LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
February 7, 2003
The Press
Ellenville, New York
To the Editor:
“For evil to triumph, ’tis enough for the good to be silent.” - Edmund Burke.
As I age I notice more and more of the old sayings we were taught in school to be self-evident truths or rights given us by our country’s laws and constitution do not necessarily hold up in real life.
It took me time enough to pass 60 years, though, before I discovered this one to be untrue: “No one is above the law.”
I recently had reason to request a judicial subpoena duces tecum be issued to the mayor, because he was in possession of a document that, as evidence in court, would have proven me innocent of an accusation, and my repeated requests to him personally met with either his agreeing to do so but never actually following through or nonresponsiveness.
When I appeared for trial the mayor was not there nor the document. The court was mute about reason why nor did they or have they responded to my question why.
For whatever secretive reason internal to the Ellenville court system, along with the Ellenville administrative offices personnel, an “old boy network” was allowed power enough to place the mayor “above the law!”
That all happened last summer. More recently I had firsthand experience — I’d engaged him as my lawyer to close on a property — with another person who has declared himself as a future candidate to run for village mayor.
My direct firsthand experience with this person during a formal business relationship involving many thousands of dollars proved to my satisfaction that ethical integrity is not high enough up on his own list of priorities for him to be trusted as a public official. (He tried to put false spin on past factual reality to cover up a mistake he’d made.)
Conclusion: Anyone who may be engaging in questionable activity should become the mayor of Ellenville wherein the local administration, including very possibly the police department, allow you to be above the law in a safe harbor.
My application for the judicial subpoena duces tecum would be made available to anyone who has a verifiable need to know.
Paul T. Johnson
Ellenville
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