Monroerising.com

I’m not sure what is going through Rick Dollinger’s mind, but we read yesterday that he interviewed with the media about his soon-to-be-made campaign announcement… the Albany media that is.

Now, we’re wondering why Rick Dollinger would go out of his way to call James Odato at the Albany Times Union to leak his announcement that he’s going to make one sometime in March.  We figured he would have been better served leaking this to the local media, whom he’s going to want plenty of free coverage from over the upcoming months.

Here’s our thoughts on this:

1. Dollinger is just following orders — Like the past couple of state Senate races on the Democrats side, this one is also going to be controlled by Eliot Spitzer’s political machine.  Since Eliot’s most likely going to be paying the bills, he and his people are calling the shots.  The Albany TU is the paper Spitzer’s aides leaked some fabricated documents to, leading to the now well-known Troopergate scandal in Spitzer’s administration.  It only makes sense that he’d want them to get first crack at any announcements.

2. Dollinger <3’s *Hearts* Albany — I’ve heard people refer to Dollinger as ‘Albany Rick’.  It’s apparently common knowledge that Dollinger seemed to care more about making long-winded, flamboyant speeches in front of his colleagues in Albany about every single mundane piece of legislation under consideration, than attending events, honoring the good deeds of residents and meeting with constituents back here in Rochester.  Even Odato says Rick “… has a gift for oratory.”

3. Dollinger’s already in Albany cutting his deal with the Spitzer team — We reported here that Rick Dollinger should be asked what he was promised if he finally decides to run.  Why else would a guy who everyone here knows really wants to be a higher court judge, decide to run for a Senate seat he bailed on years ago?  Well, either a reporter did ask, or Rick read our article and started the damage control by claiming that he wasn’t promised anything.  If that’s true, he’s doing a very poor job negotiating a good deal for himself with Spitzer’s people.

4. Dollinger doesn’t trust our media to report it how he wants — Rick’s been out of the game for a long time.  A lot of politicians strive to becomes judges so they won’t have to deal with constituents and the media ever again.  Rick may not trust the local media to give him the ’shake,’ slanted dramatically in his favor.  He knows Spitzer’s people use the TU, so he knows he should be getting some pretty good praise from them.  I’m not sure he got what he was looking for though.

I actually thought the piece from Odato was very good.  Here it is with some of my commentary added:

Rochester Democrat Richard Dollinger, who left the Senate six years ago, said he will likely announce his candidacy for the seat now occupied by Republican Joseph Robach March 6 or March 7, he said today.

“…said he will likely announce his candidacy” — means Dollinger still hasn’t committed to the race.

He plans to set up his Dollinger For Senate committee next week so that he can begin raising funds. “This race will cost millions; I haven’t raised a penny yet,” he said.

“This race will cost millions; I haven’t raised a penny yet” — means he’s not gonna raise one red cent until Eliot ‘Daddy Warbucks’ Spitzer tells Rick what he’s putting in first.

Dollinger, 56, who served from 1992 to 2002, did not seek re-election to his post and became a town judge. He quit that job recently to prepare for the November election.

Dollinger quit the Senate to run for two separate judgeships which he lost.  He finally settled on convicting Brighton residents on traffic tickets.

He said the 56th Senate district is rich with Democrats and Robach’s conservative views are out of touch with constituents. Robach is a fierce campaigner and tireless worker and Dollinger has a gift for oratory, so the race may be among the most interesting.

“…district is rich with Democrats…” — means you are basically being told how you are supposed to vote.  I wonder if people mind that?

“Robach… tireless worker / Dollinger… gift for oratory” — means Robach will work hard and Dollinger will let the B.S. fly.

A former Democrat, Robach, 49, who entered the Senate in 2002 after five terms in the Assembly, said he’ll announce his intentions for re-election after the session. He said he’s focusing on improving the state budget to the benefit of the Rochester area.

Actually, I just think this is good all on its own.

He said he has a strong will to make sure that the 56th Senate district has a “loud and passionate voice . . . unrestricted by political parties or political leadership.”

Again… period.  If only they all acted this way.Rick Dollinger is a savvy enough politician who shouldn’t be making these missteps early on, if he ever makes up his mind to run.  We’ll keep you posted on that. Has anyone seen or heard anything from Willa Powell?  Is she even still in this?

Tags: Articles, Joe Robach, Mr. Peabody, Richard Dollinger by Mr. Peabody
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The February 26th special election in the 48th Senate District is critically important. It’s so important that the state parties have spent approximately $2.6 MILLION on the race. The parties are spending big money because they know that a loss by Republican Will Barclay will likely change the face of New York politics for a generation. And except for a recent article from our own Prudence Izguhde (is that a German name? Austrian?), very few local media outlets are even covering the story.

Here’s why the race is so important:

1. The Republicans in the Senate hold a slim two vote majority.

2. If Democrat Darrel Aubertine wins the special election next week, the margin will be only one vote.

3. At that point, there will be incredible pressure on a Republican in a Democratic district to flip. Because only one flipper is needed for a Democratic majority, someone will probably flip fast (you don’t want someone to beat you to the punch, because if you flip at that point, you are irrelevant, you will be dead to your Republican base, and you can be guaranteed a primary from a “real” Democrat in the next election).

4. Once the Democrats gain control of the Senate, several sitting Republicans will probably retire (Many of the downstate republicans are getting on in years, and politics isn’t nearly as fun when you’re not in the majority anymore). Accordingly, the Democrats will quickly gain a safe 5-10 member lead in the Senate.

5. This puts the Senate safely in the hands of the Democrats, JUST IN TIME FOR THE 2010 REDISTRICTING. Suddenly, only Democrats will be drawing up the election districts. This will undoubtedly produce a whole slew of Assembly, Senate AND CONGRESSIONAL districts that are completely safe for Democrats. If you think Louise Slaughter’s congressional district looked funny, you haven’t seen anything yet!

With that as a backdrop, you need to realize that the most recent Zogby poll has Aubertine leading Barclay by two and a half percentage points.

All I can say is that if you have friends or family in the 48th Senate District, plead with them to vote for Barclay. And if you have some spare time in the next few days, you might want to take a drive out to the 48th Senate District and pitch in and help the effort to keep the Senate safely in Republican hands.

Tags: Articles, New York State, Occam by Occam
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The Liberals over at Rochesterturning were shocked to find out that their darling from two and four years ago, Jack Davis, might actually be interested in running against Congressman Tom Reynolds for a third time.  They had a link to The Albany Project  reporting that the old guy was at the Genesee County Democratic Committee Meeting sounding a lot like he was going to run.

That really shouldn’t surprise anyone.  Even though the D&C has not reported on this, there is a third Democrat, Alice J. Kryzan, who is also seeking the nomination.  If you want to know what’s going on politically, you would be well advised to not rely exclusively on the D&C.  The Buffalo News has reported on this congressional race and had an interesting story yesterday. 

I realize that Jon Powers is the perfect candidate for the leftist extremists, a war hero who is a liberal, however, in all likelihood there will be a fight to run against Reynolds.  The problem for the Democrats is you can’t take a guy like Davis — old, stubborn, and a multi-millionaire, and use him when you need him and then try to cast him aside.

Davis won’t go away and has plenty of money to run — what’s an extra $1.5 million for a primary to this guy?  Plus, the publicity of a September primary will probably be a good springboard for the November general election.

This, coupled with the fight for the right to run against Joe Robach, will make for a very interesting summer.

Tags: Articles, Cincinnatus, Federal Officials by Cincinnatus
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Did you see the editorial in yesterday’s D&C about how everyone should hire an ex-con or two?

Jobs for convicted felons returning from prison.
Some people flinched at the suggestion made during this newspaper’s “Where Do We Go From Here?” forum held Monday night to explore new ways to combat violence in Rochester. The idea should be pursued.

(Snip)

Take Duffy’s idea for providing jobs to ex-offenders. Getting a buy-in from the RBA is crucial. But so is partnering with local trade unions and schools to provide job training.

(snip)

Getting leaders to talk about community concerns is a step forward. But to make huge strides in the push to reduce violence, leaders must come out of their silos and find ways to work in tandem.

How many ex-cons have the folks at Gannett hired lately?  How about a couple of them for the newspaper union that has been without a contract for how many years (10 or 12)? 

Oh, wait, I’ve got it, hire a few of them to work security in the lobby of the Gannett Building downtown — you know that place that has the tightest security in Rochester.  That way when the public (that the editorial board cares so much about) shows up Jim and Tom and the rest of the folks up there can stay cloistered in their upper floor offices nice and secure and at the same time feel good about themselves in knowing they’ve provided jobs to the less fortunate. 

It sure beats putting them on school grounds for construction work.

Tags: Articles, Cincinnatus, Democrat and Chronicle by Cincinnatus
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“Now that those uncaring Republicans forced their choice for Public Defender on us, I’m pleased to see that there is a new cause to fight for.  I’m so excited.  We will rent buses, bring our people to Albany, sing We Shall Overcome, storm the Governor’s Office, overcrowd the Assembly and Senate Chamber and disrupt their proceedings and call those who stand up to our demands cowards.  It will be just like last Tuesday night all over again.”  I hope this was the reaction those opposing the recently concluded Public Defender selection process had when they saw this morning’s paper. 

The D&C had an article about how Governor Steamroller is trying to stick it to poor people by politicizing the board that oversees the Interest On Legal Accounts (IOLA). A process that has been in place for 25 years (not quite as impressive as the old Public Defender process, 35 years).

According to the article:

A bitter dispute about who should control a $25 million state fund that helps to pay for legal representation of poor people has broken out, with the board that now controls the fund fighting Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s proposal that he hold the reins.

On Tuesday, several people prominent in the legal community sent a letter to Spitzer, the legislative leaders and Chief Judge Judith Kaye asking Spitzer to drop his plan. (monroerising.com’s editors note: she better be careful or there will be no raise).

(snip)

The decision on how to divvy up the money rests with the board, which now also has the power to hire and fire staff members. Spitzer’s plan would give himself power over the staff.

The letter was signed by eight people who are well known in the legal community, including Evan Davis, counsel to former Gov. Mario Cuomo, Justin Vigdor, a Rochester attorney who was the first chairman of the IOLA board in 1983, and Victor Kovner, chairman of the Committee for Modern Courts, a reform group.

“The letter signed by the three past chairs of the IOLA Board and other bar leaders points out the clear conflict of interest and chilling effect, which will be created if the governor controls the grants going to agencies, which often engage in litigation against the governor,” said William Nojay, a Rochester attorney who was the IOLA chairman until last summer, when Spitzer named Edwin Lopez-Soto of Rochester as his replacement.

I’m not a lawyer, but this seems issue is even more important than the fight over the public defender. On Monday, February 18, 2008 Tom Tobin had the following to say on the D&C blog:

More on the PD thing

A couple of post-PD fandango points to make: first, from all evidence, the new PD, Tim Donaher, seems a really solid guy and his essay on today’s Speaking Out has none of the partisan horsepuckey that so damaged the selection process. If he stays apart from meddling pols, Donaher can be an extremely effective leader and a living example of the utopian maxim that public service and partisanship should never ride the same train. Also, the fervor of the protesters, the overreaction by the suburbs-dominated Legislature, the antagonistic chatting and blogging that recall in their divisiveness the furor over the Cythnia Elliott essay - all come from some community well of mistrust and anger that is more familiar to natives than to me.

posted by Tom Tobin at 11:32 AM 0 comments

Ironically he refers to Donaher “staying away from meddling pols”, I’m surprised that Tobin would refer to David Gantt that way, but I do agree with him.

If it the fight was truly all about the process, I expect to see Gannett, David Gantt, and “Sister” Grace take their sideshow to Albany. Anything less than total outrage from these folks will expose them as hypocrites.

Tags: Articles, Cincinnatus, David Gantt, Monroe County Public Defender, New York State by Cincinnatus
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Anyone who cares about upstate New York understands why it’s so important that the state Senate stay in Republican hands.  We already pay the highest taxes in the nation and our economy is the pits.  If the Democrats take control of the Senate, guys like Eric Adams “Show Me the Money” will be in control. 

Occam has had several posts stressing the importance of gridlock — in New York’s case, Republican control of the Senate. Senator Jose Serano’s immigration legislation and the Steamroller’s crack tax proposal are among my favorites.

