Monroerising.com

Here’s some fair and accurate reality reporting that you will rarely find in New York State.  With such little effort placed on investigative and in-depth reporting these days, it was nice to come across this article in The New York Sun on Governor Eliot ‘Steamroller’ Spitzer’s odd show of support for his endorsed presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. 

Kudos to NY Sun reporter Russell Berman who actually takes some time to digest a Spitzer comment and offer suggestions as to why he’d say such a thing.  Read Berman’s interesting report on what looks like a Spitzer misspeak and his thoughts about the Steamroller’s possible easing away from what appears to be the quickly floundering presidential campaign of Mrs. Clinton.

As Spitzer informs the press that he will not be participating in an upcoming Hillary event, Berman hits on what might be the phrase that foretells of bad things to come if Clinton continues to falter:

…Mr. Spitzer is not headed to Ohio for the event, though he said he hoped to get out on the stump for Mrs. Clinton “maybe later in the week, or next week, if this continues.” He did not specify what he meant by “this,” but there is a widespread belief that Mrs. Clinton will end her campaign if she does not win Texas and Ohio on Tuesday.

Now, I’ll go one step further on this story by asking the follow up question that the reporters didn’t ask Spitzer after his now soon to be infamous “…if this continues” comment.

Are you not helping Clinton in the upcoming primaries of your own accord, or were you asked by her to stay away?

Could Hillary be upset over Spitzer’s licenses for illegal aliens mess up or is he staying put in Albany Manhattan to work on his approval numbers?

I’d love to hear the answer to that question and I’d welcome everyone’s thoughts on this.

Tags: Articles, Elliot Spitzer, Mr. Peabody by Mr. Peabody
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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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Everyone knew what to expect when Assemblyman David Gantt decided, as many believe, that he wanted to takeover control of picking the new Public Defender.  It is not a stretch to assume this since the Democrats in the County Legislature and the Bar Association had already agreed to the screening process set forth, although not required by law, by the Legislature President, Wayne Zyra.  The only legal provision is that the County Legislature make the appointment.  As reported, and paraphrased below, by our friends at Mustard Street:

The President of the Leg, Wayne Zyra, organized a panel to screen applicants for the position and recommend them to the County Legislature. It would consist of: 3 judges, Stephen Lindley, Nancy Smith and one other; one member appointed by the Democratic leader of the County Leg, one appointed by the Republican Leader, and two appointed by the County Bar Association. The Bar Association, which earlier had approved the panel, and also the legislature’s minority leader Harry Bronson, who earlier did the same, even participating in a joint press release with Zyra, both decided to back out of the screening committee.

However, despite the very poor reporting from the D&C on this topic (I think there were actually more editorials shilling for the all powerful David Gantt compared to the number of news stories written by the rank and file reporters) the blogger reports uncovered that both Harry Bronson, the Legislature Minority Leader and Lovely Warren, Bar Association spokesperson on this issue, work for the state Assembly local delegation (ie: David Gantt).

Sorry, I’m trying to find a good smart alecky remark to make now, but there are too many coming to mind.  Basically, BOSS GANTT BACKED THEM ALL DOWN BECAUSE HE WANTED TO CONTROL THE PROCESS TO PUT HIS OWN PERSON IN!!!

There, I let the cat out of the bag… since no media sources have the brass ones to call it what it is.

We at Monroerising.com understand this because we know David has been losing just about all of his attempts lately to stack the city school board and city council with his own cronies.

Well the County Leg. Majority did their job and appointed the most qualified person.  However, during ‘his process’ even David may have gone too far in his staged protest.

6:00 P.M. T.V. news reported that Gantt was going to hold a press conference sometime soon , we believe, regarding the following comment he made while walking out of the meeting that finally saw the selection of the new Public Defender:

Assemblyman David Gantt: “You wonder why a guy goes in Missouri and shoots some damn body.”  Watch it for yourself here.

Rachel Barnhart of 13WHAM News reported tonight on questions regarding the issue of a threat of violence.

Gantt was referring to the recent murder of 4 public officials and 2 police officers at another government meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Over the last few days, blogger comments have been pouring in on all media outlets (how can you blatantly NOT report on this) both denouncing and supporting Gantt’s comments.  Although, I’d wager that more people find this offensive, as I’m sure the families of those who were killed probably would.

I haven’t been able to confer with all of our reporters at Monroerising.com yet, but I for one am sad (no, not angry, just sad) that Gantt would appear to use what happened in Missouri to make his political point.  He wasn’t even being dragged out or arrested, so it wasn’t like he was all angry and spazzing out and stuff.  Everyone is saying he was escorted out peacefully, so what gives?

I’m sorry.  I’m ranting now.  I guess I am mad.  I guess I just wish David had read one of the many news stories regarding these deaths before making his comment.  Maybe this one.

David… I guess I do wonder — I wonder what the spouses, children, family members and friends of those who were killed are gonna feel like, knowing that one of our elected officials here in Rochester, New York used the news of their loss unnecessarily and inappropriately to make a point.

Now I’m not quite sure if Paul Haney was referring to the process or David Gantt’s comments in his portion of this video.

Anyway, Gantt’s having a press conference.  We hope it’s to apologize for his comments.  We agree with Paul Haney’s statement, “It’s disgusting.”

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by these senseless murders.

Tags: Articles, David Gantt, Monroe County Public Defender, Mr. Peabody by Mr. Peabody
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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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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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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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Yesterday Monroerising.com reported on the three Democratic candidates who want to challenge Joe Robach for the seat in 56th senate district.  Well, it appears that one of the candidates may already have an ethics problem before their formal announcement is even made.

While reviewing the Town of Brighton’s government website for additional information (Monroerising.com works tirelessly to report accurate and factual information on our site.  We wish all blogsites would follow suit) revealed what seems to be a questionable political link for Sandy Frankel’s campaign website.

If you go to the Town of Brighton’s website,  you’ll notice a link on the supervisor’s page stating that you can find more information about Sandy Frankel at www.sandrafrankel.org.  When I click the link, it redirects you right to Ms. Frankel’s political campaign website, freshly updated for her Senate campaign.

Monroerising.com believes the link should be removed immediately.

Tags: Mr. Peabody, Sandy Frankel by Mr. Peabody
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Over the past few months, the people of Upstate New York have been inundated with press conferences held by Governor Spitzer to announce various funding initiatives.  In Rochester, we first heard the promise of $50 million to tear down midtown plaza to make way for Paetec to relocate from the Town of Perinton to downtown Rochester.  Then there was an announcement for a promise of $50 million for a new transitional science center for the University of Rochester.

At first glance, it would seem that Upstate and our community are rightfully receiving much needed funding to help boost our lagging local economies.  Unfortunately, since the Governor announced his budget, we are learning each day that these promises are already coming with a steep price.

For instance, we learned recently that Governor Spitzer is pushing more of the costs associated with funding detention centers onto County taxpayers by cutting the state’s funding responsibility from 50% to 48%.  Cost to County taxpayers - $6 million.

In addition, Spitzer is cutting millions in funding for Rochester area schools, despite a four-year funding formula agreed upon by the Governor and the State Legislature.  Cost to City and suburban schools - $20+ million.

Add to that the aid cuts to community colleges, the forty-six different fee increases, $500 million in cuts to hospitals and nursing homes and finally (and perhaps the most intrusive ) the elimination this year of rebate checks for middle-class property taxpayers; and it would seem that the bad definitely comes with the ‘promise’ of good.

With baited breadth, Mayor Duffy waited to see how Rochester was going to fair with the Governor’s promised increase in state funding for large cities.  Senator Joe Robach held a press conference calling for an equal share of aid for Rochester, Duffy traveled to Albany to again lobby for an increase for his constituents and Assemblyman David Gantt has always pushed for more for our City (although I personally don’t agree with some of his actions on other things lately, I try to be objective).

