WOW.  part of me simply isn’t surprised since this was a difficult case to prove.

Via the D&C

Former Monroe County Deputy Executive James P. Smith was acquitted today of six misdemeanor counts of official misconduct alleging that he tried to protect workers of the Robutrad program from punishment for wrongdoing.

County Court jurors deliberated for nearly 20 hours over two days before rendering their verdict at 6:15 p.m.

Had Smith been convicted of all six charges, he would have faced a sentence ranging from an unconditional discharge to up to two years in jail.

Jurors announced their verdict after they heard readbacks of three hours of testimony from other county workers.

Wonder if he will get his old job back?

Let us pray. Let us pray for the death of Barrack Obama. Let us pray for the death of 219 Democrats who voted for the health care bill. Let us pray that God takes control  of the media away from the non-Christians. Amen. Conservative Christian talk show host Janet Porter prays to deprive non-Christians of influence in American life:

Conservatives are from  Mars, Liberals are from Venus. In yet another example of the never-ending war between the sexes, er, ideologues… Harris Interactive found that 67% of conservatives believe President Obama is a socialist, vs 15% of liberals. Media Matters put together this collection of wingnuttery on the topic:

The beauty of the entire tea party movement is that it’s a spontaneous grass roots movement of ordinary concerned citizens. And yes, we were delighted to arrange that private plane for Sarah Palin. New York magazine reports that Sarah Plain was paid $100,000 to appear at the “Tea Party” convention last month  in Nashville, plus $18,000 for travel by  private jet.

Palin’s contract, according to Shreeve, who had a look at it, called for her to be paid $100,000 for the event. It also included $18,000 for private jet travel for her and her entourage. Shreeve told me Palin’s contract - standard among political stars who make the speaking-circuit rounds - specified what type of private jet she requested for the trip to Nashville. “It was like, she had to have this or that size plane,” Shreeve recalls. “It was like when a rock star comes to town, the contract was that detailed.”

Remember the slimy little tea-bagging conservative who ran in NY 23rd’s special election, Doug Hoffman?  Well, he’s back, and this time he is basically saying to the Republicans, “Endorse me as your candidate, or loose again, because I’m still running on the Conservative line whether you like it or, not”.  From yesterday’s Watertown Daily Times:

The Lake Placid accountant — one of three seeking the GOP nomination — told 230 tea party activists in Plattsburgh that any candidate would need two party lines on November’s ballot to unseat Rep. William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh.

“I’ve already been put on the Conservative line, so I will be on the ballot on the Conservative line,” Mr. Hoffman said. “I have the ability to reunite the Conservative Party and the Republican Party.”

While the state Conservative Party’s executive committee won’t decide whether to authorize Mr. Hoffman to use its line until July, Chairman Michael R. Long reaffirmed his support for him Friday.

“As long as Doug Hoffman is the candidate for Congress, we are not considering anyone else,” Mr. Long said. “When I endorse a candidate, I expect that candidate to run all the way through to November.”

Donald G.M. Coon III, Jefferson County Republican chairman, said Mr. Long’s and Mr. Hoffman’s comments, taken together, constituted a threat: “Put Doug Hoffman on the line — or lose.”

“It appears that the fix is in,” he said.

So, whether or not Mr Hoffman is able to secure the Republican nod, it looks like we will be seeing more of his beatific countenance leading up to this November’s election.

Doug Hoffman

(It’s like one of those images that pops up on the youtube screen when you’re not expecting it.  - Eeeeek!)

The question is simply where does the blame stop?   Via the D&C

After almost a week of testimony, jurors are left with dueling portraits: Prosecutors say Smith was a savvy political operative criminally loyal to the GOP, while his defense attorney maintains that, at worst, Smith made questionable management decisions.

The closing argument from the ADA

But in his closing, Assistant District Attorney William Gargan described what he said was a political calculus behind Smith’s decisions.

“What duty did he owe the taxpayers?” Gargan said. “What duty did he ultimately decide he owed the Republican Party? This is where the worlds collide.”

For one, Gargan said, the fact that Smith — the second highest-ranking official in the county — personally drove to the strip club when he heard Morone and workers were there shows how politically valuable he considered them. Why didn’t he task someone else with the job? Gargan asked.

And, Gargan said, by not formalizing the discipline against the workers with any written reports, Smith ensured that any future misconduct might not be grounds for serious workplace reprisal.

In June 2008, Smith did more than simply discourage a law enforcement investigation into Robutrad, Gargan said. Smith, instead, referred to the investigation as the likely “downfall of the Republican Party,” according to testimony.

I suppose we will see when the verdict comes out.

Yesterday’s interviews of potential Massa replacements were conducted by phone and the list includes (per yesterday’s D&C):

Those interviewed include Mary Wilmot, an aide to Gov. David Paterson, Assemblyman David Koon of Perinton, past candidate for state Senate and businessman David Nachbar of Pittsford, Southern Tier native Matthew Zeller and Michael McCormick of Allegany County, according to Monroe County Democratic Committee Chairman Joseph Morelle.

Only 5 are listed here, Swing State has word that there is a 6th.

The village of Seneca Falls recently voted to dissolve itself and now petitions to do the same for the Village of Brockport have been delivered to the village clerk forcing a vote 60 to 90 days after they are verified.  via the D&C

The Brockport Tax Cutters, a collection of roughly 20 residents, claims to have signatures from 542 of the village’s 2,774 registered voters. Under a new law, petitions carrying at least 10 percent of the village’s registered voters can signal the start of the potential dissolution process.

…

Brockport residents currently pay a tax rate of $10.58 per $1,000 of assessed value, plus an additional $2.29 per $1,000 for town taxes, meaning a homeowner whose property is valued at $100,000 pays roughly $1,287 in total village and town taxes.

Sweden residents pay roughly $445 in taxes for a $100,000 home.

For the extra taxes, village residents get a police department, department of public works and other services. The Tax Cutters believe dissolving will consolidate village and town services. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office would be in charge of law enforcement.

The argument seems  about lowering individual taxes as opposed to sharing cost  across a larger population.  I mean the town of Sweden’s taxes will rise (albeit slightly) to cover the cost of extending services to the Village of Brockport.

I know it’s not local, but Massachusetts is our neighboring state and this is just plain good stuff.  Rachel Maddow took out an ad in the Boston Globe to proclaim that she is not running against Scott Brown, the Tea-bagger candidate, who is now a sitting senator.   Brown, apparently had heard a rumor somewhere, didn’t bother to substantiate and used the rumor to elicit donations for his re-election campaign throughout the country.  From Rachel’s blog:

“Hi, I’m Rachel Maddow. I host a TV show on MSNBC. I also live in Western Massachusetts, in the beautiful hilltowns of Hampshire County.

“This week, our new U.S. Senator, Scott Brown, sent a fundraising letter that says I’m running against him for Senate when he’s up for re-election in 2012.

“I’m not running against Scott Brown. I never said I was running against Scott Brown. The Massachusetts Democratic Party never asked me to run against Scott Brown. It’s just not true. Honestly. I swear. No, really.

“Senator Brown never even tried to find out if it was true, before using the made-up threat of me running against him, to try to scare donors into giving him more money. He sent the letter all around the country, to the out-of-state conservative activists who provided so much of the funding for his successful Senate campaign.

[snip]

“It’s standard now for conservatives to invent scary fake threats to run against — things like the made-up ‘death panels’ in health reform, or the fake controversy about the president’s birth certificate. Senator Scott Brown’s only been in DC seven weeks, but he already seems to be fitting right in with how conservatives operate there.

“I’m running this ad not because I’m running against Scott Brown — I’m not, he made that up — but because he’s the Senator for all of us, and maybe this will make him think twice the next time he wants to smear one of his constituents to raise money out-of-state.

Fear and lies.  That’s all they’ve got.

Tom Golisano is in the news again.  No there isn’t another Governors run or Senate coup or even moving to Florida.  This time he is challenging the property assessment on his really big home in Mendon. Well, technically he has been challenging it all along since 2007 but today it goes to trial.

Via the D&C

Though Mendon’s assessor now has lowered the assessment on Golisano’s 9,600-square foot house and 38 acres to $3.65 million, Golisano has continued to insist the assessment is, as he said last week in a written statement, “erroneous and over-valued.”

As of last year, Golisano’s lawyers argued the property is worth $1.67 million.

If Golisano ‘wins’  his case his tax contribution is cut in half.

Annual county, town and school taxes on the property, using current tax rates, are about $118,000. The bill would shrink to $54,000 if Golisano prevailed.

And his argument?  A single person determines the assessment.

Golisano has complained the state’s assessment system is unfair because it relies on the judgment of a single assessor and that the burden of proving an assessment wrong falls solely on the property owner.

He makes it sound like this is purely a subjective activity.  There are guidelines of course.  But what Mr Golisano really is trying to do is move the upper limit of the curve down.

In the end this is really about a billionaire fighting a $54,000 increase or put another way $2 million dollars over 20 years.  Then there was this line.

“I hope my actions provide the incentives and information for homeowners to investigate the accuracy of their own property assessments and stimulate a healthy discussion on reforming the system in New York,” Golisano said.

Apparently that doesn’t include lawyers on retainer for other property owners.

Since the surprise resignation of Eric Massa, Congressman Extraordinaire, no one has seemed overly anxious to take on the seemingly quixotic task of running in the 29th.  Eric’s personal choice, and probably best chance to succeed him, Shawn Hogan has voiced his declination.  Mike Green, Monroe County DA has opted out, as has the Mayor of Canandaigua, Ellen Polimeni.

CQ Politics tells us that a meeting will be held today to try to determine a candidate to run against the Republican candidate, Tom Reed in a special election-date, not yet determined:

The 29th district’s eight county Democratic party chairs are meeting Monday to interview six possible candidates, but party officials have remained tight-lipped about the names on that list.

“We’ve decided we’re not going to talk about individual candidates by name,” said June O’Neill, the state party’s executive committee chair.

O’Neill would only say that the individuals included males and females, both elected officials and private citizens, and that some live outside the district but all have ties to the district. She added that the party is casting “a very broad net” and candidates are still emerging.

State Assemblyman David Koon (D) confirmed Friday that he is one of the the candidates who will be interviewing. If he becomes the nominee, Koon said he’ll be ready to start collecting on $200,000 that’s been pledged by donors.

Another name that has been circulated is that of Mary Wilmot, an aide to Gov. David A. Paterson , who declined to comment on the party’s selection process in a recent local press report.

Although anxious to have a candidate to support, I think it’s been kind of fun watching Tom Reed argue with an imaginary opponent.

Those covering the ROBUTRAD trial must find the testimony entertaining at some level.   Maggie is a hero for calling the cops.  James Smith is taking the bullet and Robert Morone well, here is his account via the D&C.

Robert Morone, the key figure in the Robutrad Corp. scandal, contended Friday that he has been portrayed unfairly by the media as a kook who pointed a gun at the trades workers he supervised.

“People are looking at me like I’m a creep and I’m crazy,” Morone testified in the continuing criminal case of former Deputy County Executive James Smith, who is accused of official misconduct as a public servant.

Morone, the county’s former director of maintenance and construction, rebutted earlier testimony from the trial that he waved a gun at the workers, threatening them at meetings, and once even placed a firearm in his own mouth.

Morone also countered testimony from a former colleague that he sometimes claimed he was in the mafia and read excerpts to workers from a book about notorious mobster John Gotti.

“I didn’t read the Gotti book,” Morone said. “I read the (Jimmy) Hoffa book.”

Ouch.  Morone concerned about the difference in philosophy between Gotti and Hoffa?  Then there was this.

…Morone’s testimony, in which he complained about political allies who have abandoned him and admitted that he once had to end a lapdance during the workday when Smith learned of his whereabouts at a stripclub.

Morone even remembered the stripper’s name: Jade.

Political allies abandoning him I guess not the only reason he is jaded.  Is he surprised? How did Smith learn of his whereabouts?  Who was covering for Morone at the time?

Let’s remember that Robert Morone was not only the leader of  ROBUTRAD  but also the leader of the Gates Republican Committee in this role he has access and visibility in GOP circles.   Meaning,  he was not some anonymous committee member who shows up once a year to pass petitions.

One thing about Maggie being the hero.  I applaud her for calling for an investigation.  Still there is the feigned surprise at the culture that creates this stuff.  Look, I think it is too much of a stretch to assume Brooks and the rest of the local GOP leadership had no idea of the the hard ball politics that were practiced and maintained in Steve Minarik’s imagine.  Somewhere there needs to be an acknowledgment of tacit support for such practices.

Finally this, I wonder how this trial would unfold if Mr. Minarik was put on the stand.  We will never know.

It was Health Care reform week on Rochesterturning.  All health care -all the time because frankly this is a big F*ing deal.

Let’s start from the top.

Federal level

The Health Care bill dominated the news.  The critical vote was taken last Sunday and the outcome was never in doubt.  The question on what exactly does it mean and the impact on people as the bill becomes law will now be examined as we move forward.  So, how did this bill come to pass?  There was this encore video from last May - A century of reform and David Sirota’s take on the ugly process to get this bill passed.

But the bill was going to pass - Bart Stupak of the Stupak abortion amendment fame - reached a deal with the White House and delivered 8 Yes votes in exchange for an executive order restating the current law that Federal monies aren’t spent on Abortion.

