Apparently I'm Not The Only One!!!

You might want to sit down before you read this one!!!

As some of you know I keep documentation and records of the Cape Vincent wind battle in many forms.  Especially if I think there are very important implications from that record that could be relevant in future matters.  And every so often I review those records when issues come up, or just to review and jog my memory. Who was doing what, when, and why?  Who is important in forming and directing policies, at local, county, and state levels.

So I was reviewing some records that could relate forward involving Mr. Hirschey’s pick for our new town deputy supervisor, Mr. Macsherry.  I came across a post I had kept from Mr. Wiley at the JLL blog.  This is only a quote from a portion of the post, and unfortunately I don't think there is a way to retrieve this or anything from the JLL archives now.  I can't find any archive on JLL.  Maybe somebody could correct me or help me on that, and I can’t find this post in any Internet search either.

Let me put the comments below in context. 

 This is after Mr. Macsherry had been appointed as CV PB chairman. And this comment isn’t that long ago. It had to be after 7/1/11 when Edsall stepped down as PB and Macsherry was appointed by this govt.

 This is Mr. Wiley quoting himself and Mr. Macsherry  in a discussion after a PB meeting.  Hester Chase is also in the discussion but she is not quoted at this particular point.  The  discussion is about conflicts of interest in CV and the impact  on siting wind turbines. 

It is obvious that Mr. Wiley is not very comfortable or happy with Mr. Macsherry's views on conflicts of interest and he posted this discussion on his blog.

Below in orange is Mr. Wiley's report that was on his JLL blog.  This portion is verbatim, and the post is much longer about Wiley’s concerns that Macsherry doesn’t seem to grasp the absolutely critical problem in the CV wind struggle…conflicts of interest.

And if you look at the record I have reported this as well that Mr. Macsherry has shown some past disregard for conflicts as he was running Dem for town board and campaigning with Rienbeck and crew.  AND he objected to John Byrne’s camera in a TB  meeting that was all about recording those conflicts in action!  We have a trend!  Maybe that is another reason Wiley is concerned. 

Wiley’s post:

"Mr. MacSherry constantly reminds us that he is a negotiator. Well, I have done a fair amount of negotiating myself, in my early years,  as a member of a union. When we started the process, we agreed to certain rules. And one of those rules was the codes of ethics that were to be adhered to by both parties.

Back to my Article X discussion. I pointed out to Mr. MacSherry that the Power NY legislation was very specific about conflicts of interest with the energy companies and that such people were disallowed from the facilities siting boards. It was up to the town supervisor to appoint two locals to the siting board and they were to in compliance with the state public officials law and be clean of any financial connection to the wind developers. MacSherry could use the Power NY language as his "opinion".

I asked, "Why shouldn't we apply the same ethical spirit to our local siting as that recommended in the Power NY legislation?" "Oh, that's different," replied MacSherry. "No it is not," I replied.

Any negotiator who struggles with the definition of conflicts of interest and will accept codes of ethics violations in the form of conflicts of interest amongst his fellow public officials and will allow those violators to participate in the process is not worth his salt. 

Mr. MacSherry claims he is big on everyone giving in a little during the negotiation process." 

WOW… I am stunned, that is real edgy stuff for JLL to be questioning and posting about a  Hirschey appointee in the powerful PB chairman position.  Geees I am about to faint!!!  To do this he must have had real serious concerns about Macsherry’s qualifications.  He even says that any negotiator who struggles with conflicts of interest…isn’t worth his salt.

And this post was accompanied by what was somewhat unflattering picture of Mr. Macsherry.

But the part that is a bit scary is Wiley saying Mr. Macsherry claims he thinks everyone should “give a little” during the negotiation process!!!!!!  And Hirschey has picked him as the  town deputy supervisor, the “big  negotiator” to defend our zoning law against BP or whomever and Art. X  This is also the same Macsherry who implied we should not take our zoning as literal…. YIKES!!!!!!!

Sounds to me like some very dangerous blending of thinking from someone who now has a tremendous amount of local power in his hands.

This is not a vendetta or attack.  It is factual record and a staunch Hirschey supporter raising questions about Mr. Macsherry very publicly inn the past.  At that time it would have been picked up and splashed all over the Internet and  seen by many wind observers, and Wiley knew that too.

Apparently he was concerned enough he didn't care.

Apparently I am not the only one who has had  concerns about our new deputy supervisor’s past.

So now you can now  all go over to JLL and scream at him for raising uncomfortable questions for the “team” for questioning an important Hirschey team member!

But more importantly,  the CV wind battle at this point had been going on for about 6  years.  Why does Wiley feel that after all that time and the OBVIOUS community crisis the conflicts have caused, that Mr. Macsherry still doesn't seem to grasp this?  AND not to mention at this time he had the powerful PB chair and the  Hirschey team who appointed him ran on ethical govt. and against the conflicts. 

