right, dog barking, really, no kidding... and ...

Here we go again. That's the link to the surprisingly good Register Star story.

Read: new members on the board. Think: people are sick of this and quitting. Read: Ennis says 75 dogs are louder than one dog. Think: therefore the sun must, obviously, be the brightest star in the universe by far. I mean, just look at it.

Markku Jaaskelainen of the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, Institute of Fundamental Sciences wrote, “I hope that the issue soon will be settled in your favor. Anything else would be absurd if it is the noise levels that matter.” In his paper on the decay of sound, Dr. Jaaskelainen calculated that Glencadia Dog Camp would have to board 1352 dogs in order to achieve the level of sound of two dogs at 25 feet, as we see with the boxers at the Balint residence in the video annexed as file name “june 2010 walk through village” with Petition. “Glencadia Dog Camp has more dogs than other residents of the hamlet. However, distance is a tremendously important factor, given the inverse square calculation. Light intensity, the effect of gravity, many other forces in nature decay at the inverse square of distance given the formula of the surface of a sphere. To say that Glencadia Dog Camp obviously produces more barking noise at the relevant locations makes no more sense than to say that the sun is the brightest star in the universe.”  

(b) Ken Andria was the lead engineer on the study conducted by Acoustic Dimensions. Dr. Ning Xiang, Ph.D. Prof. Director, Graduate Program in Architectural Acoustics School of Architecture Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute wrote, “Ken Andria has obtained MS. Degree from Graduate Program in Architectural Acoustics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has presented his work at the Acoustical Society of America, has been awarded the prestigious Robert Bradford Newman Award ... as a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America I endorse Ken Andria’s measurements and report.”

But we need to have more hearings on dog barking. Got it.

The town attorney Tal Rappleyea embezzled $10,000 and extorted money, $437 on June 21, 2009, from me, which I paid. The town zoning officer Gerry Ennis stalked my house before dawn 25 times. Town board member threatened violence. Board member and town employee says to get out of town. The town, lead by Tal Rappleyea, encouraged perjury to put me in jail on false charges. And again.

But we need to have more hearings on dog barking. Right.

The county attorney, Robert Fitzsimmons and assistant county attorney, Andrew Howard, allow and participate with his colleagues in stealing and continue to steal millions of dollars. There are multiple felonies out of the Columbia County Attorney Office every day. But there is no hearing on stealing, massive corruption. The DA knows all about it. The sheriff knows. The chair of the county board of supervisors knows.

But we need to have more hearings on dog barking. I see.

The town assessor made a fraudulent assessment of the Hook Boat Club, costing the town $500,000.

Woof?

The town of Stuyvesant spent $200,000 on a dog barking complaint, violated Public Officer's Law by hiring Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna in an illegal secret meeting to get me in criminal court on false charges. (David R. Everett of Chatham New York)

But we need to have more hearings on dog barking. Check.

The town ZEO Gerry Ennis said on the record that he gave me the ticket because he does not like my blog. The town clerk Melissa Naegeli passed around an anonymous note calling me a bad father for making a song she doesn't like.

Dog barking. Right. Got to get our priorities straight.

The only town resident who complained about dog barking lives so far away, 1800 feet, Mary Kline, that she cannot hear any dog barking at all. Her neighbors on all sides say they hear nothing. Mary Kline made racially weird comments online and thinks violence is the solution (online post). This is the town's only complaint, on which they are basing the $200,000 in tax money.

Dog barking, got it?

The town Supervisor, Ron Knott, took $40,000 from the town government in an illegal contract for his own business, violating General Municipal Law § 805-a (1)(c) to help himself.

Officials cannot “receive, or enter into any agreement, express or implied, for compensation for services to be rendered in relation to any matter before any municipal agency of which he is an officer, member or employee or of any municipal agency over which he has jurisdiction or to which he has the power to appoint any member, officer or employee.” Knott, as town supervisor, tapped public funds to defend his business in order to continue to operate Knott Industries without a permit. This undisputed misdemeanor is a violation of law. Violation of this provision for ethical government can result in the voiding of the contract in question, removal from office of the officer and return of misspent funds to the taxpayer (Matter of Keller v. Morgan, 149 AD 2d 801 - NY: Appellate Div., 3rd Dept. 1989; New York Attorney General opinions 2000-11 and 2005-10; Cahn v. Town of Huntington, 29 NY 2d 451 - NY: Court of Appeals 1972). Lesser ramifications may also be appropriate (Civil Service Forum v. Binghamton, 44 NY 2d 23 - NY: Court of Appeals 1978).

Dog barking.

Here is what I said to the board about 50 times:

In September 2010, I appealed the August 9, 2010 notice of violation still before this board. In November 2010 I submitted a paper by physics professor Dr. Markku Jaaskelainen demonstrating that the charge of loud noise was impossible based on calculations. Later, in April 2011, I submitted a paper by Dr. Ken Andria of Acoustic Dimensions based on measurements on site reaching the same conclusion, that the idea that dogs barking can be loud 1000 feet away is impossible. The results of these papers were endorsed by Dr. Ning Xiang, associate editor of the world's leading peer review acoustical architecture journal and Dr. Ernst Warsits, an acoustical engineering professor in Germany.

The fact that Ennis' notice of violation of August 9, 2010 accuses me of a violation which is entirely impossible is further established by subsequent sound tests, including in August 2011 with ZBA members Jensen, Keller, and Vick in attendance. Videos, signed testimony and audio recordings of these tests, along with science reports, were part of the record of the Article 78 proceeding in New York Supreme Court. There is no doubt that the charge in the notice of violation is false, indeed impossible.

The ZBA knows that the charge of loud dog barking is false. Look at those videos.

They don't need another public hearing. I did not kidnap Santa's elves.

Dear ZBA:

Our position is that the board should vote to dismiss the notice of violation of August 9, 2010 either because Gerry Ennis did not have a written complaint at the time he issued the notice of violation, as required by town zoning law, or because he did not offer any evidence to substantiate the charge of loud dog barking.

Since the ZBA took this issue after the judge’s decision of May 2012, I wrote three emails: July 24, 2012, July 29, 2012, August 7, 2012. In those emails, I made a number of points:

1. I inquired as to whether we should we write to the judge for clarification on the issues below without a response from the ZBA:

A) Does the ZBA need to or can the ZBA hold a second public hearing if it wants to, even though the decision references August 9, 2011 and the notice of the hearing referencing the very issue under consideration now, as above? Is one public hearing enough?

B) Do you need to gather more evidence or are 17 hearings and $200,000 in costs enough to allow the board to vote up or down on the notice of violation?

2.     The judge’s decision refers explicitly to the public hearing of August 9, 2011. No need for another one.

3.     There is no complaint of any kind behind this notice of violation.

4.     The charge that my dog boarding facility produces "unusual noise... that exceeds that produced by a normal residence" is clearly not true. The notice of violation is false and defies the laws of physics.

5.     ZEO Ennis is welcome to send a new notice of violation if a violation is ongoing.

6.     The notice was not based on a written complaint as required by the Town Zoning Ordinance.

7.     One of the two people who made the verbal complaint no longer lives in town. The remaining complaint, Mary Kline, is based on racial bias, as evidenced by her internet posts promoting violence and suggesting racial motivation, not dog barking.

8.     There have been 17 hearings on this issue in town hall, including a ZBA public hearing. More than 2000 pages and many gigabytes of digital documents are on file with state court pertaining to this matter. Your lawyer has all the documents and we would the entire record considered if any piece of the record is to be considered.

9.     The notice alleges a noise violation more than two years ago.

10.  There is no evidence of any violation, not even a written complaint, prior to the issuance of the notice of violation. No decibel readings, no sound tests, no coherent written complaint, nothing to indicate a violation existed on August 9, 2010 or exists now in 2012.

11.  The ZEO has explicitly, clearly and on the record linked his decision to issue a notice of violation to the publication of evidence of criminal activity by town employees on my blog. He said, "Mr. Pflaum thinks he can hide behind his computer and write whatever he wants." Correct. That is exactly what I think. The link between the notice of violation and free speech is on the record, recorded and part of the set of documents submitted to the Supreme Court as part of the Article 78 proceedings.

12.  No one who lives or works within 1500 feet of my barn has complained of dog barking. There is not one single complaint from anyone who lives or works within 1500 feet and letters of support indicating no dog barking problem from people who do live and work with 1500 feet.

13.  The ZBA includes town employees/spouses.

14.  An anonymous note attacking my family, submitted to the ZBA by the town clerk, who refuses to disclose the source of the note she introduced as evidence, an act endorsed by David Everett, remains part of the record before the board and has not been stricken from the record.

15.  Steve Montie, board member and town employee, has endorsed violence against me and said that I should move out of town in writing.  These were not slips of the tongue, as he maintains his advocacy of violence even as he sits on the board. Ed Scott also endorsed vigilante violence on video. Ed Scott stands by his promotion of violence. Mary Kline stands by her promotion of violence. Vandalism, as encouraged by town officials, has occurred at our property as a probably consequence of previous hearings here at the ZBA.

16.  The only town resident who complained of dog barking prior to August 9, 2010, Mary Kline, also endorses violence, posted racially charged attacks on my inter-racial family and lives more than 1600 feet away from the dog boarding facility. By endorsing the notice based solely on her complaint, the ZBA would be endorsing and encouraging her racist vigilantism.

17.  The ZEO is on record admitting to have stalked my property before dawn 25 times.

18.  A federal civil rights action is already filed on this case.

19.  The ZBA has already voted on the issue of noise. The majority of the board voted that there was no violation by a 3 to 2 vote. Two members voted that there was a noise violation, although they both acknowledged that the noise is not loud at the property line. The ZBA was unanimous in acknowledging no loud noise.

Sincerely,

Will Pflaum

New York Times quote

How's this:

Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez is accused of sexual harassment and has been censured.Senator Shirley L. Huntley said she would surrender to the authorities on Monday. She said she did not know the charges, but her announcement came months after one of her aides and three others were charged with stealing taxpayer money that had been directed to a nonprofit group that Ms. Huntley founded. Already this year, one former State Senate majority leader, Pedro Espada Jr., a Democrat, was convicted of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the nonprofit health care network he founded; another former majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno, a Republican, was charged by federal prosecutors with taking bribes, and a former Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Carl Kruger, was sentenced to seven years in prison for taking bribes.

So, if there is no agency with oversight of local government, would the situation not be even worse at the local level? Yes. 

knot suit

Here is an article in the Register Star. Point one: the town of Stuyvesant paid for the legal fees of the town Supervisor, Ron Knott, to defend his own personal business. I raised this issue in my filings but the court did not address this serious ethical breech. Here is what I said:

As Knott has benefitted materially from the contract between the Town and Better, at the very least, Knott should not have participated in the decision-making process to hire Better, nor have any conversations with Better about the matter at issue in this case, as per General Municipal Law § 805-a (1)(c). 

The New York Attorney General says (Opinion, Attorney General, [Inf.] 93-36), “The purpose of section 805-a and common law conflict of interest rules is to ensure that public responsibilities are performed impartially and solely in the public interest. If a public body was allowed to waive conflicts of interests, this important public purpose would not be achieved.” In the Better-Knott situation, the public interest is clearly secondary to the private interests of Knott. This Better-Knott problem would not have happened if Knott had hired his own lawyer. It would be better not to force the taxpayer to pay for Knott’s private lawyer.

Nothing about that in the decision of the court. This bothers me. 

i wrote a novel

I wrote another book, if anyone wants some historical fiction.

And here's a NY Times review of Zack Marshall of Philmont:

"I single out Miarden Jackson and Zack Marshall. The blithe grace with which Mr. Jackson delivered an air somersault and many dance phrases was marvelous. The rosy-cheeked Mr. Marshall has brilliance of footwork that often matches Mr. Hanna’s, but better yet is his effortless, through-the-body wavelike response to music — in one simple marking step, a curve passed up his body like a ripple."

 Congrats Zack! Here's the link.

The First Sunshine on the Hudson Podcast

Sunshine on the Hudson, first PODCAST.

Here is the first edition. Have a listen. Listen to Republican Congressman Chris Gibson say that Barack Obama is okay with the drone strikes and that congress has oversight over the program... But others say there is no oversight. Who's right?

Then we get to Sleepergate update with phone calls: the county sheriff saying he doesn't want to know about more than a million dollars missing and doesn't want to talk about whether or not I can go back in the office a video the crooks in action (or not) at the county attorney's office. Also, a clip that is one more nail in the coffin of this claim to work 30 hours a week by these crooked lawyers... and I go easy on the ranting chipmunk.

And I think I like Chris Gibson. He was a soldier. Almost 20 years ago he found himself in Saudi Arabia ready for war and he said, "Wait, congress has not approved this!" Here is 20 years later, still hammering away on the issue. That's a guy I can understand and like.

Better production values for the next podcast! iTunes feeds! I'm new to podcasts!

Thank you Mr. Gibson. Full interview.

fire down the road

TCl offers the lowest risk, lowest liability option for safe disposal of your non-PCB, PCB contaminated and PCB obsolete electrical equipment. We look forward to serving your disposal needs.

It's on fire. Sam Pratt is the place to go for the real info on this. Thanks Sam. Huge problem.

do these guys ever vote? what is this board for?

Another story in the Register Star about the dog war.

I've been thinking about how badly these guys want me to withdraw my appeal. Kind of like when the fox told Chanteclear to stick his neck out a little further so he could hear his cock-a-doodle do a little better. If you're a rooster, generally, when a fox asks you to do something, you shouldn't do it. The fact they asked me to withdraw the appeal is kind of making me think I shouldn't do it.

It's a bunch of nonsense. I already won the case in state court. I don't know what kind of game they're playing, but it's a waste of time and money.

times union readers

Over at the other blog, I write about how a small business person takes risks, has to deal with planning and zoning, workman's comp, payroll, and a whole lot of crap and cannot pass the buck. When Mitt Romney claims he was chief executive but not in charge, I don't feel a lot of sympathy.

Hello people coming here from the article by Chris Churchhill in the Times Union. A couple of years of struggle cannot be broken down into 800 words but Chris did as good a job as anyone could have, so thanks. And he was completely fair to the town. A well-balanced piece of journalism.

Here a couple of points that don't fit in the article. The town spent as much as $200,000 hiring the biggest law firm in the capital district in an illegal executive session, Whiteman Osterman and Hanna to work as special counsel in zoning and planning and special prosecutor against me in town criminal court. The town and the law firm wanted to close my business and put me in jail on false charges. Town officials harassed me (page 122, paragraph 414), threaten to beat me up, said good, yes, beat him up, told me to get out of town, observed my house every day before dawn with video cameras, made other threats, and more incidents,  and the reason for all of this cannot be clearer. Here is the town zoning officer saying why they did this himself. They told me I had no right to appeal anything they did.  The town raised taxes 18% to pay for all of this. More on the Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna thing here at page 78, paragraph 265.


By the way, the idea that there can be loud barking at more than 1000 feet defies the laws of physics. They should have charged me with kidnapping Santa's elves: it's more likely. The town cronies know there is no noise but voted against me on the noise charge anyway. You can tell it is not loud right there from your computer. (At page 107, paragraph 368.)


