Bethel

To the editor:

Did you watch the March 20 Sullivan County Legislature Executive Committee Meeting? You should. Especially around 59:53.

Legislator Terry Bernardo discusses her proposed resolution to oppose the rate increases by NYSEG that are challenging customers during this time. In public comment earlier in the meeting Karen Meneghin spoke about how some people are experiencing bills that “exceed their mortgage payments.”  

Mrs. Bernardo shares: at 9:37 a.m. I got an email from Dylan Miyoshi. Same title as you have, Matt. I know that the Resolution wasn’t on Executive Committee yet, because Karen and I had a call in to Annie.  At the 1:00:58 mark Matt McPhillips states that the resolution was sent to him from “one other legislator” and he “forwarded it on so that he could give you the information.”   Bernardo replies: “If you were going to recuse yourself, you shouldn’t have forwarded a County document to NYSEG. The very definition of recusing yourself is staying out of a matter entirely. You inserted yourself right into it.”  

Matt turned as red as a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. 

I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that our elected representative chose to look out for his employer over supporting his constituents or that he didn’t feel that anything was wrong with his actions. 

During this meeting alone, McPhillips abstained from a Resolution to appoint members of the Sullivan County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board and Sullivan County Land Bank Corporation Board because he is on the board and abstained from the vote on a resolution to “Urge the Public Services Commission to reject New York State Electric and Gas’s proposal for rate increases” because he works for NYSEG. When is he working for THE PEOPLE? 

Matt continuously chooses his family over yours and mine, chairing the committee that funds his wife’s employer but supporting a Town working against the County’s economic development. He couldn’t be bothered to help constituents challenged by their NYSEG bills, but found time to march in parades before the same people he abandoned. 

We wanted a legislator that would work for us, and got one that repeatedly shows he works for himself. We’re in trouble…