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Democratic County Legislator Carrie Andrews described the scene at the County Legislature as horrifying. 

She’s the one who wrote that many of her male co-workers regularly try to steal a glance down her blouse in a D&C essay last year– I mention this to point out how healthy her self-esteem is and to also point out I’m glad I don’t work where ever it is she works — apparently they are hard up for attractive women there. I lifted the following quote off of Mustardstreet who included it in a post they did awhile back. 

Andrews offered a further revelation of deplorable working conditions for NYSUT’s own employees:

I have experienced sitting in a business meeting knowing full well that the person I’m working with is more interested in sneaking glances down my blouse than listening to what I was saying.

She was absolutely right (about last night’s meeting — I doubt her work story — personally, it takes at least a B cup to get my attention) but for the wrong reason.

“This is embarrassing and appalling and it makes me tremble to be a part of this,” said Democratic legislator Carrie Andrews. “There are one…two…three…twelve deputies staring at us right now.”

The whole public defender fiasco was horrifying, but as you might guess, Legislator Andrews had the wrong reasons. It is embarrassing that a state elected official did not fulfill his legal obligation to be in Albany so he could disrupt the proceedings of the Monroe County Legislature. 

Carrie Andrews asked why cheerleaders weren’t made to go through metal detectors.  If she really doesn’t know the answer to this question, she doesn’t belong in public office. 

How many cheerleaders promised to disrupt a Legislature meeting to get what they wanted? 

How many cheerleaders were arrested at a committee meeting three days before a legislature meeting? 

How many cheerleaders have been taken from a legislature meeting shouting something along the lines of “this is the type of stuff that lead to people being shot at at that city council meeting last week (the one in suburban St. Louis)”? Update: see it for yourself.

How many cheerleaders were on WDKX radio inciting racial tension and telling people to come to the meeting and cause a ruckus because they were not given what they claimed was theirs because of a process that was used over 30 years ago?  

Maybe Carrie Andrews didn’t see the channel 13 raw video of Gantt and his friends storming the floor of that public safety committee meeting a couple of weeks ago where Gantt used his considerable bulk to bully the female officer.  Maybe Carrie wasn’t at the meeting on Saturday — the one where it took almost 2 hours to clear the legislative chambers. 

If security was not as it was last night, police would have had to arrest dozens, if not hundreds of people.  The meeting might very well have not happened.  We are a nation of laws.  Our system is set up so that everyone is treated fairly.  Just because someone is passionate about something doesn’t mean they have a say in what goes on.  Personally, I’d love to see the United States out of the war in Iraq.  What meeting can I go and disrupt and take control of to stop this injustice?

Paul Haney complained about a nun not being allowed in the chambers and appeared to blame Republicans.  Dan Quatro, the new Republican Leader pointed out correctly that the outrage should be directed at the people who promised to disrupt the meeting.

What would Carrie Andrews, Paul Haney and the Democrats say if a group that wasn’t a part of Democratic Party’s base acted the way Gantt and company did. What if the evangelical community brought hundreds of people, incited their followers on religious radio, and had disrupted two previous meetings, to protest the gradual legal erosion of the concept that marriage is between one man and one woman?

Would they be horrified? Would they be trembling?  I don’t think so. Treating Assemblyman Gantt and his followers differently than you would treat others is racism — plain and simple. For the Democrats to claim otherwise is hypocritical.    

Tags: Articles, Cincinnatus, Monroe County Public Defender by Cincinnatus
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Details are still a bit sketchy but it seems someone may have jumped the gun.  I thought I’d already learned that catchy phrase about not being one to ass-u-me, but we all need to be reminded time and again. 

Everyone would have guessed that it was David Gantt who was arrested at the legislature meeting tonight.  We thought it’d be his final act of protest against the legislature majority for not bowing to his demand to be the one to anoint the next public defender the way the Democrat legislators and bar association had already done.

But alas, it was yet another usual protesting suspect we have come to know and lo–, um, loathe.  The venerable ’sister’ Grace Miller.  You’ll remember, I spoke about her  in one of Cincinnatus’ previous posts about Gantt’s “arrest me please” antics.

You may know Grace.  She’s a regular protester at the county legislature meetings.  She protested voter registration drives back in the 70’s/80’s for being racist (??).  She’s protested every County Executive since Tom Frey lost to Bob King in the early 90’s.  She had a field day with Jack Doyle and was the first to start slamming our present County Executive, Maggie Brooks.  She paved the way for the Democrats to feel comfortable beating up our first woman county exec.  We’re so proud of our first woman ‘fill in the blank’ — unless she happens to be an evil woman republican.

