Inside Rockland

Archive for the 'Jay Hood Jr.' Category

Leg vs. Vanderhoef

May

The battle continues… Dum, dum DUM!

Okay, not it’s not that bad. But there has been a running theme this year of the Legislature complaining that County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef has been less than forthcoming with information, something his office says just isn’t true.

Last month, at the April 30 Government Operations Committee meeting Legislator Ed Day, R-New City, asked Hospitals Commissioner Richard Maloney for a detailed breakdown of how much overtime pay is included in the department’s payroll figures.

At last night’s Multi-Services Committee meeting, Day again asked Maloney about the figures and Maloney replied that he’d gotten the numbers to the county executive’s office two days after the request was made.

So Day, visibly miffed, questioned Vanderhoef staffer Vince Altieri who told him he’d have to check and get back to him.

Other legislators, including Jay Hood Jr., D-Haverstraw, Philip Soskin, D-Monsey and Alden Wolfe, D-Suffern, said they were disappointed that the county’s administration had shared so little with them regarding the construction of the new hospital and nursing home. Soskin said he’s gotten most of his information about the project from media reports.

The Legislature, earlier this month, also accused Vanderhoef of not communicating effectively with them when his office requested approval for a $24 million bond related to the Mirant tax dispute.Â Vanderhoef countered that the Legislature knew about the issue because it was discussed at a 2006 meeting.

C.J. Miller, spokeswoman for the county executive, said yesterday that claims the Legislature can’t get information on finances are bogus. TheÂ Legislature’s fiscal analyst has access to the same numbers as the administration’s finance personnel.

“That information is open and accessible to everyone,” she said

As to the rest of the complaints, Miller said Vanderhoef’s office isn’t trying to hide anything or play games with the legislators.

“Maybe communication isn’t the problem here,” she said. “Maybe it’s a lack of understanding … a lack of comprehension.”

Posted by Sarah Netter on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 5:07 pm |

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Jay Hood Jr. makes a logical choice

January

Legislator Jay Hood Jr., D-Haverstraw, has announced that he chose newly-elected Legislator Jacques Michel, D-Spring Valley, as the vice chair of the Public Safety Committee.

Hood is new to the Legislature himself, having been appointed in July and elected in November. Hood is a lawyer and doesn’t have a law enforcement background, but Michel does and he was a logical choice for the vice chair spot this year.

Michel is a sheriff’s deputy and is the founder and executive director of the Rockland County Sheriff’s Department Crime Awareness Program and its Youth Corps Program.

Photo of Jay Hood Jr. (right) by Peter Carr / The Journal News. Photo of Jacques Michel (left) by Angela Gaul / The Journal News.

Posted by Sarah Netter on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 4:24 pm |

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Cornell makes some committee changes in Legislature

January

Legislature Chairwoman Harriet Cornell, D-West Nyack, has made a few changes in the committees and their leadership.

She created one new committee on economic development to be headed by Majority Leader Michael Grant, D-Garnerville. The committee will deal with the “stimulus, development and revitalizaton of Rockland County’s economy” according to a new release issued by Cornell.

Newly returned Legislator Alden Wolfe, D-Suffern, has been named chair of the Government Operations Committee, a spot formerly held by Grant. And Legislator Jay Hood Jr., D-Haverstraw, will replace former Legislator David Fried as the chairman of the Public Safety Committee.

Returning to their posts are:

Legislator Ilan Schoenberger, D-Wesley Hills: Budget and Finance

Legislator Connie Coker, D-South Nyack: Environmental

Vice Chairman William Darden, D-Spring Valley: Rules

Legislator VJ Pradhan, D-Nanuet: Planning and Public Works

Legislator Philip Soskin, D-Monsey: Multi-Services

That leaves two Democratic legislators, Joseph Meyers from Airmont and Jacques Michel from Spring Valley, without leadership positions. The two are new to the Legislature this year.

Posted by Sarah Netter on Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 5:22 pm |

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New picture, proper heads

August

The Rockland County Legislature has a new picture up on its Web site with all the legislators and with everyone’s head on his or her own body.

Several media organizations—starting with The Journal News, thank you very much—got a chuckle last week out of a doctored Legislature portrait that had new Legislator Jay Hood Jr.’s head put on former Legislator Roman Rodriguez’s body.

You can compare the pictures and read more about that on this Inside Rockland blog.
I think the new picture looks nice. It was taken before this week’s Legislature meeting in the new chambers. Everyone’s smiling and most everyone is color coordinated (Ilan Schoenberger and Teddy Dusanenko didn’t get the memo about dark suits!)

Posted by Sarah Netter on Friday, August 10th, 2007 at 5:07 pm |

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Jay Hood gets body makeover in Legislature pic

July

Seems with elections coming up and all, the county legislators were too busy to gather for a group shot with newly-appointed Legislator Jay Hood Jr. So they stuck his head shot on the body of former Legislator Roman Rodriguez.

And whoever did the graphics maybe needs to take a few extra computer classes.

We’ve compared the two for your viewing enjoyment (and ours!) Below are two photographs from the Legislature’s Web site. The first was up in April and includes Roman.

Before

This is the picture up today with Jay on Roman’s body or as I like to call it “Jaymon.”

After
“I guess they did the best they could with it,” Hood Jr. said from his vacation in Mexico.

“It’s obviously cut and pasted like that, but that’s okay,” he said. “It didn’t bother me.”

Laurence Toole, clerk to the Legislature, said the photo was re-done by the county’s Management Information Systems Department.

And it’s not the first time—Toole said that former Legislator Denise Kronstadt’s head was once pasted onto the body of Chris Seidel, the confidential secretary to the chair.

Many thanks to staff writer Christina Jeng for finding the old Legislature shot on an archive site and putting the two up here for comparison.

Posted by Sarah Netter on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 4:03 pm |

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Haverstraw town Democrats can expect primary

June

Haverstraw town’s Democrats are likely to have a primary election as a recently retired police detective plans to declare his candidacy this evening for a seat on the Town Board.

Hector Soto, 60, of Pomona, said he would make an announcement at 6 tonight at the Haverstraw King’s Daughters Public Library on Route 202 that he planned to run for Town Board.

Two seats are up for election on the Haverstraw Town Board this fall, and the town’s Democratic Committee has nominated incumbent Isidro “Papo” Cancel and John J. Gould, a lieutenant with the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office, to run on the party’s line.

Town Board member and Democrat Jay Hood Jr. is not seeking re-election because he expects to be appointed next week to the County Legislature representing District 3. The seat will soon be vacant because Legislator Roman Rodriguez (and his wife, Evelyn, a Haverstraw village trustee) are moving out of the area.

Posted by Akiko Matsuda on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 at 3:17 pm |

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