Rochester Smoke Out

Greetings from one hundred years ago…

”

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

The town’s holiday party – at Ivan’s, on December 7 – had all the expected ingredients: hugs, kisses, smiles; even the Grinch put in an aparition. As I was greeting a group of people I knew, I was surprised by the way Councilman Brian Drabkin looked at me. If looks could kill… Later in the evening I approached him hoping for an explanation, but all I got was “I’d rather not speak to you.”

I’m not going to bore you with details of Brian being Brian, but I’m telling you that the idea of an elected official not answering a resident’s greeting does not sit well with me.

I scanned the ten-years history of my knowing Brian, and here are the highlights…

In 2003, Brian Drabkin ran – unsuccessfully – for a Town Board seat. I offered campaign help to the entire Republican slate, and Brian benefited from my donated work. I vividly remember how the candidates refused to campaign door to door with Brian. I saw him in the following years, and he appeared to be almost normal.

After the Republicans won the 2007 election, David O’Halloran put enormous pressure on the rookie Town Board members to appoint Brian Drabkin chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals. Here is what a reliable source has to say about Brian on the ZBA:

Drabkin’s beyond strange. He’s been a malignant presence on all boards upon which he’s served. One story is about his altering of official records (illegal). Another is how, as chair of the ZBA he led a Use Variance review repeatedly referring to Area Variance criteria which resulted in an approval (absolutely not legal) which led to a FULL TRAINING from Dennis Doyle and MaryLou on ZBA duties. Plus, he made many inappropriate statements when he served on the planning board.

Somebody in the know chipped in:

Drabkin is definitely one to hate government so much he wants to be in it to fuck it up so it doesn’t work on behalf of the people. Drabkin is for whatever, where ever, with no regard whatsoever for the impacts that may be produced. He is absolutely not a person to be on any political board.

Tell it to David O’Halloran!

In 2011, two Republican Town Board members – Tavi Cilenti and Manuela Michailescu – finished their four-year terms. On May 17, long before any of them decided to run again or not, David O’Halloran brought in the candidate Brian Drabkin. Of course it’s just a coincidence that both Tavi and Manuela have minds of their own and refused to vote as “suggested” by O’Halloran.

As Terry Bernardo was running for a second time and nobody was stepping up to challenge her, Manuela Michailescu gave the voters a choice by forcing a primary. At that time David O’Halloran was Bernardo’s most ardent supporter, so he did everything in his power to assure Terry Bernardo’s re-election as Legislator and, at the same time, eliminate Manuela Michailescu from the Town Board race. When asked to schedule the Town Caucus after the Republican Primary, O’Halloran stated that the Caucus is going to be early, before the Primary, because… “Brian is excited” to join the Town Board! Obviously David was even more excited to have his puppet on the Town Board!

Brian Drabkin ran unopposed and surprise, surprise, he got in, but the election results show 860 blanks. O’Halloran achieved a trifecta: Manuela out, Bernardo and Drabkin in. Brian’s priority as a newly minted Town Councilman was to give a made-to-order “Pride of Rochester” award to Terry Bernardo. He even offered to pay for the plaque. Next thing you know, Brian Drabkin and David O’Halloran submitted resumes and applications for the Golden Hill LDC board of directors.

Soon after becoming a Town Board member Brian Drabkin became an embarrassment. Among other displays of weird behavior, he left an important and well attended anti-fracking public hearing because he was “tired.”

This past Thursday I attended the last Town Board meeting of the year, dedicated to interviewing applicants for various boards and commissions. Steven Fornal applied for a seat on the Zoning Board of Appeals, for which he is superbly qualified. While all other Town Board members respected Steven’s experience in zoning and planning, Brian Drabkin felt the urge to open his mouth. He advised Steven to show compassion if appointed to the ZBA. The example he used, about a man who wanted to sell his property but realized that a building he’d built sixty years ago was on someone else’s land, illustrates Drabkin’s complete lack of understanding of the very board he chaired. The ZBA has no authority to allow a variance for someone who built a structure on other people’s property. So, Drabkin’s idea of compassion involves illegal acts by the ZBA. But, that’s Drabkin… He operates at a lower level:

After 2007, when O’Halloran gave Drabkin the ZBA Chairmanship, Brian stopped answering my “hello.” It happened at the Board of Elections, it happened at Pinegrove before a Republican Committee meeting (also attended by Brian’s wife, a registered Democrat!). Brian does not answer Manuela’s greetings. What Brian does – in his own words – is voting as told by O’Halloran, because O’Halloran could do no wrong.

You read this far, you deserve a chuckle. I searched for “Drabkinland” on Google, and look what I got:

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

Tuesday, December 17, twelve out of twenty three legislators showed up for Ulster County Monthly Legislative Session. The other eleven would not be able to brag about being present at this historic meeting, the importance of which could not be overestimated: this was the swan song of Terry Bernardo as an elected anything. The nitwit might continue to be a nuisance appointed to some job courtesy of hubby Len’s dirty dealings, but the Queen of Mean will not fool the voters ever again.

Hopefully, come January, all her appointees – shown below – will leave a trail of dust and disappear into the sunset.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

Read this post and you’ll agree with me:
Frank Reggero is dumber than a second coat of paint.

Trying to score points with Lisa Mance (No. 3), Frank Reggero (No. 1) – posted a comment where he defended her drunk driving arrest record and accused me of using this blog to direct my hate at him. Huh?

His comment actually made me search this blog for his name, and – as shown in a previous post – this is all there is:

Len Bernardo’s $254,258 Dream Team (June 19, 2012)
Bernardo’s newly hired $50,000 per year Budget Analyst Frank Reggero appears as a current employee of the New York State Senate on at least three of the Senate’s biweekly payroll reports. On the other hand, Frank Reggero appears to be Terry Bernardo’s personal driver cum scribe.

Show respect to Rochester’s veterans! (September 26, 2012)
Nothing wrong with inviting Frank Reggero, a veteran from Saugerties, to speak at the Memorial Day 2012, even though he is a Terry Bernardo-appointed legislative employee.

Terry Bernardo’s Golden Vision (March 23, 2013)
That’s $189,203 of taxpayer money wasted by Terry Bernardo to reward with jobs and increases some of the people who helped her get in the chair’s chair: Langdon Chapman, Fawn Tantillo, Vicky Fabella, Sandy Mathes, Lisa Mance, Frank Reggero.

As you can see above, there is no hate or slander. Just facts. No adjectives. Everything I wrote was confirmed at the time in Daily Freeman, Times-Herald Record, and a host of Ulster County blogs.

So I asked Frank where is the hate in the three paragraphs above, where is the slander?
As he also called me a liar and a coward in his comment, I asked Frank Reggero to point out a lie or an act of cowardice.

Any rational person would expect one of these outcomes:
1) Frank comes up with hard facts proving his accusations.
2) Frank apologizes to me for the false accusations.
3) Frank shuts the fuck up.

Instead, Frank surprised us all:



Frank posted two comments, almost identical, in which he calls me again a liar and a coward, skating over my request to back up his accusations. I have no idea why he posted twice, once as Frank, once as Anonymous.

Despite being as dense as a barrel of swamp mud, Frank is a good man. He ends both posts with “Merry Christmas” in my native language. His googling skills are excellent and I can’t wait for him to start blogging in Romanian.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

This illustration was first published on the Liberty Coalition blog.

Frank Reggero’s comment on The chickens come home to roost, my previous post:

Frank says:
December 13, 2013 at 8:52 PM

Really you wait for them to arrested? I have never been arrested. All I ever did was serve my country honorably for 24 years with 4 combat tours, come home (my hometown), go back to school full time and be appointed by Terry Bernardo for your hate to be directed toward me. You don’t even know me but because I was appointed by Bernardo I too was the subject of your hate. I risked my life so that little people like you can spread your hate on anyone you choose for whatever reason you justify. What is even more disgusting about you is the fact that your same response to 3:54 who accused you of fraud was the same result of Lisa Mance’s charges, which were dropped but you don’t acknowledge that, you just continue. You see Mr. Dogmar-Marinesco here in America it is your right to spread your filth to whatever audience wants to hear it and I am anxiously awaiting the day that you and your friend Robin will have the intestinal fortitude to introduce yourselves to me. You are a liar and coward; if anyone is hiding from reality it you behind this hate blog. You don’t like Terry or Len then be a man and confront or challenge them, don’t slander innocent people trying to make a better life for themselves and their family, especially when you know nothing about them!

There is your break!

I’ll get back to Frank’s insults in a moment, but for now let’s focus on his accusation:
I slandered him on this hate blog.

Len Bernardo’s $254,258 Dream Team (June 19, 2012)
Bernardo’s newly hired $50,000 per year Budget Analyst Frank Reggero appears as a current employee of the New York State Senate on at least three of the Senate’s biweekly payroll reports. On the other hand, Frank Reggero appears to be Terry Bernardo’s personal driver cum scribe.

Show respect to Rochester’s veterans! (September 26, 2012)
Nothing wrong with inviting Frank Reggero, a veteran from Saugerties, to speak at the Memorial Day 2012, even though he is a Terry Bernardo-appointed legislative employee.

Terry Bernardo’s Golden Vision (March 23, 2013)
That’s $189,203 of taxpayer money wasted by Terry Bernardo to reward with jobs and increases some of the people who helped her get in the chair’s chair: Langdon Chapman, Fawn Tantillo, Vicky Fabella, Sandy Mathes, Lisa Mance, Frank Reggero.

I understand that Frank Reggero is not a happy camper. Come January – Terry Bernardo being no longer a Legislator – his undeserved $50,000 a year job goes… poof! But why take it on me? Let’s do an autopsy on his comment and see what else is there…

Really you wait for them to arrested? I have never been arrested.
Frankie’s English is a bit funny… is he complaining or bragging?

All I ever did was serve my country honorably for 24 years with 4 combat tours, come home (my hometown), go back to school full time and be appointed by Terry Bernardo for your hate to be directed toward me. You don’t even know me but because I was appointed by Bernardo I too was the subject of your hate.
We established above that there is no hate directed at Frankie. What Frankie believes doesn’t change the facts. As for his resume, I heard it before when – brought by Bernardos – he spoke on a Memorial Day in front of the Accord Fire House. Little did he know that our town’s veterans were two hundred yards away, at the Veterans Park celebration. By the way, I designed the park and for years I fought Bernardos’ friends who where intent on derailing the project. So much for his disingenuous innuendo: “All I ever did was serve my country honorably for 24 years with 4 combat tours… for your hate to be directed toward me.” Shame on you Frankie! Shame on you!

I risked my life so that little people like you can spread your hate on anyone you choose for whatever reason you justify. What is even more disgusting about you is the fact that your same response to 3:54 who accused you of fraud was the same result of Lisa Mance’s charges, which were dropped but you don’t acknowledge that, you just continue.
I could tell from the pictures how Frankie risked his life, but the rest of the paragraph is a mixture of bullshit and insults. Scary thought that somebody so ignorant as to compare bankruptcy protection with felonies and misdemeanors is allowed to work in a government office, at any level. Shame on you Frankie! Shame on you!

You see Mr. Dogmar-Marinesco here in America it is your right to spread your filth to whatever audience wants to hear it…
Insults aside, this takes the cake! Frank Reggero explains America to me because, you see, I am an immigrant. Let me offer him some food for thought… While Frank Reggero might be an American by accident (a burst rubber comes to mind), I am an American by choice. And I got the right to vote in this country long before he did. Perhaps he could spare me showing his true discriminating colors. Here in America? Shame on you Frankie! Shame on you!

…and I am anxiously awaiting the day that you and your friend Robin will have the intestinal fortitude to introduce yourselves to me.
By now it’s obvious that Frank Reggero has everything the other way around. Nevertheless, I’m sure he could find somebody to introduce him to me and Robin.

You are a liar and coward; if anyone is hiding from reality it you behind this hate blog.
I’m asking Frank Reggero to point out one of my lies. I’m asking Frank Reggero to point out one of my acts of cowardice. As nobody will ever be able to do what I asked, I ask Frank Reggero to shut the fuck up.

You don’t like Terry or Len then be a man and confront or challenge them…
I’m tired of saying it, I don’t hate the Bernardos, I hate their behavior. Confront and challenge them? I’m doing it since before confronting and challenging them was cool. Then again, Frank Reggero might have his own take on “being a man,” something along the lines of kissing Bernardos’ collective ass. Shame on you Frankie! Shame on you!

…don’t slander innocent people trying to make a better life for themselves and their family, especially when you know nothing about them!
One more time, there is no slander on this blog. Frank Reggero is fishing for sympathy. I’m curious if he ever stopped to think that his making a better life for himself was done at the expense of someone actually qualified for the position of Budget Analyst. Shame on you Frankie! Shame on you!

In case you wonder about the headline of this post, here is a hint:

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”
– Abraham Lincoln

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

About three weeks ago I posted Terry Bernardo could not be reached for comment, from which I reproduce here this:

In 2011, with support from community pillars like David O’Halloran and Jeremy Blaber, Terry Bernardo become a Legislator again.

Three days ago Daily Freeman broke the unsurprising news:

Jeremy K. Blaber, 25, was arrested Friday in connection with an alleged theft at 516 Broadway. He has been charged with burglary, a felony. Police said an investigation into break-ins in multiple offices at the address began earlier this week and that Blaber, who lives at 63 Orchard St. in Kingston, was implicated.

Doesn’t matter how many of your friends or associates were arrested lately, I don’t think you can beat the Bernardos’ record: David Lowrie, Lisa Mance, Jeremy Blaber…

Who’s next?

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

A day after I published David O’Halloran’s resignation letter – in a post headlined What should I convey to Dave? – he graciously leaked to me another email:

I didn’t know what made David O’Halloran believe that it’s OK to send me an email half blocked out, but I did not complain. Instead, I spent a few minutes on the computer retrieving the original email:

Let’s see what David tried to conceal from me…

Funny thing, I enjoyed battling the Dems, even when Stuart Frazer was kicking our butt and playing way outside the lines.

Of course, by “battling the Dems” he meant contributing $500 to Pam Duke’s campaign.

However, Len has split our party, town and friends.

When exactly did he experience the epiphany? ‘Cause as recently as March 2013 he was pretty deep in the Bernardos’ asses.

He wins…he can have control of Rochester GOP just like he does on the County level.

This bothers me the most. Think about it… The Chairman of the Republican Committee calls it quits and has no problem with the Independence Party taking control of the Rochester GOP.

Len is making you look the fool (me too).

This is so fuzzy you could read it two ways. Either Len is also making David look the fool, or David too makes Roger Rascoe look like a fool. I hope this illustration helps you to choose the intended meaning:

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

Everybody knows that Clark Kent – the fictional character appearing since June 1938 in stories published by DC Comics – serves as the secret identity of the superhero Superman.

Less known is the fact that Clark Kent (Superman) sends morning emails to Manuela Michailescu (my Superwoman wife):

The email wants us to believe that somebody is furious because the Supervisor is “appointing” somebody to the Planning Board while somebody is scouting for conservative applicants.

Our Clark Kent intended to stir up trouble, knowing that Manuela would share the email with me, and hoping that I would post it on this blog.

Which I did, after I took the liberty to obliterate all names.

Care to venture a guess as to who sent the email?

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

According to the report released on December 2, 2013 by the Moreland Commission chosen this summer to study the level of New York’s political corruption, the Empire State allows donors with deep pockets to set the legislative agenda for the rest of the state.

The investigation concluded that reform cannot wait. New York needs comprehensive reform to restore the public trust and change the permissive culture of corruption in state government.

Click here for the press release.

Click here for the full preliminary report.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco