You’d think with all the campaign money Westchester County Executive Andy Spano  is raking in, that he’d be able to afford to hire a reasonably articulate spokesperson for his effort to get elected to a fourth  term.

But with the Spanoistas, it’s always been hard to separate politics from policy. It’s all about controlling the message. That’s why any charges leveled  against him from political opponents are being answered by Sue Tolchin, his long-time aide who was recently bumped up to deputy county executive. At least, that appears to be the case so far.

The campaign for Republican Rob Astorino sees the obvious conflict of interest. Here’s a letter Astorino’s people are putting out, demanding that Tolchin resign.

Dear Ms. Tolchin:
It has come to my attention that you have been serving as campaign spokesperson for County Executive Andy Spano.
You should refrain from doing so or immediately resign as Deputy County Executive.  Serving as a political spokesperson on the public dime is highly unethical.
The people of Westchester pay your $157,000-plus salary to perform official Westchester County business. They do not pay you to do Mr. Spano’s political work.
It is bad enough that we have to pay for Mr. Spano’s “body guards”—are there three of four of them these days?—who routinely drive him to and from political and personal functions. Do we really need to pay for his political spokespeople, too?
Westchester taxpayers are weary.  We are tired of feeling cheated by public officials who take advantage of taxpayers for personal gain.  We’re tired of the taxpayer-funded cars, chauffeurs, gas bills, overseas junkets, banquets, airline tickets and cell phone bills. We’re tired of Westchester government officials spending their time and our dollars on political business while the rest of are struggling to get by.
This is not the first time this issue has come up. Mr. Spano has a long history of using government employees to engage in political campaign work. I am attaching a 2005 letter to the League of Women Voters Fair Campaign Practices Board for easy reference.  In it, you are quoted saying “County Executive Spano has never used nor will he ever use tax dollars for his campaign.”
Then what exactly have you been doing lately?
As I see it, you can either a.) resign your government position and become Mr. Spano’s paid campaign spokesperson, b.) cease and desist your political activities while you are being paid by the taxpayers, or c.) become a part-time paid political spokesperson and a part-time county employee—at an appropriately reduced taxpayer salary—making it clear in each public statement which entity you are representing.
This is a serious matter and I ask you to resolve it before speaking out on campaign matters again.  The taxpayers are watching.

Sincerely,
William F. B. O’Reilly
Campaign Spokesperson/Friends of Rob Astorino