Looking at this 2013 official photo is hard to square it with the headline on MidHudson.com:

Chipman supports VLTs for Hudson Valley Resort, Pinegrove, but not Nevele

What happened? No more free wonderful food? No more free music? No more free fabulous people? May be, but being an election year is more like it.

Freeman posted the article from MidHudson.com, with a modified headline:

Rochester supervisor supports VLTs for Hudson Valley Resort, Pinegrove, but not Nevele

It made sense, as not many people outside our town have any idea who Chipman is.

I quote from the article:

Rochester Town Supervisor Carl Chipman said he supports VLTs for both Hudson Valley Resort and Pinegrove Resort, but not at the Nevele, which he said would install 1,000 machines.

“What we want to do at our resorts is make it an amenity for guests, not to be a casino, not to bring in the local people, but to bring people into the area and to make it part of their resort experience,” Chipman said.

Minutes later, Freeman edited the post and gave it a new, improved headline:

Rochester Supervisor Carl Chipman supports VLTs for the Hudson Valley and Pinegrove resorts but does not want them at the former Nevele resort in Wawarsing. In February, the Nevele unveiled a plan that calls for 750 video lottery terminals, four full-size baseball fields and eight regulation fields for soccer, field hockey and lacrosse. The intent is to make the resort a destination sports site in the New York metropolitan area.

“What we want to do at our resorts [in Rochester] is make [VLTs] an amenity for guests, not to be a casino — not to bring in the local people, but to bring people into the area and to make it part of their resort experience,” Chipman said.

After reading all three versions of the article, I asked myself a few questions:

Who gives a damn about Chipman supporting VLTs?
Does anyone believe that his memorial resolution on the topic would sway Albany?

Why 25% of Chipman’s statements are lies?
Supervisor Chipman states that the Nevele “would install 1,000 machines.” Freeman corrected the whopper: “the Nevele unveiled a plan that calls for 750 video lottery terminals.”

What exactly does he mean by “what we want to do at our resorts?”
Our resorts? Again, he speaks in the name of the townfolks, without their agreement, as he did on March 14, 2013 when the Town Board passed – without a previous public discussion, without the issue being on the agenda – Resolution # 56-2013:

BE IT RESOLVED that the Town of Rochester Town Board hereby supports placement of Video Lottery Terminals at the Hudson Valley Resort and the Pine Grove Dude Ranch and asks that the State of New York authorizes such placement at both of these resorts located in the Town of Rochester.

For the record, I don’t care who gets the VLTs, I’m just concerned about the way Supervisor Chipman acts… “for the good of the town,” of course!

Look above. How many times is Chipman going to claim he didn’t say what he said? How many times is he going to blame the reporters for accurately quoting him?

Remember his idea about a landfill in the Town of Rochester? He was soooo pissed off… the Freeman reporter got it wrong, the people got it wrong, his “explicative” letter was not published…

Is Carl Chipman unable or unwilling to clearly communicate an idea? Not that any answer works in his favor.

I know how well Chipman can express himself. Before being Supervisor, when – for example – he asked for the resignation of Tony Spano (now his Deputy Supervisor), the words were clear and forceful, and he never had to explain that what he said was not “exactly” what he wanted to say.

Now, I believe that Supervisor Chipman is unwilling to communicate clearly because he wants to leave room for U-turns.

Read his comment again: “I did not support the Nevele… “I supported the Nevele…”

For eight years Carl Chipman displayed symptoms of a sickness more commonly associated with politicians, never with leaders. The symptoms get stronger during the years when he is desperate to get re-elected, and I can only hope this book would help him:

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco