Hopefully The Last Post On Assemblyman David Gantt and The Public Defender Fiasco
After a busy Memorial Day weekend, I’m back on duty. My in-laws finally left — I love them but Benjamin Franklin was right when he said that fish and house guest begin to stink after 3 days.
Saturday’s Democrat and Chronicle had a story about the Uncivilly Disobedient 3, 1960’s style protesters David Gantt, Franklin Florence and Raymond Scott, being cleared of charges stemming from their disgraceful conduct regarding the Public Defender selection. According to the paper:
Canandaigua City Court Judge Stephen D. Aronson, presiding over the arraignment in Rochester City Court on Friday, ruled that Gantt, Scott and Florence “acted in good will, intention and purpose” during a protest Feb. 9 in the Monroe County Legislature chambers over the process of naming a new county public defender.
In dismissing the charges, Aronson said the defendants “appear to be persons of good character” and fought against what “they felt was nothing short of a cultural disenfranchisement. … They felt they were being excluded from the process.”
What!? They were excluded from the process because they had no role in it. What would happen if you and I brought a bus load of people to Albany because we are fed up with what Gantt and his political boss Shelon Silver for allowing a union hack to figure the cost of pension bills benefiting union employees? Again from the D&C:
While arguing for the dismissal, the defense attorneys emphasized their arrests came after four requests to speak with the legislature were denied.
They also argued that Gantt, Scott and Florence were acting to keep the peace while outside legislative chambers.
“One-hundred and fifty people would have been arrested that day if our clients were not there,” Warren said.
How do you think Gantt and the his bosses would respond to our phone calls? And would we get credit for “keeping the peace” when our mindless followers didn’t get arrested?
I would like to see a copy of the legal bill from Gantt’s “lawyer” Lovely Warren. She is his political minion and an employee of his state office. I certainly hope she didn’t do the work for Gantt’s legal defense in her state office or on state time. This was too much to expect our “news”paper to have asked.
One final point. Evidently, whoever runs the court couldn’t find a sitting Democratic judge from Monroe County to here the case. It looks like they were judge shopping — looking for a Democrat. Most town judges in Monroe County sit in City Court, but the problem with picking one of them is it very well could mean the charges wouldn’t have been dismissed in the name of political expediency.
Hopefully, this will be our last post on the subject Monroerising.com was the blog of record on. But this is a fitting end to what has been a disgraceful chapter on the part of David Gantt and his political cronies.
4 Responses to “Hopefully The Last Post On Assemblyman David Gantt and The Public Defender Fiasco”
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What a fix this was!
I remember in my days as a Democrat that Gantt and Morelle were involved in Stephen (D) Aronson’s campaign. I remember seeing them being quite friendly at more than a few fund raising house parties when Judge Aronson was running. Look at the rest of the crew here as well, all Democrat politico’s Lovely Warren Law clerk to the Honorable Governor Spitzer as she claims on her resume , LaMarr J. Jackson and H. Todd Bullard Ex Democrat County Legislature member. The Assistant DA William T Gargan is a registered Democrat as well.
Gargan said:
It looks like Lady Justice had a hole in her blindfolds for this one. I can see that the people are not getting the representation they deserve. Please everyone call or visit Assemblyman Gantt’s office and demand to be included in the process, obviously its legal.
I feel disenfranchised. Can I commit crimes now and be let go with no punishment?
Oops, no I can’t. I’m not a Democrat!
Hold on. David Gantt worked on the election campaign of the judge that just dismissed the charges against him. And he was defended by one of his own government staffers?
Is there ANY conflict of interest here? Shouldn’t the judge have recused himself from this case? I mean, Gantt HELPED HIM GET ELECTED for crummy sakes!
Wouldn’t you assume that the judge would at the very least declare interest that he personally knew Gantt and how?
Please, please D&C and our friends at City Newspaper. Please investigate and report the news. Please. We’re begging you.
Maybe just this once. Don’t do it for us. Do it for the people of this community who deserve to know the truth.