Two bills that likely would have led to the failure of the Satmar Village of Kiryas Joel’s proposed annexation of land from the adjoining town of Monroe in upstate New York were vetoed late Wednesday night by Governor Andrew Cuomo less than two hours before they would have become law.
Above: Kiryas Joel's official welcome sign is clearly unconstitutional, but Andrew Cuomo has done nothing about it or about the village policies it reflects
News Analysis: Governor Vetoes Bills That Would Have Made It Harder For Satmar Village To Annex Land, Angering Thousands Of Hudson Valley Activists
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Two bills that likely would have led to the failure of the Satmar Village of Kiryas Joel’s proposed annexation of land from the adjoining town of Monroe in upstate New York were vetoed late Wednesday night by Governor Andrew Cuomo less than two hours before they would have become law.
New York State Assembly Bill A7629 and the matching Senate matching Senate bill, S5603, breached state law, according to Cuomo, by giving counties control over annexations that do not directly fall within or directly border on their own boundaries – a violation, Cuomo claimed, of Article IX of the New York State constitution.
The bills passed their respective houses overwhelmingly and with bipartisan support, in large part because the high-density expansion planned by Kiryas Joel will be a major strain on the region’s water resources and on the local rural and semi-rural environment, directly impacting many residents of neighboring counties that do not directly border on Kiryas Joel.
“We just received news that Governor Andrew Cuomo vetoed both annexation bills. Despite both the Assembly and Senate votes overwhelmingly in favor of these two environmental oversight bills, our State Governor bowed to a special interest and, at the final hour, vetoed these bills. We will continue to make our voices heard and remember, the Town Board of Monroe deserves our pressure, our presence and our vocal opposition to these illegal land grabs. The vote rests with our Town Board. The fact that Cuomo waited until amost 11pm to make this decision is insulting and offensive. Shame on you, Andy Cuomo,” the citizens action group United Monroe wrote on its Facebook page.
Satmar's Aaron faction leadership, which controls Kiryas Joel with an iron fist, praised the governor.
“Governor Cuomo came through for the rule of law. For over 200 years, the same rules have applied to everybody in the United States and suddenly, when land owners want to do something with their own land, people tried to change laws that have been good for hundreds of years with a law that was tailored to block Kiryas Joel,” Ari Felberman, government relations coordinator for the Village of Kiryas Joel, told VIN News.
But Feldbaum's statement makes little sense. Land annexation laws differ by state and jurisdiction, and have differed over time, as well. And if anything, it is Kiryas Joel that has repeatedly violated laws and regulations. For example, Kiryas Joel's long-time official welcome sign, pictured above, is clearly unconstitutional. It mandates a religiously required dress code and mandates gender segregation. Even so, Cuomo has done nothing about it or about the village policies it reflects.
Cuomo has long been viewed by political observers as being overly partial to the wishes and desires of Satmar hasidim, and while Cuomo’s constitutional claims about the two bills may or may not turn out to be accurate, there is no doubt Kiryas Joel’s daily violations of fair housing law, environmental regulations, and many other similar issues – including forcing religious behavior on visitors and residents – deserve equal legal scrutiny from the governor and his administration. But such scrutiny is completely lacking.
Instead, Cuomo and his administration have turned blind eyes to them and to similar violations of the law of the law by the Satmar community in Brooklyn, prompting some activists to wonder if Cuomo – who is rumored to be a target of a wide-reaching unrelated federal corruption probe – may have more than a titular interest in the hasidic community’s success.
While the Aaron faction of Satmar hasidim that controls Kiryas Joel praised the governor’s vetoes, many members of the small dissident Satmar faction in the village who have suffered through years of persecution and thuggery, much of it allegedly illegal, at the hands of the Aaron faction, oppose the proposed annexation.