For the second time this week, Randy Kuhl’s trip to Brazil is the topic of conversation for Al Kamen’s Inside the Loop, in a section titled,”In Relentless Pursuit of Facts”:

Ranging far afield to perform their legislative duties, members of a congressional delegation are taking a river cruise in Brazil.

Ranging far afield to perform their legislative duties, members of a congressional delegation are taking a river cruise in Brazil. (By Andre Penner — Associated Press)

Keeping up with the Engel Codel. Rep. Eliot Engel’s hardy band of 10 fact-seekers was in Brasilia yesterday, meeting with lawmakers, getting ready for an arduous float up the Amazon today as their journey winds up. (They’ve already been to Rio and Iguazu Falls.) The other members of the delegation led by Engel (D-N.Y.) are, according to a Brazilian parliament list forwarded by reporter Jo¿o Carlos Teixeira to our colleague Mike Shepard: Reps. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Tex.), Randy Kuhl (R-N.Y.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), Randy Neugebauer (R-Tex.) and John Salazar (D-Colo.). Though he’s not on the official list, the office of Rep. Clifford Stearns (R-Fla.) says he’s there, too.

So if you haven’t seen those folks in their districts this week, that’s because they’re out working for you.

That’s right everybody. A fact finding mission. How could we have thought anything else?

I’m sorry Randy, you’ve still got some ’splainin to do as far as we can see. Tell us once again why you are there, instead of here, on our dime. And this time, try to loose the condescending tone.

It flashed across the screen that this hostage situation was in Rochester. The Rochester in question is in New Hampshire, not here, though.

Let’s hope that no one is hurt.

Update: There’s a lot of info floating around, much of it contradictory.  There may or not still be a hostage in there.  Maybe best just to wait a while before we find out what really happened.

You’ve probably heard by now the layoffs in local radio due to the change in ownership in WCMF and other stations:

Veteran WCMF deejay Dave Kane is among the layoffs announced Thursday as Entercom Communications Corp. wraps up a deal that gives the Pennsylvania radio giant control of four of the most-desirable properties in the area.

Also losing their jobs are WPXY’s Pete Kennedy; WCMF’s Dino Kaye and Mark Cronin; and J.P. Lacey, a producer on Brother Wease’s WCMF morning show. A receptionist and sales manager at the former local CBS radio station group also are on the list.

This is one of the many bad things that happen when the media is consolidated into fewer and fewer hands. Check out this graphic from mydd.com:

So much for a free market. Not to mention the marketplace of ideas. But folks are fighting back:

I was further heartened earlier this week, as Dodd took another strong stance against media consolidation. Josh over at The Seminal and I have been leading a campaign against media consolidation, and we’ve targeted a bill in the Senate, the Media Ownership Act of 2007 (S.2332) which would would increase support for minority ownership of media outlets, as something we’d like to drum up support for.

Sounds like it’s time to ring Schumer and Clinton’s offices again.

Fighting29th has a good round-up of local coverage of Kuhl’s Brazilian vacation:

Reader Elmer sends the Corning Leader’s front-page coverage [pdf] and jump [pdf] The Hornell Evening Tribune has a long story on the trip, too. As usual, the Democrat and Chronicle has the shortest story of the region’s papers, but they front-page a picture of Kuhl along with a paragraph from the A2 story.

The Leader mentions a detail that I’ve heard elsewhere, that Kuhl apparently hung up on reporters during his press call when they went after him about the junket:

Kuhl spoke to reporters Thursday via a cell phone. His phone went dead prior to the end of the call and Kuhl’s office did not return emails asking how much the trip cost taxpayers.

For some strange reason, the Elmira Star-Gazette not covering the story. This is especially strange since the paper is a Gannet paper and Erin Kelly, who wrote the piece for the D&C about this, is a Gannet reporter. Go figure.

It is well-known that the Elmira Star-Gazette is a Republican paper. That said, their coverage of the 2006 Congressional races was, in my opinion, generally fair and thorough.

But now something strange seems to be going on. Over the past week, they’ve published two rather vitriolic anti-Massa letters, which you can see here and here (the links may expire soon so here’s the html files here and here). One of these letters makes reference to a letter to the editor by Massa that appeared in the paper on November 15. The author writes:

The Nov. 15 letter to the editor from Eric Massa, obstinately refusing to apologize for his part in the smearing of Rush Limbaugh, was a disgrace.

However, an archives search of the Star-Gazette for “Massa” (hmtl screenshot here in case they change it) or “Limbaugh” (html screenshot here) turns up no entries for November 15. And it’s not because Massa’s letter is older — the letter Massa was replying to, dated November 7 shows up on the archives search here (here it is if the link disappears later).

Did they delete Massa’s letter from the archive? If so, why? I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist but this strikes me as very strange, especially in combination with the two recent over-the-top anti-Massa letters.

