To satisfy some curiosity I did a little research on Hein here, and was rather surprised to see what I found. It would seem to me according to the county election results that the last time he ran for reelection was back in 2011 and running unopposed he only managed to get about http://ulstercountyny.gov/sites/default ... esults.pdf 65% of the vote! In the election 18645 people voted for him under the democrat ticket, 5662 people voted for him under the independent spot, and another 12988 people who showed up flat out refused to vote for the guy. So there may be some hope to beating him. Looks like the guy is up for reelection this November.

Thus having followed the CMRR for a while with great admiration the question I have to ask is have you guys started working with the local independents, republicans, fellow Hein enemies, and or any other politically savvy people who may be interested in sitting in Hein's seat. It seems like with an off year election coming up in November the time to really start the effort to win back your railroad ought to start now by helping to help select, fund and place a good solid candidate on the ballot who is capable of defeating this bastard? It seems to me for all the great fighting, lawsuits and mini battles won there is one and only one thing that stands in the way of your success and it is only would really require flipping about 3000 votes from the Hein column to a different candidate!

By the way I realize that this is a public forum so I don't really expect details on any strategy along these lines, though I sure as heck hope this avenue is being looked at. One last question along these lines, does Hein have an opponent whose campaign people can donate to? Maybe it would be a good idea to post the website's donation here with a link so people can send money with a little note attached!

Thats a helluva good idea! Politics makes the world go round, and sometimes we have to learn how to play the game to get what we want.

ADM,

CMRR is a for profit railroad. Not a 501(c)3

Mr. Mitchells post is relevant to the opposition however.

There have been various FB postings by the rail-trail groups that come very close to violating the restrictions on political campaign activity. In the ARTA vs. ASR battle, ARTA directors made several posts that clearly favored the local candidate that supported the rail trail.

Sadly the rules concerning the restrictions against 501c3's engaging in political activity are, at best, selectively enforced. The Sierra Club is particularly notorious, as is AARP (although they created an "arms length" PAC with an interlocking BOD). The Sierra Club in Northern NJ has been really aggressive in supporting politicians who will prevent the modest extension of NJTransit to Andover, NJ on the Lackawanna Cutoff. Considering the political circles the trail people and the Ulster County, NY State and IRS play in, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for any action against them.

My understanding from my source (who could be a little biased) is that Hein has somewhat of a reputation locally and is rather deeply distrusted. I tend to think that so many people flat out refuse to vote for him when he is alone on the ballot says something, but I am no political science person, maybe such margins of no votes are more common?

Either way the sad thing is it seems to me as an outsider that for the CMRR the real fight to try to win at is going to take place this November. As I gather their lease on the RR is up 1 year after Hein is on the ballot and so far I have seen nothing that suggests Hein would renew said lease. Seems to me that Hein appears to be somewhat of a dictator in this arena so are there any other paths to renew that lease that don't go through his office? At the same time Hein also manages to cost the little railroad hundreds of thousands a year in lawsuits, and has blocked a few million in FEMA funds from hitting the railroad. I bet if a politician won who happened to do it with a large helping hand from the pro railroad crowd the hundreds of thousands in legal fees would be freed up to go to the railroad, plus it may open the door to other outside funding Hein is blocking. It may mean that now is the best time for any supporter of CMRR to redirect their donations planned for this year to Heins opposition! So does he have any yet that has surfaced?

It seems like the best time to do this is now with about 10months to go till election day. Sure the funds don't have to come from the railroad but if a whole boat load of their volunteers just so happen to support Hein's opposition with the same heart, and determination they have helped the CMRR with who knows maybe it would really make all the difference. By the way at the end of each train ride are you guys thanking the general public while also informing them that an evil county executive wants to destroy their little railroad and you need their help to fight save it?

You know, I hate to say this, but...... if I were approached at the end of a lovely outing with a political campaign using loaded, biased words like "evil" and "destroy" and "fight to save"..... I don't care how utterly true those words might be, even if Snidely Whiplash and Boris Badenov were the opposition, being approached by a bunch of activists with that loaded an agenda would utterly turn me off to the occasion, and probably deter me from ever returning.

By all means, have flyers for your cause. Have a petition available to sign. Have a display up in a corner that explains "This could all go away..... here's why..." and explaining the issues broadly. But going on a personal vendetta against a single elected official is not the way to go. People who lobby politically based on one specific issue, be it abortion or charter schools or Amtrak or fracking or school prayer, tend to come off looking like crackpots.

Trainlawyer, I find Bingham v. RLTD the more interesting bit of law, particularly its reliance on state law relating to rail trails. It became law on its own, as it's oft-cited, and I'd say for good reason - I find the argument compelling. It was eventually struck on a technicality, but that's just the kind of thing that will vary in other states. Worth a look.


I can certainly see why you might think they are selectively enforced, but they are not. First there's timing. People only consider IRS actions (or their conspicuous lack) when the political debate is front-of-mind. However the IRS never works that fast (because doing so would, itself, be political.) Instead they nail the charity years later when the dust and facts have settled. So yes, they do get nailed, but nobody connects the termination to the campaigning because the campaign in question is yesterday's news.

Second, people tend to ignore details (especially when they want to!) Your kneejerk is that this political letter is speaking officially for the charity - but take a look. He may have properly disclaimed that he's not speaking for the charity. Or it may be from a connected PAC. Charities can scarcely held accountable for their mailing lists being "borrowed" for campaigning, especially if the "borrowing" may have been years prior to the campaign. At the extreme, Imagine someone does an email blast to everyone in their address book, and it never dawns on them that most of their contacts are connected with the charity. Or that same effect on Facebook.

Surprisingly, this is still posted on an ARTA FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1072438 ... query=vote

Hope Frenette‎The ARTA
October 16, 2013 ·
"Of course it's so much easier to support everything than to make the tough calls. Both Paul Maroun and Kathleen Lefebvre know that a side by side rail and trail is not possible financially and environmentally. But their idea for rail and trail is not anything like what ARTA proposes and it absolutely will do nothing for the snowmobilers no matter what they say. A vote for Lefebvre is a vote against snowmobiling so remember that at the polls."

Is that crossing the line?

The latest from the Daily Freeman in Kingston:

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-new ... ilroad-dry

As is often the case, what stands out for me are the following comments, in particular comments from names that are at least new to me in this outlet.

Among the names and comments:

Paul Chauvet (possible trail supporter?): "I'm not a fan of the railroad. I personally think they wasted their opportunities but they've got 16 months left. Just don't renew the lease and stop wasting money fighting this..."

J.R. Wilson, Jr., also on the haste and the money spent to get rid of the railroad early:

"A shill? Since when is a Legislator who is standing for something he agrees with a shill? This is a perfect example of the bullying I talk about all the time. Hein's staff follow his orders and take personal, nasty swipes at anyone who disagrees with him or does not march in line. Donaldson is right, let the lease expire and then take it from there. No need to drag them through an appeals process at taxpayers expense. The lease will probably expire before they get there anyway."

Has the fact that the line gets ravaged by storms and hurricanes on a regularly enough basis ever entered the conversation?

How much time and resources get diverted into making repairs to the existing line each year, that could otherwise be put towards opening the line? I could certainly see how that would hinder the CMRR's ability to open the line, per the lease agreement.

With that said, if the line gets turned into a trail, wouldn't that trail be just as chewed up as the tracks presently are? What happens when bridges on the trail start getting washed away, and there are washouts all up and down the line?

Well that's different. In that case, magic trail money will show up and fix it.

So the more it falls into the river, the better, because this will bring more economic development into the community. Just like a broken window is economic power because it keeps the glass man busy.

Seriously though. Now finally, CMRR is flexing their economic power by driving their business upward, pushing up passenger counts and their economic relevance. Imagine if they had done it in 2003. If they were flowing in a half million a year of cash, and NOT blowing it all out in lawyer money, imagine what they could have done!