There is a special election in district 48 Tuesday – it’s important for everyone in New York.  The race features two Assemblyman Will Barclay the Republican, and Darrel Aubertine the Democrat.  I found a commercial on Youtube that really sums up why it’s important Barclay wins.  Aubetine put the interests of Governor Steamroller ahead of his constituents by supporting the ill fated plan to give drivers license to illegal aliens last fall.

Take a look at this video and let us know who you would vote for if you lived in northern New York.

Tags: Articles, New York State, Prudence Izguhde by Prudence Izguhde
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According to Democrat and Chronicle publisher Michael Kane, a new mission was unveiled early in 2008. The new mission is stated as:

“The Democrat and Chronicle remains ever vigilant for the community good, dedicated to providing unsurpassed value and excellent customer service while expanding multimedia delivery of news, information, diverse opinions and interaction. Core Values: -Lead: We will defend free speech. We will champion an open and forthright government. We will be a catalyst for meaningful change - for our community and our industry. –Inform: We will serve a diverse community as the most reliable and trusted source of local news and information. –Innovate: We will anticipate and respond to the changing needs of our customers. We will be bold and creative in our use of media platforms, always instilling a sense of confidence in our content and value in our relationships. –Inspire: We will inspire new and renewed customer relationships through a shared commitment to quality by employees who care.” 

Apparently, Mr. Kane forgot to forward the memo to Editorial Board member Tom Tobin.

In reading Tobin’s editorials lately, I’ve realized I want whatever he’s smokin’ (It’s probably something Governor “Steamroller” wants to legalize). His opinion of the recent Public Defender episode was embarrassing; I was actually ashamed to have a subscription to a paper that would sanction statements like his. He speaks of the GOP Legislators as being liars; well the mirror provides a very telling picture for you as well Double T. If he was any deeper in the pockets of the Democratic Party, he’d be the fuzz you find when you search for loose change that jingles. It seems as if he has completely ignored his boss’s and the papers priorities.

Sure he’s exercising his free speech rights, but I wish every once and again his words wouldn’t be so full of make believe; I already visited Disney once this year thank you very much. That sense of fantasy is best left to the professionals not the liberal pretenders. “Most trusted source of local news and information,” I wouldn’t trust Tobin’s take as far as I can throw the Sunday paper full of all those coupons. His words certainly inspire me…inspire me enough to be concerned over the sanity of the people who don’t share his sense of social liberalism. And Tobin unquestionably cares…about himself and his views, not the majority of the people who read the paper that allow him to have a published voice.

Environmental experts always say that purging burns are good for forests and to reinvigorate growth. Perhaps its time for the D&C to take heed of this unfair and bias sense of reporting and reinvigorate the development of a once credible source of news and do the right thing….show Tom Tobin the door.

Tags: Democrat and Chronicle, Lemon Lyman, Monroe County by Lemon Lyman
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A while back Monroerising.com broke the story about County Legislator Richard Beebe’s failure to file the legally required campaign disclosure statements.  We also broke the story about how Ted Nixon and Richard Beebe were advertisers on Rochesterturning’s website yet they didn’t report any expense for this advertising.

We contacted the state board but they don’t take complaints without a name and address. We also reported that we could not take the case any futher for personal reasons.  I’m wondering if any concerned citizen has filed a complaint with the NYS Board of Elections? 

We can’t let this guy get away with sandbagging the public by taking almost $10,000 in campaign donations from special interests and violating the law by not reporting it until we outed him here.

If there is a Republican insider who knows if anything has been done let me know. If nothing has happened, maybe we can recruit someone to file a complaint here on Monroerising.com

Tags: Articles, Cincinnatus, Dick Beebe by Cincinnatus
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It is fun and satisfying to pick on local political figures, and my fellow citizen journalists here at MonroeRising have done a commendable job as of late.  And as much as I would like to pile on, I need to bring some attention to an unrelated story that seems to have slipped through the cracks.

 You probably were not aware that Governor Steamroller created the Empire State Stem Cell Board last year to use taxpayer dollars ($600 million over the next 10 years) to fund stem cell research.  Some have questioned the wisom of spending so much money on such a narrow category of research.  Even more important, however, are the serious moral implications of creating embryos in a laboratory for the sole purpose of experimentation.  

