ROBUTRAD Workers Coerced Into Funding Brooks and Dinolfo?
As more and more details leak from the ROBUTRAD case, it shows a picture of a county government corrupt to the top. A letter has emerged from Robert Morone to ROBUTRAD employees. Morone, in addition to being the county’s ROBUTRAD manager, was chair of the Gates GOP.
The D&C has details on the letter:
A Monroe County official in 2007 pushed trades workers under contract with county government to make campaign contributions to Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and march in political parades, according to a letter obtained by the Democrat and Chronicle.
…
In the letter, Robert Morone, then a county building and construction director, urged the workers with Robutrad Corp. to be active in politics.
Active in politics? Sounds noble. It’s not:
“You guys are doing a fabulous job with the politics … parades, balloons & invitations,” wrote Morone, who with 14 trades workers was accused of cheating county taxpayers out of more than $110,000. Almost all of the workers were employed by Robutrad, which was created in 1989 to provide workers for county jobs.
In the letter, Morone encouraged the trades workers to make $399 contributions for a fundraiser for Brooks, who was seeking re-election.
“If you are behind (as most are), you will probably have to make it up,” Morone wrote.
In the letter, Morone wrote that:
Political contributions “will help our Division immensely.”
The “entire $399″ in contributions was needed within two weeks, and the deadline was “after the July 20 payday.”
Robutrad workers needed to “step up your efforts” if they’ve been late for parades. “It is not fair to the rest of the guys if you don’t join in & pull your weight.”
Workers should be encouraged to find others who will buy tickets to a fundraiser.
He ends the letter with “Semper Fi … Do or Die.”
Does this remind you of George W. Bush at all?
Brooks refused through her spokesman to respond because of the ongoing investigation.
Maggie Brooks wasn’t the only county official involved. County Clerk Cheryl Dinolfo benefitted from this corruption as well:
In 2004, for instance, Board of Elections records show 10 Robutrad workers made $300 contributions each to Cheryl Dinolfo’s campaign for County Clerk. Dinolfo, a Republican, was elected.
The donations all were made around the same week in mid-July, records show. Deputy Clerk Justin Roj said the contributions likely were for tickets to a union fundraiser held for Dinolfo.
The same campaign filing for Friends of Cheryl Dinolfo show a payment of $1,786 to Morone to cover expenses for a union fundraiser in early August 2004.
I have to admire the efficiency of the late county GOP chair Steve Minark. The system he helped set up and enforce neatly channeled money and contracts between GOP candidates and donors, creating large war chests. These campaign coffers have been effectively used to scare off or out-compete competitors, as happened when Dems didn’t run a candidate against Maggie Brooks for county exec in 2007.
Unfortunately Minarik’s efficiency only benefitted the county GOP and those connected to them. The rest, well, we get what’s left over.
Related posts:
[...] about how a letter has been released from the ROBUTRAD investigation. This letter appears to be part of a system of coercing county employees to support top GOP electeds, like Maggie Brooks and Cheryl [...]
[...] not so breaking news - Robutrad workers asked to donate to the local GOP. More [...]
[...] to the unethical mingling of county employee / GOP campaigner that the current ROBUTRAD scandal is revealing. Share and [...]