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Becker to blame for host county fiasco

In your article titled “Governor vetoes host county bill,” Madison County Chairman of the Board of Supervisors John Becker said, “There was no gaming in Madison County when the settlement agreement was negotiated and adopted in 2013, and the possibility of such future gaming was never discussed or contemplated.” Not surprisingly, he was wrong. Informed citizens of Madison County specifically told the Board of Supervisors that once the land is taken into trust, the Oneida Indian Nation (OIN) can and will expand ANY business that it wishes to pursue. Those pleas fell on deaf ears.

More pointedly, Assemblywoman Claudia Tenney wrote an outstanding five-page letter to her colleagues in the state Legislature outlining why the Legislature should vote NO on the agreement. In that letter, Tenney writes, “Once the Casino Oneidas are granted federal trust land, (a legal impossibility that the governor and an uninformed Legislature will shove down our throats anyway), they can put gaming machines on any of the 25,000 acres.”

Assemblyman Magee and Senator Valesky received copies of Tenney’s letter; to his credit, Magee voted NO; Valesky nonetheless voted YES. Apparently neither Magee nor Valesky told Becker anything about it, and it goes without saying that Becker must never have read Tenney’s letter.

From the onset of Becker becoming the chairman of the Board of Supervisors, he has been like a bull in a china shop regarding the most critical issue facing Madison County, the OIN. “A new broom sweeps clean,” claimed Becker. He knew nothing about these issues, and refused to listen to people who did

he 2013 “Settlement Agreement” between the OIN, State, and counties is a disaster that will negatively impact both Madison and Oneida counties for decades to come. In Madison County, the blame can be squarely placed at Chairman Becker’s feet. of the future. Being a lifelong Utican, I myself cannot cast my vote for John Salka. At my age of 77, I think John will make a fine assemblyman. John Salka will bring voters to a place where their vote counts and will be heard. Vote for John Salka and make him your assemblyman.

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