Listen

Listen to Howard Dean rail against John McCain- then, simply imagine our Democratic Presidential candidate doing the same.

The head of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean, came to Rochester for a fundraiser on behalf of Eric Massa. He took the time to also attend the Monroe County Democratic Designating convention where he rocked the house.

Besides me, Ladkiddo and Grievous Angel were also in the house. We will offer our perspectives throughout the weekend.

I addressed co-sleeping a couple of days back. Allow me to hone my message a bit.  I just want the truth to come out and not be potentially tossed aside via Scientific Bias (from a presentation by Dr James McKenna):

When an infant dies sleeping prone in a crib, the contributing cause of death is not assumed to be the crib, but sleeping prone.

When an infant dies sleeping prone in an adult bed, even if the infant died alone, the contributing cause of death is said to be bed sharing.

Interesting, isn’t it? 

McKenna is a great speaker. I would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to hear him-take advantage of it. Keep in mind that this is the man who has done the sleep studies and has data to back up his assertions. Here is a list of his safe co-sleeping guidelines:

General Safety Guidelines –

• Parents should not sleep with their babies if they are smokers or have ingested alcohol or drugs.
• Bedding should be tight fitting to the mattress.
• The mattress should be tight fitting to the headboard of the bed.
• There should not be any loose pillows or soft blankets near the baby’s face.
• There should not be any space between the bed and adjoining wall where the baby could roll and become trapped.
• The baby should not be placed on his stomach.
• Some sources also say not to put a baby on a waterbed to sleep

The point here, of course, is the practice of co-sleeping does not just mean a parent and child sharing the same physical bed.

Now, let’s look back at Rachel Barnhart’s original story on “co-sleeping” infant fatalities:

According to the police report, the father placed the baby in bed with him and fell asleep. When he woke up, he found Yarimyl’s lifeless body next to him.

“The only thing I can imagine is that I crushed her when I was sleeping because I sleep too heavy. I know it was my fault,” the father told police.

Any drugs, or alcohol involved? Had the baby started to cry inconsolably and BF rolled over on the baby to stop the crying? There is nothing accusatory here, I’m just asking the questions which should have been asked already. What do we really know, other than what the boyfriend told the police? Lots of unanswered questions here. Safe co-sleeping guidelines adhered to? I think not.

Or. how about these stories from Rachel’s blog post response:

However, I can relate a graphic account from a police report in one of these incidents, in which the father said he was sleeping heavily, and woke up with his infant on the other side of his body. The baby had heavy bruising. Recently, police told me about a 15-year-old sharing a sofa with her baby sibling and two other older siblings. The baby died. To medical and law enforcement professionals who hear these stories, co-sleeping is an obvious risk factor.

Again, no safe co-sleeping guidelines practiced here.

So, let’s get the message out. There are safe ways to sleep with your child. That is the message. Not, “Babies sleep safest alone “, as that is an erroneous statement. No scientific data behind that assertion. It is an emotional, knee jerk response to a series of anecdotes and as Stlo7 pointed out here, data is not plural for anecdote.

So, thank you to Rachel Barnhart for bringing up the original issue. This should continue to be examined. Knowledge is power. Let’s get the information out there so parents can make an informed decision regarding their own, individual parenting choices.

Anyone wanting to continue their education in the advantages of continuous mother/baby contact please feel free to read on for Nils Bergman’s take……

From Kangaroo Mother Care, Dr. Nils Bergman:

__(’Read the rest of this entry »’)

Looks like co-sleeping is back in the news again with a blog post by Rachel Barnhart at 13wham.com, now with a Public Campaign against it and PSAs on Youtube. I did a piece on this awhile back, but it’s time to revisit and get the facts straight, Mam.

Here’s the PSA:

watch?v=MPF_IA8Qbk4

What, exactly were the circumstances surrounding these “43″ deaths? Were the parents smokers?, intoxicated?, obese?, under the influence of medications? Was the baby even in the bed with a parent, or was it a sibling, or was the baby in the adult bed alone?

Now, how many babies died in cribs last year, away from their parents? Why is that statistic not provided?

It’s probably not provided, because it is not known. Take a look at this article:

Susan Honaker of Sterling Heights, Mich., lost her 3-week-old son, Evan, in May 2005.”He was totally healthy, two weeks early. He had been lying beside me. I woke up and found him gone at about 9 in the morning,” she said.

“I called for six weeks straight trying to find out why he died, and they put me off that they were waiting for such and such to come back. Finally they put on the death certificate: ‘Accidental suffocation due to hazardous sleeping environment.’ “

“The coroner told me flat-out: ‘If you’d found him in a crib, I would have called it SIDS, but since he was laying with you, I put this.’ But there was no evidence from the autopsy or the bedding that he suffocated. I’ve done a lot of research since then, and they don’t know,” Honaker said.

Here’s a news flash in response to the PSA: “Babies don’t do anything better alone. Babies are meant to be with their mothers. They don’t have the mechanisms in their brains to soothe themselves, so alone is not such a good idea.”

Update: Rachel has reported on the new findings, without saying “yay”, or “nay” on the issue itself. I’m just trying to get to the extenuating circumstances surrounding the deaths. Until they are uncovered, the PSAs will continue to instill fear into new parents, possibly unfounded.

http://imgserv.ya.com/galerias2.ya.com/img/a/a196450841323faai3.jpg

(I never noticed before that the word, “analyze”, has the word, “anal” in it. Just an aside.)

Hillary-Barack, Barack-Hillary…What are the issues here? There really are none, unless you count their stands on the suspension of the “gas tax” as a major issue, because, other than that, their stances are very similar, which would explain why a culture war between the two is driving these supporters (especially in the Hillary camp) to become fanatical in the defense of their candidates.

Matt Taibbi addresses this in “Hillary’s Bitter Victory” from this week’s Rolling Stone.

Hillary made herself the champion of everything stylistically ordinary, superficially unimpressive and ignored. And while her opponent won all the attention and admiration, all the teen-idol gushings of the beautiful people, she went for something deeper — resentment at the lack of those same things. She took an opponent who was relentless in his attempts to remain genial, positive and unifying, and managed to turn him into a divisive villain, a symbol representing every oversexed winner who ever had it too easy at the pimply kid’s expense. It’s brilliant strategy, and it’s working so well that Hillary now has her crowds hurling catcalls at the mere mention of anything Obama. Moreover, she’s inspired such profound loyalty that her supporters no longer give a shit at all how they win, as long as they do. Like O.J. apologists who became overnight skeptics of DNA evidence, Clinton backers don’t see anything wrong with winning the nomination through a brokered convention, despite being behind in the popular vote and the delegate count.

Hillary has become the champion of every young girl, middle aged woman and grandmotherly type who has ever been wronged by a man (or the man). While Obama, on the other hand has made this mistake:

the Obama camp was so busy stewing over Bill Clinton’s comparison of Obama’s South Carolina win to Jesse Jackson’s and worrying about being painted as a “black candidate” that they forgot to worry about being painted as something even worse, in American political terms: the candidate of liberal intellectuals.

Taibbi ends with this sad summary which, contrary to what Exile wrote this morning, makes me fear for the reality that might greet us in November.

The result has been an epic clash, a war of cultural types that has nothing whatsoever to do with issues and everything to do with self-image. It’s become a pitched fight between the f***ed-over suburban little guy and the vilified intellectual, two groups that for years have felt put upon and dispossessed, for different reasons. The fact that their respective champions are identical superstar U.S. senators/multimillionaires makes the bitter hatred this schism is inspiring absurd, but it doesn’t make it any less real. Or likely to end anytime soon.

Now, I have a preference for who wins the nomination, but I will work my ass off for whoever gets the nod. I know, personally, several people who will stay home if their candidate is not nominated. I fear this headline on November 5th, Hillary (Obama) supporters stay home, McSame Wins Presidency.

WOW. Ladkiddo’s hit is on the head earlier about the kid gloves with which the media treats John McCain.

I wonder if we will hear this anywhere. From the Chicago Tribune via Rawstory

Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as “an old friend,” and McCain sounded like one. “I’m proud of you, I’m proud of your family,” he gushed. “It’s always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great.”

Yeah, I know, Chicago Tribune, Chicago is in Illinois, Obama is from Illinois. Bunk I Say.

Subverting the constitution, calling for head shots of Federal Agents as they approach is not something to be taken lightly. Remorse? Nope.

Liddy was in the thick of the biggest political scandal in American history—and one of the greatest threats to the rule of law. He has said he has no regrets about what he did, insisting that he went to jail as “a prisoner of war.”

Read the whole thing, then ask yourself just how hypocritical is John McCain?

Over at the D&C Blog, Amishjudy has this up about school vouchers. She appears pretty accurate in her assessment. (As opposed, of course, to this article where Petrena speaks.)

I remember my Dad telling me that the way to understand any issue was to “follow the money”. Well this advice served me well when it came to understanding school vouchers because I now understand the real motivation behind vouchers: To systematically dismantle the public school system and turn schools over to FOR PROFIT management companies. 

She then goes on to talk about Milton Friedman-the father of school vouchers.  From the Cato Institue website:

The problem is how to get from here to there. Vouchers are not an end in themselves; they are a means to make a transition from a government to a market system. The deterioration of our school system and the stratification arising out of the new industrial revolution have made privatization of education far more urgent and important than it was 40 years ago.

  She ends with this:

During the seven years of President Bush’s reign, we have seen some disastrous affects of privatizing government services. Certain services should NOT be profit-making ventures and the education of our children is most certainly one of these vital services. There are for-profit  companies which manage public schools. The best known of which is Edison Schools. Companies like these put profit for share holders ahead of service to students. This company has had ethical problems such as manipulating test data to make it look as though test scores are improving,

Should profit become the goal of our schools? Should our tax money go into the pockets of share holders? This is what is at stake when you hear people advocating for school choice and vouchers.  It is a scam. It is not about schools, students, or choices. It is about money and profit. It is about looting the public coffers for private gain.

You go, Judy!

I had wanted to be a part of this trip, but new responsibilities as a full-time employee have put a crimp in my activism. Thanks to Anne and Bess for this great synopsis, complete with pictures:

LGBT Equality and Justice Day April 29, 2008

On Tuesday, April 29, at the ungodly hour of 5am, 4 busloads of Rochesterians headed for the state capitol in Albany. There we joined 2000 citizens from around the state to lobby our elected officials for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) civil rights.

My spouse Bess Watts and & I are veterans of LGBT Equality & Justice Day, an annual event organized by Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA) since 2004. We get lassoed into being “bus captains” and “meeting facilitators” by Todd Plank, the unofficial “gay mayor of Rochester” whose formal title is Western New York Field Organizer for ESPA. We gladly help because these trips have been life-changing for us as individuals and each year touch others similarly.

It is a long day of rallies, caucuses and legislative visits with state assembly members and senators discussing issues of significance to LGBT people and families. The focus this year was 3 pieces of pending legislation described by ESPA as:

• Marriage and family equality. All loving, committed couples and their children need equal access to the literally 1,324 state rights and responsibilities that come with MARRIAGE (A.8590 / S.5884), including being able to make health care decisions for each other, inherit property, be eligible for public benefits including Workers Compensation death benefits, access Family Court for protection from domestic violence and jointly adopt children.

• Safe Schools for LGBT youth The DIGNITY FOR ALL STUDENTS ACT (A.3496 / S.1571) will prohibit New York’s public schools bias harassment and bullying based on traits including race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. Ten other states and scores of local New York school districts have already passed similar policies.

• Protection from transgender discrimination. The GENDER EXPRESSION NON-DISCRIMINATION ACT (GENDA) (A.6584a / S.3753a) will prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and expression in employment, housing, credit, education and public accommodations. New York needs to do what thirteen other states, 150 Fortune 500 companies and New York localities representing half the state’s population have already done and pass the basic civil rights measure to protect transgender New Yorkers from unfair discrimination.

lgbt-eaquality.JPG

On our bus (the church bus), were many first time lobbyists never before active in the political process. One was Lance Neve, the young man who was beaten unconscious in a hate crime in Spencerport recently. His passionate concern about bullying and harassment towards gay kids in schools has real credibility.

lgbt-justice.JPG

Our friend Sue, from Open Arms Metropolitan Community Church, came to lobby for marriage equality for same sex couples. She and her partner Judy will soon be forced to move to England, as Judy’s student visa is expiring. Unlike heterosexual couples who can marry and get preferred immigration status for their partners, same-sex couples have no safeguards for their relationships.

Steve, a married straight ally was also on the bus, motivated by the inclusive social justice ministry espoused by Lake Avenue Baptist Church. Obviously their congregants actively touch the world with their faith and convictions.

Ally, an eloquent transgender woman, generously shared personal stories of her life and coming out experiences to expand our understanding of gender identity and expression. It turns out that we are all just people…

lgbt-ej.JPG

Half our bus riders were first time lobbyists and on the return trip their empowerment was palpable. They had stories to tell and were strategizing plans for next actions. They had just made the jump from thinking about social justice to creating it. It made me smile.

Anne Tischer

We wrote about a News10 NBC story where a Engineer at the Water Authority received truck loads of free fill dirt. The county Water Authority delivered the fill and spread it around. The program of giving away dirt was not previously advertised. Upon the breaking of the story, Water Authority management went into full damage control. Brighton Legislator Travis Heider requested additional information from the Water Authority. Now, Jill Tierreri has an article in the D&C this morning about this. Here are some article grafs in context. Frankly, I’m not convinced the Water Authority responses hold water let alone wash this stain off of a tarnished managerial reputation.

The Water Authority supported by Deputy County Executive James Smith argues that it is saving the rate payer money and it saved the rate payers money because they dumped this dirt at their employee’s private residence. Trouble is they play loose with numbers and loose with reality. They say

If the authority dumped all of the dirt it removes from the ground into a landfill over a year, it would fill 2,200 dump trucks and cost about $990,000, he said, adding that the dirt shouldn’t be placed in a landfill, where space is scarce, if possible.

Can they provide the details of how much actually goes into a landfill? What we have here is a false linkage to supposed cost avoidance because it doesn’t go to a landfill. I mean if the process is to landfill “the spoils” then I’m sure there would be a budget item for landfilling the spoils. Is there? Doubt it. Here is what happens:

The authority calls the public works department of the municipality in which it is working to see if there is any place where the town or village needs the dirt. If there isn’t a place to dump it, it gets trucked back to Authority’s headquarters on Norris Drive.

So, no landfill option, no landfill argument. Now that the distraction is out of the way.

The county has a policy that prohibits employees from taking home surplus equipment, whether it’s a typewriter or dirt.

Got that? There is a County policy. So this is about following the rules - Nothing else. Monroe County Authority Employees are County Employees. So, who was the employee and what is Monroe County Water Authority Management doing about it? I’m guessing this isn’t some rogue employee - management knew as well.

Again, for the record, the reason this is wrong is because it seems the County Employees received an unfair advantage over the public. Free fill dirt, special considerations, free equipment usage - all paid by rate payers for a program that the public was unaware existed.

Bigboy noted the State DOT dumped several loads of dirt at their private residence. I have no problem with that. That was a 1/4 mile trip from the work site to a private residence. The Water Authority was moving several truck loads of dirt 12 or 13 miles. That is a special arrangement - an unfair special arrangement.

But the good news for the public is that the Water Authority changed its web site and published a phone number for people to get free dirt. Of course they should have done this before Friday May 2, 2008 or, put another way, before their hand got pinched by the lid of the cookie jar.

Oh, one more thing, Marianetti is the former public works commissioner in Greece. Small world.

So, let’s piggy back on my last post about the media’s fascination with trivial crap (lapel pins and crazy preachers) when it comes to the Democratic candidates, and talk about how John McSame gets to bypass that scrutiny and keep his foibles in the closet.

Seems as though McSame has his own crazy preacher, who makes Jeremiah Wright look like a Vienna Choir Boy, in the person of John Hagee. But, do we hear about this bat-shit crazy preacher, who McSame traveled to Texas to beg for his endorsement? No-because the media looooooves them some John McSame. Chris Matthews quote:

“The press loves John McCain. We’re his base.”

-Chris Matthews, MSNBC, Sept 10, 2006

Move on put up this list of facts a while ago. You may note that #9 mentions that sweetheart of a preacher:

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don’t):
1) John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has “evolved,” yet he’s continued to oppose key civil rights laws.
2) According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain “will make Cheney look like Gandhi.”
3) His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.

4) McCain opposes a woman’s right to choose. He said, “I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.”
5) The Children’s Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children’s health care bill last year, then defended Bush’s veto of the bill.
6) He’s one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a “second job” and skip their vacations.
7) Many of McCain’s fellow Republican senators say he’s too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: “The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He’s erratic. He’s hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me.”
8 ) McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.

9) McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his “spiritual guide,” Rod Parsley, believes America’s founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a “false religion.” McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church “the Antichrist” and a “false cult.”

10) He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.

And let’s not forget about the Keating Five.

It’s time to call a spade a spade. This man needs to be called out on the carpet for all his ignorance, his inconsistencies, his hubris and his errors in judgment. If the media isn’t going to do it, then it is up to us to get the word out there that this whack-job is the worst thing to come down the pike (that’s right-pike, not pipe) since George W Bush and, could very likely, be much worse.

Scream it from the roof-tops, Progressives!

From the NYTs, on April 27th-Elizabeth Edwards speaks out on the social commentary that passes for press coverage this campaign season:

I am saying that every analysis that is shortened, every corner that is cut, moves us further away from the truth until what is left is the Cliffs Notes of the news, or what I call strobe-light journalism, in which the outlines are accurate enough but we cannot really see the whole picture.

[snip]

The problem today unfortunately is that voters who take their responsibility to be informed seriously enough to search out information about the candidates are finding it harder and harder to do so, particularly if they do not have access to the Internet.

Did you, for example, ever know a single fact about Joe Biden’s health care plan? Anything at all? But let me guess, you know Barack Obama’s bowling score. We are choosing a president, the next leader of the free world. We are not buying soap, and we are not choosing a court clerk with primarily administrative duties.

Stlo7 wrote of the same thing in his “More on the ABC Debate” post.

I wrote on this in “Tim Robbins and Journalistic Responsibility” .

The public is hungry for this knowledge. We must hold reporters’ feet to the flames and insist on issue based reporting. This country, whose foundation is based upon the freedom of the printed word, cannot dismiss the importance of substance when deciding on the new leader of the free world. Let’s make this choice, not on bowling scores, lapel pins and embellishment of diplomacy under fire, but on the candidate’s stance on the economy, health-care, Global Warming, and torture. We are at a dire crossroads in this nation’s history. A frivolous choice will cost us our future and any hope for future generations.

The wife and I happened to catch former ER mayor Bonacchi announce his run against Assemblyman Koon on News 10. Of course questions were raised about it being a “revenge run”, since Koon’s son Jason was the one voted into the mayor’s office last year. You can check out the video, it’s interesting.

Pic courtesy News10.

At the end of it, Bonacchi says:

Bonacchi says it’s about opportunity. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” said Bonacchi. “So maybe things work out for a reason. It’s not a vendetta. It’s an opportunity for me.”

The wife turns to me, an incredulous look on her face, and says “Wow. He’s so busy denying that it’s about revenge, that all he can think to say is that he’s doing this for personal gain? No wonder they voted him out of ER.”

But given the crazy self-centered politics of the ER GOP, I’m surprised that he didn’t last longer.  I guess enough people got sick of the nepotism and out-of-control taxes in time to start putting a stop to it.  I wonder if Bonacchi will get arrested again during this campaign like he did during last year’s, for swearing at Jason Koon’s supporters during a fundraiser.

You stay classy, Bonacchi.

Mission accomplished speech

Yep, 5 years ago, the Flight Suit, the arrogance asserting completion.

Yep - I’m one of ‘em. From the D&C.

Metro Justice Member Steve Davis speaking about the Zogby poll. Pic courtesy of MetroJustice.

A new poll released today shows that three out of four New York voters prefer publicly financed political campaigns.

The poll was commissioned by the Public Policy and Education Fund of New York, an affiliate of Citizen Action New York, a social justice organization, and performed by Zogby International.

Performed by Zogby, not a fly-by-night pollster.

3 of 4 New Yorkers. Check out our graphic on the right- It doesn’t look like 3 of 4 local State Assembly folks are for it. Wonder why?

Though the proposal would mean taxpayers would finance campaigns, it would save taxpayers in the long run because influence wielded by special interests, which drives up the cost of government, would be reversed, Greenbaum said.

He cited the results in Maine, which adopted Clean Money, Clean Elections, as the legislation is known. Maine lawmakers quickly approved bulk prescription drug purchasing, which has not been passed in New York state.

How exactly is this a bad idea?

Update: btp here. We’ve got a poll to back us up, now help the good folks from MetroJustice and other reform groups get CMCE enacted. As you’ve seen from our banner up top, tomorrow they’re road-tripping to Albany to talk to legislators about this and get them on board.

You can help by joining them tomorrow. From MetroJustice:

7am, Tuesday, April 29
Metro Justice parking lot
We’ll caravan to Albany and return by 7pm the same night

We’ll be rallying for reform in Albany and meeting with our Assemblymembers. If you haven’t ever done a lobby visit before this is a good opportunity. We’ll show you everything you need to know.

I can’t wait until my personal situation allows me to join in stuff like this. It sounds really cool.

Stlo7 posted the video clips of Smith’s MCC Q&A earlier.  Commenter louis did a nice job of interpreting and putting things in context:

You’ve got to hear this!!!

My take on the first few questions:

Q: Why do you want this job?
A: To lead an institution that has such a vital link to the economic success of this community.

What this really means - Just think of the goodies I can dole out to my friends who have been so good to me over the years, never mind the power I can wield.

Q: Why are you qualified -
A: Multiple roles of president - Focusing on nurturing relationships with political entities and business.

What this really means - I don’t know squat about education, but boy am I connected.

Q: There’s been some controversy -
A: Well, all presidents have to get acclimated.

What this means - We all know I don’t know squat about academia, but I’m going to make it seem like I’m on equal footing with those who have spent their lives in it.

What’s really interesting here is that I don’t think in the first several questions he’s even mentioned students, education, quality of education, campus, etc.

And yet the GOP has done such a good job rigging the selection process and stacking the deck (like with the Water Authority, Public Defender selection, etc.) that you have to be a legal research expert to find any way of stopping this, or slowing it down.

And if you do find a way, they want to change the rules.  Ugh.  How does fairness and responsible government get any kind of traction against this kind of thing?  I’m open to suggestions.

Probably. But about community involvement? Gaining bipartisan support and all that? Probably not.

I was reading this article in the D&C this morning and for the life of me I can’t figure out what our County Executive is trying to say.

She wants to revisit Morin-Ryan.

During an editorial board meeting at the Democrat and Chronicle, Brooks referred to the Morin-Ryan Act, a sales tax revenue sharing agreement codified in state law that allocates revenue to the city, towns, villages and school districts, as a “sacred” document in this community, but one that might be out of date.

“We are an extremely generous county with our revenue sharing,” she said. “At some point, Morin-Ryan served a purpose in their time. … I think we need to at least have those conversations. … The Morin-Ryan is like the sacred policy in this community.”

But not really - it’s just an example,

“Nothing is on the table at this point,” she said. “I use Morin-Ryan as an example of an agreement that dictates resource allocation. There are other things that we do that dictate the way we share resources that have nothing to do with Morin-Ryan. Maybe those are the things that we need to look at. It’s not just a focus on Morin-Ryan and I think that would be misleading to the public at this point.”

So it is looking at all options but….

Ideas from Democrats, apparently need not apply like revisiting the Water Authority

Brooks said at least one of the ideas, dissolving the Monroe County Water Authority, is illegal.

On what basis?

There is more in the article - about unfunded mandates, working with school districts, a report about property taxes.

Having watched or listened to Maggie Brooks over the past week attempting to re-engage on budget issues, I’ve been struck by the apparent air of repetition.

• She keeps stressing how she wants the community involved - yet doesn’t seem to acknowledge that she didn’t involved the community before, so there really isn’t a much needed level of trust in place.
• She calls for bold plans and bi-partisan support, yet shuns plans from the minority party.
• She discusses things that are codified in law, yet does not discuss options that are not.
• She discusses examples of how the County has reduced spending, yet does not give solid concrete examples.
• She seems to have not made progress or at least acknowledged that the unanimous County Legislature called for a “Plan B” to be created, yet movement here is glacial at best. I get the impression she is ignoring it.

Look, I get that we have a budget gap. I also get that a set of multiple solutions will help solve it over time. I want to see progress - joint progress. I want to see some exchange of ideas, give and take between the ruling GOP and the minority Democrats.

After all, what a legacy that would be.