To the editor:

Our GOP-anointed Assembly representative Matt Simpson has already displayed his loyalty to big moneyed interests instead of the working people of the 114th District. Simpson, instead of demanding a livable wage for North Country working people, is instead demanding that they go to work for poverty wages or submit onerous job search requirements to receive unemployment benefits. This should come as no surprise to anyone paying attention. Instead of helping North Country workers, the vast majority who live paycheck to paycheck, he would rather further marginalize and oppress them.

In August of 2019 I was working for a private subcontractor harvesting milfoil from Brant Lake during a severe thunderstorm, and because even the most elementary safety precautions were not observed, my co-workers and I were nearly electrocuted and traumatized when the lake was struck by lightning. The strike nearly punctured my eardrums; had I been at the surface, I would not be here to write this letter.

I went to Simpson’s office in Horicon to get some answers about how this could be allowed to happen, and I learned there was no oversight or enforcement of basic diving safety protocols by Simpson or anyone in the Adirondack Watershed Institute or in Warren County who disbursed money for this program.

By his actions and his work against making North Country jobs safe and life-sustaining, Simpson deserves widespread condemnation and should be recalled.

Stephen M. Ruzbacki

Olmstedville