Well, unfortunately, despite everyone’s efforts and pleas for funding fairness for Rochester, the Governor chose instead to continue to just dangle the proverbial carrot in front of us — meaning, no fair share for us.  Just a little bump to keep us all in line, but not enough to really solve the problem.  Bottom line, Rochester still faces a $20+ million deficit.

So what we know right now is that we have a few ‘promises’ on the table for a couple of projects, but many guarantees for funding cuts as well as aid that falls well short of the mark for our needs.

Once again, we all took the Governor at his word that he was going to come through for us and Upstate New York.  In less than two weeks from his State of Upstate speech, concerns are beginning to brew here at Monroerising that we might just be getting his “Day One” speech all over again. 

Let’s hope for our sake that we still get the money for Paetec and the U of R.   With all the promising going on all across the state lately, we find it hard to believe that the Governor is going to be able to deliver on it all. 

We had high hopes for our new Governor.  Unfortunately, that familiar voice of Shirley Feeney we hear singing in the background is beginning to quickly fade away.

Tags: Articles, Bob Duffy, City of Rochester, David Gantt, Elliot Spitzer, Joe Robach, Monroe County, Mr. Peabody, New York State by Mr. Peabody
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Sadly, it’s Politics. 

What is going on with the local Democrats lately?  First we learned about Assemblyman David Gantt and his cronies aggressively pushing a female police officer; then we have newly elected County Legislator Dick Beebe ignoring NYS Election Law by not filing financial reports; and now Brighton Supervisor Sandy Frankel is basically telling her constituents and citizens throughout Monroe County that she could care less about their safety.

Now that sounds absolutely foolish, right?  What elected official in their right mind would blatantly disregard the personal safety of the people they serve as well as the safety of those they may want to serve in the future (show me a politician who isn’t always looking for the next best thing).

Well, Sandy Frankel did just that.  The Brighton-Pittsford Post helped spin this for Sandy a little but read it yourself here with an objective eye to see who is truly putting safety at risk.

You see, the New York State Department of Transportation routinely repaves and repairs state roads in order to make sure they’re safe for those travelling them.  On I-490 in the Towns of Brighton and Pittsford, the state wanted to make such improvements.  Apparently, the professional highway workers determined there was a need.

And, the professional highway workers also prefer to do this work in the evening.  Apparently, they have this belief that there is less traffic later at night and that it would be safer for the men and women working on the road.  In addition, they must think that the vast majority of area residents would be better off not encountering road crews during rush hour traffic twice a day.  Who do these professional highway workers think they are to make these assumptions?

Well, Sandy Frankel will have none of these baseless and overly imposing demands.  Sandy and three of her lockstep board members (all except Councilwoman Sheila Gaddis) voted against allowing the project to be done correctly, deciding that safety is not that big of a deal, and told the professional highway people to go shove it.  Gaddis must be new.  Wait til she experiences Frankel’s wrath.  We’re told Sandy doesn’t like it when her board members go against her in public (or in private for that matter).  Gaddis has no idea what she’s in for.

What’s surprising to us at Monroe Rising is that it’s the beaurocrats that seem to care more about the people’s safety and doing the job efficiently than our elected representatives.  What is wrong with this picture?  Well, I’ll tell you what’s right with it for Sandy Frankel.  Once again, she is putting the opportunity to get a front page story in the newspaper with this self-created controversy, over what is best for her constituents and all the people who travel this stretch of 490.

So, as a longtime Town Supervisor, Sandy Frankel cannot (or refuses to) work towards a favorable solution with all involved parties that both protects the people living near the project AND ensures that the much needed work on this busy highway is done properly?

Putting politics before people is never a good way to govern.  Let’s hope she changes her mind, for all of our sake.  We’ll keep you posted on how this pans out.

Tags: Articles, David Gantt, Mr. Peabody, New York State, Sandy Frankel by Mr. Peabody
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