Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com. Lots of luck in reopening libraries
I see that some people in Scotia are getting up a petition to protest the cut in hours to their local library, and I can’t say I blame them, though I don’t expect they will have any great luck. Schenectady County needs to save money somewhere. If it’s not at the branch libraries it will have to be somewhere else. The Scotia branch of the county library used to be open 44 1 /2 hours a week; now it will be open just 34 1 /2 hours, the eliminated hours coming in the mornings. Similarly the branch in Quaker Street will lose seven hours, the one in Woodlawn six hours, and the one in Hamilton Hill four hours. Estimated savings: $116,948. That strikes some people as curious. Like Armon Benny, for example, a member of the Scotia Village Board, who says the amount is about what’s needed “to cover the salary and benefits for a patronage job to a former ‘one of their own,’ ” referring to former legislator Ed Kosiur. And like Joe Suhrada, also, a Republican member of the Democratic-dominated County Legislature, who says flat out that his Democratic colleagues “closed the libraries early to provide this plum to Kosiur.” What they’re talking about is a job that the Democrats thoughtfully created for Kosiur after he bombed as their candidate for the state Assembly. He was to have been their man in Albany, succeeding Paul Tonko, but his aggressive sponsorship of a bill to expel registered sex offenders from populated areas of the county backfired on him, and he lost to a Republican newcomer. So there he was, horror of horrors, with no public gig. Just his old job as director of the Boys and Girls Club of Schenectady. So in the best political tradition, his colleagues took care of him. They created a new job of “assistant to the commissioner of social services for youth development,” and gave it to him at a salary of $80,000 a year, which is not half bad for someone who doesn’t have a college degree and whose highest level of training is as a plumber. What will he do in this new position? Oh, he’ll make the county’s youth-development efforts “more robust,” according to Gary Hughes, one of his colleagues on the Legislature who voted to create the gig. Well, as I say, more than one cynic noted that the projected savings from the library cutbacks would be about enough to cover Kosiur’s salary and benefits and figured that’s why the cutbacks were ordered. The “robust” business, Suhrada said, was a “calculated lie.” It was “like something a huckster vacuum cleaner salesman would drop on you.” Whether there is a direct quid pro quo between the hiring of Kosiur and the reduced library hours, I don’t know, but in any event the job costs the county money, and money is fungible. “The next time someone tries to sell you a more ‘robust’ this or a more ‘that,’ remember how less ‘robust’ your bank account looks because of it,” quoth Suhrada in a letter to this newspaper, and I can only agree.
Schenectady County Legislature Chairperson Susan Savage and her Democratic party majority members are playing the county taxpayers. As they increase taxes by 6% (Town of Niskayuna) to nearly 20% (Town of Princetown), they create new political patronage jobs for those politically aligned. The Metroplex Authority, directed by Ray Gillen under the direction of Savage and County Attorney Chris Gardner, continues to redistribute public revenue (i.e., sales tax revenue) to private businesses and individuals who support the Schenectady County Democratic Committee with reported campaign contributions equal to the maximum allowed by election law. Loans made by the Metroplex are being converted to grants. $2.5M in New York State grants are targeted to renovations planned for the Center City buidling which is planned to be sold to the Galesi Corporation (at what price?) The county has sold property on lower Broadway to the Galesi Corporation and has entered into a long term lease at a rate of in excess of $20 per square foot.
In exchange for our tax payments, the oppressed taxpaying residents receive reduced services (library hours), darkened street lights, the creation of minimum wage service jobs, and the seizure, by eminent domain of private property that the Democrats find displeasing. The county residents sit idly by and fail to fight back. To the victor go the spoils!
Who does our government serve? ... Not the constituents who elected them to represent the public interests. The fleecing of Schenectady County taxpayers continues ...
Loans made by the Metroplex are being converted to grants.State grants are targeted to renovations planned for the Center City buidling which is being sold to the Galesi Corporation.
Sounds like what happens to the Lottery money.....it is just the words that make us think it is trackable and upright.....then again if it was chickens we traded in this conversation would be much different.....SHOW ME THE $$ TRAIL........
Which means MR.SPITZER, MR.BRUNO, MR.SILVER AND THE REST OF THEM GAVE SCHENECTADY NOTHING......they called it a golden calf when it was really a pig---oink oink oink......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
I fear that the "$$ Trail" is long and has many "toll collectors". There appears to be no accountability of tax revenues (or lottery revenues) to the public.
Approximately two months ago, I began a campaign to request that the New York State Office of the State Comptroller conduct an audit of the Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority. Despite the law that states that Public Authorities (i.e., Agencies) must be audited every five years, the Metroplex has not been audited by the state since its inception ten years ago. Letters sent to Mr. Kenneth Madej of the Comptroller's office were met with non-commital replies. A subsequently written e-mail sent to New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the alleged protector of the public interests and top law enforcement officer of the state, has not received a reply to date.
The responses, or lack thereof, that I have received are not unexpected. The Schenectady County Legislature, the Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority, the State Comptroller Thomas Dinapoli, and State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo are all enrolled members of the same Democratic political party. I intend to escalate the issue next weekend when I will write a letter to Governor Spitzer. As he is a member of the same political party as the other aforementioned individuals, I presume that he will not act, despite the requirement of the law.
I am also considering filing a legal proceeding against the State of New York to force the officials to perform the audit of the Schenectady Metroplex as mandated by state law. I will be discussing this with several attorneys in the coming months. Though I am a man of simple means and don't have the finances for a prolonged legal battle, I plan to take the issue to the point where the media will pick it up and the pressure will increase for our elected government to obey the law. If anyone knows of an Attorney who may have interest in supporting the cause ...
So, to quote Senders ... "They all eat from the same trough"
Brad, how about contacting Mr Tedesco, Mr Amedore, Mr Bruno, or some other Rep who might be able to help you force an audit.
I agree. Since I don't know of many attorneys that would take this one on. They would be fighting against a huge beast that would black ball their legal career for life.
I would definitely look out of the area for some attorneys. I will ask around.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE Ed Kosiur of Sch’dy gets $50,000 raise Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com.
Kosiur, who would otherwise be out of a public gig, was being taken care of by his Democratic colleagues on the Schenectady County Legislature, who created for him a job as “assistant to the commissioner of social services for youth development” at a salary of $80,000 a year. This followed Kosiur’s loss in a race for the Assembly seat that was vacated last year by Paul Tonko. He gave up his seat on the county Legislature to go for the higher job, and he bombed. What I didn’t mention was what a nice little raise this new job means for him, since in his old job, as director of teen employment at the Boys and Girls Club of Schenectady, he was making only about $30,000. I should have done the calculation earlier, but I just got around to it now. He released his tax returns when he ran for the Assembly, and they showed a combined income for him and his wife, Barbara, of $77,365 for 2006. I have since determined that Barbara is a nurse at Hamilton Elementary School, where she was paid $33,238 for the 2006-07 school year. Ed’s pay as a part-time county legislator (with emphasis on the part-time) was $14,090, which leaves approximately $30,000 for his Boys and Girls Club job, if the couple didn’t have any other income. I think it would be fair to say that’s what his services were worth on the open market. So you can see that $80,000 a year to engage in “youth development” is a nice step up for him. And I speak only of the direct money-in-the-pocket part. Equally important is the opportunity to stay in the state retirement system and continue to build up credits toward a pension, which he had been doing as a part-time county legislator and earlier as a part-time city councilman but which would have ceased if he had been forced to yield to the will of the voters. His pension ultimately will be based on his three highest years of pay, and depending on how long he works, will amount to at least half his pay. So at the age of 52, he has gotten himself into a much improved position, beyond the immediate money in the pocket, and all as a result of being rejected by the voters. Isn’t that nice?
Well EVERYONE seems to agree that the taxpayers really got screwed over by the dems with, but not limited to, Eddy Kosiur's created position. But what good has it done? Everyone's discontent and articles have been plastered in the paper, but it didn't make a difference. I wonder if these 'leaders' are the least bit embarrassed by this created position?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Re the Jan. 24 Carl Strock column, “Getting to the root of high property taxes”: I know Mr. Strock has many critics, but I would say he hit the nail on the head on this issue. Why is it that Schenectady County can find money for an additional county position for Ed Kosiur, but cannot find money for libraries or DARE officers? In Glenville, Pashley Elementary’s DARE officer position is gone because of lack of funding. However, the two other elementary schools in the Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake School District have DARE officers because Saratoga County found a way to fund this program (the BH-BL district straddles the two counties.) We have a higher tax rate than our county neighbor, so where are all the property and sales tax monies going? I would really like to hear our county legislators address this issue. JOHN F. VAN PATTEN Glenville
Kosiur’s job an insult to state workers, taxpayers
On behalf of my state colleagues and myself, I would like to thank Carl Strock for his excellent journalism regarding Ed Kosiur’s $50,000 raise [Jan. 27 column]. Having baccalaureate and master’s degrees, our salaries do not match the $80,000 range for the state of New York. It’s no wonder Schenectady has earned its poor reputation. Losing fairly, by citizen’s vote, he has managed to secure a high-paid position, resulting in a high-paid state pension. Do the words political, unethical and favoritism mean anything? As a taxpayer of this city, I’d like to know how this position and salary were justified being almost equal to what the mayor was making. What are the civil service requirements? How about letting him work up to this salary? How did our children ever make it in this town without an “assistant to commissioner of social services for youth development?” Obviously, it’s not what you know, but who you know in this town. The rest of us honest, educated state workers will continue to work diligently without special privileges. I sure hope he can sleep at night — at taxpayer’s expense. DIANE VILLANO Schenectady
Do the words political, unethical and favoritism mean anything?
Sure!! It translates into a Democratic Dictatorship and Metroplex!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
In response to the many letters concerning Ed Kosiur and his new job: It sickens me to read the negative opinions written about a man who is obviously qualified and very deserving of his new position — degree or not. Ed may not have been given the same educational opportunities that many of us have had, but that has not kept him from working hard all his life. He has always worked above and beyond the expectations of others. He has learned more by doing than many of us have learned while earning our degrees. I keep reading opinions based on wrong information. The position that Ed was offered — assistant to the commissioner of social services for youth development in Schenectady County — was not a new position made for him, but rather an existing position modified with the rearranging of other existing positions. So if you do the math, there is not an additional $80,000 position in our county. The idea that his new position is related to the library cuts that, by the way, were already in the works before his new position came about, just doesn’t make sense. Ed Kosiur not only has the “know-how” and experience to assist and direct the youth of our county, he also has a deep passion to. He is an asset to our community, and anybody who knows him knows that it’s true. The opinion page is just that — opinion. Let’s base our opinion on the facts, and not on the one-sided opinions that have been printed. Let’s give him a chance. LISA CENTER Schenectady
The position that Ed was offered — assistant to the commissioner of social services for youth development in Schenectady County — was not a new position made for him, but rather an existing position modified with the rearranging of other existing positions.
Ms. Center states that this position was modified with the rearranging of other existing positions. That seems, created, to me.
The opinion page is just that — opinion. Let’s base our opinion on the facts, and not on the one-sided opinions that have been printed. Let’s give him a chance. LISA CENTER Schenectady
Is she saying to disregard even HER letter? Sort of funny, if you think about it. She's defending him, then saying that what she wrote should be thrown aside and not considered.
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