To the editor:

In the Democrat’s “Counterpoint, View from a Reader” of December 10, 2021, Robert Doherty, Chairman of the Sullivan County Legislature, flaunts his usual mix of lies and self-aggrandizement. Editor, doesn’t “Counterpoint” mean that you’re supposed to publish an opposing view? 

Anyway, under Doherty’s leadership for the last two years, the Adult Care Center (now managed by InfiniteCare) has finally managed to gain a few frontline workers by dint of Governor Hochul’s deployment of the National Guard.  He states that the reason “we underserved the residents” was that “we simply did not offer any of those services typically found in a skilled nursing home” and states that the ACC lost $1 million per month.  None of that is true.

Mr. Doherty abhors the concept of public ownership of a nursing home and of a caring community wherein services for our infirm and elderly is paid in part from taxes.  His solution to all problems is to privatize. What was a 5 star facility only a few years ago is now reduced to one with almost half the beds empty and seemingly unable to recruit and retain sufficient aides and nurses to care for more patients.

Thank you for nothing, Mr. Doherty, and that great job you’ve done with contract negotiations exists only in your imagination.  Many former nurses’ aides prefer to earn more for working less at McDonald’s.  Mr. Doherty should also claim credit for the Adult Care Center’s lost tax exemption, which will cost taxpayers at least half a million a year, and additional thanks are due to Mr. Doherty for the costs of various lawsuits which have been brought against him, which we taxpayers get to pay for.

The measly 300 words this reader is allowed is not nearly enough to catalogue Mr. Doherty’s lies as published in the Democrat, or the damage he’s done in the last two years. Hopefully, he will be replaced as Chairman in January. 

To that end, there’s a petition going around which any reader can sign: https://tinyurl.com/ 2z55vcf2.