Where Does Massapequa School Board Candidate Gary Bennett Live?

School Board elections are supposed to be non-partisan but in the last election and this one, a local elected official is pushing a candidate.
I was sent a link to a site called Pequatruth.com that provided some interesting information on one of the candidates this year.
Candidate Gary Bennett who has had an interesting back and forth in the letters section of the Massapequa Post has questionable residency and a problem with the truth.
In a flyer distributed in the district, Bennett claims to have been promoted to the position of "Sheriff Investigator." According to a FOIL by the website, there is no such thing as "Sheriff Investigator." And the FOIL shows Bennett is not being truthful about other claims.
More interesting and something that means Bennett shouldn't even be on the ballot is an article from the May 29, 2007 Fire Island News. In that issue, Bennett is a candidate for Ocean Beach Village Board of Trustees "Gary Bennett is another candidate hoping to add diversity to the five member Board of Trustees. Bennett has been a lifetime visitor of Ocean Beach and has recently established his primary residency in the village.
“When you are living here and spending more time here you get a feel for the village and the people,” Bennett said. “I’ve come to love it very much.”

So last year, Bennett changed his primary residence to Ocean Beach so he could run for office. After he lost, Bennett says "I may be the bid looser, but I don't feel like one,” said Bennett at a Board of Trustees meeting the morning after the election. “This election has been a great testament to our Village.”

So now Bennett is a candidate for Massapequa School Board and tells the Massapequan Observer that "The public is being misled by these administrators who are only too glad to take advantage of an ill-informed public and fill their already overloaded pockets."

Who is "misleading " Mr. Bennett?
Why can't you tell the truth about your resume?
Are you a legal resident of Massapeqa, the Town of Oyster Bay and Nassau County?

The Massapequa School District will have a real problem with someone like Bennett on the board.

Craig Johnson Has GOP Challenger and She's Already Stealing His Lines

HUGE Hat-tip to Philip over at The Albany Project for catching this.

Republican challenger and Plandome Manor mayor Barbara Donno is in the race and had this to say "What we see in Albany today makes us all angry," she says via the press release. "As a mom and former elementary school teacher some of the things I see in Albany - from BOTH parties - makes you think some of them would benefit from a 'time-out!"

Now here is Senator Craig Johnson just a few short months ago speaking about Dean Skelos's hissy-fits "Skelos yesterday vowed to win back the 7th. "We've always been known as 'The Long Island Nine,' " he said of the area's GOP senators who now number eight. "We're going to be back as The Long Island Nine and Craig Johnson is not going to be a senator after November."

Johnson shot back, "My response to Dean is what I tell my 3-year-old and my 6-year-old when they are having a temper tantrum, 'Take a timeout.'"

In Barbara Donno's next press release she will assure us that the 'only thing we have to fear is fear itself' and 'Ich bin ein Berliner."

Building Monuments to Yourself with Taxpayer Money

A lack of Humility is a major character flaw. One of the main reasons to get into public service as an elected official is... PUBLIC SERVICE. You're not supposed to be in it for yourself.
The recent hubbub over a school complex in Queens being named after State Senator Frank Padavan (R- Jamaica). It was named after him because he was able to get taxpayer money for the campus. And he accepted the naming.
Here in Nassau County we have Skelos Field.
Yup, that's right. Dean Skelos has a park named after him.
An ounce of humility in Padavan or Skelos would have them say "No thank you. Name the place after someone more deserving. Like a veteran, firefighter or or other local hero."
Just because they got the taxpayer money to pay for the things doesn't mean it should be named after them.
Andrew Stengel and Beth Foster of the Brennan Center for Justice have an op-ed in today's NY Daily News and they cover some of the ethical and legal problems with the namings.
"The state's Public Officers Law is clear on this: Elected officials cannot receive extra compensation or any gift of more than nominal value. Placing someone's name in a prominent place, whether it's an actual building or a tract of land, has monetary value. That's why many ballfields around the country are known by corporate names, like FedEx or Petco. Citibank will reportedly pay $20 million per year to call the new Mets stadium Citi Field.

Naming a school after Padavan appears, at the very least, to violate the spirit of the law, which says that an elected official cannot "solicit, accept or receive any gift having a value of seventy-five dollars or more whether in the form of money, service, loan, travel, entertainment, hospitality, thing or promise, or in any other form ... in the performance of his official duties or was intended as a reward for any official action on his part."
Worse still, according to the chancellor's regulations, "schools may not be named after living persons." The chancellor and others worked around this rule by arguing - get this - that it doesn't apply to a campus."

"It's all well and good to name property or monuments after beloved elected officials. Who doesn't know somebody who graduated from a Lincoln, Eisenhower or Kennedy public school?
But it's the height of cynicism to dole out naming rights to current officeholders when they direct public money - our money - to pet projects. After all, it is the job of a state representative to serve the district - that's Civics 101. If every sitting legislator's name were affixed to all the fruits of their labor, then their districts would look like giant elected official strip malls.
There's a pretty simple solution here: The state must pass a law that bans naming of any public property after sitting elected officials.
Unless and until that happens, the new Commission on Public Integrity should rule that naming this school (or "campus") after Padavan, especially in the election season, violates the current law. That would serve as a lesson for all and avoid future "ambiguities."

Show some humility Dean and have the park renamed for someone else.

NY Post's Fred Dicker on Lack of Opponent for Sen. Craig Johnson

NY Post Albany reporters Fred Dicker and Brandan Scott discuss the difficulties for republicans to find challengers for the Democrats in the State Senate. Mondello seems to be settling on Plandome Manor Mayor Barbara Donno to lose to Sen. Craig Johnson in November.
Dicker is saying there is a "weakness in the [republican] farm team."
Listen to the audio below.

D'Amato Supporting Fossella - Thinks He Can Win Re-Election

Crooked Al figures Vito can get away with it "Meanwhile, on last night's edition of NY1's "Inside City Hall," former New York Senator Alfonse D'Amato said Fossella may be able to weather this political storm.

"He's not going to resign. He's either going to seek re-election [or not run]," said D'Amato. "And by the way, I don't think it has anything or much to do with winning or losing, but the incredible publicity and strain that will put on him and his family personally. And that is the decision he has to make, and I think that if he runs he can win."

School Attorneys Suing to Get Pension Credits Back

The gall of these people. Trying to wring as much money as they can out of taxpayers, getting caught and now suing AG Cuomo and Comptroller DiNapoli.
It figures that the four unnamed participants in the lawsuit are from Long Island.
From the Albany Times Union "An Albany lawyer is preparing a class-action lawsuit to try to stop Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli from stripping pension credits from lawyers who state officials say don't deserve them."
" While he wouldn't immediately divulge details of his legal strategy or name the initial plaintiffs, Roemer said he's representing four individuals from Long Island who have lost pension credits during the past few weeks.

"We've been working on this project, if you will, for almost a month and we've dubbed it 'Operation Pushback,' " said Roemer who is with the Roemer Wallins & Minneaux. He also is working with members of the DeGraff, Foy and Kunz firm."

"DiNapoli spokeswoman Emily DeSantis predicted the comptroller would withstand any challenge.

"These individuals were not entitled to that service credit because they acted as independent contractors, not employees," she said of those who've lost their credits. "We are confident that our determinations will be upheld."

Roemer has been one of the central characters in the pension controversy. His situation was detailed in a 1997 Times Union story that disclosed how he had accrued $80,240 in annual pension credits for his work as a labor contract negotiator for the cities of Utica, Schenectady and Saratoga Springs, as well as the town of Colonie and Schoharie and Sullivan counties.

By the time Roemer started collecting his pension in 2001, it was worth $119,874 a year, according to state records."

Mondello Still Silent on Fossella

Still nothing from State GOP Chairman Joe Mondello about Vito Fossella.
Mondello is quick to jump on Democrats but is suddenly struck mute when one of his own gets in trouble.
Is he maybe trying to figure out how to explain another lost seat?

Rob Walker Submits Bill to Help GOP Worker Get Better Pension

The Albany Times-Union has all the gory details....

"A bill advanced by the Senate Rules Committee, controlled by Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and sponsored by Assemblyman Rob Walker, R-Hicksville, would improve Julie A. Cleary's benefits at the expense of New York state's pension fund and her employer, the Nassau County Board of Elections."
"Cleary is the former secretary for Nassau County GOP Chairman Joseph Mondello. In 2006, Bruno helped Mondello become the head of the state party."
"Cleary, who worked for the state Senate from 1998 to 2004, began working for the Nassau County elections commission in 2004, public records show. She is a $107,531-per-year executive assistant to the Republican elections commissioner."
"Records show a Julie A. Cleary, of Wantagh, will turn 55 this June.
The bill for her was first introduced by the same sponsors in 2007 to reclassify her as a Tier 1 employee instead of Tier 2. The improved status means many more benefits and a bigger pension, although the comptroller's office had no estimates.
If she is designated as a Tier 1 member, she can retire at 55 with no early retirement penalties. As a Tier 2 member with less than 30 years of service, she would face an early retirement reduction of 27 percent, according to the comptroller's office."
Nassau County officials say they have no record of Cleary being on the payroll until 2004.
Jennifer Freeman, a spokeswoman for DiNapoli, said the bill is unusual because it comes with a past service cost of about $51,800, which would be paid to the pension fund by all employers who contribute to the retirement system -- state agencies, municipalities and other public entities. This cost would make up for shortages paid to the pension fund during the longer period of Cleary's membership in the system."

What Say You, Joe Mondello? - Rep. Fossella Admits to Affair and Child After DUI

Let's remind State GOP Chairman Joe Mondello what he said about the Spitzer-Call Girl revelations:
March 10th "This is a sad day for Governor Spitzer and his family as well as for the citizens of our state. It is hard to see how Governor Spitzer can hope to govern effectively while the political, governmental and legal consequences of his behavior swirl about him.”

“New Yorkers are facing hard times. They need a governor who is fully focused on serving their best interests. Governor Spitzer should do the right thing, not only for himself and his family, but also for all the people of New York. He should resign immediately, so New York's government can effectively return to serving its citizens.”

March 11th "The Governor not only betrayed the trust of his wife and children, he shattered the already fragile hopes of those New Yorkers who, little more than a year ago, had given him an overwhelming mandate to govern."

"Today, Governor Spitzer took the only course that his reckless and personally destructive behaviour left him."

Will Mondello call for Fossella to resign?
I'm not going to hold my breath.

DiNapoli Boots Three from Pension System

From a DiNapoli Press Release...

"State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced his office revoked the New York State and Local Retirement System membership of three attorneys and rescinded retirement system service credit for two other attorneys and an accountant. The actions are part of DiNapoli’s ongoing review of the Retirement System.

“We’re moving forward, case by case,” DiNapoli said. “We’re conducting a rational, in-depth examination to make sure pensions are only going to those people who have earned them. And we’ll make sure that local taxpayers are made whole.”

DiNapoli revoked retirement system membership for ... Long Island attorneys William Cullen and Nathan Swergold... He rescinded service credit for... Salvatore Evola, an accountant from Long Island."

"Cullen was wrongly reported as an employee by two Long Island public libraries and the Franklin Square Union Free School District, according to DiNapoli’s auditors. The auditors also found that Swergold and Evola were wrongly reported as employees by the Hempstead Sanitary District 1 in Nassau County."

The Problem with Pork

Bethany Foster from RefromNY goes over exactly why the Members Items system in the NYS legisalture is bad.
"The practice is bad from a budget standpoint. In a year when lawmakers were trying to find something, anything, to cut from the budget, many say it's irresponsible to allow legislators to dole out pork like any other year. As the Press & Sun-Bulletin notes, "Defenders of the cash piles argue that the 'discretionary items' they finance are small potatoes in a $122 billion budget. True, but those were our potatoes to begin with." Attorney General Cuomo's office is stepping up to try to eradicate outright corruption, but especially in a fiscal crunch, shouldn't we expect our elected officials to be a bit more careful with our tax dollars?

The practice is fundamentally unfair to districts that elect members of the minority party. Even if you agree that legislators should have some small pot of money to give to the most worthy causes in their districts, there is no excuse for partisan distribution of member items. The population of each legislative district is constitutionally required to be substantially equal, yet NYPIRG found that the average Assembly Republican doles out a mere quarter of the amount received by the district of the average Democrat. The Senate disparity is even worse, with Senate Republicans taking home eight times the pork of the average Democrat.

The practice is wholly political. As NYPIRG's numbers show, legislative leaders not only funnel more funding to majority members, but they also prioritize within their own conferences to help their most vulnerable members. Democratic senators are also talking about severely limited member item funding for Republicans if control of the Senate flips this fall. The current practice is despicable and its continuation after a Democratic takeover would be equally deplorable."

Our Staff is Bigger Than Yours - More Albany Dysfunction

I forgot to post this when it first came out.
The NY Sun did a comparison of State Legislature staffing and found that while other states do More with Less, NY does Less with More!
"The Empire State's Legislature employs more people than any other state legislature in the nation.
The state Assembly and Senate totaled 3,428 staff members during its busiest period in 2003, the most recent year for which the National Conference of State Legislatures has employment data. That number is nearly 500 more than the second highest state, Pennsylvania, and it's more than 45% more than either California or Texas, the two most populous states in the union."

The State Senate controlled by Bruno and Skelos has a staff of 530. In California, the Senate leadership has 50 staffers.

New York State has been called the most dysfunctional in the nation. And all the extra staff haven't helped the culture of dysfunction in Albany.

Travel Reimbursements for State Legislators

Robert Harding over at The Albany Project FOILed the travel reimbursement records for the State Legislature. The total pay-out for travel in 2007 was $3,267,903.94.
Harding writes "I filed a Freedom of Information request to obtain the New York State Legislature's travel expenditures for 2007. The exact request I filed was for "per diem payments, taxi fares, mileage, train tickets and any other expenses incurred for travel to Albany."
"The significance of this is the fact that the state legislators, earlier this year, were trying to justify a pay raise. Future arguments in favor of a legislative pay raise will be made - they seem to be made every year. What these expenditures show us is that the legislators do not have it that bad. On top of their $79,500 salary per year, they get reimbursed for travel to Albany (some more than others)."

The spreadsheet is linked here.

The totals for Nassau State Senators...
Hannon......... $20,971.87
Marcellino.......$18,218.75
Skelos ........... $18,012.08
Fuschillo.........$13,121.42

And our Democratic Senator?
Johnson ......... $9,603.64
Johnson was elected February 6, 2007. Even if he were in office the month of January, the travel reimbursement would still be the lowest.

What exactly is the over $7000 difference from Hannon to Fuschillo? Fuschillo travels from further out in Nassau than Hannon.

Blind Item - Parade Edition

Note to Elected Parade participant - The picture won't be online.

Skelos and Hannon Get Dem Opponents

Skelos is challenged by Hofstra University Ethics Professor Roy Simon and Hannon is challenged by Garden City Attorney Kristen McElroy.
More info to come....

Equality Fails in the Town of Oyster Bay

Dan Pinello and Lee Nissensohn who have been together for 13 years went to the Town Clerk office in the Town of Oyster Bay to get a marriage license. Unfortunately, current New York State law makes it illegal for them to get married and have the same rights as same-sex couples. Town Clerk Steve Labriola and Supervisor John Venditto were there to greet the couple and the news cameras. Since it is out of his hands legally, Labriola had to deny them a marriage license.
According to Pinello and Nissensohn, this was not just about obtaining the a license. Newsday reports "The goal of the couple's "act of civil disobedience" - as they called it - was to persuade Sen. Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset) to pressure State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick) to take a bill that would allow same-sex marriage to the Senate floor for a vote."

And that is the heart of it. The New York State Assembly has passed legislation to legalize same-sex marriage and give loving couples the same rights other married couples have.
Marcellino and the Senate republicans stance brings to mind the anti-miscegenation laws that kept bias alive in the law until 1967.
What is Bruno afraid of if the bill goes to the floor?
That it will pass?
Marcellino agrees with current state law that bars same-sex marriage.

This is a letter Newsday printed back in 2005. I was responding to columnist Ray Keating's ramblings about "Traditional Marriage."

"Raymond J. Keating is one of the many pseudo-intellectuals who use the buffet-style version of history and religion. He takes what he likes and ignores the rest.
He speaks of "traditional marriage" as if marriage today reflects any tradition older than 50 years ["We need amendment protecting marriage," Opinion, Feb. 14]. Replace the word "interracial" for "gay" and you have what bigots used to protect "traditional" marriage less than 50 years ago. Go back 100 years and marriages for money, business and convenience were the tradition. Go further back and families practically sold their young daughters.
Marriage strictly for love the way we have it today is a fairly new tradition. I'd like to know which "tradition" Keating wants.
If Keating wants to go biblical, we can talk about Deuteronomy and the stoning of non-virgin brides and a rapist's being able to pay the father of the victim and the victim is then the rapist's wife. Even polygamy was accepted in the Bible. It is clear that marriage has changed over the millennia and will continue to change.
I can't see what the harm is in allowing same-sex couples to marry. As a married heterosexual, I don't feel threatened and neither should Keating. The so-called activist judges are protecting society from uninformed moralists who don't believe in the equal protection under the law but seek a theocratic government based on their own misinterpretation of religion.”

Lee Zeldin Hysterics Get Noticed

Until someone else picks up on this stuff in Suffolk, I'll post more Zeldin news.

From the Washington Post Online...

"I think we are entering a very dangerous time WRT to American civil-military relations. Since the onset of OIF, I have observed a very seductive narrative unfolding (spurred by DoD) that our military should now be revered as "professional warriors" as opposed to servicemembers answerable to the American people. As I've said before, this message is toxic but there have been surprisingly few commentators willing to stand up and be counted questioning it. These "issues" range from the term "wounded warrior" to replace the now disfavored term "disabled veteran" to the use of "warrior dress" to set our military apart in airports, hotels and campuses nationwide. Funny thing: these ideas/terms were ginned up by the same Tori Clarke/Larry Di Rita/Allison Barber OSD Public Affairs team that gave us the recently exposed "military analyst" crisis. Why does no one examine this?

Where am I going with this? This "don't question the military" is now bleeding over into electoral politics. In Eastern Long Island (NY-01), an Iraq war veteran running for Congress named Lee Zeldin is trying to intimidate the incumbent Tim Bishop by asserting that as a "non veteran" he has forfeited his right to question either the "thoughts or actions" of a veteran. Don't believe me? Here's a link to a recent letter from Zeldin to this effect that appeared in a Long Island newspaper:

http://www.zeldin08.com/pdffiles/TheIndependentServingwithPride.pdf

This guy is endorsed by the "Vets for Freedom" group. He really wants Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" to come to America. Scary. I'm most troubled by Zeldin's belief that the only service to protect/defend our Constitution comes from serving in the military. Last I checked, Attorneys, judges and yes, non-veteran Congressmen take a virtually identical oath.

Posted by: IRR Soldier ... | April 22, 2008 1:39 PM

For the sake of context, here's the letter written by Rep. Tim Bishop that prompted Zeldin's unhinged response where he asserted that Bishop "used his [Zeldin's] service against me."

The Times of Smithtown

To the Editor,

In response to the letter you received on March 27 ("Congress is taxing America to death"), I strongly disagree with my potential opponent that the congressional budget is an "irresponsible proposal" and "the largest tax increase in American history."

As a veteran, he should know that veterans and military retirees overwhelmingly support the budget resolution passed by the U.S. House. Does he really wish to oppose veterans' advocacy organizations such as AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and Veterans of Foreign Wars - which are just a sample of the veterans' groups that endorsed the budget?

The American Legion stated it is the "first budget in decades worthy of the sacrifice asked of America 's veterans and their families." And the VFW characterized the budget as "an unparalleled commitment to veterans' service."

Nonpartisan "watchdog" groups agree the budget does not raise taxes. The Brookings Institution recognized that AMT relief without increasing the deficit is our priority. The Committee for a Responsible Budget said that "the budget resolution does not raise taxes."

Not since before the Republican majority did so many endorsements and such a broad coalition demonstrate its support for the congressional budget. His letter also ignores that it balances the budget by 2012 and commits more to middle-class priorities, including more health care, education and infrastructure funds than requested by President Bush.

Long Island will also benefit from AMT relief and funding for innovation in the House-passed budget. Masking the truth under the cover of exaggerated rhetoric as my potential opponent would have you believe is simply irresponsible. Therefore, I hope he recognizes the value of honest, fact-based discussions of issues that affect all of us, rather than inaccurate assertions designed to mislead.

Tim Bishop

Member of Congress"

New Posts Later Tonight

Busy weekend.

New York Counties Dropping Their Gas Tax Caps

Legislature Minority Leader Schmitt will undoubtedly try to push his useless Gas tax Cap again now that gas prices are on the rise. I pointed out that his plan just won't work and other counties who adopted a Gas Tax Cap are dropping the cap or reviewing the cap.
According to the Poughkeepsie Journal "Onondaga County this month dropped its two-year cap on gas sales taxes after an analysis showed customers were seeing no significant savings at the pump compared to other upstate counties.
Other counties made similar choices after the state in 2006 let counties put a cap on taxes collected on gas sales. The cap exempted county sales tax on prices more than $2 per gallon, which was intended to lower costs by 4 cents on a $3 gallon of gas
"Yet Rockland County dropped its county cap late last year and other counties, including Schenectady, Orange and Albany, also abandoned a cap after some determined the savings was simply going back to oil companies.
"It is clear that the intended savings for Albany County drivers was a windfall for the oil industry," Albany County Comptroller Michael Conners said in a 2006 report.
"Initially, 15 counties capped gas sales taxes, but now it's down to only seven. Officials in one of those, Oswego County, say it is considering dropping the cap when the law expires May 30.
"What they found was that by and large they were not able to identify that there was the cost savings directly to the consumer," said Mark LaVigne, spokesman for the state Association of Counties.
Other counties, including Westchester and Monroe, never instituted the cap, in part because they said they didn't want to give up the sales-tax revenue.
"In Onondaga County, though, Executive Joanie Mahoney wants to use the revenue from lifting the cap - about $5 million a year - for property-tax relief."

DiNapoli Suspends Pension of Crooked School Attorney

From the Comptrollers press release:
"State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli today announced his office suspended the pension of Albert D’Agostino. The action is part of DiNapoli’s on-going review of the records of every attorney in the Retirement System.

“As we find problems in the Retirement System, we’re fixing them,” DiNapoli said. “We’ll continue to dig until we’re confident that state pensions are only going to those people that rightly earned them.”

DiNapoli suspended D’Agostino’s $106,700 annual pension while his office examines the appropriateness of service credit D’Agostino received from Nassau County, Lawrence Union Free School District, Valley Stream Union Free School District, North Merrick Union Free School District, the Town of Hempstead and the Village of Valley Stream. D’Agostino retired in October 2000."