NY21: Hassig calls NY Green Party leader “American elitist bitch”
North Country Green Party candidate Donald Hassig says he left a voice mail over the weekend on answering machine of one of his party’s top state officials, describing her as a “bitch.”
“I said that and I meant it,” Hassig wrote, in a statement emailed to North Country Public Radio. “It is my opinion that Gloria Mattera is an American elitist bitch.”
The clash follows a blow-up within the Green Party that began last Thursday, when Hassig argued at a candidate forum in Wanakena that immigrants working on North Country dairy farms should be rounded up and deported.
“I would like to see them get their asses kicked out of here,” Hassig insisted, after describing migrant and seasonal workers as “Mexicans” who don’t speak English.
On Friday, state party co-chair Gloria Mattera issued a statement calling his statements about non-American workers “disturbing and reprehensible.”
“Mr. Hassig has placed himself outside the Green Party’s platform and its values,” she wrote. “Hassig petitioned to be on the Green ballot line, but we do not consider him a Green candidate.”
Hassig has threatened to sue the Green Party for libel.
In his latest statement, issued late Sunday, the St. Lawrence County environmental activist said that he spoke with state Green Party officials over the weekend, claiming that Mattera “hung up on me when I started to describe the utter lack of knowledge that she demonstrated concerning the care and milking of dairy cows on factory farms.”
Hassig says that following that exchange he called back and left his message.
The Green Party has stripped Hassig’s name from their list of candidates running for public office in New York state and has included a statement denouncing his candidacy on the front page of the party’s website.
Hassig has a long record of behaving erratically, but until Thursday’s forum had appeared to be moderating his rhetoric and behavior during this year’s congressional campaign.
In the only public poll of the race, conducted in September, the Siena Research Institute found that Hassig was winning support from 6% of voters in the 21st district.
Tags: election12
Well, thanks to the incessant bleating about giving coverage to alternative party candidates, we now have this latest installment of the Green Party Comedy show. The vast majority of voters look at antics like this, shake their heads in amazement and move on to more serious matters.
Confronting Urban NYS Green Party Leaders Who Attacked Me for Saying
Mexicans Should Not be Milking American Cows
Green Party Candidate Hassig on the Abuse of Dairy Cattle on Factory Farms
A citizen residing in my congressional district asked the question,
“What is your position on having immigrants in America for milking
cows and doing other farm work?”
My answer was very straightforward and simple. I said that I was
opposed to having non-English speaking people caring for and milking
cows in America. I explained that caring for and milking cows was
relatively complex work that could not be done without the ability to
speak and read English: the farm owners and managers speak English
and most do not speak any other language; the medications and
chemicals used on dairy farms are not all labeled with languages other
than English; the mechanical equipment used on dairy farms is not all
labelled with languages other than English. I took the position that
it was a further abuse of already much abused cattle to employ
non-English speaking people to care for them and milk them. I
finished my answer to the question from a potential voter by say, “I
would like to see the Mexican dairy farm workers get their asses
kicked out of our country.” I said it. I meant it. I strongly
oppose the use of non-English speaking farm workers to care for and
milk dairy cows.
I did not think or speak anything that involved any negativity based
in considerations of race or nationality. I used the word “Mexicans”
because it is my experience that some of the non-English speaking
people who work on dairy farms in New York State are Mexicans. I have
personal knowledge that non-English speaking farm workers on the
factory dairy farm across the road from my farm in St. Lawrence County
are Mexicans. That is the nationality that is stated when the people
I talk to in St. Lawrence County talk about these farm workers. I did
not seek to convey any negative attitude toward Mexicans when I made
this statement. I said Mexicans because I believe that Mexicans are
doing this work. To the best of my knowledge, Mexicans are doing this
work.
Caring for and milking dairy cows can not be done in a sufficiently
well-done way by people who do not speak the English language on
factory farms where the managers and owners speak English and most
often speak no other language. Low quality care and milking leads to
mastitis problems for the cows. Low quality care and milking leads to
more suffering for the cows that are suffering too much when they are
cared for by people who speak English. Using non-English speaking
workers to care for and milk dairy cows on factory farms is very
abusive of cows. I am very, very opposed to factory farmers abusing
cows. I am for banning factory farming because it is abusive of
cattle.
America must face and deal with the abuse of cattle that takes place
on factory dairy farms. America must ban factory dairy farms.
Dealing with the Urban Green Party Leaders That Know Nothing About
Caring for and Milking Dairy Cattle on Factory Farms
I have spoken with Gloria Mattera and Michael O’Neil, two of the New
York State Green Party leaders that wrote a denunciation of me and
published that denunciation on the website of the Green Party of New
York State. I found Ms. Mattera to be offensively elitist in her
respone to my criiticism of her bad behavior. She hung up on me when
I started to describe the utter lack of knowledge that she
demonstrated concerning the care and milking of dairy cows on factory
farms. I called her back and left a voice mail that included the
word, “Bitch”. I said that and I meant it. It is my opinion that
Gloria Mattera is an American elitist bitch.
I spoke with Michael O’Neil at length about the reasons why I said
that Mexicans should not be caring for and milking cows on American
factory farms. He listened to what I had to say and then offered to
publish a statement authored by me on the Green Party website. I
stated that this was not what I wanted. I stated that I wanted a
retraction and an apology to be published on the Green Party website
by no later than midnight on October 19th. I stated that if this was
not done, I would file suit against Ms. Mattera, Mr. O’Neil and Mr. La
Venia. I said this and I meant it. I am not going to accept this
abuse from urban Green Party leaders who know nothing about dairy
cattle and factory farms. I look forward to teaching these three less
than honorable Green Party leaders about love of cattle and what a
good, strong American man will do to forge ahead with speaking out
about the abuse of cattle on factory farms.
Good, Strong Green Party Candidate Hassig on Immigration and Punishing
the Evil Watertown Daily Times and the Quick to Take Offense New York
State Green Party
I am for diligently enforced limitations on immigration. Our country
has a population that exceeds 308 million. There is no benefit to
having a higher human population in America. The environment and the
other living beings are much benefited by limitations upon human
population. For these reasons I am for no growth in population. The
right immigration policy for maintaining a stable population is very
simple. We only allow into our country those people with great
expertise in valuable skills and knowledge and relatives of citizens.
Considering this limitation on immigration, we do not let in farm
workers, laborers and other low-skilled people.
Factory dairy farms must someday be outlawed. In the meantime, the
factory dairy farmers should pay their farm workers a living wage. If
the factory dairy farmers offered a living way to workers, there would
be plenty of American citizens who wanted those jobs. The key is
forcing the factory dairy farmers to pay a living wage.
New York State Green Party leaders Gloria Mattera, Peter La Venia and
Michael O’Neil owe me a big apology. It does not appear that they
have the character that is required to admit that they were wrong.
They spoke badly of me without talking to me about what I had said.
They took offense at out of context statements that were reported by
the corrupt corporate news media and attacked me viciously. I said
that people who do not speak English should not be caring for and
milking dairy cows on American factory farms. I stand by every word
of what I said. The urban Green Party leaders named above know
nothing about caring for and milking dairy cows. They jumped on the
bandwagon of the corrupt corporate news media portraying me as a
racist. The evil Brian Amaral and Robert Gorman of the Watertown
Daily Times succeeded in tricking these quick to take offense Green
Party leaders into attacking the good, strong Green Party candidate
Donald L. Hassig.
I have decided to file a Civil Rights Act anti-discrimination lawsuit
against the Johnson Newspaper Corporation which publishes the
Watertown Daily Times. I have decided to file libel suits against the
New York State Green Party and the three offending Green Party
leaders. I will teach these less than honorable people the meaning of
love. My love of dairy cows and America will give me wonderful power
for creating lawsuits that take these losers down. Viva the Love
Enough Revolution!!
What I said at the Meet the Candidates event in Wanakena would not
cause a thinking person to conclude that I was a racist. I stated
that non-English speaking people, in this case Mexicans, should not be
caring for and milking dairy cows on factory farms in the United
States because people who don’t speak English being employed by people
who do not speak Spanish makes for poor communications leading to less
than good treatment of the cattle. I am totally right about this.
I see what is going on here very clearly. People who do not
understand my overarching concern for the welfare of cattle are
interpreting my statement as anti-immigrant farm worker. My statement
is anti-dairy cattle abuse. I have no animosity toward immigrant farm
workers excepting that which is associated with knowing that they are
not giving the cattle good treatment. I know the work of caring for
and milking cows on factory dairy farms. I have worked on factory
dairy farms. My brother has worked on factory dairy farms. I know
more about dairy cows than just about anyone because I care about
their suffering enough to think about them a lot.
I am justly angered by the experience of having such bad things said
about me by Ms. Mattera, Mr. O’Neil and Mr. LaVenia. They owe me an
apology. They went off half-cocked just because they had a bad
attitude toward me that came from bad things that these horrible
people up here in St. Lawrence County have been saying about me.
These horrible, little losers up here in St. Lawrence County say bad
things about me because I speak out against the powerful corporate
people, the powerful factory dairy farmers, the powerful private
college people and the powerful government people. These people are
all bad people. I am a good person. Look at the record. I have done
many things to protect the environment and the health of people in St.
Lawrence County. All of the people named above have done nothing but
harm the environment and the health of the people of St. Lawrence
County. I am the good person. They are the evil people. Evil people
are the enemies of good people. This is an age old Truth. I know the
Truth. I know why I am hated. I am strong. I am good. I am the
Revolution. I am joyous in Nature. Viva the Revolution!!!
Mr Hassig It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that you are a racist from what you just said above. There are lots of problems with factory farms to complain about, but you single out illegal immigrants – Mexicans. You provide no “evidence”‘ just speculation that not speaking English is bad for the cows. Sorry – but your rants above don’t help your cause.
Gosh! …He has a lot to say….
When a liberal minded person has a conversation with Mr. Hassig, they will agree with much of what he has to say, but very few of us can get fully behind the way he says it. I myself can get into a mood sometimes and say just what I think….this is why I’ll never be able to run for public office.
The Green party catches my eye. They have much to add to our National discussion (like any mention of the environment during this election), and these viewpoints should be heard. However, in this election cycle, (and in the past three years), we have allowed the Republicans, the military, and the super rich to set the agenda.
I look forward to a day when viable Green and Progressive candidates will take seats in the halls of Congress and add their vision of a healthy and safe planet, and economic justice to our National direction.
But apparently not this year, and surely not this guy.
Could you cite a single example where failure to communicate in English has harmed a cow? That might help.
Larry: this is exactly the point. There are plenty of intelligent, coherent Green party candidates on ballots across the country. Only the lunatics are given media attention.
Sorry Larry, but Hassig isn’t any more out there than a lot of Tea Party candidates.
Hassig is obviously trying an interesting campaign strategy. Alienate everyone in your natural base and appeal to your least obvious constituency. No Green in their right mind is going to vote for him. But he’ll certainly draw votes from John Birch-types.
He whines that he’s being misrepresented by the media but his own words unedited here in the In Box are more damning than any media report.
In an email, he called me, “a mindless American filth brat [sic]… a weak, spineless little nerd that is blown out of the water by a strong, activist environmental warriors [sic] like me. The only feeling I have for your ilk is despising [sic]. You have the balls of a louse… Why don’t you just crawl inside your fuzzy little cocoon and estivate in there forever.”
Incidentally, estivation is the same as hibernation but for summer. It is presently late October.
Maybe he should consult with the anglophone bovine in his future linguistic choices.
Either way, he is clearly far to immature and hypersensitive to seek public office. It’s sad he’s dragging the Green Party’s name through his mud in the process. Them disavowing him is the best they can do.
(NB: Normally I don’t publicize private emails but after a few nasty ones from him, I warned him before this email that any future email he sent was subject to be used in a blog entry)
Correction: “… far too immature…”
He reminds me of Ron Paul with whom I find myself agreeing in his more rational moments but then there are those other moments that are a virtual slap upside your head and you ask “Where’d that come from?”.
And they said the Green party doesnt get any coverage.
There are plenty of Green candidates this year worthy of coverage, but unfortunately not Mr. Hassig. Let’s not forget the craziness of Christine O’Donnell in the Delaware US Senate race back in 2010 that made national attention, or Lyndon LaRouche with the Dems in the 1980s. Politics will often attract as many crazies as sane people. The Green platform is a majoritarian one, focusing on democracy against corporate tyranny, the need for universal health care, a real living wage, full employment, healthy environment… in fact one might say it is the actions any platforms of the Democrats and Republicans that are crazy, instead.
Good point, Greenguy. In fact, Hassig is getting this train-wreck attention not because of the Greens’ position but precisely because he’s going 100% AGAINST the GP platform on this issue.
(as well as his unhinged response to the attention)
It sounds to me like this particular candidate has done some damage to the reputation of the green party, at least around here. They are often see as somewhat extreme already this kind of thing probably sets them even further back. No matter how good an idea you have, if the spokesperson isn’t articulate, nobody will listen.
From what I have heard of the green party platform most of it is nice but totally unrealistic.
“From what I have heard of the green party platform most of it is nice but totally unrealistic.”
As opposed to tax cuts that would be revenue neutral if only there were enough deductions to cut? As opposed to pretending climate change isn’t happening? As opposed to pretending that there is a mandate to end Rowe v. Wade and to stop gay marriage?
Etc., etc.
This is all so unfortunate. Perhaps Mr. Hassig could have stated his position with more eloquence.
