What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate

To Our County Legislator, Communication Is The Problem To The Answer

Never mind the October onslaught, with near-daily delivery to your mailbox of unsolicited nonsequitors. [We can call them, Muscarellagrams!]

MUSCARELLA OFFERS TIPS FOR LEAF RAKING SAFETY.

MUSCARELLA GIVES ADVICE ON ROASTING CHESTNUTS.

MUSCARELLA SPEAKS -- SILENCE IS GOLDEN.

Talk about diminishing returns.

Here's the raw data:

Total Number of press releases from February, 2000 through March, 2005 -- 138 (27.6 press releases per year).

Now, that's not particularly revealing (yes, it pales by comparison to the hourly releases issued by Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray, but let's not mix apples and avocados). If you dig a little deeper, however, you can see that, every year since 2000, the number of substantive press releases issued by Vincent Muscarella* has declined dramatically:

2000 - 53

2001 - 41

2002 - 25

2003 - 6

2004 - 8

2005 - 3

2006 - None listed in the "archives"

2007 - 3

*Only press releases bearing Mr. Muscarella's name, and not releases issued jointly by the Republican legislators, or by Mr. Muscarella, on the public's dime, as pre-election campaign fodder, were considered in the count.

Could it be that Mr. Muscarella is losing touch with his constituents? Or is it that the lethargy of the long-term is taking its toll, the fatigue of twelve years in office having set in?

Or maybe he just takes us -- and our votes -- all for granted!

And what about the content of these releases:

- 5/20/2003 - BOATING SAFETY INFORMATION PROVIDED BY LEGISLATOR MUSCARELLA

- 9/6/2002 - LEGISLATOR MUSCARELLA INFORMS PARENTS ABOUT BABYSITTERS AND DAY CARE

- 4/3/2002 - LEGISLATOR MUSCARELLA GIVES ADVICE ON AIR TRAVEL

- 4/30/2001 - LEGISLATOR MUSCARELLA OFFERS SUN PROTECTION FACTS

- 10/16/2000 - LEGISLATOR MUSCARELLA OFFERS HALLOWEEN SAFETY TIPS

- 6/19/2000 - LEGISLATOR MUSCARELLA OFFERS ELECTRICITY AND HOME SAFETY TIPS BROCHURE

Sun protection, eh? And this was before Al Gore was clamoring about Global Warming!

Don't get us wrong. Sun protection. Advice on air travel. The safe use of electricity. All important stuff.

Question is, are these issues on which our County legislator should be spending his valuable time, and our hard-earned money, given that we are facing many more pressing problems, and the fact that his "tips" are readily available from quite a few other sources, most of which cost us not one penny?

And lest you think we're complaining about quantity, where one elected official sends too many, and the other too few, this is really about quality -- making content, and communication, matter.
We've never seen so many elected officials concerned about our use of sunscreen! Or is it their names they want us to remember, long after the sun has set?