Joe Robach - an opportunist who should know better
What happened yesterday?
Governor Spitzer resigned and Joe Robach sent out a mailer attacking the Governor for cutting funding to Brighton schools “by almost $1 million dollars”
Aw, come on Joe - Do you even know the situation in Brighton? Are you so far removed from Monroe County that you forgot about Maggie Brooks’ supposed “FAIR plan”. The plan that shifts responsibility to Albany to solve our local problems? We don’t call it the unFAIR plan for nothing.
Surely, you remember that plan. County Executive Brooks and YOUR local GOP party rammed it though a County Legislature meeting in the dark of night albeit in plain view of the public.
Come on Joe.
You know Maggie received no formal assurances other than the rhetoric she put into the mouths of Albany.
Because if there was a promise or a guarantee it would have appeared as a quote in your attack piece
You know better.
So do we.
)
Robach- what a line of crap! I really think people are gonna see through this and be reminded of unFAIR and it will all backfire. You’re not everybody’s Darling any more, Joe.
Better watch out -what goes around comes around.
i was at a meeting and overheard cheatin’ joe tell one of duffy’s aides that he (joe) was the ‘lone voice of reason’ in albany trying to ’save your city’. THAT is a line of crap. not sure if frankel or dollinger will come out of the scrum, but either way i know how i am spending my summer/fall.
This is the second post in as many days that refers to Joe Robach as a cheater (on his wife I presume). If this is something that people know, put it out there. If not, let the rumors die.
it is more than a rumor. he got caught red handed with a married woman and her husband (a policeman of some sort) took physical exception. as a cop was involved there is no report but i have heard this through sources political and law enforcement. i thought this was rumor at first but then some very credible people backed this up.
Which governor? The old one (in which case - boy Joe, do you feel stale?) The new governor? (Is he a psychic with mystical powers?) Or is he just a marching in lockstep to the beat of the Brooks/Minarik drum - in which case - LIAR!
Thanks for sharing! That piece is certifiable! I’ll be he was chasing mailmen to try to get those back! HAHAHA!
Speaking of the “UnFair” Plan…the BOE in Greece just announced their budget, taking into account the “UnFair” Plan and it’s impact…
$195.1M BOE Budget Pending… an increase of $15.7M equating to a school tax increase to Greece Taxpayers of +8.75%.
This is Joe Robach’s “home town”…I’d had to think of what he’d do to the rest of Monroe County…
Greece taxpayers are going to be ill over this increase. Not to mention the fact that half of the town is unemployed with all of the reductions in Kodak’s work force. How are people supposed to afford this? What’s next? Another “reassessment” from the Greece Mob?
In a recent interview he touted himself as a moderate, perhaps to curry favor with the more moderate voters of his district. Horsepoo. He’s like George Bush used to be - seemed friendly enough, claiming to be a moderate, but a conservative agenda.
Here’s your own coverage of his record from a while ago: http://rochesterturning.com/2006/10/05/outing-joe-robach/
The Superintendent of Pittsford Schools has a letter to the public saying the following:
I assume she has no reason to slant this info, and I’m guessing the picture is somewhat similar for Brighton — maybe someone can post some facts on that. The letter also mentions the negative impact of FAIR.
Why this merits a mailer from Robach is another matter, but it’s not all FAIR causing problems in schools.
Hey Rotten - why don’t you find the quotes promising this aid. Because if there were any it was this time last year. As their year worn on news broke that the State was billions in the hole so state funds was limited.
Bottom line - Maggie depended on others to solve her problems.
Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the promises of millions of extra education dollars to upstate? It was like the first thing he promised when taking office a year ago.
Here’s one. Here’s one. Or you could just Google “spitzer promises more school aid” and find it yourself.
The man made promises. Lots of ‘em. He didn’t follow through. Maggie Thatcher-Brooks is a douche for taking advantage of them, but that’s a different argument: the fact remains (and it was one of the principle arguments against FAIR) that upstate schools are woefully underfunded compared to downstate schools. Spitzer planned on addressing that. He’s scaled that back quite a bit. So far, in fact, that many of his proposals result in a net increase in local tax burdens, even without FAIR.
There there is an understatement.
Um so why are these mailers going out attacking someone (though they don’t mention Spitzer directly) now. Just have the Senate put it in?
