Happy Holiday Images From Flagstaff, AZ

Today in Flagstaff we had our first significant snowfall. About 12" to 15"  It was one of those great cold dry powdery snow falls.  Easy to  shovel fortunately.  Came down steady all day.  It was so cold that many desert areas across the SW even got a dusting of snow.  Apparently even the Las Vegas Strip. But some of the deserts are supposed to warm up to the 70's next week!!!  I love the desert SW!!!

          Some images of our later Holiday snowfall in Flagstaff.  Hope you had a great Holiday, and   
         Happy New Year!

                                  Above and below, our outside Christmas tree
                                    coated in deep snow like a decorated cake.

           Below - Moving the camera quickly while photographing our indoor Christmas tree lights.       

Marginalized - Par For The Course!

5:16  If you think this is just Faulknham and Chase you are missing the big picture.

Talking about the possibility of Faulknham not liking Chase (which I believe is correct) and how the Hirschey crew deals with people who don't follow marching orders, let me add a few details that show the bigger picture...and pattern.

First, obviously I have been a target of that wrath for some time now when I parted ways with WPEG and the Hirschey Republican crowd.  Not whining about it...that is just fact when you don't play by their script.

My observation is that it isn't just Faulknham.  I'm betting it was Bob Brown and Macsherry of the planning board and probably others across the town govt because Chase chose to dare to question things particularly on the solar zoning screw up of summer 2013 that I uncovered and voted against approving the permits on that matter.  There are other matters as well.

And BTW, some people think it was Hester Chase who fed me information to uncover that mess, but that is outright false.  I first learned of it when Mrs. Grogan a friend of mine called me asking if I knew of a public hearing where a solar project was proposed by her neighbor.  I said I would look into it.  From there I started digging and looking at minutes and videos and making some calls to zoning officials and figured out they had screwed up big time and this solar project was illegal.

Now what you have to understand is that CV super. Hirschey (unknown to me at that time) also had a solar project up and running that was also illegal by our zoning law.  Which he chose to take down as a result.

So there was a lot at stake here, and our zoning officials knew it, and apparently by the later nutty action of the ZBA and planning board and others across town govt including the town attorney it became obvious they were covering their butts on this mess trying to sanitize it and justify this fiasco which even made the newspaper.  They even had to go into a town board executive session on this mess and that session didn’t just include the town board, it had other zoning officials in it.  They even attempted to exclude Ms. Chase but were unsuccessful.

It was such a mess and something had to be done to sanitize it they needed an executive session with the town attorney mind you!

But instead of following the “cover your rear end” script Chase chose to try to support open and good govt and support an obviously innocent and aggrieved town citizen. She started asking questions and ultimately voted against the permits on the one solar project. 

And Hirschey on his own took down his solar project temporarily.  He told me so himself in a visit to  my cottage.  When he showed up knowing I had uncovered a big mess that went deep into CV zoning, and telling me personally about his solar project I knew this was a fiasco. He rarely visits my CV residence, even when I was in WPEG.  And when I did a FOIL request of town records for his solar project permits etc he met me at the door basically asking what I was going to do with the records.

So as I said there was a lot at stake, and I think it highly likely Ms. Chase pissed off a number of the key Hirschey players across town govt. and then she raised concerns about how ZBA and PB records were accessed and who controlled what.

Look at these minutes of the ZBA hearing on 10/7/13. These are on the town website under the ZBA minutes.  They reveal a lot of other stuff as well about this zoning mess.

 You can see where Macsherry of the PB is disgruntled and suggests Chase and I and others should reveal any emails on the subject at hand.  He is pissed at me because I uncovered a real zoning mess with his board and the ZBA and Chase has not been willing to cave into pressure.

Richard Macsherry – as past Chair of the Planning Board, offered to speak to ZBA board members as to why he feels Ms. Chase is conflicted on this issue. He stated that Mr. Pundt has, over the past several weeks, made comments on the adequacy of the process. He shared that any emails sent to any board members from either Mr. Dave LaMora or Mr. Art Pundt on this issue should be seen by all board members. He said he believed that

individuals were contacted to influence a vote.

So why is Macsherry, and as I remember Mr. Brown as well of the planning board, even at this particular ZBA meeting?  I don’t think that is a regular event.

Because it is basically a public hearing on an appeal of the solar zoning fiasco they and other zoning officials had created and even swept the supervisor into with his own illegal solar project. A lot is at stake.

They need to make sure Ms. Chase and I and others raising real uncomfortable questions are marginalized.

Now think about … if you have been to various town meetings over past years, have you ever been to one where a town officer from another board shows up and asks another board to actually dig into the private emails of citizen???

That is feakin bizarre behavior!!!  Oh and it just so happens those citizens don’t agree with them on other zoning matters and have been saying so rather loud and publicly.  What a coincidence!!!

And let me tell you…the very LAST thing Macsherry would want if he had a clue was to go through my emails of the past few years.  It would get real ugly for some members of the Hirschey crowd!

