Senate Candidate Barbara Donno - Trouble in Plandome Manor

Being mayor should be a bonus when running for higher office. Unless of course there are some issues your constituents have with the way you run things. Here are a few things from a website called Planedomemanor.org. The site has been around since 2005 so it's not a political setup for the senate race. It's "A Resident’s Perspective."

"CONTROLLING/REDUCING VILLAGE EXPENSES:
Using quickly called meetings to hide decisions from public view, the Village has borrowed $500,000 using public bonds for the first time in Village history. In addition to this debt, the newly proposed budget calls for dipping into the reserve fund by $175,000 and increasing taxes 7%.

One example is the Stonytown road construction project. No effort was made to secure CHIPS grants for road improvement or Nassau County grants for improvements in storm drainage.
While around 1/3 of the project involved roads owned by other entities, no efforts were made to share costs with these entities before the project began. As a result, we will be paying for this project in our taxes over the next 5 years.

In 2004, the Village spent $399,235. This year the budget is $1,334,889 with increases proposed for next year. I fail to see how Mayor Donno can cite reducing expenses as an accomplishment."

"THE LEGACY OF LEGAL COSTS:
There are no accomplishments here. We have no less than 4-5 attorneys from 2 separate firms addressing legal issues that should have been settled. Legal fees for the 3 months of October- December 2007 exceeded $81,000. In 2004 our legal fees for the entire year was $22,094. Legal fees are currently the single highest category of expense for this Village. Legal expenses have drastically increased since Mayor Donno moved legal services to a company managed by her friend.

"ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT:
Many residents didn’t know that Mayor Donno moved the village office to the Higgins Law
building (Mayor Donno is a long time friend of the Higgins). This has increased the Village’s monthly expenses. Little was done to work with the Science Museum for more space, and nothing was done with Nassau County to see if any County space could be used inexpensively. We were approached by another Village to share space, and cut costs, but cutting costs are not a priority for this administration. As a result our rent has tripled on a 10 year lease on this space.

Unfortunately, important Village meetings are now ad-hoc, sometimes at the Town of North Hempstead Town Hall, and sometimes at the Science Museum. Residents can’t find meetings because they change location and are poorly announced.

We have outsourced our Village government. Our Village employees no longer need to drive through the Village to see issues. We have lost a great sense of what it means to be a Village."

"IN CONCLUSION:
As someone who supported Barbara Donno in the last election, I feel greatly let down in the past year. Her “Year in Review” letter inaccurately portrays the events of the past year and is a disservice to the residents.

Mayor Donno has moved the Village to space owned by a friend of hers. She is running Tony DeSousa and Mary Lou Diorio, good friends of hers, as candidates for Trustee.

We need Trustees with their own opinions, not ones who were picked by the Mayor to rubber stamp her actions. We need a diverse set of people with different ideas and perspectives to balance a Mayor who seems unable to control spending or accurately describe her own actions to the residents."

Where Does Massapequa School Board Candidate Gary Bennett Live?

School Board elections are supposed to be non-partisan but in the last election and this one, a local elected official is pushing a candidate.
I was sent a link to a site called Pequatruth.com that provided some interesting information on one of the candidates this year.
Candidate Gary Bennett who has had an interesting back and forth in the letters section of the Massapequa Post has questionable residency and a problem with the truth.
In a flyer distributed in the district, Bennett claims to have been promoted to the position of "Sheriff Investigator." According to a FOIL by the website, there is no such thing as "Sheriff Investigator." And the FOIL shows Bennett is not being truthful about other claims.
More interesting and something that means Bennett shouldn't even be on the ballot is an article from the May 29, 2007 Fire Island News. In that issue, Bennett is a candidate for Ocean Beach Village Board of Trustees "Gary Bennett is another candidate hoping to add diversity to the five member Board of Trustees. Bennett has been a lifetime visitor of Ocean Beach and has recently established his primary residency in the village.
“When you are living here and spending more time here you get a feel for the village and the people,” Bennett said. “I’ve come to love it very much.”

So last year, Bennett changed his primary residence to Ocean Beach so he could run for office. After he lost, Bennett says "I may be the bid looser, but I don't feel like one,” said Bennett at a Board of Trustees meeting the morning after the election. “This election has been a great testament to our Village.”

So now Bennett is a candidate for Massapequa School Board and tells the Massapequan Observer that "The public is being misled by these administrators who are only too glad to take advantage of an ill-informed public and fill their already overloaded pockets."

Who is "misleading " Mr. Bennett?
Why can't you tell the truth about your resume?
Are you a legal resident of Massapeqa, the Town of Oyster Bay and Nassau County?

The Massapequa School District will have a real problem with someone like Bennett on the board.

Craig Johnson Has GOP Challenger and She's Already Stealing His Lines

HUGE Hat-tip to Philip over at The Albany Project for catching this.

Republican challenger and Plandome Manor mayor Barbara Donno is in the race and had this to say "What we see in Albany today makes us all angry," she says via the press release. "As a mom and former elementary school teacher some of the things I see in Albany - from BOTH parties - makes you think some of them would benefit from a 'time-out!"

Now here is Senator Craig Johnson just a few short months ago speaking about Dean Skelos's hissy-fits "Skelos yesterday vowed to win back the 7th. "We've always been known as 'The Long Island Nine,' " he said of the area's GOP senators who now number eight. "We're going to be back as The Long Island Nine and Craig Johnson is not going to be a senator after November."

Johnson shot back, "My response to Dean is what I tell my 3-year-old and my 6-year-old when they are having a temper tantrum, 'Take a timeout.'"

In Barbara Donno's next press release she will assure us that the 'only thing we have to fear is fear itself' and 'Ich bin ein Berliner."

Building Monuments to Yourself with Taxpayer Money

A lack of Humility is a major character flaw. One of the main reasons to get into public service as an elected official is... PUBLIC SERVICE. You're not supposed to be in it for yourself.
The recent hubbub over a school complex in Queens being named after State Senator Frank Padavan (R- Jamaica). It was named after him because he was able to get taxpayer money for the campus. And he accepted the naming.
Here in Nassau County we have Skelos Field.
Yup, that's right. Dean Skelos has a park named after him.
An ounce of humility in Padavan or Skelos would have them say "No thank you. Name the place after someone more deserving. Like a veteran, firefighter or or other local hero."
Just because they got the taxpayer money to pay for the things doesn't mean it should be named after them.
Andrew Stengel and Beth Foster of the Brennan Center for Justice have an op-ed in today's NY Daily News and they cover some of the ethical and legal problems with the namings.
"The state's Public Officers Law is clear on this: Elected officials cannot receive extra compensation or any gift of more than nominal value. Placing someone's name in a prominent place, whether it's an actual building or a tract of land, has monetary value. That's why many ballfields around the country are known by corporate names, like FedEx or Petco. Citibank will reportedly pay $20 million per year to call the new Mets stadium Citi Field.

Naming a school after Padavan appears, at the very least, to violate the spirit of the law, which says that an elected official cannot "solicit, accept or receive any gift having a value of seventy-five dollars or more whether in the form of money, service, loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality, thing or promise, or in any other form ... in the performance of his official duties or was intended as a reward for any official action on his part."
Worse still, according to the chancellor's regulations, "schools may not be named after living persons." The chancellor and others worked around this rule by arguing - get this - that it doesn't apply to a campus."

"It's all well and good to name property or monuments after beloved elected officials. Who doesn't know somebody who graduated from a Lincoln, Eisenhower or Kennedy public school?
But it's the height of cynicism to dole out naming rights to current officeholders when they direct public money - our money - to pet projects. After all, it is the job of a state representative to serve the district - that's Civics 101. If every sitting legislator's name were affixed to all the fruits of their labor, then their districts would look like giant elected official strip malls.
There's a pretty simple solution here: The state must pass a law that bans naming of any public property after sitting elected officials.
Unless and until that happens, the new Commission on Public Integrity should rule that naming this school (or "campus") after Padavan, especially in the election season, violates the current law. That would serve as a lesson for all and avoid future "ambiguities."

Show some humility Dean and have the park renamed for someone else.

NY Post's Fred Dicker on Lack of Opponent for Sen. Craig Johnson

NY Post Albany reporters Fred Dicker and Brandan Scott discuss the difficulties for republicans to find challengers for the Democrats in the State Senate. Mondello seems to be settling on Plandome Manor Mayor Barbara Donno to lose to Sen. Craig Johnson in November.
Dicker is saying there is a "weakness in the [republican] farm team."
Listen to the audio below.

D'Amato Supporting Fossella - Thinks He Can Win Re-Election

Crooked Al figures Vito can get away with it "Meanwhile, on last night's edition of NY1's "Inside City Hall," former New York Senator Alfonse D'Amato said Fossella may be able to weather this political storm.

"He's not going to resign. He's either going to seek re-election [or not run]," said D'Amato. "And by the way, I don't think it has anything or much to do with winning or losing, but the incredible publicity and strain that will put on him and his family personally. And that is the decision he has to make, and I think that if he runs he can win."

School Attorneys Suing to Get Pension Credits Back

The gall of these people. Trying to wring as much money as they can out of taxpayers, getting caught and now suing AG Cuomo and Comptroller DiNapoli.
It figures that the four unnamed participants in the lawsuit are from Long Island.
From the Albany Times Union "An Albany lawyer is preparing a class-action lawsuit to try to stop Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli from stripping pension credits from lawyers who state officials say don't deserve them."
" While he wouldn't immediately divulge details of his legal strategy or name the initial plaintiffs, Roemer said he's representing four individuals from Long Island who have lost pension credits during the past few weeks.

"We've been working on this project, if you will, for almost a month and we've dubbed it 'Operation Pushback,' " said Roemer who is with the Roemer Wallins & Minneaux. He also is working with members of the DeGraff, Foy and Kunz firm."

"DiNapoli spokeswoman Emily DeSantis predicted the comptroller would withstand any challenge.

"These individuals were not entitled to that service credit because they acted as independent contractors, not employees," she said of those who've lost their credits. "We are confident that our determinations will be upheld."

Roemer has been one of the central characters in the pension controversy. His situation was detailed in a 1997 Times Union story that disclosed how he had accrued $80,240 in annual pension credits for his work as a labor contract negotiator for the cities of Utica, Schenectady and Saratoga Springs, as well as the town of Colonie and Schoharie and Sullivan counties.

By the time Roemer started collecting his pension in 2001, it was worth $119,874 a year, according to state records."

Mondello Still Silent on Fossella

Still nothing from State GOP Chairman Joe Mondello about Vito Fossella.
Mondello is quick to jump on Democrats but is suddenly struck mute when one of his own gets in trouble.
Is he maybe trying to figure out how to explain another lost seat?

Rob Walker Submits Bill to Help GOP Worker Get Better Pension

The Albany Times-Union has all the gory details....

"A bill advanced by the Senate Rules Committee, controlled by Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and sponsored by Assemblyman Rob Walker, R-Hicksville, would improve Julie A. Cleary's benefits at the expense of New York state's pension fund and her employer, the Nassau County Board of Elections."
"Cleary is the former secretary for Nassau County GOP Chairman Joseph Mondello. In 2006, Bruno helped Mondello become the head of the state party."
"Cleary, who worked for the state Senate from 1998 to 2004, began working for the Nassau County elections commission in 2004, public records show. She is a $107,531-per-year executive assistant to the Republican elections commissioner."
"Records show a Julie A. Cleary, of Wantagh, will turn 55 this June.
The bill for her was first introduced by the same sponsors in 2007 to reclassify her as a Tier 1 employee instead of Tier 2. The improved status means many more benefits and a bigger pension, although the comptroller's office had no estimates.
If she is designated as a Tier 1 member, she can retire at 55 with no early retirement penalties. As a Tier 2 member with less than 30 years of service, she would face an early retirement reduction of 27 percent, according to the comptroller's office."
Nassau County officials say they have no record of Cleary being on the payroll until 2004.
Jennifer Freeman, a spokeswoman for DiNapoli, said the bill is unusual because it comes with a past service cost of about $51,800, which would be paid to the pension fund by all employers who contribute to the retirement system -- state agencies, municipalities and other public entities. This cost would make up for shortages paid to the pension fund during the longer period of Cleary's membership in the system."

What Say You, Joe Mondello? - Rep. Fossella Admits to Affair and Child After DUI

Let's remind State GOP Chairman Joe Mondello what he said about the Spitzer-Call Girl revelations:
March 10th "This is a sad day for Governor Spitzer and his family as well as for the citizens of our state. It is hard to see how Governor Spitzer can hope to govern effectively while the political, governmental and legal consequences of his behavior swirl about him.”

“New Yorkers are facing hard times. They need a governor who is fully focused on serving their best interests. Governor Spitzer should do the right thing, not only for himself and his family, but also for all the people of New York. He should resign immediately, so New York's government can effectively return to serving its citizens.”

March 11th "The Governor not only betrayed the trust of his wife and children, he shattered the already fragile hopes of those New Yorkers who, little more than a year ago, had given him an overwhelming mandate to govern."

"Today, Governor Spitzer took the only course that his reckless and personally destructive behaviour left him."

Will Mondello call for Fossella to resign?
I'm not going to hold my breath.