Animal Cruelty as Public Policy, 6: A Naked Attempt to Politicize the Bow-Hunting Controversy

OP ED

On Friday, October 1, the local Democratic committee issued a peculiar press release on its website. In common practice, the Mayor and elected trustees submerge their political allegiances and affiliations upon election and are supposed to serve the best interests of all citizens without regard for race, creed, color or political affiliation.

This strange 159-word “release” consists of five sentences so pointedly serving political aims as to be risible. The sentence-by-sentence text of this “release” follows with matching comment about its purpose and underlying attempt to influence community behavior.

RELEASE: On Monday, September 27, 2010, the Mayor proposed and the Village Board agreed unanimously, that further action on bow hunting be postponed until the Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) has completed its report and conducted public information sessions.
COMMENT: Any statement about the Village Board’s intentions should properly emanate from that body on the Village website. Why has the local Democratic committee taken upon itself to make an announcement of a decision by the Village Board under the guise of a public service announcement? The answer to this question is clear: The Democratic committee is anxious to keep attendance at the October 4 meeting low, thus giving the lie to their proclaimed interest in hearing citizens concerns.

RELEASE: The Board discussed the proposal and informally agreed to announce the decision at the regularly scheduled board meeting of October 4. This statement (the release) is being made in advance of that meeting to assure the public that the board would NOT be coming to a final decision on bow hunting on the 4th.
COMMENT: Note the use of the weasel word “informally” to characterize the decision. The sole purpose of this “release” is to discourage participation in the October 4 Village Board meeting by the broad spectrum of angry anti-bow hunting Croton citizens that characterized earlier meetings. The Democratic committee is running scared and anxious to tamp down the broad-spectrum surge of anti-bow hunting sentiment expressed at earlier meetings and in the letters pages of The Gazette. It wants the current bow-hunting fiasco to be forgotten well before the next election.

RELEASE: The purpose of these sessions will be both to allow community discussion as well as to listen to and address any concerns.
COMMENT: If the Village Board is truly interested in citizens’ concerns, the upcoming meeting on October 4 would be an excellent place for them to continue to sample the broad scope of residents’ attitudes and statements.

RELEASE: The Village Board concluded that the CAC has not succeeded in educating the public as they thought they had.
COMMENT: This is a revealing and damning choice of words. The citizens of Croton do not need “educating,” if that is the purpose of any public sessions to be held by the CAC. As used here, ‘educating” sounds suspiciously like brainwashing. What Croton needs is a CAC made up of open-minded citizens with some expertise in conservation—not a group of zealots with their minds already made up and bent on “educating” the rest of us. The fundamental truism is that bow hunting of any kind is inappropriate for a community as small as Croton. That position should be a given in finding a solution.

RELEASE: Through these public education sessions al parties will be able to learn more about the environment impacts from Croton’s deer population and all the options to fix those impacts.
COMMENT: The impact of a migrating deer population in numbers larger than the land can carry stems from various causes and has been felt all over Westchester for many years. A valid solution does not lie within the grasp of individual communities but must be a coordinated countywide effort with a maximum chance of success without animal cruelty. Damage to the environment can easily be repaired once a practicable solution is found. Croton’s presently proposed puny effort would have no genuine effect of the deer population of northwestern Westchester other than to give politicians an opportunity to claim falsely that positive action had been taken.

For Croton Democrats, it’s just one gaffe after another. The latest imbroglio makes me embarrassed to be a Democrat.