Straight from the Horse’s (Donkey’s) mouth
I have the highest regard for donkeys, so please don’t misinterpret my title. I speak of my beloved Monroe County Democratic Caucus. There are only 14 of them. There should be more, but as others have stated in the comments of my last 2 posts, that ship has sailed and laying blame at any one individual’s feet is counter-productive. Let’s learn from our mistakes and move forward with new resolution against a common enemy. Let me also note, that violence did not “erupt” at the leg meeting last night as was stated on the radio this morning. That is an erroneous statement. I was there, it did not happen. But, I digress. The party continues and the Dems speak(and my paraphrasing continues)……
Ted O’Brien: The Republicans talk about how actions by the protesters “played”. This is not about how their actions “played”. Democracy depends on a citizen “buy in”. This isn’t happening with this process. This is a partisan process and I invite you to adjourn your decision to a later date.
Willie Joe Lightfoot: Mr Quatro said the Democrats were turning this into a racial issue. The police presence, here, tonight shows that this is a racial issue.
Paul Haney: In 35 year, I have never seen anything like this. This is a gulag- a police state. As a member of this body, I am ashamed. I have never felt like this. I stand here and I tremble about what has occured here tonight. It’s a travesty- I couldn’t support him in 100 years!
(let me just say here- he was trembling, he was angry !)
Steve Eckel: I could not support any candidate who was chosen by this process. The public has spoken very loudly. Stop, look and listen. Stop the rhetoric, look around and listen to the people. Vote no to the process. As Mr. Haney said, “I am ashamed”. I urge my colleagues to vote no to this process.
Now, it is at this juncture, that an elephant speaks:
Robert Colby: Those of you who know me, know I’m not a “yes” man. Dollinger is a fine candidate, I mean, uh (looks down at his paper, fumbles a bit and says) I mean Donaher. The process by which he was chosen is acceptable.
(remember that word-acceptable, it will come up later.) Now, back to the Dems…
Carrie Andrews: I am not honored to be here today. I’m shaking to be here today (voice, truly shaking) I saw a person thrown against the wall and handcuffed. Now there’s a new sign up that says 75 occupancy. It’s embarrassing and appalling.
Glen Gamble: Why did only 3 applicants apply? We don’t know if this applicant is the best, or not. Are we scared? Or are we hiding something?
Calvin Lee: We owe the people of this community and the protesters an apology. We need to apologize to the citizens of Monroe County related to what we’ve done tonight.
Jose Cruz: The community response to this process is terrible. I’ve never felt so depressed, so useless. Mr Colby called the process “acceptable”. Not great, not outstanding, but acceptable.
Cindy Kaleh: I have a daughter who is being deployed to Iraq to defend our government, our constitution. For what? This is not how our government is supposed to work.
Harry Bronson: Let us develop the selection process, a broad-base recruiting process with full transparency. I have more questions tonight than I have answers. Who decided the 1/11 cut off date for applicants? Who decided that The Daily Record was the only publication where the ad would be published? Who decided on the frequency of the ads? Who decided that we would not advertise statewide/nationwide? Who decided on the interview process? It’s been said that Democrats orchestrated this community outcry. This is not true. We will never know if this person is the right person for the job. It has been said that we need to move forward because Mr. Nowack was done at the end of December, but our second in command at the Public Defender’s office can handle things quite nicely until the proper process has been completed.
The second in command at the Public Defender’s office is Brian Shiffrin, who, I was told last night by someone who works in the office, is the best in the state and can handle things just fine, for now.
Now, to pin the tail on the donkey, Dan Quatro stands up to trumpet his vitriolic accusations and pin the blame on the Democrats in the legislature and to blame David Gantt for the assembly of the public at this “public” meeting (Man, there are a lot of black people out there, better get more police!):
“This is not a proud night for this community. That is for sure. I want to thank all of the people in law enforcement here tonight for their fine, professional job. All of you did the best job you could with those who were behaving in a civil disobedient way. Why was this necessary tonight? Why was it necessary for us to have a large police presence. On Saturday it was made clear that people weren’t coming down here to express their concern…there were people who came down here…with the express interest of being disruptive. People in the crowd specifically said they were not going to let the meeting take place.” He said on Saturday Gantt promised there would be violence tonight.
(Did that really happen, does anybody know?)
He went on to say that it was partisan politics of the worst kind perpetrated by the Democrats in the leg and Gantt and his “people”.
Everybody knows how the vote went down.
These eyewitness posts are terrific.
Check this out:
Maggie decides to speak, and what a surprise:
http://whec.dayport.com/viewer/viewerpage.php?Art_ID=3387&tf=whecliveplayer.tpl
And - 13 wham’s website has a poll on whether the process to select the public defender should be changed. Go vote (right side of the page)
Also, comments are being taken at newsroom@rochesterhomepage.net (channel 10) and the video there shows a discussion by the head of a state agency on open government discussing whether the “Open Meetings Law” was violated. Quatro is also shown, as he claims that the reason for police escorts to and from the podium was to ensure the safety of those who might want to speak, as if they wanted to speak in favor of the process, they might have been intimidated. But if that were the case, why weren’t all the speakers then escorted to their seats or out of the building afterwards? Methinks he lacks a bit of sincerity.
Quatro is full of it on all counts. He said someone threatened violence on the radio that morning, but refuses to say who said it and on what station. He said deputies heard threats of violence on Saturday, but why wasn’t a police report, or any other documentation, created on this incident.
Minarik, Quatro, Brooks, Zyra & Clerk Berry did something very, very wrong last night. It was truly a devastating moment for democracy.
Thanks Jr,
I thought he was lying, but he is a Republican, and they’re usually so forthright and honest, that I thought, perhaps, it was I who was mistaken.
In watching this last night there was such a contrast between the Democrats, who truly were speaking from the heart, some in tears or on the verge of tears, and speaking about big, important issues like racism, democracy and open government, and the Republicans, who had prepared sound bytes intended to spin and blame. In this town, unfortunately, and I guess across the country, the plotters and schemers do better than the idealists. At least until the public catches on. And I think they’re starting to get it here. I’ve been frustrated with the Democratic party in this town, but last night they did us proud. I think the legislature records its meetings, and that tape of what Lightfoot, Cruz, O’Brien, Aldersley, Kaleh, Haney, Bronson and others said would be a powerful reminder to our community of what is important.
great work ladkiddo…and I don’t want to derail the conversation, but……
I have to disagree with your statement that it would be counter-productive to lay blame at the feet of an individual. There MUST be accountability for the ‘07 election and that is clearly at the feet of Joe Morelle. He is the chair at MCDC. The buck stops with him. He did not run a candidate out there for the highest position in his domain. That is absolutely unforgivable.
Let’s look at the bigger picture. Howard Dean would certainly be kicked out of the DNC if he wasn’t going to put forth a presidential candidate - hell, he’ll probably get run if they lose to McCain.
I know we can’t know for certain that the Dems would have taken the Lej if Joe had done his job, and hindsight is 20/20, but we deserve more from our local party leadership than we have received.
Does anyone know how someone (as a committee member) can get a copy of the MCDC charter?
What happened in 2007 was a failure of vision within MCDC. Somewhere along the line, the party became convinced that the race for County Exec was only worth running if a win could be delivered.
But if you subscribe to Dean’s 50-state strategy (and I do), you have to be committed to running races even if you know you’re not going to win.
Especially in a media market like this, where the paper’s in thrall to Maggie and the TV stations pretty much cover only that which arrives in the form of a press release (with one or two exceptions), running a race - even a losing race - against Maggie was absolutely critical to driving voter awareness and turnout.
In fairness to Morelle and MCDC, they got part of the 50-state strategy. Plenty of previous party chairs would have let a district like the 1st go uncontested, and look how close that race ended up in 2007. And Morelle fought back nicely against Dave Malta’s Minarik-driven smearfest in Webster.
But the strategy only works if there’s a standard-bearer at the top of the ticket - and if nobody else could be found to do it, Morelle should have fallen on his sword and run himself. Failing to do so only fuels the media narrative that Maggie gets a free pass…which indeed she did, and for which we’re now paying the price.
Yes - Well stated
We can and should expect more and be willing to help achieve it.
Hep, I understand where you’re coming from, but laying blame never does any good. Let’s realize the mistake and as a commenter on another post somewhere said, “Don’t Agonize, Organize!” It’s our responsibility to get things done. If necessary, then replace Joe, but I don’t think there is anyone stepping up to the plate. Let’s find that individual that we can rally behind. Where is Tom Frey???
that’s all well and good in theory, but this is not a junior soccer team game. all the goals do count, and there are winners and losers. these things have real impact on people’s lives.
In theory? If we don’t herd the cats, who will? From stlo’s comment above,
We can and should expect more and be willing to help achieve it.
to clarify, I was referring to the laying blame comment with the in theory remark.
a place holder is not a good standard bearer. look at willa powell’s run at robach. she raised 8k and her campaign was a reflection of that. if mcdc put a place holder on, and still no one would run, then that name gets pounded. people don’t give money to lost causes, and it takes money to get the message out. so a place holder would not have fared much better. the party can’t force someone to run. that is why our party is better than the republicans. there is no need to replace joe. without joe the leg candidates have no money and no qualified support and some of the winners lose.
Place holders need to be there during the petitioning process. That way when someone decides, late in the game that they will run, the signatures are there. I know for a fact that the 12th leg district lost out on a candidate becauce of no place holder.
is it any wonder that no one stepped up to the plate when MCDC sold it as a losing race from the start?
I agree that a place holder is no good. (though willa’s race was more complicated than just the money - many local Dems seem to not have been willing to take too many shots at robach in the past since they were friends) I had a hell of a time trying to sell people in my very blue district on signing a petition with adam bello listed for county exec. but Joe would not have been a place holder. if he won, I think he would have been a successful exec.
I am not looking for him to force someone to run, but if presented as a race which is the centerpiece of a red to blue strategy, I think he could have gotten someone to make the run. there were some fairly big names that were linked to this race at various times, but since everyone thought it was a lost cause, they declined.
I go back to howard dean’s 50 state strategy - which Obama is executing pretty successfully right now. everywhere there we spend time and money, it forces them to spend time and money. a qualified candidate on the top of the ticket would have made Lyin’ Maggie actually run a real campaign, and not just infomercials for the “fair” plan. made minarek spend money that would have been diverted from the lej races that we came close to winning.
I should also say that I don’t intend any of this as a shot against Joe’s abilities or character. he is my assemblyman and I will happily pull the lever under his name in november. but we should not let this go and I believe it is time for a change.
so you couldn’t get dems to sign for adam bello? how in the world will you get people to vote for him when no one steps in late? that is what i am getting at. a place holder is fine if they hold the place until switched. what if there is no switch? would adam bello have won the election or forced maggie to spend her money? and maybe the big names didn’t want to walk into a county as screwed up financially as ours and be the one to fix the republicans mess. make them clean it up.
ps-this is not meant to be anti adam since he is a great guy and a good leader. i would have voted for adam to be county exec.
Thinking about this more, I think that is part of the problem. There is no way there should have been a place holder at all. It’s not like the election was a surprise. MCDC should have had a plan in place to have someone lined up and ready to run.
And there, my friend is the crux of the problem. No foresight. We knew what was coming and we let it happen. We should have been begging, petitioning and cajoling anyone and everyone who was a qualified candidate, but we were all busy with our own races and we let the big one get away.
So do we start the search now for the next exec race? Or do we continue to complain about the last one?
( that is the generic “we” and not a slam against you, hep. I am with you all the way ‘cept for the blame thing)
exactly. exactly. we can cry in our genny lights about 2007, but that is back there and can’t be changed. i am still pissed off that harrison beat cleveland, but that doesn’t help change anything. educate people everywhere. i heard of polls done after the fair plan that still give maggie approval ratings in the 60’s, so that is what we have to change. politicians don’t risk their careers on whims. only numbers. let’s change those numbers.
I think too much emphasis was placed on money and fear of republican’s war chest. When the issue of running for office becomes a business decision
we have lost our way. Look at Huckabee He runs on fumes. A reasonable campaign could be waged for local office by insisting on more local media coverage and getting pledges form the media to do so.
huckabee is losing big time on fumes. and the local media won’t cover local politics anymore than they do now. the general public doesn’t care enough for them to waste their time and money. and the reporters are barely more informed than the readers. i had a d and c reporter ask me what a member item is. they don’t even read what their own paper prints.
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