So now, is five lawsuits too much of a response to all of this? Well, what are the lawsuits about? Well, keeping my business open, getting information, Freedom of Information, stopping cronies from running businesses prohibited by the zoning law, assessment corruption, and the town attorney stealing a lot of money. Five is no where near enough, since there is so much crap to try to put a stop to!


Another thing: I said I sent in 100 FOIL requests -- those requests are mostly to every town in Columbia and Greene Counties for attorney invoices, not to Stuyvesant. I have only sent Stuyvesant about 20 requests over two years. I can hear the spin from the town side already about the 100 FOIL requests!


I built sound proofing. The town revoked my permit after the work was done anyway. I tried mediation. The town said no. I tried to cut a deal. The town agreed, but not in good faith. Here is the neighbor who is supposed complaining. 


So thanks for stopping by the blog. Comment, say hello, thanks. Here is the zoning officer of the town of Stuyvesant explaining why they hired the biggest law firm in the capital district, Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna, to close down a family business and put the operator in jail on false charges, right from the horse's mouth:



And yes, the town attorney did steal $10,000 from the town and a whole lot more from the county, that would be: Tal G. Rappleyea, a man who has as many as fourteen (14) jobs in 2011 and 2012. He is or was until early 2012 an assistant county attorney, claiming work 6 hours per day at $27 per hour. Rappleyea was in 2011 or is in 2012 the designated town attorney for Durham, Ashland, Athens, Prattsville, Lexington, Germantown, Cairo, Stuyvesant, Austerlitz, Copake, Chatham, Greenville, and Jewett.

New York structural malfuction

There is an article in the Register Star today about the suit against the town and a business owned by a town official being tossed out by the judge. I'll post the decision if anyone wants to see it, but essentially, the judge didn't buy my argument that standing should include more than the local effects of the business, that there needs to be a rational application of the law to apply to all in order to allow those living under the law to know what is and is not allowed. The judge sided with the town that the issue should be considered narrowly.

Courts probably don't want to have to deal with every case of insider dealing that the system of local control and 1200 jurisdictions creates in New York. There is no other mechanism to deal with insider dealing, though.

I know that these small towns should not have town courts and town highway departments. You simply spend too much money for too uneven a product, including complete incompetence and corruption, patronage and abuse of criminal justice, in many instances, by allowing 1200 jurisdictions to administer justice and buy equipment and hire workers. If you reduced the number of jurisdictions, they would be easier to police. If you get rid of town court and town highway departments, you could save boatloads of money and get better justice and better roads.

Speaking of police, I also know that a county of 65,000 people should not have 6 police forces, like Columbia County. Comstat, used in the New York City to put resources where they are needed, lead to an 85% reduction in crime over 20 years with no increase in spending. That's what this rural area needs: the ability to allocate resources based on hard data regardless of arbitrary political unit, "Hudson" or "Philmont" even Columbia County. If there is a crime wave in Philmont, take officers out of Hudson. You could save a lot of money and get a better product.

In terms of the town assessor, real estate taxes should, ideally, be largely replaced with other taxes, as property taxes are expensive to collect, inherently unfair, cause distortions in development, and punish farmers, retirees, and poor towns. But if we can't get rid of assessment, we should get rid of the local assessment office and standardize the system in larger units with layers of accountability by people who do not know each other. You can save a lot of money, or better yet, get rid of the tax all together and replace school funding with a better mechanism.

But what about zoning and planning, the issues at the heart of the case that was dismissed? My answer to this problem is more complicated and I'm still chewing it over. I know that letting many small towns around control zoning and planning has lead to nothing good and a lot bad. I know that the power in these boards, if there will continue to be boards, has to be more dispersed. I'm thinking...

FOIL

On Feburary 8, 2012 I sued the Town of Stuyvesant to get photos of the Hook Boat Club, invoices for Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna, cancelled checks for Tal Rappleyea and some other stuff. After I sued them, I got everything I wanted. Today I got the judge's decision. Since I got everything I wanted, if the case is dismissed, fine with me. I sued. I got what I wanted. I won.

When the court says "given that petitioner has received all the relief to which he is entitled, the matter must be dismissed as moot" that means I got the documents. So case dismissed. I won.

Moral of the story:
If you send in  FOIL request, you had better be prepared to sue to get what you want to see. I am prepared to sue and I did get to see what I am entitled to see.

Here is the Register Star (written a few days after I posted the decision here on my blog). If you read the article you wouldn't know that I 1) did not get the documents until I sued; 2) got them after I sued. That's all you need to know. In my opinion, I won the case before the judge's decision.

And the Register Star story refers to Robert Freeman's Committee on Open Government talking about Melissa Naegeli a year and a half ago, or whatever it's called. Here is the man when he came to Stuyvesant.


Pending litigation: "neither a member of the public, nor an adverse party, forfeits rights to disclosure of government records once a government agency becomes involved in litigation” Orange County Publs. v. County of Orange, 637 N.Y.S.2d 596, 602 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1995) as per matters of Farbman & Sons v New York City Health & Hosps. Corp., supra; Matter of Burke v Yudelson, 51 AD2d 673, 674 [4th Dept 1976]).

Definition of privilege: Only communications that have as their purpose the obtaining by the client, or the providing by the attorney, of legal advice or assistance, come within the privilege (matters of King v Ashley, 179 N.Y. 281 [1904]; Kenford Co. v County of Erie, 55 AD2d 466, 469 [4th Dept 1977]; Stefano v C. P. Ward, Inc., 19 AD2d 473 [3d Dept 1963].)

Letters and memos are different than invoices (matters of Steele v New York State Dept. of Health, supra; Mahoney v Staffa, supra; Matter of Austin v Purcell, supra). The court recognizes that not all communications between attorney and client are privileged (matter of Priest v Hennessy, supra, 51 NY2d, at 68, 69.). In particular, “fee arrangements between attorney and client do not ordinarily constitute a confidential communication and, thus, are not privileged in the usual case” (supra). Indeed, “[a] communication concerning the fee to be paid has no direct relevance to the legal advice to be given,” but rather “is a collateral matter which, unlike communications which relate to the subject matter of the attorney's professional employment, is not privileged” (matter of Priest v Hennessy, supra, 51 NY2d, at 69.)

Definition of attorney work: Respondents’ denial of the FOIL request cannot be upheld unless the descriptive material is uniquely the product of the professional skills of respondent's counsel. The preparation and submission of a bill for fees due and owing, not at all dependent on legal expertise, education or training, cannot be “attribute[d].. to the unique skills of an attorney” (Brandman v Cross & Brown Co., 125 Misc 2d 185, 188 [Sup Ct, Kings County 1984]). In Westchester Rockland Newspapers v Mosczydlowski (supra), as cited in Orange County Publs. v. County of Orange, 637 N.Y.S.2d 596, 602 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1995 a FOIL exemption for material covered by CPLR 3101 (d) was allowed in attorney invoices: “legal issues researched, which bear upon the law firm's theories…; conferences with witnesses not yet identified… in ongoing litigation” (also see, De La Roche v De La Roche, supra, 209 AD2d, at 158, 159.).

Glencadia Dog Camp: we won a lawsuit

Albany Times Union
Radio: wgxc.org
And here is the Register Star.
Here is the judge's decision.
Well, $300,000 later, that suit is done. Four more to go.
Here is Sam Pratt's version of this.

register star pimping crony spin

On Thursday, May 17, 2012 The Register Star ran an letter by planning board member and former head of the Stuyvesant Republican party Tom Shanahan called "Courts have better things to do."

I found out Mr. Shanahan objects to lawsuits the hard way. On October 26, 2011 I filed my first article 78 suit. On October 30, 2011, after Mr. Shanahan was seen observing my property, I was given a citation in town criminal court for dog barking. The charge is ridiculous but the charge allows up to 15 days in jail. When I showed up at the appearance date on the ticket on November 9, 2011, Judge Carrie O’Hare reported that the affidavit for this charge disappeared off the face of the earth. 

Since I filed my suits, this kind of nonsense has now stopped completely.
Here is the latest article in the paper.

schmo

The Lawyer Roll for Stuyvesant 2011-2012

William S. Nolan: special prosecutor, wrote response to motion to dismiss on criminal dog barking charge, lost, charge disappeared off the face of the earth

Philip Meyer: answered FOIL law suit, state court, associate of William J. Better, lost

Sharon Siegel: hired by insurance company, federal court, still in court
Thomas J. Mortati: hired by insurance company, federal court, still in court

David R. Everett: did the ZBA stuff in 2011, town level action, Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna, hired in violation of  Public Officers Law, lost his case, yanked off case by other partners at firm to stop the embarrassing antics such as this
John Allen: partner Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna
Tammy Cumo: associate lawyer Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna
Denise Hartman: Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna
Heidi Nicholson: Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna

John Henry: answered the dog lawsuit, state court, Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna, senior partner

Tal Rappleyea: town attorney, got more than $12,000 for dog barking issue, came up with the theory on Town Law 267, the theory that Everette used, the theory that the judge threw out, lost his job as county attorney

William J. Better: defended Knott and Narzynski with taxpayer money, many tens of thousands to defend private interests of officials in state court, still in court

Everett, Rapplyea, Better, Meyer, Siegel, Mortati, Nolan, Henry, Allen, Cumo, Hartman, and Nicholson versus some schmo or a Schmozilla.

12 lawyers. 1 dog guy. 12 against 1?

William S. Nolan of Whiteman Osterman and Hanna served as special prosecutor on the dog barking charge. He violated his duty as a prosecutor by pursuing a charge he knew to be false at the time her pursued the charge. He was just promoted by Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna.

all about the paper

Over on the other blog.

