Westside Representation: Mobbed-Up in Greece
During last week’s discussion of the disproportionate impact of the Brooks-Minarik Property Tax Increase on the West Side, we asked the question: “Who’s looking out for West Side interests in Monroe County?”
The answer: obviously not Dick Yolevich - but we didn’t mention someone else who’s just as culpable for the great sales-tax swindling of the West Side: Raymond DiRaddo.
Ray’s the Monroe County Legislator from the 6th District, which includes Greece and a small part of Charlotte. Ray voted “yes” to the Brooks-Minarik FAIR plan, ensuring 6% property tax increases for most of his constituents.
Several of our readers chimed in here, pointing out that Ray is part of the “Greece Mob” - a group of Republican Lawmakers with their hands in more than one pocket.
This is a clear pattern of compromised allegiances. Exactly who do these guys really work for? What happens when the interests of Monroe County are in conflict with the interests of the Town of Greece (as with the FAIR plan)?
Is it illegal? Probably. An informal opinion from the State Attorney General’s office:
…one person may hold two offices simultaneously unless they are incompatible… The Court of Appeals held that two offices are incompatible if one is subordinate to the other or if there is an inherent inconsistency between the two offices…the latter is not as easily characterized, for one must analyze the duties of the two offices to ascertain whether there is an inconsistency…
Reader bcaterino: “There is a serious question whether some of these examples of dual office holding which is sometimes illegal represent examples of “incompatible offices” which are always illegal.”
Is it unethical? No question about it. Which way do they vote when their backs are against the wall? Given the way the FAIR plan got rammed through, it’s pretty clear that their political positions with county government, and with the county GOP, are more important to them than their positions in the town - their loyalties clearly lie with Minarik and Brooks. They vote however Minarik tells them to, they keep their mouths shut like good soldiers, and to heck with Greece. I mean, who’s ever going to figure it out, anyways, right?
Greece residents: These people have sold you out. It’s time to vote them out. Send them the message that double-dipping isn’t what Greece is all about. You can start by getting rid of Ray DiRaddo: vote for Dick Beebe on November 6th.
Edit: Reader Jiminy Bizbo points out that Bilsky is being challenged by Judy Knights, Barry is being challenged by John Clark, and Helfer is being challenged by Maureen Dauphinee.
We should mention, too, our previous post on the Christian Right’s control of the Greece Town Board.
If what they are doing is illegal, who has the standing/authority to prosecute them?
Wow - I had no idea! (I only moved to Greece in June.) After getting fed up with Mr. DiRaddo I sent an e-mail to his county legislator address and copied in Mr. Beebe. Guess who responded immediately (Beebe), and guess who either doesn’t read e-mail from his constituents or decided not to respond…
Mr. Beebe noted the following in his e-mail:
“I want to notify you that on the 24th there is a monthly meeting of the Northgate Neighbors being held at Our Lady of Mercy school starting at 7 PM. They have invited all of the candidates running for office to be there. I’m sure the people that will be there will want to hear more about the FAIR plan and also Wal-Mart going in at Northgate Plaza.”
It just might be possible that some of the above will be in attendance. It would interesting for the constituents to ask these gentlemen which office they are representing when (if) they appear at the meeting. Considering the 6% projected school tax increase in Greece (highest projection in the county I believe), it would seem they really don’t represent their town all that well.
Itchy-great post!!
Look what you can do!!!!
Get used to it. I think this is the plan for most of the towns. They’re working towards an “East Side” and a “West Side” approach to a metro style government.
This is obvious through the efforts they are now making with the entire West Side Public Access Cable takeover. They want to pool MILLIONS of dollars in YOUR “franchise” fee payment (5% of your cable bill mandated monthly) and create a GOP controlled TV station, run out of the Greece Public Schools.
Excellent Post - we should cross-analyze the rest of the towns as well, both East and West and blow them out of the water while we still can.
Get used to it. I think this is the plan for most of the towns. They’re working towards an “East Side” and a “West Side” approach to a metro style government.
This is obvious through the efforts they are now making with the entire West Side Public Access Cable takeover. They want to pool MILLIONS of dollars in YOUR “franchise” fee payment (5% of your cable bill mandated monthly) and create a GOP controlled TV station, run out of the Greece Public Schools.
Excellent Post - we should cross-analyze the rest of the towns as well, both East and West and blow them out of the water while we still can.
btw…Bilsky is being challenged by Judy Knights, Barry is being challenged by John Clark, and Helfer is being challenged by Maureen Dauphinee.
This is a great post. The people detrimentally affected - Greece residents - may be in a position to sue. The Town Attorney should be the one to sue on behalf of the town when it is losing money from the county. But that ain’t gonna happen, is it? Too bad the D&C doesn’t write about any of this. But maybe now that there are simple graphics to break it down, they’ll get it. Oh wait, they’re too busy writing about how unfair Louise Slaughter is to the poor, downtrodden Republicans.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007710220331
I noticed that they changed the title of that article between the print and web editions.
From: “Panel leader’s style irks GOP”
To: “Slaughter’s tough leadership exasperates Republicans”
For a who’s who of Greece politics, you can compare this list to the Monroe County GOP list on its website -
http://www.monroegop.com/reps/
John Auberger, the Greece Town Supervisor is a GOP state committee member. Mike Barry is vice chair of the executive committee - Minarik’s right hand man, I guess. Jerry Helfer is an affiliated member at large. So is Jeff McCann. These folks sure wear a lot of hats.
I’m pretty sure Mike Barry is also the Majority Clerk on the County Legislature.
