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Ken Harper Announces Candidacy for County Executive
by Maria Theodore Leiter
On Tuesday, July 8, Ken Harper, Democrat from Patterson, officially announced his candidacy for County Executive on the steps of the County Courthouse. This week, Harper spoke to the PCN&R about why he decided to step into the race again, and what he feels he could offer.
"I don’t think Mr. Bondi is doing as good a job as Putnam County deserves," Harper said. "We are the fastest growing county in the State and the more I see how things are going locally, the more I think we can do better." The people want to be a part of the process, Harper maintains. He claims that Bondi’s administration has been somewhat insular, relying on a small group of close advisors and not involving key parties or citizens.
As an example of what he sees as Bondi’s limiting approach to decision making, Harper cited the settlement with the Ziff family that Bondi announced at his recent State of the County address. The matter involved a case in which Ziff, a Dutchess County resident, brought earth moving equipment into a Putnam County park and removed tons of rock, which he subsequently displayed on his own property. In the process, he defaced the park, causing millions in damage. The Ziff family agreed to settle the case for $1 million and to make an additional $8 million donation to the County.
"[Bondi] never spoke to the District Attorney and never explained why he got involved in the Ziff case instead of leaving it to the D.A. to handle," said Harper. The Democrat also cited Bondi’s announcement of the County’s intent to purchase Butterfield Hospital in Cold Spring without first contacting the owners of that facility.
"Being the fastest growing county, we need a County Executive that understands the importance of talking to people and doing the research before making decisions," he said. "People want to be a part of the process. I don’t think there is an idea in the world that can’t be improved by listening to other people’s ideas," he said.
Another major issue he has with the administration is over the use of watershed funds. Harper said that Bondi has not done enough with the money given to Putnam by the New York City Department of Environmental Conservation to actually improve water quality.
"Every day someone’s well runs dry," he said. "It is a shame that that money has been sitting in an account collecting interest. If we actually used some of it on water quality improvement, we would be in a much better position when it came time to renegotiate the terms of the Memorandum of Agreement with the DEC." He said that while Bondi has focused on open space acquisition, he believed that the DEC was more concerned with removing pollutants. To be fair, Bondi’s original focus was on a wastewater diversion plan which was met with enormous opposition, and that he had to abandon in the end.
Harper also sees school taxes as major issue that Bondi has not addressed. "At the very least, I would get a citizens panel together and look at the differences between our school districts and those in other districts. I think we would find that a contributing factor is that we are developing out of balance. There is not enough commercial growth to offset some of the cost to residents."
Harper said that although the law sets up development as a home rule issue, the County Executive did have at least one way to exert some influence, since all development must go through the County Health Department. "Every development has an affect on the water table and water quality."
"I’d like to make the towns partners," he said. "The approach is not one of dictatorship, it is one of partnership." He said that he would use sales tax revenue sharing as a "carrot" to elicit their cooperation.
Harper also sees a more regional approach as necessary to maintain the quality of life in Putnam. For instance, he said that he would be prepared to support the development of a Western rail line serving Rockland, Orange and Ulster, because the lack of one taxes the lines on this side of the Hudson.
"My personal feeling is if it affects the residents of Putnam County, we need to be concerned," he said.
Another area that concerns Harper is what he sees as a lack of services at the County level. "Our impression is that we are paying comparable to what the residents of Westchester pay. We have about one tenth the population and we pay about ten percent of what they pay in taxes. Why are we spending comparably, but are not at that level of service?" For instance, he said, we have no County center, no real performance spaces and no community college system. "Westchester also has an elaborate parks system with public employees," he said, adding, "We have one park ranger."
"I am not saying we need to spend more," he added, "I am not proposing any radical changes. I think we can do more with less."
Harper spent $4,000 on his last campaign four years ago and received 8,000 votes. He believes this time around people are ready for a change.
"I think twelve years is more than enough for one person," he said. "[Bondi] has done an excellent job, but things have changed. I don’t think he is that interested in those changes. I think its time to do things differently. I welcome the input of people. My door would always be open."
Harper has been married for fifteen years. He and his wife Lauren have a sixteen-month-old daughter, Samantha. They have lived in Patterson for fifteen years. Harper is employed in the financial planning field with AXA Advisors/Equitable Life. He is the trustee of the Putnam County Land Trust, and serves on the Putnam Arts Council Grants Committee. Harper is a member of the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Friends of the Great Swamp, Patterson Land Watch, Concerned Residents of Carmel and the Patterson Park Citizen’s Committee, and was a former member of the Putnam Environmental Management Council.
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