Monday, August 30, 2010

Comedy or Tragedy?

I'm thinking a little of both.

A "Reality Show" couldn't write a script any better than this. It has bumbling clowns, a "shady" non-licensed private I, connected political players, appointed and elected officials, and a police report to back it all up. Incredibly entertaining.

Newsworthy? Absolutely. As much as Robutrad was - and that was on the front page of the D&C for months. Mention some shenanigans with CDR working their magic against the County Executive and her Administration, which includes names of people connected to the current Mayor who is running for Lt. Governor.....and this gets a few hours on the main page only to be buried in the archives late that night.

Funny how that all works.

Link to D&C Article by David Andreatta.

Andreatta Article CDR vs Brooks

Maybe this is why it was buried in the archives:

Mayoral spokesman Gary Walker called any insinuation of Duffy administration involvement in the matter "really offensive."

"The city has no role in this absurd situation whatsoever," Walker said. "Any attempt by any individual or organization to link the city to this scheme will be directly and forcefully responded to on a variety of levels."

Duffy may not have had a direct role in this "absurd situation" - but "the city" did because there were a couple of City employees mentioned in the article.

In fact, the Assistant to the Mayor himself recommended the unlicensed private I - so, uh.....there is a link.

Honestly? I don't think "the City" had anything to do with this directly (and by "the City" I mean Duffy).....I'm quite certain that if "the City" had been directly involved......they wouldn't have sent a couple of bumbling idiots to meet an un-licensed private I (who used to be a chef a few years ago) behind a hotel in Chili, and then document it with a call to the police department.

I would bet money on this - that these two clowns referred to themselves as Woodward and Bernstein on the ride over to the hotel.....and joked about deep throat....and had a good chuckle over it. Seriously.

If I was Walker, I would be INFURIATED that these two idiots could have put a negative light on the campaign of my boss in his run for Lt. Governor. That's what CDR did with their actions.

As much as I know Democrats would love to have a little nitty gritty on Brooks and her Administration - I think this was all CDR.

.....and people wonder why Brooks decided to sever the relationship with CDR?

After reading this hilarious comedy/tragedy of the way CDR operates....I, for one, am glad she did.

As always, David Andreatta shines a light into local politics - hopefully it will be a good disinfectant.

Mr. Andreatta recently won the Sunshine Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for his work on uncovering the judicial practice of not filing documents referenced in the judge's opinion - documents that should have been available to the public, as required by law.....and they weren't.
His investigative research and subsequent article resulted in the New York Office of Court Administration sending out memos to administrative judges advising them to send any documents submitted directly to their chambers to the court clerk for filing - and that the judges are responsible for making sure it happens.

His investigative articles are researched well, factual, informative, eye opening, and it shines a light on things the general public may not have known about.

If not for such a timely article on CDR, and it's questionable ethics.....we might not have questioned them at all. The media have portrayed Maggie Brooks as a mean old hag who wants to punish disabled people. Medicaid Fraud? Why....not the CDR!

Methinks this article puts CDR in a whole new light. Thanks for the Sunshine, Mr. Andreatta. Great job!

The D&C has a feature called Watchdog which has blogs/opinions from various reporters. Please visit Mr. Andreatta's blog about his recent article on CDR, and "what is news".

I like the watchdog blog - I think we need more of that! Dogs can be a huge help in roundin' up the Donkeys and Elephants and putting them on the right path.


UPDATE:

I just (at around 1:30pm 8/30) checked the D&C and there is another article from Mr. Andreatta reporting that an apology from the Chief Operating Officer of CDR (Chris Hilderbrant) for investigating Maggie Brooks is on the CDR website, as well as a link to the blogpology that Hilderbrant offers on the CDR website.

Link to D&C Article.

Link to CDR website.

Link to blogpology from Hilderbrant.

LOL It's "the real story". Where he reiterates again and again that the Assistant to the Mayor was the reference he trusted and figured it was "ok" because Darryl Porter told him "'Yes, she’s given me good information before. She’s always been straight with me,’.”

Oh what a tangled web we weave........

D&C Article CDR - Hilderbrant Blogpology

If you want the "background" on the dispute between the County and CDR - I am only going to give you the link to the plethora of articles on the CDR site - there's just too much to put into a pdf, and I'm not wasting my time copying everything. Here is the link to the main page of the CDR site which lists the articles. Oldest are at the bottom, I started there.

Here is the link to the County website which gives their side, along with testimonials from clients of the substandard service that CDR provided to some people from the links on the County site - in pdf to read easier. (As I write this....I just saw the commercial for CDR on Channel 10. lol)

County Version of CDR Dispute


UPDATE X's 2:

Recent articles in the D&C about CDR's "investigation" and the audit of CDR are below.

D&C Sheriff/CDR Investigation.



CDR Audit.


2 comments:

cheri said...

Great article by David Andreatta! I love once and awhile seeing an investigative report in the D & C. Thank you for the blog on this.

In my opinion Jax it reads like both a Comedy and a Tragedy. It's almost unbelievable. So pathetic but that's politics.

Sadly, nothing surprises me anymore.

Foils_for_irondequoit said...

It's a comedy of errors!

I commented on the D&C "apology" article:

"Hilarious.

How long before Walker gets ahold of him and "directly and forcefully" responds to Hilderbrant
"on a variety of levels."?

He keeps on naming Darryl Porter - assistant to the Mayor - the Mayor who is running for Lt. Governor.

Who in their right mind would contract with CDR now? LOL Hilderbrant is soon to be "the former" Chief Operating Officer of CDR I bet."

Hildebrant and Darling.....the Bernstein and Woodward of Rochester.

BWAAA HAA HAAAAAA

I wonder if the County will just "let this go" or waste taxpayer dollars on an investigation?

I hope not....bad enough the taxpayers paid all that money in the Robutrad investigation...no need to spend more money that we don't have.

Although - it would be tit for tat, and always at the taxpayers expense.

I wish they could all play their games without using my money for it.