On a side note, I wish republicans were more like democrats (no, not really.  I’m just making a point here).  See, if the republicans went after a democrat female county executive, regardless of the reason, the dems would be screaming bloody murder on how terrible that is to do, NOW would join in to say that republicans hate women, and the newspaper would run story after story on how republicans need to learn how to work with a woman county exec.  Would republicans treat their mothers that way?  No such luck for the poor repubs though.  Oh well, they’ll just have to keep fighting the giant with their slingshot.

So Grace and some other guy got arrested and poor David Gantt was only led out of the chambers.  Big whoop.

I guess even Assemblyman David Gantt doesn’t have the stones to shove a female cop in order to get arrested. 

Maybe he should have been a republican.  Ack!

Tags: Articles, David Gantt, Democrat and Chronicle, Monroe County Public Defender, Mr. Peabody by Mr. Peabody
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You know the deal.  I’ll sum it up in ten easy to follow steps.

1. County Legislature needs to pick new Public Defender.

2. Democrats in Leg. and Bar Association agree to process.

3. David Gantt wants to appoint his own person.

4. Ass. Gantt bullies leg. democrats and bar assoc. to his will.  Forces them to back out of participation.

5. Leg. majority moves forward to do their job.

6. Gantt’s first attempt to get arrested fails.  Activist shoves female police officer.

7. Gantt’s second attempt to get aressted succeeds.  After a quick potty break.

8. Gantt’s third attempt to get arrested succeeds.  No details on this one yet.  Jill T. at the D&C is doing a good job keeping the public updated.

9. Legislature majority moves forward to select new Public Defender.

10. Local newspaper/democrats/special interest groups claim republicans hate poor, minorities.

This is getting so old and sooooooooo boring.

And I missed the beginning of Wife Swap for this!

Tags: Articles, David Gantt, Democrat and Chronicle, Monroe County Public Defender, Mr. Peabody by Mr. Peabody
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I wanted to post this Monday but work has been very busy.  I’m torn between being happy about being busy, which leads me to feel more secure economically and feeling like I am neglecting you, our faithful readers.

I’m back from a busy weekend of family duties and ready to start a new week of citizen journalism. One of the things I pride myself on and the main reason so many people have been coming to our site is my ability predict the future.  I’m not bragging or trying to take anything away from my good friends Occam, Mr. Peabody, Prudence or new poster Lemon Lyman, but even I am impressed by Saturday mornings post on David Gantt’s future arrest (I am a little embarrassed however, that I didn’t predict the singing of “We Shall Overcome”). This was almost as impressive as my call the week before to take the Giants and the points (there is no post to back me up on this so you will have to trust me on that one).  

The scene at the County Office Building tonight will look like something straight out of the 1960’s.  Unlike Saturday morning, dozens of people will be arrested tonight.  Assemblyman Gantt and his friends will make their political points, disrupt the meeting and the Republican majority will appoint the candidate the Public Safety Committee recommended.

Many liberals are shocked that the Republican Majority didn’t buckle to Gantt.  Liberals fail to understand some of the basic points of politics and human nature. Accordingly, they don’t understand why those mean spirited Republicans are not giving “the community” what they want. 

Part of our mission here at Monroerising.com is to help liberals understand politics and life in general.  For their benefit, I have a few guesses why the Republicans are digging their heels in on this issue. 

1) The biggest mistake County Republicans made was involving Democratic “Leader” Harry Bronson in the process.  Harry showed his lack of political knowledge by agreeing to a process that he thought was capable of picking a qualified candidate without checking with one of his political bosses (David Gantt).

Legislature Minority Leader Harry Bronson, D-Rochester, said the committee is capable of producing a list of qualified candidates without concern for political affiliation.

He showed his lack of integrity by backing out of the process he agreed to and he showed his lack of shame by questioning the morality of those who didn’t buckle to Gantt’s will. I’d never deal with Bronson again for fear of him moving the goal posts or asking for a do over because he doesn’t know the first thing about politics.

2) Assemblyman David Gantt blocked Maggie Brooks’ attempt to raise the sales tax for political gain. He effectively forced county Republicans to enact the FAIR Plan, setting up his buddy Joe Morelle to bring in union special interests to try to unseat county Republicans in last fall’s election.

Gantt can’t have it both ways — if you choose to put politics ahead of what’s good for the community — you can’t complain because those same people you stuck it to aren’t listening to your demands on something you think is important.

3) Gantt double crossed Maggie Brooks on the Assembly’s share of money originally designated for Renaissance Square to the tune of $18 million.  Great politics but bad for Monroe County.

4) Gantt did this community a tremendous disservice on the Paetec Park issue by insisting it be built in the ghetto. Build a $19 million stadium in the ghetto with no parking and no investment in the surrounding neighborhood and wonder why suburbanites are afraid to go there.

Gantt’s my way or the highway tactics have been terrible for our community.  By enabling Assemblyman David Gantt, the Democratic Party and the liberals at the D&C Editorial board are doing Monroe County a real disservice.