Re Robach and his role - does the Senate have something to do with the Budget? Isn’t the argument NOT to spend money we can’t afford - all there drivel that comes from the State GOP. It is hypocritical
On the one hand - it is OK to cut school funding locally because as Maggie has said they have a Slush fund. On the other hand the schools need this state funding to educate.
Yet again the GOP is talking out both sides of its mouth.
Show me a quote about record state aid by Spitzer that he was going to give record state aid around the time our supposed FAIR plan was being enacted.
I recall he backed away from promises based on reality of the national economy tanking and NYS losing billions in investments as well as running a deficit.
It wasn’t around, it was way before. And when Maggie decided to enact F.A.I.R. because, as she said, her cuts would be more than compensated for by the increase in state funding. Of course, douchebag D&C doesn’t archive it’s stuff, so I can’t get you a link for it.
But dude! What’s gotten in to that head of yours? You were the chief go-to guy at RT blogging on the FAIR plan, and now you don’t seem to remember it’s history?
Getting our schools out of the funding muck that Maggie got us into isn’t partisan. It’s a necessity. Blame Maggie. Blame Wayne Zyra, but maybe we aught to be encouraging our politicians at the state level to be this responsive to our needs.
Well - thanks and yes I do remember. I recall some of that extra money that landed here was due to a long very long lawsuit.
I remember railing against Maggies’ assumptions that state monies would be available to cover the shortfall.
I remember toward the end of the year the State was saying Ooops might have to change (my link above)
I’ve been writing about COMIDA removing entities from the tax base, (not that COMIDA is all bad - some of it is)
I recall writing about unfair tax burdens
It is all related.
Sure - The UnFAIR plan entirely rest on Maggies shoulders. The Mailer Robach mailed out plays on that plan. They are related. Yes - I want the magic fairy to come solve my problems too but it simply doesn’t happen.
I suspect that we agree on more than is coming out here in the comments back and forth. My on-line activity will be limited until later (that day job thing) so be gentle.
Thank you, DFE.
Stlo7: As I mentioned to Jiminy, the letter leads with FAIR. I’m sorry that the facts don’t fit conveniently into your attempt to make this entirely, completely Maggie Brooks’ fault, but I figured that a few of your readers might want to know that there are facts behind what Robach is charging.
Ouch - well not really. Got to do better than that
Promise and reality don’t always align now do they Rotten as the post points out.
Seems like Spitzer’s earlier in the year promises changed and he told people about it but they didn’t want to hear.
Now Robach blames “the governor”. A governor who is gone. That should seem weird in and of itself.
So your position is that, when the Governor retracts promises, the problem is people don’t want to hear. Is that the progressive standard for our elected officials?
Perhaps I’d agree if it were peanuts. But it isn’t: Pittsford went from a $1.8 million increase to a $141K reduction. That’s about the same amount as the FAIR shortfall.
As I said above, why this merits a mailer from Robach is another issue. But I find it hard to blame the entire thing on Maggie Brooks.
Oh, now we are discussing standards.
I promise only what I can guarantee. Others don’t. So saying you want to spend a lot of money doing something is great. Discovering that money isn’t their (or you are choosing to allocate it towards something else) is another. Especially after you gain additional information.
Look - the unFAIR plan coupled with state aid reduction have caused a problem. Maggie blames the state. The state says can’t do it. Robach blames the state. The unFAIR plan depended on aid that apparently for whatever reason is not forthcoming.
Sounds like a plan was built on false assumptions. Sounds like Robach is capitalizing on it.
As I told DFE I have other commitments this afternoon so will be off line. Be gentle and expect response delays.
Now Robach blames “the governorâ€ÂÂ. A governor who is gone. That should seem weird in and of itself.
Especially after that incredibly planned performance less than 8 hours after the FAIR plan was announced, the commercials were running, the mailers arrived in the box, and the GOP had a can of whipped cream and a cherry waiting for anyone who complained.
I suppose this could be looked at two ways. Robach has pie on his face, and the Broomarik machine has lost it’s touch.
That had to hurt throwing all that money down the toilet. Can’t wait to see what’s next. Someone knocks on your door to reclaim the mailer, and 3 days later it comes back with whiteout and corrections.
The letter also mentions the negative impact of FAIR.
What exactly does it say about FAIR? Pittsford is a Republican town, so I’d be curious to see how they verbalized FAIR.