And something else occurs to me in terms of power.

I might be wrong and correct me if I am, but I think Mr. Macsherry has been appointed to more positions in the wind battle by Hirschey or this board than anyone else.

Hirschey appointed him to replace Hirschey on the Rienbeck wind law committee.

As I remember he was on a 2010 Hirschey wind law attempt committee

As PB member.

As PB chair.

On either the new zoning committee and comp plan committee or both.

On the Art X advisory committee. 

And now as the new town deputy super.

 

If nothing else maybe we need a little diversity and fresh thinking.

 

Can You Zone For That????

Over my approximately 8 years in the Cape Vincent wind battle I have seen a lot of cartoons, signs pictures etc involving support or opposition to industrial wind energy.  I have even had some published myself.

On our recent CA desert camping trip we spent a night in Palm Springs to resupply and get a hotel.

As some of you may know Palm Springs, CA, actually N. Palm Springs is an industrial wind nightmare.  That  night we went out to dinner and I noticed a little different statement about industrial wind that I had never seen before pasted to the back window of an SUV. So I snapped a quick picture. See below.

Now if you can't figure it out, it is a female pole dancer using the wind turbine as a pole!!!  At this point I will keep most of my comments to myself, but I was a bit confused.

Is this a pro or anti wind statement about industrial wind and is there zoning for that use????

If Allowed???? There is No More If Allowed for BP!

I noticed this title to a post over on the JLL blog. 

“If allowed, British Petroleum would turn Cape Vincent into a giant bird and bat muncher.” 

Now there is something I don't understand.  JLL has framed the title as if BP is still a factor in CV as if they are still in the development process.  “If allowed?????” 

There is no “if allowed” anymore for BP in CV.  They are essentially DONE and have even said they are leaving the critical Art. X stipulation phase to whomever might buy their CV project.  The project manager is long gone, and only the lawyer showed up at the last Art. X meeting and even he appeared clueless about what BP was doing in selling their project. 

According to BP and numerous media reports BP is out of the wind project development business. That is also why it boggles my mind the Art. X process has not shut them down but left us twisting in the wind.  They have had almost decade to get off their ass and put up a project and failed.

So why is JLL framing this as if BP is still active, as if THEY could be “allowed” by Art. X to do anything?  I think this is very misleading.

It will be up to a new developer if there ever is one, and Art. X  to determine if CV becomes a bird munching habitat.

Comment Moderation Removed

                                           Summer in  Cape Vincent on  the River!


I discontinued the comment moderation for now. However, in a recent post below I have outlined a few general criteria for comments which I think are reasonable and liberal.  I hope you will read and consider.

 If your whole purpose is simply to try to shut down my message or intimidate and you have nothing to say related to the actual issues, or get foul or nasty or outright lie for the only purpose of an attack,  Then it is highly likely you will be removed. Especially if you do those things anonymously.

My preference would be for people to put their names behind their comments, however I know that is not realistic for some people, so  I still welcome anonymous comments even if you want to take me to task hard as long as you have some rational argument based in facts or well thought out opinions  that stays on the issues.

Thank You,
Art

Not Team Players???? A Significant Distortion Of History To Create That Magic

Pay attention and I will show you how this magic trick to the "team player" claim gets exposed.

People have often accused me of not being a team player since I have parted ways the Hirschey govt. since I don’t think they are anti wind and anti Art. X enough. They will also say that I have hurt the Hirschey agenda especially during elections with my comments and some go so far as to say I am actually working for pro wind and BP. 

But fortunately  the facts don't support that nonsense.  It is simple shooting of the messenger for political expediency.  Especially right now with recent events!  

So what do ya say we look at some of these accusations in  light of the truth. 

Let’s examine the "team player" crap they peddle.  Let’s see what history says about who has really hurt the team and in reality helped pro wind.  Keeping in mind I have never prevented any WPEG/ Hirschey candidates from being elected.   My comments have been serious questions probably causing some discomfort since they are hard to rationalize away so easily, but have created no actual harm to them at election time.  But whose actions have?

 

 I don't have to make claims or opinions here. I will let you figure it out all by yourself from historical FACTS!

Again you really  have to understand how critical WPEG thought it was for them in 2009  to get all three candidates they were supporting on the CV town  board ASAP. They put huge energy into that effort.   Their candidates were…

…Hirschey as a Republican for supervisor, Bragdon as a Rep. for town board, and Byrne running as an Independent for town board.  So why wasn’t Byrne running as a Rep????  Well that is a very interesting story for another time.

For WPEG this was their first really critical election with the whole town riding on it. 

Below are the results from the WDT after all the 2009 absentee votes had been counted.  Now remember we are talking “team” player stuff here and who has damaged the ‘team” and helped pro wind especially in elections!!!

 I indicated I didn’t think voting was going to solve our problems and like now I had serious reservations about Hirschey’s wind stance since he wasn’t anti wind and after several times indicating to me he just wanted a wind law to shove the turbines back about 2 miles which I thought was a really bad idea and unfair to interior residents, some  who didn’t want the damn things in their back yard either.  I thought it was elitist to say the least.  And why shove them back and make them Lyme’s problem.  So here are the 2009 CV election final results from my records and the WDT.

"Republican Brooks Bragdon and Democrat Mickey W. Orvis preserved their Election Day leads for two Town Council spots, picking up 120 absentee votes and 68 absentee votes respectively. Mr. Bragdon finished with 630, Mr. Orvis with 573. Democrat Richard H. Macsherry received 540 total votes, while independent John L. Byrne III received 480 votes. Republican Raymond R. Benjamin received 177 total votes."

OK now  let’s talk about “team players” and who seriously  damaged this absolutely critical election for WPEG and Hirschey!   Look at the names and the numbers.  See if you can determine who toasted Byrne’s election chances when his win would have been the key WPEG thought  they needed to stop pro wind and save our community.

Which person… you know, a “team player” do you think did ACTUAL harm and in doing so significantly helped the pro wind side in 2009?  If you figure out the math, then ask yourself as a ‘team player” why didn’t this person stand down instead of running against Byrne and Bragdon as one of those Dem.?  Why wasn’t WPEG and the Hirschey supporters screaming at the top of their lungs like they do at me and others????

I guess the hypocrisy is something we could examine next!  Like I said my comments have never in 3 elections caused Hirschey any real election harm!

I say that this 2009 election damaged Hirschey...but there is one hell of a lot more to examine than meets the eye if you really want to get into it.  And it goes swiftly and absolutely to recent events!

 

Hang In There...Summer Will Return...I Think!!!

 

 

Ahhhh…..Remember those lazy warm 1000 Islands days along the river?  Well hang in there.  Here are some thoughts to help easy us through winter… Well maybe!!!

One of my hobbies is astronomy.  I keep close track of the seasonal positions of the Sun. Moon, stars and planets and other celestial events.  I even teach a survival  navigation course based in large part on these observations.

So here are few facts that might help.

In terms of distance the Sun is actually closer to us now in winter than summer.  It’s about 91 million miles from Earth now, and 93 million miles in summer.  .  Big deal right…it doesn’t feel like it!!!  It is actually the tilt of the Earth’s axis that matters more since the Sun is higher in the sky in summer and gives us more direct solar input in the N. hemisphere.

We are even now  on the downhill slide toward summer.  That actually started almost a month ago on the winter solstice of Dec. 21^st.  Now the days are getting longer.  Sunrises are earlier and sunsets later and each day the Sun  gets higher in the sky.  Each sunrise and sunset also creeps farther north on the horizon.

Winter officially by the calendar is about 90 days long.  That puts the middle of winter only about 2 weeks away around early Feb.  Sometimes my wife and I celebrate that marker by driving to Phoenix or other SW desert city in the “usually” warm desert and get a hotel with a pool and Jacuzzi under palm trees and sit and ponder and celebrate the middle of winter…defying it for a couple days. 

That is one thing I love about the desert SW and its radical changes in elevation were you can kinda enjoy a winter and a summer even on the same day with a few hours driving.  Being an eastern kid I still find that amazing.

Right now we are under the same eastern Pacific high pressure that is creating a severe drought in California.  Nice mild winter days for us and  hardly any snow left on the ground from good  storms before X-mas.  Our solar rooms reach nearly 100 degrees every day, and since the nights are still relatively cold in the teens and twenties we can still use that solar heat well into the evening.  The downside is, if we don’t get some real significant winter moisture soon our fire season will be terrible and early!

So hang in there, and enjoy some reminders of summer to come!

 

 

Just Some Random Thoughts

In this CV wind battle I have had to look at all kinds of laws to stay informed.  I got so I even liked looking at laws and trying to understand the legal ramifications of laws and what the drafters intended.  This particular law is not a town law but a State law applied to state officials. And in all my research on  ethics laws   I found this state law summed it up quite well.

NYS Public Officers Law- Paragraph ( h ) of the ethics code.

h. An officer or employee of a state agency, member of the legislature or legislative employee should endeavor to pursue a course of conduct which will not raise suspicion among the public that he is likely to be engaged in acts that are in violation of his trust.

I think this law was drafted with some good advice. Don't you think so?

Now in search and rescue we go by another old saying that is good advice.. 'When everyone around you is losing their heads over something...try to keeps yours."