County Legislature Dem Switch: Full Statements by MCDC Chair Morelle and Minority Leader Bronson
In case you are interested I received statements via email from both Chairman Morelle and Minority leader Bronson’s office. One can surmise form both statements that they didn’t see this coming. The statements follow.
Here is Monroe County Democratic Chairman Morelle statement
(Rochester, NY - February 6, 2010) - A statement from Chairman Joseph D. Morelle in response to County Legislator Carmen Gumina joining the Republican Caucus:
“I am obviously deeply disappointed in Mr. Gumina’s decision, and that he did not have the courtesy or courage to notify me in advance of today’s announcement.
“While I may only speculate about his motivations, I find it extremely odd that an educator would join the party that attempted to illegally take millions of dollars away from local school children in 2007.
“I also find it laughable that Mr. Gumina would claim that he has changed affilations on the basis of fiscal conservatism, when two years ago he campaigned against the current administration on the basis of its fiscal mismanagement. The fact is that were it not for federal stimulus funds, county government would be drowning in red ink.
“Clearly, the reason for Mr. Gumina’s change of heart lies elsewhere. He owes the citizens of Webster and of Monroe County a plausible explanation. I don’t believe we have heard one so far.”
Minority Leader Bronson’s statement
Democrats: Gumina Needs to Answer to Community, Not GOP
Rochester, New York – February 6, 2010. *Democrats in the Monroe County Legislature expressed obvious disappointment with the news that Carmen Gumina will join the Republican Caucus in the Legislature. However, Democrats added that because Gumina was elected as a Democrat, he will need to explain to his constituents why he voted against so many Republican proposals.
Democrat Leader Harry Bronson (D-Rochester) said, “Of course we are feeling more than a bit betrayed by Carm Gumina’s decision to abandon not only our caucus but his own constituents who elected him into office as a Democrat. Carm Gumina needs to explain to his constituents why he has taken this action. Frankly, it defies logic how a person who has dedicated his life to education, who had Republicans campaign against him regarding his performance in the field of education is now leaving the party that has championed services for children and education.”
Related posts:
- Breaking: Monroe County legislature Bombshell - Democrat Carmen Gumina joins the GOP caucus
- County Legislature Minority Leader Harry Bronson running for State Assembly
- The new MCDC Chair will be… Morelle?
- Joe Morelle Resigns as MCDC Chair to run for Comptroller
- Brooks to recommend Reilich as county GOP chair
Joe Morelle needs to step down as party chair and let someone with new ideas try to salvage the mess the Dems are in.
If the press release accompanying this post was actually created by the Democratic minority, shame on us. I can see why there is a problem in their ranks and defections may be the least worry.
A pet peeve of mine is the repeated confusion over our party name. It is the “Democratic Party” NOT the ‘Democrat’ party. To call Bronson the “Democrat Leader” is to refer to him as a Democrat and the leader of the Democrat party. He is not!!! I believe he is properly registered as a Democrat and presume all members of his caucus are also Democrats. However, he is the leader of the Democratic Caucus (’party’ here is silent), unless they have taken the weird position of officially naming themselves ‘Democrat Caucus’ (party also silent). From this release it is hard for me to tell. I hope this to be a clerical error easily remedied. As it is a favored GOP insult to refer to us as the ‘Democrat party’, and of course we are a party of Democrats, but I prefer that we always insist on the correct usage of our chosen name.
To some this is a meaningless, and trivial semantic game of name calling to be ignored, but if we do not know who we are by our own name or insist on being properly referred as such, who then should care for us or stick it out with us?
Just sayin’
I received both via email from staff in the respective offices. I simply cut and pasted them into the post.