County Legislature
A chance for a top rate legislator, Beth Murphy
Voters in Ulster County Legislative District 1 have a chance to elect a great legislator for their district. Beth Murphy has placed herself in contention for this position and it is an opportunity for us all to elect a person of superior skills and intellect. Beth’s background of living in a working class family, working her way through college (University of Michigan), steadily advancing in her work with product development for IBM, ultimately becoming a manager, has endowed her both with the appreciation and understanding of the issues that families in our community face and the tools necessary to bring about the economic development of Saugerties and Ulster County as well. Thus, Beth’s training and skills have been recognized through her service on Mike Hein’s Economic Development Advisory Committee and the Town of Saugerties Economic Development Committee, two years as chairman. She has developed an important plan for creating the crucial baseline knowledge about jobs in and customer bases of existing businesses and industries. The businesses can be further aggregated into clusters for attracting new development and expansion within the cluster. As a subset of this plan small businesses will be an important focus.
A second emphasis for Beth is the furtherance of and increased emphasis upon the shared services model-–the merger of the town and village police in Saugerties is an example–for curtailing government duplication and thereby saving taxpayer monies. Likewise she has developed a clear series of steps for implementing her ideas immediately upon joining the legislature.
Beth, unlike the present incumbent, has already developed and has begun to implement a procedure for sharing information, eliciting opinions, comments, and guidance from voters which will help inform her actions on our behalf. In fact, you can see this beginning in her, What is your opinion?, section of her website, www.Murphy4u.com. You can be assured that Beth Murphy will not be taking you as a voter for granted.
All of these ideas and more are spelled out in the Saugerties League of Women Voters’ legislative candidate panel discussion available for internet viewing on the Lighthouse 23 website, https://vp.telvue.com/player?s=lighthousetv. If you didn’t attend the panel, you should view it on the internet.
Again, I ask you to join me in voting for Beth Murphy for County Legislative District 1, so that the next legislative session won’t rank with this one as what Mike Hein has characterized as the least productive session under the new charter.
Charles Lantz
Saugerties
Hinchey endorses Murphy
I am very proud to endorse Beth Murphy for the Ulster County Legislature’s District 1 seat from Saugerties. During my 38 years in public service, first as your New York State assemblyman and then as your congressman in Washington, I believe I understand what qualities are necessary to be a successful representative – one who puts the interests of their constituents first and foremost.
I can tell you without hesitation that Beth will make an extraordinary legislator. She has the leadership skills and experience to build successful coalitions to get the job done, and a proven track record of effective community building and public service.
Beth served on out town’s Economic Development Committee for four years, and for two of those years served as chairperson. She conducted the first business survey in Saugerties, because she understand that you can’t make policy in a vacuum – you need to reach out and ask people what they need, what’s working and what’s not – so things can be made better for all of us.
As a former IBMer who specialized in market research in the government and education sectors, Beth knows the ins and outs of evaluating policies and procedures to make them more effective and responsive to the needs of residents and businesses.
She has proven herself to be a pro-active leader, using foresight and common sense thinking to prepare for the future. I personally witnessed her work on the team that created Saugerties’ first “Workforce Summit,” which gave High School students and their parents the opportunity to speak directly with college presidents, educators, and CEOs of businesses about what skills and education are needed to succeed in the workforce. This is the kind of leadership that really makes a difference in people’s lives.
It is fundamentally important to vote for Beth for Ulster County Legislature District 1 on Nov. 5, either in person or by absentee ballot.
Local elections impact the things that are most important to our quality of life, the education of our children, funding police and firemen, and the taxes we pay.
Please make sure your voice is heard loud and clear, and vote with me for Beth Murphy. I will be proud to have her represent me, knowing she will work hard and with integrity, for the good of us all.
Maurice D. Hinchey
Saugerties
Beth Murphy is effective and efficient
Having had the privilege of serving as the volunteer co-chair of the Economic Development Committee with Beth Murphy from 2006–2009, I would like to lend some details to her history of community involvement.
As a result of Beth’s background in statistics and data research, the Saugerties Economic Development Committee was able to collect and implement the first town-wide business survey in the fall of 2006. In 2007, this was followed up by personal interviews with participating business owners. Beth then put together a market analysis (covering the surrounding 500-mile area) which served as the basis of the Discover Saugerties brochure produced by the EDC in 2007.
Since then, the Discover Saugerties booklet has been used by the Saugerties Chamber of Commerce, successfully, as a vehicle to attract both businesses and tourists to our area.
In 2008, Beth headed the group of innovators who proposed and brought the Town of Saugerties Outdoor Street Art project to fruition. The purpose of the project was to bring interest to and support the many artists living in Saugerties. Started in 2009, this project still thrives and is used as an annual fundraiser for the many volunteer non-profit organizations in our community.
Beth was thoughtful and effective in her methods of both identifying opportunities and solving problems. I would like to add my support to Beth Murphy and her election to the Ulster County Legislature.
She has my vote…how about yours?
Barbara Budik
Saugerties
Join the family! 
