We’ll have some stuff up about the weirdness that happened at May’s County Leg meeting (I know, we run a little behind, what are you people paying us for anyway???)

But let’s take a look at the June meeting’s weirdness. I’m going to quote the County Leg Dem press release on this, since I didn’t find anything on it in the local media. (If it was covered, send us the link!)

Rochester, New York – June 13, 2007: A $13 million, twelve-year contract for leased copier management services with Siemens Building Technologies of Rochester came under fire from County Democrats last night. During the Full Legislature meeting, Democratic legislators raised serious concerns about the proposal which was submitted by the County Executive. Although the contract names Upstate Telecommunications Corporation (UTC) as the chosen vendor, county officials stated during debate that Siemens Building Technologies, Inc. would administer the deal. UTC, a local development corporation was formed by the County Administration at the recommendation of none other than Siemens Building Technologies.

According to state board of elections filings, since 2000, Siemens Building Technologies and its officials have contributed nearly $65,000 to the Monroe County Republican Committee and County Executive Brooks.

But this appears to be more than your usual GOP County Pay-to-play scenario:

As stated by Legislator Paul Haney (D-Rochester), Siemens is currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities Exchange Commission. Earlier this year, two former Siemens executives were convicted of bribery, and the company was ordered to pay a fine of $51.4 million by a German court. The company is also under investigation in Italy, Greece, Liechtenstein and Austria.

Siemens Medical Solutions, USA, a subsidiary based in Chicago, recently pled guilty to charges of obstruction of justice. Siemens officials admittedly lied during their trial, provided false information and withheld testimony of managers (USA vs. Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc, US District Court, Northern District, Docket #05 CR 792-3). In 2004, Siemens Building Technologies, Inc. was found in violation by the National Labor Relations Board regarding their operation of the Iola Power Plant (NLRB Case #3–CA–24050).

Yikes! I don’t want our county deeper in bed with that kind of thing. Maybe the folks in the county government are thinking “SWEET! We thought we were corrupt, but man, could we learn a thing or two from these Seimens guys!”

Look below the fold to get a good summary and an eyewitness report from an RT reader who was there at the June Leg meeting.

He said:

The “press release” below really doesn’t tell the story. But for the moment, it will help to begin to tell the story. The larger story is that our county is now intertwined with Siemens to the tune of something like $100,000,000.00 - (that’s right, $100 Million Dollars) in contracts that are essentially with Siemens. Siemens has been indicted all over the globe, including the US, for corruption that has been described as “systemic” and company wide on an unprecendented level. Talk about your “culture of corruption”! And we have our own piece right here in Monroe County. In spite of the revelations presented at the lej meeting, the GOP’ers, (after a brief recess), voted to further the county’s relationship with Siemens.