Rochester Smoke Out

Len Bernardo, Chairman of Ulster County Independence Party and
Terry Bernardo, Chairwoman of Ulster County Legislature.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

“At the request of Terry Bernardo, Chair of the Legislature, Legislator Carl Belfiglio as Chairman of the Environmental Committee arrogantly rammed through a party line vote last Thursday, August 2, 2012 to get Requests for Proposals to sell the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency.”

The above paragraph is taken from the following press release:

Donaldson Urges Republicans to End the Dangerous “Shoot, Ready, Aim” approach to the UCRRA

At the request of Terry Bernardo, Chair of the Legislature, Legislator Carl Belfiglio as Chairman of the Environmental Committee arrogantly rammed through a party line vote last Thursday, August 2, 2012 to get Requests for Proposals to sell the Ulster County Resource Recovery Agency.

“This was done either for foolish political reasons or out of total ignorance of the understanding of the relationship the County has with the UCRRA. This is yet another example of the inept and poor leadership demonstrated by the Republicans of the Ulster County Legislature. We need to explore solutions in a cooperative responsible manner”, said Minority Leader David Donaldson (Kingston).

“There are complex legal, financial and logistical questions that need answers prior to spending taxpayer dollars on a consultant”, advised Environmental Committee member Legislator Ken Wishnick (New Paltz). “How can a Request for Proposals be solicited for the sale of assets that are owned by a state created public benefit corporation, and not the county? The UCRRA’s transfer station in the Town of New Paltz is built on town owned property. Can a private company assume the right to operate there without town approval? If the UCRRA can be sold, the bondholders would have their interest payments changed from “tax free” to “taxable.” Might Bondholders oppose a sale and even sue Ulster County? Would this make it impossible to sell even if the county came up with all the $31 Million plus in principal and interest in advance? Since grant funds were used to construct the Materials Recovery Facility, how much money will the county need to refund the state if the UCRRA is sold?” asked Wishnick.

“I am appalled that the Legislative Chair and Committee Chair would blindside the committee and force through such a poorly thought out resolution. This proposal is utterly irresponsible”, stated Environmental Committee Deputy Chairperson, Legislator Tracey Bartels (Gardiner). “How will trash and recycling be environmentally managed if the UCRRA is sold? How does the county plan to address the fact that state law requires the DEC to pre-approve a sale as part of Ulster County’s Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan? Since the UCRRA is responsible for removing leachate and monitoring test wells at landfills located in the towns of Lloyd, New Paltz and Ulster until 2027, who will assume this responsibility? How many millions of dollars will taxpayers need to put aside for these and other oversight costs if the UCRRA is sold?” questioned Bartels.

Environmental Committee member and former UCRRA member, Legislator John Parete (Boiceville) stated, “This is what happens when a Committee Chair is over his head. The resolution is factually incorrect, misleading, incredibly premature and ill conceived. Why Legislator Belfiglio authored this, is beyond me. This irresponsible act may very well impact the UCRRA’s ability to conduct their business and negotiate contracts with municipalities and vendors. The UCRRA’s planning process is now frozen while the Republican Leadership fiddles. This may very likely cost the County taxpayer $1 Million or more in added net service fees.

Parete further stated, “We need to use common sense. According to the Town of Ulster Tax Assessor, Republican Legislator Jim Maloney, the value of the buildings and land are just $1.3 million. It seems to be magical thinking to believe that a private company would pay over $30 million for this property and limited assets”

The Deputy Chairman of the Finance Committee, Legislator Don Gregorius added “Ulster County’s contract with the UCRRA in Article VI, Section 6.02 Termination of Agreement states “the County shall have the right to terminate the Agreement on 360 days of written notice subject to… payment by the County to the Agency of an amount sufficient to defease (payback or make whole) the Bonds…” If a year’s written notice is required to sell, why wouldn’t the Environment Committee allow sufficient time to vet the issues? How does the county plan to pay the over $31 million to pay back the bonds?”

“Why hasn’t the Republican Leadership even consulted with the county’s procurement office to see if the Legislature has the authority to proceed with an RFP before initiating this process? Shoot, Ready, Aim is what we expect in comedy, not government. This display of arrogance and ignorance is very dangerous, both environmentally and financially, for the people of Ulster County” concluded Donaldson.

Contact: David Donaldson 845-399-8709

Terry Bernardo offered plenty of lip service about good, non-partisan governance in her inaugural speech on January 3, 2012:

“And we will give our business owners and the public excellent service – which is what you, the taxpayers, are entitled to. We will do this with confidence never arrogance… with bi-partisanship, not dictatorship… and with an intelligent purpose, not merely a media focus.”

Here is more:

“We shall partner with our friends in the Executive’s office to implement and help create the policies we pass…”

…it’s a long way from what one of Bernardo’s blogs proudly admits: “Terry Bernardo and Mike Hein have been feuding.”

We the people know that elected officials should provide excellent service in a non-partisan manner. But Terry Bernardo already forgot what she promised in January:

“We can and must do this without ego or politics as best as we possibly can… because our job… all our jobs in county government… and we already know this… is to provide excellent service.”

Without ego or politics? Impossible for Bernardo. Time to look for somebody else, with a genuine desire to serve, not a sick ambition to gather power and control.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

By proxy or not, Terry Bernardo – the Chairwoman of the Ulster County Legislature – writes on Mocking Robin:

Richard T. Cahill, Jr. has more brains in one of his farts than Robin and her siamese twins from Kerhonkson do in their three bodies put together. And he never gives up.

After discovering this video in the Cahill Family Archives, we know exactly what she meant. And it’s true: he never gives up…

Enjoy your weekend!

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

There is nothing on this earth to be prized more than true friendship. If it happens that your friends would stand up for the same principles as yours – then you are double blessed. For too long I neglected to thank Tavi Cilenti and Diana Puglisi for showing others that I’m not alone.

Thank you, Tavi!
When Len Bernardo asked David O’Halloran to call a meeting of the Rochester Republicans – to discuss the nomination of legislative candidates – Tavi Cilenti answered:

From: Tavi Cilenti
Date: June 10, 2009 10:58:13 PM EDT
To: David O’Halloran
Cc: Jon Dogar-Marinesco
Subject: Bernardo

David,

Although I am not a member of the Executive Board, I have a strong opinion about your e-mail. WHY would Republicans want to hear an Independence Party member explain the actions of Republicans. The state of our political system is as it exists today, because the concept of winning above principles has eroded politicians’ moral character. I do not believe it is worth winning the legislature if we do not have true Republicans in the seats but only those that can win by making deals.

We would be better to have democrats in the legislature’s seats who are true to THEIR party and their principles. At least we can trust that they will do what their conscience dictates. I believe I am a true Republican and will speak out against “deals” of any kind.

PS — I am copying Jon for publication if so he wishes.

Tavi Cilenti

Thank you, Diana!
When a back room deal was made 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 – Diana Puglisi sent this email:

From: Diana G. Puglisi, M.D. [DocP001@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 12:26 AM
To: Linda Berns
Subject: Client services

Dear NYCLU Advocate,

I feel that I am among roughly 18,000 voters in my District (District 1-comprised of the Towns of Rochester and Wawarsing in Ulster County) who have been deprived of their right to choose a legislator this coming election.

The “short version”:
There are 4 legislative seats open this election. The Chairman of the Republican Party apparently made a deal with the Democrats to cross-endorse their 3 candidates (incumbents) in exchange for the Democratic endorsement of 1 Republican candidate. Furthermore, they have agreed that NO OTHER candidates but those 4 will be nominated for the 4 openings. Essentially, these 4 candidates have been appointed! What motivation do I and the other 18,000 voters have now to go to the polls this election? We don’t even get the courtesy that the Communist countries get to vote “Yes or No”.

Minority party lines won’t provide much more choice either, since the Chairman of the Independence Party was also a part of this deal – agreeing to endorse a Republican ONLY IF that Republican was his wife! Another highly qualified Republican candidate was turned down by the Republican Chairman and not allowed to run at all – in fact reports that the Republican Chairman threatened “I will destroy you if you try to run and ruin this deal”.

Please let me know if there is any assistance that you can provide.

Respectfully yours,
Diana G. Puglisi, M.D.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

This information comes from a Freeman article by Patricia Doxsey: Ulster County takeover of Safety Net costs would hit some taxpayers hard.

Ulster County is the only one in New York that asks its municipalities to pay their share of Safety Net costs. The amount each municipality pays is proportional with how many benefit recipients live in that community. Money are raised by way of local property taxes.

A move by the state to change the cost-sharing formula from the historic 50-50 state-local split to one that calls for the local government to pick up 71 percent of the costs has prompted county officials to once again consider assuming those costs.
…
If the county bore the entire local cost of the program, it would be applied to the county tax bills of residents in all the municipalities, even those with no Safety Net clients.
…
The Safety Net welfare program would have cost taxpayers in most Ulster County communities more last year had the county assumed the entire local financial burden of the program.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

You didn’t know that a driller sued the Town of Rochester for 36 million because of a local law prohibiting fracking, did you?

Relax, it’s just a joke to help me make a point. Driller to NY: Stop the local bans, or we’ll sue – an article in Freeman – certainly suggested the scenario…

ALBANY, N.Y. — A natural gas drilling company is taking a new tack in the industry’s fight against local drilling bans: It’s threatening to sue if New York regulators don’t step in and extinguish the prohibitions.

It’s true that the environmental concerns mushroomed lately:

More than 30 municipalities in upstate New York have passed bans on gas drilling and more than 80 have enacted moratoriums in anticipation of DEC completing its environmental review and lifting the 4-year-old state moratorium. The actions are in response to fears that fracking, which frees gas by injecting a well with chemically treated water at high pressure to crack rock deep underground, could contaminate water supplies or cause other harm. Drillers and DEC say state regulations and standard industry safeguards protect against harm from drilling and fracking.

The natural gas drillers say local laws create a web of regulation that impede development, and we see more action in courts of law:

A Pennsylvania court last week ruled that the state can’t restrict localities from using zoning laws to regulate oil and gas drilling within their borders. Ohio townships were stripped of regulatory authority over gas drilling under a law passed in 2004. Ordinances enacted by a handful of West Virginia communities to ban gas drilling were overturned last year by a judge who said the state has sole authority to regulate the industry. Morgantown, W. Va., enacted new zoning ordinances recently that restrict drilling to designated industrial zones; an industry group has said it may challenge that in court.

So, it’s not impossible that someone might sue the Town of Rochester because of a drilling ban. Given the volatility of the judicial proceeding, it’s not too far-fetched to imagine the town losing in court and having to pay a few gazillions, give or take.

Now, the municipalities didn’t wake up one day asking themselves “why don’t we pass a fracking ban tonight.” If they passed a law against drilling, they did it under pressure from anti-fracking activists coming to public hearings, defending their cause and waving sheaves of papers bearing signatures.

And now, please, allow me to introduce you to my idea… At the top of each page on which signatures are gathered, insert this paragraph in bold letters:

I support this cause as well as passing of a law in favor of it. I understand that if my Town is ever sued for money because of this law – and loses in court – I promise to pay the Town a sum equal to the total amount of found liability divided by the number of signers.

For example, if the Town loses 36 million in court, and 100 people signed the petition, each must pay $360,000. Simple. Fair too.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

DISCLAIMER:
Do not label this post as pro- or anti-fracking. Any cause would do it.

“The new plan, unveiled at Republican and Democratic caucuses Monday, would for the first time give voters the final say over a new district map for the Ulster County Legislature.” Reading this in Freeman’s article sounds good, doesn’t it?

Wow, give control to the people! What a novel idea! But how realistic is such a plan?

Did anybody check to see how many people know their own Legislative district? What about Election or Congressional, or State Assembly districts? Check for yourself, you’ll die laughing…

For various reasons, voters are uninformed. Why give them power over the work of a tasked Redistricting Commission which reaches its decisions after considering huge amounts of data – from sources not readily available – and the input of experts?

As proven by the recent Federal Primary of June 26, 2012, record low turnouts are the norm. What makes the Legislators believe that voters would beat down the doors of the polling places to vote on something they don’t really care about?

In our Legislative District 21, voters don’t know who is representing them, let alone the district’s boundaries. Our own “legislator” Terry Bernardo does her best to keep voters NOT informed. She never corrected her website and her information on record with the New York State Board of Elections. As recently as July 2012 she still filed financial disclosures reports for District 1 (Saugerties).

Leadership is about finding solutions, not playing ping-pong with issues. When becoming Chair of the Legislature, Terry Bernardo promised repeatedly “excellence in service.” Probably as in “Her Excellence, Terry Bernardo.”

Throwing the hot potato to uninformed voters is avoiding responsibility. In Madam Chair Bernardo’s immortal words “Instead of us saying ‘It’s a bad map,’ (voters are) putting it on the ballot and letting the public say it’s a bad map.” Huh?

First step in educating voters is to make them active participants – via public hearings – in the redistricting process. The Redistricting Commission would then incorporate the conclusions of such meetings in their decisions and the voters would have their voices heard.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

Here is a comment to my previous post followed by my reply. In the manner typical of Bernardo Beke Bull team, an accusation is made for the simple reason that it might stick.

See my reply. Never heard from them again.



You should know that all blog operators are able to see the IP address of the computer from which a comment originates. Here it is (highlighted in yellow):



In the absence of a Court order, the IP address does not identify the computer’s owner, but it gives you bits of information:



Looking above, I see that someone on Bernardo Beke Bull team uses TOR – a German company – to hide his real IP address. It seems a little excessive when all you do behind the fake IP is post a lie on my blog.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

PART THREE OF MANY

Remember Richard Cahill Jr.? No? The guy with enough drama in his life?
Yep, that Cahill… Well, a few days back he decided to make an ass of himself. Again.
In a recent post – Kudos to Imre – he wrote:

Recently, a challenge was filed to petitions filed for a Republican Committeeman position in the Town of Rochester. Imre Beke, Jr. filed the challenge as the person was seeking to run a primary against his father.

The objection was filed based upon fraud. The petition improperly used the same Committee on Vacancies used by the County Committee which included the names Roger Rascoe, David O’Halloran, and Gloria Van Vliet, none of whom gave their permission to have their names used on the petitions.

Scanning a few of Cahill Jr.’s recent posts, one thing becomes obvious: the guy lies to himself. First he reaches a conclusion, then he tries to prove its validity by religiously ignoring the facts:

FACT #1
Manuela Michailescu served two years on Ulster County Republican Committee representing the Town of Rochester. Please, don’t believe me, believe the Town Chair who wrote on this blog:

Jon,

…I could have appointed any registered Republican but I appointed your wife because she is active in GOP politics and a hard worker. She has had a seat on the committee for two years and has been invited (actively participated in meetings) to all meetings. All Rochester committee members represent all Rochester Republicans. Districts is purely a matter that comes up every two years when we do petitions. I’ve encouraged your wife to file her petitions and look forward to having her on the committee for years to come. Regardless of the district, we will all do our best to represent all Republicans in Rochester…

David O’Halloran

Hey, Cahill, are you paying attention? Where did you get the idea that O’Halloran had a problem with Manuela’s running for a seat on the Town Committee?

FACT #2
Like everybody else, Manuela received a petition form from the Ulster County GOP headquarters. Unfortunately, it contained errors (wrong address, wrong district). Manuela corrected the mistakes and printed a new petition form.

Hey, Cahill, still with me? Are you saying that Rascoe / O’Halloran / VanVliet supported Manuela on the petition form they sent her, but they opposed Manuela after she corrected her address and electoral district? Are you nuts?

FACT #3
Not being born yesterday, and knowing from experience Bekes’ modus operandi, Manuela sent a copy of the petition via email to Elections Commissioners Vic Work and Tom Turco for approval – before she carried the petition. She received two emails:

From: ttur@co.ulster.ny.us
Date: June 22, 2012 3:50:49 PM EDT
To: Manuela Michailescu manuela@oldbrickhouse.com
Cc: rascoe@frontiernet.net, david@pinegroveranch.net, gloryvan@hvc.rr.com, pj81955@aol.com
Subject: Re: Petition – GOP/Rochester Election District 2

Hi Manuela
The attached Petition looks fine. I have cc: the Committee to Fill Vacancies and Patty Jacobsen, Secretary of the Committee, so they are aware of the change and Patty can update our records.
Let me know if you have any other questions and enjoy the weekend.

Tom Turco
Commissioner of Elections
284 Wall Street
Kingston NY 12401
ttur@co.ulster.ny.us
845-334-5425

From: David O’Halloran David@pinegroveranch.com
Date: June 22, 2012 5:21:26 PM EDT
To: ttur@co.ulster.ny.us
Cc: Manuela Michailescu manuela@oldbrickhouse.com, rascoe@frontiernet.net, gloryvan@hvc.rr.com, pj81955@aol.com
Subject: Re: Petition – GOP/Rochester Election District 2

Looks good, david

David O’Halloran
David@pinegroveranch.com
845-626-7345

Hey, Cahill, wake up buddy! Try to process the above emails… the Commissioner of Elections wrote “The attached petition looks fine…” He copies all three members of the Committee to Fill Vacancies… One of them replies with “Looks good, David.”

Hey, Cahill! What’s your theory now? Rascoe and VanVliet kept mum just to entrap Manuela? Are you nuts?

Probably you are! Listen to you: “I personally spoke with Roger and David. Both stated they had NEVER given permission for their names to be used.”

Of course they had never given permission for their names to be used! Nobody ever asked! Why would anybody need permission to run for a seat in one particular election district in their town?

It’s never a good idea to contradict crazy persons, so let’s say that one needs permission to run for an elected position. How do you apply for such permission? Orally? In writing? And to whom? You beg each member of the Committee to Fill Vacancies? You beg them as a group? God forbid something happens to one of them, is there such a thing as a Committee to Fill Vacancies on the Committee to Fill Vacancies?

Also, how do you know you got the permission? Do they call you? Do they write to you? Do you get a letter? A permit? A tattoo? A stamp on your forehead? C’mon Juniors, you must have the answers… Obviously you’ve seen a permission, or know somebody who got one… Otherwise you wouldn’t talk about it.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco