Paragon of Virtue

ABG posted our first discoveries of The Paul’s illegal sanctioning of Town Hall for a group of democrats making phone calls for Obama, and quite naturally assumed The Paul guilty. Then we read a post by one of the G8 which brought up a good point. Perhaps The Paul didn’t know of this usage as others in Town Hall routinely schedule rooms for meetings by various organizations, not the supervisor? A valid question to say the least. But, just like the kid who cries wolf one too many times, The Paul has had in hands in more dark, Town-wide “done-deals“ than an army proctologist with a new wave of recruits. As a result of his past behavior, we quite naturally placed the blame with him. We still do. Only after constituents and the media exposed the misuse of the Town Hall did the Obama campaign offer to reimburse taxpayers for the theft of public space. 

All one must do to arrange a meeting room for your organization at Town Hall is call the Town Clerks Office. There, Town Clerk Judith Beville, too busy planning the next concert, poetry reading or student film for the next Board meeting, will have one of her able assistants talk to you and book your room. How much vetting takes place during the process is unknown? Is it possible that one of the employees made the decision to provide the Obama Phone Bank the use of Town Hall? Did they clear it with, or was it Belville herself, that made the decision? Either way, it was Belville, who is responsible for all of the actions of that office. It’s immaterial whether she either assumed The Paul would be uninterested or consciously did not bother to tell him. Perhaps she was being intentionally deceptive, following in the footsteps of her boss? It doesn’t matter. The Paul is responsible for the actions of all of his departments.

ABG doesn’t believe The Paul will just let anything go and demand everyone throughout his administration keep him informed of their respective departments actions. If Belville alone made the decision, ABG is pretty sure she still “ran it by” her exalted leader. ABG would like to know if there are any written rules of usage to dictate what qualifies or not for booking or refusing a room? How thorough a vetting process exists for room usage? Would they simply book a room to a hate group if requested? ABG hopes not, but now we’re not so sure. This isn’t like pulling up to the Alexander Hotel and checking in for a couple of hours of fun in the sheets and leaving before anyone is the wiser. This happened every week on Tuesday nights for many weeks in a row! It would be hard to convince ABG that The Paul or Clerk Beville didn’t know who and for what reason this room was being used. This is a serious enough breach of ethics (contradiction of terms in Greenburgh) that The Paul should demand Town Clerk Beville’s immediate resignation!

Next we’ve learned that Douglas Colety, Chairman for the Westchester Republican Party and another paragon of virtue, has requested an investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for the possible illegal use of Greenburgh Town Hall by the Democratic Obama campaign group. Colety issued a press release stating, “Taxpayers have a right to know that public facilities are not being used for partisan political campaigns and no municipal building should ever be converted into campaign headquarters for any party. It is critical that the Attorney General step in to answer important questions, including whether any town employees were used to keep Town Hall open for the evening phonebank and whether any laws were broken in the process.”

It’s kind of funny that the “pot” is asking for the “kettle” to be investigated. Colety has attracted quite a bit of his own scrutiny in the recent past with his paid position as a Commissioner at the Board of Elections, the Chairman for the Westchester Republican Party, the New Rochelle GOP leader and owner of the Executive Star Mailing Services. ESMS is the million dollar printing company Colety owns and operates printing most, if not all of the Republican Party and candidates’ literature and campaign mailings. A printer we know told us he tried to work with Republican candidates but it was “suggested” they utilize Colety’s printing and mailing services or risk the consequences. What consequences you wonder? ABG was told by two candidates (promised anonymity) that Colety, who was joined at the hip with Westchester Independence Party Chairman Dr. Giulio Cavallo, can practically guarantee the Independence line if Colety asks him for it for a candidate. Colety is also known to donate money to the campaigns of those candidates he “likes”. 

By the way, Colety’s “lieutenant” at the Westchester Republican Party is John Cerino, Westchester County Executive Astorino’s “Scheduler”. There’s a terrific “title” for another hundred-thousand dollar payback position. Colety’s Deputy Chairperson for the Westchester Republican Party is Christine Sculty, who also works for Astorino at an annual hundred-thousand-plus dollars. Former Mt. Pleasant Supervisor and now Astorino-appointed Westchester County Attorney Robert Meehan along with his wife are both heavily involved in the Westchester GOP, as well as employed by Westchester County and the Westchester County Board of Elections (under Colety) respectively. Who doesn’t work for them, democrats? Nope, their side has numerous positions doled out by the Democratic Commissioner Reginald Lafayette.   

Regardless of Colety’s conflict of interests and improprieties, he has made a point that ultimately will get a headline for a few days and go nowhere. We agree that The Paul’s administration should be taken to task for this latest abuse of power. We know the Attorney General will leave The Paul alone for familial reasons. We do need someone to go after The Paul, his Stepford Board, the Town Clerk and the rest of his rancid administration to clean up the Town after this latest violation of trust from The Paul. We can only hope.

DeCicco vs Shimsky: Is This The Best We Can Do?

The Westchester County 12^th Legislative District seat, formerly held by attorney Thomas Abinanti, is being sought by two challengers. The two are Democrat MaryJane Shimsky of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, and Republican Nick DeCicco (pronounced de-cheeko) of Hartsdale, NY.

Shimsky, a former attorney, has served as community relations director for former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky. Brodsky retired from this position this year after 28 years. The seat was recently won in the election by Thomas Abinanti, defeating Republican Thomas Bock. Shimsky's a vice chairwoman of the county Democratic Committee.

DeCicco is a prosecutor in the county Attorney's Office assigned to Family Court in Yonkers. He is a member of the Greenburgh Zoning Board of Appeals, where he currently has an Ethics Violation lodged against him from Town of Greenburgh Democratic District Leader Robert Bernstein. Bernstein had sought to have DeCicco recuse himself from voting on the numerous zoning variances requested by Deli Delicious, located at Rt 119 and Old Kensico Road. The Town Code of Ethics for board membership is pretty straightforward as to what a member can and cannot do. But in Greenburgh, and in particular with our supervisor and his board, it's just another set of rules to be ignored.

The neighborhood, besieged with heavy traffic, conspiratorial actions by Supervisor Feiner and his rubber-stamp Board, is upset, and against this expansion on top of the blatant “lead agency” hijinks, anti-neighborhood and pro-developer giveways of the Town Board toward WestHab. Feiner has gone out of his way to post blogs, write letters to various newspapers, use his radio show on WVOX endorsing Deli Delicious' requests. It must pain Feiner to have the Zoning Board do the right thing.

Deli Delicious wants permission from the zoning board to put in a drive-through window, pave on NYS property and create additional parking spaces in hopes of reviving his expiring business. DeCicco voted in support for the plan at a Zoning Board meeting last month. Then the planning consultant/contractor and the deli's lawyer, alleged to also be the planning consultant's lawyer, organized a political fundraiser for his county board bid at his home in Irvington. Did the deli also contribute to DeCicco? It's been alleged that Deli Delicious may also contribute to Paul Feiner’s campaign fund. We wouldn't be surprised.

The zoning board is scheduled to vote on the deli's requests this Thursday. Last Friday DeCicco said he planned to abstain from any votes on the deli's application. Isn't that a little late in the game Mr. DeCicco? In a Lohud.com interview with his opponent, DeCicco repeatedly stated, "If you want more of the same... vote for MaryJane. If you want something different, a real change, vote for Nick DeCicco." How is a political payoff through fund raising and contributions different? How is voting on an issue that directly involves your campaign financing different? How is ignoring the wishes of an entire community and siding with a developer different? How is siding with a business owner whose bad business acumen is leading to his demise any different? How is any of this different? It's not. What's next, a political appointment to the Board of Elections for a phantom position?

Watch the Journal News debate between the two candidates and see how uninspired they'll make you feel. Neither has a positive presence on screen and both leave us wanting. Shimsky repeatedly appears to refer to her notes off to the side and incapable of having an opinion without cheat sheets. DeCicco, while working without notes, appears equally inept as he struggles to make his case. Who are coaching these two?

If we look past DeCicco's clumsy and perhaps bumbling camera presence, he does seem to make a few points prompting Shimsky's standard retort of, "I have two comments about that..." Poorly executed, neither candidate inspired confidence during this excruciating exchange. Both prove all too well that neither will be a leader, simply another vote in an already dysfunctional legislature.

DeCicco rightfully attacked the Democrat Shimsky for operating her campaign out of the CSEA headquarters. She countered that Republican DeCicco is being bankrolled by the Republican Party. Touché. Regrettably, this was as good as it got and appears to be the level to which Westchester politics has deteriorated. It’s disappointing. The Democrats lost their way several years ago and lost a good and righteous leader with the recent passing of Lorrin Brown. The Republicans had a great candidate with Thomas Bock in the last two elections but the Republican Party chose to abandon him as Doug Colety typically writes off the Town of Greenburgh each election as insignificant to the Republicans. Again, it’s disappointing. Are there any stewards left out there?

The Republican residents of Greenburgh have been discarded by the Westchester and NY GOP because the democrats have a 3 to 1 ratio over the republicans in the district. Any viable or good candidates, such as Bock, are ignored or dismissed, almost mandating the election of “empty suits” such as Thomas “Proclamation4U” Abinanti. Following "suit" is newly elected Alfreda Williams. The democrats are simply offering bodies and frankly, it’s not good enough. The republicans aren't any better. Even Astorino, who lamely follows the advise of his incompetent advisors, jumped into the waters by offering political payoffs and paybacks. Will it ever end? Apparently, no, especially with the thinking we have from the supposed leaders in these parties. It’s so disappointing.

Our prediction is a simple one. DeCicco, with the power of the feckless Republican Party, with Colety at the helm, will lose this special election to Shimsky; not because she’s better, rather, because of the “D” after her name. It’s simply numbers.