In the 2005 Journal News article, “Voting Summary for Southeast,” John Degnan listed his party affiliation as “Republican, Democrat and Brewster Party,” and his occupation as a “Building contractor.”

For prior civic experience, Degnan stated he is co-chair of Team Brewster, and a board member of the Brewster Institute of Environmental Science. His two top priorities were "setting proper rates for water use" (a project he bungled so badly that it resulted in a million dollar mistake when he billed residents for far more than the law permitted and had to refund the overages) and to "continue working towards a consensus for a day laborer hiring site," an effort that along with other Degnan initiatives helped make the Village a sanctuary setting for illegal aliens, in the view of many local residents.

In addition to his record on his top priorities, many questions remain about John’s single and very controversial term as Mayor of the Village of Brewster, New York and the various interrelationships with his relatives and cronies. On the 2008 State Assembly Candidate's ethics disclosure form, Degnan listed several sources of income.

Degnan states on his campaign resume that he is an Adjunct Instructor at Columbia University, but this is curiously omitted from his ethics disclosure filing in the income section. This is because he is not actually "employed" by Columbia; he is not listed in the directory of faculty and staff and draws no income from Columbia University. Through his own sister (the Executive Director for the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation at Columbia) he was listed as the lecturer for one, five-day, no-credit course (with no prerequisite requirements) to three “Special Students” in the school of continuing education.

The course was entitled “A Pathway to Sustainability”, an Environmental Biology course, a field in which John Degnan has no educational degree that would qualify him to teach a university level course. Columbia’s class schedule indicates this course began on 5/17/08 and ended on 6/24/08, during the same time John Degnan was putting together a resume to support his run for New York’s 99th Assembly District.  That was not the first time John turned to a relative to help pad his resume, without revealing the connection or all of the pertinent facts.

John’s reliance on his sister for resume fillers dates back to at least 2003. When she was the advisor to the Urban Planning Department of Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, John Degnan's sister undertook to use the Village of Brewster as a project of practical planning for the graduate students.  Indeed, the introduction to their work at their hompeage states that the Village Board of Trustees was their client, although it is now clear that the work was "commissioned" by the Village after the plan was produced. What they produced was adopted by the Village Board and has become known as “The Master Plan.” Along with a day laborer hiring site and social services center for illegal aliens, the master plan contained numerous recommendations for storm water management and MS-4 regulations.