Town of Rochester

Rochester Smoke Out, December 5, 2013
Commenting on Rochester comics, Carl Chipman said:

…I’m sick and tired of all the rumors and suggestions from various factions ever since Tavi decided to buy property in Tennessee. If Tavi Cilenti resigns, we will advertise and interview applicants for the open seat. There will have to be 3 out of 4 of the members of the board agreeing on a candidate for an appointment to be made. If that is not possible, then the law provides for the governor to appoint someone until an election could be held in November…

…We need less concern for power and influence in our community and more concern as to making our town a better place to live, work, and play.

I could not have said it better!

Shawangunk Journal, August 14, 2014
Cilenti Resigns from Rochester Town Council
Chipman Promises Transparent Replacement Process

Town supervisor Carl Chipman read Cilenti’s letter of resignation at the August 7 meeting of the board, and laid out a process for seeking a replacement until a special election can be held in November…

Calling it the “open and proper way to do this,” Chipman asked his board to approve a resolution directing the town clerk to publish a notice of the vacancy… Town residents are invited to submit a letter of interest to the clerk by August 25, and the board will interview those candidates at their August 28 workshop meeting, which begins at 5:30 p.m. The board will then decide who will fill the open seat.

So far, so dandy, but it’s more to it… Long before the deadline for submitting applications, everybody knew that the chairman of a major political party called his people on the Town Board and asked them to vote for a certain candidate, who happens to be registered in the other major political party! Fishy, ain’t it? Long before the deadline for submitting applications, everybody knew already who is going to be appointed by the Town Board.

In my limitless stupidity I thought that the appointment to the vacant seat must be made based on a person’s record and specific experience for the position.

So, being curious about candidates’ record and experience, I splurged on a FOIL request. What follows is the list of the candidates for the vacant seat on the Rochester Town Board. The thumbnails under their names show all pages of their applications. Click on the thumbnails to read for yourself. Under each name, I took the liberty to insert my two cents.

Cindy M. Fornino

MY TWO CENTS:
A masterpiece of minimalism. I’m still speechless.

William C. Mallery

MY TWO CENTS:
Apparently nobody knows his name. On the town’s website he is listed as Cliff Mallory. On the Ulster Literacy Association website he is listed as Cliff Mallory. Makes one wonder if he ever had the curiosity to visit one of these websites. And if you think accuracy is not important, google Mallory and Mallery and compare the results.

What I really love is the corporate ethics of Mr. Mallery’s former employers:

“At issue are allegations that JPMorgan and firms it later purchased, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, sold risky mortgage securities during the housing bubble while misrepresenting their quality. These securities later failed in huge numbers, playing a key role in the 2008 crisis.”

Manuela Michailescu

MY TWO CENTS:
You be the judge! Manuela is my wife, so I’m not commenting on her application.

Toby Stover

MY TWO CENTS:
Houston, we have a problem. Ms. Stover’s application didn’t make the deadline specified in the legal notice (“…no later than 8/25/2014 at 11 am”). Her email to Carl is dated “Monday, August 25, 2014 12:20 PM.” Sorry!

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I hope the transparency touted by Supervisor Chipman is real, not just lip service advancing personal goals. To quote Benjamin Franklin, “If you want to have a good sleep, go to bed with your clear conscience.”

– Jon Dogar-Marinesco

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Rochester Supervisor Carl Chipman.

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Recycling of waste products is a good idea but recycling of former elected officials to run as candidates is a bad idea. Those former officials do carry political baggage from their past experiences. Many times that baggage is of a negative nature and that is why that person might be a “former” elected official in the first place.

The Republican Party does nothing to foster and nurture quality candidates for elected offices. Old Re-Runs especially with deep pockets seems to be what the party runs mostly for county and state offices out of institutionalized laziness. Our candidates do not get the support they need. This starts at the local level and works its way up to county and local representation at the state level. Most of the time candidates are on their own when it comes to their campaigns. Many times it is only those who have the financial means are able to run at the county wide and state assembly and senate levels. The Democrats on the other hand work much harder to support their candidates. Fundraisers are held from the bottom on up and contributors are vested in ownership of campaigns no matter how small the contribution. This creates broad support for their candidates and success at the polls. Whereas we depend much more on larger contributions by a few and this translates to failure at the polls.

Quality candidates are reluctant to run for office because of the current lack of support they might receive for their efforts. Writing of this reflects my own situation and experience. I am a life-long Republican fiscally conservative elected official who could very easily be labeled a Libertarian on social issues with a sound record of leadership. I’ve lowered taxes in my town during the 6 years I’ve been in office and I believe in minimal government involvement in our lives. I’d love to bring about necessary change and run for higher office but I do not want to be a sacrificial lamb running into slaughter.

The formula for success is not that complicated. There is a lot of dead wood out there that do nothing to support the ideals first espoused by Thomas Jefferson. All too often 2% of our people do 98% of the work while the “do-nothings” share in whatever good comes from those who labor (Sounds a lot like communism doesn’t it?). It’s time to clean out the dead wood from the local level up to the county by recruiting hard working people dedicated to furthering our ideals concerning good government. Now is the time to begin canvassing for candidates to run for committee. Run these new faces against the dead wood. Most of the do nothings won’t be difficult to knock off as they will be too lazy to work for reelection to the committee.

We should be able to reinvigorate our party with our newly formed committees. We need to broaden our base. Doors should be knocked on and phones rung by our committee members inviting members of the community to regularly scheduled events and fundraisers, as well as for recruiting new party members. This should occur year-round and not just at election time. We should always encourage involvement by our membership by creating ad hoc committees for special projects and programs. Much of these activities should be training grounds for our future candidates for elected office and we should encourage our best and brightest workers to run for office starting at the local level.

Support for our elected officials should begin at the local level and continue on up to higher office. The important thing to remember is that our emphasis should be from the bottom up instead of support being from the top down as I see things being done currently. Successful locally elected officials should be encouraged to run for higher office if they choose to do so and properly supported when they do. By building from the bottom up, with candidates who successfully demonstrate our values, will we ever achieve the goal of good government.

Carl Chipman
Supervisor – Town of Rochester