Odell and Oliverio Continue to be at Odds with Each Other
Bickering between the two announced county executive candidates in Putnam, incumbent MaryEllen Odell and challenger Sam Oliverio continued last week and only appeared to be heating up.
Oliverio, a Democrat and legislator for District 2 sent out a robocall last week, attacking Odell on issues the Putnam Valley resident has brought up previous times, citing her apparent attempt to cut transportation lines before the legislature restored them and closing the kitchen at the Putnam Valley Senior Center last year. In the nearly minute long call, Oliverio also alleged that Odell spent “tens of thousands of tax dollars to completely renovate her office.”
Odell, in an interview, dismissed Oliverio’s attempt to go on the offensive against her. Odell had previously argued the lines were restored and there’s a restructuring to the transportation lines occurring and the kitchen wasn’t completely closed, but it was consolidated in order to save money. When responding to Oliverio’s new accusation about renovating her office, she argued nothing was done in excess. She also said when she started, she anticipated bringing capital investors, business leaders, and other local leaders in her office and “thought a fresh coat of paint with some carpet tiles was appropriate.”
She also pointed out just like the executive office, other locations including the legislature office, the district attorney’s office, purchasing office and county clerk’s office also received upgrades.
Oliverio responded by saying the executive office didn’t need any upgrades, unlike other offices in the building.
Odell also went on the offensive, insinuating Oliverio was responsible for anonymous mailers that have been sent to residents criticizing her. She said the points raised in the nameless fliers are similar to what was in the robocall.
“While we suspected that it was campaign propaganda, now that he’s identified himself and it’s exactly what’s been put out there since November, we now know,” Odell said. “And it’s unfortunate that he decided to negative campaign anonymously but everyone has their style of campaigning.”
Oliverio, in an interview, said he doesn’t believe his campaign is becoming too negative.
“I speak the truth,” Oliverio later said. “I’m not lying, it’s not negative, and I’m saying facts. Now that upsets people when you tell the truth a lot of times and a lot of people consider that negative but I don’t do it in a negative tone. I’m a nice guy.”
He also denied sending out any anonymous mailers, stating those came from within Odell’s own political party.
Adding another wrinkle to the sparring between the two, Odell made a presentation similar to her state of the county address at a April 16 Putnam Valley Town Board meeting, with Oliverio in attendance. Odell said afterward she made the presentation specifically at Putnam Valley after Oliverio said at a previous town board meeting in March he wasn’t sure what the state of the county was in 2014 because Odell gave a history lesson rather than a look to the future.
“I felt that it was a really unfair statement and it was really an insult to all of our department heads in our county and all of our workers in the county who work so hard to put together a good county government,” Odell said. “I really thought that was a slap in the face to our workforce.”
Interestingly enough, Oliverio praised Odell on her presentation to the Putnam Valley town board. He said during the meeting at the legislator report portion of the meeting, “this was really good and I compliment her on it.” He was even the first to applaud in the small audience when she finished the roughly 30-minute presentation.
“Much more concise, much more focused much shorter,” he said afterward, though still noted. “A lot of it again was stuff we already initiated.”
Odell, a Republican, is seeking reelection and her first full term in office. She’s currently the only announced Republican candidate, though many expect State Sen. Greg Ball to throw his name in the ring.
Oliverio, a long time critic of Odell, has been on the legislature for almost 20 years and making his first run for county executive.