Jiminy, there’s no partisanship in the Pittsford schools on the FAIR plan. They’ve howled about it already, and the letter that I linked to has this in it before it discusses the governor’s reduction:
Also, as a general comment, when you see everything through a partisan lens, you miss the big picture. The Pittsford Schools have an agenda, but it isn’t strictly partisan. Like most large, powerful institutions, their agenda is to preserve and extend their influence. Sometimes that agenda coincides with other institutions, like the Republican party. Other times it coincides with Democrats’ agenda. But that’s a meeting of interests, not partisanship.
Point taken Rotten. Fortunate for those who live there. In other towns the partisanship is so deep that the thought of things being any other way doesn’t exist.
Remember, too that school boards like Pittsford’s are ostensibly non-partisan - people run for election as an individual, not as a member of a party, and they’re supposed to - supposed to - keep big-P politics out of it.
(Anyone know which school boards are supposed to be non-partisan? I’m curious about the history of that…)
That’s really strange. I would assume almost everyone who saw the mailer would assume it was about the FAIR plan unless they looked at it for more than a few seconds…which almost no one does with these mailers.
The governor’s plan has not been living up to his promises, as has been reported throughout the education community. Here’s a release from NYSUT documenting one case. I’ve been following this story, too.
So, while it might seem opportunistic to put out this mailer, the focus is in the right place and the state needs to follow through on providing upstate schools education funding parity. I’d prefer it not be Joe Robach that advocates for this issue, and certainly a case can be made against a Republican arguing for more state tax money. But our representatives need to keep the pressure up, whoever they may be.
This is especially true because of “Teh Fair Plan,” for which Robach has no responsibility.
Right - the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Where are the “promise” quotes?
I remember the State last last year saying that because of the State’s fiscal problems monies will not be as readily available.
So - where are the “promise” quotes.
It does not detract from the fact that Robach is an opportunist or a compounded impact of Maggie’s FAIR plan which depended on record state aid.
See above.
Well,
Actually one in Jan 2007 the other is 2008 if I read it correctly.
In the middle the messages were sent that the State budget might not be able to satisfy everyone’s needs.
I am not against actions that will ultimately reduce school spending. The school districts prime motivation is to preserve and increase teachers’ and administrators’ pay rates. I have never been convinced that increasing teacher salaries will improve education as long as they don’t want to be held accountable for results and as long as they have tenure.
Do you happen to have a degree, possibly, Elmer? Because teachers all do. My wife has about $77,000 in student loans to pay off. That makes her salary, while it’s not a low number, close to working at Sutherland. That’s something very few consider when they gripe about teacher’s salaries: they have student loans for masters degrees to pay off. Besides which, show me another industry where a person with a master’s degree gets paid the squat teachers get paid, and you’ll have me cornered. But you won’t find it.
You want good teachers, you have to pay. You want good anything, you have to pay. That’s just the way it is. Republicans never seem to get that.
If the issue is tenure and accountability, then those issues need to be addressed on a town-by-town basis. A school listens hard when a bond issue goes down to defeat. But shortfalls in funding, via FAIR or from the state, aren’t going to address those issues.
If you can find a way to hold teachers accountable for results and end tenure than I’m on board with you
What, precisely, are “results?” Those things measured in NCLB, perhaps? You can keep them. Standardized testing is a joke, it doesn’t prove anything, and the obsession with - simultaneously, illogically, inscrutably - both raising average test scores AND making sure every kid finishes school are only forcing on high schools what has already happened on the collegiate level: dumbing down curriculum to alter the other side of the equation.
I mean, what exactly is your criticism of public schools, Elmer? I don’t ask combatively, I’d like to know what the specifics are.
Rotten said:
“f the issue is tenure and accountability, then those issues need to be addressed on a town-by-town basis. A school listens hard when a bond issue goes down to defeat. But shortfalls in funding, via FAIR or from the state, aren’t going to address those issues.”
Shortfalls in funding will lead to budgets being defeated.
No, they won’t. Those budgets will be screamed over, sweated over, debated over and passed. People don’t spend thousands of dollars on mortgages to send their kids to crappy schools. They will pay. The FAIR plan only added to home owner’s burden. It will not improve education.
Shortfalls in funding will lead to budgets being defeated.
I agree with what DFE said, if you’re talking about Pittsford-type districts. Some districts have a core of folks who vote against any increase (e.g., Honeoye Falls has a pretty vocal “vote No” movement), and perhaps those might have more trouble passing an increase.
