Dems vs. DCC: The movie

The meeting Wednesday night between the Dutchess Legislature's Democratic caucus and top Dutchess Community College officials featured a diverse cast of characters and some lively dialogue.

Not enough for boffo box office in the summer blockbuster season, but an intriguing scene all the same.

Legislator Fred Knapp of Poughkeepsie was typecast as the enforcer. He is an outspoken opponent of the college's annual tuition increases, and he made it clear he wasn't happy with the new increase. He also took the hardest line on withholding support for DCC's improvement bond without concessions on tuition.

"You want a bond resolution?" he said. "We want a budget with no tuition increase – this year. How do we get there?"

He made that argument twice during the meeting.

A new vote on the defeated bond resolution could come Monday at the Legislature's monthly meeting. The DCC budget with a $100 tuition increase is scheduled to be approved by the Legislature in July.

In asking for the Democrats' support for the bond resolution, DCC Board President Thomas LeGrand and Trustee Vincent DiMaso seemed to take on the good cop/bad cop roles. LeGrand came offering the proverbial olive branch while emphasizing that the college needs to move forward with the improvements, with the Legislature's help.

"I don't believe we have a troubled relationship. I think we have a good relationship," he said, adding that the college and the Democrats just seem to be at odds on tuition.

DiMaso fought back directly against some of the Democrats' criticisms, their opposition to the tuition increase and their defeat last month of the bond.

It's hard to pick one quote as representative – so many good ones – and like a good movie you had to see it to appreciate it. But DiMaso seemed to sum up his arguments with this: "You should have come to us first before making this vote."

Minority Leader Roger Higgins of New Hamburg, the Democrats' ringleader, moved the meeting along while pointing out that he personally made the Democrats' case to the DCC board last month just before it approved the tuition increase anyway.

"There was no effort at all made to try to compromise," Higgins said.

Toward the end of the meeting, DCC President David Conklin played the pragmatist and caught the Democrats' attention when he said that the Legislature's Republican leadership "didn't want a $100 increase. A $100 increase is a victory."

The implication was that the Republicans would have preferred an even larger tuition increase to offset more of the county tax dollars in the college's budget.

How will it end? Stay tuned for the sequel Monday night.

Until then, there are the previews, such as Poughkeepsie Legislator Barbara Jeter-Jackson's assessment of the minority party's chances of reversing the tuition increase this year.

"Until there is a majority on this side, it's not going to happen," she said after the DCC officials had left.