Fire them and send a message to all political party players/political volunteers that work for us.
There is a new front page Bflo News article about the 'volunteer emails' sent out by a top Mayoral aide in blatant violation of the Hatch Act.
SEE: http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/753357.html
A central question that has not been asked . . . Where has City Comptroller Andrew SanFilippo, often labelled 'fiscal watchdog', been while all these scandals have been brewing under his nose?
As SanFillipo has audited little of significance over several years, he battled the Mayor over the past two years about who should establish an office of "Fraud, Waste & Abuse".
SanFilippo apparently won the battle, got media attention for his 'victory', then did virtually nothing.
SanFilippo also faces re-election this year, but has apparently succeeded in warding of any opposition. That is not surprising because SanFilippo & Byron Brown use the same model of election politics . . . they have a top aide serving as in-house, taxpayer-funded campaign manager.
SanFilippo's "executive assistant" Tony Farina, who long did not even live in Erie County, does little between election cycles. He apparently just waits for the next election every four years.
No surprise that SanFilippo would not see any 'fraud, waste or abuse' in much of the goings-on in City Hall.
Here is the latest from investiagtive reporter Jim Heaney's blog:
http://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrage...city-hall.html
August 04, 2009
Another federal investigation of City Hall
Local and state employees involved in programs funded in part or whole by the federal government aren't supposed to use their positions to influence elections. Not to push for campaign contributions, not to encourage or direct subordinates to work on political campaigns. Not under the Hatch Act.
Someone forgot to tell Tanya Perrin-Johnson before she sent out a series of e-mails "encouraging" members of her staff to work on Byron Brown's re-election campaign.
Now, the federal Office of Special Counselhas opened an investigation to determine whether the e-mails represent a violation of the Hatch Act. There's no way of knowing where the investigation may lead beyond Perrin-Johnson and her e-mails if investigators put their minds to it.
For example, Dana Bobinchek, a top aide of the mayor since his days in the State Senate, was copied on the e-mails. So, one would assume, she might also be under scrutiny.
It's not just that she was copied on the Perrin-Johnson e-mails. As one of the mayor's top aides, I've got to assume she interacts with a lot of city departments, almost all of which receive federal funding. Police, Inspections. Economic Development. etc.
Or how about Jessica Magglietto, director of the CitiStat program, which tracks the performance of city departments? She's also neck deep in the mayor's campaign, among other things, as a go-to person for folks who want to contribute to the mayor's re-election campaign.
But Maglietto, Bobinchek and Perrin-Johnson, who, by the way, has lawyered up (Joel Daniels), could be small fish compared to Deputy Mayor Steve Casey.
Casey has his fingers in every pie in both City Hall and the mayor's re-election campaign, and if you don't think he isn't using his position as deputy mayor in ways that benefit the campaign, well, you don't know how the Second Floor really operates.
Mayors in many cities put some sort of firewall between their office and their campaigns. Not Byron Brown, however. He in-sources, not out-sources such work. I mean, who else has his campaign manager also function as his deputy mayor?
I'm told Perrin-Johnson and others are concerned about the e-mails because if they violate the city charter, they run the risk of prosecution on criminal charges, albeit misdemeanors. Hatch Act violations carry civil penalties -- interesting civil penalties.
If the Merit Systems Protection Board concludes there are violations of the Hatch Act, it could give the mayor two choices -- fire the guilty parties or face a loss in federal aid worth double the salaries of those involved.
The investigation by the Office of Special Counsel could do a lot to promote reform of over-the-top political activity at City Hall that existed long before Byron Brown took office. It might help advance legislation sponsored by four Common Council members that amounts to a city version of the Hatch Act that the mayor's allies on the Council so far have stymied.
Then again, if City Hall was respecting the Hatch Act, there might be much less of a case to be made for a local version.
Fire them and send a message to all political party players/political volunteers that work for us.
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they have a top aide serving as in-house, taxpayer-funded campaign manager.
Is this true?
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Not that I think it is right to make employees work on campaigns, but weren't personal emails used, and not City? How could that be against the Hatch Act?
And every elected official has a political (paid) henchmen at his side. Name one that doesn't !
Tony Farina did not vote in Erie County between 11/06/01 & 9/18/07, after his third fake city address was exposed (in an empty basement apartment in Carl Paladino's 'Lafayette Hospital' Apartments).
During his extended non-voting lull, Farina served as election consultant for boxer Joe Mesi, girlie club owner RicK Snowden & a woman (name?)running for a sort of 'Mrs America'.
He also served as a regular 'sports writer' for Illuzziletter, where SanFilippo has long been an advertiser. (SanFilippo also advertises on Gramigna's pay-for-praise site).
Farina ended his nearly six years of non-voting when he claimed on Bd of Election records to have moved to 79 Sterling, a very modest two family house in N Bflo, after initially claiming to live on Bailey Ave. His registration at the apartment on Sterling is his 5th dubious address in Bflo.
Today, after a long break, Farina has resumed writing about sports on Illuzziletter.
I assume Farina has little to do, rarely writing a news release as the Comptroller's 'media man', & having apparently engineered SanFilippo's facing no opposition in his upcoming re-election.
Here once again is Farina the sports commentator, perhaps from his desk in the Comptroller's Office . . .
http://illuzziletter.com/
August 7, 2009 (tomorrow?)
IN SPORTS THE DEBATE ABOUT BEST EVER
RARELY SETTLED BUT IS STILL A LOT OF FUN
By Tony Farina
Most sports debates are never settled. For example, who was (or is) the greatest baseball player of all time? Try that one on for size at the local watering hole and the debate will rage for hours. Same thing when it comes to the greatest quarterback, or the greatest golfer.
Often, statistics, or numbers, just don’t give us a clear answer in these debates (you had to see Ty Cobb sharpening his spikes before the game or Pete Rose hustling out a base hit) and it becomes a matter of opinion, which is colored by many factors, including age and region, and opinions are hard to change.
But just for fun, I’m going to make my list of the “greatest” of all time and maybe spark some debates out there among readers of PoliticsNY.net who have a passing interest in sports. And I’m sure there are a few of you out there.
I’m going to start with baseball and admit to being old enough to have seen Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams play, along with Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle. Now all four of those guys would be on any real baseball fan’s top 10 list or else the fan is too young to know better.
While I believe that a case could be made for any of the four I’ve named and many others, my selection as the greatest ever, and the player who I would want if I was starting a team, is George Herman “Babe” Ruth. The Sultan of Swat, as he was known, had the stuff to be a Hall of Fame pitcher before becoming arguably the greatest home run hitter of all time, given that he played in the dead ball era and stuffed himself with hot dogs, not steroids.
All the while he was belting out homers, Ruth managed a lifetime batting average of .340, played on possibly the greatest team ever (1927 Yankees), and was a pretty fair right fielder on many great championship teams. There were players who were better pure hitters, Ted Williams among them, but Ruth was special and he was adored by fans across the country before Sports Center was around to make .280 hitters household names.
So Babe Ruth it is, as far as I’m concerned, and no, I didn’t see him play except on film. My list, after Ruth but in no particular order, would include the four I mentioned previously and Hank Aaron, Honus Wagner, Cy Young, Pete Rose, and Lou Gehrig. Sorry, steroid boys, you didn’t make my list.
In football, Joe Montana and his four Super Bowl titles, gets my vote as the greatest ever. There were quarterbacks with better arms (Terry Bradshaw, John Elway), but with two minutes left and the game on line, I’ll take Montana. Jim Brown gets my vote as the best runner and I’ll go with Jerry Rice as the greatest receiver. Best football coach: his name is on the championship trophy, Vince Lombardi.
When it comes to golf, I’ll give Tiger Woods a slight nod over jack Nicklaus. I’ve had the pleasure to see them both in their prime, and Woods at his best has the top all-around game. But I can still see Nicklaus crouching over a six-foot putt to win a major, and knocking it in. He never seemed to miss a putt that mattered.
Michael Jordan stands out as the best player I’ve seen on the basketball court, and I would round out that team with Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. Now that would be the dream team of all time, wouldn’t it? My coach would be Phil Jackson, who would handle it just right.
Last but not least, I’ll mention the year 1973 and a horse by the name of Secretariat who won the Belmont Stakes by an incredible 26 lengths. There have been a lot of great horses, but it is hard to believe that there was a horse who ever lived who could have beaten Big Red on that day so long ago.
I know City Comptroller Andrew SanFilippo on a professional AND personal level , he's a stand-up guy , doesn't partake in hanky-panky as do a majority (it seems ?) of politicians.....Andy would not condone illegal activities of ANY sort , plus he's been the best COB's Comptroller possibly ever.....Don't condemn anyone , use your opinion , but don't abuse your opinion to report it as factual....Andy has helped get our city back into the black , there was no green/red budget BS while he's been in office & will win again because of his record & he's legit , I can't speak for Farina , don't know much about the man........
And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15
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I have apparently encountered a very different SanFilippo than the man "dgezeb" describes . . . doesn't partake in hanky-panky as do a majority (it seems ?) of politicians.....Andy would not condone illegal activities of ANY sort .
I have long believed that residency for city workers, as required by the new City Charter implemented under Masiello, is important in one of the poorest US cities, where city employees, especially cops & fire(wo)men, are paid far above the average Bflo wage-earner, as most of themn live in suburbs.
SanFilippo, & Nanula before him, having the most dramatic residency scofflaw as his top aide, has insured that utterly-obsolete NYS WW-II-vintage law exempting cops, fire & sanitation workers . . . has not been touched.
Going further, SanFilippo refused to ever speak to me about the dramatic residency issue in his office. Years ago he called the cops when I photographed him cowering behind his desk after he refused to see me.
They found me an hour later doing research in the Assessment Office, reporting that SanFilippo was concerned that I had something "dangerous" in my hands . . a camera!
The cops did nothing. Even in City Hall a camera is apparently not 'dangerous'.
Next, when passing thru Bflo in September 2007 to my 50th HS reunion in eastern PA, I stopped to see Farina, having heard that he finally moved into a Bflo apartment on Bailey. He was not in so I tried again the next day, when SanFilippo threatened me with arrest again.
Ironically, after his nearly six year voting "vacation", Farina apparently registered to vote in Bflo from 79 Sterling on 11/6/07, just about 6 weeks later.
SanFilippo "doesn't partake in hanky-panky"?
I'm not so sure!
I think he's living in Grand Island with Emerson Barr III (Executive Director Arts Commission) or quite possibly Amherst with H.McCarthy Gipson (Police Commissioner).
BARR, III, EMERSON
3305 BASELINE ROAD
GRAND ISLAND, NY 1407220.00 16-JAN-09 BROWN FOR BUFFALO 2009 JULY PERIODIC A Mayor N/
GIPSON, H. MCCARTH
72 NORTHINGTON DRIVE
EAST AMHERST, NY 140511,000.00 30-APR-09 BROWN FOR BUFFALO 2009 JULY PERIODIC A Mayor N/A
(1) It is assumed she used government (city) equipment (computer) to send her email. It was also sent during work hours and she was not absent. Although, she is an exempt employee, there is no indication that she took lunch, break, etc.
(2) She references work (Community Services) within her request. Asking for volunteers is one thing, having an expectation is another.
Heaney (Buffalo News) has a good link which shows "tamer" actions resulted in termination.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-11...110shrg275.pdf
read pages 36-39
Here is a link to the email....
http://media.buffalonews.com/smedia/...filiate.50.pdf
I exposed that Dr Emerson Barr III lived on Grand Island years ago, not in the struggling Norway-Best neighborhood, when he was an "intern" in a Council office (forget which?)
He looked very nervous when I encountered him in City hall during my recent visit.
Dr Barr & I have a special connection because while exposing the dramatic misconduct of my then-Councilman (& cop-on-leave) Roberto Quintana, I sought help in then-Councilman Byron Brown's office.
Quintana was menacingly following me down the 14th floor hallway as I left after consulting on assessment appeals with Copolla staffer Jeanine Baron, a day after we had been in court & we were ordered to stay away from each other. I went into Byron's office, telling Byron's then-chief-of-staff Emerson Barr that I needed him to call security.
I went behind a conference table as Quintana reached beyond Emerson & Quintana's attractive teen-aged aide Yvette Corredor (imported from NYC) who tried to restrain him, punching me in my face.
Emerson later reversed his statement to the DA & alleged in court that Quintana never got near me. Very soon after, Quintana & his then-girlfriend Millie Castro (who Q later assaulted) threw a Byron Brown fundraiser at their Plymouth-Jersey compound.
I eventually left Bfo for my safety . . & Emerson is city 'Arts Boss' . . . still from Grand Island . . .
There's a moral to this story?
Can any city employee who recieve one of the emails just forward it over to me as an attachment? I'll tell you which email server pumped it out and which assigned IP and who it belongs to emailed it. EVen if it was sent from a hotmail account etc the IP where the email came from is listed in the header.(1) It is assumed she used government (city) equipment (computer) to send her email. It was also sent during work hours and she was not absent. Although, she is an exempt employee, there is no indication that she took lunch, break, etc.
Any 12 year old computer geek can do the same.
We don't have to use the lame words they "assume". It's easily proven.
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It's in the charter that "some" city workers don't have to live in the city , the police , fire , etc. , many are grandfathered SO they're doing NOTHING wrong ! It's not against the law , NO ONE can be arrested for living outside the city limits....Residency is archaic , no reason for it , BUT , it's NEVER been proven that anyone you mention (like you're some super sleuth who has a license to "stalk" people !) actually lived outside of the city ! Further more , a person works say from 8 AM until 4 PM , what they do or where they go after they put in their time is their business , unless you think that this is Russia with its' barbaric rules , I mean the nerve telling people where they can or cannot live ? Make Buffalo an attractive place to live , build from the hub on out , & maybe even those grandfathered may move back in & help with the taxes , it will still go to NYC , but NYC would get the same amount.......Bottom , line , every thing you wrote about Andy is false , you have no credibility when it comes to this thread.....
And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15
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