And so the bill came to pass and here is a quick glance of what it means to you courtesy of the NYT.   President Obama sent out notes of thanks, here is how the bill affects women.  So, as the Health Care reform campaign moves to the next phase, Rush Limbaugh wants to leave the country,  local hospital administrators weigh in,  Heck, Michael Acuri (NY-24) might get a primary for changing his vote from Yes to No (I don’t think it will happen) , even GOP candidate for the NY-29 Tom Reed is flailing - attacking unnamed Democratic opponents demanding they take a position on Health Care.

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin ratchets up the rhetoric, part of an overall G-NO-P mentality to whip the faithful into a frenzy.  The outcome of this and other fear mongering divisive tactics is broken glass, as bricks go through through windows across the country like this one as MCDC HQ.  All this seems to be part of a pattern across the county in reaction to the Health Care vote.

Now that the bill is law - how do writers at RT feel about it?  You can read my take.   Ladkiddo’s is over here.

Finally, Robert Reich puts health care reform into perspective - It isn’t a social safety net, but it puts government back into the drivers seat (lessons from Nixon and Eisenhower) and starts to reverse Ronald Regan philosophies of privation uber alles.

Looking West from Albany

Regional wind planning?  let’s hope so.

Local Scene

Meanwhile the ROBUTRAD trial of former Deputy County Exec Jim Smith continues and it isn’t looking good for him. 

Then there was this nonsense at the D&C editorial board which did itself an injustice by making graduation rates of Division I schools who are in the NCAA basketball tourney, a black and white issue.   They did this by not getting inside of the numbers and not addressing the big business of NCAA basketball where the players are simply pawns to be moved around the board.

Quick Clicks

Wingnuts continues - the usual suspects - Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin.

One more health care thing - what is $250 million dollars among friends - specifically what did this $250 million dollars buy?  It isn’t like abstinence-only programs have a proven record of success.  Is this the best way to spend $250 million dollars?

That’s it see you next week.

From AMERICAblog comes this interesting bit of trivia regarding the new health care reform bill/law.  In it, $250 million dollars has been set aside for Abstinence only education.

The bill restores $250 million over five years for states to sponsor programs aimed at preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases by focusing exclusively on encouraging children and adolescents to avoid sex. The funding provides at least a partial reprieve for the approach, which faced losing all federal support under President Obama’s first two budgets.

Huh?  We know this doesn’t work and we’re spending the price of 5o camps in the Adirondacks for this crap?

Sausage.

A wise man once said, “You go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at another time.” (Wait, no, that was Rumsfeld)

Regardless, that is how I feel about the new Health Care bill which was just signed into law this week.  It’s not the reform I was looking for, but let’s work with it and try to improve upon it.  It does, after all, have some redeeming qualities.

Mary Anna Towler, at City News reports in her Urban Journal this week on the vitriol being spewed from the Right (AKA Republicans, Conservatives and Teabaggers)

In his Times column on Monday, Paul Krugman celebrated what he called the defeat of the Republicans’ message of fear. Despite the fabrications, exaggerations, and horror tales, Obama and the House leadership managed to hold enough Democrats together to pass this historic piece of legislation.

But Republicans aren’t walking away. Their members of Congress insist that they’ll continue to fight the bill and may try to repeal it. They don’t have the votes to do that, but it will keep the issue, and the anger, alive.

Republican officials in several states plan to file suit, on the grounds that requiring people to buy health insurance is unconstitutional. (The Decider, presumably: the Supreme Court.)

(One of these states is Texas.  They don’t want the federal government telling them what to do, forcing them to buy health care.  They want to be responsible for their own health care.  That’s right, Texas, the state where deep fried butter is on the menu.  I can see that they’re making those healthy choices already.)

The tea-bagging crowd is angry, as I stated yesterday, and are making their voices heard in a mean and destructive way.  One would hope that their elected officials would reign in this crazed mob, but that doesn’t seem to be their MO:

During Sunday’s debate, wrote the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, thousands of protestors had gathered outside the Capitol. “Some Democrats worried aloud about the risk of violence,” Milbank wrote, “and police tried to keep the crowd away from the building.”

Dozens of Republican lawmakers left the debate, walked out on a Capitol balcony, and then, wrote Milbank, instead of trying to calm the crowd, “whipped the masses into a frenzy,” waving signs and flags and leading the crowd in chants.

These are adults who are acting like this.  Witness the “Me” generation at their best.

This is not the bill I wanted, but I recognize the merits of trying to get everyone covered.  This is not the best way forward, but it is a way forward.  What are these people rallying against, and why were they not whipped into a frenzy when our former president sent countless troops into harms way in an unwarranted act of aggression against a country who did not attack us?

