Barmore Responds To Democrats

Larry Barmore responded Saturday to comments made recently by Democrats.

Barmore is the majority leader of the County Legislature, a Republican from the town of Gerry.

Democrats criticized him and his party on the floor of the legislature last Wednesday, prior to voting on a reapportionment and downsizing proposal.

Barmore sent an e-mail response Saturday morning, which The Post-Journal received today.

What follows is the complete text of his e-mail:

"When someone is elected to public office they take risks for being willing to serve in the public eye. Those risks include all kinds of attacks whether founded or unfounded from many quarters. This past Wednesday there was an attack made which was intended to impugn my integrity as well as other public officials in a public meeting which had no basis in fact.

This latest attack came from another legislator in a public meeting who alleged that there were lies about the circumstances of events leading up to the vote for reapportionment. Her memory and actions speak volumes for her lack of involvement in the process and the history of reapportionment in the county.

How soon many have forgotten that during the last reapportionment process 10 years ago, when the Democrats were in control, the plan they came forward with was one crafted with the assistance of reapportionment experts in Albany and Chautauqua County, they just didn’t have to pay for it. It was a plan they insisted was legal and there was no funny business going on, that is until they were caught. A plan was put forward by the Republicans to reduce the legislature at that time, but the Democrats insisted on continuing with 25 legislators.

It is dishonest for legislators who are sitting in the minority to make these shameless accusations when they were too lazy or failed to take any action towards working on a plan for the redistricting of legislative seats. The Democrats had every opportunity to work with someone of their choosing to assist them for this project, but chose to sit back and do next to nothing.

The reapportionment process is a very emotional subject as it affects the representation of the people. It is never easy and sometimes it is drawn out over many months. The Democrats have no reason to cry foul for anything which has occurred in this process because they were given the same opportunities to work on the plan by themselves and with the consultant the Republicans paid for in a public session of the reapportionment committee meeting. This was unprecedented in the history of Chautauqua County and any other legislative body to my understanding. The Republicans stand behind the actions they took to present a plan that met the requirements of the law and offered a size reduction. It is unfortunate that some have to resort to making vicious false statements."

~Larry Barmore, Legislative Majority Leader

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