Dear Editor:
The following letter has been sent to legislator Robert Aiello, chairman of the Ulster County ethics board.

Robert:
As an Ulster County legislator and officer to the county, I am formally requesting a hearing to be administered by the board of ethics, established by Local Law No. 1 of 1989, to render and expedite an advisory opinion to the Ulster County legislature regarding the conduct and behavior of Tracey A. Bartels, Peter G. Kraft, and Richard A. Parete; all of whom are Ulster County legislators.
It is my firm belief that the above named individuals are in direct violation of Section I, subset B, of said Local Law which reads, "Every officer or employee of the County of Ulster shall be subject to and abide by the following standards: (B) Confidential Information - He or she shall not disclose confidential information acquired by him or her in the course of his or her official duties or use such information to further his or her personal interest."
Based upon their own acknowledgement that a private meeting took place where information previously undisclosed to county officials regarding the Law Enforcement Center Project was revealed to sources that could directly influence their personal interests clearly calls into question their ethical conduct and potential breach of the Ulster County code of ethics. Furthermore, neither I, nor anyone else in the legislature is aware of what was stated at this meeting as these individuals have yet to come forward with that information. This, in turn, clearly calls into question whether each person may have perjured their oath of office which, when sworn in, each legislator pledged that he or she will "... faithfully discharge the duties of the office of legislator for the county of Ulster according to the best of my ability."
Additionally, there is a necessity to not only further investigate the information that was divulged during this secret meeting but there is a need to find out if the information had been intentionally withheld from the oversight committee. Based upon statements each of these legislators have made in the press, it if my strong belief that information has indeed been deliberately held. Legislator Kraft is quoted in a June 30, 2005 interview with Jim Gordon of Ulster Publishing. Gordon wrote that Kraft said "critics of the jail project plan to hold meetings with the auditing team as soon as possible 'and lay out our case why they should be here.'" Legislator Richard Parete stated, in a July 27, 2005 article by Hemmy So in the Poughkeepsie Journal, that "...the decision not to meet at the County Administration Building was made in part because (John) Blydenburgh felt uncomfortable discussing the jail project in his former workplace." Moreover, legislator Tracey Bartels was quoted by Hallie Arnold in the July 29, 2005 edition of the Kingston Freeman as saying, "How long can you make a whole lot of noise over here to deflect from what is really going on? I would be very happy to be humbled and wrong if it's done on time."
If this is the case, given my statements on record with the clerk of the legislature that anyone with information on this project should come forward, including John Parete or John Blydenburgh, so that all suggestions or information can be reviewed, then these three individuals have implicated themselves as part of the problems plaguing this project. It is, therefore, very important to note that according to this law, written under subset (I) Penalties: "... any person who shall knowingly and intentionally violate this section may be fined, suspended or removed from office or employment ..." This situation is, without question, that serious.
With that, I feel as though it is my duty to bring these individuals before the ethics board for a full investigation. Please accept this correspondence as a motion to proceed with a hearing.
Michael L. Stock
Chairman
Law Enforcement Center Project committee