Final Town of Woodstock Resolution

WHEREAS, free speech is enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as well as in Article I §8 of the New York State Constitution; and WHEREAS, political free speech and advocacy are guaranteed by the First Amendment and by Article I §8 of the New York State Constitution; and WHEREAS, boycotts have long been recognized as a form of protected speech; and WHEREAS, boycotts have been used to give non-violent expression to political and moral disagreements with established orders; and WHEREAS, Governor Cuomo has signed Executive Order #157, which creates a Commission to compile within 180 days a list of all entities supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, and thereafter directs all “affected State Entities” to “divest their money and assets from any investment in any institution or company that is included on the Commissioner’s list pursuant to Section II above,” which, in this case, means to divest public funds from entities supporting the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel; and, WHEREAS, Executive Order #157 appears to support state-sponsored economic retribution for those that engage in the exercise of free speech; and WHEREAS, the Woodstock Town Board makes no declaration in support or opposition to the BDS campaign and in fact acknowledges deep divisions on the matter; and

WHEREAS, the Woodstock Town Board does desire to support and protect its citizens against any and all abridgements of their civil liberties; and  Whereas, on October 5, 2016 the Woodstock Town Board adopted a resolution calling upon Governor Cuomo to share by December 5, 2016 the legal basis or judicial decisions which legitimize his signing of Executive Order #157, which supports state-sponsored economic retribution against those who engage in the exercise of free speech; and WHEREAS, the October 5 resolution of the Woodstock Town Board stated that in the absence of a timely, cogent, and acceptable legal and judicial decision supporting the constitutionality of Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order #157, the Woodstock Town Board shall stand in opposition to EO #157 and request that it be rescinded; and  WHEREAS, the December 5, 2016 date has passed and there has been no response to the Woodstock Town Board’s resolution; now,  therefore, be it RESOLVED that the Town Board of the Town of Woodstock shall stand in opposition to Executive Order #157 and request that it be rescinded; and be it further RESOLVED  the Town Board of the Town of Woodstock, encourages any entity with standing, that is, any entity affected by Executive Order #157, to contest such order (if it is not rescinded) in a competent court of law to ascertain its constitutionality; and be it further RESOLVED, a certified copy of this resolution shall be sent to Governor Andrew Cuomo, to Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, and to State Senator George Amedore.