Clearly, intelligent and well intentioned individuals reside on both sides of the debate regarding embryonic stem cell research.  However, it is a failure of a representative government to fund practices that a significant proportion of the population find to be abhorrent.  Why should my taxpayer dollars be spent to fund research over which I have serious moral qualms?

The story only goes downhill from here.  Recognizing the moral implications involved (or at very least, paying lip service to those who do), the Stem Cell Fund legislation created an Ethics Committee to review grant proposals submitted to the Board for funding.  However, the Ethics Committee only has the power to make nonbinding recommendations.  Thus, if the Board wanted to fund attempts to create a  super-intelligent race of monkey men, the Ethics committee would be powerless to stop the money from flowing.  But at least the Ethics committee could recommend that this was a very bad idea. 

 Apparently, even that is too much power.  A few weeks ago, a member of the Ethics Committee wrote a scathing editorial in the New York Post, where he reported as follows:

“At the first ethics-committee gathering on Nov. 30, we were given just two hours to suggest ‘interim ethical guidelines.’

Despite this pressure, we developed a reasonable plan: Delay funding for controversial practices to allow time for ethical review, while awarding grants for non-controversial practices (such as research on stem cells from adults and from umbilical-cord blood, as well as on stem-cell lines already derived from embryos).

Ethics-committee members hold diverse views on the controversial kinds of stem-cell research. Nonetheless, the committee unanimously recommended that the board hold off on funding these practices for six months so that the committee could examine these thorny ethical issues carefully and recommend guidelines.

The ethics committee thought that ethics mattered.

But perhaps ethics doesn’t matter much in New York. The board’s funding committee, composed almost exclusively of scientists and advocates for embryonic-stem-cell research, agreed on ambiguous guidelines that permit all the controversial practices noted above: cloning, chimeras, parthenogenesis and creating human embryos solely for research.

The ethics committee’s sensible plan of ethical due diligence proved intolerable to the funding committee. It argued that even temporary limits would ’send the wrong message to scientists.’ “

Since that time, the Board spent $14.5 million to fund its first round of grants, and more spending will follow.  Unfortunately, no one seems to care that the Board steamrolled over the objections of the Ethics Committee.  Who cares what the state health commissioner, the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse, and the President Emeritus of Roswell Park Cancer Institute think about these issues; I’m sure they’re just religious extremists.

It goes without saying that the Democrat and Chronicle failed to even address this story (even the sub-par Albany Times Union ran a story just last week.).  To be fair, there are much more weighty issues to addess - like yesterday’s front page story, titled “Ready for Takeoff,” about how local “airline passengers are getting the message about how to pack carry-on luggage correctly.”

Tags: Articles, Democrat and Chronicle, Elliot Spitzer, New York State, Occam by Occam
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With the battle to run against Joe Robach on, we at Monroerising.com have turned our attention to the other much anticipated Senate race, Assemblyman David Koon vs. Senator Jim Alesi. As investigative reporter Prudence noted last month, Koon only has about $15,000 in his campaign account and hasn’t been in the media in months (other than defending his goofy son Jason — the guy who was elected Mayor without understanding it takes a majority vote to do anything in local government) — hardly the action of a serious candidate for higher office.

All of this has me thinking.  Maybe David Koon, who was elected to the Assembly almost 12 years ago, likes it there. Maybe the fact that after all of this time he is still the junior member of our Assembly majority delegation doesn’t bother him.  Everyone knows that seniority is the key to stature in the Assembly — how else would you explain David Gantt’s prominence?

If I was David Koon — I would want to leave the Assembly as quickly as I could.  Gantt, Joe Morelle and Susan John are all ahead of him in seniority.  Maybe Koon, who promised to “make a difference” when he was elected, doesn’t care anymore. 

Maybe the Assembly job offers financial security to Koon and his family and after beating his chest last year he has come to his senses.  Who knows, in another 10 years he might accumulate some seniority and be able to accomplish something?

One last point:  where is the D&C when it comes to political reporting?  That’s one of the reasons we created this site.  The D&C does a terrible job on reporting politics, which is probably a good thing for Republicans given their extreme liberal bias.

We would like to hear your thoughts on Koon and/or the D&C. 

Tags: Articles, Cincinnatus, David Koon, Democrat and Chronicle by Cincinnatus
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