In my experience with public schools, including my own time there and my 3 children, I have found teachers that if they doubled their pay rate it wouldn’t bother me. I have also found other teachers that if they are making more than minimum wage they are being overpaid. That is my main problem with public education.
I paid off my school loans (don’t have a masters) and am helping two of my children by taking loans for them. I have a third one on the way to college so I’ll even have more loands to help pay off. So yes I am familiar with student loans
Well, yes, but surely you could make the same statements about people you work with that you do about teachers. Nothing’s stopped them from showing up to work yet, much though I’m sure you’ve wished it so. This is not a problem exclusive to the education community by a long shot. Private schools would be no different.
It’s been my experience that most of the really crappy teachers tend to be old, near retirement and coasting. The young ones tear their hair out in a few years and quit. Its not an absolute rule, but a fair bet.
In my experience in the private sector people are let go for failure to perform up to standards. They are worked with, given more training, have their shortcomings explained to them but in the end if they don’t perform they are history
in my private sector experience there is an awful lot of failing up.
If a private company had tenure they would soon be out of businesses.
Small businesses: Elmer’s right, people get fired.
Large private company: HR rules are pretty similar to those of government. Periodic RIFs are used to clean out deadwood employees, but some good employees get caught up in them also. There’s some failing up going on, too, and some trading between managers (you take X and I’ll do you a favor). If you’re an incompetent part of a growing division, you’re as safe as a 20-year bureaucrat in Albany.
Even in larger businesses - when their costs increase, or their productivity falls, or their sales decrease they lay off people. They don’t have an endless supply of taxpayer money to play with
This is where I disagree with you. For example, explain the D&C editorial board to me.
I’m all for encouraging employees to do their best, but I think that it’s a fantasy to pretend the private sector accomplishes this so well.
As far as results go, I’ll leave that to people more brilliant than I to come up with a way to measure them. But it has to be done. If I remember correctly, the teachers in Mass. didn’t even want to be tested on their own area of expertise.
Bottom line - everything that has been posted here (on both sides) is representative that ROBACH IS PART OF THE PROBLEM - NOT PART OF THE SOLUTION.
And he must go.
Every time I see his face, I think of Little Red Robach Hood, standing at the bed of the ailing grandmother, just waiting to eat the little granddaughter - only after she makes a campaign contribution.
The only difference in the ending is that Joe eats both the girl and the grandmother, and then tells the media it was a tragedy waiting to happen.
I too received the mailer and the funny thing, as a Brighton resident, my kids don’t go to Brighton schools so why waste the money to contact me?
It’s not your children he’s worried about. He wants something better, bigger, and more important…he wants your VOTE!
He’s such a stoop
I know, I know. But to attempt to tug on my heart strings for kids that go to BCSD when my kids and tax dollars go elsewhere is weak posturing for my all important vote. There’s this cool thing called cross referencing maps to target audiences effectively. I think you can use The Google to do it. Those Internets are awesome.
Yeah, someday I gotta get me one of those “internets”. I only have one, so getting in on the plural version sounds so….
…so…..
……so…..
…oh nevermind!
That’s interesting, I wonder how that happened - my guess is that they gave it to a commercial mail house who sent it out by zips instead of school district? (Mail houses don’t know from town, school district, etc…google neither)
Sounds like an expensive SNAFU to me.
Considering Brighton kids go to 5 different school districts, expensive, yes.
According to Robach’s office the mailings are printed in-house in Albany.
So in the state’s capital, they have no clue as to the school district breakdowns or the territory of their Senator’s district? Horsecrap. They knew - they just don’t care.
Scare tactics and manipulation mailings don’t have time for research. I suppose Joe Robach wants to take credit for Spitzer’s resignation too? When exactly were they printed? Looks like the identical style mailer Minarik uses.
Trust nothing out of their mouths. It’s only costing you out of your pocket!
Ok, I just took the opportunity to read through these comments, but not one of them addresses the fact that the money promised to the schools, was ear-marked for specific uses and could not be used for general purposes, regardless of the circumstances. So, it becomes a moot point whether we recieve those monies in the basic running of the schools. The taxes would have gone up either way. I have to blame the FAIR plan and only the FAIR plan for this situation. Maggie and her republican cohorts f***ed up. Pure and simple. End of conversation.
Ladkiddo - thank you for this history lesson about earmarked funds.
[...] know how much I love Robach’s mailers. They generate such interesting conversation. Well, This anti-Robach mailer says Joe, fully aware [...]