The issue with "issues" is that all candidates promise to reduce taxes, create jobs, help your family and your business... How specific are these promises? Not at all, just telling voters something they want to hear.

Moreover, the issues we face after we get elected are — more often than not — different from the ones we expect.

I'm interested in specific issues. Here is an example: The "final" cover of the Ulster County travel guide was — in my professional opinion — wrong. I spoke up, triggered a debate and made a difference: the actual cover prominently features Mohonk Mountain House, a National Landmark which truly identifies and differentiates Ulster County (see both covers at right).

Let me share some specific ideas and opinions regarding issues which I think deserve priority in our county.

Marketing the Ulster County

Marketing Ulster County should be a high priority. Tourism is the only revenue-generating sector in the County, but the word "tourism" is not even mentioned in the printed 2010 Tentative Budget message!

Good marketing cannot be done without input from people dealing with visitors. The Ulster County Tourism Advisory Board — with its diverse membership, including big and small tourism establishments, various shopping and lodging areas, restaurants, wineries and antique dealers — represents an important source of such input.

Good marketing increases tourism, creates jobs, helps businesses survive and grow, generates sales tax revenues.

We should stress the existing attractions, especially those in our South of Kingston neglected, depressed area.

Cutbacks in Spending

With declining revenues, cutbacks in spending are inevitable. I would follow the Disney "excellence in leadership" principle: you always cut from the top, from the executive level, not from the "front line." If reducing the work force is necessary, executive pay, the six-figure positions should be eliminated, not the bottom positions which assure services to the people. Top salaries and raises should be cut, not services.

Transparency in Government

As a very active member of the Ulster County Tourism Advisory Board, I noticed an alarming lack of communication between the County Executive and the Legislature regarding county's tourism. If this situation is found in other departments, and directors are not allowed to attend Legislature's meetings, we got a disturbing trend to centralize control around the County Executive.

When members of the Ulster County Tourism Advisory Board, and probably the Legislators too, learn from the newspapers that a new marketing campaign started already, then we have a problem.

Communication should be improved; I would fight to keep all the communication channels open, from the County Executive to the Legislature and also back to the people. We all are accountable to our constituency. We have a responsibility to follow up on decisions and find the best ways to report to those who elect us. We should restore the public's voice in decision making by creating an opportunity for the general public to give those in leadership positions direct, substantive feedback on key issues.

The above painting makes a great cover for an arts magazine, but we're talking about a travel guide. Is this cover showing how and why Ulster County is "different" from other areas? Is this cover going to attract visitors? Is this cover helping our branding effort? What is our positioning? Imagine that a few counties decide to use beautiful, inviting paintings as covers of their travel guides. How would potential travelers differentiate places and decide where to go?

This is the actual cover of the 2009 Ulster County Travel Guide. Tourism is worth $471 million to the local economy and is responsible for 8,000 jobs. With proper marketing, we can have more jobs, more sales tax revenues, more people deciding to move to our area and eventually start a business here.