A flash banner ad next to the Irondequoit articles, with the same information that was in the D&C ad yesterday. I took a screen shot of the first one with the Irondequoit articles page, then just cropped and added the other flash banner messages to the right of the screen shot page. (One of them is kinda faded because I captured the image as it was changing to the next one....sorry...)
Link to MPNnow.
Linda Quinlan, loyal supporter of Mary Ellen Heyman and her administration, has an article up about the primaries.
First, I just want to point out that in the article, it is implied that Mr. Ament is "just" a high school graduate. Mr. Ament did graduate from IHS in 1982, and holds a Bachelor's degree in business - which he earned in 1986, then he worked in the corporate sector for a few years before joining the Peace Corp and serving as a volunteer in West Africa for 3 years, 1989 - 1991.
The one with "just" the high school diploma is your current sitting Supervisor.
(Update 8/7: It looks like the article was changed to include the other information about Mr. Ament. Link to article.)
"Seeley did file a general objection to the designating petitions Ament filed with the Monroe County Board of Elections last month, and said Monday he could have filed specific objections, “but Mary Ellen Heyman asked me not to.”"
Really? Hmmm......I think you didn't file specific objections because you couldn't produce any. I mean.....yeah.....you COULD have filed specific objections......the election law allows that......but there was nothing specific to file.....otherwise, I'm quite sure you would have.
Mr. Seeley, we all know how the game is played. Politics isn't hard to figure out. It's not rocket science.
You didn't file specific objections only because you couldn't find any. If you had, it would have been quoted, more than likely in "your" paper, MPNnow. Anything you could have filed specific objections over, would have been so insignificant, that you and your endorsed candidates would have seemed petty, and too hungry for a "win" on September 15th that it would have hurt more than helped to file those objections.
Am I right, or am I right? Yeah, I thought so.
But, what do I know?.....I'm not a paid Democratic political operative who is in the middle of a campaign to save incumbent's seats in order to have a successful primary against a very vocal, and passionate candidate who seems to have a couple of good, solid running mates along for this ride.
Really. I'm just a blogger who blogs for free. On a free website. With no political aspirations, no personal friends or relatives of mine are running for any office, anywhere. I don't and never have work/ed for or get paid by any political party for anything, and I haven't volunteered at any political functions. For the record, I don't even LIVE in your town anymore. But at one time, for 19 years I did. Born and raised there, I have a ton of family and friends that still reside in your town. They don't have access to personal reporters at media outlets. They don't have access to Joe Morelle, or have friends who work for "the machine".
All they have is that little ol' finger that pulls a lever at every election.
"“I don’t think that (lining up a moderator) is his job,” said Heyman. “I think the campaign committees have to have a discussion and negotiate the best venue so the candidates can be heard – and comments can be made without fear of distribution on, say, Youtube, in a skewed perspective""
Unfortunately, the residents are subjected to comments in, say, MPNnow, in a skewed perspective. They are subjected to board meetings, press conferences, glossy mailers, automated phone calls......the list goes on and on....
Their skewed perspective is fed to us 10 ways to Tuesday, on an almost daily basis it seems.....and she's going to whine about a few YouTubes?
I don't think YouTube snippets and a blog are read/heard en masse in Irondequoit like the Irondequoit Post and Board meetings are. Besides, any YouTube of ANY of the Board or the Supervisor is actual video of the meetings. You can go to the Town's website, or the Library to get a copy yourself and verify what was said or not, or if the YouTubes were taken "out of context" or not.
YouTubes and blogs are not forced upon any resident. They aren't quoted in the media. They don't hold press conferences. They don't send out glossy mailers. They don't call you at home. They don't use taxpayer money to send out a voter mailer about King$ Pork and the vote on the lease (that didn't have to be done and cost taxpayers over $7,000.00). They don't lie to you and tell you that CDBG can't be used for Pinegrove, or that the Town only owns the building and 5 ft. of land around it, or that the lease money from the grant would return to the town in property taxes, or that it's fiscally responsible to enter into a lease for a temporary solution, or that they think it's in the best interests of the Town and residents to amend a law that would discriminate against small and minority owned business owners in Irondequoit.... and the plethora of other junk that was fed to us.
The many people who visit the blog or view the YouTubes do so of their own free will.
You and your political masters, on the other hand, are in the middle of a campaign.
What office am I running for again?
lol Puh-lease. I haven't even endorsed anyone, and I won't endorse anyone.
I will continue to do what I have been doing since October of 2008.
....and you guys make it soooooooo eeeeeeaaaasssssyyyyyyy. :)
Another article I read about the primaries is in the City Newspaper, by Jeremy Moule (one of FFI's favorite reporters btw-I'm a Dem...whaddya expect? But, even this article seems a little skewed towards the incumbents, in my opinion).
A couple of comments about the article:
"Earlier this year, the Town Board voted to temporarily move the center to the Kings Park office complex, a larger and more modern space, using federal money, until a permanent plan could be worked out. A resident filed a petition against the project, however, and that forced a vote. Residents rejected the plan 2,819 to 2,205."
Well....it wasn't just "A resident". A resident organized about 40 Republicans, Democrats, and Independents to carry a petition for the RIGHT to vote on the lease. It was not a petition "against" the project. It was a petition for the right to give ALL residents a chance to vote on approving the lease for King$ Pork. They gathered 1,952 signatures during the very cold weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. No easy task when you're up against "the machine" that pumps out press conferences, sat in their warm offices and mailed out a few glossy mailers, and utilized phone banks to push their propaganda.
I believe the reporter is conflating two concepts. The petition drive, and the information handed out after petitions were submitted and approved. Some of the literature that was handed out AFTER the petitions, were against the project. The petitions were not against anything, they were to give the residents the right to vote on the lease. That is what the wording of the petition was....the right to vote on the lease.......and then the residents rejected the lease.
This one is really funny:
"Careful study is especially important considering that, just as in business, supervisors and department heads aren't always versed in the fine details of any issue or project, Heyman says. Studies may be expensive and time consuming, she says, but they also provide details and guard against foolish decisions.
"The public demands that you are accountable," she says."
HA HA HA HA Yeah! AFTER the friggin' VOTE! HA HA HA HA OH man! My eyes are watering on that one....ha ha ha ha oh that was funny.
NO Property Condition Reports were done for King$ Pork. The scrutiny applied to the old building at Pinegrove (AFTER THE VOTE) was not even hinted at with the 40 year old building at King$ Pork.
Ever.
Too funny.
"Her administration's biggest achievement, Heyman says, was reducing the town's tax rate from $7.19 per $1,000 assessed value to $6.41 in 2008. There was a townwide revaluation last year, however, and Heyman admits that some property values went up, which caused those residents to pay more in taxes."
"Some"....Shhhhhhhh!....don't mention that it was about 80% that went up and paid more in property taxes. Just generalize it and move on to your "accomplishments"......
I'm not even going to go into the part about the PILOT and Medley Centre, and how Congel has made payments, but he has violated the "60 days from the entitlement date to start demolition" condition and nothing has been done about it....or how he hasn't secured financing yet......or how he could enjoy paying LESS taxes for another 6 years.......nope.....not a peep outta me! ;)
""Primaries by nature are divisive," says Dave Seeley, leader of the Irondequoit Democratic Committee."
Only if you make it that way Mr. Seeley. G'head....we're used to it. Why, your endorsed incumbents along with many of their supporters participated in that divisiveness in the past.....so....we are all pretty much seasoned veterans with that whole thing.
""If we do what we need to do, we'll be resoundingly victorious in November," Seeley says."
Heh heh heh....I can't wait to see some o' this.
Fun times ahead, peeps. Buckle up and put your helmets on!
