As promised The Peekskill Guardian has been looking into Peekskill First. As we suspected they are nothing more than a GOP front group, designed by John Testa and Bill Schmidt as a last ditch effort to maintain the status quo. The last thing the GOP wanted was to lose their ability to sell Peekskill to the highest bidder or at least to someone with the ability to sell the mayor a Riverbend Condo at a price so low it was like giving it away. Losing control would also draw back the curtains and shine sunlight on the last 26 years of Republican graft. No one is talking about the two large dumpsters that showed up behind city hall the day after the election.When Peekskill First formed as a Political Action Committee or PAC they became responsible for filing financial reports with the board of elections. Guess who was financing them? In the last ten days of the campaign Martin Ginsburg gave them $3,000 in three separate donations. All under different names. While the names may have been changed to protect the guilty, the address did not, 100 Summit Ave, Valhalla. The maximum donation allowed is $1,000 and interested party’s can check the website and see that both Bill Schmidt and The Log Cabin Republicans hit that ceiling just days before the election.
http://www.elections.state.ny.us/plsql_browser/getreports?filer_in=C34519&fyear_in=2007&rep_in=F
Let us review, Peekskill first is a group of concerned Independents, Libertarians and Democrats crossing party lines to do what's best for Peekskill. ..............But, the bulk of their financing came from a republican developer with millions of dollars worth of deals with the city, a two time failed GOP candidate and the Log Cabin Republicans. The Peekskill Guardian could not seem to find any Democrats, Independents or Libertarians on that list.
The only thing that shocks The Peekskill Guardian about all of this is that they didn't get away with it. While Bill Schmidt and Tony Seideman may have suggested in their blog Peekskill Guardian that the circus was coming to town, we believe that it's 26 year run in Peekskill has finally come to an end.
