Picking Macsherry As Cape Vincent Deputy Supervisor. We Should All Be Concerned! You Said A Mouthful!!!

This comment came into my blog and I decided to also post it here.

"What message does this send to the citizens? First Clif, John and especially Brooks not quite good enough to be deputy. It also sends a message that Urban doesn't care that Macsherry is an unelected choice. Yes its legal but it's a slap in the face. We should be concerned he is now the deputy supervisor, on the planning board and on the art x committee, talk about a power vacuum. We worked hard to rid our town of bp and yet Urban's choice is someone who calls himself a negotiator, we should all be concerned. Why is Brooks silent on this issue?"

Yup...and let's take a look at the back story or history.  And yes, as with many things in the wind battle we do  have a precedent.

You see this isn't the 1st time Macsherry have been selected to an important position as the "Big Negotiator" by Hirschey.    Hirschey selected him once before.  So we should look at this like a job interview and see what the record says and how did he do in the job he was appointed to before.  You would think that would be reasonable  since he is appointed to a rather important CV govt, position.  A position that not one single voter  in CV had the ability to elect him to. 

When you see the record you might understand why...and why Urban scammed his supporters and appointed a former Dem. who ran with Rienbeck and gang.

Back in 2008/09 Rienbeck selected a wind law committee, and picked Urban as the leader of WPEG  specifically to represent the supposed "anti wind " side.  However, for personal reasons Urban could not commit to the committee and selected Macsherry to take his place.

I remember meeting with Urban and other WPEG members to fill  Macsherry in on the wind issues up till then.  And just like now, I don't remember Urban consulting with anyone about appointing Macsherry, it was just done and we were told.  How cozy! 

Macsherry was picked to represent WPEG, but here is another odd thing.  During this 1st meeting with Macsherry I distinctly remember becoming uncomfortable with him because he was making noises like he would rather be neutral on the committee and not directly represent WPEG.  So why does Urban after hearing this allow this Macsherry to continue down this road.  Why not say thank you but we need someone who will aggressively fight for WPEG's interests. But he lets Maxsherry go forward anyhow.

And here is the other really odd thing that is much like now.  Why not pick Clif Schneider?  He wasn't a card carrying WPEG member back then , but he was a former CV councilman and been deeply involved in the wind issue since 2005, and had been deeply involved in all the sound issues and zoning by this time.  So why pick Macsherry over him?  To me that made no sense.

So here is job interview point one.

WTF!!!  If you have half a brain how in the hell can you be neutral on the industrial wind issue and impacts  in CV, especially with the rampant conflicts of interest in those days in CV govt.  AND Was he that clueless and out of touch, or did he have his own agenda???  And especially if he did have any clue he would have realized that ANY wind development would have been a terrible gross violation of the existing 2003 CV Comp Plan.  It is basically the same damn plan we have now.

When Macsherry got on the committee he backed away from WPEG, and frankly this did not make a number of WPEG people happy campers!!!

 Macsherry because of his backing away from WPEG, and getting cozy with the Rienbeck gang left WPEG twisting in the wind.  So in 2008 when Rienbeck finally decided to take on a wind law...because of Macsherry's agenda WPEG and the "anti wind" side on the issue was left holding the bag with ZERO official representation on the first real  potentially important wind law attempt.


So here is job interview point two.   You get appointed to do critical job and you leave your clients twisting in the wind???????  Seriously???  WOW that looks good on a resume!

So I start thinking , what's up with this guy???  After watching him at a few wind law  committee meetings it appeared Macsherry was on the committee more for his own agenda...and that appeared in my opinion to be for Macsherry to showcase Macsherry, and show these small town bumpkins how the "Big Negotiator" from he big city operates...so watch out!!!  Problem is if you know the inside story it didn't exactly  turn out so impressive because  it was small town supervisor  Rienbeck who ultimately scammed Macsherry...and Schneider!

I told them over an over, I didn't care where they thought Rienbeck was going or what he had promised them...any wind law such as they wanted with restriction was going no where in the end.
But Rienbeck had them convinced, then refused to pass the law just like I told them he would.  So who scammed who?

So here is job interview point three.

I take a lot of shit for not being a supposed "team player" with the Urban Rep. "team" blah, blah, blah.  But when Macsherry abandoned WPEG in 2008 and leaves them twisting in the wind for his own agenda, and now is appointed Dep. Super...and nobody on the Hirschey team bats an eye about that team player bullshit????

And as long as we are talking about being "team players"  did Urban consult his town board about Macsherry?   Did Urban consult the voters?  Why not pick an elected official like Brooks, Clif, or John from the elected "team"  Like I said so much for that "team" bullshit!!

Don't see much talk over at the Hirschey camp, or on the Hirschey PR blogs about the "team" on this one now do ya???

So when the wind law committee was finished, what happens next with Macsherry?  How was his job performance? 

Well he decides on Rienbeck's invite (since Dick was cozying up to Rienbeck)  to sit down with the two wind developers in a private unannounced meeting apparently not observed by anyone else, to let the wind develops go page by page in detail through the new wind law and list their objections.  Yup you heard it right.  After all this hoopla lately we have heard about secrets meetings, back then Dick Mac and Rienbeck sat down PRIVATELY with the wind developer to give them first crack at objecting to our new wind law.  And this would be blatantly right in the face of a time when our CV govt was already entwined in outrageous conflicts of interest with the wind developers.

Talk about a gross lack of judgment!!!

This would be BEFORE there was any public official public hearing for the public to review the law and make comments on the record.

Job interview point four.

Do you really think it is smart to sit down privately, potentially in violation of ethics laws and open meetings with a major developer and an obviously pro wind town supervisor, when there is already a screaming controversy on the issue.  Exactly what was the point to be achieved here and more importantly why did Macsherry agree with it??


Now when the wind law was finally drafted it needed a vote.  Problem was in order for it to pass and  it would needed at least 2 of the conflicted town board votes to pass and stick.

About this time the WPEG ad in the WDT that I designed came out.  It attacked the blatant conflicts of interest and listed them all in detail according to official records.

BUT...Schneider and Macsherry were pissed because they thought the ad would piss off Rienbeck and the town board and they needed Rienbeck and those conflicted votes to pass what would have been a terrible law anyhow! 

Now think about this in today's context.  Macsherry was so bent on getting this law that he was apparently willing to turn his back on the cesspool of conflicts of interest just to do it.  And it wasn't even a good law!

Job interview point  five.  As Dep. Super. do you have any kind of  grasp on ethics laws even if you can get your agenda by breaking or ignoring them?

Then onto the other major event of this time Macsherry failed to comprehend.  Reinbeck tries to arrest John Byrne because he is videoing town meetings.  The reasoning is the camera is a disturbance now because the board doesn't like how the videos are being used later. 

The original  issue of can a camera be in the meeting (which is perfectly legal) now suddenly becomes a constitutional free speech issue.  If you can arrest Byrne because of what he or someone else does with the video later, and you just don't happen to like it, then what happens if a TV news team with a camera, or a WDT reporter with a tape recorder later does a news story unfavorably to the town board?  Get the picture???

But apparently Mr. Macsherry in all his "Big City Negotiator" wisdom doesn't grasp this fundamental  constitutional  concept because he blurts out right on the video his agreement with Rienbeck and the board while arguing with me.  Even though he and Rienebck and the board are handed their asses by the deputy sheriff who has to explain the obvious to them about not trying to arrest Byrne.  He apparently fails to grasp the critical issue of how Byrne's camera has become a critical and essential equalizer to a govt run amuck with conflicts of interest and how it tells the story to a lot of important people.  Of course this was also apparently about the time Macsherry was cozying up to the Rienbeck gang getting ready to run as a  Dem. with them so I guess once again he had his own agenda.

Now think about this for a minute. Let's say Dick Mac was the Dep. Super. on that critical night.  What would he have done?  Apparently, by his own record of action  he would have agreed with Rienbeck to attempt to arrest Byrne with his camera.

Just contemplate that for a minute.  At some of THE MOST CRITICAL MOMENTS of the wind battle...where was Dick Macsherry standing, and what would his resume show????

Then we have recent events.  Macsherry with a zoning law he was instrumental in formulating, apparently can't read it or apply it correctly.  As a result he is instrumental in creating a major solar zoning fiasco so screwed up that it even  makes the paper and  the town supervisor Hirschey gets embroiled in the middle of it with an illegal solar project of his own he has to take down.

Maybe this is why Richard Macsherry has never won office in CV and has to be appointed by his buddies to grasp at power!  And this is the guy who Hirschey selected over other qualified  Republicans elected by the CV voters to be Dep. Super.

So my question is to Urban Hirschey who has seen all this  first hand...

...WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING!!!!