"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have"
Thomas Jefferson

Friday, October 31, 2008

News Release On Wind

The news release was worthy of posting as received and here are some random thoughts that go along with the news release.
  • The Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo has been actively campaigning for Senate Democratic candidates across New York State, but he has not made an appearance for Darrel Aubertine!
  • Why has Aubertine refused full disclosure on his contracts? There should be nothing to hide and if he believes in reform then full disclosure should be the rule. Yes, they are proprietary like he states, but he is an elected official and his contract with the company should not be any different than other landowners who have contracts with the same company. 
As an elected official, he has different obligations than the general public and he has already violate his obligations by voting on wind power legislation in the Assembly, which he should recuse himself from and the letter encouraging others to violate the ethics decision of the county was wrong.  

RENZI HAILS ATTORNEY GENERAL'S NEW WIND 'CODE OF ETHICS;'
URGES OPPONENT TO RELEASE HIS OWN WIND CONTRACTS

Guidelines were prompted by reports of corruption involving officials with financial stake

State Senate candidate Dave Renzi today praised state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for his announcement of a new "Wind Industry Ethics Code" designed to stop corruption by requiring greater transparency and disclosure by public officials who have personal stakes in wind turbine projects.

Among the provisions of the Attorney General's Wind Industry Ethics Code is the requirement that public officials disclose dealings with wind companies, including making public the details of contracts by filing them with the local County Clerk.

"Wind power promises to play a major part in our nation's effort to wean us from foreign oil, protect our environment, and help create an entire industry and jobs revolving around green energy," said Renzi. "But sadly this nascent industry has been tainted by scandal and questions of unethical self-dealing involving elected officials across the state."

"We need to hold our government leaders to a higher ethical standard. That's why I am urging my opponent today, in the spirit of this new Code of Ethics, to release the full details of his secret wind energy contracts, so that voters and local residents can judge for themselves if he has acted appropriately and in compliance with the law in his dealings with these companies," said Renzi.

Attorney General Cuomo's Wind Industry Code of Ethics sprung from his investigation into whether companies and public officials may have acted improperly in relation to wind power projects.

Darrel Aubertine has been accused of using his public position to improperly influence local actions involving a wind farm project in his hometown, Cape Vincent. Aubertine holds contracts with at least one wind company—worth as much as $100,000 a year, according to a report in the Syracuse Post-Standard.

But Aubertine repeatedly has refused to release the details of his contracts, or fully explain his dealings with the companies, concerning his secret deal.

The Code prohibits gifts from wind power companies to elected officials, requires companies to publish the names of all public officials with a financial stake in their projects and requires that all leases and easements for wind power be filed with the County Clerk.

Aubertine has filed two "memoranda of leases" with the Jefferson County Clerk for possible wind turbines on his property, but these contain almost no information about his financial stake in the project.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

WHAT?!?!?! NO COVERAGE OF RENZI'S "DIRTY TRICKS" OF GETTING STATE SENATORS DEFRANCISCO, BETTY LITTLE AND JOE GRIFFO TO PLAGIARIZE ON HIS BEHALF???? I'M SHOCKED!!!

Anonymous said...

Darrel should release his contracts so voters will know what's in his secret deal.

What does he have to hide??

Anonymous said...

I'm tired of Darrel always coming off as innocent. He's not that dumb.

Coming from a man that thought the Gov wanted to hire him as the chair of the power authority, you'd think he'd have more tact than to say its not a conflict to vote on contracts you have an interest in.

Anonymous said...

Of course, Darrel is so conflicyed on wind power that he has to lie about it and hope that no one notices! He's one of us, after all.

Danny M. Francis (Eyepublius) said...

This "charge" quoted from your a post abofe - "Darrel Aubertine has been accused of using his public position to improperly influence local actions involving a wind farm project in his hometown, Cape Vincent. Aubertine holds contracts with at least one wind company—worth as much as $100,000 a year, according to a report in the Syracuse Post-Standard. But Aubertine repeatedly has refused to release the details of his contracts, or fully explain his dealings with the companies, concerning his secret deal.

That is a pretty serious "charge," why is it not sticking - why are there no "official" inquires, nothing "official" - seems to me if there were "charges" that real, the state somebody would be involved and not just a PS article and IV BS article?

In my way of thinking, either: "Charge the man officially and let's get it on," or: back the f**k off and stop the political mudslinging and slander attacks.

Anonymous said...

The GOP is blowin' in the wind. Stick a fork in them - cause they're done.

Anonymous said...

Danny you couldn't be more right, he hasn't been charged with anything because he has done nothing improper. He has every right to write his elected officials the same as anyone else regarding any issue the town faces. There is no 100k agreement with anyone, that is a complete lie. All the republicans are doing is twisting the issue to make it look like he has done something wrong. Classic republican stunts.

Anonymous said...

Why isn't the state comptroller's office under investigation by Cuomo. They have been taking all these so-called illegal pension checks from the lawyers. I'll bet they never thought twice about taking all those checks. Seems like the Dem AG is turning a blind eye to the Dem Comptroller. If the comptrollers office knew it wasn't legal to have these people in the system then why did they put them in to begin with???? A Darrel spin again. All the character assinations are a turn off. Funny how when Darrel ran against Barclay, he claimed it was Barclay turning dirty. Different opponent same thing. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you

Anonymous said...

That fork thing, being done and all, I wish that phrase was done. It's used too much. It's old. Really old. Tired, as in worn out.

Please use other words.
Boring.

HAHAHAHAHA

Live Blogging