And Mr. Macsherry should be careful about what he was requesting. He should have considered that when I found out about this mess he was the FIRST person in town govt I contacted and had a lengthy PRIVATE phone conversation about it.  I also had a few subsequent private emails and personal conversations with him on this zoning matter.  Was I trying to influence his vote?  Maybe he should have recused himself from the entire issue as well!

If anything should be revealed it should have been the emails and phone calls among all the town officials who got caught up in this zoning mess and spent many weeks scrambling very questionably trying to justify it.  It even resulted in a secret executive session with the town attorney and with town board and some  CV zoning officials.  That is rare…and bizarre!

See the minutes below from a town board meeting of    where they go into executive session.  All it says is the session was about ” personal matters”.  I believe NYS laws indicate they need to at least outline the basics of what they are going into executive session for.  Well apparently not this time! It’s pretty vague.

“Councilman Byrne made a motion to adjourn to Executive Session at 6:40pm to discuss personnel issues and legal matters with Attorney Gebo, seconded by Councilwoman Oswald.

Councilman Byrne made a motion to return from Executive Session and open Regular Meeting at 7:30pm, seconded by Councilman Bragdon.”

 

What was so secret they could not discuss it publicly???  I also believe they tried to keep Ms. Chase out of this executive session. Imagine that. 

Considering what I have said above, when Ms. Chase was up for re-appointment my opinion  it was pay back time!!!

Oswald asking for fairness in town appointments goes a lot deeper than the technicality of how appointments are handled.  And I think she knows that.

Now do I have anything else to base this on.  Well yes I do from personal experience.

In 2012 when the new zoning law was being worked on in committee, I was not on board with the way it was being done or where it was going.  It was locked in stone from the get go as to what the Hirschey crew wanted.  Of course I was commenting on this often on my blog and others which I know pissed them off.

But I still sent the committee, headed by Bob Brown, detailed input on CD’s since I had a fair amount of experience in CV zoning by this time. There was one CD for each committee person.

Brown and several others absolutely refused to look at them and shoved them across the table.  I was told this by somebody who was there to observe this behavior and got pretty upset and notified me.  The apparent reasoning was Brown simply didn’t like me and wasn’t going to take any of my input.

Geee…sound familiar????

The astonishing thing to me was after asking for input from the community that he would single out and punish one citizen simply because he wasn’t happy with what they were saying…again…sound familiar???

So at a minimum…when you think about Faulkinham and Chase at odds...it’s probably goes way beyond that to Brown and Macsherry as well as others.

But does it end there?  No!

Somebody should talk to John Byrne who has been a real Hirschey loyalist…at least in public.  Note that he ultimately used a lame “community healing” excuse to side with Oswald about appointments contrary to Hirschey.  I’m not sure Mr. Byrne is all warm and fuzzy about how things are run at times.  He just doesn’t have the brass to really question Hirschey. 

Of course on the other hand you have Councilman Bragdon who outright said in the last meeting he defers to Hirschey.  Of course he is probably weighing his future as deputy supervisor and maybe supervisor.

Unknown to many Byrne has been on the wrong side of the Hirschey script a couple times and had to pay.

He once declared publicly on a blog when he wanted to run for town board the second time around he was against industrial wind in CV which was a no no  in the Hirschey WPEG camp .  It was also my stance since day one.  This got him into campaign trouble.  Suddenly the Hirschey /WPEG machine went into their famous marginalization scheme and tried also to connect him to me.

Byrne indicated to me that he felt he was being socially and politically marginalized, and the Hirschey crew was indicating he was probably not electable.

Of course Bynre had a sudden epiphany about his political future and how Hirschey and the Republicans were connected to it, and he suddenly started playing by the script.  And as we now know he had big NYS assembly dreams he probably saw going down the tubes if he didn’t play by the right rules.

Unknown to some is that in 2009 Byrne wanted to run for supervisor.  Called me and asked if I would support him.  I said I would if he took a no wind development stance.  But Hirschey stepped in and edged him out behind the scenes for the supervisor job.  Byrne was livid, but played by team rules anyhow.

And on an interesting side note, I got word from a reliable source who had talked to Byrne about a zoning concern Last summer, that Byrne off handedly said he thought zoning and who and how it was controlled “was out of control.”  Interesting!!!  The why did you vote to approve the law John, and sit by silent in the 2013 solar zoning fiasco?

The case of Faulknham maybe not liking Ms. Chase and what Ms. Oswald I think is eluding to about appointments is only scratching the surface of how people are handled if they don’t follow the script.

And in the past both Wiley and the JLL bog and the Pandora blog have been mouth pieces and tools to make sure people get effectively marginalized if not on script.

Something I have been trying to alert people in CV to for some time now.

In many respects the solar zoning fiasco of 2013 that caught up supervisor Hirschey as well and his entire zoning establishment was a far bigger deal and reached deeper into the fundamentals of the CV govt and its supposed leaders than most people realize.  And what really fries them is it is all in the record on video or minutes to see…as are their actions of appointments now.

