Public Defender Selection — Un-Civil Disobedience By Gantt and Allies Derails Meeting
What in the world is going on? The Monroe County Legislature’s Public Safety Committee met last night to discuss the process for appointing a new Public Defender. Assemblyman David Gantt, Sister Grace and her cohorts, liberal clergy and several people who apparently suffer from white guilt effectively shut down the meeting.
Channel 13’s website has a great clip of the raw footage of Assemblyman Gantt almost getting arrested. It really is unbelievable. It looked like something from the 1960’s/1970’s activist protests. F.I.G.H.T. veterans Ray Scott and Rev. Franklin Florence, Sr. were there using the time tested tactics of civil disobedience. Yelling, hooting and refusing to leave when asked, so the meeting could go into executive session as is customary in matters involving personnel.
It was apparent the Republican legislators failed to anticipate Gantt’s behavior. They violated conventional wisdom by engaging Gantt on the floor of the legislature. In the clip of Gantt talking to legislator John Driscoll, Gantt doesn’t even realize he is talking to Driscoll, not Legislature President Wayne Zyra (we have some sympathy for the Assemblyman — we at monroerising.com have been know to confuse the two old white guys ourselves). Once Gantt realized he was not speaking to Zyra, he abruptly ends the conversation to go track down Zyra.
Gantt’s behavior was way out of line. Would this be acceptable in Albany? Would he tolerate someone hijacking one of his meetings?
One quick note on Harry Bronson Democratic Leader in the legislature. He is an embarrassment. When plans to establish a bipartisan committee to appoint a new Public Defender were announced, the plan was initially praised by Harry Bronson. It’s understandable that Harry takes his orders from Gantt (after all he works for Assemblywoman Susan John – no conflict there!). Next time there is a big issue, Republicans should eliminate the middleman (Harry) and deal with Gantt directly.
We at monroerising hope that the Republicans stick to their guns on this issue. The integrity of the legislature is at stake. Things have changed since the last time a new Public Defender was appointed. Let’s focus on the future and not obsess about how it was done 30 years ago.