To everyone who voted for me: I lost. Score one for the culture of cronyism, opacity, and lack of accountability to taxpaying patrons.

Many, many thanks for your support.

The fact that my name mysteriously disappeared from the published slate of candidates in The Journal News, on the library website, and elsewhere may have hurt me. Then, too, I'm inclined to believe that the pro-Mahoney trustees, many of whom have known Mahoney for long years (yet didn't scruple at awarding him a $7,000 raise between 2010 and 2011*), closed ranks, urging their supporters to vote against me. This is pure speculation, of course, but the cozy relationship between management and the board certainly encourages such suspicions.
(*Source: SeeThroughNY: Go to http://seethroughny.net/payrolls/, click on "Special Districts," input "Mahoney, James": 2010 salary: $95,263; 2011 salary: $102,883).

Since the board administers a two-million-dollar budget, much of it underwritten by our property taxes, I'm hoping other Nyackers will be motivated to ask tough questions at board meetings, once they're aware of how their tax dollars are being spent, and of how dismissive management is of patrons' criticisms and taxpayers' concerns.

In solidarity, M. Dery

I was not allowed to vote because I am out of town and the library board does not have any provision for absentee ballots as many other library districts in the area do. My wife, who voted, told me that the way the election was conducted was highly irregular and amateurish- anyone could go in and vote as anyone else if they wanted, and possibly vote multiple times over the course of the day. This process needs to be reformed so as to inspire trust from the community. A board that has issued more than $11 million in bonds in our names should have a more professional and trustworthy election process.

There was no list of registered voters or residents at the polling place- anyone interested could just go in and say they were a resident of the Nyack Free library district and vote. Names were recorded of those who voted, but there was no way for the election volunteers to know if anyone was who they said they were, or whether they were from the library district. Voters didn't even have to be registered or even over 18. I assume there were multiple volunteers over the course of the day, so an unscrupulous person could have gone in and voted several times and just claimed to be a different person each time. This is not the way a public board should conduct elections.

I do not know you personally Mr Dery, so I can only "judge" you by the way you presented yourself in online forums etc. I must say, I was less-than attracted by your attitude - "I KNOW what is wrong with the Library, THIS is what needs to be done" - seemingly with little or no interest in seeking the viewpoint of those who would elect you. Your posting above certainly supports my feelings. At best, it is "sour grapes" - at worst, little short of whining. May I suggest in future "campaigns" you concentrate more on your voters rather than promoting your obviously self-inflated ego. I trust that you will NOT say I have no right to express an opinion because I live in South Nyack. I have lived in Nyack/S Nyack for over 23 years, visit the Library 3/4 times a week or more, frequently give my input (negative or positive) to the Director and members of his staff AND only have interest in the future of the Library and its patrons, not promoting my own interests.

Rest assured, Mr. Whitley, I will NOT (since we're using screaming uppercase) say you "have no right to express an opinion," although I'm not sure what living in South Nyack has to do with that right. How, precisely, was I supposed to solicit the opinions of prospective voters? Via an online poll? A town-hall meeting? A door-to-door survey? More to the point, *why* was I supposed to? I thought the whole point of running for public office was to stand for something---to identify problems and propose solutions---rather than poll the public mind in search of majority opinion. I identified problems, as I perceived them, and proposed what I thought were constructive solutions. Obviously, your mileage varied. Democracy at work.

@ John Gromada
You obviously did not read my earlier post - I have frequently raised issues with Jim Mahoney and members of his staff, so please do not accuse me of sitting behind a computer and doing nothing. *Why* do I not take the time to go to meetings? Because for the past 9 months I have been fighting (so far, successfully) pancreatic cancer, dealing with chemo, side effects etc etc, so my apologies for not being as active a member of our Community as you are.