I’m sorry I just think that headline is funny.   It was from the D&C on-line edition. the Print Edition says “Minarik sounds drumbeat over races”

Apparently there was local GOP convention where the party faithful heard about the important local races.

County Chairman Stephen Minarik warned that Democrats are spending resources and organizing in an attempt to oust state Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Greece.

“The Democrats are harnessing all of their power, all of their money,” Minarik said.

Robach responded

“The idea of them controlling every house, every policy, would be horrible,” Robach said.

Yeah Joe - we’re coming for you.  The big bad Democratic storm clouds are forming and  going to rain on your parade.  boo freaking hoo.

No,  Joe - it is like this - Your record will be allowed to speak for itself.  In fact your conservative voting record and you being a critical enabler of a dysfunctional state government are the stuff that storm clounds are made of.

I wish the article spoke more of the all the GOP red meat that was spewed to the GOP minions.   Business  knows better than  government,  governments job is to help our business’ survive the perils of the free market.  blah blah blah.

The article touched a little bit with quotes by The guys running for Congress provided some quotes by the GOP Congressional candidates.

“I have no problem telling people no new taxes and no new regulation,” said Lee, who lives in Clarence, Erie County, and is running in the 26th District being vacated by Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-Clarence.

“I am fiercely pro-business,” Sweetland [running for Walsh’s set] told the committee members gathered at the Clarion Riverside Hotel. “I also believe in individual rights.”

But local red meat quotes were strangely absent.

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.

Before I write anything else, can you legal eagles who read RT tell me: did Smith break the law by screwing Cornell CCE to benefit MCC when he was in the County Leg?

Smith recently spoke in a Q&A session. Like Brooks and other GOP leaders in Monroe County, he’s very good with words. We didn’t name him “Tapdancin’ Bill Smith” for nothing. The money quote:

he tried to make the case that his connections, coupled with his experience, would be a plus for the future of MCC.

Connections? Ya think? It was connections rather than credentials that kept forcing the all-GOP board of trustees to add him back onto the finalist list, a couple times, like a trick birthday candle you can’t blow out.

Looking beyond his fancy city lawyer words to the comments of someone who was at the Q&A session:

His lack of knowledge about issues in education today was appalling. He was unctious and close to arrogant in his references to “studies he’d read” that were apparently supposed to provide that knowledge. I was very tempted to ask him whether he’d hire me, without a legal degree, as a partner in Harris Beach if I went out and read a few legal studies.

The whole D&C comments section for this article is a great read, for a change. Note the couple of pro-Smith commenters trying to frame this as a “MCC sucks, Bill is a nice man who will save it!” argument.

The video is fixed - stlo7

When David Cay Johnston spoke on Feb 16th he was asked a bunch of questions. I’m reviewing the video, but my favorite so far is one on Government subsidies in the form of COMIDA, IDAs and such. Eventually Joe Robach built upon that question and asked about subsidies from the viewpoint of a State Legislator.

You see, it seems poor Joe is in a pickle, as he claims in the question - he gets flak from both sides. Corporate Welfare or Job Creation.

Let’s have a look,

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/EdJblZB5tK8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

What does David Cay Johnston say? Where do you get the most bang for government Subsidy?

• Education
• R&D
• Infrastructure
• Manufacturing
• Definitely NOT retail

So I’ll be looking through our local COMIDA records for following that order. While I’m at it, let’s look at Robach’s record for IDA reform as well.

One theme we’ve seen time and again with the Brooks administration and the county GOP is that they talk a good show, and can be very smooth and smiley, winning over the D&C Ed Board and others who simply don’t have the time or inclination to follow local politics closely enough.

It’s tough to follow all the local stuff that’s going on, especially when the local GOP is really, really good at muddying the water, and fuzzying things up just enough to get 50+1% of folks. That’s where RT is trying to help, by remembering the stuff that’s easy to forget and putting stuff in context.

So…what do you folks think is going to be in Brooks’ speech today? It’s arguably the most important activity in her PR/photo-op based leadership. I came up with a short list:

• Smoke
• Mirrors
• It’s those partisan Dems’ fault
• Lookit those couple of baby-step environmental things I did. (As Rochester Colonial can tell you, it’s called “window dressing”.)
• Our economy has its challenges, but we’re working on it (by giving COMIDA grants and sweetheart deals to political cronies)
• Ren Square mismanagement is someone else’s fault, but I’m riding on my white horse to rescue it.

I’ve gotta get back to work– any other ideas?

We’ve been discussing equal rights in Monroe County, and how Maggie Brooks’ administration has been pandering to the religious right by denying equal rights to folks in a committed gay marriage. This Saturday there’s a fun way to support equal rights (but get yer tickets while they’re still $18, they go up to $25 on Wednesday):

Wow. You know you’ve messed up when the normally right-leaning RBJ takes our GOP county “leadership” to task for poor management. Ren Square is about to lose $30 M in federal funding due to “ongoing delays and inaction”. The article doesn’t tip-toe around the question of “whodunit”, either:

Decision-making primarily has come from a team led by Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks and project manager Mark Ballerstein, manager of the county’s division of engineering.

Local architect asdf Pospula weighed in on Ren Square’s mis-management:

“To get to this stage of the project and be so grossly out of touch with the budget says a lot of bad things about the architectural profession, ” Pospula said. “It equally says a lot of bad things about how the proect was managed by the county.”

The whole article’s worth reading, and it gives more detail to exactly how the mismanagement has been happening, but here’s the final money quote, from Laurence Heininger, past president of the Rochester chapter of the Project Management Institute and a certified project manager for 14 years:

“I know guys that have done work for Bausch & Lomb in India, and for Kodak in Europe and China. If Renaissance Sqare was a Kodak or Bausch product, all those people would be fired.”

“A-ha!” I can hear gleeful conservatives say. “This just proves that government can’t do anything right!!!” Um, wrong. How about: “A corrupt government that puts party and cronies over promoting the general welfare can’t do anything right.”

Remember, this is business as usual for the Brooks administration, and the local/national GOP leadership. Closed-door, back-room, sweetheart deals. Fiscal mis-management through crony capitalism, pay-to-play, one-shot deals, and financial shell games (like the FAIR plan).

Remember how Mayor Duffy had the guts to pull the plug on the Fast Ferry? Can we impeach Maggie Brooks and then spend the Ren Square $230 M for developing local alternative energy infrastructure?

Man, is it nice to see folks out there in Rochester land seeing the whole picture:

County’s appeal is plummeting

Maggie Brooks’ April 2 essay (”Wise for trustees to weigh local talent”) reinforces my opinion that she is a politician who consistently puts her own agenda ahead of the best interests of this community. The recent actions of the Monroe Community College trustees are indefensible, and Brooks’ attempt to justify them is unconscionable.

Let’s not forget either her threat to withhold funding from our libraries, her attempt to take funds away from our schools and her fight against the acknowledgement of same-sex unions in this community. She sure makes Rochester appear as a welcoming place where civil liberties and education are paramount concerns! Is this how we want those outside the area to view us?

MCC is a jewel in Rochester’s crown, and Brooks’ support of the MCC trustees’ transparent attempt to turn this selection to political advantage allows us to see once again that her partisan loyalty and personal views come way ahead of her commitment to the people of Monroe County.

Yup. Party over people, party over county. Note how Brooks was silent through the whole Public Defender selection process (though she was lurking in the wings), and now that she’s speaking out, she’s trying to provide cover for the bad behavior.

I think she learned the wrong lesson from the PD debacle.

We keep talking about it because it’s all about local Dems being all they can be. It’s important, and this LTE in Sunday’s D&C does a good job of it:

Dunning sold out his support base

The April 6 editorial “Dunning’s new way” hit the nail right on the head. In a separate “News Beat” item, you quoted him as saying that he has developed a close relationship with the Republican members of the Chili Town Board, and couldn’t envision campaigning against any of them. I have to ask, if David Dunning had remained a Democrat and had run for a second term as supervisor, do you really think these people on the Town Board would not have campaigned against him? Moreover, he speaks of still being the same person who will always hold true to his values. At this point, what values does he have? He has betrayed his party.

They sum it up really well:

Furthermore, in my opinion, Dunning does not value those who elected him as a Democrat. Finally, I believe that Dunning is now in the pocket of the Chili Republicans. Are they going to allow him to hold fast to any values that he may think he has?

This, in a nutshell, describes why it’s not just enough to have a “Dem” run in every race, but we need them to articulate why they’re running as a Dem. I mean, sorry, having a pulse and registering as a Dem just ain’t enough. BUT, if you articulate what you’re all about, you’re making the most of the opportunity to advance core Democratic values and build up the brand locally.

Whether you win or lose. Not everyone made it up over those cliffs surrounding Normandy beach, but each wave of troops made it all the more possible for the next wave.

Dunno if one of my fellow RT-ers reported on this yet, but even if they have, it’s worth a re-post.  Check out this muy solido Messenger Post editorial calling out the GOP Patronage Machine ™:

Hopefully, community outcry over the ugly turn taken in the search for a new Monroe Community College president is enough to allow an exhaustive, nationwide search to return to its rightful course. Unfortunately, we’ve been down this partisan political path too often with Monroe County government.
Faculty, students and potential donors are understandably upset by the strong appearance of patronage at work in selecting a candidate to replace retiring President B. Thomas Flynn.  After all, playing politics with MCC’s top job could weaken the standing of a college with more than 1,000 employees, 17,000 students and an estimated economic impact of more than $700 million.

Ya think?

Yet, that’s the road we’re going down again. In the latest display of heavy-handed politics, a majority on the MCC board of trustees — with strong ties to the GOP-controlled county Legislature — has added the names of former Republican County Legislator Bill Smith and local businessman Dennis Kessler to the list of job finalists, despite the fact that an exhaustive interview process had already eliminated them from contention.

It’s so nice to see people that can write better than me summing things up so well.  And they don’t stop there.

Even if the county GOP had not displayed a recent history of appalling arrogance, thrusting Smith and Kessler back into the ring would have raised eyebrows. But considering how Republican leaders tried ramming the so-called FAIR budget plan down the throats of Monroe County school districts (a move since struck down by a court decision) and given the tainted and closed search process for a new public defender, the political interference in MCC’s presidential selection process is only surprising in its blatantcy.

OMG. Exactly.  Friends of mine will tell you that I keep asking them, incredulously, “How can they do this so openly after all the crappy crap they’ve been pulling, that the public and the press is finally starting to actually notice?  How much must this be worth to them to risk all this continued bad publicity???”

The D&C had a good article about Chili Supervisor David Dunning’s party switch - the one where after being elected on the Democratic line as Chili Town Supervisor- he announced he will switch parties - effective November 5th. First my commentary - then snips of the article.

I’ve been mulling over this switch since it happened and while I’ll be the first to admit I’m looking at it from afar; having never met Dunning and not living Chili, I find myself looking to put this into context.

So here is the deal - After a week of reflection - I’m pleased Dunning switched parties. Yep. Pleased. Why? I want him out of the party infrastructure sooner rather than later as Chili attempts/continues to build party infrastructure.

From a party perspective, building sustainable infrastructure and ultimately winning elections is what it is all about. So I’m glad Dunning is gone because, had he stayed, I believe he would be a thorn, a pest, something that would undermine or obstruct progress in both the Chili Democratic party, and ultimately Monroe County.

If you are a Democrat this is about “more Democrats”. If you are a Progressive, it is about “More and Better Democrats”.

Now about Dunning the person - I stand with Tom Tobin’s remarks.

That’s either dumb or conniving and neither is a good trait for Dunning to display.

I think Dunning is an opportunist. A political opportunist - heck one who is oddly upfront about it but an opportunist nevertheless. Do you know that expression “there is no ‘I’ in Team”? Well, there is one in Dunning. Unfortunately, this has to be all about Dunning and not about the residents of Chili. Dunning’s initial comments were about how he could not run against fellow board members. He wanted…well here is the quote.

“I don’t see this decision as a compromise in my values, rather support for my belief in the need for a unified leadership team.”

I see Dunning the person - as not having the character to challenge status quo. He wants to be liked. Well, David - look somewhere else. Actually you only have to look at Irondequoit and Mary Ellen Heyman, or go to the wayback machine and see that Brighton was a Republican stronghold 20 odd years ago. Heck there was even change in ER last cycle.

But on to the article. Per Dunning, this is something he was thinking about all along.

The party change becomes official Nov. 5, and then he will join the Chili Republican Committee. Dunning said he was unaffiliated for 16 years until he moved to the Democratic Party in 2006.

“While I was running, I didn’t rule out the idea of switching parties but I didn’t embrace it, either,” said Dunning, who announced his decision before his first 100 days in office were over.

Back room conversations anyone? If you read Dunning’s quotes in the article - the guy just doesn’t make sense.

“I describe myself as right-, left-wing conservative liberal, basically a political mutt, so I’m not doing this to climb any political ladder,” he said. “I want to position myself to be Chili supervisor for a long time.”

Sorry David - that dog won’t hunt. What EXACTLY are the values you bring to the table? What do you believe in? How do you stay anchored to those values if you are all over the place?

Then he hides his desires from those who helped him

“He met with us and other Democrats a few weeks ago. I spent three hours with him … and talked to him at the Town Board meeting the day before he made the announcement. David never mentioned a word about it,” said Seward. “There is a way to do things in this world, and this is totally uncharacteristic of the individual I thought I knew.”

David Dunning - good luck to you as your unified team make unanimous decisions that affect all of Chili. I would say that you have silenced an opposition voice but that would be giving you too much credit. You used the Chili Democratic party to become Supervisor where you cast aside the opportunity to speak for the 5,400 folks who have decided to register in the Democratic party and represent their voice. You’ve done that so you can go along with fellow board members - because in the end it seems that it is all about you.

The D&C News editors did a great job with the headline of Gary Craig’s solid article about the Greece Assessor scandal.

Who Knew What in Greece?  Officials say they were not aware of assessor’s corruption

The article is worth a read.  If you are new to the scandal - you come away scratching your head asking - How could they not know?

But others who’ve held elective office in Greece or worked for the town may still face questions about Schwab’s crimes. The prosecution’s witness list includes Supervisor John Auberger and Greece Town Attorney Raymond DiRaddo, although simply being on the list doesn’t mean they will be called to testify. The town’s spokesperson and director of constituent services, Kathryn Firkins, has already testified at the trial, which is now in its fifth week and could last another month.

The trial continues.  I’m sure more revelations will come out. The question in my mind is, how could they not know?  A closed political community must talk amongst themselves.

Anyway have a read.

While the Monroe County Patronage Juggernaut is busy careening onward through crowds of stunned taxpayers, an alert reader pointed out a huge conflict of interest with the GOP’s patronage pick: Bill Smith.

And his actions while both GOP Majority Leader in the County Leg, and on the Board of Trustees for Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), might well be illegal as well. I’m no fancy city lawyer or anything, but check this out.

Remember the big deal that was made over the County Leg stripping funds from CCE and giving them to MCC last year?

Smith was County Leg GOP Majority Leader from 2002-2007. At the same time, according to his resume, he was on the board of CCE from 2005-2007.

So, according to his resume’s cover letter, he PROPOSED the money grab from CCE to MCC, and then voted in favor of it, during that time.

According to the state Attorney General’s office, trustees of non-profits (like CCE) have a fiduciary responsibility to the thing that they’re, well, trustee-ing.

The question is, given that, can a trustee be criminally charged for breaking a fiduciary responsibility?

From the helpful little booklet the AG’s office provides for new trustees:

such [conflict of interest] policies prohibit board members
from engaging in any transaction that may result in even the appearance of a
conflict of interest.

(snip)

Some such policies prohibit board members from engaging in any transaction that may result in even the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Uh-oh.  Spidey sense is tingling!  The booklet goes on to say:

members of a board of directors must fulfill fiduciary duties to the organization and the public it serves. Those primary legal duties include the duties of care, loyalty and obedience.

 

(snip)

 

[The Duty of Loyalty means that] Directors and officers are charged with the duty to act in the interest of the corporation.