EDIT: Only adding new content below, so as to "sage" (not cause a bump to top of forum) as it's not that important.


IRS's "litmus test" for campaigning is that you mention or imply a political candidate. So yeah. That did it!

And this is the only "harsh, sharp line" I know of in nonprofits - in any other area, IRS will give well-intended novices a lot of slack.

I'm going to post the full Daily Freeman article:

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-new ... ilroad-dry

Legislator says Ulster County is trying to bleed tourist railroad dry

By Patricia Doxsey, Daily Freeman

Posted: 01/21/15, 9:31 PM EST

KINGSTON >> Ulster County Legislator David Donaldson says the county is trying to bleed the Catskill Mountain Railroad dry by refusing to drop its demand that the tourist railroad live up to terms of its lease of the county-owned former Ulster & Delaware Railroad right-of-way.

The administration, in turn, is calling Donaldson a “shill” for the railroad, saying the Kingston Democrat is more concerned about a private business than the interests of county taxpayers.

In a Jan. 15 letter to County Executive Michael Hein, Donaldson blasted the administration for appealing a Sept. 26 ruling by state Supreme Court Justice Richard Mott, which rejected motions by the county to lift an injunction barring it from evicting the railroad and to force the railroad to turn over a decade’s worth of financial documents, including bank statements, tax returns, dividend statements, grant applications and a list of all contributions and donations.

“To appeal this decision seems to be using the deep pockets of the taxpayers to bleed the CMRR dry and to assure their successes are few,” Donaldson wrote. He also said he was “disappointed to learn of this appeal from sources outside Ulster County government.”

County Attorney Bea Havranek, however, in an email to the Freeman, said the county has not filed an appeal to the judge’s ruling. She said that in November, the county filed a “notice of intent to appeal,” which preserves the county’s right to appeal.

Earlier this month, she said, the county served the railroad with a “proposed record on appeal,” which includes all of the documents used by courts in reaching the decision that may ultimately be appealed.

“This is a procedural step that is necessary as a result of the lawsuit filed by the Catskill Mountain Railroad Company against the county,” Havranek said in the email. “This procedural step would not be needed if the Catskill Mountain Railroad Company simply provided all the financial information it is required to provide under the terms of its lease with the County.”

The Catskill Mountain Railroad filed a lawsuit against the county in an effort to prevent the county from evicting it from the railroad right-of-way ahead of the May 2016 expiration of its 25-year lease of the 38-mile track from Kingston to Highmount. The county says the railroad has failed to live up to substantial portions of the lease.

Donaldson argued that attempting to evict the railroad is a waste of the county’s money.

“They’re leaving in 16 months, it’s over with,” said Donaldson. “I’m trying to protect the county from incurring heavy-duty costs,” he said.

Donaldson said that by continuing its effort to evict the railroad, the county is interfering with the railroad’s ability to plan for the future, and suggested the effort is a “vendetta” by Hein.

The county and the Catskill Mountain Railroad have been at odds since 2013, when Hein unveiled plans to convert the rail line that runs between the city of Kingston and the Ashokan Reservoir into a recreational trail. Hein had said a tourist train would be permitted to operate between the western side of the Ashokan and Phoenicia, and, late last year, following the success of the railroad’s tourist train operations in Kingston, Hein announced he would also permit a tourist train on a portion of the tracks in the city of Kingston as well.

Deputy Planning Commissioner Chris White said the “county is defending itself against litigation that the Catskill Mountain Railroad brought and the county’s actions to date have simply been trying to hold a private company accountable to the terms of a lease that is there to protect county taxpayers and the public interest.”

He said Hein’s proposal “offered a thoughtful compromise that would allow for the continuation of tourism or historic-based train rides in the city in addition to allowing them to continue west of the Mount Tremper area,” but that it was immediately dismissed by the railroad and Donaldson.

White said Donaldson “seems to be stepping away from his responsibilities as a county legislator and instead appears to be acting as a shill for a private company, a private for-profit company, and this misinformation he put out about the case is really to obscure the facts and confuse the public.”