ANOTHER LIAR-FLYER!

The Blog asked Molly Clifford, manager of the Duffy-For-Mayor campaign, to estimate the cost of the glossy, four-color flyers Pat MacIntosh is mailing to every Republican in Hamlin.

Clifford judged that EACH PIECE cost about seventy cents to produce and mail. $.70 EACH!

There are about 2400 Republicans registered in Hamlin. Many are two Republican households but about half are not. This means that the MacIntosh flyers are being mailed to about 1800 addresses. 1800 homes x 4 flyers x $.70 equals $5040!

Five thousand bucks! And there will probably be more!

No doubt Pat wants us to believe she is a, “fiscal conservative.”

The latest flyer has a picture of all the endorsed candidates with Maggie Brooks and carries a “message” from her. Brooks says, “My highest priority as your County Executive is property tax stability.”

Maggie Brooks campaigned to lower taxes, promised to not cut services and pledged to balance the county budget. Immediately upon her election she raised property taxes by about 16% (the single largest hike in county government history,) she cut services and failed to balance the budget.

Thanks for the endorsement!

MacIntosh pledges, “...to keep town taxes stable so that Hamlin will remain a desirable place to live and raise a family.” However, for the five years she worked for Austin Warner town taxes increased every year! If you read her literature or talk to her boosters they will tell you that it was actually MacIntosh who designed and administered the town budget. That means it was actually MacIntosh who raised your taxes five years in a row.

The truth is that Pat MacIntosh and Austin Warner never could manage the Town Budget. That’s why she needs to try to BUY this election!

With the help of a few lousy endorsements and a lot of county money!

Click here to see the latest Liar Flyer.
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Yesterday automated phone messages by Maggie Brooks began hitting Hamlin homes. These cost around .13 - .15 cents per call. Times 1800 homes! Why is the County so desperate for MacIntosh to win this primary? After all, the other challengers are REPUBLICANS TOO!
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NEW! NEW! POLITICAL CARTOON! Click here:
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Beginning around the first week in August the Monroe County Republican Committee began an exhaustive telephone survey of Hamlin Republicans. They intentionally minimized their identity to better elicit the truth from voters. They were shocked and frightened by what they heard.

They learned that average Hamlin Republicans were extremely dissatisfied with the Warner administration, it’s policies and it’s failure to lead the town in a positive direction. County GOP leaders learned that change was imminent. They heard that most Republicans would not support Austin Warner’s hand-picked candidate, his secretary, Pat MacIntosh.

Upon learning this they summoned local Republican leadership to find out what was happening.

The Monroe County Republican machine is much like a union “closed shop.” They are organized in a hierarchical fashion, similar to an army. Like the military, they expect and demand absolute loyalty and obedience. A structure like this cannot tolerate variations. The edifice is bound by an understanding that every unit unquestioningly supports the decisions and actions of every other. This is a rigid, inflexible command structure.

This is one reason why it is so very successful in electing candidates and such a failure at helping citizens. The Monroe County Republican Committee is about getting and keeping POWER. Legislative power. Principally the power to direct tax dollars into projects which profit their supporters and financiers.

Even a cursory review of the top donors to county Republican campaigns reveal the obvious relationship between construction companies and legislation creating construction projects. The county GOP is owned and operated by business- big corporations.

Look at the pointless “Renaissance Center.”

Or Haliburton. Republicans stealing from the taxpayers and handing and it to their friends in business- the worst kept secret in America.

This rigid system can only function properly when each unit acts in concert with all the others. So when the County GOP machine found out that there was overwhelming dissension by Republican voters toward the existing administration and its endorsed candidates they reacted in the only way they could.

They committed thousand and thousands of dollars in an effort to get those endorsed candidates elected.

Never mind whether they were good or bad, effective, educated, visionary. None of that junk mattered. All that mattered is that the party structure be preserved. Since Austin Warner and his little clique of 15 or 16 old-time players control the local Republican committee, they stood to receive the full financial backing and campaigning clout of the Monroe County Republican machine.

That is exactly what has happened.

Last week Republicans were mildly surprised to receive a glossy 8 x 10, four-color, two-sided, flyer in their mail. Many were even more surprized when they received another one two days later. Then everyone was startled when a THIRD glossy 8x10 arrived yesterday.

There will probably be another one too.

Normally, campaign literature carries identification of who has paid for the product and the mailing. These flyers are unidentified! They have only this message, “Not paid for at taxpayer expense.” Yesterday’s mailing featured a photo of Supervisor Warner and his hand-picked successor Pat MacIntosh. The banner headline said, “A Personal Message from Supervisor Warner.” This mailing is exclusively a campaign piece for Ms. MacIntosh yet it has no mention of the sponsor. No where does it say “Paid for by the committee to elect...”

It is almost a certainty that this mailing was paid for by the Monroe County Republicans. In all likelihood it was produced by Steve Minarik’s personal advertising agency as well.

If it was, it violates New York State Election Law. Just like the Hamlin Republican Committee has violated the law.

But hey, “We’re Republicans! Who cares about the law? Who cares about ethics? Who cares about anything but getting our guys elected so we can hand them millions and millions in tax dollars?”

What is the result of Republican governance in America today?

Nationally, we are crippled by a national debt larger then any in history; Bloodied and burdened by a war of aggression with no concept of victory; Revealed to the entire world as a racist nation uninterested in saving the lives of poor citizens; a government greedily dedicated to a predatory plan of “Privatization” and “Global Markets;” a nation which has abandoned the founding principles of fairness and equality in taxation; America is now a nation who’s organizing principle is to find ways of giving more to the wealthiest few at the expense of the rest.

On the county level we hear relentless complaining about a social safety net for our poorest, most vulnerable citizens challenged only by the drumbeat for more tax dollars to build entirely valueless construction projects.

In Hamlin we read lies on campaign literature about “open government,” “lower Taxes,” and “Preserving our Local Character.”

The truth is EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE! But truth is the cost of sustaining Republican legislative power. Lying is cheap and the rewards are so great.

The machine is a great success. Utterly corrupt, throughly immoral, but a huge success.

* * *

Click on link below to see the Warner/MacIntosh flyer.
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HAMLIN REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE VIOLATES ELECTION LAW!

HAMLIN REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE VIOLATES ELECTION LAW!

Documents obtained by The Blog reveal that the Hamlin GOP has illegally financed Pat MacIntosh!

In a serious violation of New York Election Law the Hamlin Republican Committee has been caught red-handed making illegal contributions to Supervisor Warner’s hand-picked successor. Disclosure Statements, filed with the Board of Elections, reveal that the HRC gave $750 to Warner’s secretary, Pat MacIntosh in her bid to win the upcoming Republican Primary.

“Election Law is very clear on this point,” said an official from the BoE, “Every candidate in a Primary contest must be treated equally. All Party organizations are barred from donating to, or otherwise underwriting, ANY candidate- including the endorsed one!”

A Primary is a special election limited to the enrolled voters of one party. The local committee may endorse a candidate. However, if a person obtains the required number of signatures of party members he or she becomes a legitimate and equal contender.

This year in Hamlin two people are challenging the endorsed candidate. Town Board member Shirley Hollink and retired Naval Captain Dennis Roach are competing for the nomination. Neither one has received anymoney from the local Republican Committee.

Corrupt or simply stupid?

The Disclosure Statement of the Hamlin Republican Committee plainly lists a payment on June 28, 2005 to, “The Campaign to Elect Pat MacIntosh.” The official Disclosure Statement of MacIntosh shows she received the payment the same day.

Some residents are questioning the motives of the HRC.

“Could they be that dumb?” asked one local Republican who asked to remain anonymous, “I mean, they had to know it’s not legal. This isn’t their first primary. They just don’t care.”

Another Hamlin Republican speculated that the illegal contribution reveals how badly the MacIntosh campaign is faltering. “They must be desperate. The Committee know it’s illegal for them to donate but they don’t care about the law. They must be very scared.”

Who are these people?

MacIntosh has received money from some other questionable sources.

* On June 17, 2005 she got $1217.36 from “The Campaign to Elect Austin Warner.” This is apparently the remains of Warner’s personal war chest. Most of that money is left over from $3000 donated by the Monroe County Republican Committee to the HRC in 2003 which was later transferred into Warner’s personal committee.

* $500 was contributed by Angel & Michilina G. Grande of 3 Summer Haven Drive. Readers of The Blog will remember that this was the residence which received a citation from Building Inspector Larry Gursslin which led to his firing. Gursslin found the property to be in violation of Hamlin Zoning code and issued a citation followed by a summons for “failure to conform.” Supervisor Warner came under intense political pressure from neighbors who intimated he would suffer political reprisals if he didn’t force the Building Inspector to drop the matter.

When Gursslin refused to dishonor his oath of office, Warner had him fired by a 3 to 2 vote of the Town Board. Councilman Evans and Paul Rath both stated, on the record, that the dismissal was not legal since it failed to follow the procedures described in the Town’s Employee Handbook.

Shirley Hollink and George Todd joined Warner in voting to terminate.

Gursslin subsequently filed suit against the town for federal civil rights violations, restoration of his job, back pay and other damages. The case is pending before Federal Court in Rochester and will likely result in Hamlin losing it’s Liability Insurance coverage.

* On July 25, Mr. William Sentiff of 188 Creighton Street, Rochester 14612 donated $250 and J. A. Doberstein Jr., PO Box 10252, Rochester, NY 14610 donated $500.

It is likely that these donations came from a pool of contributors maintained by Monroe County Republican Party Chairman Steve Minarik. These are loyal Republicans willing to send money to campaigns which are in trouble. Because the money does not go through the County organization there is no violation of Election law. Not in the letter of the law anyway.

* The Pinewood Country Club, 1189 Ogden-Parma Town-line Road, 14559, kicked in $250 and The Garden Factory, 2126 Buffalo Road, 14624 put in $100. Donations of this type are commonly referred to as “Special Interest.”

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Relevant Part of NYS Election Law
§ 2-126. Party funds; restrictions on expenditures.
No contributions of money, or the equivalent thereof, made, directly
or indirectly, to any party, or to any party committee or to any person
representing or acting on behalf of a party or party committee, or any moneys
in the treasury of any party, or party committee, shall be expended in aid of the designation or nomination of any person to be voted for at a primary election either as a candidate for nomination for public office, or for any party position.
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Click on links below to see the relevant pages of the Disclosure Statement as .jpeg files.
Statement from MacIntosh Committee showing individual contributors
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Statement from MacIntosh Committee showing Hamlin Republican Committee "Transfer"
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Statement from Hamlin Republican Committee showing "Transfer" to MacIntosh committee in violation of Election Law
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A final note: During January and February of ‘05 the Hamlin Republicans apparently held a series of raffles for fund raising purposes. These were some type of “lottery.” Winners included: Al Campbell $25; Tom Ingraham, $50; and Jim Nesbitt, $25. This is hillarious- THEY ALL KEPT THE MONEY!

IS HAMLIN DOOMED?
(See Correction below)

Not far west of Hamlin is a gigantic mixed-income housing tract on Route 31A in Holley. It is a vast project of “double-wides,” and it has proven to be a disaster for the Town.

Local officials are loath to talk about it because the agricultural land sold to the developer came from some of the Town’s most prestigious farms. Although the community was promised that the housing project would benefit them, the reverse has happened.

Many of the inhabitants of these "estates" gobble up services while returning practically nothing in tax relief. According to a knowledgeable source the Holley school district now has the highest concentration of “special needs” students, per capita, in New York State. Because the project offers such cheap entry level housing it has become a magnet for broken families, prisoner families, and cohabitation of convenience.

Hamlin may be facing a similar project but our Zoning and Planning Boards don’t see it.

Last month the Planning Board gave preliminary approval to a proposal to build 70 houses adjacent to, and south of, Lake Breeze. What makes this plan such a potential disaster is that the developer wants .3 acre lots. POINT THREE ACRE! Right now, under Hamlin Zoning Code, the smallest permissible lot size is .4 acres in a Residential-High Density district!

The builder wants lot sizes smaller than those in Huntington Park.

What kind of houses could those possibly be?

The Planning Board, as it normally does, ducked any serious inquiry into the validity of the plan. Instead, as it normally does, handed it off to the Zoning Board for their decision on a variance.

The courageous folks on the Planning Board, always diligent to protecting Hamlin from undesirable development, once again hid behind the skirts of Norm Baas and the horrifically incompetent Zoning Board.

To Baas’s credit, he promptly held a joint “workshop” with the ZBA, the PB and a few members of the advisory Conservation Board. Only Dave Rose from the Town Board showed up to listen.

Unfortunately for Hamlin property owners the workshop produced absolutely nothing. Nothing but the inevitable head-shaking of Baas and his predictably vague but dire warnings about being sued by the developer if he is denied.

NOTHING people! Just a prolonged conversation about the punishing effects of small lot sizes on the Zoning Board! The entire conversation seemed to revolve around how the ZB was going to have to spend the next few years granting set-back variances for these new homeowners to put in pools and decks.

As usual, it was all about them!

This meeting, which held promise for finding a way to kill this bad idea, collapsed into a muddle of whining about how much work it would be for the Zoning Board! What a bunch!

This is important to note: not one person, not a single appointed or elected official who attended the workshop questioned whether the proposed development was good for Hamlin!

Not one.

No one asked if the project fit into the Comprehensive Plan. No one asked the essential philosophical question of this community: “DO WE NEED ANYMORE HOUSING PROJECTS?”

Nobody asked if the proposal was “in conformance” with the dominant philosophy of the existing property owners in Hamlin which is- “NO MORE DEVELOPMENT!”

Why didn’t they ask?

The answer is simple. They don’t think like that. They are conditioned to look at every project like it has a RIGHT to be built. Norm Baas espouses an antiquated, cock-eyed, pseudo-Libertarian notion that if you own land you are entitled to exploit it any way you want.

Sorry Norm. That idea was swept away with the first zoning law at the turn of the century! The 19th century!

Zoning laws exist to protect taxpayers from having the value of their property destroyed by the self-interests of another property owner.

What the ZBA and the PB of Hamlin can’t fathom is that access to money, the ability to buy a big chunk of land and make a deal with a builder, doesn’t grant a developer more rights then the surrounding landowners.

They just don’t get it. They don’t understand that they are responsible to the EXISTING PROPERTY OWNERS more than FUTURE ones.

The citizens of Hamlin want Hamlin to stay rural.

Local government just can’t or won’t hear that message.

But local residents don’t know how to help themselves. They just keep supporting the status quo.

Keep voting Republican everybody. Make sure Norm sticks around for another 25 years.

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Correction: The Blog originally identified the nearby development as being in Albion. This was an error. It is located in Holley and the impact to taxpayers is on the Holley school district. The Blog aplogizes for any confusion.

Below is a letter from a concerned reader abou this issue. The author's name has been withheld and slight changes made to protect the author's identity.
* * *
Dear Pete,

I have just read your latest posting on the Blog, and I have a few comments to make.

First of all, let me tell you that my husband and I resided in Hamlin for 20+ years, in the Huntington Park subdivision, and I worked for the Town for (some) of those years. Yes, I am a Republican, and yet I don't always agree with my party. I vote the person, not the party. This is not what I'm writing about.

I know that you don't like criticism, as evidenced in your reply to M. Depew posted 8/22/05 in which you state that you "don't give a damn" about other opinions, but I'm going to give it a shot anyway.

My husband and I now live in ------ Estates West. We moved here 2 years ago. Here are the true facts:

1. ------ Estates West is located on route 31A, not route 31

2. The children attend Holley schools, not Albion.

3. Our lot is bigger than the one we had in Ryan Homes.

4. Our park is 3 miles west of Brockport in the Town of Clarendon.

5. Our homes start at 70M to over 100M. Do you consider this low income?

6. Could you be referring to Oak Orchard Estates outside of Albion, instead of ------ Estates West?

I fully agree with you that the lots in the Ryan Homes tract are very, very small, and I wouldn't want to go to a smaller lot than that either. That is one reason we moved from Hamlin to ------ Estates. I would like to invite you to come to my home any time (my husband and I are now retired) and see for yourself the size of our lot and the caliber of our manufactured home.

If, as I believe, you just had the wrong name on your Blog piece, I am asking you to correct it so that the people reading your editorials won't think we moved to a slum.
We'll be looking for you at our home. We are on the north side of route 31A. Stay on the road you come in on and our number is ---.

Thank you for considering this email.

Sincerely,
M--

* * *
Comment- It is never the intention of The Blog to harm residents or taxpayers. Unfortunately, sometimes this happens as an indirect result of a story. This is one such occasion.

The Blog has learned that there is a range of housing types and prices in this development. There are "upscale" homes and there are other less desirable ones.

No one can control who their neighbors are. Sometimes they start out good, then turn bad. However, the nature of this huge housing project has allowed many families who are in need of special services to concentrate there.

It is The Blog's opinion that every community has an obligation to provide a per-centage of low income housing. However, in an uncontrolled setting that per-centage can tip the scales of the property values for the entire community.

If a large burden of consumers who cannot pay their share of taxes is shifted onto the backs of the remaining property owners, then these owners move away. A cycle of decline begins.

Any community which does not monitor and regulate itself may be open to such shifts and the inevitable declines it produces. That is why the example of this housing tract was used as an example.

The Blog had no intention to condemn by association all the people who live there.
ED

The following is a letter from a Blog reader...

Good Morning,

I still never heard back from you for over two months regarding some of the information that i provided to you about Hamlin Politics.

I was in a serious automobile accident in Grantsville, Maryland On August 5, 2005 in the car driven by one of my Korean graduate students. We went off Interstate 68 on the left shoulder , hit the rough payment and over we went. I was the only one in the car that sustained serious injuries. I was not seat belted at the time of the accident due to working on getting my maps and papers ready to move to the front seat to guide the driver with our entrance into metropolitan Washington. I was invited by the Korean couple, Nam and Inhee , to be their personal travel guide in the washington, DC area. Fortunately, the EMV people were there immediately and took us by ambulance to Cumberland Trauma Unit twenty miles from the accident. I sustained contusions to both lungs, and multiple bruises , both internally and externally on the upper torso. My oxygen reading was 39. I spent the next full week in the hospital, primarily in the IC Unit , getting my breathing back to normal. God was good, the staff at the hospital was good, and my husband and two students stayed with me and guided me with all things. I am now recovering back home in Indiana slowly. I feel the whole experience was a wonderful testimony of care and kindness by people.I am so lucky to not have had broken bones , lacerations , and damage to my spinal cord. As our car did flip over at least one time. I never have seen the accident report from the Maryland Police Department. WE were suppose to drive 60 miles from the hospital to the barracks with a $4 money order to get our copy. Can you believe in this day and age the Maryland Police could not fax a copy and accept a credit card? Good Morning, maryland , we are now living in the 21 century.

Anyhow, I regret that your blog does nothing for me. I am not into putting people down in that fashion. I admit to be frustrated by the crummy rummy workings of people in position, but rather than devote time to knocking them with your clever ways, I think it would be better for the community of Hamlin that you would spend your expertise with helping individuals follow their rights as citizens in keeping government clean and working honestly. As I mentioned , my father ROY WOLF, supervisor of the Town of Hamlin during the late fifties and early sixties was such a leader. Actually, he was too honest and too smart for leading a small town. His goal after leading Hamlin for only a couple terms was to work with Gordon Howe ,the head of Monroe country government . It did not work out.

Please confirm this letter and may I add this letter to the blog . I feel in a democratic society, you as editor of the blog accept other written blogs. I would like your reply today if possible...August 21, 2005 .

Mary Wolf Depew

International Advisor,Teacher and Friend to students at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana and former resident of Hamlin, New York
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Thank you Mary.

Through the years of editing The Blog and working to change local government, this Humble Editor has received lots of criticism- most of it behind his back. The main theme is: “He makes a lot of good points, but he’s so harsh! If he would just be a little nicer, say some positive things, we’d all like it better.”

Almost without exception these critics are Republicans, so that complaint is heard almost two to one around Hamlin. Democrats, Blanks and member of other parties, don’t make that plea. They slap your Humble Editor on the back and say, “Good job! It’s about time somebody ‘told it like it is!’”

Republicans are more sensitive because it is their party which keeps returning our elected officials to office. They see, correctly, that when The Blog criticizes these officials, they are indirectly criticized as well.

However, what nearly everyone seems to have missed is that The Blog has never been “political.” It is a communications tool about the actions of elected officials. It is a little electronic newspaper that does its best to reveal the shenanigans of our elected goons.

The Blog is free. The Blog does not charge for it’s service. The Blog has never received a penny from any source for any reason. Yet somehow, amazingly, because it is free to read, all manner of people have come to believe they have a right to give input about it. While your Humble Editor welcome the input, frankly he doesn’t give a damn about it.

Going to town meetings, taking notes, following up with sources, verifying information, researching on the internet- all the stuff that real journalists do- is a lot of work. The Blog is a public service for the town of Hamlin. Those that chose to read it.

All that your Humble Editor has ever demanded in return for this unrewarded labor is the opportunity to unleash his creativity and exercise his well-endowed sarcasm muscle.

Local government, while it may act like one, it is NOT a joke. The decisions, the actions, and more often the inactions, of the incompetents that keep getting re-elected, and worse- reappointed- are harmful to every single Hamlin resident. Mostly it is harmful to property owners, but also to seniors, to kids, to crime victims, to developers, to farmers, to small business owners- pretty much everybody, except the inner few who get favors.

These people hurt us! Their chicanery and incompetence hurts the future of our town and the value of our property. It’s not funny. It's bad. It's harmful.

So this Humble Editor determined that if local officials were going to harm us then they were entitled to feel a little of the same in return.

In Arthur C. Clarke’s novel, “Childhood’s End” the alien race that appears above the planet issues only one directive to the human race: No gratuitous hurting of animals. Animals may be killed and eaten, but there will be no hurting them for fun.

A few days later, in Mexico City, the first bullfight was held after this order was issued. The contest began and everything seemed normal. When the first banderilla was stabbed into the back of the bull a huge, collective scream went up from the audience. Everyone who was there to enjoy the animal’s suffering felt the pain of the spear. They hurt just like the bull did. There was never another bull fight.

So it is with The Blog. If these elected and appointed officials are going to hurt us, then they should feel a little bit of the barb themselves.

However, since so many people have urged The Blog to behave in a different way, to “be nicer,” to treat the people “we” voted for more genteelly, your Humble Editor has agreed to try.

The following is an example of a Blog story if the Warner Republicans were the editors. Please enjoy it.
PT
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LOCAL NEWS...

It was another beautiful day in Hamlin! The air was clear and mild. Birds sang and the town smelled of sweet corn. This continues a streak of 1247 days of perfect weather for our blessed community.

Last night our well meaning and hard working Town Board met. They had several photo-ops giving recognition awards to some citizens. (See separate story, pg.2) They talked about the memo from Zoning Board Chairman Norm Baas which said that, while everything was good all around, he felt the ZBA had to, occasionally, work. He wasn’t complaining! Let’s make that clear! He merely hoped the Town Board might have an idea how to remedy this occasional event. Then they adjourned.

Afterwards Supervisor Warner told The Blog that everything was good in the town, that all the residents were healthy and happy and local government couldn’t be better or more efficient.

The Blog salutes our brave leaders and hope they continue to prosper as they take such careful care of the community! They are truly hard working and self-sacrificing. Every Hamlin resident should be grateful for their presence and contributions!
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The most overvalued currency is free advice.- B. Franklin

ANNOUNCEMENT SHOCKS GOP

Retiring Supervisor Austin Warner III shocked the local political community yesterday when he admitted that he was secretly a Democrat and had been, “a Democratic operative” for almost thirty five years.

The startling revelation came amidst rumors swirling throughout Hamlin that he planned taking a job with new Monroe County Democratic Chair, Joe Morelle, in January.

“Joe and I are very close,” Warner told The Blog, “he was my ‘handler’ for the last fifteen years. I really can’t comment on my future plans however.”

Warner explained that he migrated over to the Democrats during the Nixon Administration. “The GOP turned out to be such liars,” he said, “They lied about the war- Vietnam, back then- and how it was going. Nixon and Kissinger undermined the Paris Peace Conference in ‘68, then turned around and settled the war on the very same terms. I lost faith with the leadership.”

During this time Warner fell in with a “liberal element” at Alfred University. He was secretly recruited to join the Democrats by close friend Steve May, who would later become Mayor of Rochester.

Asked how he could actually be a Dem while registered as a Republican with the Board of Elections Warner said, “I signed a document which pledged my fealty to the Democratic Party. It stated that I was a political operative and would be registering with a different party. I was going deep undercover and the party, and I, needed that letter as an anchor. It was a touchstone, if you will, that kept me focused on my real job.”

What was that job? “My mission was to infiltrate a local Republican organization, take control and drive it into the ground. Sort of a ‘search and destroy’ project.”

Warner appears to have succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of his Democratic strategists. In six years as Supervisor in Hamlin he has violated virtually every principle of the Republican party, nurtured and exposed every weakness and corruption the party is known for and fundamentally ruined local government.

“The strategy is long term,” Warner told The Blog “It is really a generational process. You see, we target an entrenched, deeply Republican community for action. An operative like myself makes their way to the highest levels of the party and then we ruin it. When you get to be Chairman, mayor or supervisor you commence the final stage, named Action FUBAR. We are tasked to ‘Foul Up Beyond All Repair’ every aspect of local governance.”

How can THAT be a good objective, The Blog asked? Warner explained, “Look, the Republicans have sold middle class voters an elaborate package of phoney ‘values’ which has seduced them to join the party. ‘Family Values’ is a sleazy disguise for racism and hostility toward the poor; ‘Personal Responsibility’ is about removing health and safety protections from the workplace, lifting corporate regulations just as they increase onerous regulation on private citizens; A ‘Strong Defense’ is code for conducting political wars in lieu of foreign policy while giving unlimited funds to the military industries. The plan is really no mystery, look at Chenney and Halliburton. Bush is an Oil-Man and the Vice President runs a huge defense contracting company. Anybody with eyes and half a brain can figure this one out.”

Warner interrupted his explanation to reveal another shock, “Do you mind if I remove these?” he asked as he peeled away a false mustache and unhooked his sandy wig to reveal a close-cropped silver scalp. “I have been wearing these for years but could never quite get used to them.”

