Author: dougabaird@earthlink.net

Parts 8a & 8b — Integrity and Transparency in Government – Deadly Drift & Non-Disclosure Agreement? — Summary and Conclusions

The cases explored in Deadly Drift and Non-Disclosure Agreement? share many striking similarities:

  • Both involve powerful Agricultural interests who are catered to politically and bureaucratically.
  • Action on the complaints could result in a loss of profit and a restriction of those Agricultural interests.
  • Action on the complaints would damage the public image and undermine the favored political position of those Agricultural interests.
  • Health risks were limited to rural residents.
  • The facts of the complaints were never argued or admitted.
  • The officials entrusted with the welfare of the public at large refused responsibility to act.
  • The decision to take any action was left to the same people who had the most to lose if any action on the complaint was taken. No “conflict of interest” concerns were ever expressed.

I tried to explore all avenues of remediation, and follow all the proper protocols, so that nothing could “fall through the cracks.”

In answer to those critics who point out that there are “only two examples”:

There will be more.

The proving of a circumstantial case depends having a number of pieces of evidence that all point in the same direction. It will be left to the reader to decide for themselves how far a coincidence can be stretched.

While the county’s rural community has always been the focus of this blog, there are larger and more far reaching social issues to be examined.

What secrets lie at the heart of this template for a Progressive society?

Welcome to Cornithaca County.

Part 8b Follow-up — Integrity and Transparency in Government – Non-Disclosure Agreement?

This follow-up blog to Part 8b lists the recipients and posts their responses to the issues detailed in “Non-Disclosure Agreement?” concerning the New York State Agricultural District Disclosure Form and Notice.

The letter and its enclosures were sent to the following via USPS Express Mail envelopes by Certified Mail to ensure their tracking and receipt:

NYS Attorney General Letitia James

NYS Dept. of Health Howard A. Zucker, M.D., J.D.

NYS Senator Pamela Helming

Tompkins County Health Dept. Elizabeth Cameron

NYS Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton

The County and State Health Departments refused involvement. None of the others even acknowledged the receipt of the letter.

Three months later on August 25, 2019, I emailed the text of the same letter [with copies of that letter and the Agricultural Disclosure form attached] to the members of the Tompkins County Legislature.

After an initial positive response and an indication of willingness to at least add a supplemental County disclosure statement, everything went silent.

On November 19, 2019, I received an email stating that the matter had been handed over to the Ithaca Board of Realtors and the county Ag and Farm Protection Committee, and that they had “passed on” my “concerns and suggestions.” It referred to those parties as the “stakeholders.”

Just as in the Deadly Drift herbicide complaint, the decision to take any action was left to the same people who were accused of the misconduct [and had the most to lose if any action on the complaint was taken.] No “conflict of interest” concerns were ever expressed.

The rights of prospective buyers of property in an Agricultural District to receive a clear and understandable disclosure of modern agricultural practices and agricultural laws was never admitted.

Factory farmers are continuing to put the blame on new residents for “misconceptions about what activities occur on farms and in rural areas.”