I think (and I could be wrong) that these “callers” were all set up with questions, even the ones addressing concerns with the plan, so that Maggie could give a half hour or 45 minute prepared speech. No questions about why the Dems were excluded from the process, no questions about why schools were excluded, no questions about the effects on county departments of the cuts she’s so proud of, no real confrontational questions. Or maybe we’re just very polite around here. I’ve read that in the D&C.

Here’s a question for all of you - what questions would you ask Maggie Brooks about all of this? Maybe that can be made into a thread.

During the course of this call Maggie asked callers the following question (not quite a quote) - During tough times (the phrase was repeatedly used) governments, families and businesses have all had to cut 2%. Shouldn’t schools be able to cut 2% without hurting education. Press 1 if you agree, press 2 if you don’t. My wife is telling me that the question was even more slanted but she didn’t write it down as it was being asked. Who here thinks this slanted poll will be used by the Republicans at some point this week?

Ruth on the phone asked why there can’t be time limits on assistance provided to the poor, elderly, etc. This is a real compassionate crowd.

Now there’s a man asking about a commission that had been put together by prominent business people - and their recommendations. If he knows about this report he must have been primed with the question. She says they’ve tried to incorporate those recommendations. What a surprise.

Eugene from Irondequoit says he just moved to Rochester from Buffalo. He said in Buffalo they shut down libraries. He’s asking if she’s going to harm students or intellectual pursuits. Now he’s asking about whether she’s considered privatizing aspects of the county. What a surprise - Monroe County has voted to privatize the golf courses here and the quality of the courses and revenue stream have both improved. The landfill has been privatized and again all is better. She also mentioned privatization of home health care. She says they privatized information services and formed a partnership with a local development corporation. A prize to anyone who can figure out what company that is and how much they have contributed to the Republicans.

Chris from Webster is on the line. This is about the third or fourth man in a row. He’s saying the focus is on schools being asked if they can cut 2% out of their budgets. He says if the problem is unfunded mandates, why are we going after school budgets. Wait - how’d he get on the line? He asked if the real issue is unfunded mandates, why isn’t the solution addressing those? She answers we woudn’t be fighting amongst ourselves if the issue of unfunded mandates was addressed at the Albany level.

Now there’s a question about the schools’ lawsuit.

Kim from Penfield started asking Maggie, compared to the rest of the world we’re so far behind in education, why would we want to cut that. Guess what - she’s the first caller they lost!!! Maggie responds that the county has cut its workforce by 11%, frozen wages, etc. I think she forgot about things like the Water Authority.

Ann on the line is asking whether the school districts will be raising property taxes to offset the Medicaid swap. She says the schools will say in the spring that the evil county executive took away their money. Maggie asks what will the schools tell you about why they raised property taxes last year and the year before. She notes that folks can vote on a school budget, and asks us to listen to how schools are rationalizing their school budget.

I’ll continue in the next comment.