Reclaim New York wages war against local government

Dear Editor, Don’t let anyone tell you differently — elections matter.

If they didn’t, billionaires would not be dumping obscene amounts of money into federal, state, and local elections in an attempt to render voters’ voices irrelevant.

One political front group we must all beware of is “Reclaim New York,” a non-profit agency that uses the state’s Freedom-of-Information Laws to expose local public expenditures. Its purported objective is to train New York residents to be “watchdogs” in their communities.

This “transparency in government” objective is a subterfuge, though, for delivering former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s promise to “deconstruct the administrative state” through harassing local towns in an attempt to undermine New York government.

Funding these endeavors is billionaire Rebekah Mercer, daughter of Robert Mercer, the wealthy Upper West-side Manhattan Republican who spent millions on Sen. Ted Cruz’s failed presidential campaign.

Make no mistake, Mercer is not trying to improve government; she is trying to “reclaim” it through fomenting disorder, distrust, conflict, and chaos.

This organization has no roots in Ulster County and has no business trying to render us powerless at the voting booth.

Ted Millar

Milton, N.Y.