I hope I’m wrong here. It would be disppointing to know that one of the area’s papers had given up all pretense of journalistic integrity. I realize these archives searches can be complicated, but this does seem genuinely suspicious.

It now appears that Rudy was using the NYPD as a taxi service for his then mistress (now wife) Judi Nathan (via Brian Ross):

Well before it was publicly known he was seeing her, then-married New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani provided a police driver and city car for his mistress Judith Nathan, former senior city officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

“She used the PD as her personal taxi service,” said one former city official who worked for Giuliani.

TalkLeft notes that when Alan Hevesi did the same thing it was a crime, quoting this NYT article:

[NY State Comptroller Alan Hevesi's] decision to step down came as Albany prosecutors were preparing to ask a grand jury to indict him on charges of defrauding the government and on other felonies stemming from his use of state employees as chauffeurs and aides to his wife, a law enforcement official said, charges that could have yielded a prison sentence had he been convicted.

Josh Marshall notes that there is one key difference:

…having state employees chauffeur your sick wife seems considerably more justifiable than having a car and driver detailed for your mistress.

Just to be clear: it appears that what Rudy Giuliani did here was worse than what Alan Hevesi was forced to resign over.

Somehow, I feel like I’m watching local corruption unfold before my eyes. Again. Earlier this week:

County Legislature President Wayne Zyra is calling for a committee of representatives from inside and outside government to help select the next chief defender.

Based on the list of people Zyra appointed to the committee or who he’s letting appoint people, I count at least 5 folks out of 9 likely to do Minarik’s bidding, including Dan DeLaus, county attorney. Window dressing aside (*cough*Steve Lindley*cough*), it looks a little stacked to me.

What was the committee makeup before?

The former committee included three sitting judges, three members of the bar association and three representatives of community groups.

So retiring PD Ed Nowak, selected by the former committee, was so great that he served, with distinction, for 30 years. Not an easy task for such a public figure in such a thankless job.

Why then, are they changing the process, when it produced such an exemplary candidate before? Where’s the community involvement, especially by the minority community, who are the vast majority of folks being served by the public defender’s office.

What’s the Dem’s response to this?

Legislature Minority Leader Harry Bronson, D-Rochester, said the committee is capable of producing a list of qualified candidates without concern for political affiliation.

Harry, I love ya. Got a lot of respect for ya. Let’s hope you’re right and we don’t need to do a cartoon of you being played like a bass fiddle!

Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Thursday) from 8 to 10 at Monty’s Korner on Alexander and East in Rochester’s East End. Why not drop by?

If you’d like to receive the chapter’s witty and informative email reminders about Drinking Liberally each week, you can your name to the mailing list here.

Note: The comments thread here is the same way that’s been here for previous DL announcements. So if someone says they’ll be there “tonight” they may mean tonight from a few weeks ago, so check the dates on comments.

Rotten has some funny stuff from Massa’s press conference yesterday. Eric had a lot to say about Randy’s Brazilian vacation:

A reporter (I think it was Joe Dunning of the Corning Leader), asked if he saw any value in the trip whatsoever:

Massa: Absolutely not. What is the connection between the 29th Congressional District and this trip? Randy Kuhl will say it is to talk about ethanol production. Like I said, there’s a state called Iowa. It’s very close. Arguably, it’s cold, and not very comfortable. There aren’t a lot of five-star hotels. I’ve been to Brazil. Trust me, there’s nothing in Rio that connects to New York State. [I read in the Washington Post that] Randy Kuhl is going to see waterfalls. There’s a place called Niagara…

For reference, Niagara is pictured on the left, while Iguazu Falls in Brazil — which Randy is purportedly visiting, perhaps even as we speak — is on the right.

Well, this is interesting.

No county executive rep attends Brighton meeting on tax plan blares the headline in today’s D&C.

So there are two points here - should she have come to the Brighton School board/PTSA forum on her so called F.A.I.R. plan and has she been involved in communicating with the community.

It is not in Brooks’ best interest to be in an arena that she can’t control the message so of course she or a rep wasn’t going to be there.

Brooks’ spokesman, John Durso Jr., said he did not want to speculate about whether Brooks would have attended if she had been available.

“Realistically, we didn’t expect them to be there,” said Marvin Sachs, president of the Brighton school board.

Brooks notified the district on Nov. 16 that she would not be able to attend, according to Brooks’ spokesman and the district.

But this is laughable and a sign of how absolutely out of touch this administration is and how and they view active community involvement with disdain. Check out this paragraph and how John Durso, well,  read it,  and I’ll comment at the end.

Brooks held “virtual town hall” meetings with residents over the phone.

The meetings were held in October, after the F.A.I.R. plan was approved by the County Legislature.

Got that?  A community plan that was approved before the community was involved.  Got that?  Certainly doesn’t sound fair to me.  Certainly doesn’t sound like there is a high regard for community involvement to me.  But then there is John Durso to the rescue.

 ”The fact that the county executive held four virtual town hall meetings, which attracted more than 30,000 participants to a discussion of our county’s financial future, speaks volumes of the county executive’s commitment to engaging our community,” Durso said.

So John - how are you measuring involvement?  Was there public interaction?  Did Maggie give a speech that everyone but Rochesterturning knew about?  Did she  speak that Legislature  meeting where her plan was adopted?  Sounds like all you are doing is measuring the unsolicited phone calls into the community that were dialed by the company you hired with the call screeners and who knows what directions they were given.  Are you measuring the number of questions asked at each town hall meeting?  Including the softball questions - let’s say 25 questions (actually I think it was 15) at 4 town hall meetings.  That is less that 100 people airing their view.  Oh, Yeah - the town hall meetings were AFTER THE FACT!!

I believe our county executive is concerned with our county’s future as long as it is on her terms and under her rules where she and her administration can control the debate.  This is a place where constituents are to be managed not heard.  So - do you want to be managed or heard?

What was that John? Yeah, back at you.

From WETM:

On Wednesday, a Bath judge sentenced five protesters from “Finger Lakes for Peace in Iraq”.They were involved in the trespassing at Congressman Rand Khul’s Office in Bath this past summer.

Four of the defendants were sentenced 50 hours community service and a $135 fine.  The Judge put Mark Scibilia-Carver in the Steuben County jail for 30 days because he refused to do the community service and pay the fine.

“I dunno. He put Mark in jail for 30 days, ya know? Mark didn’t do anything.  Ya know what I mean? Mark sat at the Congressman’s Office trying to stop the war.”-said Defendant Danny Burns

A while back I wrote on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act being brought up for vote in the State Legislature. I was contacted by the editor of this website yesterday, thanking me for bringing this issue to people’s attention.

Ok, I started this last night, and today, it’s back to haunt us with a Rochester group involved, big time.

Why are these groups opposed to the RFRA?

What RFRA theoretically promises differs greatly from its practical application. In practice RFRA is redundant and discriminatory. The application of RFRA will call into question many secular laws that have nothing to do with religion and exist to protect all New Yorkers regardless of religion or creed.

RFRA is unnecessary because it is redundant on both the federal level and state level. Our right to religious freedom is already protected in the U.S. Bill of Rights:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…

– First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Additionally, the New York State Constitution also clearly guarantees free religious exercise:

The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in this state to all humankind; and no person shall be rendered incompetent to be a witness on account of his or her opinions on matters of religious belief; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace or safety of this state. (Amended by vote of the people November 7, 2001.)

Do we want to give some kid the right to wear a shirt to school that says “God Hates Gays” because that’s what his religion teaches? Is this fair? I think that’s protection gone amuck. Call me intolerant, but…………..

Conatact your Senator.

Contact your Assemblyman.

Contact the Governor.

(I was hoping to get this up in a more timely manner, but it looks like Exile has beaten me to the punch. I was also hoping to get an audio up of Babaloo, but lacking the expertise in that department, all you get is this 2D of Ricky looking annoyed.)

Well, I thought we had a clear picture of what Randy’s jaunt to Brazil was all about, but now I’m not so sure. This article in the Washington Post (mentioned here in an earlier post), I think, gives us a much clearer picture.

Our hardy band of travelers spends the evening in the Ariau Amazon Towers Hotel, built in the treetops and a place Conde Nast Traveler once called one of “25 Extraordinary Places Worth That Extra Mile.” And then it’s back to Manaus, where the military jet — oh, yes, no silly commercial travel; we’re milair all the way — takes you home. Never a line; never a lost bag. The plane waits for you, not vice versa.

Sounds like fun in the sun to me. Lots of eye candy down there.

I don’t want to pay for this, who do I talk to? What recourse do we have? Are there no bio-engineers in this country, in this state, in this city? Are our people not good enough for Randy? My guess is you wouldn’t have to look farther than the U of R or RIT.

Randy, why do you hate America?

This is to be expected.  I forgot to mention this in my previous post - Brighton Superintendent Chris Manaseri mentioned this last night - WXXI reports

Superintendent Chris Manaseri said the board invited County Executive Maggie Brooks to speak but she declined to attend.

No surprise there….

Looks like it was the taxpayers who footed for the bill for America’s ex-husband’s extramarital bliss:

As New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons, according to previously undisclosed government records.

The documents, obtained by Politico under New York’s Freedom of Information Law, show that the mayoral costs had nothing to do with the functions of the little-known city offices that defrayed his tabs, including agencies responsible for regulating loft apartments, aiding the disabled and providing lawyers for indigent defendants.

At the time, the mayor’s office refused to explain the accounting to city auditors, citing “security.”

Amazing: the Republicans impeached Bill Clinton for having an affair, now they’re ready to nominate a candidate who billed the city of New York for his illicit booty calls.

At least all Randy Kuhl did was spend taxpayer money on an innocent tropical vacation.