 

(snip)

 

A failure to meet these obligations is a breach of fiduciary duty and can result in financial and other liability for the board of directors and the officers.

Breaking the law or not, given that Smith did this while CCE was under his watch, what similar lapse of ethics would he be open to while in charge of MCC?

That whole deal was a combined power grab and another example of Monroe County’s Republican answer to every financial problem– rob Peter to pay Paul. Especially if
Paul is under your control and you’d like to be president of Paul within a year.

Did anyone Catch this LTE this morning in the Democrat and Chronicle? Webster Republican Chairwomen Roxanne Emler defends David Dunning’s switch to the Republican Party.

Supervisor Dunning obviously had the courage to make this change based on his conscience, which is never dictated by the “majority rule” principle of politics. Based on the fact that the good people of Chili believed in him enough to elect him supervisor, I’m sure Supervisor Dunning will still serve the people of Chili in the same manner he would have as a Democrat.

First off - WTF does this mean?

 had the courage to make this change based on his conscience, which is never dictated by the “majority rule” principle of politics

I mean, really?  His stated reason was he didn’t want to run against any of the Republican board members in an election because they are now all friends.  He wanted to be part of the majority.  Now he is.  His conscience dictated he be part of the majority.

Second - innocent question here - has Dunning, other than his pathetic initial statements, offered ANY explanation - any public explanation?    I’m guessing no.  I’m guessing he hasn’t had a press conference with voters, issued via Chili access TV an explanation or any of that because we would have heard about it.

Does anyone else find it odd that the Webster Republican Chair wrote a letter to defend Dunning when Dunning doesn’t seem to want to address the issue, at least publicly, himself?  Come on Roxanne - you’ve got to do better than that.

Exile reported yesterday that readers are getting push polled.

It struck me how much some parts of the poll are very similar to the one the Monroe County GOP did last September, as we reported:

It’s a testament to the weakness of the Brooks plan [before we knew it was the so-called FAIR plan] that they have to resort to push-polling to sell it. It would be funny if it weren’t such a serious issue, that needs REAL ideas to be brought to the table.

(snip)

It then asks for favorable/unfavorable opinons about various local public figures, including:

Cheryl DiNolfo (probably wondering if she’s groomable for something else like Maggie Brooks)

Cara Briggs

Maggie Brooks

…

(snip)

They ask about likelihood to vote for Briggs or Green in the County DA race, about favor/oppose the county providing benefits to gay & lesbian partners, and then they dive into Maggie Brooks, asking agree/disagree that she’s doing a good job with the local economy, creating new jobs, keeping taxes low.

You know, the standard talking points for every Brooks’ photo-op.

Then comes the push part of the poll:

(roughly)

“Maggie Brooks has a plan which will solve the county’s budget deficit by … [long list of impressive and smart-sounding things]. Do you favor or oppose it?”

See how that works? It states as fact that the plan will magically solve the deficit problem. It makes assumptions like “…and by cutting funding to local schools by 50% which will be more than offset by record state aid!”

Sorry folks, that’s supposition. You can’t state that it “will solve” or “will be offset” as a fact. I’ve been burned by “the check’s in the mail” too many times to believe it.

The push goes on though, by repeating the “Maggie Brooks has a plan which will solve the county’s budget deficit by…” 2 more times! They have other questions that try to tease out which parts you dislike, so they know how to sell it better.

History has now shown that Brooks’ plan didn’t solve the deficit. It just played a shell game with the money, and that didn’t even solve the deficit. But, as we can see, it doesn’t matter if the plan works or not, it’s all in if it can be sold to enough of the public.

I wonder what those poll numbers look like for Maggie Brooks these days. My suspicion? Not good. Expect to see a bunch of photo-ops with Brooks in the near future. With GOP County Clerk Cheryl Dinolfo.

Speaking of Dinolfo, she’s up for re-election this year. Hey MCDC, where’s the Dem candidate to run against her? Or are we gonna let this go unopposed like the race for County Exec last year?

Because that works out great for all Monroe Countians when they don’t have a choice in the election.