It only took ten months, but Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro has decided to walk back his tone-deaf idea to spend $12 million in federal recovery funds on VIP upgrades to a baseball stadium.
Who was benefitting from the stadium upgrades, and why the sudden change of heart?
Could it be the mounting local backlash? The national stories? The DCCC? Political expediency? Or was it fear of the public discovering which developers, contractors, and consultants were about to be awarded millions?
What is he afraid of — or hiding?
It’s a big question for Molinaro, who spent the last year advocating for his pet project that would have given away 1 out of every 5 dollars of Dutchess County’s federal recovery funds to the stadium project instead of investing in critical community needs such as housing, education, mental health services, and relief for families.
While Molinaro is now desperate to sing a different tune, he was still touting the project publicly as recently as March 30th, “insisting” to the Times Union that the stadium spending was “a sound choice for ARP funds.”
The Treasury Department expressly disagrees.
DCCC Spokesperson Abel Iraola:
“Marc Molinaro abandoned the urgent needs of his constituents at the time when it mattered most, directing over 20% of Dutchess County’s federal pandemic recovery funds into baseball stadium upgrades. His sudden backtracking after nearly a year of promoting the $12M spending spree begs the question – how did Marc Molinaro justify the stadium spending in the first place? And why should voters trust a career politician who has to be shamed into doing the right thing?”
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