There is a blood lust here that I have not witnessed before in my lifetime.  It really did not matter what was in this bill.  Frankly, it could have been any bill that Obama had risked his presidency on, this isn’t about health care. These people are going to fight this black president no matter what.

This is about Racism.  It is.  As Towler states in conclusion:

Republican Party leaders don’t seem concerned about being called the Party of No. Do they mind being the Party of Hate?

Oh come on - or at least balance the numbers or at least ensure you measure the right thing. Via the D&C Editorial board.

Of the 65 teams that went into the tournament, 45 graduated 70 percent or more of their white players, while only 20 graduated at least 70 percent of their black players.

There’s no better example of this troubling situation than the statistics for players in Thursday night’s game between Cornell and the University of Kentucky. Most of Cornell’s team is made up of solid academic achievers. But Kentucky graduates only 18 percent of its black players versus 100 percent of its white players. At Syracuse, 75 percent of white players graduated compared to only 43 percent of black players.

So this is a white and black issue?  Apparently this is coming from the Secretary of  Eduction and various editorial boards are climbing all over themselves to jump on the band wagon.

So, we are going to penalize Jim Boeheim because Carmelo Anthony dropped out of school?  Melo of course jumped to the NBA thus forgoing the last three years of college.

The point here of course is to remind people to look behind the numbers.

What exactly is the methodology here?  What was considered and how was it measured.  In these programs what what the number of white  v black players?

In the example above - Cornell v Kentucky - how many players from Kentucky ended up in the NBA?  Is any of that taken into account?

Let’s look at this meaningless statistic  - 3, 13 and BYU.  If I counted right - BYU, who lost in the second round of the NCAA tourney has 3 black players and 10 white players (one guy is from Brazil).  So am I supposed to jump to the conclusion that BYU is somehow racist or discriminatory because only 23% of their team is black?   If one of those black players didn’t graduation -  graduation that means 1/3 of the black players didn’t graduation.   Silly isn’t it.  Oh, yes, BYU players do make it to the NBA as well.  Danny Ainge, Greg Kite,  Shawn Bradley (Apologies to BYU for using them as an example)

One more thing - what does “graduation”  really mean.  Is this what we want? (a scene from “the Wire”)

Now, perhaps a better article would be about the business aspects built upon the student athletes.   But no, that is bad for business.

We talked earlier this week about Maggie Brooks being called to testify, and although she has not yet been called, county officials are painting an incriminating picture of Jim Smith’s reaction when he discovered Robutrad’s misuse of county time and materials.  The D&C reports today:

Testifying in Smith’s trial in County Court on misdemeanor charges of official misconduct, Michael J. Garland, director of the Department of Environmental Services, said Smith intimated that the workers’ misdeeds would have been swept under the rug internally if Human Resources Director Brayton Connard hadn’t pushed for a criminal probe.

“He (Smith) said that this investigation would be the downfall of the Republican Party and we would have Brayton Connard to thank for it,” Garland testified. “It would spread like a cancer, it would affect judges, officials, and party headquarters.”

Similar testimony was offered by county Budget Director Susan Walsh, who was deputy director of human resources.

[snip]

The allegations about Robutrad arose on June 12, 2008, when a disgruntled Robutrad worker claimed a colleague was having sex with a mentally disabled county employee. Smith assigned Walsh to check it out, with Garland’s help.

Walsh and Garland interviewed the employee about the sex charges but also disclosed the other allegations. Smith was upset when they reported back to him, Garland said.

“I was told, ‘Stop, why are you telling me this? I didn’t ask you go to out and investigate this. I wanted you to investigate this other matter (the sexual allegations).’” Garland said.

The sex charges were later determined to be doubtful, Walsh and Garland said. Garland also said Brooks ordered that sheriff’s officials be contacted after hearing of the allegations at another meeting June 12. After Brooks left the meeting, Smith reacted angrily about what she had been told, Garland said.

“I wish County Executive Brooks hadn’t heard that,” he quoted Smith as saying.

So, has everyone corroborated his story so Jimmy can take the fall for Maggie?  Or, is this how the events really played out?  I find it interesting that Smith would have referred to Maggie as “County Executive Brooks” in this meeting of his peers.  And, wait, is it Brayton Connard who is the hero here, the one who initially pushed for a criminal investigation?  Was this before, or after Brooks found out at this “meeting”?  When did Connard press for the investigation?  Tell me more about the work that Connard had done by Robutrad.

Ahh, the ongoing saga.  At least it’s a little something to brighten my days.