Seeds of Change

Sean Hennessey

2008-03-28T13:23:00.005-04:00

It's been a very long time since I have published anything substantial to this blog. Those of you who know me will know the circumstances that kept my attention elsewhere. I'm not promising that I will be publishing any more frequently than before, but I wanted to take a few minutes to discuss something of importance to me.

I am extremely pleased that the Jefferson County Board of Legislature seems poised to reorganize the Board of Elections. This is the right move at the right time.

Adding to that, I'm very pleased that Sean Hennessey will apparently continue as Commissioner, with a living wage and benefits. Sean is intelligent, thoughtful, conscientious, and hard-working. He stepped into the position at a difficult time, and without notice, when Cindy Corbett became too ill to continue the job. I believe that he felt that it was the right thing to do, out of both his sense of duty and his sense of compassion, and I appreciate both.

His training is not in management, but in engineering, and I'm sure that he has forgone many opportunities for advancement in his career in order to get the job done. He's already helped to conduct three elections within the past four months and all three went off without calamity.

Personal thanks go out to Sean, with best wishes for the future.

Ádh mór ort.

Midway Rides of Utica -- Ride Basic

2008-02-02T18:55:00.000-05:00

Midway Rides of Utica -- Ride Basic

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-20T16:34:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Betty Bowers on Jerry Falwell

2007-05-18T01:05:00.000-04:00

Dear Bereft Brothers and Sisters in Mourning:

Verily, I am crying as I type. You can imagine my shock in hearing that Reverend Jerry Falwell had been found dead, lying in a pool of his own gravy. First Anna Nicole, now Jerry. Frankly, the Lord seems to be on a fat, attention-whore killing spree! I’d stay indoors if I were Rosie O’Donnell. Well, on second thought, if I looked like Rosie O'Donnell, I'd be running through the streets screaming, "Here I am Lord! Come and get me!"

Gossipy paramedics told me that Jerry died of a faulty heart. Frankly, my only surprise was that he had one at all. Nevertheless, his yammering mug finally being silenced because he had a failed heart seems marvelously fitting. After all, while he was alive, this obscenely wealthy miser's heart seemed to fail him at even the most mundane opportunities. Jerry never gave anything to anyone other than an interview. Indeed, so parsimonious was this vain, oily swindler, in the aftermath of our nation's great tragedy on September 11, 2001, the only thing Jerry thought to give those who grieved was blame.

I first met Jerry when he swooped down on Heritage USA to pick Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's bones clean of any easily-liquidated assets and studio equipment. They weren't the first people to be trampled when Jerry smelled money -- or bacon. As I told Tammy at the time, it's downright suicidal to stand between Jerry and a working television camera. After all, Jerry was most TV talk shows' go-to guy when they needed the snaggletooth-hillbilly point of view, a notoriously un-telegenic demographic.

When CNN called, Jerry would drop everything except pounds for a chance to squeeze much of his face into unforgiving aspect ratio of pre-HDTV television. With his smarmy smile and affable facility for slapping a perfunctory "but I love him in Christ" at the end of even the most vicious, artless insults, he was rather effective in putting a charming, folksy face on demeaning other human beings and their children.

To us in the booming Christianity industry, Jerry was our Bill Gates, only he made his money marketing the actual bugs instead of the patches. So fleet was his ability to turn any sorrow or situation into an opportunity to tout the politics of self-satisfaction, he never seemed to get bogged down in all those many words Jesus blathered, long before America, when Christians were surprised to have a house, not disappointed not to have a beach house.


The type of Christians Jerry spoke to where rich people looking to get richer -- or poor people stupid enough to give what little they had to make those rich people's selfish dreams come true. While Jesus commanded that we help the poor, Jerry was a man less preoccupied with poor helpings than second helpings. Frankly, Jerry was always more devout when it came to the GOP than the GOD.

The Gospels were written with a canny eye to a crucifixion-crazy Roman government that jealously patrolled power. As such, they are rather careful to direct Christians not to meddle in government. Before you go and accuse Mr. Falwell of intentionally disregarding these Gospels, the jury is still out on whether he ever got around to reading any of them in between the all-consuming demands of both media and meals. In any event, Reverend Falwell's legacy is the marvelously cunning idea of having a democracy run by people who think only their voices matter. Perhaps, thinking "render onto Caesar" was simply a delicious admonition to pile more anchovies on a salad, Jerry, in helping to move America from republic to theocracy, rather deftly countermanded not only those troublesome Enlightenment Founding Fathers, but also that inconveniently socialist, pacifist called Jesus.

When it comes to people who distort Jesus' message of charity and austerity to make an enormous pile of cash from credulous people with televisions, I hate to speak ill of the competition. But it takes admirable courage and nimble logic to devote your life to issues Jesus completely ignored (abortion, global warming, tax breaks and homosexuality) while completely ignoring issues Jesus told you to devote your life to (love, charity, nonmaterialism -- and not devoting your entire life to being judgmental prick, I mean prig). Frankly, ignoring the worshipped is a wonderfully dexterous approach to worshipping. And what a streamlined, busy-girl-on-the-go approach to Christianity it is to slough off words Jesus said in favor of simply saying the word "Jesus" as your only sign of faith!

Believe me, you get more cash stuffed in offering plates and envelopes from the "Support our Troops" crowd when you turn a blind eye to the words of Jesus than when you turn a slapped cheek to the words of enemies. And speaking of enemies, Jerry's death calls for the one thing that fell most easily from his lips: that is, blame. (And I bet you thought I was going to write something about that time he tried to eat a whole jar of pickled-pigs-feet in one gulp!)

Frankly, I blame the homosexuals, abortionists, liberals, feminists -- and Hormel -- for Mr. Falwell's death. The Lord apparently lifted His mercurial veil of protection, saw how truly hideous this obese con artist had become and slapped the self-serving glutton into a place where his self-aggrandizing wickedness would go relatively unnoticed. After all, to Jerry, Hell will be any place without media attention -- and a buffet.

After Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Pat Robertson, Ted Haggard, Jerry Falwell and sundry other greedy frauds, it's a wonder the Lord hasn't pulled the licenses on all of His American franchises. But the 2,000-or-so-year delay in the perennially postponed Second Coming (to say nothing of sitting out that whole Holocaust thing) proves that the Lord is in no particular rush to do much of anything. Nevertheless, even the laziest deity must grow increasingly exercised (and trigger happy) in the face of someone devoting his entire life to giving that God a bad name. So, let's face it: when the Jerry said the Lord had revealed to him that he was living in the Final Days, a follow-up question for more specifics might not have been remiss.

Who knows what final straw caused the Lord to reach down and finally wipe Mr. Falwell from the airwaves. I suspect the Lord's patience reached a breaking point while eavesdropping on Jerry's recent conversation with Christiane Amanpour. Jerry told that troop-hating, Rory Gilmore-flattering, liberal pawn of the Mainstream Media: "If I have 20 more years, I will be able to accomplish my vision." I suspect that was a threat of such certain devastation even a Lord who played canasta throughout Katrina was moved to act.

As for the final destination on Jerry's journey, well, who amongst us mortals is to say for sure? Well, me, of course. Indeed, I performed a fairly reliable exercise in prognostication during lunch, almost more out of genuine curiosity than any anticipatory gloating. I had my help try squeezing a mildly anorexic camel through the eye of a generously wide needle (I am, if nothing, a fair woman when wishing ill on others). Alas, the results of this messy undertaking did not bode well for dear Jerry.

So close to Jesus, I toyed with telling Jerry, "That's enough bacon, dear" the day before,

Mrs. Betty Bowers

America's Best Christian

A Powerful Word

2007-02-13T00:38:00.000-05:00

The latest word to catch-on in the Iraq discussion is "mercenary."

Suggesting that the United States is sponsoring mercenaries to do its fighting in Iraq is akin to treason in some folks minds.

This writer has no problem with the proud Americans who are following their consciences into a patriotic endeavor in support of the red, white and blue.

But there is another force out there, made up of soldiers who are recruited in foreign lands to join the US Army, with the promises of all the benefits that America can offer - the kind of monetary wealth which is unavailable to them in their native land, plus the promise of higher education, other veteran's benefits, and going to the top of the list to gain US citizenship.

It is impossible for me to think of a foreign national as a patriotic American.

During World War I, many Americans rushed to Canada to join the Canadian Armed Forces in order to fight in Europe. During World War II, Americans went to England in order to fly with the RAF. These men were often fighting because they shared the ideals of the Canadians or English in their fight against Germany. Americans also fought on the Spanish Civil War against the Fascists. But you can't really call them Canadian patriots or British patriots or Spanish patriots.

In addition, as many as ten percent of the men and women who are fighting in Iraq are employed not by the US military, but by the private contractors who are being paid by the US government to provide security services in Iraq. Some of these soldiers of fortune are making as much as $1000 a day, tax free.

Are we wrong to call them mercenaries??

I really don't think so.

So Much for Trusting the Analysts

2006-12-13T01:52:00.000-05:00

I heard some knucklehead analyst on CNN today announce that the Iraq Study Group was commissioned by President Bush.

Uh, NO.

It was commissioned by Congress.

Commission members were apparently chosen because they were people that even GWB would trust to be fair and honest and candid. The Democrats on the panel were Leon Panetta, who served in both the Nixon and Reagan White Houses; Chuck Robb, the only Democrat to vote for all the "Contract With America" bills; Vernon Jordan, Bill Clinton's self-apponted conscience; William Perry, who had no taste for the Defense Department, or more particularly for President Clinton, and co-chair Lee Hamilton, who, as chair of the Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran chose not to investigate Ronald Reagan or George H. W. Bush.

I guess George guessed the truth. This was a hit squad.

Republican Congressmen Boycott Spitzer

2006-12-07T19:57:00.000-05:00

New York's six remaining Republican congressmen were conspicuously absent from a Wednesday breakfast meeting with Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer.

Lame excuses were offered by some. Spokesmen whined that the invitations came too late, or that they didn't expect anything important to be discussed. Jim Walsh had a previous engagement, a meeting of his 2008 campaign committee!!!!

The list of the missing: Pete King, Randy Kuhl, Tom Reynolds, Jim Walsh, Vito Fossella, and our own John McHugh.

These birds averaged less than 55% of the vote this time around, three of them sweating out blood in the final recanvass. Spitzer broke all modern records for a gubernatorial candidate in NY, with 70% of the votes.

He'll match his mandate to your's anytime, turkeys.

If I was Eliot Spitzer, I'd bitch-slap the whole bunch of ya sissies.

Memory Exercise

2006-11-29T03:21:00.000-05:00

Ban Ki-moon
Kofi Atta Annan
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Javier Perez de Cuellar
Kurt Waldheim
Maha Thray Sithu Pantanaw U Thant
Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjold
Trygve Halvdan Lie

I Got a Bad, Bad Feeling...

2006-11-27T02:24:00.000-05:00

Please remind me, Who Won the Election????

It's looking more and more likely that there will be an INCREASE in the number of troops in Iraq, the reintroduction of a draft, troops in-country until at least 2010, continued reliance on Halliburton & Co. for day-to-day privatized management of the supply chain.

James Baker and relics from past Republican administrations directing the show... it's all a nightmare coming true.

Joe Lieberman vaulting into a position of power, Hillary and others reverting to Hawkish postions, John Bolton getting confirmed to his UN ambassadorship........

What the hell happened and how and when and why???

NUMB3RS

2006-11-19T16:48:00.000-05:00

Those seeking to extract order from chaos often turn to mathematics. Both baseball and elections generate loads of numbers to analyze and parse and sort and ponder. One doesn't need to be a math-type to find useful ways to view statistics as a method to determine "what happened?" and "why?"

I sat down with a pile of results from last week's elections and I'm ready to share something with you that has just occurred to me. (I've told you before that I am sometimes very slow at recognizing the forest amidst all the trees.)

Hillary Clinton, and Darrel Aubertine, and Eliot Spitzer received votes from Republicans. John McHugh, and Jim Wright, and Dede S. received votes from Democrats. This isn't just my speculation. These folks received more votes than all of the voters from their party, plus all the voters from the third parties, plus the voters without parties. At some point, and in some instance, both Dems and Reps crossed the aisle to vote for the person on the "other" party's side of the ballot.

I think that many of us on the inside of the workings of the political process tend to think of our party as a club, or maybe more descriptively, as a religion. You're baptised as a Democrat or as a Republican, or in a fit of rebellion, you sign on to some single-issue third party thacross-endorses enough of your "birth-party" candidates to make you comfortable. Or you wish to withdraw from the system by cursing both houses and becoming a non-affiliated BLANK/NEUTRAL, sort of a political atheist.

However, I'm beginning to see that for many voters, Democrat and Republican are nothing more than brand names; the Pepsi and Coke, Ford and Chevy, Tide and Cheer, Hanes and Fruit of the Loom of politics.

The reason for their choice of party may be so esoteric, so obscurely buried in one's deep past that it can't be determined. They just go out on election day and buy their regular brands.

So it's a big thing, a bigger thing than I ever realized, when so many folks switch brands as they did on November 7.

That is all.

A Million Votes

2006-11-19T16:40:00.000-05:00

Sometime late on election day, someone stepped into a voting booth and cast the one-millionth vote for John McHugh for Congress.

It wasn't me.

More about the Movies

2006-11-13T02:09:00.000-05:00

Regarding the last post:

John - I don't get to see many movies either, especially in theaters. The last movie that I saw inside a theater was Star Wars, and that was because my kids took me for my birthday.

And I mean Star Wars... the first one.

I saw lots of movies when I was a kid. I guess I spent part of most Saturdays at the Olympic, the Avon, or the Town Theater. I saw a lot of Vincent Price movies, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, Bible movies usually starring Charlton Heston, the Pink Panther, even saw Flower Drum Song. Also some of those Disney films. And I'll bet you did too, John.

Most adults don't go to theaters anymore for their movies. Movie attendance in the US in the mid-1930s was 3.9 billion. In 2005, it was down to 1.4 billion, despite nearly a tripling of the US population. That translates to a drop from 32 movie tickets per year per person down to fewer than 5.

Television, high ticket prices, and a bad movie-going experience in general (endless pre-movie commercials, patrons with cell-phones, and obnoxious, talkative audiences among the most-often cited features that spoil the theater-going experience.)

But would we know this from television? Early morning "news" shows, daytime and late night talk shows all parade out the "stars" of the latest flick for the customary, routine interview. Each Monday, the hit movies of the weekend are reported with all the excitement usually reserved for the football scores.

When a movie has a controversial theme, like Brokeback Mountain or the Passion of the Christ is released, it is treated like a real news event, full of drama and commentary about its effects on everyday life.

It's all bull. Even the most popular of these movies is being viewed, in the theater, by a handful of the population.

Of course, as these films make it to DVD, or pay-TV, or even to the commercial soaked cable channels, millions more folks will see them.

But will they make any real social impact????? It's unlikely.

I continue to find that I'm a slow learner. For all I knew about the huge publicity machines that run motion pictures, I actually thought that they had importance to our daily lives, if based only on the amount of TV airtime taken up by interviews of actors, reviewers, and the stupid, stupid award shows.

I been learned. :)

Good Ol' Boys

2006-11-10T03:59:00.000-05:00

The question “Have you seen ‘Brokeback Mountain’?” is enough to send members of Congress running in the other direction and their spokespeople into a frenzy of excuses about why their bosses have no answer.

Skip Brown, spokesman to conservative Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), the founder of the Values Action Team, said in an official response: “We are going to take a pass on this one.”

Lawmakers often decline to speak on subjects, and that’s often telling. Of 14 congressional Republicans’ offices called for this story, only three would comment.

A spokesman for Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said his boss has not seen the movie and “probably won’t go there,” as far as commenting the movie’s effect on politics.

Some members of Congress say it isn’t the film’s subject that is making them stay away, but a lack of time. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) said that the last movie he saw was “March of the Penguins,” and that was on a plane to Antarctica.

Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) also blamed time constraints.

“I haven’t not seen it as a political statement,” McHugh said, explaining that late-night paperwork keeps him too busy to see any movie.

Reported by Andrew Barr for The Hill

Sweeps Week

2006-11-06T20:34:00.000-05:00

It's embarrasing to watch the 3 major networks steering the electorate into a tight race for ratings sake.

In a self-fulfilling prophesy, the House races became more and more competitive every time the media reported same. But they did too good a job and the Democrats started to turn up with a good lead in many races. Tonight, the 6:30 anchor crowd was apparently back-pedaling, apparently to increase election night audiences.

Hopefully, voters will not base their vote on manufactured trends, or by the opinions of other, but rather on the actual qualifications of the candidates.

Blind Loyalty

2006-11-03T21:34:00.000-05:00

The Congressional District which includes Watertown NY has had nothing but Republican congressmen for 140 years, since the Civil War. That is a kind of brand loyalty that is unmatched in American history. We are hardly a fickle constituency.

Only 5 Congressmen have served the district over the past 90 years; Bertrand Snell, Clarence Kilburn, Robert McEwen, David Martin, and John McHugh. All five have been able representatives for the district. Each was anointed by his predecessor, and each stayed in Congress until retirement age. No term limits for these guys.

Each was apparently able to represent his district with honor, and some distinction. It's a proud tradition, to be sure. It's damn hard to persuade voters who have returned one pary to Congress through 70 elections to try something new.

The Republican Party was founded by anti-slavery activists. Yet the current Congressman is a slave to the will of the President and the President's men.

The Republican Party has, throughout it's history, emphasized the rights of the individual over the powers of the government.

But this congressman supports the President and the President's men in the suppression of the rights of individuals as necessity in the "war on terror"

The Republican Party, from the get-go, has supported free speech.

Yet THIS congressman supports the President and the President's men in the strangling of free speech, free expression, and the freedom to seek out new and varied opinions and ideas.

The Republican Party, as evidenced by President Theodore Roosevelt, believed that big business and monopoly were poison to the country.

Our congressman has never met a big business he didn't like, especially ones that exploit workers or rake in windfall profits from international conflict.

The Republican Party, at least the one that Teddy Roosevelt headed, was a strong supporter of protecting the environment. He was the prime mover for the National Parks system.

Our congressman represents the Adirondack Park which precedes even Yellowstone as a forever wild area. Why then, does this congressman support WalMart and Lowes and others who believe that they deserve exemption from the rules meant to protect the park from careless development? Does he wish to see the Adirondacks turned into another Aspen Colorado, a refuge for the wealthy and powerful? When it comes to protecting the park, he's a big failure.

C'mon, all you folks who have supported this one party government for 140 years. This is not a monarchy, and John McHugh is not pope for life.

Elect Lt Col (retired) Dr. Bob Johnson to Congress and break the cycle.

God and Country.
Pray for the USA
Then do your duty.
Vote Novemeber 7.

Do Fictional Closings Count???

2006-11-03T21:02:00.000-05:00

In an article in today's New York Sun, Congressman McHugh is given credit for saving Fort Drum from closure in 2005.

Whoa, wait a minute! Drum was never on the 2005 BRAC list to begin with.

Except on an episode of the West Wing.

That's OK. I thought that the New York Sun was a fictional newspaper.

First Time Voters

2006-11-02T09:35:00.000-05:00

I'd like to urge you all to take a first-time voter with you this year when you go to vote.

It's pretty common for humans to feel uncomfortable in a new situation. We don't want to look dumb. I think that's why a lot of younger folks don't vote. They're afraid of being embarassed at the polls.

Parents with voting age kids should make a special night of it. Take the family to vote, then out to dinner. Then home for the results.

It only takes one time for your kids to see that voting is a pretty painless procedure. And this year, they will be able to see their vote count in the election of WINNERS. If you raised them right so they vote for Democrats, that is. :)

Joke 'Em if They Can't Take It

2006-11-02T07:41:00.000-05:00

John Kerry, like yours truly, is an old-timer.

It was pretty common talk for us in the sixties. Get good grades or you'll be stuck in Vietnam.

You see, there was a student deferment to the draft. You could be classified as II-S as long as you were enrolled in college full-time and carrying a sufficient grade-point average (I've forgotten if it was 2.5, or 2.0, or some other number)

With today's all-volunteer army, students no longer have the draft hanging over their heads.

And yet, and yet, too many kids who can't make the grades in high school and college are joining the military, not for patriotic reasons, but for the money.

My nephew, who couldn't make the grade in high school, has enlisted in the Army. He has been promised "up to" $90,000... a lot of money for a drop-out.

$50,000 is for GI Bill educational benefits after a 4 year enlistment (with a few strings attached of course) and $40,000 in bonuses for critically needed MOS or reenlistment.

Call it a voluntary draft for poor kids.

Too bad that Kerry is such a boob that he couldn't do the damage control here. He had a good point, for an old fart.

FREE BEER AND WINGS

2006-11-02T05:57:00.000-05:00

23d district voted 46.9% for John Kerry in the 2004 election.

A change is gonna come.

23d district voted 46.9% for John Kerry in the 2004 election.

Change is in the air.

23d district voted 46.9% for John Kerry in the 2004 election.

We can't expect to see the direction change if we don't change the players.

23d district voted 46.9% for John Kerry in the 2004 election.

Get out the vote. Vote like your life depended on it. Take a friend or two or ten.

Apathy will NOT win this election.

Don't expect the other guy to do it for you.

Help to bring back the America that was the light and hope of the world.

Elect Bob Johnson to Congress.

McHugh connection to Adult Home Scandals

2006-11-01T16:27:00.000-05:00

Lobbying for Leniency
Scandal-Scarred Adult Homes Buy Pataki Protection
by Wayne Barrett
May 15 - 21, 2002

Pataki: Lax state supervision of adult homes has led to unnecessary eye and prostate surgery for the mentally ill.

A web of lobbyist intrigue, with ties at the highest levels of the Pataki administration, surrounds the privately run adult-home industry that houses thousands of mentally ill patients and was exposed by The New York Times in a recent four-day front-page series.

This cozy intertwining may in part explain the state's hands-off policies about the for-profit homes despite the alarming evidence of neglect and misconduct that has surfaced repeatedly throughout Governor Pataki's two terms. The Times series, written by Clifford Levy after a year-long investigation, offered a chilling account of life in the homes, with nearly a thousand deaths since Pataki took office, only three of which resulted in the filing of the death reports mandated by law. A Times editorial cited the "callous indifference" of state officials to the plight of these 15,000 residents, though the homes receive $600 million a year in subsidies.

Patrick McHugh, whose Albany law firm, Coppola, Ryan & McHugh, represented the industry for many years, is married to Martha McHugh, the $104,000-a-year assistant commissioner for intergovernmental affairs at the State Department of Health (DOH), the agency that oversees the homes. McHugh, who is also the brother of upstate Republican congressman John McHugh and was an aide to two Senate GOP majority leaders, has been affiliated with the firm for years, but was not made a name partner until 1996, soon after Pataki took office.

While another partner, James Ryan, also has Republican ties in Albany, McHugh's elevation was seen by insiders as an attempt to strengthen the firm's clout with the Pataki team. Martha McHugh was at the time working on the second floor of the Capitol Building as the governor's director of scheduling. She moved over to DOH in 1998, a year after the department assumed full responsibility for the homes, which had previously been regulated by another state department.

The Empire State Association of Adult Homes and Assisted Living Facilities was the McHugh firm's largest lobbying client until its $150,000-a-year retainer abruptly ended last spring. The contract was so large that it was listed among the State Lobbying Commission's top 10 in 1997. The firm's filings with the commission, which were sometimes signed by McHugh, listed DOH as one of the agencies it lobbied for Empire State. Martha McHugh dealt with some adult-home issues, according to several sources familiar with the agency.

Reached at his home Sunday night and asked about this overlay of relationships, Patrick McHugh called it "innuendo," said he did not know when his wife started at DOH, and even denied, contrary to the congressman's office, that they are brothers. He, Coppola, and Ryan did not return Voice messages at the office, and neither Martha McHugh nor DOH would answer questions about her activities at the agency.

The association's arrangement with the McHugh firm was so close that its longtime executive director, Susan Peerless, operated out of the firm's offices, even moving with it from North Pearl to Pine Street in Albany. Peerless, too, is now at DOH, serving since April 2000 as the $97,000-a-year special assistant to the commissioner for long-term care and advising on adult-home matters. Before leaving the association in 1998, Peerless was said by observers to have had ready access to Pataki administration officials, actually serving on a Pataki task force that examined the financing of long-term care facilities in 1996-97. Sources with firsthand knowledge of the Empire State's lobbying pitch say its primary message was simply: "Leave us alone."

The association Web site claims that it "commands a powerful, respected, established presence before state legislative and regulatory bodies," citing several achievements during the early Pataki years, while Peerless and McHugh were still associated with it. The Web site says the association got the state to revise "its inspection protocols to effect a more reasonable, outcome oriented survey process" that has "produced positive, sweeping changes in providers' experience in undergoing a survey or responding to a written summary of citations." Indirectly confirming this lobbying success, a 1999 audit by State Comptroller Carl McCall identified a half-dozen significant inspection/enforcement failings—most of which were acknowledged in the DOH response.

Peerless was married to Leonard Weiss, an ex-judge and chair of the Albany Democratic Party who was friendly enough with the Pataki administration that the governor named him to the powerful Public Service Commission in 1999 (Weiss and Peerless are now divorced). Weiss and Peerless were close personal friends of Ryan and of Veronica Coppola, the lead partner in the firm, daughter of legendary Albany lobbyist Victor Condello, and Ryan's wife. Though Peerless left Empire State to run a consulting firm that apparently did business with association members, relations have gotten so frosty that Empire State filed a lawsuit against her last December.

Among other charges, the pending suit alleges that the McHugh firm understated its association lobbying fee in a 1996 filing with the commission, claiming it was $125,000, and that it diverted $25,000 to Peerless. Contending that Peerless "breached her duty of loyalty" by accepting consulting fees from the lobbyists she urged her organization to hire, the group is seeking $8 million in damages. Peerless does not dispute the $2000 a month she collected from the firm, responding that the Empire State board, not she, hired the lobbyists, and that the association's chair knew about the payments.

In April 2001, the adult-home association replaced the McHugh firm with two lobbyists—Hinman Straub Inc. and Brian Meara—each of whom is paid $60,000 a year. Meara is especially close to Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and Hinman is regarded primarily as a Republican firm though Jim Clyne, one of its lobbyists on the association account, worked on adult-home matters as a Democratic assembly staffer for years. McHugh and others at his firm have contributed $17,955 to Pataki, the State Republican Committee, and the senate GOP committee since 1995, while Hinman Straub's political action committee has donated $68,000 to the same entities. Meara has given $25,000 to Silver committees. Empire State donated $31,000 to the three Republican committees.

In addition to the association, other elements of the adult-home industry have also hired Albany lobbyists with Pataki ties. The New York Psychotherapy & Counseling Center, which receives millions in state funding for providing mental health services to residents of the homes, pays $75,000 a year to Davidoff & Malito, whose senior partner, Bob Malito, was once special counsel to former U.S. senator Al D'Amato. Another major outside mental health provider, New Hope Guild Centers, was represented until recently by Bolton St. John's, a firm headed by former Democratic Speaker Mel Miller.

The state's gross indifference to adult-home abuses—turning them into what the Times called "psychiatric flophouses where untrained workers looked after severely ill people and medical fraud was common"—may well have been principally due to the powerlessness of the marginalized population it serves. But this level of high-wire lobbying wasn't just the pointless and excessive expenditure of fat-cat state capitalists. The Pataki administration has fed the homes with thousands of patients forced out of state-run psychiatric centers, cut construction of the far more successful mentally ill housing program launched by Mario Cuomo, slashed adult-home inspections dramatically, shifted oversight to the industry-friendly DOH, and ignored enforcement mandates put in place by the legislature just before Pataki took office.

The result is the worst scandal of the Pataki era, downplayed so far by tabloids and television. It may still take center stage in the general election campaign to come, a shrill reminder of the governor's infamous detachment, and the social price of the insider politics that dominates his Albany.

Research assistance: Annachiara Danieli, Jen Dimascio, Peter G.H. Madsen

FROM the Village Voice

Congressman John M. McHugh--Republican at the Trough

2006-11-01T16:23:00.000-05:00

October 12, 2006

The following is from the democracyproject website:

Congressman John M. McHugh--Republican at the Trough

The Federal Election Commission permits review of all the Political Action Committee contributions to Congressional candidates for the Senate and Congress. One can trace the sources of influence on our elected officials through this site.

One Congressman who outshines all the others from New York's delegation is Congressman John M. McHugh a Republican from northern New York, New York’s 23rd district. McHugh received $384,126 in campaign contributions through August 23, 2006.

Congressman McHugh sits on the National Security, Emerging Threats, and the Energy subcommittees of the Comittee on Government Reform. He is also on the Readiness subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services. He is also on the Intelligence Policy; the Technical and Tactical Intelligence; and the Terrorism subcommittees of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Congressman McHugh's web page emphasizes that he is "recognized as a 'Champion of Dairy Farmers' for his aggressive approach to forcing Congress to address the needs of dairy farmers." The website also states that he is a "champion of education" but education interests do not dominate his list of contributors. Rather, a wide range of labor unions in the construction industy along with mail carriers and direct mail firms that likely have an interest in his postal reform proposals.

A clue as to why he receives such heavy contibutions from construction unions is in this statement:

"He believes that a good educational foundation allows children to reach their full potential and lead responsible adult lives. As such, Rep. McHugh has been a strong supporter of a bill that would subsidize $25 billion in zero-interest school modernization bonds..."

A flurry of school construction would not do much to improve education (that would require reinstatement of traditional teaching methods and discarding of the left wing ideology that dominates our education schools and the education establishment) but rather might benefit construction interests.

As far as his postal activities, his website indicates that:

"as a recognized authority on postal matters in light of his six years as Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Postal Service, Rep. McHugh was appointed to serve as the chairman of the Committee’s Special Panel on Postal Reform and Oversight in early 2003. In the 109th Congress, he has again introduced legislation to significantly reform the Postal Service for the first time in 35 years..."

In addition to the postal bill, Congressman McHugh has proposed bills to: promote the use of digesters by agricultural producers; amend the Internal Revenue Code to provide a tax credit to farmers in value-added agriculture; and exempt individual health insurance premiums from tax. He has been involved in several additional tax- and health insurance-related bills, which may explain the heavy presence of health insurance firms and health providers among his contributors.

What is fascinating about Congressman McHugh's long list of contributors is the wide range of business and labor interests who are helping McHugh get elected, some of which probably salivate at the thought of the needless construction of school buildings. Some of his contributors reflect local interests such as Fort Drum, dairy, other farming, paper mills, lumber and a General Motors plant. Other of his contributors appear to relate to projects whose purposes are unrelated to the needs of his constituents or of the United States.

Given the rural nature of McHugh's district one wonders why he needs so much money for his election campaigns---air time and newspaper space cannot be very expensive in the frozen north country of New York State.

McHugh's donors in excess of $5,000 since 2000 include:

Advo Inc. (direct mail company)
Agri-Mark (Dairy Farmer Cooperative)
Airline Pilots Association
American Chiropractic Association
American Federation of Government Employees
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Federation of Teachers
American Hospital Association
American Maritime Officers
American Medical Association
American Postal Workers
Capital One Financial Corp.
Carpenters and Joiners
Committee on Letter Carriers Political Education
Con-Way (supply chain management and logistics services)
Credit Union National Association
Dairy Farmers of America
Direct Marketing Association
Electrical Contractors
Operating Engineers
Farm Credit Council
General Dynamics
General Motors
Health Net
Humana
Bridge Structural and Iron Workers
International Association of Firefighters
Bricklayers Union
Laborers' International Union
Lockheed Martin
Magazine Publishers of America
Retired Federal Employees
National Association for Uniformed Services
National Association for Postal Supervisors
National Association of Postmasters
National Association of Realtors
Beer Wholesalers
National League of Postmasters
National Postal Mail Handlers
National Rural Letter Carriers' Association
National Star Route Mail Contractors Political Action Committee
PMA Group (automotive products)
RR Donnelly (printing, brochures, direct marketing)
Service Employees International Union
Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors
Time Warner (magazine subscriptions)
Treasury Employees
United Auto Workers
Verizon
Wal Mart
HJ Heinz
Georgia Pacific Corporaton (paper)
— Mitchell Langbert

Not Quite Lying

2006-10-30T01:50:00.000-05:00

In his television commercial, Congressman McHugh is attempting to distance himself by George Bush. Who could blame him for that.

But what example does he give?

He says that he stood up for seniors by supporting an extension of the deadline for Medicare.

A noble intention, to be sure.

Lots of problems with that one, however.

I went to the source to uncover the details, McHugh's official congressional website.

Here's what he says: " H.R. 5399, The Medicare Drug Benefit Enrollment Fairness Act of 2006 would excuse the one percent-per-month premium penalty for those who missed the May 15 deadline. I have cosponsored this legislation and am hopeful the House will soon take action on it."

That's cool. Did you notice that phrase "hopeful the House will soon take action on it?"

That's right. It's still tied up in committee. 5 months after it was introduced. In other words, NO VOTE.

His opposition to the President consists of his "support" and "co-sponsorship" of the bill. Will he actually get to vote on this bill? Probably not. Most bills of this sort die in committee.

And, as for that co-sponsorship. McHugh was Johnny-Come-Lately here. The bill was introduced on May 17 by a LARGE group of REPUBLICANS and big brave Congressman John didn't sign on until a week later.

Wonder who twisted his arm to convince him to stick his neck out this way to support a going nowhere bill to provide a minor fix to a massive problem called Medicare Part D.

According to an article in THE HILL: "On a more politically sensitive issue, Grassley and Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.) are waging a campaign to enact legislation that would prevent beneficiaries who missed the May 15 deadline to sign up for Part D from being assessed a financial penalty if they enroll later.The administration and the congressional leadership have been cool to the idea, despite enthusiasm among many rank-and-file Republicans, especially those vulnerable in the midterm elections."

AHA!!!! He might want you to think that he's a leader, but it looks more like he's a rank-and-file Republican and maybe a vulnerable one to boot!!!!!!!

Tell everyone you know about this one. And VOTE BOB JOHNSON!!!

The Repackaging of Senator Corker

2006-10-19T14:02:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Chris Lydon's "Open Source" website for this.

Senator Bob Corker's lead in the Tennessee Senate race has disappeared and Harold Ford stands a good chance of taking the seat back to the Democratic side.

So Corker has reinvented himself.

See Before

and After

Johnson - a fiscal conservative who saw the light

2006-10-19T13:06:00.000-04:00

The carefully crafted coalition which elected George Bush as President included both fiscal conservatives and social conservatives.

While some conservatives see themselves as both, these are entirely separate views of government.

What a disappointment for fiscal conservatives to see the federal deficit at record levels, so soon after the Clinton administration erased the deficit left behind by the last conservative gov'ment of R.Reagan and G.H.W.Bush.

Social conservatives, especially the religious right, are furious to see that the administration has talked loud but done little to push their issues.

All in all, the people who elected George Bush are in a large part disappointed with the results.

I am a bit surprised to see myself supporting Bob Johnson for Congress, for I have considered myself throughout my life to be liberal on all counts.. I view Dr. Bob as one of the disappointed fiscal conservatives who was able to cut through the BS and see the light... to realize that Democrats, in the Twenty-First Century, are much more conservative than the republicans.

Maybe the struggle of making a living and raising a family taught me a little bit about limited resources and the craziness of wild, unfettered spending. Maybe I realized that we were spending away our children's and grandchildren's futures

I still support the kind of programs that spend a penny to save a dollar - health care and education and public safety - but I hate waste and hate to see the hard work of our citizens pissed away on the ultra-rich.

And I feel that our current congressman is part of the piss-off.

We can't change direction unless we change the people who are running things. Take back the House. Vote Johnson.

Debate over Debates

2006-10-05T09:19:00.000-04:00

Newswatch 50 has reported on the "debate over debates" between the Bob Johnson campaign and the McHugh campaign.

Dr. Bob wants to debate the Congressman in Oswego County. The Congressman is apparently refusing. McHugh's staff has cited 4 occasions of question and answer as sufficient debate.

One of those occasions has already occurred. It was the presentation before the Central Trades Council which was closed to the public and the press.

Another 'occasion' will be the appearance of the two men before the editorial board of the Syracuse Newspapers. This will be another non-public event, and no media other than the sponsor will be present for the questioning.

The two public events will be candidate forums in Boonville and Massena. Apparently, members of the public from Oswego, or Watertown, or Plattsburg will have to travel many miles to hear the two candidates present their opposing views.

I just watched HBO's documentary "Mr Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater." I was surprised to learn that President Kennedy and Senator Goldwater, in anticipation of being the opponents in the 1964 election, discussed hiring a plane and flying all over the US, holding Lincoln-Douglas style debates so that the American people could see and hear both sides in true, public debate.

Could we ask for anything less from our Congressional candidates?