DaBrinker Report

Senator Alesi's Fly Ride

Rochesterturning.com has a story about Senator Jim Alesi (Rochester area) using $18,750 of his campaign funds toward the purchase of a Cadiallac.  I would think that the GOP Senators would be piling up their campaign money at this point in an effort to put up a strong fight and take back the Senate Majority in 2010.  But it seems that Senator Alesi would rather be styling than in the majority.

Aubertine Out Of Special Election

I think Senator Aubertine made a good choice by not running in the upcoming NY-23 special election.  It's actually good for the North Country and New York State.  Aubertine will continue to gain power in the NYS Senate.  The NYS Senate leadership struggle is far from over. And New York State can not afford to have another deadlocked Senate (which would have happened if Aubertine won the Congressional race and the GOP won his Senate seat in a special election). 

How To Get A Raise In The Senate

I've been thinking about this ever since certain Senate staffers received large raises during these tough economic times. 

Let's take a look at which Senate Majority staffers received a raise and their accomplishments that justified the raises:

Meredith Henderson:
Produced an internal report highlighting the incompetance of her co-workers and than made enough copies to lose track of them.  After the Senate Democrats took the majority and switched offices with the GOP, this report was found in a filing cabinet.  Meredith saw her pay increase $33,000 to $140,382. 

Curtis Taylor:
Who could not bungled comments to the press time and time again has seen his pay increase 11.1% to $134,695.  Let's see what Malcom Smith thought of Taylor:

“I have recently accepted the resignation of Curtis Taylor as the
Communications Director and Press Secretary of the State Senate Democratic
Conference. Mr. Taylor will be moving over to Conference Services where his
skills and services will be better utilized.”

Indira Noel:
Among may other activities that Indira is famous for, here is the most recent issue:

Indira Noel, a top employee of the Senate Democrats, is being charged this morning in connection with allegations that she forged the signature and misused the Social Security number of a subordinate in order to get him fired, a legal source familiar with the case reports.
 

Indira saw her pay increase 10% to $118,153. 

What a great place to work!

Please Senator Aubertine, We Need More Money

Please Senator Aubertine, Political IV is looking for handouts.  His fellow County Legislators aren't willing to cut their pet projects to the bone so he can spend more.  You need to try harder!

Restoring power for jobs isn't enough.  Getting $1.4 million in housing grants for the 48th SD isn't enough.  And what ever else you received in member items isn't enough. 

Here's a short list of REAL investments we need for your district, Senator:

• We need stuff like flowers on every street corner; 
• We need a letter writer for the Chairman of Finance -- one that won't use terms like "aggressively estimate";
• We need better support staff for the county.  Staffers that can devote their time making sure it appears PIV has a plan for anything he does; and 
• And we need flags for the hood of IV's car to go along with his vanity plates.  Because he's got to look as important as he feels.

Come on man!  Stop thinking about yourself and your constituents and do something for Political IV for once. 

Political IV's Transparency

Last month I wrote about Political IV's involvement in local races. 

Just look at his string of loses recently.  Ivy worked every backdoor and angle to clear the field and run the following candidates (which all failed miserabley):

Will Barcley
Dave Renzi
Patti Richie

Political IV is all about the back room dealing.  But what's he say about the Democrats?

Everyone draws the same conclusion the GOP is better off holding this type of process versus the Democrat's method of a smoked filled backroom annointing of their candidate.  

Matt Doheny and Dede Scozzafava should run away from Political IV.  People around him tend to lose their election. 

And The Beat Goes On In Jefferson County

Funny how Political IV's two most recent posts are about money, given my post of the other day.  One of PIV's post is a poll asking how the City of Watertown should spend it's money and the other criticizes Paterson for how he handling stimulus money.  It seems Political IV has his own issues handling money.

A reader notified me that Political IV supported giving the JCC a large pot of money last year during our economic crises. 

He (Chairman Gray) said he could support relief to the students in terms of eliminating the tuition increase and giving the College the full $500,000 however he realized there was not support for that measure tonight.

Would someone please take the County's checkbook from him!

Jefferson County's Sales Tax Shortfall (Gap)

On July 1st I wrote that Political Ivy was overdue for a press conferenceannouncing the shortfall of sales tax revenue.  NINE days later Ivy sent a letter to the other County Legislators and Newzjunky informing them of the short fall.  And not to be outdone, the Watertown Daily Times picked the story up two days after Newzjunky.  From the letter:

In terms of dollars, we can conservatively estimate a budget shortfall (gap) from sales tax for this year of $2.2 million and aggressively estimate as much as $3 million. This coupled with the fact that our interest income will fall short by estimate of $500,000 will leave us with a total gap of close to $3 to $3.5 million conservatively.

Thanks for clarifying what a shortfall (gap) is.  But, what the hell does "aggressively estimate" mean. Do you run at someone real fast with your fists flying wildly while you're yelling out budget numbers?  Or do you give the calculator a real mean and nasty look?

It is time to respond and begin serious debate on how best to address this shortfall that would include budget cuts for the current year. We are no doubt in a situation where fund balance is funding operations, which starts the time clock ticking. We may have to utilize some fund balance to make it through this year, but that is not a recommended long term course of action.

Short of transferring this issue into a property tax increase next year we are faced with serious decisions to bring operations in line with revenue, but the decisions will be difficult ones in order to provide a soft landing and minimize the impact on the taxpayer.

In other words, lets try to figure out how to pay for my pet projects -- like giving more money to the JCC -- by cutting your projects.  I like how Ivy held off from informing the public about the sales tax shortfall until after he was able to get JCC an additional $120K. 

Jefferson Community College will get an extra $120,453 from county government for the next academic year, despite one lawmaker's continued objection to the way increases are decided.

Legislator Robert A. Boice, R-Rutland, reminded colleagues Tuesday that county department heads were asked not to request additional funds for both this year's and next year's budgets.

"Our county departments should be our first line of priority. They are the top priority for taxpayers' revenue," he said.

Mr. Boice also argued that authorized agencies, a group of nonprofits that receive county cash annually, provide services that are valuable to the entire population, especially in agriculture and tourism. Yet these groups were also being dissuaded from requesting more money.

What, you mean like plan and prioritize?  Surely you jest Mr. Boice. Ivy doesn't plan anything.  And he's certainly not going to start now just because you ask him to.

I wonder, did the JCC clearly state all the grant money they are receiving this year (like the $1 million grant they recently received) and next so the legislators could make a fully informed decision? 

Mr. Boice also argued that authorized agencies, a group of nonprofits that receive county cash annually, provide services that are valuable to the entire population, especially in agriculture and tourism. Yet these groups were also being dissuaded from requesting more money.

"JCC is an important asset in this county, but it is also one of several important services that we have the responsibility of funding," Mr. Boice said. "To do this job correctly, we need to serve equally and address our priorities all at the same time."

The legislator said he would support the resolution to increase funding only if it was amended to say that any additional requests from the college would be decided during the county's budget season, which typically runs from September to November.

Come on Mr. Boice!  Don't you get it?  Your projects aren't important.  Take agriculture for instance.  We don't need farms around here.  People are overweight and can't stop eating.  By having farms around we are just enabling these folks to keep living their destructive lifestyles and causing health insurance costs to increase.  And tourists.  They're just people who come into town acting like they own the place.  They litter, are rude and don't contribute or vote for Political Ivy.  So who needs them.  So, Mr Boice, keep your pet projects to yourself and let Ivy spend the money how he sees fit.  You can help by figuring out what cuts to make to projects that benefit your constituents so we can afford to pay for Ivy's projects. 

Espada Back With Dems

Dean Skelos had to realize that Espada going back to the Democratswas a real possibility.  Espada has done this in the past and will do it again.  The older GOP Senators were re-energized lately by the possibility of gaining control of the Senate.  Espada going back to the Dems has got to be very deflating.

You've got to wonder what made Espada go back.  Is he getting his $2 million in member item money for his health clinic?  I'd take that bet.  We know Espada got Steve Pigeon (Golisano’s guy) job out of the deal. 

The Senate mess is far from over.  Skelos, Espada, Smith and Sampson are not competent.  Smith has incompetent staffers running the show.  They are going to continue to struggle with the budget process, drafting of bills, and running the Senate operations in general. It's just a matter of time before this all blows up again. 

Nicely Done Gov

Governor Paterson appointment last night of Richard Ravitch as Lieutenant Governor was a strong move.  This appointment, coupled with robo calls last night in NYC announcing this news, demonstrates that Paterson is stepping up his game. 

Skelos and the Four Amigoshave lost some of their bargaining power.  But, this is far from over.  Let's see if the Senate Dems can keep their 31 together long enough to get the new LG sworn in and presiding over the chamber. 

DANC's Newest Voting Boardmember

The Watertown City Council met last night and appointed JB Johnson as Watertown's representative at DANC.  This appointment makes Johnson a voting boardmember (previously he was a nonvoting boardmember) at DANC. 

This whole appointments process smells funny.  DANC representatives and the City Council kept this very quiet.  The Watertown Daily Times printed the story on a day when people aren't paying attention to the news -- Sunday, the day after the 4th of July. 

I wonder if anyone on the City Council actually asked JB Johnson if he lives in the City of Watertown or Cape Vincent.  Apparently it's not clear where he calls home. 

Dan Francis on the Mayor's talkshow didn't seem to appreciate this appointment or the process.  I bet there are a lot of other people not too happy about this either.