I am glad that Ms. Oswald has made an issue of it.  You are seeing why in the past when there was an empty board seat and Oswald was available Hirschey and Bragdon were actually toying with the idea of appointing Paul Aubertine instead.

The solar zoning fiasco of 2013 demonstrated what type of people and leaders they are when they had their backs against the wall.  Instead of just admitting mistakes were made and openly correcting them (big fundamental zoning mistakes) in my opinion big egos got in the way and they opted for the cover our butts mode. Even the WDT paper figured something wasn’t right.

You think Chase got interviewed and questioned when her reappointment came up, because Faulknham (and others) didn’t like her and her actions. 

In my opinion you can bet your ass that’s the case.

And you can bet they would probably like to marginalize her further as they have done with others. 

But guess what, there is a record and you can read it right here to be an informed CV citizen and maybe keep this kind of political nonsense in check.

 

.

Cape Vincent Councilwoman Oswald Is On The Money On Zoning Reappointments - But There Is A Lot More To This Story!

I reviewed the video of last Thursday’s Cape Vincent Town Board meeting. Something very interesting came up in the meeting discussions.

The issue of the reappointment of CV Zoning Board of Appeals chairman Dennis Faulknham was discussed, as well as the reappointment of Planning Board member Paul Docteur, and PB alternate Karen Bourcy. 

To her credit CV Councilwoman Michelle  Oswald questioned the reappointment process indicating these positions should not be renewed simply because a person already holds  the position, but should be advertised to the whole community and then each candidate, including the ones up for reappointment should be interviewed, then voted upon.

I agree.

However, there is a more insidious side hidden in  this than apparently Ms. Oswald really wanted to get into.

There was a great deal of discussion on this point, and if you have been paying attention the past couple years to CV politics surrounding the new zoning law and the zoning officials who are supposed to uphold it, there is a lot more here than meets the eye...or was discussed… or this board is probably unwilling or too embarrassed to admit.  And like many things I report on, it is all in the record to be reviewed, and should be very carefully reviewed before these appointments are given, as well as other future zoning appointments that may be given away because you have been a ‘good boy”!

I’m sure some people on the Hirschey board (the Hirschey loyalists) hoped these appointments would just slide through with little question.  Apparently Ms. Oswald was not willing to let this just slide and had some very pertinent points to discuss that go right to the heart of “open govt”. and good ole boy politics.

For the sake of this discussion let me state I have no particular issue with Mr. Paul Docteur of the PB, other than two summers ago during the solar zoning fiasco I think he failed to grasp the depth of the problem evolving before him on his board and how his board failed in its responsibility as did Faulkinham and most of his ZBA except for ZBA member Hester Chase who Councilwoman Oswald brought up as a very pertinent point.  More pertinent than some may realize.

There was an assumption or false premise voiced by Oswald and others, however, when she raised her concerns. 

That was that the people in the current positions to be reappointed where competent or were doing a good job and that was not the question. 

I disagree, and the record shows why, but I’m sure she did this to smooth over what she would really have liked to say in more depth.

I am not going to put words in Ms. Oswald’s mouth. But there is much more to the story in my opinion and it hinges on the treatment of ZBA member Hester Chase.  And Oswald was very smart to invoke Ms. Chase into this discussion to make her strong  point! It was a well timed blind side that gave her a ton of clever leverage to back her case.

Note in the video that Ms. Oswald makes a point of fairness and consistency, indicating that when Ms. Chase was up for reappointment to the ZBA she WAS re-interviewed for the position she held on the ZBA when she was up for reappointment, when  the appointment of Faulknham, Docteur, and Bourcy were going to be voted on now with no interview or even an announcement that these positions were open for appointment.  Other appointments have also been handled in this manner by the Hirschey board as well.

Good point Michelle…but the whole issue of WHY was avoided because to dig into it exposes some uncomfortable truths. 

So why did this happen to Hester Chase?  Why was she forced to interview for her reappointment when some other Hirschey loyalists aren’t???

To put it bluntly, in my opinion… it really comes down to whether you are a Hirschey loyalist and willing to keep your mouth shut or not, and not ask the tough questions on critical issues that actually promotes the open and transparent govt the Hirschey crowd is so quick to point to.

In the summer and fall of 2013 many of our town officers were up to their eyeballs in a solar zoning fiasco that got out of control, even involved the town supervisor Mr. Hirschey and his own illegal solar project, as well as another solar project belonging to Roger Alexander of Lazy Acres Trailer Park. 

I uncovered this mess and it even reached the front page of the Watertown Daily Times and became a huge embarrassment to the town and it’s zoning process and officials and their brand new zoning law. And that would be after I had repeatedly told them they were likely to screw up the solar zoning in the draft law because I felt they had not researched it carefully.  They were simply in love with solar.

 The crux of the matter was that the town officials who had created the law failed miserably in understanding and applying the zoning they had written and passed only a year before.  A law that was the shining center point of their very election!

If you would like to see this in detail and documentation why Mr. Faulknham and some others of the Hirschey zoning establishment should NOT be reappointed, go back on this blog archive to about July – Oct. 2013 and read the issues I uncovered involving the illegal solar project of Mr. Alexander, and his neighbor Mary Grogan who was protesting the illegal project, and how Mr. Hirschey the CV town supervisor was also directly caught up in it. All the documentation is there.

The CV Planning Board, particularly Mr. Brown and Mr. Macsherry, and Faulknham and most of his ZBA failed miserably in my opinion to conduct proper zoning practices, and when caught in the zoning fiasco they and other town officers did nothing more than damage control trying to sanitize the mess they created.  Of course a lot is at stake when the town supervisor has unwittingly put up his own prohibited solar project.  One he on his own temporarily took down till the zning could be re written to allow such projects like his and others.  Geee Imagine that!

For example when Mrs. Mary  Grogan wanted to challenge this process and the illegal project proposed next to her property by Mr. Alexander, ZBA chair Faulknham could not clearly delineate how she should bring an appeal before his board (probably a stall), AND indicated the permits were legal and she probably couldn’t win the appeal anyhow.  What about fairness and impartiality did Mr. Faulknham not understand?  How did he KNOW the permits were legal and she couldn’t win BEFORE he and his board had even heard Mrs. Grogan’s appeal????  It was a sham! Faulkham could even find the proper paperwork for Mrs. Grogan to start her appeal and it was finally sent to her by Hirschey only a few days before the deadline for her appeal.  Maybe they were hoping Mrs. Grogan would go over the official deadline and the whole mess would just go away.

Because behind the scenes many town officers had in my opinion improperly conferred trying to clean up the huge zoning mess they had created (including their town supervisor) well before Mrs. Grogan’s case was even heard.

So how does Hester Chase figure into this and the points Councilwoman Oswald made about her and appointments and reappointments??? 

It is quite simple.

Do you keep your mouth shut, or try to run responsible open and fair  govt?  Chase opted for good govt and it almost cost her  her ZBA position and Councilwoman Oswald knows it!

 During the solar zoning fiasco that swept across the town zoning establishment Ms. Chase started asking some uncomfortable questions.  Not only about this mess and how it occurred but about how certain records of the planning board and ZBA were being handled and who should have access to them and how. 

Some of this put her head to head with the ZBA chairman Mr. Faulknham and PB member Robert Brown and Dick Macsherry.

During the Mrs. Grogan’s ZBA appeal on the solar project, Hester voted against the permits and approval of this illegal project indicating that the permits and the process had become such a mess she could not vote in favor of it.  And she was the only one in all of CV town govt to officially questioned what was going on and supported Mrs. Grogan’s appeal.

It is important to note here that ZBA chairman Faulknham and a couple of his ZBA officers even admitted this zoning mess was not carried out correctly and probably would not hold up in court…but approved the permits anyhow!!!!! Pure genius!!

Do we really want to reappoint people who admit a process would probably not hold up in court but approve the process  and put the town in legal liability anyhow? Really???

And keep in mind that Ms. Chase who was willing to stand by the law and the proper process, in my opinion was later hassled and intimidated when her reappointment came up.  A point to which I think Ms. Oswald is eluding to.

So when Hester Chase’s reappointment came up, you can damn well bet they were going to give her grief.  Thus as Oswald points out…she was re-interviewed to hold her ZBA position AND there were a number of town officials who probably did not want to see her reappointed perceiving a lapse in “loyalty”.

Interview some people, don't interview others???  That system is flawed, and full of potential abuses.

That is the backstory Councilwoman Oswald was not revealing at last Thurs. CV town board meeting, but I am willing to get into, and everyone should know before these appointments are considered.

Of course I’m sure the fact that Ms. Chase was a woman who had strong opinions and would stand by them and against the boys club…that was working against her at that time.  Fortunately she was ultimately reappointed.

In my opinion Oswald is correct on the appointment process to keep it open and transparent and open it to all and interview all. 

It is also my opinion that based on behavior during the town’s embarrassing solar zoning fiasco that these men created, that Faulknham should not be reappointed, nor should Brown or Macsherry of the PB when their terms are up.  Their behavior was inexcusable, as was the legally questionable solution they and other town officers came up with to sanitize the mess. 

These men and others involved in this zoning mess at a minimum should be grilled and questioned thoroughly before they are given any sacred responsibility to be stewards of the town’s land use.

As for Mrs. Bourcy, in my opinion she does not even deserve the PB alternate position after her questionable votes with her wind conflicts of interest on the old Edsall planning board.  Votes that significantly moved along the wind agenda and created legal and social havoc for this community and even became the subject of a NYAG investigation.  Why Hirschey and his previous board reappointed her is beyond logic for me.

Even Mr. Paul Docteur of the PB should be questioned as to why he sat quietly as this solar zoning mess unfolded before him.

These appointments all have major baggage attached to them and should be scrutinized very carefully, not just given a pass as Councilman Bragdon implies simply because they hold the job now. That is reckless.

And note on the video when Councilwoman. Oswald raised this question of simple reappointment and invoked Hester Chase’s name that Mr. Hirschey the supervisor seemed to become a bit flustered about the vote and issue losing track of what was going on. 

He in fact after initially favoring the lopsided  appointment process because that is how they have done it, then changed his position to agree with Oswald as did Byrne.  I’m guessing that when the Hester Chase issue was brought into the argument, Hirschey probably didn’t want to explore that issue much further and where it might lead.

And as an interesting side note, as long as we are talking about the judgment  of people we are about to appoint to important town zoning positions…then take a closer look, because the fiasco continues.

During the original solar zoning fiasco involving Mr. Alexander’s illegal solar project, one of the KEY justifications of zoning officials and I suppose the town lawyer as well for allowing the permits, was that Alexander was heavily vested in the project, and some of them had supposedly visited the project claiming Alexander had a significant investment in equipment so the permits should be approved so he could move forward ASAP.  This was a pressing issue and a big deal in the justification. 

 I said it was a lot of nonsense, and the courts have overridden that justification in some case law as well.

Problem is Alexander took the town for a real embarrassing ride on this one too.

 As of last summer and after this entire zoning  fiasco on his behalf he had done virtually NOTHING of consequence on his solar project!!!  And in fact Alexander applied last summer to extend his permits once again and was finally refused.  When I left in mid November it appeared still nothing had been done on the project.

Ooooppps!!! 

I would like Mr. Faulknham, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Macsherry to explain that one away before they get reappointed!

I guess Alexander was not as vested in his pressing project as the town claimed he was.  That was a shaky zoning scam in my opinion to justify a real embarrassing zoning mess…to which Alexander took these zoning officials and the town for a real ride!!! 

Actually it is the second time Alexander has taken the town for a real zoning ride.  You will note he has a private wind turbine that has never worked and has sat there inoperative since 2009.  Something else the Hirschey zoning establishment has refused to deal with.

That is one of the reasons Mrs. Grogan as a neighbor was protesting the new illegal solar project on the same property as the defunct wind turbine.  Yet our CV zoning officials have just turned their heads on the entire zoning disaster.

Once again...time to start asking some tough questions.

 

NY State to Ban Fracking

See the article from the Watertown Daily Times at the link below.

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20141218/NATIONAL/141218608


Gee imagine that. NY  Gov. Cuomo is going to defer to his environmental and health  experts and ban fracking (at least temporarily in my opinion) because of environmental and health concerns.

So where the hell was this cautious thinking when the industrial wind industry inundated NYS in recent years which also had proven health and environmental issues, was splitting up and ruining  communities socially, and could create significant damage to some of our most precious scenic treasures??????

Not to mention the wind  industry in many cases was corrupt and got so bad  to the point that Cuomo had to develop a special industry specific code of ethics for wind developers.

More stupidity!!!

And talking about that, it's funny how our local  govt.  was  led right along by their "green" noses to follow the same thinking.

 Keep in mind our Cape Vincent town board under Hirschey also banned fracking.  However, they too collapsed to NYS "green" pressure and were unwilling to do the obvious and BAN the insidious impacts of industrial wind development that are equal or worse.

So as we speak we have a zoning law that leaves us exposed and allows some industrial wind development, and Cuomo's Art X process still hangs over our heads to see wind developers get what they want from the town, especially since our law doesn't say NO, it actually invites them in to have a discussion about wind development in CV.

I guess once you join a govt weather it be local or higher up, a prerequisite is to check your brain at the door.

At Ivanpah Solar Power Plant, Energy Production Falling Well Short of Expectations

A new major solar project in the Mojave Desert is falling  far short of expectations.  Read the article at this link below.

At Ivanpah Solar Power Plant, Energy Production Falling Well Short of Expectations



"Another sign of the plant’s early operating woes: In March, the owners sought permission [PDF] to use 60 percent more natural gas in auxiliary boilers than was allowed under the plant’s certification, a request that was approved in August."

I have been to the Ivanpah area many times.  It is generally a very sunny place in the Mojave Desert on the border of California and Nevada along Interstate 15.

Yeah ... so in our zoning law in Cape Vincentand Comp Plan  lets be sure we encourage both private and commercial solar at tax payer expense in one of the least sunniest places in the country!!!

Yup...that seems like an intelligent move!  And while we are at it, maybe we could plant some palm trees in CV...yeah that should also work well.

John Byrne Running for NYS Assembly - Does His Record Support His Political Rhetoric?

Cape Vincent councilman John Byrne is running against incumbent Assemblywoman Addie Russell for the NYS 116^th Assembly District seat.

John has some big bold rhetoric about what he intends to do if he gets to Albany.  Particularly about NY Gov. Cuomo’s Safe Act gun control legislation, and “cleaning up Albany corruption”. 

Of course if you have been around Cape Vincent for a while there is an actual record we can use to see if Byrne is willing to do what he is schmoozing the voters with.

So let’s see if his past record actually supports his rhetoric.  In my opinion …it doesn’t!  And NNY voters should know about it and examine it closely.

Now let me make a couple things clear before I go on. 

First I am NOT a supporter of Assemblywoman Russell.  These comments are NOT on her behalf.  Byrne’s record is what it is for bad or good and stands on its own. And my comments are not all negative.

Two… unlike many voters who will go to the polls to consider Byrne with only the political hype in their minds, I actually know the guy and had the opportunity over about 6 years to work closely with him on the Cape Vincent industrial wind issues. Many many conversations, phone calls, emails, and meetings.  So when I comment, I do know something about this guy, how he thinks and reacts, far beyond the media hype, and political ads put out for your “public” consumption.

But first let me give credit where credit is due.

On a personal level I believe Byrne is generally a nice guy and family man.  Also I will always give Byrne credit for his bold moves against unethical former Cape Vincent town officials and their wind energy lease conflicts of interest, by personally video taping, at his own  risk, town meetings to expose what was going on.  He was threatened with arrest by the former town supervisor Tom Reinbeck, but stood his ground, and won that battle since Reinbeck and the board looked like fools as the police arrived and informed them Byrne had a right to have a camera in the meetings. 

Those videos helped spur an investigation by the NYS Attorney General’s Office under Cuomo as AG into wind lease conflicts of interest by former Cape Vincent town officials.

However, after Byrne was thinking of running for town council and was elected as a Wind Power Ethics Group candidate and Urban Hirschey (town supervisor) board candidate, he appeared to lose his spine for opposing wind energy and on  other issues. He went through a weird political metamorphosis for Hirschey.

  In fact in my opinion current town supervisor Urban Hirschey was not against wind energy (even said so on TV) over all.   Even though Byrne was sometimes really upset by Hirschey’s stance in his comments to me, but  he seemed to become a rubber stamp for whatever Hirschey wanted.

You see,  Hirschey is a very important Republican player in Cape Vincent and around Jefferson County and the State with close ties to people like former and powerful Republican NYS Sen James Wright, now the head of DANC and Byrne knew taking a stance to really protect his community and the 1000 Islands against wind development wasn’t as important as protecting his political future. 

Byrne has always had big dreams about moving up the political food chain and rubbing elbows with the big boys in Albany.  THAT is what is really at the top of Byrne’s agenda, not so much  the other rhetoric he is spouting off. 

A look in town records concerning votes and minutes, and letters will verify that the supposedly independent Byrne was pretty much a rubber stamp for Hirschey and his board.  And I’m holding a flyer from Byrne right here that claims he is our independent candidate for the North Countrty.  Byrne made it known he was the ultimate “team player.”  He wasn’t about to truly stand up against wind energy or anything else Urban Hirschey wanted.  And when the political pressure is on down in Albany he will be a good team player too and isn’t likely to upset any apple carts despite his rhetoric.

If he gets to Albany he is  not very likely to take on the big boys.

In fact when Byrne was considering a run for CV council he initially made a statement that he was against industrial wind energy development in CV.  He even put that out on the CV blog JLL. But I’m sure Wiley removed it long ago.  Don’t want that record around for people to examine.

But then the social political heat started.  He complained to me he was suddenly getting the cold shoulder from Hirschey and the Republicans attached to Hirschey because of his stance.  Hirschey even told him he was probably unelectable.

Well it seems John suddenly saw his political life flash before his eyes and had a sudden epiphany, since he really needed to attach himself to Hirschey Republican ticket, since Hirschey and former CV councilman Clif Schneider (another one not really opposed to wind energy) were also running for election.  Byrne desperately needed on that ticket to win and for his later political plans. The last thing he wanted to do is show any independent thought against wind energy.

Suddenly Byrne decided to play nice and that was the last we heard of any anti wind statements or attempts to ban wind in the CV zoning.  Can you say flip flop?  In fact in 2011 at the CV  Meet the Candidates Night I asked Byrne before he spoke whether he would come out against wind development in CV.  He said he couldn’t, implying he would get crucified by his fellow WPEG/ Hirschey Republicans if he did.  And this is the guy we are supposed to believe is independent and going to stand up to the big wigs in Albany? I don’t think so!

Today Mayor Graham of Watertown had Byrne on his radio call in show….and here is the real kicker…I got an email apparently mistakenly from Byrne (since we really don’t see eye to eye any longer and we haven’t talked in a couple years) and he suggested supporters should call in to field him some “easy questions”  Easy questions????   Seriously????

Apparently the independent tough guy wanting to go to Albany to face the entrenched Albany political elite, and who is supposedly going to clean up Albany and repeal a very popular governors Safe Act didn’t actually want to have to deal with any tough questions in public!!!!  

  Maybe Byrne can go to Albany and ask them some polite “easy questions” about corruption as he cleans up Albany!

Are you kidding me!!!  THAT is the real John Byrne I know!

 I was lucky enough to get a question in to Mayor Graham’s show, and I am sure after a couple seconds Byrne knew exactly who it was. Below you can see the question I asked.  In his response he called me an “anti wind person thumping on him”  Poor boy!  Wonder how he will react in Albany when the powers that be start thumbing on his effort to clean up Albany???

My radio show question:

“Mr. Byrne… as a member of the CV town board it was widely thought you and the board where anti industrial wind energy, yet you personally voted to approve a zoning law that allowed some industrial wind energy development, and that also heavily promotes solar energy. 

You willing signed off on this zoning law,  and on several letters in town record from your board that even supported Gov. Cuomo’s Art 10 process that expedites the siting of these energy sources while at the same time removing critical home rule on these zoning issues.

In addition, both of these are unreliable energy sources heavily dependent on NYS and Fed tax payer subsidies where in fact NYS allows NYSERDA to tax rate payers electric bills which are then doled out as subsidies including to large corporations who develop these unreliable energy sources.

So as  a Republican who claims to be on the side of the average middle class NNY voter why did you support this zoning law allowing these unreliable heavily subsidized energy sources at NYS tax and rate payer expense, and support Cuomo’s process to expedite them.

So what is your stand on wind and solar in NNY?”

Of course as a true politician, Byrne dodged the question.  In fact when you look at Byrne on TV and in the media he rarely takes a real stance on anything controversial unless he knows it is a real safe bet.  Here in Upstate he knows he is real safe opposing the Safe Act gun control and cleaning up Albany corruption.   Otherwise he is vague, changes the subject, or flip flops all over the place.  Case in point is his answer to my question.

Referring to my question about wind energy, “he believed in letting the communities decide.”  He said he was a “community guy”.

So in regards to CV and my question, what the hell does that mean?????

Mayor Graham was savy enough to call Byrne on that comment, saying that in CV it was not a clear cut issue either way, and that the community was badly divided on the wind question. But he didn’t push Byrne far enough to get some real answers or insight into his real thinking or record.

Of course Byrne managed to deflect the Mayor’s comment.  One thing you can say about Byrne, he WILL make a great  Albany “politician”!

Of course this is the vague flip flop answer he hopes the listeners will suck up on both sides, especially since he was anti wind, but now knows he needs the farmer vote who generally are the ones hosting wind energy on their land.

 

He even pandered further and indicated the Maple Ridge wind project might be OK in it's place.  Why is Byrne a Republican, and one would think a fiscal conservative looking out for us as NNY middle class tax payers willing to tinker with the free market and play favorites to support a heavily subsidized unreliable power source that needs huge NY and federal tax payer subsidies to even be able to compete?

He is talking out of both sides of his mouth.

So let’s look at Byrne’s comment in light of my question and how it represents a clever duck and weave, and how it is so representative of Byrne and his actions.  I think it is time for NNY voters to think on this before they vote.

So he’s a” community guy???”  OK.  So that means if heavily tax payer subsidized wind and solar and their dismal output that will severely damage our community are OK by community consensus, that he is for them?

Or… as long as the community(s) is/are for industrial wind energy even though it would have a tremendous negative impact (which Byrne can clearly see on Wolfe Is. from CV) on one of NYS’s treasured scenic and recreational areas, the 1000 Islands, he would be ok with that?  Is this really who we want as a steward of or natural NYS treasures? “If the community wants it, or the community should decide” in this case is pure political bullshit and pandering. Sometimes you have to show leadership and take a stance.

 Or like in CV which was divided he would be for AND against them at the same time?  OR for a compromise even though the electric rate payer and tax payer suck up the bill?  Gee I thought he was a good Republican who would be against useless subsidies burdening the average middle class citizen he reports to defend.

And the Mayor didn’t mention that the Zogby poll on wind energy in CV done by a town board Byrne supported actually indicated that more people were for wind energy in some form than against it.  

So by Byrne’s criteria of being the “community guy” and the Zogby poll he should have supported intermittent unreliable and heavily subsidized wind energy development at tax payer expense that would be a disaster for the 1000 Islands.

Now Hirschey supporters and supportive CV blogs like JLL where spouting off that most of the community was against wind development.  OK, so if that was the case then why didn’t Byrne stand up to publicly oppose wind development in his community. What’s the problem?  After all he told Mayor Graham he was a  “community decides guy”, and the community according to his local Republicans was definitely anti wind. So why not ban wind energy outright  But Hirschey wasn’t anti wind, and Byrne probably knew he needed the farmer vote if he ran for Assembly in this district.

Well in fact… he did vote for Hirschey’s zoning law that allows some wind development in CV despite the media hype that he and his board where “anti wind”. They weren’t and scammed their supporter and voters on that account. 

He also supported the CV Comp Plan and zoning that heavily supports solar as well.  Mainly because Hirschey wanted it and in fact put up his own solar project.  And in fact when the town supervisor put up and had to take down that solar project that was illegal according to CV zoning, and this and another solar zoning screw up created an embarrassing zoning fiasco I  uncovered and was even splashed on the Watertown Times front page,  what did Byrne do?  Absolutely NOTHING.  He didn’t object or even say a word about it. Not even when the CV Zoning board of Appeals approved very questionable permits for another illegal solar project under legally questionable conditions.

Of course Urban Hirschey is the town supervisor, and Byrne’s political ticket so he isn’t about to bight the hand that feeds him politically.

He can’t even stand up to his CV board, the supervisor, the zoning or planning board officials that support Hirschey right here in little CV when two solar projects were clearly illegal, even the supervisor’s project.  And this is the guy who is going to be intendant  and take on Albany corruption and repeal the Safe Act of a very powerful and popular governor?????  Seriously????

 And one average middle class citizen, like the ones Byrne claims he will support and defend was badly aggrieved by this screwed up zoning process.

So what did Bryne do? 

Well, when the zoning officials, along with the town board Byrne sits on went into damage control instead of doing the right thing and dealing with badly screwed up permits and zoning process hurting an average CV citizen, Byrne must have agreed.  He did nothing, said nothing, didn’t object, and as far as I know never even talked to the citizen involved to hear her concerns.  He was too frightened of the political blowback and couldn’t even defend one average CV citizen, how is he going to defend the average citizen in his district???

Byrne didn’t exactly side with the “little guy” as he implies in his political hype nor did he act responsibly in a town crisis! You can see this solar zoning mess revealed if you go back to July – Oct of 2013 on this blog.

Once again, John Byrne’s actual record doesn’t match his current rhetoric about being tough on Albany. Based on this, when the big boys in Albany start putting pressure on him and start schmoozing him…how do you think he will react???

And about that idea  Byrne is a “community guy” and the “community should decide.”

Hmmmm…that does add up either.  Pure nonsense.  Let’s see how Byrne reacted when the ability of his community to decide was actually severely threatened and still is. There is an actual record to compare against his community rhetoric.

When BP was threating CV with a huge invasive wind development, they applied under Cuomo’s Art 10 law and process that essentially can remove a community’s home rule rights on wind energy or any electric power plant siting with the ability to override a community zoning law a wind developer might think is too restrictive.  It is a direct attack on community rights to “decide” their own land use on a local level on critical or invasive land development. 

The town board of CV choose to engage with BP in this insidious process instead of taking alternatives to battle against it. And they and Byrne were presented with alternatives that they ignored.   They refused, like a number of counties and towns, to even pass a symbolic political resolution to oppose Art 10.

Ironically Byrne initially was a member of COAX that was a NY grassroots organization formed to oppose Art 10.  But what happened when Art 10 came to his very own community with BP and his community was in crisis? He flip flopped!  When his feet were actually put to the fire in another  town crisis, he caved into an insidious process he was previously opposed to that could override “community rights” to decide.

Why?...because this was the path Hirschey and his board (some who were NOT against wind energy) had determined and Byrne went right along without question.

So let me get this straight.  When push came to shove in a critical community crisis, Byrne the “community should decide guy” couldn’t even defend critical home rule rights…so they actually could decide!!!

So much for Byrne’s “the community should decide rhetoric!”  Once again he folded to what Hirschey wanted.

The Hirschey govt (along with Byrne) caved into Art 10 and tried to appease it with a zoning law that accommodated some wind energy and solar.  In fact they at one pointed sent a letter to the NYPSC and Art 10 board to appease them saying they thought the Art 10 process was balanced, fair,  and even handed.  This would be the exact same process that that removed community rights on this issue…and Byrne went right along and signed that letter.

It’s in town record and on the NYPS website for the BP and Art 10 process involving CV.  Apparently Byrne agreed that legislation that removed critical community rights was somehow fair and even handed and balanced approach...God help us!

When the town found out that a NYPSC high commissioner was actually the wife of the BP lawyer in the Art 10 process with CV the town should have been livid and vehemently protested.  Nope…just more polite letters.

So when this happened where was Byrne who is supposed to be the big clean up corruption in Albany guy?  He was silent and instead signed those nice polite letters to the NYPSC!!!

He wasn’t about to challenge Hirschey.  And this is the guy who is going to stand up and clean up Albany.  I seriously doubt it!

And on that issue of cleaning up govt. He had the perfect opportunity to do it right in his own town govt. 

 

After he was elected on the Hirschey ticket it wasn’t long before appointments had to be made to the town planning board.  One person who had deep wind lease conflicts of interest through her family relations was up for re-appointment.  She had previously voted on wind issues despite her conflicts, and those votes were critical in expediting the wind developer agenda.  In fact at that point she was still technically under an NYAG investigation along with others over conflicts of interest.  Yet after running on an ethics platform with Byrne to get elected, Hirschey decided to re-appoint this conflicted person as an alternate to the planning board anyhow. And of course whatever Mr. Hirschey wanted Byrne was very quick to support and voted for her appointment as well, despite her conflicted history and votes.

Byrne had the opportunity to continue to ethically clean up his own small govt but failed to even do that.

I will have more on Cuomo’s Safe Act gun control legislation and the reality of Byrne’s claim to repeal it in another post.