This is amazing. I work with dairy cattle for most of my life. I say that people who do not speak English can not give dairy cattle a satisfactory level of care on factory dairy farms owned and operated by English speaking factory farmers in a region of the country that speaks only English. The few horrible negative people of the North Country gang up and attack me for being a racist. This is ridiculous. I will roll over top of this exactly as I have rolled over top of all of the other horrible experiences that I have had in this place of a significant number of horrible, little, mindless people.
I have written of this already, but it is worth repeating. People who do not speak English are unable to provide humane care to dairy cattle because the work is not simple work that does not require good communications between employer and employees. There are many things that need discussed: foot rot, mastitis, ketosis, mange, lice, pink eye, use of pesticides, use of bovine growth hormone, use of highly concentrated dairy rations, use of mineral supplements, operation of heavy equipment, calving, calf care, housing, ventilation of the barns, cleaning of the barns and breeding of the cattle. The braindead statements found above calling for me to spell out just how not understanding the English language can interfere with providing dairy cattle with proper care are perfect proof that these horrible negative people know nothing about dairy farming. Nonetheless, these awful people are well prepared to attack me. This is bull shit.
The majority of the people who have commented above are negative toward me. I wish they would wake up and think about the wonderful high-powered work that I have done here in the Adirondack mountains and the St. Lawrence River valley. I did more than all of the other residents of the congressional district put together to bring changes directed toward the elimination of open waste burning. I stopped the Chatham Forest Products OSB mill project with the help of a few good Cancer Action NY members. I have brought out the Truth on the poisoning of the St. Lawrence River valley communities of Massena and Akwesasne with PCBs. I am so glad that the horrible negative people who post on this blog do not represent the majority of North County residents. There are many North Country residents who love and honor me for the good work that I do.
It’s pretty obvious that Mr. Hassig just wasn’t cut out for politics.
The Green Party has good ideas but they haven’t groomed enough people to represent the platform in a way that is more inclusive, which is really ironic since I think people who are attracted to the Green Party tend to be very inclusive sorts.
If you want to play the game you have to win by the rules of the game.
“There are plenty of intelligent, coherent Green party candidates on ballots across the country. Only the lunatics are given media attention.”
Do you count the Green Presidential & Vice Presidential candidates as “lunatics” also?
I had no idea that the Green Party Comedy Hour was a daily show.
This Larry person is sooooo lacking in reasonable mindedness. That is the problem with every horrible, small-minded, negative person who has attacked me on this blog. It is why the North Country is such a negative backward place. The North Country has far too many people who are totally lacking in reasonable mindedness.
I am beginning to see this very clearly. I suspect that PCB exposures have affected the minds of many North Country residents to the extent that they have no ability to think in a reasonable way. They can not connect the dots. They live in a fog of dumb, old ideas and hate anyone with a brain that works who is strong enough to call a spade a spade and strong enough to talk the talk of revolution.
Mr. Hahn,
What do you have to say now that I have spelled out ever so exactingly why it is not right for people who do not speak English to be caring for and milking cows in America? How much do you know about caring for and milking dairy cows on factory farms? It is so obvious that your intention is to attack me, not to have a reasonable discussion of ideas and actions to bring good change.
I am joyous in Nature. Viva the Good Donald Hassig Against the Evil North Country Gang Revolution!!!
Now you’re insulting the voters. Your sir are good entertainment. Keep it up.
Well, I guess Mr. Hassig isn’t all wrong. He has Larry figured out.
Many politicians are on huge power trips. It’s just that most are better at hiding it than Hassig. But I do agree with wakeup that his rants are entertaining. I think we should bring in some of Hassig’s anglophone bovines into the conversation.
It’s just unfortunate he’s chosen to demean the Green Party’s reputation in the process.
Looks like the inmates have taken over the asylum!
You’re right Don, ” the horrible negative people who post on this blog do not represent the majority of North County residents. ” Most of the North Country residents, especially those that know you and Dave and knew your parents, would call a spade a spade and label you a narcissistic, self centered, inconsiderate moon bat with a heavy duty Napoleon complex. You should be thankful the people here are so kind.
BTW- when was the last time you worked with cattle? For that matter, when was the last time you worked at all?
OUCH!!
I know many thoughtful, creative and energetic people who pay attention to the Green Party and the work it has done. Some of these folks are natural leaders, accomplished speakers, and seriously involved in issues of environmental concern. However, NONE of them would ever consider running for political office. There’s plenty of work to be done, and most of it wouldn’t survive the demands and distractions of politics.
Using the term “bitch” by a man towards a women is a warning sign for an abuser . Sorry but those are the facts . Combine that with the ideas about immigrant workers. It’s a problem.
What is said man calls a bovine a bitch? (sorry Brian)