Letter to the St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators
The St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators is currently gambling with taxpayer money in a reckless display of constitutional defiance. Under Chairman David Forsythe’s leadership, Legislator Larry Denesha has turned public meetings into a platform for exclusive Christian proselytization. By leading sectarian prayers that invoke “Jesus Christ” to the total exclusion of all other beliefs, Forsythe and Denesha are not just exhibiting bias—they are committing official misconduct.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Town of Greece v. Galloway was clear: legislative prayer is only constitutional if it is nondiscriminatory. Furthermore, the Fourth Circuit’s decision in Lund v. Rowan County (2017) struck down “legislator-led” prayer precisely because it is inherently coercive. When the same official asking you to “stand and pray” later votes on your taxes, the line between government authority and religious mandate is erased.
Chairman Forsythe and Legislator Denesha are guilty of creating massive, avoidable liability. In Lund, the county was forced to pay $285,000 in legal fees. Other New York civil rights settlements, like those involving religious rights in 2025, have reached as high as $800,000. Under the Civil Rights Attorney’s Fees Awards Act, when the County loses–and it will–taxpayers will pay for the plaintiffs’ legal teams. This is money that should be funding our infrastructure, not the personal religious egos of two men who ignore the Constitution they swore an oath to protect.
By sanctioning this practice, Forsythe and Denesha have signaled to every non-Christian–Jewish, Muslim, secular and others–that they are “outsiders, not full members of the political community.” This is state-sponsored exclusion, plain and simple.
One must truly marvel at the collective, convenient laryngitis that has seemingly afflicted every other elected and appointed official in this county for years. We are expected to believe that decades of county attorneys, administrators and 15 other legislators–all sworn to uphold the law–simply failed to notice this glaring constitutional wrecking ball swinging in the board room. Was the silence a result of profound legal illiteracy, or did they all collectively decide that the Bill of Rights is merely a “suggestion” when compared to the political comfort of the status quo? Either way, the “see no evil, hear no evil” approach to governance has now left taxpayers on the hook for a bill that is coming due. If these officials won’t find their voices to defend the Constitution, perhaps they can find their pens to sign their resignations before the courts do it for them.
Legislators, this letter serves as a formal demand for your immediate resignation from the St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators. While you may not be the individuals physically at the microphone leading sectarian invocations, your years of silent endorsement and passive ratification of Forsythe’s and Denesha’s unconstitutional practices constitute a disqualifying breach of the public trust.
Under New York Public Officers Law § 36, local officials may be removed for “maladministration” and “misconduct.” Your collective failure to uphold your oath of office is evidenced by the following:
I. Endorsement of Religious Exclusion through Silence: The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment is not a suggestion; it is a mandate. Based upon a comprehensive review of meeting audio recordings, this Board has allowed a consistent, exclusive pattern of sectarian Christian prayer to persist for years without a single recorded objection from any of you. In the eyes of the law, your silence acts as a formal endorsement of a “favored religious identity” for this County. By failing to intervene, you have effectively signed your names to every unconstitutional prayer offered in those chambers.
II. Reckless Disregard for Municipal Liability: By allowing the “legislator-led” prayer practices specifically condemned in Lund v. Rowan County (2017) to continue, you have abdicated your fiduciary duty to the taxpayers. You have stood by as Forsythe and Denesha created a clear path to a civil rights lawsuit that will inevitably result in six-figure attorney fee awards under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Your refusal to exercise oversight is a fiscal betrayal of St. Lawrence County.
III. Breach of the Oath of Office: Each of you swore to “uphold the Constitution of the United States.” You have failed. You have permitted the Board Room to be used as a tool for religious coercion and state-sponsored exclusion. This systemic failure to protect the rights of all citizens–regardless of their faith or lack thereof–renders the entire Board complicit and unfit for office.
I demand your resignations effective immediately. Your “see no evil” approach to governance has resulted in a multi-year constitutional tort. Unless the Board is vacated and reformed, I will move forward with a petition to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, Third Department, seeking your removal for maladministration and a willful violation of the public trust.