Excellent reporting. I wish the D&C would report this incestuous relationship that the town has with the county … Maggie gets away with saying that she is “not raising our taxes” because she doesn’t raise the tax rate, rate her minions in the towns just keep re-assessing our homes … which raises her tax base … and now she is taking away the tax rebate that we in the towns get from sales tax and says she’s “not raising your taxes”, but the bottom line is higher taxes when you take the rebate away. And her county employees working in the town never fought for us to keep the rebate … because they don’t want to lose their jobs… and trust me, they would …. look at the 2 county legislators that voted with the Dems last year … they had their perks taken away … This is a travesty … someone needs to bring this to the Ethics Board or the Attorney General.
Thanks!
While this incestuous conflict of interest may seem important to some people, the D&C can not be expected to waste precious resources comparing lists of people’s names while the scourge of gangster rap still threatens our community.
Ha. They do have their priorities. Plus, gangsta rappas don’t make irate calls to the eds threatening to sue.
Paydirt! Check this out. Diraddo’s ads are coming through the mail with his LAW OFFICE address on them. A check of his name in zabasearch.com shows that he KEEPS AN APARTMENT at #64 Northgate Manor (right across from the big Walmart controversial site) comfortably located in LD6…AND HIS HOME at 141 Olympia Drive — which is LOCATED IN LD5 - so he can’t live home or he couldn’t hold his office in the legislature! Ever see the apartments at Northgate Manor? There is NO WAY IN HELL he lives there!
BUSTED!
What are the monroe county Democratic Party doing about this issue?
I sent them this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_research
So I can only assume that they’re learning about the process - maybe discussing subcommittee formation or something. Give them time.
<⁄snark>
Um, they are making YouTube video clips….
Oh, you mean the avant-garde are focusing on their cutting edge, first in the region, campaign strategy?
The Republicans are going to be begging for mercy after those videos come out. Begging, I tell you.
I just checked the county clerk’s office and he’s NOT separated OR divorced either! It this what nice Catholic town attorney/legislature candidates do?
Rogue’s gallery - some are business contacts, some home -
http://www.rochesterbusinessalliance.com/core/contentmanager/uploads/pdfs/publicPolicy/contactSheets/CountyLegContactSheet.pdf
[...] reported yesterday that there are some serious legal questions about Ray’s dual representation - and now we discover that he’s most likely playing [...]
The situation with the D and C concerning the dual office issue is worse than you think.
Some folks I know inquired in past years to the D and C about this issue. They were told the D and C would not cover this issue unless the issues was raised by Greece resident. IN other words they would not initiate any investigations
Some time ago I submitted a “speaking out” column on this issue in grece to the d and C. THen I was told that before the column could be publiched I was asked why I picked greece and said because I was a greece resident and the practices in greece were particularly odious.
I was told that I had to provide them with information on all the other major towns in the ares (viz dual office holding) to make sure the paper would not be seen as picking on Greece.
I considered this request out of line but I did it although it took me some time but I did that and submitted it. If folks want the information I can provide it. Maybe someone can check it for accuracy. I’m not 100% sure of everything.
Now I am being told that I have to “incorporate” this material into my editorial
Not sure what that means but it feels like interference. I haven’t yet heard back on what that incorporation means,
This just reinforces a concern we west siders have that the news is being shaped to keep many of our issues out of the public eye.
Viz legal actions. An individual can not request that the attorney general issue an advisory opinion. I tried contacting the att general and they told me I had no standing. Questions of an advisory ruling are generally handled by the town attorney (ha ha) or in this case go to the county. I would ask Mike Green’s office to look into it. If someone has the time other than me make the inquiry. Ask for his office to seek an advisory opinion and/or legal action.
Its amazing how resistant the D&C is about looking into issues of malfeasance. For some reason, it seems to me that the D&C has decided that (at least when it comes to politics) their journalists should limit themselvees to evaluating where individual politicians stand on various issues. Somehow, they don’t seem to feel that journalism has a role to play in uncovering evidence of malfeasance.
It’s sad really.
The great failure of the fourth estate. Newspapers used to actually investigate things.
They should at least state their editorial and investigative policies somewhere in the paper, so that everyone knows what they’re getting. And the paper should also alert its readers that the only thing published by the paper is hand fed pabulum from a source that doesn’t disturb them and meets their narrow minded criteria. That way readers might recognize they’re not getting all the news or information on a topic (and often no actual news or information). Heard of “All the news that’s fit to print”? Maybe the D&C should be “We pick, we choose, but news it isn’t.”
Or how about (okay, I’m having fun now) “No news, just views, we choose, you lose”?
And our reward for all our Greece town leaders having positions on the Monroe County Board is a 6% school tax increase if FAIR gets passed! Nice work boys! Sure, you got my vote.
Unchecked, unchallenged, this is what government becomes. What’s worse is they wrap it all up in a prayer - for G*d’s sake!
These people make me sick.
On second thought…maybe they open every board meeting with a prayer for THEMSELVES…
“forgive us father for we have sinned…”
Speaking of prayers, there will be a public forum about sep. of church and state at the Greece Town Hall in November. Watch for it on the ANNOUNCE and other places.
What’s Auberger’s position with Maggie then?
[...] the last election, we told you about the many people in Greece who work for both the county and the town. Given that the county [...]
[...] in “mobbed-up” Greece Town leadership can being guilty of something = excellence.ÂÂ Too [...]
[...] Part of the tax revenue was supposed to go to Monroe County as well, where Mr DiRaddo was simultaneously employed as en elected Legislator. [...]
[...] do Monroe County Republicans know how to double-dip or what? We reported previously on Greece’s electeds holding dual jobs at the county. Check out this [...]