I noticed this AM that Mr. Wiley at the JLL blog has reported on Cape Vincent Town Councilman John Byrne's possible run against NY Assemblywoman Addie Russell.
Now Wiley has always been a big Hirschey govt. team player as a Republican with unwavering support of the current Republicans in the town govt. One might assume that would include Byrne as a Hirschey loyalist.
But as I read JLL's report on Byrne I couldn't figure out who he was endorsing!!!
He posted what looks like a campaign statement for Russell which was nice detailed report on her resume. It is almost as if to say she is far more qualified than Byrne.
Then Wiley says Byrne has been described as "anti industrial wind", then immediately jumps back to praising Russell for her vote against Art.10 and supporting home rule.
But wait a minute...wasn't being anti wind in CV a BIG NO NO with Hirschey and his so called zoning experts????? I know myself and others who were publicly anti wind were quickly and repeatedly attacked as nut cases and irrational radicals by Hirschey supporters including Wiley.
Hhhmmmm...so what is Wiley implying here with his comments about Byrne?
At the moment that does not look good for Byrne if the top PR blog for the Hirschey govt. can't schmooze it enough to make Byrne look better that Russell!!
STOP, The regional wind energy industrialization of one of New York State's most beautiful and environmentally sensitive areas, the 1000 Islands of the St. Lawrence River and the Golden Crescent of Eastern Lake Ontario. If you don't think you are seeing the most recent posts click on the current month in the archives to the right.
Art,
ReplyDeleteI read Rick Wiley's report and found it to be nothing more than brief, and fair and balanced.
As a part timer in the Cape I praise Rick for telling us what is going on. On the other hand, you use your paranoid imagination to make up things about what other people might be thinking and then pass it off as some kind of truth. Did you ever wonder why you have lost all your friends in the Cape and have become ignored?
Except by the pro wind who now claim you as one of their victories.
Funny, you couldn't even make a post without an attack on other people with your cry for attention.
You really are making an ass out of yourself Art. grow up and be a man, Art.
Your enemies list constantly grows, but they are still better men than you.
You want fair and balanced…OK then how about we look at the actual record.
ReplyDeleteFirst…I will always give John Byrne a lot of credit for what he did with his camera recording our former wind conflicted govt in action, even under threat of arrest by former town supervisor Tom Rienbeck. Oh and BTW our current Dep. Town Supervisor was in support of this move against Byrne by Rienbeck. And that is on John’s video too. But you can bet you won’t see much of that anymore!
It took real brass to do what John did back then and it was critical. And I have known John going back on this wind battle for a few years, since we worked on some important things together.
But it seems in my opinion that Byrne has traded that brass away to Hirschey’s control for political expediency. I have predicted with my close friends for several years that Byrne was politically looking a lot higher than town council by the way he was cozying up to everything Hirschey did. In my opinion he needs Hirschey’s favor and political connections. However, I thought he would run for county legislator first before a state position.
Case in point. In a public hearing for the 2012 zoning and comp plan a CV citizen demanded more time than a ridiculous 3 minutes to make very important points. Hirschey said no, and when that citizen would not sit down and demanded to speak, Hirschey like Rienbeck, called the police on him.
The citizen I am referring to was the first to stand up and defend Byrne when he was under threat of arrest by Rienbeck back in 2009. I stood up too, both of us indicating that if John was arrested they would have to arrest us as well.
Fast forward to 2012 and Byrne is a CV councilman on the Hirschey board. So what did he do for his friend under threat of arrest by Hirschey? Did he at least try to quietly reason with Hirschey and the other board members to calm down and say an arrest wasn’t called for? Did he stand up and outright oppose Hirschey’s irrational reaction to arrest another CV citizen who had actually worked on behalf of Hirschey’s new comp plan and zoning law?
No…Byrne sat there fiddling with his phone faking a phone call leaving his friend who defended him at a critical moment against Rienbeck, to twist in the wind while Hirschey and Schneider called the cops. I even approached Byrne and tried to remind him of past events and he should do something to at least attempt to moderate this absurd move by Hirschey. He just turned and walked away.
