Kane Criticizes Testa’s Attendance Record at County Board and Committee Meetings

Democratic candidate for County Legislator District 1 Michael Kane criticized Republican incumbent John Testa’s attendance record, citing it as a reason for Testa to resign and not run for re-election at a press conference this morning. Kane also released a list of Board of Legislator and county committee meetings that Testa missed over the last year.

Testa called Kane’s criticism a “lack of understanding (of the county legislative process),” and said no legislator has a 100 percent attendance record.

“Westchester County is facing today a number of important challenges, and so residents would hope their legislators would be fully involved and immersed in the business of the County,” Kane said, reporting that Testa has missed over 20 committee meetings in the past three months. He is a member of the Environment and Energy, Community Services and Appointments Committees.

Testa said that he has never missed a scheduled Board of Legislator meeting and any committee meetings he missed were because he was at other county events or commitments. He added that he has always caught up on meetings that he had to miss and has never missed a vote. The four Board of Legislator meetings that Testa did miss were special meetings.

The press conference was called after Kane said he was “flabbergasted” by a comment Testa made about working hard at his job as a county legislator on a recent television broadcast. This morning Kane asked,  “How hard can Testa be working if he’s not even present for important meetings?”

Testa called Kane’s press conference a “hollow election gimmick.”

“I work hard at my job,” Testa said. “Anyone who knows me knows that.”

Kane specifically mentioned that Testa missed an Environment and Energy committee meeting following Hurricane Irene.

“Apparently, John Testa did not think it was important enough to even report to the Environment & Energy committee what his district had suffered in the storm, and what needed to be done to help constituents who had been hit hardest,” Kane said.

In response, Testa told Patch that he was on the ground taking care of the problems Northern Westchester residents were facing.

“I was in direct contact with Con Edison...the Department of Environmental Services and I was in the district taking a hands-on approach,” Testa said.

Kane said that if he is elected District 1 representative he would make sure to attend all meetings, explaining that he would take a leave of absence from his job as a Network Technical Specialist at AT&T if necessary.

Testa said that he never had to miss a meeting because of his job as a Peekskill High School teacher and that he only is involved with committees that meet at night. 

To view Testa’s attendance at meetings click here and view the minutes.