I could go on but you get the idea.  If there are any liberals out there that don’t understand, please contact me at cincinnatus@monroerising.com and I’ll set up a counseling session for you.

Tags: Articles, Cincinnatus, David Gantt, Monroe County Public Defender by Cincinnatus
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If you actually needed any additional proof that Assemblyman David Gantt had every intention of provoking his own arrest at the county legislature meeting yesterday, all you need to do is read today’s D&C article.

An excerpt from the D&C article:

Prior to the arrests, a Rochester police officer asked Gantt, Florence and Scott to meet privately with law enforcement and they left the room together. Majority Leader Dan Quatro, R-Webster, said the men asked to use the restroom before returning to be handcuffed by sheriff’s deputies and be led out to applause from the crowd.

So, Gantt and his select team of fellow soon-to-be-arrestees forgot one very important aspect of disruptive political protesting.

Make sure you’ve gone to the bathroom first. 

I can’t remember how many times I needed to tell my own kids this before we got on the road for a long drive.  Someone in the group should have asked, “Does anyone need to use the potty before we go protest the county legislature meeting?  Especially you guys who are going to try to get arrested.  You better go first because you don’t known when they’re gonna let you use the bathroom in jail.”

Well, just like a stubborn child, New York State Assemblyman David Gantt refused to go and now they were faced with a dilemma.  He realized that now he really had to, but if he left the chambers to do so, how could he then get back in so he could be arrested in the chambers so he could be paraded out through the cheering crown of fellow protesters?

I wonder if there’s a chapter in Rules For Radicals explaining how to handle situations like this?

Well, it just goes to show that being a state elected official does garner you some pull with the police.  Gantt and the arrestee team were able to negotiate bathroom usage and then allowed back in the chambers for the spectacle arrest.

I can sympathize with David and the team.  I’m not that far off myself from having to go every half hour or so.  Getting older can get in the way of important stuff in life like staging arrests when you don’t get your way.

Maybe County Executive Maggie Brooks and her people should have staged a protest in Gantt’s Albany office in order to get him to meet with her to discuss how he could help us here back at home.

I wonder if David would have let any of them use his bathroom first before the police arrived?

Tags: David Gantt, Democrat and Chronicle, Monroe County Public Defender, Mr. Peabody by Mr. Peabody
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Checkout Mustardstreet’s take on Gantt’s uncivil disobedience.

Tags: Articles, David Gantt, Monroe County Public Defender by Prudence Izguhde
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Well, Cinci called it.  Man, this guy’s good.  No need to put a link to his story, just look right below this article for it - it happened so fast… and right on cue.

Monroerising.com told you that David Gantt was going to try to get arrested at the Legislature meeting where they were discussing the public defender issue, and he did. 

If only our powers could work this good when picking lottery numbers.

I know, I know.  It wasn’t rocket sci-entry figuring out Gantt’s plan.  Disrupt the meeting and force the police to arrest you.

All this because David Gantt wants to control how the Legislature picks the next public defender, and most likely, in our opinion, because he wants to put his own person in the position. 

But, David Gantt believes politics should not be part of the process.

LOL LOL LOL!!!

I just hope that he didn’t physically push a female police officer like his friend did in order to guarantee the arrest.

Wait’ll Cinci gets back from his errands and sees that he was right all along.

Tags: Cincinnatus, David Gantt, Monroe County Public Defender, Mr. Peabody by Mr. Peabody
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Like many of us in suburbia, I am going to be pretty busy this morning.  My wife is going to take the boys to Wegmans, I’m have to take Madison to her dance lesson, and I’m going to check in on my father who is in his 80’s and living alone, so I might not get the chance to fulfill my obligations as a citizen journalist until tonight.  In an effort to be on the cutting edge of the blogosphere, I’ve decided to get an early start on what promises to be the big item in the news this weekend.  Here’s my attempt to predict the future:

Assemblyman David Gantt’s thuggery continued to today at the County Legislature’s Public Safety Committee.  Gantt and an assorted group of social service agency heads, workers and recipients were joined by black ministers, misguided liberal clergy-members (hopefully, Bishop Clark will be too busy trying to straighten out his own mess with the school closings to be there),and Sister Grace and her drug and alcohol addicted cohorts will be protesting because the legislature wouldn’t let them control the only appointment the legislature is legally authorized to make.

Shouting “Why are you doing this to the community?”, “I don’t care, I’ve been to jail before” and “no justice, no peace,” Gantt and his crew will be asked to leave the meeting because of their disruptive actions.  After refusing to leave, Gantt and his group will be arrested.