It was inexcusable and I was astounded that Byrne had become apparently so subservient to Hirschey.
And where was Byrne last summer as a councilman when his zoning officials ran amok with the new zoning law seriously violating the rights of another CV citizen in the solar zoning fiasco that even the WDT reported on because it so screwed up?
The same solar zoning fiasco that Byrne knew Hirschey was ultimately embroiled in. Where was he? He was SILENT. He would have been cutting his political throat if he uttered a word against what was going on and which his supervisor became embroiled in.
Now, you might not like that reality, that’s not my problem, but it is not paranoia, what happened is fact.
So you either don’t have a clue what is going on because you are severely short on facts, or you are willing to distort reality to fit your lack of facts.
Like I said I admire John Byrne for what he did in the past at critical points in the wind battle. But in my opinion he has traded away his political soul for a different agenda.
You failed to give your readers key details.
ReplyDeleteEach person at that public hearing was given 3 minutes.
Dave Lamora went on and on. Mr. Hirschey said Dave could complete his point
at the end after others got their 3 minutes. It was a courteous act on the board's part and normal procedure for public hearings fair to all.
Dave refused to yield and speak later and let others take their turn. You sat in front of where I stood in the back. You and Dave were setting them up. That was the talk of the town and you were not fooling anyone. A public hearing aways has set rules. You don't set the rules.
Lamora held up and disrupted the meeting. Several people left without giving their talk.I was one because I had to go to work. I was told later that David continued to refused to let others talk and would not leave the speaking area. I think he was the bad guy there, not Urban. Wind or pro wind that is how it went down. He was protesting to shut down the hearing because he did not get his way.
What you and David did that day was an example of how little respect you have for the rights of others. Hirschey and the board did it right. Don't even compare Dave's on purpose disruption to the same situation with the Reinbeck and Byrne thing. The TB never took away any of your rights they only asked Dave to obey and follow the rules of the hearing. A rational person would have simply finished later like the rules said.
Let me clarify something right off the top. Your facts are off. No matter what you might think believe I had nothing to do with Dave's choices. What he did that day he did on his own without my help. We didn't plan anything and there was no setup.
ReplyDeleteIt was still a gross overreaction on the part of Hirschey and this board. One of the most important things this community will ever face and 3 minutes to discuss it is absurd.
I have been to a number of public hearings here in my town on wind. Yes there was a time frame but it was a lot longer than 3 minutes. And one hearing went till 2 am to make sure everything was heard. 3 minutes was an absurd joke.
But let's for the sake of argument go with your argument for a moment. There was a far more reasonable way to handle this. Mr. Lamora had dedicated a considerable amount of time to the comp plan committee. Another option would have simply been to let him speak and let others speak longer as well. Byrne could have walked over to Lamora and had a discussion with him to try to easy the tension, or talked to Urban.
Calling the cops was a ridiculous over reaction.
My point is that at the point of crisis and over reaction Byrne did nothing. NOTHING. Point also being that he won't do anything that might question or challenge Hirschey. So what is he going to do if he reaches the State level with more powerful players. Not the type of person I would prefer being in an important State position.
And what you may not know is I approached Brooks Bragdon who seemed to be the only one with any common sense on the board that day. I asked him to speak to Urban. I don't know if he ever did but he said to me that the board would look like idiots if they arrested Lamora.
In the end I have said for some time that public hearings are a joke. As I recall. nothing much came of the input from these hearings since the agenda was set even before Hirschey and crew took office Input I gave the committee was flatly denied out right.
And now here we sit twisting in the wind while Art. X allows BP to take more time to sell their project at our cost as a community, and this board just goes along.
In fact look at the goofy statement JLL made about them the other day. That if BP doesn't sell their project that the board is ready to end industrial wind in CV once and for all.
WTF...so if they do sell the project the board will just continue to go along? Are they kidding????
And like I said during last summer's zoning fiasco that caught Urban up to his eye balls because of his zoning experts major screw ups...what did Byrne do? Same thing...nothing!!!
John has backed off from supporting others because it did not conform with the Hirschey agenda. If you want to get elected, grow a backbone John!!!
ReplyDelete