To the editor:

The truth behind the so-called “Truth Squad” isn't as evident as it should be, and that's by design. It is, in fact, a political hit squad.

Though the membership is not concretely listed, these are the people I've observed acting in sync, often getting up during and between Legislature meetings to discuss strategy and commiserate:

· Moreen Lerner, who chairs the Bethel Democratic Committee and served as the campaign manager of former District 1 Legislator Scott Samuelson, who I defeated in 2019

· Larissa Dyrszka, secretary of the Bethel Democratic Committee

· Lou Setren, chair of the Callicoon Democratic Committee, who unsuccessfully ran for District 5 Legislator

· Bruce Ferguson, committeeman of the Callicoon Democratic Committee

· Ken Walter, committeeman of the Neversink Democratic Committee

This isn't, as they like to portray, a group of ordinary citizens who banded together to fight deceit and “tell the truth” at legislative gatherings. Some may have fallen in with them under that impression, but the core group amounts to a political action committee geared toward unseating the Republican members of the Legislature - made evident when they recently got a Democratic legislator to announce a resolution (I believe written by them) calling for my censure simply for penning a statement as chair of the Legislature.

I'm all for listening to the public, when the intent is to persuade, air concerns, or just converse. I and my colleagues tend to tune out when it becomes grandstanding, accusing and attacking, which the “Truth Squad” liberally employs (despite the fact that it actually works against them).

Listen, I'm a big boy, and I know politics is a bruising occupation. But to cloak a politically motivated group as some sort of heroic “Truth Squad” is playing the very same games and telling the very same lies that they continually accuse me of doing.

At the very least, they should announce who and what they represent when they speak - voters are owed that simple truth.