The Fray

Rep. John Faso voiced support for strengthening U.S. ties with Israel and pessimism about a “sustainable peace” with the Palestinians this week after returning from a seven-day visit to Israel with fellow House members from both parties.

The Kinderhook Republican said he and his colleagues met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli defense and economic officials; military and foreign policy experts; the opposition leader in the Israeli Knesset; and Rami Hamdallah, prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. Faso said his delegation also met with entrepreneurs in the high-tech industry, and with young Israelis serving their compulsory stint in the army.

Faso’s group was taken to the disputed Golan Heights, which Faso said Israel must continue to control. “Given Iranian and Hezbollah influence in significant parts of Syria it is all the more important that forces hostile to Israel never again have control of the Golan Heights’ strategic high ground,” he said.

“We all desire peace in the Middle East,” Faso concluded.  ”Recent political developments in the region cast doubt on the ability of the Palestinian Authority to enter into any sustainable peace treaty with Israel, especially given the malign influence of Iran and its proxies in the region. It is critical that the United States maintain its long-standing political, military and economic ties to Israel, the only democracy in the region. In Congress, I will continue to support efforts to strengthen our relationship with Israel, especially in areas such as missile defense, technology and agriculture.”

Former campaign treasurer and New Windsor Republican chairman Carmen Dubaldi was paroled from prison this month after serving a year for stealing $120,000 from the campaign accounts of Sen. Bill Larkin, former Orange County Executive Ed Diana and former Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt, now the Orange County clerk.

State prison records show Dubaldi, who was sentenced to one to three years after pleading guilty to grand larceny, was released on parole from Groveland Correctional Facility – about 90 minutes east of Buffalo – on Aug. 3.

Dubaldi’s guilty plea in in August 2016 capped an embezzlement case that unfolded with suspense over more than year, with revelations in the Times Herald-Record and campaign finance filings outpacing the actual criminal investigation. Dubaldi abruptly quit as Larkin’s campaign treasurer without a public explanation in July 2015, raising suspicions that worsened as Larkin’s campaign then went weeks without filing a financial disclosure report for the first half of the year. Larkin finally announced that he had fired Dubaldi and notified authorities after “irregularities” were found.

After meeting with state officials to decide how to register thefts and lots of donations Dubaldi never disclosed, Larkin’s campaign filed a report in October 2015 showing Dubaldi had paid $10,000 in restitution – for a theft for which he had not yet been charged. Less than two months later, Diana’s treasurer told the Record that Dubaldi also had paid $61,800 in restitution to the Diana campaign.

About a week before Diana had to disclose that repayment in a public report, Ulster County prosecutors charged Dubaldi with stealing $120,000 from three campaign accounts he managed as treasurer. The investigation had been moved out of Orange County, where Dubaldi had political ties and a county job, to avoid an appearance of impropriety.

Dubaldi declared bankruptcy when he entered prison, reporting $300,000 in debts. That blocked any damage claims he could have faced in a defamation suit that a former New Winsdsor councilwoman had brought against him. Dubaldi was accused of producing a campaign ad and mailing in 2012 that used a police photo of Bonnie Brennan, taken after she was the victim of domestic abuse, to insinuate wrongly that she had a criminal record.

Rep. John Faso issued a statement on Monday specifically condemning the white supremacist groups involved in violent clashes in Virginia last weekend, after a barrage of criticism of President Trump for blaming “hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides” instead of singling out obviously repugnant participants.

Faso, a Kinderhook Republican whose district includes Ulster and Sullivan counties, said: “All Americans – and particularly those in positions of leadership – must reject hate groups such as white supremacists, neo-Nazis, the KKK, and others which have no legitimate place in our political and societal discourse. I am confident that the Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute and hold accountable those responsible for the abhorrent acts which occurred in Charlottesville over the weekend.”

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the Cold Spring Democrat who represents Orange County, knows well the pretty southern town shown on televisions over the weekend, having spent seven years in Charlottesville to get his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia in 1988 and his law degree there in 1992.

After violence engulfed the tranquil college town on Saturday, Maloney wrote on Facebook: “As someone who was blessed to spend years living and learning in Charlottesville — one of America’s most beautiful and welcoming communities, with a history of enlightenment stretching back to Jefferson — I’m disgusted and saddened by the ugly, hateful and violent events taking place there. All decent people should demand a return to sanity and a restoration of decency and respect for others.”

Rep. John Faso announced Friday that he’ll hold a town hall gathering in Esopus at the end of the August congressional recess, a moderated event at which attendance will be limited to 200 people.

The forum follows a tumultuous political season in which other Republican Congress members have faced heated criticism at similar gatherings in their districts over their party’s plans to repeal and replace Obamacare. Faso said on Friday that Move Forward New York, a liberal activist group, had asked to hold a joint town hall with him in May, and that he had accepted. Both he and Move Forward each will distribute 70 tickets in advance, ensuring a mixed audience. The remaining 60 tickets will be given out at the door or a first come, first serve basis.

The event is scheduled for 6:30-8 p.m. on Aug. 31 at Esopus Town Hall. Doors open at 6 p.m. The moderators are Gerald Benjamin, a political science professor and director of The Benjamin Center at SUNY New Paltz; and Debra Clinton of Move Forward New York.

“In May, some folks from Move Forward New York approached me about doing a joint town hall event to hear from constituents in an organized and civil forum,” Faso said in a press release Friday. “Since then, our offices have been collaborating to plan and hammer out details for the event, and I am very pleased to say that we have this event scheduled for August 31 in Esopus.”

Faso, a Kinderhook Republican whose district includes Ulster and Sullivan counties, is expected to speak for 10 minutes and then take audience questions. Attendees will submit written questions and be called on to read them, with the two moderators taking turns choosing the questions. To request a ticket from Move Forward New York, email mfny19@gmail.com. To get one from Faso’s office, call 202-225-5614.

Rep. John Faso plans to be at the SUNY Sullivan campus with staff members and various experts for four hours next Thursday to help veterans find health care, jobs and other services.

The Veterans Assistance Fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the community college’s student union, at 112 College Road in Loch Sheldrake. Faso is a Columbia County Republican whose district includes Sullivan and Ulster counties.

For big-dollar campaign donors, this has got to sound better than a rubber-chicken dinner in D.C.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is inviting supporters to what amounts to a destination wedding for the congressional fundraising world: a three-day “retreat” in his Hudson Valley district in October, in the midst of leaf-peeping season.

An early announcement for the Cold Spring Democrat’s “Inaugural Hudson Valley Retreat” gives only the dates and the name of the boutique hotel, restaurant and banquet hall in Beacon that apparently will serve as the home base from which guests will take regional excursions. Tickets to the Oct. 14-16 sojourn at the Roundhouse Beacon cost $2,500 a person, just under the $2,700 individual contribution limit for congressional races.

Maloney, who’s serving his third term in Congress, had $2.6 million in his campaign account as of June 30 and has no announced challengers yet for 2018. He represents New York’s 18th Congressional District, which includes all of Orange and Putnam counties and parts of Dutchess and Westchester.

Woodbury Supervisor David Sutz and town Councilman Frank Palermo will square off in a Democratic primary for a two-year supervisor term on Sept. 12, a contest that probably will decide the race since no Republican candidate is running.

Sutz, a former Woodbury village trustee, was elected supervisor in 2015, ousting Republican Ralph Caruso after his one year in office. Palermo had served as acting supervisor for several months in 2014 after John Burke, the Democrat who had long held that office, died unexpectedly.

The town Democratic Committee announced this week it had endorsed Palermo and two Town Board running mates, Amidee Haviland lll and Jacqueline Hernandez. Haviland, a former councilman, and Hernandez are competing with Councilman Robert Hunter and village Planning Board member Sandra Capriglione for two, four-year councilman seats on the Town Board.

Palermo and Hernandez also are running for office on the Independence Party line, so both will be on the Nov. 7 general election ballot regardless of the Democratic primary outcome. None of the other Town Board contenders have third-party lines as a fallback, although candidates have until Aug. 22 to submit independent petitions for the general election.