Returning to the Republican strategy he continued. “Their plan was beautiful in its simplicity. The GOP stopped selling ideas, policy ideas, and started selling emotionalism. They were, naturally, getting advice from the advertising business- more correctly the media- which was exchanging their services for a huge package of benefits to come later. The GOP sold itself to corporate America which in turn helped sell the GOP to blue-collar voters. The very employees of the companies funding the GOP!” Warner shook his head in admiration.

“It was, it is, a beautiful plan, I must admit. To be able to enlist the very constituents you are about to screw- well that is both bold and brilliant. We Dems had to do something, something radical. That’s why we initiated these undercover ops. We had to place Dems in high level GOP positions to gradually, but undeniably, prove that the GOP were actually liars and corporate flunkies. Our job was to reveal the truth.”

Warner leaned back in his chair and continued. “I was assigned to Hamlin since that’s where my family had moved. I joined the local party, got in the Lions Club, did volunteer work at the Catholic Church. I built up my cover. When the opportunity presented itself, I ran a primary and got elected supervisor. The rest is history.”

The history Warner refers to is, “The worst legacy in local government history!” part-time historian and former resident James Martin said. “Warner ran this town into the ground. The guy won’t read- so he knows nothing about town planning. He was controlled by guys like Norm Baas, (Chair of the Zoning Board) and Jim Breslawski (former Chair of the Planning Board) and THEY don’t read either. When we needed a new law for telecommunications towers I had to write it! Those guys couldn’t even do the research!”

Others concur. Speaking anonymously, a former member of the Hamlin Republican Committee said, “He raised taxes every single year he was in office! Yet he still claimed he was against them. He completely screwed the community with the STAR Program by keeping assessments down for Jim Breslawski. He drove every able minded member of the Master Plan committee right out of the building. He fired the Building Inspector with two months left on the guy’s contract which resulted in a Federal lawsuit and will cost the town tens of thousands of dollars. He failed to protect average citizens from disreputable developers like the fiasco up on Watuoma Beach Road. The list goes on and on!” The irate citizen added, “Then he picks Pat MacIntosh to take his place! He thinks she’s qualified because she was the only person he could trust with the fact that HE can’t add or subtract!”

What about the impact of this revelation on the campaign of Ms. MacIntosh? “Who cares?” was Warner’s terse reply.

“I am proud of the job I’ve done!” Beamed the ebullient Warner. “I have shown that small town Republican government can be just as incompetent and punitive to the middle class as the big boys.”

Asked if revealing that he is actually a Democrat might undermine the idea that it was a Republican who hurt the community, Warner sat right up, “No, of course not! Don’t you see? They elected me THREE TIMES!”

DOES THIS SHOW HAVE A FUTURE?
Reprinted, with permission, from “Clown News,” a publication of Mercedeth, Inc.

The first act in last night’s infamous Cirque de Hamlae’ was a shocking surprize. It was an announcement of a cancellation! The production began with news that the Light Show segment had suffered a serious failure. The Master Electrician declared that technical difficulties forced him rewire the marvelous performance which had so entertained last month’s audience. (For the mechanically minded: Master of Smoke and Mirrors, Ken Licht, operator of the Light Show, announced his blame for fact that the Circus would have to re-hire all the acts engaged last month!)

Licht, whose impressive contortionism worked magic tricking and misdirecting the audience about the truth during last show’s program, told the crowd that he, “forgot” something. He forgot that the Circus had sent letters to the County seeking comments on the proposed changes to the Circus and the replies had not come back! This regulation is routine because the County doesn’t want any Circus to adopt crazy or illegal acts. They require this comment process!

According to the announcement made during last night’s performance, the Master Electrician took responsibility. “I didn’t know they hadn’t been returned,” he stated. Circus insiders know this is the job of the Grounds Keeper who both sends out and collects these records. But, the Master Electrician “forgot” to check on them so he gets the blame.

Sadly, and highly upsetting was the fact that no remuneration was offered to the audience for this failure to perform. Circus fans all had to pay the full price! A shocking performance!

Next on the bill was Shirley’s Incredible Clown Show. Shirley is world renown for her marvelous and entertaining skit, “Heritage Day,” a day long faux-historical celebration of political onanism. Originally, Heritage Day was a community event designed to recognize and celebrate Hamlin history and its contributors. Almost instinctively, it was seized by the internationally famous mime and current Ring-Master, Butch Warner, who “adapted” it as his own personal publicity event. Heritage Day became “Supervisor Day” and the poor soul who had envisioned the performance faded into compulsory servitude. Shirley’s Clown Show became the vehicle for this expression. (Pun intended!)

Sadly, as those who are dedicated readers of “Clown News” know, Shirley’s Clown Show was recently fired by the circus, and although there remains a chicken’s-teeth chance she’ll return, most observers insist she’s gone from the show for good.

She is still under contract however but obviously, because of her dispute with management, the Heritage Day skit had been scratched from the program! In announcing the cancellation Shirley said, “It’s all my fault. I forgot to follow through on some things.”

This comes as no shock to circus insiders. Shirley never liked the skit but was forced, as a matter of party obeisance, to carry it out. Everybody on the show circuit knew that Shirley was merely a beard for a long, insincere and ultimately bogus day of pagan Ring-Master worship. Now, given the chance, Shirley has happily sabotaged the entire project and deprived the boss of his one day of glorious self-abuse.

Only history is harmed by the end of this charade. However, considering that history had been relegated to nothing more than a title and a greasy platform for self-promotion, there will be few complaints.

Next on the bill was a very entertaining spectacle as the Man-on-Stilts and The Savant played out a routine of community good. In an apparently unplanned skit they toyed with the Ring-Master, dancing around singing about “Senior Zoning.” The song was in honor of the Ring-Master’s Patron, the DeMarco family, none of whom were in attendance. The Man-on-Stilts sang the chorus, “It’s only Fair,” while the Savant did cartwheels around the irate and seemingly mystified Ring-Master, who was armed only with a puny light-saber to fend them off. The melody changed abruptly mid-chorus to a march as the two antagonists began a menacing chant called, “The Library Was Promised Computers.” The aforementioned Shirley’s Clown Show made a memorable appearance.

As a longtime observer of the Circus, and your humble pundit, I must comment that the Cirque de Hamlae’is in serious trouble. “Clown News“ subscribers know that the Ring-Master is retiring under cloudy circumstances and he wants his secretary take over the job. Most of the important acts in the Circus are opposed to this “royal plan of ascendancy,” as one critic called it. Many important acts are demanding new management and calling for an outsider.

According to sources, key performers are also deeply disturbed by the Ring-Master’s choice of “The Schmoo” to replace Shirley’s Incredible Clown Show. Among professionals, The Schmoo is considered an amateur. “Where did this act come from?” asked one well know performer speaking anonymously. “What has he ever done but complain? He was in one side-show and bombed. Reviewers said he was lazy, undiscipline, unmotivated and didn’t understand anything about the business. Now the Ring-Master wants to promote him? It doesn’t make any sense. He’s ruining the show,” he concluded.

Yes, the Cirque de Hamlae’ is in serious trouble. I fear that only a complete change in management will save the production. Let’s hope it happens when the Board of Directors meet in mid-September.

Keep Smiling!

Chester Gettof

BUTCH PATROL

Turn out the lights and lock your doors!

Highway Supervisor Tom Ingraham and Supervisor wannabe Pat MacIntosh have been seen lately plodding the streets of Hamlin on “Pester Patrol.” They are not campaigning in the traditional sense, meeting random Republicans and giving them the pitch, “Pester Patrol’ is a misguided tactic made popular by Lame-Duck Butch Warner.

Pester Patrol targets ONLY the people who signed a petition for one of their opponents! For example, primary challengers Dennis Roach and Mike Marchetti collected about 330 signatures on their petition (an impressive 15% of all registered Republicans!) This document is public information so Ingraham and MacIntosh obtained a copy and are going to the homes of everyone who signed it. To pester and admonish them!

Warner built his entire political career around this kind of bullying, intimidating tactic. Big-Mac is cut from the same cloth as her boss, so invading a resident’s home to scold them comes naturally to her.

And scolding IS the point of the visit! Pave-Man and Big-Mac will rebuke the resident, telling them, “WE are the OFFICIAL nominee of the party! We DEMAND your allegiance!”

Butch Warner (maybe this is where he got the nickname,) who stands about 6'2 and goes an easy 260, used to thrust right up to people in their doorways, tower over them, point his finger in their face and threaten them as “disloyal Republicans” if they had signed another’s petition! He would demand that they vote for him and the official ticket. He hinted they would be kicked out of the Republican party and that HE would know how they voted! He physically intimidated people. He menaced them. He lied.

(Don’t take The Blogs’ word for it! Ask around town. Ask people who signed the petition for Ed Evans. Warner went to most of their homes and tried to intimidate them. He was thrown out of plenty! Evans’ supporters were very loyal!)

Pave-Man and Big-Mac are employing the same tactics except without the physical intimidation. They suggest that any voter who doesn’t support the “official candidates” are disloyal Republicans. They leave the impression that something bad will happen if that person doesn’t vote the “party-line.”

This is what Judith Hazen, Chair of the Hamlin Republican Committee told the Brockport Post: “Hazen said she would prefer there not be a primary and... told (committee) members that their responsibility is to support the candidates endorsed by the committee.

‘According to the rules, a person who is a committee person with the Republican Party has no choice about supporting a candidate that the majority has selected. They have to carry petitions for the selected candidates,’ Hazen said. ‘If they refuse to do that, they're not a loyal committee person and will not be doing their duty.’ "

Of course this is not true, and it is probably illegal to make the threat. The "Good-Ole-Boys" who are rapidly losing control of the Hamlin Republican Committee are so desperate there is no lie, no intimidation tactic that they won't use.

So voters, beware the “Pester Patrol!” It’s not as Butch as it used to be, but it’s bad enough.

WARNER CLAIMS RATH “SATANIST”
Web image signals fellow Devil Worshipers

Hamlin Supervisor Austin Warner escalated the war of words with Town Board member Paul Rath claiming he had evidence Rath was a worshiper of Satan.

“This is all the proof anyone needs!” bellowed the zaftig Supervisor at an ill-attended press conference called to make his bizarre announcement. “It’s been right hear under our noses all along and we have never noticed it!” echoing a familiar criticism leveled at Warner himself regarding his well documented failure to collect revenues from the Town Hall ATM.

“Paul Rath is obviously a worshiper of Satan, look at his fingers!” bawled the vast Warner as he pointed to a copy of Rath’s portrait on the Town of Hamlin website.

“I warned you all! I told you he was a Democrat and you wouldn’t listen! Now, how do you like this? We have a devil worshiper in town government!” blustered the substantial Supervisor.

“Evidence” of the fantastic accusation is that Rath’s fingers, which are poised on a calculator, have only the first and fifth fingers extended, in the familiar Italian “Molokia” or Texas Longhorn gesture.

In recent years fringe groups of paranoid Christian fundamentalists have identified the gesture as a symbol of devil-worshipers. They have provided no historical or practical proof claiming that their personal belief is evidence enough.

Warner’s grotesque claim seems to be the result of an ongoing dispute with Rath over the councilman’s refusal to support Warner’s hand picked replacement for Supervisor, Patricia MacIntosh.

“Pat MacIntosh is the kindest, sweetest, most loving, generous, friendliest, warmest, most giving person on the face of the earth!” Warner replied when questioned about his motive for attacking Rath.

“Anyone on my Republican committee who does not support my nominee should not only be kicked off the committee, but kicked out of the Republican Party! And shot too! That’s my opinion anyway.” sputtered the visibly rattled Supervisor as Ms. MacIntosh handed him two steel ball bearings which seemed to calm him.

Rath, reached by phone, denied the allegation.

“I have no idea what he’s talking about. I know Austin has great affection for MacIntosh but this seems a little extreme.”

Rath claims that the dispute derives from some private conversations he had with members of his extended family. Word of those discussions apparently made there way back to Warner.

A town employee in the Clerk’s office, speaking anonymously, said the attack came after Warner heard that Rath had allegedly said, “That guy is wreaking the Hamlin Republican Committee. MacIntosh isn’t qualified to be Supervisor, even if she can write a sentence- which is a step up!”

Rath and Warner have frequently bickered and it is dissension which the Supervisor hates above all things.

“Warner hates it when anyone disagrees with him. He takes it personally. He’s got a very fragile ego to begin with and perceives any dissent as a personal attack” said a local psychiatrist and political observer, who wanted to remain anonymous. “This thing with MacIntosh seems much more sensitive then that however. He’s just gone off the deep end.”

“That’s just the way I hold the calculator” said Rath, a Certified Public Accountant. “That’s how I was taught to do it. It’s efficient.”

Is rudeness catching?

What can the future hold for Hamlin if Pat MacIntosh becomes Supervisor?

At the July Town Board meeting Ms. MacIntosh sat in abject silence while the board undertook to ram a huge package of legislation down the taxpayer’s throats. Board members were almost completely unprepared. Several obviously hadn’t even read, much less understood, the legislation they were planning to enact into law that day!

Lame-duck Supervisor Warner made his feelings toward the public crystal clear: He didn’t like them, they were a nuisance and he wished they were gone! Warner used every impolite tactic to rush the hearing forward while rigidly refusing to participate in any description or justification of the proposals.

Hamlin residents will have to obey these laws, but Warner refused to participate in any explanation of them.

What did nominee MacIntosh do? She sat silently throughout the hearing. She never asked a question, never participated, never admonished the legislators for being unprepared or hostile.

In other words, she was in agreement with Warner! The public is a pest. Questions about proposed new laws are simply a pain. Elected officials are superior. The public is thorn in their side.

Many, many people who have had the unfortunate experience of interacting with Ms. MacIntosh in her capacity as Warner’s secretary will testify that hostility, contempt and superiority were the most obvious tones of that experience.

Those attitudes must be contagious in the town hall.

I told you, I DON'T CARE!

It is difficult to find words that adequately describe the contempt that Supervisor Warner displays toward Hamlin’s voting public.

His behavior at last week’s Town Board meeting was beyond excuse or explanation. Warner obviously wanted no part of hearing from the public. He was boldly rude and dismissive. At every opportunity he rushed the process in a naked effort to quash debate, dialogue and discussion.

Warner never defended a proposal. He never explained a proposal. His words, attitude and body language merged to convey his message: “I don’t care! I just want this over. Nothing you all say means anything.”

Warner is a lame duck, bailing out of the job to escape apologizing to former Building Inspector Larry Gursslin. Gursslin has sued Warner and the Town for firing him without cause or due process. Considering that two board members voted against the firing and made statements on the record confirming the allegations, it is almost a certainty that the town will lose.

Gursslin is demanding a public apology from Warner as part of any settlement. Warner is so prideful that he will walk away from the job rather than apologize.

Despite his lame-duck status the Supervisor is still obliged to show respect and regard toward the public.

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Nothing but the truth...

Sadly, most Americans fear and loath lawyers. The reasons are complex involving adversarial relationships, complex legal rhetoric and the fact that one almost never gets a straight, clear answer!

Often a concrete answer is not possible because of conflicting judicial decisions. Often legal answers are complicated by variables. Sometimes lawyers don’t want to be held to an opinion.

Then there are times when lawyers deliberately try to obscure or confuse the truth. When that happens people are genuinely justified in their disdain.

Hamlin Town Attorney Ken Licht surely has earned some public scorn by his behavior at last week’s public hearing.

Warner designated Licht as official spokesman to describe the meaning and impact of the proposed new laws to the public.

Ordinarily, a citizen might expect this assignment to include telling the truth. The public should expect a full and honest accounting of the regulation and its effects. Expectations of truth include the idea that the public will not be mislead by half truths, partial explanations and shaded meanings.

The public did not get the truth from attorney Licht. Instead it got a tainted, politically driven July snow job. Licht, in collusion with Supervisor Warner, deliberately shaped his explanations and descriptions to mislead the public about several of the proposed laws and their effects.

The change to the law on variances was conceived by the Zoning Board to make it easier for them to grant variances but Licht never acknowledged that. He deliberately misled the public about the regulation’s origins and its full impact on the community. He presented the new law as an innocuous “change of language” that brought Hamlin into better conformance with the state.

While that may be true, it is a half truth. This was the ONLY reason Licht gave for the change, masking the true motive. By saying that it was simply a “change of language” Licht purposefully, willfully attempted to deceive the public about the impact that this change will have on our community.

Licht was questioned about that impact and his answer was evasive and off-point. He kept returning to “change of language” while not answering the question about impact and consequence.

Lawyers tricks.

That’s why, eventually, average citizens come away with a bad taste in their mouths when they interact with attorneys. Slippery, shifty, contemptuous and focused on the paycheck, not the truth.

Unfortunately Ken Licht was not elected to any public office. Consequently, he must rely on pleasing Austin Warner to continue receiving his $40,000 plus income from Hamlin every year.

Too bad for Hamlin. Too bad for the truth.

No Licht at the end of the tunnel

The performance by Hamlin’s town board at last night’s public hearing on eight new laws can only be described as disgraceful. The meeting was well attended by about fifty prepared residents. They came armed with solid questions, opinions and insights.

The residents were prepared, the town board was not.

The worst performance by far was that of Supervisor Warner. With a glaring lame-duck contempt for the public he took every opportunity to rush the process along showing repeatedly that he didn’t care what the public had to say or think. Several residents pressed the town board for an estimate of the costs to enforce the proposed new codes. Warner had no answers and seemed to take pleasure in defying the request to answer.

Claiming that “This is a public hearing ,” he refused to respond to the questioning. At one point a resident stood up and bluntly asked the Supervisor to reply to another person’s question on cost and enforcement. “Will you answer that man’s question?” the citizen demanded. “No!” replied the Supervisor with hostility. Warner alleged that the Town Board was, “here to collect information” and consequently there would be no dialogue.

To his credit, Paul Rath made numerous efforts to explain the rationale behind some of the proposals. While each board member, save Warner, tried at least once to explain or defend a proposal, Rath took the lead and worked to offer the residents frequent explanations.

However, it was clear to the public that the Town Board was unprepared for the hearing. In fact, George Todd admitted that he had not read the proposed seventeen page Property Maintenance Code. That was evident, but it was also clear that most if not all the others had not read it either.

Defense of this monster, which no doubt would have been passed in-tact had the public been absent, was left to the Building Inspector. The best Mr. Bauman could offer was that these laws were designed, “to make my life easier.” He asserted that the regulations were intended to cope with varied violations from junked cars to abandoned property.

The public, many of whom had read through the entire proposal, asked pointed questions about the codes that were not relevant to clean up. The public informed the TB that ninety per-cent of the proposed laws were building codes regulating everything from the size of door and windows INSIDE the home to keeping one’s eves painted. It was obvious that no one on the Board knew that. Mr Bauman claimed that the codes had been recommended by Brockport and had been successful there in combating property maintenance issues. Apparently he has not been following the political scene in Brockport. It was obvious too that Mr. Bauman either had not read the entire code or did not understand it.

The Town Board, Building Inspector, Fire Chief and town attorney all demonstrated a shocking, but familiar, lack of understanding of the law. The officials asserted that some proposed laws were not relevant because they didn’t plan on enforcing them! When pressed about the onerous building regulations, the B.I. insisted that they didn’t matter because they only planned on using those parts of the code which regulated maintenance! Several members of the public reacted with the obvious logic, “Why pass laws you don’t intend to enforce?” asked one; “Why don’t you just write the code you need instead of all this?” asked another. Don’t they know that laws still apply, even if nobody acts to enforce them? Laws like that tend to become weapons to be used against citizens.

The entire dias acted as if they had never thought of that. In fact, they hadn’t.

