Rochester Smoke Out

More of the Terry Bernardo’s speech, if you care to call it so:

Chairwoman’s Address
delivered by Terry Bernardo on January 2, 2013 – Part 5
To do these things and focus on these issues I’m asking the Legislators to form a Special Committee making “Four for 13” a reality.

I’m asking four Legislators to serve jointly and lead that Special Committee. Those Legislators are Legislator Peter Loughran, Legislator Robert Parete, Legislator Jim Maloney and Legislator Mary Beth Maio. Legislator Robert Parete and Legislator Peter Loughran work in Albany and have access to some of those who help make these decisions. Legislator Maio has extensive experience on banking and finance and Legislator Maloney has always done a great job leading economical development initiatives in our County.

I’m asking these four Legislators to be the tip of 2013 spear and pushing our agencies for accountability and working to ensure that these major projects have shovel in the ground and paychecks in the people’s pockets this year in the case of Hudson Landing, Williams Lake and Crossroads, and join with me in working and promote traditional tourism as well.

Together with the Executive this year also push back against the New York State DEC’s allowing New York City DEP to pollute our communities.

We didn’t need to litigate last year because the administrative process leading to a consent order has not been exhausted, something I am advised is typically necessary before litigation ensues.

However, despite the 12.5 million dollars in new assistance for Wawarsing, we need to ensure that the DEC is aware that their efforts to cuddle the DEP would be met with resistance.

To that end, I continue to pledge my continued support to the efforts of the Executive taking on the DEP, and I am asking Legislator Craig Lopez and Legislator Ken Wishnick to serve as a tag team on behalf of this Legislature, working with the Director of Planning to review any revisions to the initial consent order, recommend strategies to the Legislature based on those reviewed revisions or, in the worst case scenario, the failure of the DEC to revise their initial proposal.

If you intend to comment on the above rubbish, please be gentle.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

NOTE: If I missed a few letters from the speech, the remedy is simple: let Terry Bernardo post the actual speech, and I will correct my mistakes, if any.

Below is another hard to digest slice of Terry Bernardo’s speech:

Chairwoman’s Address
delivered by Terry Bernardo on January 2, 2013 – Part 3
This is not the only part of the budget process that is backwards. Currently New York State Town Law section 106 requires the Town Budget officer to file the tentative budget for the town on or before September 30th.

Ulster County tentative budget is now filed with the Clerk of the Legislature before or on the first Friday in October. That’s a full week after the tentative budgets have been filed by the town boards and presented to their communities.

Now, the Counties of Monroe and Westchester have already addressed this issue for their tentative budgets, ironically not for their final budgets though, but for the tentative budgets they have.

They are the only Counties in New York State that by State Law file their town budgets on or before October 30th, instead of September 30th, enabling them the benefit of knowing what their County’s budget is going to be before they present their own budget.

A budget is always an educated guesstimate, but we want our towns to be able to have the best educated decisions that they can when formulating the budget, not for them to have to guess what Ulster County’s budget is going to be.

All of our local governments’ budgetary visions should be aligned and alignment of visions requires that we align the budget process as well. And I am going to ask this year that we petition the State Legislature to fix this for Ulster County, if not for the entire State.

Far more prominent than Advisory Groups, we must remain united in our vision to address the gap of the Ulster County Recovery Agency and obtain full disclosure regarding the New York State Comptroller’s report.

I am asking Legislators Carl Belfiglio and John Parete if they are willing to attend the RRA board meeting and brief the full Legislature monthly on RRA activities, and I’m asking the director of RRA to do the same.

Great speech, right! Wait till you see the next chunk. If you have comments on what you’ve read so far, don’t be shy, post them. Thank you!

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

NOTE: If I missed a few letters from the speech, the remedy is simple: let Terry Bernardo post the actual speech, and I will correct my mistakes, if any.

Here is a second serving of Terry Bernardo’s speech. Honestly, I can’t blame her for trying to keep it under wraps.

Chairwoman’s Address
delivered by Terry Bernardo on January 2, 2013 – Part 2

It is time for the residents of Ulster County to share their vision to the elected officials through the Citizens Advisory Board, and for those elected officials – meaning us – to use that information to craft a budget where policies as desired by the citizens of Ulster County are effectuated.

Most recently we’ve heard from the Catskill Mountain Railroad and the Trails Advisory Committee of their vision of what they want Ulster County to be. I know that I was not the only Legislator who was taken aback though by the comments on the night of the budget vote.

Those were voices which we should have heard much earlier in the budget process. Many of our boards are still critical to our County; they are mandated by the Charter to advise the Legislature and the Executive on matters pertaining to their departments.

The Community Services board is described in the Charter that they shall advise the Commissioner, the Executive and the Legislature on matters pertaining to mental health, yet during the budget process we’ve heard from numerous individuals and other elected officials of not being consulted or advised.

It is my view that we should not accept policy recommendations that have not been vetted through appropriate citizen advisory boards such as the Community Service Board or the Railroad Advisory Board.

That choice though – as I’ve learned – is not mine, it’s all of ours. These individuals were entrusted to help us act on desires of Ulster County residents. This year we must increase and improve the measures to ensure that their voices are heard.

Now, I’m willing to stand up to anyone who utterly ignores their own Citizen Advisory Board, but I won’t do it without your help. I’m willing to have stones thrown at me – heck, as you can see I’m really, really good at it – but not unless I know that you ought to insist on better communication between these groups and County government.

Envisioning we need to start with better relationships with our citizen advisory groups, months before we receive the tentative budget.

This Legislature’s financial vision must be communicated to those drafting the tentative budget for their consideration prior to the presentation of the tentative budget to this body.

I’m asking Legislators Gerentine and Gregorius to report to the Ways and Means Committee how they best feel that we can accomplish improved communications with our Citizen Groups and I am prepared to offer my own ideas for their consideration as well.

Come back tomorrow for the next installment. Till then, post your comments – if you have something to say about what you’ve read so far.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

NOTE: If I missed a few letters from the speech, the remedy is simple: let Terry Bernardo post the actual speech, and I will correct my mistakes, if any.

For reasons known only to Terry Bernardo, the January 2 organizational meeting’s
webcasting was blocked, so only a few people present in the room had the opportunity to enjoy the Chairwoman’s Address. Two weeks passed by, and Bernardo’s speech is not yet posted on the Ulster County Legislature’s website. As a public service, I’m posting here the transcript of the speech, starting with this first installment:

Chairwoman’s Address
delivered by Terry Bernardo on January 2, 2013 – Part 1

I want to thank all of you who voted for me for your support, and I wish all of you a Happy New Year.

In the neighboring counties we have a County Legislature who has hired lawyers to sue the County Executive over their budget.

We got a Legislature and an Executive in Washington that almost pushed our nation off the fiscal cliff.

Look, relationships could be tough and governmental relations are no different. Whatever differences some of us had last year can either be left to frustrate this body, or we can join together and do what I heard last month – become the policy making body that we are authorized to be. I opt for the latter and believe you all do so as well.

Together we did accomplish many good things last year. We led on economical development issues for projects such as the Olympic Regional Development Authority taking over the Belleayre.

We also pushed back against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in action at Williams Lake and we successfully positioned the Hudson Landing project with State funding.

We accomplished what I believe was every major goal of Charter reform, and we enacted the first county “brine” law in New York State.

We led the effort in the Town of Wawarsing to hold the New York City Department of Environmental Protection accountable and help secure millions for Wawarsing and began to sign the first buyouts for the flood ravaged families.

We called out the New York State DEC for cuddling the serial polluters known as the New York City DEP.

We certainly had spirited committee debates and either we like it or not, we solved problems that were on this County’s plate for years, if not for decades.

We made promises and we kept them, but we do have more work to do.

Policy determination is the alignment of visions and goals among the County’s elected leaders in this chamber – as well as in our towns, cities and village halls.

I voted for, and many of you voted for an executive branch of government to ensure greater efficiency in leadership.

Many of us may have been disappointed by personality-driven differences, but is the result we must look for.

As a body, we have been most successful in our policy determining when we worked together.

Sometimes in this post-Charter legislative body there has been a lack of clarity on what is policy making and what is administration.

On the night of the 2013 budget vote leader Donaldson highlighted that the County Executive has been setting policy through his budget recommendations.

My friends, that is your choice, it is our choice. In 2011 it was the Nursing Home. In 2012 it was Flow Control. In 2013 it can be a budget that administers policy enacted by the County Legislature. Otherwise we can maintain the status quo. It’s your call.

There will ever be some overlaps between policy and administration, but it is up to this legislative body to ensure clarity of distinction on this issue.

Those without vision spent considerable energy on wrong, irrelevant issues, bouncing reactively from one topic to another. In short, they can’t see where they are going.

I know that you’re anxious to read the rest of the speech. It’s coming. Meanwhile, don’t be shy, comment on what you’ve read so far.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

NOTE: If I missed a few letters from the speech, the remedy is simple: let Terry Bernardo post the actual speech, and I will correct my mistakes, if any.

“Bernardo to become first woman chair of County Legislature” – a Blue Stone Press article published on December 16, 2011 – ends with this statement about the night of January 3, 2012:

“It will be a very special night for the Town of Rochester,” Bernardo said. “This will be a historic night for the town.”

So, on December 16, 2011 Terry Bernardo knew that she will be elected Chair of the Legislature on January 3, 2012. No big deal, considering that people in the know referred to her as Legislator-elect five months before the November 2009 elections.

Sure enough, as people could see it in the January 3, 2012 webcast, after twenty Legislators delivered their votes, Terry Bernardo gave a triumphant speech – what a historic night! – and the speech was posted on the Legislature’s website in less than 24 hours.

Fast forward to January 2, 2013. Expecting to win in a less triumphant manner, Terry Bernardo blocked the webcast. She got a challenger in Minority Leader David Donaldson. Borrowed from Liberty Coalition blog, here is the transcript of his comments made after he was nominated for Chair:

If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle choose to look the other way and vote for Mrs. Bernardo again, let me refresh your memory.

We all read her recent press release of accomplishments for the year and a claim that freshman jitters caused the problems.

Let’s look at the year without her rose colored glasses.

Soon after taking the position of Chair, Terry started her first freshman terror: She fired or forced out the professional staff of the Legislature that were supported by both sides of the aisle and that served for the past two Legislatures.

She then brought in her own political cronies, including Independence Party operatives, an out of county counsel, and a rarely seen Deputy Clerk for finance. In one press interview she said the practically no show Deputy Clerk was hired for economic development. A day later in a different press interview she claimed he was hired as our financial expert.

In reality he was neither. It was strictly a political payback at the taxpayer’s expense. Your vote for her created that.

She then hired a budget analyst with no financial background. Once it was obvious that he was not up to his assignments she transferred him to a secretarial position.

As a result, all this year this body has had to rely totally on the Executive for budget information. At the last minute we had to hire an expensive outside consultant to carry out the 2013 budget analysis. The consultants then had to rely extensively on the County Executive’s Office because we had NO ONE. Your vote for her created that.

How often have I heard Terry and others say that the Executive has too much power? Much of that power comes from the idea that the Executive always hires quality people. How much does the Bernardo hiring practices weaken us?

In another freshman power tantrum the Chair used her office to block various resolutions from even being debated in committee, including an attempt to block a minority pick for the LDC board that was actually endorsed by many from the majority and all because it didn’t fit her agenda.

These were frontal assaults on the basic principles of democracy which continued throughout the year. The “freshman jitters” brought about a lack of understanding the principles this nation is founded on.

Despite Terry’s attempt to silence the Democratic Caucus, it was the Democratic Caucus that brought forth most of the legislative accomplishments this year.

The first Hydraulic “fracking” Brine ban in the State was drafted by Democrat Ken Wishnick and came from the Democratic Caucus.

The Truth in Taxation started as a Terry Bernardo poorly drafted freshman attempt that suffered from being illegal and having no support. Tracey Bartels drafted an alternative that got the full support of the Legislature and actually became law, but of course it was claimed by the freshman Chairwoman as her accomplishment.

Terry talked about embracing technology and heralds Tracey Bartels legislation that requires the posting of audio minutes from Legislative Committee meetings, when in fact she fought tooth and nail to block this legislation. The audio recordings of the committee debate would show that reality. Now she claims it as an accomplishment.

She claimed victory for the Safety Net takeover, yet she voted against the resolution that actually paid for it.

For Economic Development she listed the Ulster/City of Kingston shared tourism even though she attempted to block the proposal by holding it in committee for months.

She also tried to block the continuation of the highly successful Department of Tourism in favor of a plan concocted by the head of the IDA to give the county’s tourism money to either the IDA or have an outside business interest take it over.

Only after the Tourism Advisory Board members began to speak out forcefully against this political agenda and when we were on the brink of losing State money did the resolution come to the floor.

We passed a first time home buyer exemption that Terry voted against, while simultaneously supporting huge tax breaks for underperforming businesses, one such business owned by her and her husband. She mentioned none of this in her list.

She listed the deduction in taxes and spending as an accomplishment, yet she voted against the very 2013 budget that accomplished that goal.

She claimed victory when signing the contracts for the buyout of homes – flooded homes in Wawarsing by a NYC water supply. In reality she had nothing to do with it.

The State repurposed flood funding money. This gave NYC the opportunity to cut their liabilities by joining in. But, neither the State nor City would do any of the extensive property and legal searches, working directly with the home owners on all the legal issues or coordinating the lengthy documents and court papers. That was done tirelessly by the County Attorney’s Office and the Emergency Management Coordinator.

Terry carried out the Chair’s perfunctory requirement mandated by a legislative resolution, but only after calling a press conference to witness it, she then claimed victory.

She described her first year as having “freshman jitters.” A Chairman of any Legislative body should have some idea of what they are doing before they take office, not a year later. And I don’t mean what each tap of a gavel means! Will next year be marked as a sophomoric study in government?

As Chairman, perhaps I wasn’t good at signing contracts in front of the press or sending press releases out whenever we accomplished one of the many reforms we began. This year I learned a valuable lesson about that.

I was showed that you can create press releases claiming the opposite of reality as well as taking credit for anything done within the county and it will be printed and some will actually believe it.

I had the honor of being the last CEO Chairman and I had to work closely with both sides of the aisle to solve our financial problems and make the needed reforms, one being creating and ushering in a new charter. Where we failed, I took the blame just as the Chairman before me.

This year I learned a new lesson in leadership. It is better to blame others and chalk up mistakes as “freshman jitters.” I just never realized that incompetence is an acceptable excuse!

I ask for your vote to create a coalition government. I will not change committee chairs, I prefer to let the committees work.

If not, I ask one of you to stand up and offer yourself to serve. Don’t continue to let the tail of an Independence Party oligarchy wag the Republican Dog. I realize the Chairman of your party is beholden to this oligarchy, but don’t let him take you personally down that path.

As a lifelong Democrat I never thought I would say that we need a strong Republican Party, but we do.

Another historic night. Terry Bernardo got a reprieve. She was re-elected strictly along party lines, 13 to 8 (with only Papa Parete crossing over). Left unchecked, she would act as a nasty dictator. Blocking the webcast and not posting the 2013 Chairman’s Address are just the beginning.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

As we’ve learned from the previous post – Kamasutra: The Chairman’s Position – Ulster GOP Chairman Roger Rascoe has no use for blogs and pesky comments.

I’m curious what’s the Chairman’s position vis-à-vis opinions expressed on a “real” newspaper’s website. Below are a few comments posted on Freeman Online about a subject dear to Mr. Rascoe: Terry Bernardo.

• So Ms. Bernardo has a goal of “making Ulster County ‘the most drug-free county in the nation’”? Good luck with that. When she discovers how to do it, she can pass that knowledge on the the feds for the “war on drugs.” How much of our county resources are going to be spent on this goal?





• 
Bernardo is an absolute waste of tax dollars (and a thief in receiving tax incentives on the family business); she does not represent the citizens of Ulster County or the Town of Rochester and is basically a complete waste of time and energy. Shame on her and her “politics.”
• 
Looks like daddy Parete must have grounded his boys Richard and Robert. Daddy surely schooled his too boys on good old U.C. politics. “Now boys you are democrats. But we need to support Terry, a republican.The two of you will need her husband, Len’s support, I mean return favor, if you want a political future here. Let daddy take the blame from the democrats for voting for Benardo and the two of you stay out of sight!” Wouldn’t it be nice to actually have politicians working for our future and not only theirs? I guess we will keep reelecting the same ones…
• Is it me or does Mrs. Bernardo not quite understand what she is suppose to be doing there? I am perplexed at these sub committees, drug task forces, and other suggestions that exclude the Legislative process of Standing Committees. Why not just assign the task to the standing committee responsible? Why create another layer of bureaucracy to cloud the issue and further delay action? 
How the Majority decided it was in their best interest to reappoint Bernardo is beyond me, she seems to be living in some sort of alternate universe which is not connected to the reality of what the Legislatures responsibilities and duties actually are.
• 
Looks like the Republicans have decided they want the Democrats to run the Legislature again. With this vote, they rolled out the red carpet for Executive Hein to continue to take on the role of policy maker via Budget and assure that there will be another year of defensive, exclusionary, and non productive legislative so called leadership, with Mrs. Len Bernardo and Co. at the helm.
• 
Let me lay out the REAL plan for 2013 (based on every year’s plan): 
”Argue, bicker, quarrel, and fight among each other, get nothing accomplished, and head over to Little Italy after the meetings for drinks.”
• 
We the taxpayers do not need this person in this position. See this article about her business skate time 209. If she cannot handle her own business properly then how can the taxpayers trust her with monies that are not hers?


• 
No qualifications are needed to be elected at any level anymore. 
You are correct about her business practices, but why would anyone assume she will do better with our money, than hers is beyond me… 
However it’s not just local anymore its country wide. Incompetence must be a requirement to run for political office these days.
• Yes, that and lack of common sense are both requirements to run for political office today!
• Every time I hear Mrs. Len Bernardo speak, I am struck by how ill suited she is to be Chairman of the Legislature. As long as she is running things, there will be no progress in the Legislature coming to terms with what their role in Government is. Mrs. Len Bernardo and her team have done nothing of substance and there is no reason to believe that will change anytime soon.
• I would suggest that you do a little historical research. There were many people who worked on this problem (Wawarsing flooding) long before Bernardo’s husband finagled his way to putting his wife in office. It had nothing to do with Bernardo or her out of county appointees. The wheels were in motion when they were still telling the IDA they were going to hire 25 people at their new place.

Do you hear anything Mr. Rascoe? Mr. Rascoe?

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

Ulster County Republican Committee’s website features this message from Chairman Rascoe:

Blogs – The Chairman’s Position
I consider myself a patriot and as a veteran, I often think about the one-million, three hundred thousand plus men and women who have given us the ultimate sacrifice of their lives to preserve our freedoms in this great country. Today, as I check in on the various blogs that have popped up on the internet, I think it time that as the Chairman of the County Republican Committee that I make some form of comment regarding these blogs.

Most recently, local blog sites have sprung up with interesting names and meanings. The content and information on the blog sites is left to the editorial privilege of the writer and the comments made in response to the content, most often anonymous, enjoy the same privilege as the blog site author. Politics in America, New York State and certainly in Ulster County has become more and more polarized and these blog sites are a venue that contributes to more and more polarization and conflict between opposing views.

As the Chairman of the County Republican Committee, I will not be drawn into or comment on any blog site as doing so would only add fuel to what seems to be an unending fire that continues with uncontrolled growth. I believe it more my responsibility to work towards bringing more civility into the local political process, to express the views of our Party in a dignified manner and to encourage our elected officials to work more towards finding things we can agree on than on things we certainly cannot resolve through caustic fighting and name calling.

To all you bloggers out there, have at it and thank you for exercising one of our greatest freedoms. I thank God that we live in this great County and Country where we can express ourselves in whatever manner we may choose. Out of respect to those that gave their lives for our freedoms and in consideration of my responsibility to the position of Chairman of the County Committee, I will not join you in that forum.

With kind regards, Roger Rascoe, Chairman

Let me start by thanking Mr. Rascoe for his service. I designed the Veterans’ Park in the Town of Rochester, and I feel strongly about showing respect to our heroes. That being said, I am perplexed by his statement that “out of respect to those that gave their lives for our freedoms” he would totally disregard the Ulster County political blogs. Is it possible that he doesn’t have anything meaningful to say?

Mr. Rascoe writes: “I believe it’s more my responsibility to work towards bringing more civility into the local political process, to express the views of our Party in a dignified manner and to encourage our elected officials to work more towards finding things we can agree on than on things we certainly cannot resolve through caustic fighting and name calling.” I write: “Terry Bernardo.”

Considering what Mr. Rascoe did – or did not do – since taking the helm, “the Chairman’s position” was instrumental only in screwing the Ulster County Republican Party.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

As published in Blue Stone Press – January 4, 2013

To the Editor: When attacked – most recently by Steven Fornal in his December 21, 2012 letter – I remember what a good friend told me in church, on a Sunday morning: “with so many attacks, you must be doing something right!”

I came to America with a suitcase, little English and a Master of Arts (class Valedictorian). I worked full time while getting an MBA in Marketing/Advertising (top 10% of the class). My last year in college I won the Phillip Morris Marketing / Communication competition. After graduation I joined my husband’s advertising agency as VP of Point Blank, Inc. For 25 years I managed the advertising budgets of quite a few countries. We built a reputation for creativity and excellence in service. As Kent Victoria’s Board President I was in charge of the co-op’s million dollar budgets for over 20 years. And I have the records to prove everything.

Apparently, moving upstate in 2001 completely altered my character. My applying for a volunteer position on the Historic Preservation Commission triggered accusations of being responsible for the Internet pornography. Two judges ruled in my favor but Fornal still brags of seeing my porno site. Nice man.

Daughter of a political prisoner in Communist Romania, I was granted political asylum in the USA. I kept my maiden name in my father’s memory. Becoming an American citizen in 1989, I added a “c” to my last name, to make it easier to pronounce. In 2007, Ruth and Alan Bendelius sent a letter to every town resident asking “who is this woman with two identities?” and absurdly suggested that I changed my name “to get away from the porno site.” Nice couple.

Our travel advertising business was greatly affected by the 9/11 tragedy. One by one, our clients closed their New York offices until there was no business left. Upon moving to Kerhonkson we started another business; unfortunately, the recession began a few months after we spent all our money to finish building the antiques store on Route 209. We chose to simplify a complicated financial situation through a voluntary ASSET bankruptcy. Terry Bernardo posted our bankruptcy petition online. Guess who sent defamatory letters to NYS Bankruptcy Trustee and to Attorney General’s office? Very nice.

Fornal writes that we “somehow” secured “over THREE DOZEN credit cards and MAXED OUT every one of them to a total of just under a MILLION DOLLARS.” Final court documents – accessible here and here – show that the proceeds obtained by selling our paid-in-full-properties ($304,000) exceeded by $45,000 the total of the legitimate creditor claims ($259,000). Steven Fornal is a liar.

Here is another Fornalism: “Serving on the Town Board Manuela received a salary from taxpayers while failing to pay her own taxes.” The inconvenient truth: we never owed back taxes. You might have heard the double-dipping-double-residence rumor. The Attorney General dismissed it three years ago, but Fornal is still spreading it. You might have heard the grant-restoration-money-used-to-build-the-store rumor. The inconvenient truth: when the economy deteriorated, NYS rescinded the grant. That did not stop a Bernardo campaign worker to tell people not to vote for “Manuela the thief.”

Rumors and innuendos – spread by the same bunch of people – have been used for years in order to damage my reputation. When I defend myself, they accuse me of playing the victim. I have courage, determination, and – because my father could not be heard – I always speak the truth. When I tell the truth, they accuse me of seeing imaginary conspiracies.

When you are told in front of 10 witnesses – by former UC GOP Chairman Catalano – “you are not married to the right guy” and “I’d do everything in my power to get you out of my way,” that’s reality. When same Catalano writes “Terry Bernardo needs to be one of them. The Chairman of the Independence Party would like his wife to win as a Republican and I EXPECT you to honor that request!” – THAT is conspiracy.

My message to the Bendeliuses, Bernardos, and the Fornals in our town: enough is enough. Stop repeating the same spicy rumors of your own making. If you can’t help it, at least come up with something new.

Manuela Michailescu
Kerhonkson

Patricia Doxsey’s video – Ulster County Legislator Hector Rodriguez comments on Chairwoman Terry Bernardo’s address to the Legislature: