Ogdensburg Journal - "Vote Renzi For Senate"

The Ogdensburg Journal editorial endorsement of Dave Renzi touched on several items that have also been highlighted here during Darrel Aubertine's brief but tumultuous tenure as a Senator.

The editorial highlighted:

Empire Zone - Aubertine voted for an Empire Zone measure that directly contradicted the desires of Watertown Mayor Jeff Graham, Ogdensburg Mayor Bill Nelson and an earlier editorial written in the Ogdensburg Journal. The Senator had to reverse his position and later called for the Governor to veto the bill that he supported.

Wind - contrary to the Attorney General and ethics rulings, Aubertine continues to believe local officials should vote on wind energy projects even if they stand to benefit financially.

Ethics Law - Aubertine hired his sister, which was in direct violation of legislation that he co-sponsored.

From the editorial, "We need an advocate in Albany, not an apologist."

Click on the editorial to the right to read it.

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.

Gun Owners - Pay Attention - This is HUGE!!!!

Dave Renzi has been speaking of protecting the rights of gun owners and how a Republican majority has steadfastly stood in the way of any infringement of those rights.

Further he has stated rights of gun owners will erode with a Democratic majority in the Senate.

HE IS DEAD ON WITH THAT PREDICTION. Read this lift from LoHud

New Yorkers Against Gun Violence and GunFreeKids.org, are both expected to endorse democratic senators Suzi Oppenheimer and Andrea Stewart-Cousins in their re-election campaigns today.

Oppenheimer is running against Larchmont Republican mayor Liz Feld in the state’s 37th district and Stewart Cousins is running against Yonkers Republican councilman John Murtagh in the 35th district.

The anti-gun groups issued a joint statement about the two democratic candidates saying “For almost a decade, the leadership in the State Senate has blocked passage of common sense gun legislation. The success of these two re-election campaigns are a critical component to ensuring the Senate acts to pass important bills in the near future, including, micro-stamping and improved regulations on gun dealers.”

The Charge Is Back On

It was beginning to look like the campaigns were going to pussy foot their way down the final stretch to the finish line; cordial debate last night and soft commercials, but Renzi charges it up for the final push. There is only one reason opponents do not like hard charging commercials - if they cannot defend them!

New TV and radio spots

 

Don't Follow His Lead

Darrel Aubertine used the people of Fulton and A.L. Lee Memorial hospital for political purposes, trying for a quick attempt at success in Oswego County after he won the special election, but Aubertine did not properly assess the situation and has miserably failed by not dealing with reality and misleading the people of that community.

In June of this year, he announced a deal with Oswego Health to keep Lee Hospital open, although, Oswego Health had no idea of the Senator's announcement. The Senator filmed a "You Tube" clip promoting a pending deal and followed that up with a news release. He has shamefully used the hospital and community in his campaign mailings and TV commercials. He used the situation for political gain instead of doing what needed to be done and assisting the facility for transition.

The Health Department has made numerous remarks to the contrary and today The Valley News online reports according to Health department director of Public Affairs Claudia Hutton, failure to deal in reality has cost the hospital funding.

From The Valley News

Because most hospitals that were mandated to close or change the scope of operations complied within the one-year deadline, those facilities were granted closure/conversion funds earlier, leaving those who did not originally apply with less, she said.

“They are receiving about one-third of what was requested,” Ms. Hutton said. “There’s only so much money.”

Still more evidence that Aubertine simply does not understand the issues and the job, from the article.

State Senator Darrel Aubertine’s recent campaign flyers (sic) have suggested that the hospital will remain open. “Protected 200 jobs at Lee Memorial Hospital by standing up to the government bureaucrats and getting the job done,” the flyer states.

His office did not respond to requests for comment, however, when asked following the recent debate held in Fulton if the campaign material was misleading the community into believing that the hospital would remain open, Aubertine said no.“I saved it,” he said.

Read the entire article here

Lee Memorial awarded funding for closure costs

Aubertine vs. Ethics AGAIN

Darrel Aubertine's ethical judgment has been a centerpiece of the 48th district Senate race. Again, Aubertine comes toe to toe with ethics and again he comes up on the short side.

A letter to the Town Board of Cape Vincent written personally by Aubertine states; 
"While some may feel that these elected officials should abstain from voting on this matter, my belief is that they should not ... I feel it is ethically proper that in this case all board members should vote on the issue at hand." This is the direct opposite of an opinion by the Jefferson County Board of Ethics.

Even after the Board of Ethics opinion, and in this campaign as recently as last week, Aubertine has consistently said voting on an issue that will provide personal financial benefit to an elected official and voting on a budget that taxes everyone fairly is the same thing. Clearly, he is misguided, one is a conflict while the other is not.

It is the MO of the wind power companies to deal with landowners and get signed contracts prior to working with local governments to establish proper approvals and zoning. It is their intention that the lure of money is enough to blur the lines and set aside your responsibilities as an elected official. The public can decide if that is the right or wrong approach.  

Important to note, Renzi has supported alternative energy sources, such as wind, with a proper process in place. 

Here is the letter. 

Hey Darrel You Missed One

NYSUT has reversed their position on endorsements. They "suspended" their endorsements over the tax cap debate, but now they are back into the political fray.

Strangely enough, they endorsed their usual slate of incumbents both Democrats and Republicans and they have always been big supporters of Darrel Aubertine.

Oops not this time the only Democrat left off their list was Aubertine.

*Note to his supporters, do not attempt to tell people it is because he is gaining his independence. He is tied so tight to unions that he bleeds special interest, he takes special interest positions over farming interest.*

Here is the list

 

Carthage Central School 12 Honors Class Meet and Greet

The 12 Honors Class of Carthage High School will host a Meet and Greet town hall style meeting with Dave Renzi tonight October 20th at 7:00pm, Village of West Carthage Community Room.

Everyone is welcome.

Darrel Aubertine was offered the same opportunity, at first he did not respond, then after prompting his campaign responded but a date has not been set by Aubertine campaign yet.

(Hint Hint: the Election is in two weeks)

Effective??

This is Darrel Aubertine in June of this year taking political advantage of a dire situation surrounding A.L. Lee Memorial Hospital in Fulton.



Then he features Lee Memorial Hospital again in his campaign TV ad saying he saved jobs, then it is included in a mailer (see below) which proves this is poor posturing for political purposes.

If you read The Valley News article over the weekend on Lee Hospital (see it here) Aubertine has not been effective and there is no pretense here about staying open and he should stop using the hospital as an example.

This is a lift from the article where Claudia Hutton from DOH is commenting.

She added, “The reasons for the Berger mandate have not changed. Fulton’s population continues to shrink. A.L. Lee has low utilization as a hospital and is only 12 miles away from Oswego Hospital, a larger, more modern, and more sophisticated facility than A.L. Lee. Oswego Hospital is also in better financial shape. A.L. Lee has been unable to present the health department with any studies attesting that the community needs it to remain an acute-care hospital.

“We don’t expect A.L. Lee to remain status quo, so we don’t expect that our award to Oswego Hospital will drop in size,” she continued. “This is not cash we’re giving away. It’s funding that will be paid out under a contract Oswego Hospital will sign jointly with the state Health Department to reimburse them for construction and related costs for their emergency-department modernization.”

Someone please define "Still one of us"

Syracuse Post Standard Endorses Renzi

Syracuse Post Standard has endorsed Republican David Renzi for the 48th Senate district seat and Democrat David Valesky for the 49th Senate district seat and their decisions were based on REFORM.

Read the Renzi endorsement here
Here are some lifts:
48th SD

Aubertine says he has always been a reform advocate, never more so than now, when he is a minority member of the Senate and is virtually excluded from legislative decision-making. Yet when he was a member of the Assembly majority, he did not play a major or vocal role in urging more open government.

Aubertine has been dogged by careless maneuvers.

Renzi says he will back reforms to empower rank-and-file lawmakers, strengthen the committee process, establish independent ethics oversight and expand public disclosure. His animus toward the Department of Environmental Conservation for regulating land use is misguided. But his energetic focus on serving his constituents - and his avowed commitment to a more open, effective legislative process - show promise. He deserves the chance to put that energy and commitment to work in Albany. 

Side note, the Post Standard video taped the editorial endorsements

Watertown Daily Times: Shows He Is Not A Reformer

Jude Seymour did a piece today in the Watertown Daily Times on Darrel Aubertine's double talk on reform. Jude did a nice job pointing out what legislation Darrel failed to support that would have reformed New York State government.

Read it here
Here are some important lifts from the article:

But as an assemblyman, Mr. Aubertine opposed four resolutions, introduced last year by the Assembly Republican minority, that bear similarities to a reform package he championed this July as a Senate minority member.

Instead of offering any explanation of why Darrel did not support reform after being a member of the Assembly majority for 5 years, Cort Ruddy instead went on the attack as a diversion

The senator, through his campaign coordinator, Cort M. Ruddy, offered no explanation for why he voted against the four Assembly resolutions.

Mr. Ruddy characterized Mr. Renzi's press release as "a classic game of political gotcha"

Call it what you will Cort, but it is reality!

Renzi Has A Good Proposal

Stumbled across this good proposal while reading the Oswego County newspapers this morning. Perhaps it was a miss if it was printed locally, but this is a great idea by Renzi.

"Golden Parachutes Tax" proposed by Senate candidate Dave Renzi.

The article was in the Pall Times (see it here) where Renzi talks of the state living within the means of the taxpayers of New York and protecting our fair share during the decline in revenue and spending.

Renzi responds to the Wall Street crisis with a good idea that shows creative thinking. If you are mad at Wall Street for your losses you will like this proposal. 

Lift from the article:

The second part of the plan would create a golden parachute tax where New York would impose a high level of taxation on payouts and bonuses. Renzi also wants executives to be held accountable for reporting their earnings and creating a law to make them give back bonuses and extra compensation when they put taxpayers’ investments at risk.

Aubertine Goes Negative

An unusual move for a campaign that boasted about a big lead, it is unusual they would go to the extremes of negative advertising. Can anyone make sense of this move? What do you say Danger D, the manual to the right does not explain the move? You usually run right off the cliff claiming the sky is falling, the sun has set and a campaign is over when it goes negative, what say you now? How about the poll you had on your site about Renzi going negative, do you have one today asking if Darrel is still one of us?

Visit Danger Democrat here early and often he is sure not happy and will weigh in on this political heresy of the Aubertine campaign sometime soon. 

Aubertine ain't no Mr. Clean any longer, he has shown his true political colors from January to now.

Senate Debate - Gouverneur

The Gouverneur debate took a refreshing departure from the other debates, while both sides load up the audiences, decorum prevailed last night, even to the point where the student moderator stood up and requested that people hold their applause.

Congratulations to the student for recognizing it is the candidates and their views and not the audience participating.

The debate also featured very stark ideological differences between the candidates, on issues of minimum wage, gun control, DEC and partisan political influence on voting on issues.

An odd comment came when the candidates answered questions about this being a stepping stone and career politicians. Renzi responded he is not looking to make this a career, while Aubertine agreed, yet Aubertine is a 14 year politician and every other office has been a stepping stone for him. 

Here were the biggies for the night.

Wind Conflict:
Aubertine declined to disclose his contracts and amounts when questioned why he is voting on issues regarding wind power that present a conflict. He refuses to understand voting on an issue where he stands to gain financially being different than voting on a town budget where everyone pays their fair share. Renzi was smart here, when Aubertine attempted to avoid answering the question, Renzi gave up his rebuttal time and requested that Aubertine answer the question.

Budgets:
Aubertine told the audience that he wants to leave education and health care intact while the legislature attempts to resolve the state budget crisis. Financial expert after financial expert say that is impossible.

And, he stated he will not support home rule legislation for county sales tax. This will create a $12-15 million deficit for Jefferson County forcing either massive layoffs, a property tax increase in the area 30% or a combination of both.

The Senator needs to reconcile these thoughts on state and local budgets, he wants it both ways and that cannot be achieved.

He Has A Short Memory

Darrel Aubertine has already demonstrated his short memory by voting for the ethics reform legislation and then hiring his sister. He is once again demonstrating his lack of recall on issues.

He has campaigned on reform while this blog has constantly reminded people that he has been in the state legislature for 6 years, 5 of them as a member of the Assembly majority, which has given him amble opportunity to move reform legislation.

So now he wants to become the poster child for legislative reform. But wait one minute, what we have witnessed with Darrel Aubertine is - there is his version and then a real version.

His proposed reform packager:

• Home Rule Bill Legislation, 
• Conference Committees, 
• Bill Sponsorship,
• Equal Resources.
  

Here is the real world. The following are copied directly from a press release of Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco dated March 5, 2007.

• All legislators shall receive equal resources and staff allotments. Currently, Assembly Majority members receives more than twice as much money to pay staff as do their Minority counterparts ($183,373 per Majority member versus $86,092 per Minority member);

• Require immediate convening of conference committees when bills addressing the same subject have been passed by both chambers;

• Require bills with Home Rule requests from local municipalities to be considered in committee within four weeks of introduction. Currently these types of bills are jammed through at the end of session and are often used as political bargaining chips;

• Permit each legislator to have at least one substantive bill discharged from committee and voted on the floor each legislative session;

Whoa! Tedisco's and Darrel's reforms are identical to each other and Tedisco proposed his reform a year and a half ago while Darrel was a majority member of the Assembly. So how did Darrel Aubertine as a majority member of the Assembly respond to the minority leader Tedisco's request for reform then.

He voted NO on all of the measures.

Come on Darrel, do not insult voter's intelligence. This is so disingenuous it is absurd, you are taking voter's intelligence for granted. This is just plain wrong and it speaks to a larger issue of credibility that is plaguing you and perhaps enough for voters to turn you away from office. You had the opportunity to pass reform measure and you failed, do not try to tell voters you support reforming New York State government, because it is only when it serves you.

Trust is everything Darrel and you are losing it rapidly with voters.

Scalpel Please!

The Watertown Daily Times editorial today cuts through all the campaign rhetoric and examines the ethics issues in the 48th Senate District race.

For the editorial click here.

Here are some highlights.

Darrel Aubertine hiring his sister was a violation of the Public Officer's Law, which Darrel Aubertine voted for while he was in the Assembly. Once a violation occurs, the law requires the appointing politician repay the state the amount of payroll and up to a $40,000 penalty, neither of which has occurred to date in Mr. Aubertine's case which is nearly six months after the incident.

This line below is directly from the editorial and it speaks to this issue, but also speaks to the larger issue of governing in our state; our poor financial situation at the state, the general lack of leadership witnessed in the last 8 months in the 48th Senate district, the ATV, NYPA or A.L. Lee Memorial Hospital issues are all examples. 

Apparently Mr. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, did not understand the law he voted for.

That comment speaks volumes.


On the other hand, Dave Renzi participated in a wide spread and accepted practice of classifying a municipal attorney as an employee, where a municipal attorney will easily put in more time than the elected official that they are advising. The Attorney General's office did an about face earlier this year on the practice of allowing this situation to occur.

And finally this line directly from the editorial that sums it all up.

David Renzi did understand the new rule and he voluntarily complied. He did not cost the taxpayers anything. Darrel Aubertine has yet to comply.

State Finances Getting Worse

For those of you who say there is not enough pro Renzi campaign material on this blog and too much anti Aubertine.

Well, here is food to chew on!

New York State's budget woes continue to decline as LoHud reports the budget has sprung another $1.2 billion leak, leaving revenues short of expenses for the current budget year leading to another round of cuts.

This is simply poor management by lawmakers and if they were running a private company they would be fired. 

Years of spending too much, every last penny politicians could get their hands on and then some, leaving nothing to cover precarious situations like this year. New York lawmakers find themselves reacting.

Dave Renzi solutions:
1. Tax and spend policies are the problem and budget growth should not be allowed to exceed the rate of inflation. 

Renzi cites his preference while Aubertine avoids that conversation because he has consistently supported excessive, out of control, double the rate of inflation spending growth which is how we got to where we are today.   

2. State needs to reduce unfunded mandates on local governments and schools.

Both Renzi and Aubertine agree on this issue.

3. Maintain our fair share in proportion to other districts.

Renzi cites: school aid increased from the Governor's original proposed budget by $400 million while at the same time the aid increase in the 48th Senate district went in the opposite direction from the governor's original proposed $47 million increase to $46 million, a loss of $1 million in aid while others increased. This is a point lost on Aubertine.

Oswego SD 48 Debate

It was political theater at it best last night in Oswego for the third debate of the Senate candidates David Renzi and Darrel Aubertine. It was a standing room only crowd, which was stacked with Aubertine supporters who were well prepped to moan and groan at every response Renzi gave, it was as if they were suffering from constipation. Nonetheless, Renzi maintained his focus on the issues, responded with crisp answer and challenged Aubertine's position on issues, while Aubertine was rather flat.

Highlights on some of the issues discussed.

Medicaid:
Asked how they would rein in the cost of the massive program. Renzi pointed out he would target fraud and waste as a means to reduce the cost of the program while Aubertine mentioned the 3% growth cap for counties instituted by the state and further he stated he favored zero growth to the counties.

That is positive news for the counties but, Aubertine's idea does not reduce the overall cost of the program, it just shifts the cost to the state.

Nuclear Energy:
This is an issue Aubertine seriously misstated his position. He was asked why he had a change of position on nuclear energy and was it for political purposes. His response was seriously flawed. He stated he did have a change of heart and it occurred about 10 years ago.
,
WRONG, it is for political purposes. He was still a county legislator 10 years ago in 1998, and probably not even thinking about nuclear energy and in 2000 he stated this to reporter Drew Mangione, who now does all his talking.

Jefferson County Legislator Darrel J. Aubertine on other issues:

Nuclear power plants: I would support a bill that would phase these plants out. One of the things you have to look at is energy conservation, try and cut down the need to use so much electricity and make business more aware of how to be energy conscious.

Gun Control:
The candidates were asked what they would do about protecting gun owner rights. Aubertine response was to do what he has done in the past. The oppressive actions in Assembly were only stopped by the GOP controlled Senate. Renzi used the opportunity to remind people of the importance in keeping the Senate in Republican control because they support gun owner rights. Then he mentioned that rights would be infringed upon if control of the Senate flips and the issue got the crowd moaning when he said, "say goodbye to your guns if Democrats get control." He was being candidly correct, it will be more difficult to own them, more costly to own them and much more difficult to use guns.

Ethics:
This was the biggie of the night! Aubertine stated was preparing to repay the money earned by his sister when he illegally hired her. You may say this is good and it is, BUT it took months to occur and only after a political opponent called it out during a debate, and aired it on a TV commercial. This was an admission of guilt but he continues to display ethical lapses and poor judgment by being forced to have to pay the money back.

There were more issues that will be highlighted in other posts.

Nepotism, Ethics - It Is Not Negative, It Is An Issue!

A new campaign ad in the 48th Senate District race. This ad deals with the issue of ethics and specifically the violation of Darrel Aubertine hiring his sister. This is a legitimate campaign issue, much like the Democratic candidate Rich Dollinger's ad in Monroe County.

Candidates Defined Project

The in-depth interviews that were conducted on an informal basis with the candidates are available for viewing. The interviews focused on allowing the voters to get to know the candidates a little better; beyond the TV commercials, the radio, or direct mail, beyond characterizations of what type of people these candidates are, here they speak for themselves.

Thank You to Dave Renzi and Addie Jenne Russell for participating. Bobby Cantwell or Darrel Aubertine did not participate. Danger Democrat and Political IV sponsored the interviews.

Here are the interview, they are long, so set aside time. Also, they will be left posted on the side.


Addie Jenne Russell 

David Renzi