Rochester Smoke Out

Lawmakers, Charter Commission members still struggling to solve differences – an article in Freeman (July 26) – quotes Legislator Tracey Bartels (D-Gardiner):

Giving lawmakers final say over the map that will delineate legislative districts would put the process in the hands of those who have the most at stake.

Looking back at what happened during the 2011 redistricting with the Town of Rochester – coincidentally the home town of Terry Bernardo – proves Legislator Bartels’ point: you don’t put the fox in charge of the hen house.

In Rochester, the incumbent Legislator Terry Bernardo didn’t think twice about using the town for personal gain. It took determination from some of our elected officials to keep Rochester whole.

In April 2011, Manuela Michailescu made the town’s residents aware that Rochester was badly chopped in the initial proposals unveiled by the Commission on Reapportionment of the Legislative Districts (see map above). She wrote:

Manipulating geographic boundaries to create partisan, neutral, or incumbent-protected districts is a practice of political corruption.

Moreover, I consider the splitting of our town an outrageous attempt at destroying our identity. A 300-year old town, Rochester boasts of unique elements of economic and cultural geography. We must fight to keep Rochester whole, as its history and heritage dictate.

GOP Town Committee Chair David O’Halloran clearly stated in an email sent to me:

The latest district reapportionment draft map strips Rochester from County Legislature representation by dividing our town between three legislative districts. We will have a minority representation in each district, basically removed from county representation. Len wants a divided Rochester in order to eliminate my endorsement authority in Terry’s re-election bid.

An email from Rochester’s Town Supervisor Carl Chipman reveals Legislator Terry Bernardo’s effort to split the town in order to avoid being challenged:

August 14, 2011
Carl Chipman to Manuela Mihailescu:

Manu,

Keeping Rochester whole while redistricting the Ulster County Legislature was a very important issue. I appreciated your work on that and meant everything I said. Furthermore I also went to Terry and told her where I stood and that I would oppose her as forcefully as possible. Yes, I was upset with Len’s support for breaking up Rochester with Terry and you being placed in different districts. Furthermore I was upset with others promoting the breaking up Rochester in order to serve their own districts.

How many Legislators attended the final Reapportionment Public Hearing in April 2011? None. They were not interested in what the people had to say. On the other hand I wouldn’t say that many people were awake. Other than the Commission members, only three persons from the entire county were present: Rochester’s Supervisor Carl Chipman, Rochester Councilwoman Manuela Michailescu and I.

Let the redistricting map be drawn by an independent body.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

In the opinion piece Democracy Takes A Hit: Primary Thoughts – published in Shawangunk Journal on July 19, 2012 – Manuela Michailescu decries the low turnout in the Federal Primary of June 26, 2012 “where only about 1,070 voters from the county’s almost 30,000 registered Republicans went to cast their vote.”

She writes:

As an Ulster County Republican Committee member unable to attend the unofficial GOP Convention on May 31, 2012, when I suppose Bob Turner was “unanimously endorsed,” I realized that we have a Republican Primary only when getting a mailer from Wendy Long. This is the season for circulating petitions and I mentioned the primary to as many people as I could… Very few people knew about the primary, fewer yet knew anything at all about the candidates.

I strongly believe the information is intentionally obfuscated by Party’s leaders. They endorse a candidate and would go to extremes to defend their choice. And they are candid about it, as you can see in Ulster County Republican Chairman’s Message:

The general Primary Day will be on September 13th and hopefully we will not have any Republican challenges of our endorsed candidates for NYS Senate and Assembly.

Which reminds me of something Assemblyman Steve Katz (below) said recently: “Pre-primary endorsement is the root of corruption.”

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

According to the New York State Department of Labor, the unemployment in Ulster County rose from 8.8 percent in May to 9.1 percent in June.

Surprising numbers, considering how many of her friends Terry Bernardo hired lately.

Remember the pre-elections mantra? Look above. Terry Bernardo — A Watchdog for our Taxpayer Dollars. To quote David O’Halloran, Chairman, Town of Rochester Republican Committee: “Terry is a small business owner and will take good care of taxpayer dollars. She is responsible and capable and has earned our support.” She did, didn’t she?

Now take a look above. With 33 legislators, the 2011 Ulster County Legislature adopted budget is $361,837. With 10 fewer legislators at $10,000 a year, the 2012 Ulster County Legislature budget should have been $261,827. Instead, Terry Bernardo, the watchdog for our taxpayer dollars, brought it up to $451,030. 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 high chair.

Wait! That’s not all! The actual amount of employee health benefits paid to Legislature employees has increased from 2011 to 2012 by $96,261.60, and that’s with 10 fewer Legislators!

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

Beginning scene of the new HBO series The Newsroom explaining why America’s not the greatest country any longer…

Manuela Michailescu
Ulster County Republican Committee
Town of Rochester
Election District 2

An encouraging first step towards healing the Ulster County Republican Party.
999 more steps to follow…

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

I’m looking forward to the 2014 email from David O’Halloran announcing Imre Beke Sr.’s declination.

I can vouch for Imre Beke Sr. – he is very good at selling Virgin Mary Cancer Pills and excellent at not filing declinations on time.

In plain English, here are Imre Beke Jr.’s challenges:

2010
By adding “Town of” in front of “Rochester” on her petition, Town of Rochester Councilwoman Manuela Michailescu committed fraud by gathering 20 signatures from confused husband, friends and neighbors – who all thought she was running for a committee seat in the city of Rochester, 300 miles away, almost in Canada.
Collusion, corruption, and dishonesty would make anyone agree with Beke’s claim.
2012
By listing on her petition the same Committee to Fill Vacancies as the other nine Rochester Republican Committee members, Manuela Michailescu committed fraud by gathering 20 signatures from confused husband, friends and neighbors – all enticed to believe that she was running for her current committee seat without GOP’s blessing. Not that she – or anybody else – needs it. But why not infringe upon Manuela’s civil right to run in any district she damn wants, like – let’s say – Terry Bernardo?

To get any credibility, Imre Beke Jr. – the President of “Citizens United to Save America” – should change its name to “Citizens United to Save America from Manuela.”

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

…and look at what we have now, a totally ineffectual Legislature whose members are not even fighting for relevance or a voice.

Having Mrs. Len Bernardo lead them is the worst possible situation there could be. She is out for herself, her husband, the Independence Party and to force their way into political importance in Ulster County and beyond. They now have willing participants in their quest to become somebody in Ronk, Maloney, Rich Parete, Wishnick and Aiello.

The day the Republicans decided that Mrs. Len Bernardo was the right choice for Chair was without question, the darkest day in Ulster County Republican Party’s history.

Anonymous comment

Fawn A. Tantillo, Confidential Secretary to Chair Bernardo, sent out a press release headlined CHAIRMAN BERNARDO ANNOUNCES LEGISLATIVE STAFF APPOINTMENTS. Wednesday’s post on Ulster County Cloakroom – Bernardo Watch: Even More Cronyism – puts the news in perspective:

So, let’s review. Patty Jacobsen, who works for the Ulster County Board of Elections and should know better, gets a dead woman’s signature for Terry Bernardo’s petition for legislator. Vicky Fabella is Patty’s daughter, who got $6k raise as soon as Bernardo became chair and now gets another raise for her loyalty. Of course, Karen Binder’s seat hasn’t even cooled off, not to mention the harassment Binder underwent when Bernardo investigated the dying woman over the comp time she was using for medical appointments (which is a matter of public record and about which I will have more to say in the coming days).

Krista Barringer is a Bernardo pal who was bounced from her position as Director of the Ulster County Youth Bureau by Mike Hein, ostensibly for budget reasons but really because Barringer was using her position to enrich the Bernardos by steering youth bureau business to Skate Time 209. Barringer leaves another crony job working for Bonacic.

And Frank Reggero gets a raise because, oh, I suppose he peels a mean grape or something.

And all of them are making less money than their prior counterpart, dontcha know. Except the truth is Bernardo continues to spend money on her pals like a drunken sailor, now likely to be well over $100k more than the previous leadership spent for the same services (it was previously $96k more according to Robin Yess’s meticulous calculations).

Fiscal conservatism in action, folks.

Thank you, Count Ulster.

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

Invitations were emailed, people enthusiastically responded, the attendance record was broken… What an exciting party it was, as you can see in the painting above (on loan from Tantillo-Blosser Collection).

The trusted progressive media reported the event:

Happy Birthday Terry Bernardo! Tuesday night’s party was held at the Hillside Manor in Kingston and attended by friends and fellow politicos from across the county with a special appearance by State Senator John Bonacic. 

This is the camaraderie that I thought was long gone. People from all philosophies were mixin it up while eating birthday cake. The drinks didn’t hurt either. 

C’mon – you’d say – it’s a birthday party from February… yesterday’s news!
Damn right it’s yesterday’s news. You see, yesterday was the deadline for filing the July Financial Disclosure Report with the New York State Board of Elections. For the first time in years, Terry Bernardo filed her report on time – after paying $500 fines, she got religion!

Look at the guest-n-donor list below. If you see something worth a comment, don’t be shy!

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco