Corruption, Ellen, St. Francis and other Rublings or Who Got Paid for Midnight on Main.

Rumblings Part II

Holy Smokes! Joe forgot to back in the 'ole' boy.

Corruption in the Public Sector-  Are we talking about the famous Community Health Center run by Ernst Starvo Blofeld  or in this case Mark “I love my bowtie” Masselli.  This man  banks a lot of capital on your dime folks?

That’s right the taxpayaers of this fine city are paying for Mark’s  trips to the Olympics and other festivals all in the name of  WHAT?  Why did he have to go to TIBET or the Olympics? Let’s get real.  Perhaps he was finding medical supplies for the CHC in the mountains of TIBET or getting hockey puck samples at the winter Olympics.  

The spin has already started, in the commentary section of The Insider and  other fine (biased) blogs in town a few folks wrote to say:

  “Mark started a company many years ago to help those  in need that need health care.” 

Really?  Did he use his own money to do that or did he create a non-profit company that allowed him to be tax exempt and award himself a huge salary of his own.?  You know the answer to that one folks.  BIG BUCKS

The only way to expose this type of corruption is from the outside or to utilize people who are not involved in the magical circle of public sector corruption. Translation: bring in The Untouchables.

The problem with public sector corruption is that everyone who is in a position to clean it up has to get his or her own hands dirty to get there. That's the "dirty little secret". Everyone is dirty, so nobody can blow the whistle without being implicated themselves. Which is why the light has to be shined from the outside, i.e. The Insider.

SAFER GRANT- Remember how Dan Drew was all overthe Italian mayor about hiring cops when he debated Giuliano a few years back? Drew in fact railed against Giuliano for not taking the SAFER grant!  One reason Giuliano did not pursue SAFER was because the City would then have to cover the total sum of the salaries of the new law enforcement hired under the grantonce the grant ran out after two years. Well, it seems Drew is doing the old cop shuffle himself.  The boy king who backs into his stall, has opted out of keeping on the SAFER grants, a program that will allow Middletown to hire a few extra Police and Firemen.  If one goes back and views the three debates, Dan mentioned numerous times that our city needed more cops and emergency management personnel and he would be the 'man' to deliver those folks to Middletown.  On April 4, 2013 the tides have changed and Drew is quietly letting the SAFER grant go without hiring anybody new in fire and police.   I can see the comments now, “A SAFER grant only pays for an employee for two years and then the town is on its own and has to come with said employee's salary.” So what! Dan Drew promised to bring in more cops and said he would get the job done.  I think not.  He also promised to lower taxes.  Spin that one, High Street doorknockers!

Random Thoughts-  Perhaps the people that are suing the city after the double whammy denial at the Planning and Zoning Committee should focus on a few important issues that are plaguing the town:

A)   Villagers, please help the food pantry- Those people really need help, but yet, most of  you like the MK-Ultra Zombies that you are want to please your master and help Blue House LLC make money.  Think about it, why couldn’t the master pay for the anti-Middletown lawyer himself?  He has the money, but  he wants you, the MK-ULTRA followers to pay the money for his Kurtz like journey into madness.   

B)  Perhaps the village district can get together and send Ellen DeGeneres a letter and request that she stop dancing on the program. Enough is enough.

C)   Question of the day:  What notable (rich) members of the  Middletown elite were paid for their services on New Year’s Eve at the Middnight on Main event?   The town elders were yapping about “giving it up for the community” or stating that , “being a volunteer is a great thing,” while taking city money for the event. The liberal rich get richer:  I love the smell of fresh MOOLA in the morning! Money that is! There' a lot of money in liberalism. Don't deny it ED4ED or MM.

D)   Token Republican- The roster of the Riverfront Task Force has been announced  and according to the April 2, 2013 published committee  brief, only one member of the Republican Party is allowed in the room.  Former Deputy Mayor and Suzanne Vega fan (R) Joseph Bibsi (the Garrett Morris of the group) will join Richard Pellitier, Mike Gaudino, Dan Russo and others on this important commission, er I mean Task Force, in order to complete important tasks.

E)    Drunk Driving is a bad thing, please don’t do it.

F)   The Middletown Board of Education has voted to privatize their cafeterias. Perhaps now, we can get the kids to eat some fruit! Ketchup doesn’t count.

G)  Development Design Review- Bob Landino ‘s case is coming up and it seems that 3 of  the 6 members will not be voting for a variety or reasons. Conflict of interest baby! The number one overused excuse not to show up. Let's  take a stance on the Landino issue.  I still love how the mayor of the town is 100% in support of Landino, but yet the village people district zombies continue to ignore this.  He's the enemy folks! Wake up.

H)   Did Dan Drew really compare himself to King Solmon and St Francis of Assisi in the recent budget address?  Rumor has it that Drew had Joe Somolis, his designated car parker to taste his food thrice daily.  The other day the Mayor's CD player broke and Joe had to ride shotgun and rap the entire side 1 of Dr. Dre's The Chronic while helmet head dove the MN1 car around Wesleyan Hills.  "Everything going to be alright, yep, yeah, protect the gov, yeah, f- th 2nd amendment."

I)    Earl V. Roberts still wants to run for something in the fall.

J)    What happened to NEAT?  Did their funding really dry up? Mark, come on can you spare them some loose change? Stupid Question.

K)  Coleman’s Carnival showed up and it didn’t rain.  Is that a pig flying?  Rumor has it hell recently froze over as well.

L)   Who does more for the community Fred Carroll or Mark Masselli? Answer: Fred, hands down!
M) Hats off to BOE member Ryan Kennedy: Board member Ryan Kenney objected to the redistricting of Macdonough on the grounds that the board would have to revisit the issue again in the fall. "This is a very temporary fix to a very permanent problem." said Kennedy. 

N) Wesleyan’s new (lack of) ethnicity policy- This is true folks! The Wesleyan Security Officers are not allowed to use color to describe anybody doing anything remotely suspicious on campus. If someone is carjacking you in the Usdan lot, the cops can’t say, “All units be on the look of a white male, 5 feet 7 inches with glasses.”  The Wes security will have to say: “All units be on the look out for a male 5 feet 7 inches with glasses.”  What's next leaving gender and hair color out of physical descriptions too? This is the stupidest thing I have heard of in town.
o) Complete Streets Report only has 3 out of 56 pages that aren't common sense fluff  that actually talk about pedestrian/bike issues in Middletown specifically. Oh yeah and a color coded map that the city pz department probably could have done in an afternoon. Good theories, but no real plans! Yup, taxpayers paid the professional consultants $20,000 for this 6th grade level book report that took a year to complete!
P)  Margaret Thatcher said "There is no public money, only taxpayer money." And on that note another wise person once said: "Grants are the institutional equivalent of prostitution. The "John" (ie the institution paying the grant) offers payment to any "hooker" (eg. a city, a school district, a non profit) who will perform specific act or acts. And we all know how well that ends. R.I.P Iron Lady.

Q)  Where the hell is the streaming for municipal meetings that was supposed to be finalized a few months back?  Now, that may be the stupidest thing I have heard of in town. Imagine expecting the town to fulfill any objective on time, that’s like ED4ED actually making a difference on the board or education.