Here is the latest article in the paper about something or other to do with me.

last night at the stuyvesant zba

There is an article in the Register Star by John Mason that is a good summary of the issues and what happened. I think mediation is the way to go now in the neighbor dispute (Serpico-Palladino), as I recommended to the town more than a year ago. As to the second issue: Ronald Knott, the deputy supervisor and later town supervisor, is the author of the policy to spend 17% of the 2011 budget on zoning enforcement to close Glencadia Dog Camp. The town spent $150,000 hiring the biggest law firm in the Capital District, Whiteman, Osterman and Hanna in an illegal executive session. Ronald Knott participated, lead the charge and supported all of this. One of the primary points in that process was whether of not the business qualified as a home occupation if the house and the barn were on separate lots. The law is clear that a home occupation required the business and house to be on the same lot. Meanwhile the town planning board refused my application to put the lots back together, which would solve the problem. Meanwhile, Knott himself was operating a home occupation with a business and a house of separate lots. That's the deal.

sleepergate, episode II, the office

In episode one of the Sleepergate scandal, we saw how Tal Rappleyea, who is or was in 2011 the designated Town Attorney in Durham, Ashland, Prattsville, Lexington, Germantown, Cairo, Stuyvesant, Austerlitz, Copake, Chatham, Greenville, Jewett and assistant attorney for Columbia County, claims to work as much as 21 hours in a single 24 hour period. I only looked at one month so far: October 2010. More to come. WORSE than 21 in another month?

Following episode I, Tal Rappleyea resigned as County Attorney and perhaps Stuyvesant Town Attorney.

We also saw, in episode one, that the other attorneys in the office, Clarissa D. Garvey, Charles E. Hoag, Jr., Tal G. Rappleyea, Robert J. Fitzsimmons, Barrett D. Mack, Brent R. Stack, refuse to deny that they are stealing pension credits for no or little show jobs as does Tal Rappleyea.

Now we come to episode two. The time sheets these guys send in say they are supposed to work at least 6 hours a day.  Here are their timesheets:

http://wikicoco.com/file/detail/Pflaum+-+CA+FOIL+2011.pdf/298379228

http://wikicoco.com/file/detail/Pflaum+-+CA+FOIL+2010.pdf/298379230

http://wikicoco.com/file/detail/Pflaum+-+CA+FOIL+2009.pdf/298379226

So I figure, if they don't mind sending in time sheets to the taxpayer to get pensions, they would have no problem affirming that that information on the time sheets is correct. So I made up some affidavits asking the attorneys to verify that they do some work to get their money and benefits.

Here are the affidavits I asked the attorneys to sign (in the video below), with their time sheets:

http://wikicoco.com/file/view/affidavits.pdf/298327888/affidavits.pdf 

I put the affidavits in an envelope and wanted to hand deliver the affidavits to the lawyers. I went on Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 11:20 AM.

The affidavits are confidential, county business. I went into a public office building to deliver confidential material individually to the people mentioned in the correspondence. The matter is of public interest and valid activity in a public office.




And the guys don't have a desk? And they are not there whenever I check? And no one know when you might be popping in?

I see 10 people on the payroll, all full time. I want to see 10 desks and 10 butts sitting in them. If I can't see that, I'll come back and check again until I see it.

So I went back on Friday, Febuary 3 at 11 AM.



Robert Fitzsimmons has 7 lawyers on the books but he never has 7 lawyers in the office. These are TIME SHEETS with PENSION CREDITS not invoices of independent contractors. That's a big difference.

Now we're at two visits with an average of 2 attorneys per visit. Should be 7. I would have thought 5, maybe 6 might be reasonable: one in court, one sick. The secretary should be able to tell me when they might be back.

Well, I struck out. Four to six no show lawyers. Pensions, salaries... maybe a couple hundred thousand stolen every year for at least 3 and probably many more years.

I'll keep checking. I'll even write Fitzsimmons an email and tell him when I'm coming if he wants. I said I would be back on Monday at 9:30 AM to check again. I wrote him an email.

Now the county attorney Fitzsimmons panics. He can't actually get all the attorneys to come to work and they don't have desks. He calls the sheriff. If I dare to go into the office and count lawyers again, they will arrest me.




I thought about this interaction later. If I can send the sheriff to deliver my paper the same as the county attorney, then the sheriff cannot say that the police AGREE with the paper.

No show jobs for rich lawyers to steal pensions. They won't sign the affidavits. No desks. Not at work. No one knows when they will be in to work.

They had a bunch of sheriff's deputies waiting on Monday, February 6, 2012 in case I showed up again. God forbid I should walk into a public office and check to see if public officers are where they claim to be.

Where in this email did I say which Monday I was coming? Some Monday. And I won't come alone. Send me an email if you would like to join me. I need as many people as I can get. If you work Monday, we can try Tuesday. Or go on your own. Find any lawyers? Report back to me.

Email me.

So, on Monday, February 13, I went to see Pattrick Grattan at the Kinderhook Town Meeting: audio here. Not great quality audio on the iPhone. This incident was reported on page one in the newspaper.

Listen, as best you can, to what Grattan says. If you can't make it out, let me know and I'll try some filters in GarageBand.

So, there is some kind of law that means that the top elected official in the county can't meet with me because I might sue him. He can't talk to his wife because she might sue for divorce one day. If he doesn't talk to her, she definitely will sue him.

Anyone can sue anyone at any time, I guess. So we all stop talking?

And when the person accused of embezzlement was associated with the opposition and not a personal friend of Pat Grattan, as here, he was able to do something about it. Funny how that work. When it's your friends, there is nothing you can do. When it's some nobody associated with the opposition, then, well, that's easy.

Grattan, in the Register Star article cited above, wants to get every penny back from Mulligan-Moore. He wants to keep that story in the news. But Fitzsimmons: he can keep stealing. We wouldn't want the husband of his judge and ticket mate, someone he has known for years socially, to have to stop stealing, let alone give the money back or go to jail, like the hapless Mulligan-Moore.

So today I met with the Columbia County District Attorney Paul Czajka. I want to thank the District Attorney for the opportunity to meet with him.

Robert J. Fitzsimmons, Esq. is the lead attorney of a private law firm: Fitzsimmons, Mack and Mills. He is also county attorney with oversight over Brent R. Stack, Tal Rappleyea, Barrett Mack, Andrew Howard, Charles Hoag, and Clarissa Garvey. 


Stack, Mack and Fitzsimmons are also in private practice together at the same law firm.


So, if Fitzsimmons catches Mack or Stack working on their own legal work in the office instead of doing the public business, if he catches them doing private work at the county office on county time, he would have to discipline him... 


.... although, of course, his personal interest is likely in not disciplining him.


And that would never happen because Mack never bothers to show up at all and doesn't have a desk.

Then Fitzsimmons can hire someone at his private firm, like Brent Stack, and then hire him again at the county office. So you'll have him around and pay with the taxpayer's money in case you need him for your private work.


And who are the clients anyway? I know guys get away with this in the State Senate and State Assembly. What is the client paying for? Legal work by the firm or grease in the county office? Very nice set up: no show public job give you leverage to get money through a no work private job. Not that I can prove this part: they don't have to disclose their private clients, except through financial disclosures, and not even there, and those are highly redacted. 

Stealing pensions is a big deal. Think about how many tax increases and budget fights have to do with pensions and costs governments have to pay for decades after people retire.

Here are the key pension rules:

 For Tier 2, 3, 4 and 5 members, the minimum number of hours in a standard work day is six, while the maximum is eight... Since elected and appointed officials do not usually work a fixed schedule or have pre-set work hours, they must keep a record of their work-related activities so you can accurately determine the number of days worked to report....Effective August 12, 2009, each elected or appointed official must prepare a record of work-related activities (log) for three consecutive months within 150 days of the start of a new term or appointment if: 1) They are members of the Retirement System and 2) Do not use your time keeping system that shows hours worked. (This includes systems that keep track of accruals and attest that, other than time charged to accruals, full hours were worked.)

Fine rules. No compliance in Columbia County.

Rappleyea: $378,000. Mack: $210,000. Howard: more than $330,000. Hoag: $420,000. Plus pension credits and other benefits worth about 1/3 of pay. With just those four guys we easily have 1.5 million in fraud and embezzlement. They never did a lick of work, as per the pension rules.

Right now, the Germantown school board is considering eliminating the high school. They can't afford to pay the pensions. Look at the battles in Wisconsin and check out your local town budget if you don't think this is a HUGE deal. 

Government pensions. Benefits. No show jobs. Rich attorneys.

Right now, what percent of these pensions we are paying out for people retired in Florida are based on crooked accounting? A superficial look at Columbia County government suggest that a large percentage of what we pay is to allow crooks to retire on comfort on the tax money of people who actually work. The workers pay. The no workers get pensions.

What kind of value are we getting as taxpayers for all these pension folk? None. Are you going to get a pension? I'm not. I spent all my money defending myself from a corrupt town. 

Let's look at the Columbia County attorney office. What is the county getting for maybe as much as a million dollars a year in legal services? This million dollars or so does not include other legal services for bond issues, development corporations, etc.

The Columbia County Attorney's office spends $517,000 a year on salaries for seven attorneys and three secretaries. They all claim pensions and benefits which add another third or more in the cost to the taxpayer. 

We're close to a million in total wages and benefits, let alone pensions already being paid out for people who might not have worked a generation ago.

What part of that million or is stolen? Half? It's been going on for years. We're talking about a multimillion dollar fraud.

Compare these two:

Brent R. Stack, assistant county attorney FULL TIME, 7 hours a day, pay rate: $37 per hour, 7 years on the job, $2590 every two weeks, $67,340 per year.

Charles Hoag, assistant county attorney PART TIME, 6 hours per day, $27 per hour, 10 years on the job, $1640 every two weeks, $42,640 per year.

What? The guy with more years gets less? The difference between part and full time is one hour? Lawyers working for $27 an hour? 

Why do they "work" for $27 if not to steal a pension? 

Never saw Hoag in the office. Stack does do work -- clerical work requiring no law degree like answering FOILs that Gail Dicosmo is supposed to do (she disappeared off the website last night for some reason, as did a couple other names). Hoag does nothing. Discosmo doesn't do her job. So, Hoag doesn't mind if his junior gets more than him. Why should he complain about a pension and pay with no work?

Next comparison:

Tal Rappleyea, assistant county attorney III, 6 hours per day, $27 per hour, 9 years on the job, $1640 every two weeks, $42,640 per year.

Lisa Brightly, confidential secretary, 17 years on the job, $22.70 per hour, 7 hours per day, $41,200 per year.

What? An attorney and a secretary get almost the same annual pay? And no one's complaining? Why complain: any pay is a good deal if you do NO WORK. Did I mention the pension?

Here are the rest:

Sheila Zito, clerk/typist, $17.25 per hour, 7 hours per day, 12 years on the job, $1207 every two weeks, $31,382 per year.