After being processed at the police station (is that what happens? I’m at a disadvantage here, unlike Mr. Gantt, I haven’t been to jail before so I’m guessing), Gantt will hold a press conference at a black church vowing to carry on.  He will pledge that he will not fulfill his legal obligation in Albany this week and stay in Rochester to fight the injustice of the Republicans not letting the intimidation tactics that work so well with the Monroe County Bar Association dictate who the new Public Defender will be.

He will speak at a number of black churches on Sunday morning, he will be on WDKX-FM radio and will be declared a hero by his misguided constituents for standing up to Mr. Charlie. If you look at Gantt’s history, there is a clear pattern of him railing against Mr. Charlie.  Gantt has been around a long time and while Mr. Charlie has changed, Gantt’s tactics haven’t. Various Mr. Charlies have included, former Monroe County Executives Bob King and Jack Doyle, current County Executive Maggie Brooks (would that make her Ms. Charlie?), Joe Morelle (I think they are friends now –but that can change in an instant) and a bunch of others too numerous to mention.

While these tactics have worked well to advance Gantt’s political career,  I’m not so sure they have worked for his constituents.  Social advocates are quick to point out that “the crescent” aka Gantt’s home turf, have some of the worse statistics in the nation when it comes to child poverty, murder rates, drug abuse, HIV and AIDS, etc., you get the picture.

What you’ll never hear from these same advocates are how David Gantt has been the politician leading this community for over 30 years.  This is all starting to make sense.  Gantt’s and the other “leaders” of “the community” don’t care about results.  If they did, they would have change their tactics long ago. 

Instead, by standing up to Mr. Charlie, Gantt and company can all feel good about themselves.  They can use this as their straw dog(see definition number 3), absolving themselves of any responsibility for the state of their community. Fighting the good fight on this will allow the cycle to contiue for a little while long — nice job Assemblyman!

This is just my prediction — who knows, maybe I’ll be wrong?  I certainly have been before — just ask my wife. We will check in with future posts on this and others subjects as life allows.

Tags: Articles, Cincinnatus, David Gantt, Monroe County Public Defender by Cincinnatus
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I meant to write something earlier this week about David Gantt’s continued thuggery — refusing to meet with the top elected official in Monroe County government  — Maggie Brooks, about Renaissance Square. You will remember, the good Assemblyman is upset because it appears as though the county legislature isn’t going to buckle like everyone in the Democratic Party does to Gantt’s ranting and ravings regarding the appointment of a new public defender.

There were two articles in the D&C about how the Assembly Democrats refused to meet with Brooks when she was in Albany this week. Evidently, things haven’t changed much since Day 1. 

The go along to get along culture still thrives in Albany.  Because Boss Gantt refused to meet with the County Executive, Joe Morelle and the other Democratic members were obligated to march in lockstep with Boss Gantt and snub her.

I was shocked when I read today’s article about how Morelle stuck it to Brooks and spent money allocated for Renaissance Square.  The fact that Morelle put politics ahead of what’s good for the community wasn’t surprising — what was surprising was that Morelle bucked Gantt and evidently violated Boss Gantt’s edict.

According to Morelle, there are still no firm plans on Renaissance Square. Meanwhile, other groups have pressing needs for theater space, he said.

He said he told Brooks, “I’m sitting here now looking at a number of projects to fund in the future, and you have a project you want, but there are some problems with it.”

I’m sure something is out of context here — it says Morelle talked to Maggie Brooks.  Joe Morelle knows better than anyone else what happens when David Gantt doesn’t get his way. 

Harry Bronson certainly does — remember when he signed off on the public defender selection process only to put his tail between his legs and change his position when Boss Gantt told him to?  We at Monroerising.com do.

Legislature Minority Leader Harry Bronson, D-Rochester, said the committee is capable of producing a list of qualified candidates without concern for political affiliation. (Click to see entire article)

 Morelle better call the D&C for a correction. I’d hate to see David Gantt show up at his office with his “associates” and cause a ruckus like they did at that County Legislature meeting a couple of weeks ago.

Tags: Cincinnatus, David Gantt, Democrat and Chronicle, Joe Morelle, Maggie Brooks, Monroe County Public Defender by Cincinnatus
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Once again, our friends at Mustardstreet have an excellent post on the Public Defender fiasco.  Thomas Smith the Pious, head of the Monroe County Bar Association might not be suffering from white guilt as we speculated in yesterday’s post.

Mustard Street found information on Assemblyman Gantt’s own website that makes reference to a $150,000 state pork barrel grant  (scroll down to about 3/4 of page) for Monroe County Bar Association Foundation grant for “equal justice”. 

We all have our price and it is nice to know that a prestigious organization like the Monroe County Bar Association aren’t bought cheaply.

Nice work Philbrick and company! 

Tags: David Gantt, Monroe County Public Defender, Mr. Peabody by Mr. Peabody
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