unplagued by the thought that the leaders in charge are self-serving and owe their position and prosperity to an autocrat. Cait has brought herself up in service to our country, and that’s all of us. She’s undaunted by the pervasive cynicism that drives so many into thinking they have no say, that the government is no longer “of the people.” She is out in our communities everyday looking to hear your story, and to take your story to Congress when she wins in November. Come out and vote in the upcoming Primary, and get out and meet Cait– you’ll know.

Clenn Reed

Ossining