Barrett Mack, assistant county attorney III, 5 years on the job, 6 hours per day, $27 per hour, $1640 every two weeks, $42,640 per year.

Rita Lacasse, typist, 12 years on the job, $19.50 per hour, 7 hours per day, $1370 every two weeks, $35,620 per year.

Andrew Howard, deputy county attorney NA, 2 years on the job, 6 hours per day, $2608 every two weeks,  $43.50 per hour, $67,800 per year.

Clarissa Garvey, assistant county attorney, 7 hours a day, pay rate: $37 per hour, 10 years on the job, $2590 every two weeks, $67,340 per year.

Robert Fitzsimmons, county attorney, 5 years on the job, $53 per hour, 6 hours a day, $3210 every two weeks, $83,460 per year.

Our current chair of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors turned in a bookkeeper who was syphoning off funds with the help of the Comptroller and local DA. No one else knew about the crime and the perpetrator had no connections.

When a well connected person is caught red handed by the Comptroller, nothing much happens if they are cozy with the local mucky-mucks.

Stay tuned for next episode: sleepergate, road trip to Albany 

Ain't pretty. First I found out the town of Stuyvesant is corrupt. Then I found out Columbia County is corrupt. What do you think about the state of New York? Not looking good. 

It's a Republican town in a Republican county in a Democratic state. But when it comes to corruption, there is only one party, the party of power. Motto: get yours.

I keep thinking that as I go up the chain, town to county to state to federal government, I will run into an honest, dedicated public servant willing to do the job they are paid to do by the people and say no to obvious rackets of corruption. 

Other news: I filed two lawsuits against Stuyvesant on February 8, 2012. That makes a total of four. Why? New York State has not system of municipal and local ethics enforcement. 

1. FOIL: Freedom of Information Law-- I want some canceled checks and they aren't giving them to me and other issues.

2. Zoning: I filed another suit agains the zoning board of Stuyvesant to get them to enforce the law the same to cronies and non-cronies alike. 

I'm not a reporter but I'm breaking a story, or trying to. I'm not a lawyer, but I'm filing suits. I have no authority or badge or experience or education in any of this stuff. 

I can use help. Email me. 

If the authorities don't shut this racket down, there are always the courts... or giving up. 

I wish I could just walk away from this stuff. 

columbia county, new york state

corruption... corruption... corruption...

can anyone say IRONY?

Here is the story in the paper. See how it works, right?

I stopped arguing with Mr. Grattan to be respectful of the other people in the room but I think the contrast between the politically unconnected Ms. Mulligan-Moore, low level bookkeeper, and the well-connected lawyers is fairly obvious. I didn't need to hammer than point home in the context of the meeting. In one case Mr. Grattan wants every penny. In the other case, he throws up his hands. One is ongoing and involves more money-- but there is nothing he can do. And the accused is someone he knows personally and is connected politically. I see.  Duly noted.

from the comptroller's office

Howard Dean, 66, of Locke, N.Y., pleaded guilty and was sentenced on January 11, 2012 for second degree grand larceny for taking Fridays off for 17 years, cheating the taxpayer and the State and Local Retirement System.

This month, former Rome police officer Thomas C. Hubal, pleaded guilty to third degree grand larceny, six months incarceration, five years probation, and must repay the more than $88,000 he stole from the State and Local Retirement System associated with double dipping.

Okay, Comptroller, you can nab the lone wolves who cheat on their own with the aid of the local DA or when the employee works for the state, not a local government. What about rackets of many individuals when the local DA has not requested your aid?

snake and jellyfish

2 posts from the columbia paper

A salt shed problem solved creatively in Ancram, just $6,500 spent, no bond issues... compare to Stuyvesant.

...some on a town board in Germantown, including Roy Brown who I met with for an hour to go over the invoices for Tal, concerned with honesty in accounting.  That's makes 2 on the ball in Germantown.

 ANCRAM:

 Town Highway Superintendent Jim MacArthur also got in on the money talk, telling the board he obtained two bids for a new metal roof for the old milk factory building, now the town's salt/sand shed. Installed by Highway Department personnel, a green metal roof will cost the town $6,982.95 and a shiny metal roof will cost $6,456.85. The board decided to go with the green metal since the new highway garage is green and the green is more “aesthetically pleasing.” Supervisor Bassin was pleased because the town had budgeted $20,000 for the new roof.

 GERMANTOWN:

Tal Rappleyea, the new town attorney, was introduced to the meeting. Via the Internet connection, which uses software called Skype, Ms. Snyder had expressed misgivings about Mr. Rappleyea's time commitments and the way he was hired. Mr. Craig said he would respond to Ms. Snyder via email, and Mr. Rappleyea assured the meeting that he had time for Germantown

here is another great new york state govenment lawyer

Stealing. Another crooked New York State lawyer. Being crooked seems to be what government lawyers do. Did you see the Sleepergate story too?

school board officials stealing pension credits

Does this sound like Sleepergate to you? Same type of scam.

state lawyer convicted of hate crimes

Those wacky municipal lawyers... the Klan upstate.

PANDORA'S BOX OF ROCKS: Escrow Accounts Pay for Whiteman Osterman & Hanna's Services at the Discretion of BP $ ACCIONA