Porkers!

When not actually in government, Republicans like to blast away at the reckless spending of big government liberals who, as the old saying goes, will spend taxpayers money like drunken sailors. But when in government, and/or when in a position to benefit, Republicans can spend like the best of them. In Schoharie County, Obama’s stimulus package has local Republicans lining up with their hands out like kids in a candy store, or should I say pork store.

In fact, if you listen closely you can already here Schoharie County’s fattest piggies lined up at the trough squealing for treats. Schoharie County’s Board of Supervisors settled on a list of 17 projects costing over $153 million dollars. Make no mistake, Schoharie County is in desperate need of a few hundred million dollars or so of stimulus money. But many of the proposed projects leave me scratching my head as expensive and for the most part unnecessary, and worst of all, they take away resources from more worthy projects.

For example, the county proposes to spend $90 million on three new I-88 exits, one for the proposed water park by Howe Caverns, one for Guilford Mills in Cobleskill and another for Schoharie. Not only is this is a colossal and unjustified waste of money, but the fat highway contracts will be manna from Heaven for the Galasso's. Here’s an idea, why don’t they just put in a separate exit ramp leading straight to the home of the Galasso’s so they can just drive right up and drop the money off by the truck load?

The pork list just goes on. The Board is proposing replacing a small bridge on Podpadic Road in order to access a proposed industrial site. Pay attention because this one’s a gem. Mill Services, who already have a factory in the Village of Cobleskill are being courted by Town of Richmondville officials, including Planning Board Chair Harold Loder, who incidentally, owns the piece of land that the bridge replacement would provide access to. Let me get this straight. We waste millions of dollars in federal money for a new bridge for Podpadic Road and the Village of Cobleskill gets another empty factory, all so Harold Loder gets a buyer for his land. And to think, these people probably didn't even vote for Obama!

Then there’s $11.8 million dollars for water and sewer extensions out to Shad Point, and everything in between. Interesting strategy by local developers. Tell the water hoarders in the Village of Cobleskill that they’re costing the county nearly 12 million dollars in federal aid by not playing along.

Of course, buried in all this pork there are some worthy projects like the $25.8 million dollars for broadband service, a truly critical piece of the infrastructure puzzle. There’s a modest $3 million dollars in there for SUNY Cobleskill which will be used in the development of a waste-to-energy project. More projects along these lines could push us further toward developing a green energy/technology economy that has the best chance of creating new opportunities for Upstate NY.

Another critical but overlooked piece of the puzzle is sustainable development. Amidst all of this pork for new highway projects and moving factories across town, there is little talk of projects that will help to revitalize our downtowns and promote sustainable development. There needs to be more of a focus on projects like the Newberry Square building rehab and the Cobleskill Creek Trail. New sidewalks and facades for all the Downtown business districts in the region would not only provide temporary construction jobs and provide the facelift our business districts will need to thrive in coming decades but it could be done at a fraction of the cost of Schoharie County’s three new proposed highway exits. The current and temporary reduction in fuel costs has made a lot of us forget just how obsolete our automobile-dominated society is becoming. We need to start rebuilding compact, high-density communities sooner rather than later. We need to start by rehabilitating the vacant spaces in our downtown business districts and working on our bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in the county, which is currently non-existent.

More federal aid for wind farms could also be a windfall for the area if federal aid stipulated more robust PILOT payments for local communities. This could help to reduce local resistance as communities realized they had more to gain than to lose by working with wind power developers.

Right now is a critical time for America and particularly the depressed economy of Upstate NY. With the Federal Government eager to throw hundreds of billions of dollars at the problem, it is imperative that we as citizens insure that this money is used wisely to build a sustainable future and not to pad the wallets of the porkers who run this county. After all, a trillion dollars is a terrible thing to waste.

How Wal-Mart Short-Changes Communities

Wal-Mart’s recent attempt to shake down the Town of Cobleskill by demanding a reduction in its property assessment shouldn’t come as a surprise; it’s standard operating procedure for the retail giant. As the country slides deeper and deeper into recession, Wal-Mart counts on the fact that cash-strapped communities like Cobleskill won’t have the resources to fight back when they demand concessions on their property assessments, even when the local assessment is correct.

For a company that has become infamous for playing hardball with its vendors and with many of its employees, the thousands of municipalities in which Wal-Mart’s operate should not be surprised when they begin to receive similar treatment from the company. Even still, for many of the communities who don’t come out ahead in their dealings with the company, the consequences can be devastating. Many of these communities welcome Wal-Mart’s and similar big box retailers with open arms, precisely because these companies promise significant sales and property tax revenues. Communities see these developments as a way to increase economic development and help defray the increasing costs of providing services.

In the final tally however, most of these communities find themselves short-changed by such big box retailers. Stores like Wal-Mart almost immediately drain business away from local merchants rapidly transforming downtown business districts into ghost towns. Meanwhile, rather than helping to lessen the costs of providing services through additional tax revenues, Wal-Mart and other big box retailers consume far more resources than other businesses. However, for many communities the coup de grace comes when a company like Wal-Mart decides to further cut its own costs by challenging its local property assessment to the tune of millions of dollars. Needless to say, this can come as a major blow to small towns who after having hosted a Wal-Mart for several years usually have lost businesses who do pay their taxes and will continue having to provide expensive services to the local Wal-Mart.

However, it may be at the local level where communities stand the best chance at beating back these hardball tactics. Local governments need to be counseled by state agencies and non-profits on how to defend their assessments against challenges by companies like Wal-Mart. Defending assessments can be a costly and time-consuming battle for local assessors. However, if they have done their homework, and the assessments are correct, they should hold up in state proceedings.

Obviously, state real property services agencies, such as New York’s Office of Real Property Services have a vested interest in preventing companies like Wal-Mart from in essence gaming the system by intimidating small communities with a barrage of legal threats. The less that companies like Wal-Mart pay in local property taxes, the more the states have to pick up in financial aid to municipalities.

Another way for local communities to get what it they are owed from Wal-Mart is to support union organizing efforts. If the Employee Free Choice Act (AKA card check) becomes law, and most likely it will, Wal-Mart employees will be able to bring in a union like the Union of Food and Commercial Workers simply by having a majority of employees sign union cards.

This could be an invaluable tool for insuring that Wal-Mart’s largely poor, rural and female workforce earns a living wage and has access to decent benefits. It would also insure that more money stays in our communities as opposed to being sent down to Bentonville, Arkansas to enlarge the already obscene family fortunes of the Waltons.

With companies like Wal-Mart playing hardball with us, it makes little sense for members of the community, including local government to simply roll over. There are things that we can do, and must do, to play hardball right back at these corporate pirates. The first step is to realize that they are not our friends.

The Forces Behind Consolidation

Apparently, the town/village consolidation study conducted by the Center for Governmental Research was intended as the local equivalent of a show trial in support of dissolving the village. It was to provide supporters of dissolution with a heavy stack of papers confirming the many presumed benefits of eliminating the Village of Cobleskill. That the study actually failed to provide any solid, compelling arguments for dissolution, and actually recommended becoming a city, seems to matter very little, if at all, to a majority of the Village Board who have chosen to selectively interpret the study and, with blinders firmly in place, feverishly rush toward dissolution of the village, as it always intended to in the first place.

To those of us who have followed village affairs closely over the past three years and have watched numerous developers unsuccessfully request village water service for projects located outside the village, it is obvious that this is the real impetus behind the push for consolidation. Village officials may attempt to throw sand in your eyes by telling you consolidation will save money and increase efficiency. But this is not true and THEY KNOW IT! The truth is, this attempt to consolidate the village into the town is essentially a smash-and-grab operation to plunder the village’s water and sewer services in order to fuel growth benefitting only a handful of developers.

Additionally, the move would consolidate all local planning and zoning functions in the hands of Republican-appointed members of the town planning board and zoning board of appeals. These people will be tripping over each other to accommodate companies like Lowes and the Shad Point mystery manufacturer. Dreams of a rebirth of Main Street would be just as shattered as the windows of the Newberry Square building.

The move to dissolve is currently being led by a three-person majority on the Board of Trustees consisting of ultra-conservative developer Mark Galasso, indicted felon Robert LaPietra (recently elected despite pending felony charges) and curiously enough Mayor Mike Sellers, a member of the Green Party who used to think that this community mattered.

When it comes to this issue, the Board of Trustees is operating in an ethical black hole. Both Mark Galasso and Bob LaPietra stand to benefit personally if the Village is dissolved. Almost two years ago Galasso requested that water service from the Warnerville Water District be extended to his company Lancaster Development, but that request was denied by the Village Board of Trustees. Does anyone here seriously think Roger Cohn and the Republicans on the Town Board will say no to Galasso or, for that matter, go out of their way to reconstitute the Village’s tighter planning and code enforcement regime? The latter of course being a prime source of Bob LaPietra’s headaches with regards to his illegally rented apartments.

But behind Galasso and LaPietra there is a handful of developers and bought politicians who want to get the village’s water flowing so that they can rev up development throughout the eastern half of the town.

Frankly, it would only be appropriate for Galasso to recuse himself from voting for consolidation given that his company, Lancaster Development, stands to benefit directly.

I would also like to know why Mayor Sellers is going along with this scheme which will only lead to unchecked development (read: sprawl) in the town causing Downtown Cobleskill to dry up that much faster. As a member of the Green Party you might think Sellers would want to encourage smart growth and sound development practices and stand up to blatant corruption and conflicts of interest in local government.
If Mayor Sellers doesn’t wake up to the brazen corruption underlying this consolidation scheme and distance himself from Galasso and LaPietra, village residents may wake up one morning to find that their community has been broken into and picked clean by thieves in the night.

Taking a Wait and See Approach to Gillibrand

Governor Paterson’s appointment of Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to Clinton’s vacant U.S. Senate seat has some members of the Democratic Party’s left wing crying foul. While I agree that some of her votes, particularly on immigration and gun control are quite revolting, I have to recommend that progressives take a wait-and-see approach to Gillibrand before they go gunning for her.

Most of Gillibrand’s detractors are progressive democrats who understandably feel that that her positions are too far to the right and thus out of step with the positions of most New York democrats. To be sure, her record does leave a lot to be desired. She is a member of the Blue Dog Democrat coalition and received an A rating from the National Rifle Association and voted to support funding for a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and to penalize sanctuary cities, as well as for a host of other nasty anti-immigrant legislation. Long Island Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, who is known for her one-issue advocacy of gun control has already announced that she will challenge Gillibrand in a primary in 2010.

It certainly isn’t my intention to make light of these awful positions (and there are more to be sure). And I definitely don’t want to suggest that coming from a Republican-leaning district gives her a pass for these votes. However, there is reason to believe that she will begin jettisoning some of her more unsavory Blue Dog positions now that she no longer has to pander to the Deliverance-vote in places like Essex and Delaware Counties (by the way, I can say that because I’m from Schoharie County). Already, according to the Empire State Pride Agenda, Gillibrand is coming around on the gay marriage issue, assuring the group that she now supports marriage equality.

Furthermore, many of the liberal democrats who are griping about Gillibrand are completely ignoring her strong support for working families. Not only does she support the Employee Free Choice Act (which would allow unionization through card check) but she was a co-sponsor of the legislation.

For Upstate New Yorkers, this choice is potentially very good news. Gillibrand will be in a position to bring millions of economic stimulus dollars to Upstate’s desperate communities. And while she does not have as progressive a voting record as say fellow Hudson Valley Congressman Maurice Hinchey, she has two years to show downstate democrats that she is not as conservative as they think, something she will have to do in order to head off a major primary challenge from a more liberal democrat.

Meanwhile, other democrats have more pragmatic reasons for questioning Gillibrand’s appointment, namely the fact that a special election to fill Gillibrand’s seat would likely result in a Republican pick-up.

In fact, Republicans ought to be lining up to meet New York Governor David Paterson and shake his hand. By plucking Kirsten Gillibrand out of the House and appointing her to Hillary Clinton’s vacant Senate seat, he has given Republicans their first glimmer of hope of taking back some of the hard-won Democratic seats in the House of Representatives.

The 20th District is perhaps one of the most culturally conservative in Upstate NY. It stretches from the Adirondack mountains in the north to Poughkeepsie in the south and leaves out virtually all of the Democratic zip codes in between, and yes, there are a few of them. In 2006, newcomer Kirsten Gillibrand barely squeaked by against the scandal-plagued incumbent Republican John Sweeney. At the time, Sweeney was under investigation for domestic abuse. Hard to say if this behavior is considered a positive or a negative in such a district. Despite this district’s leanings, it twice sent Gillibrand to Congress. Is there another democrat who can win in the 20th? Maybe, but not in the next two months.

In the past election cycle, Gillibrand spent nearly $5 million dollars (a lot for a congressional seat) holding the seat against powerful Republican challenger Sandy Treadwell in one of the most hotly contested races in the country. Despite all the hard work by Democrats, Governor Paterson has virtually given this seat back to the Republicans. With a line of potential replacements that stretched out the door, the Republicans settled on Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco, one of Upstate NY’s most powerful and well-known Republicans behind the disgraced Joe Bruno. The Democrats had to pick someone from a pathetic list of nobodies, settling on investor Scott Murphy. Murphy was an easy choice for Democratic Party chairs: he is wealthy and can self-finance his campaign, which is a good thing, because the Democratic Party would be criminally stupid to waste a dime on this race.

In the end, one can only look at the upcoming special election with bemusement. If the blue collar voters of this district want a Republican who is going to vote against union rights, healthcare and economic stimulus funding while feeding them the same stale old platitudes about the free market then let them have Tedisco. Better to have a Republican who will hold the line on gay marriage then a Democrat who can bring money into the district, right?

While Gillibrand would not have been my first choice, she is by turns more qualified and engaged than Caroline Kennedy. That we finally have an Upstate democrat at the top of New York’s political food chain is also something to be thankful for. While other democrats react to this news with reckless pessimism, I believe some cautious optimism is in order. While I would have preferred to keep Gillibrand in the 20th District, keeping the seat in the democratic column, her ascendency may mean that Upstate NY finally has a real voice in Washington.