Both political parties in Rochester have dirt on their faces.

It is no surprise that the Republican dominated Monroe County Legislature shot down a Demagogic demand that COMIDA be investigated. This was a result of the I-Square scandal, which is merely the latest example of the Republicans playing footsie with COMIDA, not to mention ROBUTRAD.
The relationship between the Republicans and COMIDA is perverted and incestuous. The Republicans did not want any further investigation into their baby, since COMIDA usually provides open-air, white collar relief for the cronies of high ranking members of the local GOP.
Of course, this flies in the face of County Executive Cheryl DiNolfo's oft repeated intention of creating an Office of Public Integrity. The lady does not want anything approaching real transparency involving county government. Too much would come out that, in Third World countries, would earn she and her cronies places in front of a firing squad.
On the other hand, the MCDC also has been caught with questionable practices involving their finances and juggling campaign contributions. Some of these actions are illegal.
That rogues' gallery consists of:
Ex state senator Ted O'Brien. The committee's campaign contribution's were shifted to O'Brien's losing campaign against now-senator Rich Funke. O'Brien now works for the local office of the State Attorney General and refuses to answer any questions about it.
Ex MCDC chairman Dave Garretson. It was during his ever so brief tenure as chairman that the illegal shifting of funds took place, which couldn't have occurred without his approval.
Stupid little girl Jamie Romeo, current MCDC chairwoman. She was Senator O'Brien's office manager ( for two years ) during his failed bid for re-election and sort of ran his first campaign two years previously, and of course knows nothing.
She never did.
The Republicans are also guilty of this practice. But then, nobody expects any better of the Monroe County GOP.
The best description of this dirt on the Demagogues can be found in the D&C's article by David Andreatta: "Something Fishy in Monroe Democrats' Coffers."
The iconoclastic Andreatta is probably the only well-balanced reporter on the staff of that liberal newsrag, which never used to write anything that would expose Demagogues to too much censure and ridicule.
It is even more ironic when one considers that the Demagogues are always yammering on about campaign reform. They really don't want it any more than the Republicans do.
Both parties suck.

The reason Lovely Warren won't support Sandra Frankel's bid for County Executive.

We were hanging out with our biker buddies this afternoon at the Woodshed.
The topic of conversation turned to political matters, like the race for County Executive.
Mayor Warren hasn't come out in support of fellow Demagogue Sandra Frankel's campaign against Republican Cheryl DiNolfo.
In fact, Mayor Warren and her faction have studiously ignored this campaign.
That's curious, right?
We came to the conclusion that since Lovely Warren, as Mayor of Rochester, is currently the highest ranking elected Demagogue in the area, Sandra Frankel as County Executive would outrank her in the party.
Warren's ego wouldn't stand for that.
Hence her lack of support for Frankel.
Warren would rather have a Republican elected County Executive so she could continue to lord it over the MCDC.
Paradoxically, Warren's Demagogic allies in the Monroe County Legislature are always damning Republicans, especially the Republican County Executive, for not supporting their proposed social engineering legislation.
Seems like Lovely is all about promoting Lovely. Other Demagogues, unless they are black, can be damned.

Rich Funke: The dope was a dupe.

Republicans can stop snickering about Shelly Silver.
Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos surrendered to authorities Monday morning and is facing conspiracy, extortion and bribery charges.
Among other things, Skelos  went to use his official office to enrich his son with payments from a real-estate developer and an associated environmental company.
According to Rochester's liberal newsrag, the D&C, Skelos' son Adam, who was being paid by a company specializing in stormwater treatment, raised concerns that Cuomo's budget proposal didn't earmark any of the funds for Long Island or for water infrastructure costs.
This is business as usual in Albany, except that this conversation was wiretapped.
So Skelos altered Rochester-area Sen. Rich Funke's response to the State of the State address to include a push for water infrastructure spending.
Funke complied without knowing what he was doing and without knowing Skelos' real interest in water infrastructure.
 As a newbie in Albany, Funke probably felt flattered.
Until now.
"Sucker" has been tattooed on his forehead.
The bottom line is that these shenanigans go on often enough without being detected in Albany.
And that both Republicans and Democrats willingly participate in them.
It doesn't matter who gets elected to state office. Albany is a cesspool of corruption and its stench envelops even the most innocent bystanders within a very short period of time.
Which is why state government cannot be reformed. It must be dismantled and rebuilt.
But neither side is willing to undertake such reconstruction because both parties are corrupt.
Funke got caught up in this ongoing drama sooner than anyone expected.
This time he was an innocent dupe, and nobody is accusing him of wrongdoing.
Yet.
Let's see how long his innocence lasts. before he becomes as corrupt as the rest of them.
Funke has stellar examples from both parties to use as role models.

You can blame the Democrats for the downtown transit center.

For years, youth violence has been a regular occurrence at the bus transfer site on Main Street.
There has been no real outrage about youth violence downtown, apart from the local media using it as filler between their weather and sports segments.
Most Rochesterians have come to accept that as a normal, if ugly, fact of life.
It is one of our blood sports.
True, it might bother a few business people when they are trying to peddle downtown Rochester to outside developers.
However, we have been assured by City Hall that downtown Rochester is coming along just nicely.
They are among the morons who somehow believed moving the transfer site to a new Transit Center just around the corner would curtail the violence on Main Street.
It worked. On Main Street.
Youth violence is now concentrated at the new Transit Center, 500 feet away, on Clinton Avenue.
The police, RTS, the school board and the superintendent of schools are all merrily pointing fingers at each other.
The Democrats are to blame.
Republican Maggie Brooks' vision of Renaissance Square featured a bus terminal at the current location.
It was shot down by the Democrats only because Brooks was a Republican, not because it was a stupid plan.
It was stupid.
Within a year, Rochester Mayor Bob Doofus requested a transit center on the same site. Since Doofus was a Democrat, the Democrats who own City Council gladly obliged him.
If Doofus had still been a Republican, it is doubtful that they would have acceded to his wishes.
That is the truth of the matter.
The transit center opened last November, entertaining other passengers with youth violence and regular stabbings ever since.
You can thank the assholes on City Council for that.
With the exception of Mike Patterson, who hadn't been appointed to it yet; and Carolee Conklin, who said it was a 19th century solution to a 21st century problem.
The new transit center: the Democrats' gift to downtown redevelopment and to emergency wards at every nearby hospital.

Who in Hell is Dorothy Styk?

Much has been made of County Legislator Dorothy Styk's conversion to the Democratic Party.
Some people have claimed that this signals a swing to the Left in Monroe County.
It is no such thing.
First, she is not prominent.
Styk was appointed to her post, and was elected to it only last November.
She hasn't been around long enough to make her more than an item of passing interest.
Second, her district has more registered Republicans than Democrats.
They are the ones who elected her .
Third, she will have to run for office again this year, since all of the county legislature's seats are up for grabs.
Since it is an election year, all of the legislators will be out campaigning and too busy to do anything of importance until after the election.
This means that Styk, whatever her supposed good intentions, won't be able to prove herself capable of doing anything of note.
Running as a Democrat in a Republican dominated district might be problematic for her after her sudden conversion.
Fourth, the county GOP already had a candidate with which to replace her within seconds of her conversion.
This means that they weren't happy with her, either
After so many setbacks in the last few months, the MCDC and their mentally challenged supporters among the media are crowing way too loud about this non-event.
Lets see if the Democrats will put their money where their big mouths are to pull out the stops for Styk.

Sheldon Silver goes Waltzing Matilda.

"Waltzing Matilda" is the unofficial national anthem of Australia.
It is about a sheep rustler who, when caught, chooses suicide over going to prison.
"Waltzing Matilda" is Australian slang for being sent to jail.
New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was arrested yesterday by the FBI and charged with federal corruption.
When Silver went waltzing Matilda, he whined that he hoped he would be vindicated.
When most people are arrested, they scream that they are innocent. Silver didn't do that.
The response from the political parties was immediate. And true to form.
Silver has been the bête noir of the Republicans for decades. They called for his immediate resignation. They also hinted at bi-partisan support for Joe Morelle to become Speaker.
Joe Morelle, majority leader in the state assembly, claimed that he spoke for most Democrats and pledged his support for Silver.
He probably meant it, for now.
Morelle will probably wait until the air clears a bit before grabbing for it.
What David Gantt and his associates would do about that eventuality is anyone's guess. While Gantt might hate Morelle and his gang, he doesn't have that much influence locally beyond the ghetto.
But then, we are talking about Albany.
Corruption in government is as old as the hills and is as American as apple pie.
And most politicians become corrupt eventually by exposure to the dirty business that is politics.
They come to believe their own press that they can do no wrong, and then do as they please.
This includes on cheating on taxes or spouses, taking kickbacks and working under the table to promote the welfare of their friends, relatives and political supporters who contributed heavily to their campaigns.
This includes both the two major political parties and the myriad of lesser ones that think they are purer than everyone else.
They aren't. Corruption in politics is the norm.
Sheldon Silver going waltzing Matilda won't have much of an impact on 99.99% of the rest of us.
It only made for interesting reading.
Unfortunately, at least one of local politicians didn't read enough about it to keep his mouth shut.
 Cheryl Dinolfo made her official announcement that she would be running for County Executive yesterday.
MCDC chairman Dave Garretson stated that Dinolfo typified the corruption of the Republican party and what was wrong with Monroe County.
What about the Democrats and Sheldon Silver, Dave?

Election year 2015.

Every year is an election year for some office or another.
This year, the Rochester area will be concentrating on local offices.
The campaigns won't be very important, interesting or exciting.
That is because the results will be a foregone conclusion in most cases.
Monroe County is unequally divided into two camps: the Republicans, who control most of the county towns; and the Democrats, who control most of Rochester and Brighton.
Incumbents will be re-elected to office. In most cases they will be running unopposed.
In those cases where term limits apply, and the incumbent can't run again, someone from their own party will scarf up their seat.
Of course, this means that there won't be any changes, especially where the City of Rochester is concerned.
The city likes being flushed down the toilet.
The only new factor this year will be Dave Garretson, the recently elected chairman of the Monroe County Democratic Committee.
All Garretson will be providing is a new face.
As head of the Greece Democrats, he has been unable to win any elective office for himself, or run any successful election campaigns against Republicans for anyone else.
As a likeable oaf, he cannot provide any strong leadership for the Democrats this campaign season.

The County Executive Race.

Maggie Brooks has reached her term limit and can't run again. She will be succeeded by County Clerk Cheryl DiNolfo.
DiNolfo has long been understudying for the role.
Republican DiNolfo is prominent county-wide. The Democrats have nobody important or prominent to challenge her.
DiNolfo, a tiny woman, has great stature, which is evident when she marches in every parade wearing three-inch high pumps.
She will be a shoo-in ( or is it "shoe-in?" ) for the office come November.

The County Legislature.

All of the incumbents will win re-election, meaning Republicans will continue to be dominant in the County Legislature, but not having a "super majority" that would permit them to ignore Democrats entirely.
A loose-fitting stone in this structure is LD 26, which is mostly in  Rochester with some slices of Greece and Gates thrown in.
It has always been a swing district, changing hands between Republicans and Democrats every few years.
Its current incumbent is a Republican, who won by the skin of his teeth in 2011.
MCDC chairman Garretson has no suitable candidate to challenge the incumbent with ( Garretson has no suitable candidates to challenge anyone with ), so the incumbent will probably win by default. The fact that the incumbent is a moron will not harm his chances for re-election.

Rochester City Council.

The district incumbents will all win re-election. They will not be opposed by Republican candidates whose party only concentrates on the suburbs now.
Nor does City council have term limits, which has allowed numerous morons to have a comfortable second job for as long as they want it.
The work is easy, a few hours per month,  and they rarely show themselves to their constituents, except at election time.
They might have to fight other Democratic hopefuls during a primary election because the party is divided into two mutually antagonistic camps which hope to destroy each other.
They only question is in the Northwest district.
The rumor is that Carla Palumbo will not run for re-election. It was also rumored that she planned to resign this year and have longtime political ally Molly Clifford appointed to City Council and have her run for the office.
Molly Clifford has established residence in the Northwest, forsaking her expensive penthouse ( really? ) in downtown Rochester to meet eligibility requirements.
This was discussed in depth in the now defunct Smugtown Beacon.
That Clifford is a divisive factor in the Democratic committee is well known throughout Rochester, and her domineering elitism will be sure to provide an alternative candidate from the Gantt wing of the party to challenge her.
It will probably be the only interesting campaign this year.

The pendulum swings to the right, part II.

Locally, Republican resurgence has been more subtle.
That is because it has occurred behind the backdrop of the continued fratricidal strife within the Monroe County Democratic Committee. It has been an endless source of mirth for those of us who no longer take most politicians seriously.
The combatants are the elitist, pseudo-liberal Morelle-Clifford faction of the party, opposing the black oriented Gantt-Warren clique.
The split was best illustrated by the mayoral election of 2013.
Lovely Warren won the Democratic primary election. Joe Morelle, then chairman of the MCDC, was downright bitter after her victory, and less than gracious during the remainder of the campaign. Molly Clifford and her boy-toy Ken Warner continued to support Tom Richards, who was on the ballot as the Independent candidate.
Warren won, and many people questioned whether or not Morelle was fit to remain as Democratic chairman, given his behavior during the campaign.
Amid such criticism, Morelle chose not to run for re-election as chairman, and the race was on to grab his tarnished crown from the gutter.
Dave Garretson, leader of the Democrats in the Town of Greece ( where Republicans are dominant ), won the chairmanship.
Dave Garretson needs all of the introduction he can get.
A friendly, likeable oaf, Garretson never won an elected office in the Town of Greece, nor had any Democratic candidates he ever supported won, either. He knows nothing about the power-politics within Rochester other than the Democratic Party controls the city.
The Democrats also control the Town of Brighton.
It has been said that Brighton, with its large Jewish population, would more easily elect an Adolf Hitler with a "D" in front of his name rather than a Moses with an "R."
That statement might be vile, but vileness doesn't make it any less true.
Within weeks of winning the chairmanship, it was evident to all that Garretson had been left holding a very large, empty paper bag.
Democrat Ted O'Brien lost his state senate seat to Republican Rich Funke, giving the Republicans control of that body.
It could hardly have been otherwise.
In 2012, O'Brien only won against Republican Sean Hanna because people personally disliked Hanna, not because O'Brien was the better candidate.
In office, O'Brien wasn't very convincing.
In 2014, O'Brien's handlers resurrected their campaign against Hanna, only Funke wasn't Hanna, and their methods didn't work this time. Moreover, they forgot that the state senate seat in question had been Republican for years, and O'Brien's election to it in 2012 was the anomaly.
Even more telling was the case of  Democratic Congresswoman Lulubelle Slaughter. She had been in Congress for three or four thousand years without accomplishing anything for this area. That didn't stop the Democrats from making her a sacred cow and elevating her to sainthood.
"Saint" Louise was opposed by a Republican dark horse, Mark Assini from the Town of Gates.
Assini was an unknown quantity, hardly supported by the county GOP and underfunded, yet it took a count of absentee ballots to determine that Lulubelle won re-election on by a scant six hundred votes.
It catapulted Assini to national prominence even if he lost the election campaign. And if the county GOP had been really supportive of Assini, he would have sent Lulubelle packing.
That fact has been a source of embarrassment to "Saint" Louise, and even Democrats are questioning whether or not it is time for her to pack it in.
As I have stated, Republican resurgence in this area has been subtle.
A second Republican state senator from this area has given Republicans control of the state senate; a new Republican star was narrowly defeated by a Democratic sacred cow; and the Democrats have saddled themselves with a chairman who really doesn't know what he is doing.

The political pendulum: swinging to the right. Part one.

Happy New Year 2015.
The Republican Party will control the United States Congress this session.
They have been moving in that direction since the mid term elections during President Barack Obama's first term in office. That is how the long the pendulum has been swinging to the right
As a lame duck president in his second and final term in office, Obama reaped what he has sown: the visible lack of confidence of the American people in his administration.
Obama earned it.
The 2014 elections revealed that rather than unify a sense of purpose among Americans, the Obama administration has divided American politics to a degree not seen in decades. Americans refused to elect candidates who were linked to Obama by party affiliation.
The riots in Ferguson had some responsibility in this respect, frightening non-black Americans into reacting against a half-black president and his supporters.
Yet choosing Republican candidates over Democratic ones might not have been the smartest move, either.
Andreas Rau, formerly the Rochester blogger for the local Democrat and Chronicle, once stated that every virtue under heaven was not to be found in either or any political party.
That's true enough.
There are good candidates from both parties, though both choose to deny that. Unfortunately, both parties prefer to choose attractive, rich candidates with familial, political and financial connections rather than those who are fit for office.
Money can buy anything.
That is the fatal flaw in American politics, which both major parties decry but refuse to do anything about.
Even more fatal is the need to create candidates to fit certain interest groups.
Which brings us back to Barack Obama.
The three pillars that the Obamanation were built upon were the black community; their indispensable allies, the bleeding heart white liberals ( and the gay community falls into this category ); and the incredible knack of the national Republican Committee to choose absolute morons to run against Obama in the presidential elections.
These pillars were powerful enough to propel Obama into the Presidency, but not great enough to provide a national policy that would benefit America as a whole, only for segments of it.
"Obamacare" ( that is to say "The Affordable Health Care Act" ) was a failure. It  did not provide for universal health care in America. It merely imposed penalties on those who didn't have health care insurance ( the penalties cost more than the health care they couldn't afford as it was ), while raising prices for those people who were already insured.
Republicans called it socialist without knowing the meaning of the word, failing to realize that the inherent flaws in Obamacare would cause dissatisfaction.
Moderates began to desert to the right in 2010.
Obama himself can be blamed for people losing faith in his star.
He walked into the Presidency arrogant and counting on political correctness to protect him. It didn't. He was dealing with Republican elected officials who were certain of their constituencies, and had no need to molly coddle him to get re-elected.
He refused even to show a copy of birth certificate for months after his election, which made even uninterested parties wonder what he was hiding.
Obama DID win the Noble Peace Prize within months of being elected to the Presidency. He did nothing to deserve such an award, which was perhaps given to him in recognition of his being the first mulatto elected President of the United States, rather than fostering world wide peace.
Of course, he refused to get us out of existing wars in Asia, and Americans died under orders from this peace prize winning president.
In the long run, his three pillars did not prevent him losing Congress to the Republicans. They will probably increase their numbers in 2016, the next Presidential election.
Failing the choice of yet another moron as a candidate, the Republicans will probably win the Presidency in 2016 and dismantle the Obamanation.
That will be the inevitable result of the pendulum swinging to the right.