Rochester Smoke Out

Look what the well-known conservative wingnuts had to say after the First Obama-Romney Debate concluded on Wednesday night:

James Carville:
“Obama just had a debate with a chainsaw.”

Dan Rather:
“Lets face it, Obama got his clock cleaned last night! I’m not saying he lost…but if he does it will be last night’s debate that was the turning point!”

Chris Matthews:
“I don’t know what he was doing out there. He had his head down, he was enduring the debate rather than fighting it. Romney, on the other hand, came in with a campaign. He had a plan, he was going to dominate the time, he was going to be aggressive, he was going to push the moderator around, which he did effectively, he was going to relish the evening, enjoying it.”

Bill Maher:

Kerhonkson, September 29, 2012 – Congressman Chris Gibson with Ulster County Republican Committee member (and former Town of Rochester Councilwoman) Manuela Michailescu at Kelder’s Farm during the Jennie Bell Pie Festival.

US Rep. Chris Gibson (R-Kinderhook) already represents most of the New York’s new 19th Congressional District. His challenger – Julian Schreibman (D-Stone Ridge) – is the former Chairman of the Ulster County Democratic Committee.

I don’t know if Schreibman did anything to deserve votes in Greene, Columbia, Delaware, Sullivan, Schoharie, Otsego, Dutchess, Rensselaer, Montgomery and Broome counties – all in the 19th Congressional District, but I know why he does not deserve the trust of the people of Ulster County.

Julian Schreibman is one of the politicians who brought us the embarrassment of having Terry Bernardo at the helm of Ulster County Legislature. Period. Schreibman and Ed Gaddy (Chairman of the Ulster County Conservative Party) went along with the dirty deal cooked in 2009 by Len Bernardo (Chairman of the Ulster County Independence Party) and Mario Catalano (Chairman of the Ulster County Republican Party).

Just to refresh your memory:

Ellenville’s Shawangunk Journal
“A back room deal was made a few months ago between the major parties to cross-endorse, thereby deciding to go around the voters completely and make sure the ‘right’ people won the election without any of that disturbing democracy business getting in the way.”

New Paltz Times
“Last spring, Republican chairman Mario Catalano and Independence Party leader Len Bernardo thought they’d cooked the deal of the decade in swapping three incumbent Democrats for a free ride on the Republican ticket for Terry Bernardo, the chairman’s wife.”

Ellenville’s Shawangunk Journal
“Voters in Ulster County’s District 1 (Wawarsing, Rochester, and Marbletown) don’t have any incentive to go to the polls when casting their ballots for the county legislature: there are only four candidates running for four seats.”

Manuela Michailescu forced a primary, won, and was the only Legislature candidate put on the ballot by voters, not by politicians.

In the 2009 General Election, Manuela Michailescu won the Republican line in all 17 local election districts. She won the Republican line by more than 400 votes:
Manuela Michailescu — 1719
Terry L. Bernardo — 1304

Terry Bernardo got elected on the Democratic line, thanks to Schreibman who, in all fairness – after realizing what was happening – stated that “the whole Indy movement was about making Terry chairman” (Indy Rising by Hugh Reynolds, New Paltz Times, December 8, 2011, page 6). Too little. Too late. You only lose people’s trust once.

Vote for Gibson!

Chris Gibson joined the United States Army in 1986 after graduating from Siena College. He served tours in the First Gulf War, Kosovo, and Iraq, taught American politics at West Point and was a national security affairs fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He has received four Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.

In 2010, the voters chose Chris Gibson as their representative in Congress. He kept his promise to always put Upstate New Yorkers first in Washington. We must re-elect him in November.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project’s “Trinity” test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan’s nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea’s two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear).

Congratulations to Liberty Coalition for breaking the 40,000 views mark.

Congratulations to Ulster County Cloakroom for breaking the 30,000 views mark.

And this is my 100th post.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

Rochester’s veterans loved to gather at the Rochester Veterans Park since the breaking ground ceremony. After the Park was completed in 2011, strange things happened – as shown in this letter to the Editor:

Blue Stone Press – September 21, 2012
Freeman – September 21, 2012
Shawangunk Journal – September 27, 2012

Veterans should be honored, not forgotten!

On any given night 107,000 veterans are homeless. This shocking information – glimpsed during a recent episode of ABC’s “What Would You Do” – prompted me to write this letter.

Ulster County is not immune to this problem. In an August 2012 press release, “County Executive Mike Hein thanked Governor Andrew M. Cuomo for signing important legislation to address the needs of Ulster County veterans.” According to Ulster County Veterans Service Agency “there are approximately 6-10 Ulster County veterans at any given time seeking emergency housing assistance.”

But the purpose of this letter is to look at what we do in the Town of Rochester to show respect for our veterans.

During my four-year term as Town of Rochester Councilwoman, I served as Town Board Liaison to the Historic Preservation Commission. HPC’s main effort and practically their entire budget was dedicated for years to completing the Veterans Park – continuing the work of former Town Board member Francis Gray, who spearheaded this project.

Our Veterans Park – just down the hill from the Town Hall, follow the new signage – is the result of dedication, determination, volunteer work and generous donations, spiced with heated arguments, delays and dilemmas.

In 2008, Councilman Tavi Cilenti – himself a veteran – and I discussed the project with Sen. Bonacic in Albany, but we didn’t receive any help; we just did it ourselves and it was finally completed and dedicated in 2011.

Unfortunately, I see a trend to play trivial political games with town celebrations. Instead of getting better, the situation got worse this year. The small ceremony at the Veterans Park on Memorial Day was not advertised at all – it was not considered a significant event. The chairs prepared for veterans in front of the Accord Fire House, where the parade ended, remained empty…

When Sue Cummings was our legislator she was always present at our town events; it’s really sad and disappointing to have now a Rochester Legislator who, two years in a row, joined the Memorial Day Parade organized by her husband only after the ceremony at the Veterans Park was over.

Nothing wrong with inviting a veteran from another town to speak at the Memorial Day 2012, even when he is a Bernardo-appointed legislative employee. To not invite our Rochester veterans was definitely wrong. Those empty chairs are a haunting image… Veterans should not be sacrificed for political gain or games; we are one town and should speak with one voice when honoring the veterans!

Veterans Day is coming; I sincerely hope the Town Board would make sure that on November 11 our veterans will be celebrated as they fully deserve. Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies should become a tradition at Rochester Veterans Park.

Manuela Michailescu
Kerhonkson

It’s really sad and disappointing that – for two years in a row – Terry Bernardo, the Legislator from Rochester, joined the Memorial Day Parade only after the ceremony at the Veterans Park was over.

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. But definitely the wrong decision was made by the emcee (Len Bernardo, above, in respectful shorts) to not invite our Rochester veterans.

Those empty chairs are a haunting image… Veterans should not be sacrificed for political gain or games; we are one town and should speak with one voice when honoring the veterans!

Wake up people!

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

A storm is brewing in Ulster County – with Len and Terry Bernardo under its eye. Bystanders should run for shelter. As Ulster County Cloakroom succinctly puts it:

…our favorite chairwoman of the legislature, and her would-be kingmaker hubby, have finally received some overdue media attention for their cozy relationship with the Ulster County Industrial Development Association, of which Bernardo towel boy David O’Halloran is the chair.

Kudos to Novinson – of the Times Herald Record – who “began the bloodletting:”

Terry and Len Bernardo’s Skate Time 209 has come under the Industrial Development Agency’s microscope for projecting the equivalent of 37 full-time jobs but generating only nine. The roller skating center and skateboard park has received nearly $160,000 in property and sales tax breaks since 2005. It’s slated to receive another $35,000 in breaks between 2013 and 2016.

Ulster County Cloakroom looks at the numbers:

Nice to see these number put in such stark relief. These are the alleged captains of Rondout Valley industry, the Bernardos, nothing more than welfare recipients living off the county dime. And we’re talking about a lot of money, nearly $23,000 annually of the taxpayers hard-earned cash going to pay for whatever — and leaving the rest of us to pony up the difference to make the county’s coffers whole. If you want to know why your property taxes are so high, one of the reasons is that you help subsidize the Bernardos upscale lifestyle.

The IDA crisis is big enough that even Huge Hugh Reynolds wrote about it – without mentioning the IDA chairman O’Halloran’s entanglement with the Bernardos. Back to Novinson:

Terry Bernardo, a Republican, became chair of the county Legislature this year. She has feuded with County Executive Mike Hein, a Democrat. Len Bernardo ran unsuccessfully against Hein for county executive in 2008. Current IDA board Chairman Dave O’Halloran managed Bernardo’s campaign.

Wake up people!

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

Desperately seeking relevance, Terry Bernardo wrote this letter to the Editor, published by Shawangunk Journal in the September 20 issue:

Truth In Taxation Was MY Promise

I am pleased that the County Executive has signed the Legislature’s Truth in Taxation proposal. This is one of the promises I made when I was elected Chairman of the Legislature. Now taxpayers will better be able to understand their tax bills. I applaud Town of Rochester Supervisor Carl Chipman and Town of Ulster Supervisor James Quigley for their advocacy and partnership with the Legislature in enacting this law.

Terry Bernardo,
Chairman, Ulster County Legislature

Typical Bernardo bull: say nothing, take credit, use big words, drop a few names… and dodge the truth on record (Freeman, August 19, 2012):

The measure, known as the “Mandate and Taxation Information Act” was adopted unanimously by legislators and now is before County Executive Michael Hein…

The proposed law is an outgrowth of the “Truth in Taxation” law introduced by Legislator James Maloney…

The plan adopted last week is a compromise between that measure and a competing “Transparency in Taxation” law crafted by Legislator Tracey Bartels…

Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee adopted the measure in May, but it was delayed in going to the full Legislature due to turnover in the Legislature clerk’s office. As a commenter aptly put it in Freeman:

…that is because the so-called leadership of this Legislature is petty, inexperienced, political, power hungry, vindictive and totally ineffectual. If Bernardo and her henchwoman Tantillo had the best interest of Ulster County at heart, there would have hired people who know what they are doing and not a group of out of town political hacks out for a paycheck. Shame on them.

So, an insert included with future property tax bills will show to County residents where their tax dollars go. Because we all know: when people bleed to death, accurate blood readings are a priority.

Did I mention that the cost of producing the county-wide-distributed insert would increase the already high taxes? Which I wouldn’t mind if the inserts would show how much we the taxpayers are paying extra to make up for tax breaks given to Bernardo’s business – Skate Time 209 – for creating imaginary jobs.

Wake up people!

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco