Arrogant Joel stumbles again...

[biker]

Then I figured it out when I read his post.

As far as it goes, I agree with him.

I voted for Joel twice. Given his arrogant, inept handling of a mess he created. I've thought a lot about why.

I don't any of these people personally. I've been one of the schlubs working in the private sector, paying my taxes, raising my kids.

Gorski appeared to be honest, humble, faceless, a true party man who would never reduce the size of government.

Joel struck me as a slick schlockmeister, with no qualifications for his job as Comptroller, who would do and say anything to get elected.

Even change parties.

Even cut taxes.

And he did.

Giambra used up reserves, gave me a cut of the tobacco settlement and sold ECMC (which Ned Reagan tried to do in the seventies to stop the drain on the county).

Joel did something for me that no party stalwart---Democrat or Republican---would do. He stopped the overtaxation, the husbanding of reserves (which only the geniuses in the public sector are qualified to distribute) and cut my taxes.

And now, what terrible thing has happened? The government has to go on a diet. They have to go through a justification for consuming my taxes. They have to cut 10%. OMG, the sky is falling.

Of course, Joel is a lying, sneaky bastard who should atone for his sins by resigning. That's what "I take full responsibility" means to adults.

[biker]

Joel holds a an hour long press conference the first day he's back at work. Calm, cool conciliatory. Lots of good tape and copy.

What have they had to feed off of for the past week?

The ball, figuratively and literally, has been in the Legislature's court. What type of leadership have those buffoons shown. What sort of great communicators have they been. The mumbling George Holt, the invisible Lynn Marinelli ("I asked her for comment. She gave me a blank look and said something I didn't understand. Very disappointing.")

We have a collection of 15 empty suits (and dresses).

Contrast that with their floundering and the performance Joel put on. Unfortunately for us, public perceptions and performances count for a lot.

Just ask Borgulski, central casting's perfect choice for the tongue-tied union boss.

[avet]

Did You See Scott Levin and Laura Steele Interview Joel Giambra?
http://wgrz.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=26783

"Watch the Joel Giambra interview"

Does anybody beside me, see "nothing" but doubletalk, twisted statements, and unfullfilling answers by people who seemingly know what their doing, getting paid VERY WELL, to the questions being asked. If this was a court of law, and anybody gave answers like this, they would be immediatly scolded, and branded as an "uncoperative" witness.
.................................................. ........

FACT: The parks have been "closed" for at least THREE WEEKS

In the parks commisioner's camera interveiw, he was asked why aren't they opened if we are STILL paying park employees.

His answer :
"They are "SUPPOSED TO BE" buttoning up the parks, and taking inventory.. they ah, ah.. have been inventorying equipment, moving equipment.....

Now, these are the answers of a government employee, making a six figure salary. He is "THE MAN in charge" of parks, saying "They are SUPPOSED TO BE buttoning up the parks"
Does that sound like a man in charge, who "KNOWS" what is going on?

Giambra's answer:
"They have already been given notices". It's a very complicated, confusing, process. There's kaos, complications, and confusion. There "GETTING READY" to close down buildings, winterize buildings, lines have to be flushed, in "ANTICIPATION" of the close downs.

Now here's THE MAN in charge, getting the highest pay of all, in charge of the parks commisioner, saying
"their GETTING READY to close down"
"in anticipation of the close downs"
"lines ""HAVE"" to be flushed"
"the workers have already been given their notices" ...on Feb 15th

From all the "non-answers" I have heard, If I personally, had to turn in a report about the exact condition of our parks, at the present, I could NEVER, EVER make "heads or tails" of what was actually said, and what was done, by two of the HIGHEST paid officials in charge.

For the last three weeks that the parks were closed, and employees have been GETTING PAID, by the taxpayers, have they :

A: doing nothing, but posting closed signs? That takes three weeks?

B: winterizing ? It shouldn't take three weeks. It's not the Hotel Ritz, or some fancy resort. It's a PARK!

C: inventoring ? It shouldn't take three weeks. It's not the Hotel Ritz, or some fancy resort. It's a PARK! (a co. I used to work for, had tens of thousands of parts. Inventory was done in a 2 day weekend, with 5 to 9 people. It's a PARK, let's see, 1 tractor, 9 mowers, 25 park benches, 12 desks, 30 chairs, etc.

D: Getting READY to close down? What does that entail? Sitting down and contemplating what to do?

E: Been flushing the lines? It shouldn't take three weeks. It's not the Hotel Ritz, or some fancy resort. It's a PARK!

F: Moving equipment? What needs to be moved? What exactly, has, so far, "been moved" in three weeks, by the paid employees?

G: Reading their notices, while still collecting their pay? Is the notice 100,000 pages long, like the patriot act, or our tax codes?
Every notice I ever got from any private company took less than 15 minutes. "Hey the boss wants to see you" (go see boss) As of right now, your laid off, get your stuff, your done. I "did" usually get paid for half of the day. "It's a very complicated, confusing, process", - not for the private sector.

"kaos, complications, and confusion" ......
Worth every taxpayers hard, earned penny !

He thinking, and wants to wait, and to have talks, to agree about "across the board" pay cuts. They didn't hand out "across the board" raises during the last round of big raises. He and a few others took more than a FIFTY PERCENT pay raise. So now, he wants ALL employees, including the lowest of the low, to be cut the same amount? If everybody gets cut the same amount, let's say 10 percent, who's that going to hurt? The people at the bottom? Those who make six figure + salaries/who just got a 50 percent raise? "Across the board" , yeah, that's fair. Their (the few) still ahead of the game compared to what they were making just a short year ago.

[Curmudgeon]

Who's curmie?
Then I figured it out when I read his post.

As far as it goes, I agree with him.

I voted for Joel twice. Given his arrogant, inept handling of a mess he created. I've thought a lot about why.

I don't any of these people personally. I've been one of the schlubs working in the private sector, paying my taxes, raising my kids.

Gorski appeared to be honest, humble, faceless, a true party man who would never reduce the size of government.

Joel struck me as a slick schlockmeister, with no qualifications for his job as Comptroller, who would do and say anything to get elected.

Even change parties.

Even cut taxes.

And he did.

Giambra used up reserves, gave me a cut of the tobacco settlement and sold ECMC (which Ned Reagan tried to do in the seventies to stop the drain on the county).

Joel did something for me that no party stalwart---Democrat or Republican---would do. He stopped the overtaxation, the husbanding of reserves (which only the geniuses in the public sector are qualified to distribute) and cut my taxes.

And now, what terrible thing has happened? The government has to go on a diet. They have to go through a justification for consuming my taxes. They have to cut 10%. OMG, the sky is falling.

Of course, Joel is a lying, sneaky bastard who should atone for his sins by resigning. That's what "I take full responsibility" means to adults.

Thank you.

If given the choice between a Gorski-ite who perpetuates the bloat or some wise-guy slippery eel like Giambra, I'll take Giambra every time.

At least something is changing.

Hey biker? What do Citymouse, Deerhunter, and Tomac have in common? They're ALL current or retired public employees.

Citymouse - city grabageman
Deerhunter - city cop
Tomac - retired county streets/engineering

Now you can understand why a wingnut like Giambra terrifies them. He's attacking the status-quo!

Usually, a politician in NYS who messes up the status-quo gets bitch-slapped in a hurry by the powers that be (like the public employee unions). Giambra doesn't seem to care, and that's what drives guys like the above three completely over the edge.

It's a sad statement when the voters will put an inherently untrustworthy guy in office over a party man like Ward in the hopes something will change.

What are the mouse,hunter,and toeguy going to do if Giambras replacement continues down the same road but is a lot more professional about it? What then???????

[WNYresident]

F: Moving equipment? What needs to be moved? What exactly, has, so far, "been moved" in three weeks, by the paid employees?

Maybe the department were using the equipment for thier personal needs and now they are moving it all back to the parks ?

[WNYresident]

They didn't hand out "across the board" raises during the last round of big raises. He and a few others took more than a FIFTY PERCENT pay raise. So now, he wants ALL employees, including the lowest of the low, to be cut the same amount?

See i Look at it as a scale cut. 30% to 5% either in salaries or benefits. Just so the physical cost per person cost us that much less. IN some of these cases do you really think the people earning $100,000 are accomplishing anything more than the people earning $25,000. I dont consider all day meetings work. I bet a lot are just BS sessions of what to do next to get more tax money.

[WNYresident]

Now you can understand why a wingnut like Giambra terrifies them. He's attacking the status-quo!

Curm you know I agree with you a lot but just on this topic I disagree > < that much.

He didn't lower taxes to attack the status quo. He lowered taxes for personal self gain to win the election. Once he was elected he was just more of the status quo. The net result will sort of be the same but we are straped with debt. The money we got to pocket from is first cut now will have to be paid for with interest it seems.

If he attacked status quo while cutting taxes we would be giving him the hi five.

You are correct we are going to gut government but we could of done it for a lot less.

[NoCtUrNaL]

I'm telling ya...the answer to this whole situation is simple...round up all the elected politicians,
prisoners, nursing home elderly, and handicapped in this county and wheel barrow their asses onto this...



...and tow it to the middle of the lake.

[southbuffaloguy]

What the hell are some of you people smoking? Gorski kept up bloated govt, and Giambra put over 800 people on the payroll in less than 3 years by his own comptroller's report. Sure he cut taxes , only to get himself elected and then proceeded to spend surplus and tobacco money like a drunken sailor. There were no scandals with furniture or highways during Gorski"s tenure nor were there brother in laws or friends and family on the payroll. Budget reports were timely and I might add truthful . I will also add here that Giambra benefited greatly from the same bloated special interests you people rail on here , he would never been on the city council or been elected city comptroller without it . He's attacking the status quo ?, he's made every politician before him look like an amateur as far as favors and patronage go. This whole mess we have now was started by him only to keep his people on the payroll. And he cares curmie , but only about himself , thats why you got the conciliary attitude from him Monday . Its all about saving himself and that precious ego of his and nothing else.
Keep crowing about his tax cut and his attacking the status quo , tell me that bull**** again when he;s pushing for a property tax increase in October or earlier , he's already talking about new revenue sources now . You guys just don't get it , this guy is all about status and nothing more. We will be paying for his status quo for the next 30 years!!!

[biker]

Where to start:

Avet: I agree with everything you said about the Parks Commish and Giambra. They give new meaning to the saying, "You can tell when they're lying; their lips move." Don't be worried that many are fooled by all of this stonewalling. The past few years have renewed my faith in the average voter. In Buffalo, citizens restructured the Common Council and elected a guy with experience as Comptroller over a career politician who over many years helped get the City into its fiscal mess.

Curmudgeon: Ascribing some philosophical objective by Giambra as wanting to upset the status quo gives him more credit for brains than he's got. He's a punk from the West Side who wanted power to dole out goodies to his supporters. If cutting taxes was a way to beat out the opposition, so be it.

The result is lower taxes for me, turmoil that will reduce the size of government and the probable defeat of every incumbent legislator. Hard to see a downside in any of this.

The only fly in the ointment is that Giambra will be left standing. He's "in like Flint" for the next three years. That dopey legislature restored funding to his office.

They should cut every penney in his office. Emasculate him (although I think half the Legislature will have to run to the dictionary to see if that's a good thing), cut all his resources, make him irrelevant. Summarily reject every message he sends to the Legislature. Take away his phone, car and computer (if he knows how to use it). Like every other ostracised hack, he can come to his office every day and stare at the wall. If he doesn't show up, fire him for cause.

[biker]

Originally posted by WNYresident
The net result will sort of be the same but we are straped with debt. The money we got to pocket from is first cut now will have to be paid for with interest it seems.

Hey WNYresident:

You've hit on something great here. The debt we've run up is OK. Really.

What we're doing is a leveraged buyout. That is, we've had to take on a lot of debt to take over our own county. It's too bad we had to do it that way, but it happens all the time. Like every leveraged buyout, we'll have to make operations more efficient in order to be able to pay down the debt.

And, in most LBOs, the former management is fired. Does anyone not think most of the Legislature is going to be defeated?

So, I think everything you described is good news for us.

Now if we only can figure out how to can the CEO. Actually, it's not worth the effort. Just isolate him in his office and leave him there.

You're a bright guy. What's his $103,000 salary in relation to the $1,100,000,000 budget (soon to be $1,000,000,000--another happy outcome).

[Deerhunter]

curm, were you on OJ's jury ?

[Curmudgeon]

Curmudgeon: Ascribing some philosophical objective by Giambra as wanting to upset the status quo gives him more credit for brains than he's got. He's a punk from the West Side who wanted power to dole out goodies to his supporters. If cutting taxes was a way to beat out the opposition, so be it.

I didn't think I implied that Giambras behaior had anything other than self-serving behavior.

I do beleive that his actions are attacking the status-quo, no matter what his intentions.

[tomac]

Originally posted by Curmudgeon
If given the choice between a Gorski-ite who perpetuates the bloat or some wise-guy slippery eel like Giambra, I'll take Giambra every time.
At least something is changing.
Hey biker? What do Citymouse, Deerhunter, and Tomac have in common? They're ALL current or retired public employees.
Citymouse - city grabageman
Deerhunter - city cop
Tomac - retired county streets/engineering
Now you can understand why a wingnut like Giambra terrifies them. He's attacking the status-quo!

I worked for 32 years at the same job, can you say that?

Tell you what, let's get together after the dust has settled. I'm willing to wager that when Giambra gets done, there won't be a County; whatever is left will be a bankrupt mess that no one will be able to repair.
Road and bridges?
Ha, this area is going to look like the worst parts of Appalachia!
Public Health?
Fogettaboutit!
Public Safety?
Maybe with the National Guard stationed on every street corner....
No, they'll still be in Iraq!

Maybe it'll take Joel's "best efforts" to convince you that you had it pretty good and you lost it.
Joel and his handlers have been stealing from your for five years and you think it's a Good Thing.
Well Martha, either you're an idiot or you're on the inside.

Which is it?

[tomac]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F: Moving equipment? What needs to be moved? What exactly, has, so far, "been moved" in three weeks, by the paid employees?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by WNYresident
Maybe the department were using the equipment for thier personal needs and now they are moving it all back to the parks ?

I watched them move some equipment out of Gover Cleveland Golf Course to another Park. I figure that it was to get the equipment to a central, secure location so that the low-lifes from the City couldn't come in ans steal it.
Remember, County Sheriff's presence is going to be negligible!