Schools get it, why can't Ulster County Legislator Frank Dart?

Ulster County Legislator Frank Dart is circulating a personal ad of his opponent, current Kingston City Alderman (and candidate for the UC Legislature) Mike Madsen.

We teach our children in schools that Homophobic bullying is unacceptable. Why is it OK for an Ulster County Legislator to use a man-to-man personal ad during campaigning? The answer is that it is not OK.

There is no reason for Frank Dart to be showing this type of information to people - other than to try and find homophobic voters who would be influenced not to vote for Mike Madsen because of this. This is homophobic bulling at its worst. Frank Dart should be ashamed of himself.

Happy Father's Day

Races to Watch

The balance of the Ulster County Legislature is at stake this November.

Until the endorsements of the Conservative and Independence Parties are made official, it is premature to weigh in on specific candidates.

However, the battlegrounds can be easily narrowed down to specific Legislative districts.

District One
Deal or no deal down there, this district would have been Dems 3, Republicans 1. OR 4 Dems. It is a heavily Democratic District. Sue Cummings has been a Legislator down there for over 25 years and was able to hold on to her seat because of that. Any new comer or old comer Republican would have been hard pressed to retain Cummings' seat much less pick up 2 seats.

District Two
Same deal as District One.... heavily Democratic District, two incumbents Monserate stands no chance.

District Three
Typically this district is the same deal as District Two, heavily Democratic and 3 incumbents. No one will beat the Paretes, but since the former incumbent Kraft left and Hochberg was appointed, the Conservative and Independence endorsements could affect this race. One seat in District Three remains in play.

District Four
This entire District is up for grabs. Roberti, like Sue Cummings is a long time incumbent and he is leaving due to the hatch act. Aiello is a town favorite, but his failure to show up for his job as a Legislator may have worn thin on the voters this year. This is a race to watch.

District Five
This is entire Town and District will be a bloodbath. Anything can happen. Let the games begin.

District Six
District Six will remain Democrat, but the real story here is incumbent Alderman Mike Madsen who was snubbed by his own party is out carrying petitions to primary against Jeanette and Frank. Let the Democratic games begin in this District.

District Seven
This District may prove to be one of the key battle grounds (in addition to four and eight). This is one district that definitely needs to be watched, and the 3rd party endorsements will play a big part in this District. Let the games begin.

District Eight
Drama Drama Drama Drama and more Drama. No official word if the Democrats are even putting anyone up. The only thing to say about this District is that it is in competition with District Five for the District for the biggest bloodbath of the election season. This is definitely a race to watch, but not because of the 3rd party lines. This is going to be a war of campaigning.

District Nine
The Democrats have Districts Two, Six, Ten and Twelve sewn up by enrollment advantage and lack of opposition. The Republicans have had this District locked up by enrollment advantage for years. Nothing will change here. Four Rs will all win easily.

District Ten
New Paltz, two Dems, no Republicans, no race.

District Eleven
Even without the third party endorsements announced yet, Maio has a shot at taking out Decker. Hansut is safe. Watch this race, but it will be not be anywhere as exciting as Eight or Five.

District Twelve
Kingston, two Dems, two Republicans. It would be really great if this were a race. Maybe the Democrats in Kingston have had ENOUGH of the Kingston crew. Antics by Democrats like Ann Marie DiBella and Mayor Sottile may have worn thin on the voters. Maybe it's time for a change? When is the last time that Dave Donaldson or Pete Loughran had to WORK for their Legislative seats? Maybe this is the year.

All being said, the race to watch from most exciting to least exciting are:

1. Tie for District Five and Eight - WOW
2. Tie for District Four and Seven
3. District Six
4. Tie for District Three Eleven and Twelve
5. District One and Two
6. District Nine, and Ten

Overconfidence

This past week at the Republican convention, an overconfident Glenn Noonan was rejected by the Republicans as their candidate for Ulster County Legislator in District 8. District 8 is made up of the Town of Gardiner, a small part of the Town of New Paltz and most of the Town of Shawangunk. There are three Legislators from this District - Glenn Noonan (R), Cathy Terrizzi (R) and Ken Ronk (R). Noonan is the senior member of the team and is also the Minority Leader in the Ulster County Legislature.

Noonan is widely know for enjoying stirring up things. He is a real thorn in Ulster County Executive Mike Hein's side, and is known for sometimes taking things too far. Independent Ulster did a post in December of 2008 titled "Noonan Blows It" where we wrote that Independent Ulster was very disappointed to see Republican Legislative “leader” Glenn Noonan promise “gridlock” if two more Republicans are elected to the County Legislature. We concluded that we hope Noonan was just caught up in the moment, because if he truly is seeking gridlock, his fellow GOP legislators need to replace him – now - or they will not win the seats they are otherwise capable of winning.

It seems that our prediction came true. Noonan has been working extra hard lately at alienating people. Either the GOP or the Conservatives decided that they want to replace him. They received help from a long time Non-Noonan fan, Conservative Party member, and former Town Supervisor, Jack Hayes. The three incumbents (Noonan, Terrizzi and Ronk) and Jack Hayes were nominated at the Republican Convention. There was a vote by the District 8 Committee Members and Ronk, Terrizzi and Hayes were the top vote getters. Noonan received only 6 votes (and one of those votes was his own for himself).

Noonan is now threatening a primary and trying to get support from the Democrats to run on their line. He is continuing to alienate people and has been rumored to have conducted himself very unprofessionally in his interaction with Legislator Ronk and Legislator Terrizzi.

We think that the GOP and Conservatives did the right thing. We saw the handwriting on the wall in December 2008. Overconfidence makes people cocky and Noonan has no one to blame but himself.

A fax put into a file and forgotton about?

Yesterday's Daily Freeman reported that the Ulster County Attorney's Office failed to inform county lawmaker's about a federal agency's findings that female officers at the county jail may have been subjected to sexual harassment, discrimination and a hostile work environment, according to County Attorney Beatrice (formerly Mike Hein's Deputy County Executive - this stinks to high heaven) Havranek.

Bea goes on to say that it was an oversight. That's convenient Bea. Blame it on the County Attorney who was just disciplined for unethical behavior.
She says that they got a fax. It was place in a file and "it just stayed there". Of course it did. Only to Bea - who went on to be a Deputy Executive and guardian of Mike Hein and now protects Hein from the County Attorney's office - would somehow think that makes sense. It just stayed there???? Are you serious???? You want us to belive that Mike had nooooooo idea about it. Mike and Josh never ever ever every talked about it. Oh that's right PATRICIA DOXSEY reports that Mike Hein who was County Administrator in November said that he was not told of the EEOC findings when they were issued because the county attorney didn't answer to him at the time. Yea right Mike. The Church Lady on Saturday Night Live would say......"well Mike isn't that CONVENIENT for you"!

The taxpayers and employees of Ulster County government deserve more than faxes from the EEOC that are filed and forgotten about, and a County Administrator that had "no idea" what was going on. This needs to be investigated more. This is not the whole story.

Uncle Sam Inc.

A good money manager might call it a diversified investment portfolio.

Some banks.

An insurance company (AIG).

And automaker General Motors!

Uncle Sam must be feeling good.

For that's what he's holdings as a result of President Obama's shopping spree of the last few months -- actual businesses in which the US federal government has taken controlling interest.

The feds look to be holding some 70 percent of a restructured General Motors once an anticipated bankruptcy petition is filed -- this coming not 60 days after Obama canned CEO Rick Wagoner.

Meanwhile, Edward Liddy of government-supervised AIG recently announced that he was quitting.

No surprise: Why take a salary of $1 a year -- which Liddy was doing -- when his every decision is subject to governmental second-guessing?

Now even a columnist for the Russian newspaper Pravda is happily mocking the United States.

"It must be said that, like the breaking of a great dam, the American descent into Marxism is happening with breathtaking speed, against the backdrop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people," writes Stanislav Mishin.

He adds: "[Obama's] spending and money-printing has been record-setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more than another year . . . America at best will resemble the Weimar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe."

That's over the top, but not by much.

And the further the US goes down this path -- owning private companies, if not entire industries -- the harder it becomes to return to the entrepreneurial system that has kept the nation prosperous for more than two centuries.

Time to turn about, Mr. President.

From today's New York Post.

I had no illusions that much would change after Democrats recently took total control of Albany. There is not much difference between the parties when it comes to spending our money in rage-inducing ways. Still, I am not happy that my exceedingly low expectations again have been met.

The latest backhand across taxpayers’ faces came with the $90,000 patronage job handed to ex-Amherst supervisor Susan Grelick. She started Monday as counsel to the State Senate’s Local Government Committee.

If you were not aware that the State Senate had a Local Government Committee, you are not alone. Like other legislative committees, it does little, meets seldom and exists mainly as a way to pad legislators’ paychecks.

Grelick’s early Christmas gift comes on the heels of the $70,000 plum handed to “Baby Joe” Mesi. The ex-boxer will run the field office that Senate Democrats soon will open in Buffalo, the creation of which I know was high on everyone’s wish list.

The stated purpose of the office is to convey the party’s message, as if we did not get the gist of it with the $8 billion of new budget-filling taxes and fees we just got slammed with. The actual purpose of the office is to reward Mesi for his recent, failed State Senate run—and to keep him rested and well-fed for his next go-round.

Patronage is nothing new. But this is different in one way: It obliterates any speck of hope that anyone in Albany is interested in reform. Newly empowered Democrats had a chance to show us they could be different. They had an opportunity to, in a show of taxpayer empathy, turn away from the dessert tray. Instead, they helped themselves to more.

Democrats—who hold the governor’s office and run the Assembly—last November completed the trifecta by capturing the Senate by a one-seat majority. With victory comes the spoils of extra jobs and newly sprouted “field offices.”

Democrats say they are not—by handing out jobs to Mesi, Grelick and other loyal soldiers—doing anything that Republicans did not do when they held power. The rationale underlines the depth of their disdain and the scope of their cluelessness.

No one in the real world believes it is OK to waste our money just because somebody else did. We are desperate for someone in Albany to, just once, put our plight ahead of their perks.

For Democrats to hand out patronage jobs, weeks after adding an $8 billion brick to upstate’s load, borders on the criminal. These people—starting with new Senate boss Malcolm Smith (masmith@senate.state.ny.us)—should be ashamed of themselves. But shame is not a detectable emotion in the State Capitol. Albany’s control by the notorious “three men in a room”—the governor and the Senate and Assembly majority leaders—makes the 212-member State Legislature about as useful as an extra pinky finger. Yet the care and feeding of state lawmakers—18 of them from Western New York—annually costs us $228 million in salaries, staff and perks. The bill runs from each part-time legislator’s $79,500 base salary, to paychecks padded by “work” on useless committees, to a legion of gratuitous staff jobs— cases in point, Mesi and Grelick.

Jobs are disappearing, people are fleeing upstate as if it were on fire and the national recession is tightening the screws. These people in Albany act like nothing is wrong.

A reporter recently questioned Smith, the Senate majority leader, about plans by Democratic Senators for international trips at a time “when Rome is burning.”

“First of all, who says Rome is burning?” Smith cluelessly replied.

Perhaps Mr. Smith should come to Buffalo.

By Donn Esmonde

News Columnist, The Buffalo News double click on picture to enlarge