Letter: Equestrians Have Plenty Of Representation In Wellington

This is a response to the letter printed last week from Mr. Morley Alperstein regarding his opinion that more equestrian representation is needed on the Wellington village Council.

I read Mr. Alperstein’s letter to the editor, and I do not know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh because it must be a joke or otherwise, cry because with all the attention Morley pays to local hijinks, he must be incredibly naive.

Wellington is thoroughly represented by the equestrian community. In fact, you would think that there is nothing else there but horses, and, of course, a good deal of manure. How quickly he has forgotten that three of the members of the council, [Matt] Willhite, [John] Green and [Bob] Margolis, were bought and paid for with equestrian money. The 2012 campaign was paid for, as well as the cost of the legal fees to defend the mistakes of the supervisor of elections in reversing the names of the candidates.

But let’s remember that the influence of the equestrian community did not end there. Then came the name-calling of an elite equestrian donor that led to the nighttime calls between State Sen. [Joseph] Abruzzo and State Attorney [Dave] Aronberg that led to the inquisition by the state inspector general to the county inspector general, that led to the resignation of a member of the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics. In the meantime, there was the formation of the Wellington Preservation Coalition, headed by a former mayor and firefighter, which is now a powerful special interest group that combines the influences of the state firefighter unions in our local elections. And, of course, we should not forget the equestrian member of the zoning committee’s “Heil Hitler” statement.

Yes, Mr. Alperstein, there is an equestrian representation in Wellington, much to the despair, I am sure, of those residents who do ride not horses to work or have stalls in their backyard. These are the residents that are the other taxpayers of Wellington who ask for good roads, safe neighborhoods and good schools for their families. Wouldn’t you agree that it is time they had some representation?

Benjamin Goldman, Wellington