The most offensive performance of the night belonged to town attorney, Ken Licht. Licht apparently views his contract with Hamlin as an obligation to collude with Supervisor Warner’s political agenda. Time after time, Licht obfuscated, blurred and misdirected both the motives and effects of the proposed laws. At other moments, when he might have assisted the B.I. or Councilperson with a legal perspective, he was strangely silent.

His most obvious political performance came when he explained the plan to liberalize the process to obtain an area variance. Licht asserted that the town would be sued if it denied a variance using the language of the existing law. He claimed the wording was outdated. Under questioning from the public, he acknowledged that the criteria for granting or denying an application was essentially the same under both the old and new wording. He promoted the new law as being the “accepted language.”

Licht deviously and pointedly left out the real motive for changing the law: The Zoning Board of Appeals wants to make it EASIER to give out variances. Licht admitted that the criteria was relatively unchanged only the emphasis on the “benefit to the applicant” was affected. Licht claimed that Hamlin needed to conform to language which emphasized a “balancing test.” Then he explained that the town was already using this test because of training he had given to the ZBA.

This is a throughly disingenuous explanation. Why would a town need new language if the process is correct? Mr. Licht knows that courts rule on the process in these matters. If the ZBA follows the right process, if the correct questions and issues are discussed, if the decision is sound and rational then the court is not going to speak to the underlying language of the local code. Conformance to the PROCESS is what matters. Hamlin’s law has already been through the courts and was not found lacking.

In truth, the real reason for changing the language was to make it easier to grant variances. The law was specifically changed to give a variance to the Vito property on West Watuoma Beach Road, where the contractor violated nearly a dozen local laws and NONE were enforced. Very shortly, every Hamlin citizen will witness a heinous act of revenge and rebuke toward the family who had to resort to a lawsuit to compel Hamlin to enforce its laws. Within a few months the ZBA will produce the very outcome the lawsuit sought to block. Instead of punishing a law-breaker, the new owner will be given the right to sub-divide the parcel, convert the “garage” into the house (it was all along,) and sell two parcels where one had been! The innocent, the residents who are in the right, will be punished and the guilty will be rewarded. Even if there is a new owner (from probate) the property is STILL in violation and the town continues to ignore the judge’s orders.

Another example of Licht’s deception and obfuscation during last night’s meeting concerned the proposal to adopt the seventeen page Property Maintenance Law. As mentioned, ninety per-cent of the code is regulation governing buildings and it is unlikely that Licht read the document.

Members of the public questioned if their existing properties would have to conform to the new laws. They were told by the B.I. that they would not have to since their homes are “pre-existing non-conforming” structures.

Of course this is not true. Under our zoning code anytime a property is “enlarged, altered or changed in area,” that property must come into conformance with all new, existing codes.

When questioned about this attorney Licht gave another wrong and misleading answer. He claimed that the language of the law (125-55) governing pre-existing non-conforming uses refers only to the Zoning Code laws and not the new Property Maintenance Code since that will be a “local law” not part of zoning law.

But unfortunately for the community Licht did not read 125-55 far enough. He only read the first page. On the next page the zoning code says, “no enlargement, change or alteration of a non-conforming structure housing a non-conforming use shall be permitted except by a finding by the ZBA that such enlargement, change or alteration will permit greater compliance with the provisions of this or other appropriate regulations...” This clearly, obviously, includes the new Property Code. (And God help the resident who offends- the full force of compliance will come down heavily on their heads!)

How could he have left that out? Too hot in the hearing room? Unprepared? Maybe it was simply cynical one-upmanship with the public. (One citizen publicly chastised Licht for smirking during questioning of the Supervisor!)

Maybe he just doesn’t care. Why should he? The public doesn’t sign his checks, the Supervisor does. That is where his allegiance is. The Supervisor’s politics guide Licht’s legal interpretations in Hamlin. Don’t bite the hand that feeds- regardless of the virtue, regardless of the ethics, regardless of the impact to the community.

***

To summarize the public hearing: The public came out in large numbers. They were well prepared, thoughtful and direct. The TB was not prepared. Paul Rath tried to communicate, the others were largely silent. Apparently no local official read the seventeen page Property Maintenance Code in detail. The town attorney obfuscated, misdirected and erred.

The town passed the following new regulations: LL# 4- Keeping of Animals and Poultry; LL# 5- amending the Zoning Code to make variances easier to get; LL# 6- Amending the Fire Code to eliminate the annual inspection of one and two family homes; LL# 7- Amending the Zoning Code definitions for Refuse Disposal and Fill; LL# 8- Amending the Zoning Code to transfer the jurisdiction of Ponds from the ZBA to the Planning Board (Effectively eliminating the public hearing process so neighbors will not know about a new pond until it is dug.;) LL# 9- Lead by Paul Rath, and to their credit, the TB defeated the B.I.’s request to enlarge the size of temporary signs. In addition, they reduced the time these signs may be displayed. An unusual act of support for the idea of community aesthetics!

[As an aside- why DIDN’T the town act to make the proposed Property Maintenance Code PART of the Zoning Code? Why is it a separate “local law?” Would it be too difficult to include it in our code book? Is it more convenient that the public would have to discover, then request, additional documents to learn what laws govern their property? Making this a separate law instead of a revision to the Zoning Code doesn’t make any sense.]

The town tabled, for further review, these: LL# 3- Junked and Abandoned Vehicles (There was much dispute as to regulating “lot cars” unregistered cars used to teach kids to drive with, especially in rural districts.;) LL# 10 the infamous seventeen page Property Maintenance Code.

The performance by our elected officials, and the town attorney, was a disgrace. The tunnel is dark.

TOWN TO RAM CODE CHANGES ON PUBLIC


The most important, and perhaps the only VALID, information to emerge from Hamlin’s flawed town survey was that residents, almost unanimously, want to protect the rural character of our community. Nearly 90% of respondents said that protecting agriculture and rural living should be the most important goals for the Town.

In a remarkably perverse reaction to this directive, the Warner/MacIntosh administration has proposed a new law which will almost certainly accelerate the rapid destruction of our cherished rural character!

Our Town Board has proposed, Local Law # 5 which eases the conditions for granting an “Area Variance.”

A variance is an exemption from zoning restrictions. A variance is granted to a specific property by the Zoning Board of Appeals. Once given it goes with the property in perpetuity. A typical area variance is one which exempts a homeowner from the ordinary set-back distances for building in their neighborhood.

Hamlin’s law which governs these variances has traditionally been very conservative. A property owner who sought a variance was required to prove that he or she would suffer substantial financial hardship without it. They also had to show that they had not created that hardship themselves! In addition, the law stated that no variance could be granted if it gave special privileges to one parcel which were not enjoyed by all similar properties.

This last rule was an essential component of the regulation since it protected the concept of precedent. If one person, in a neighborhood, is granted a variance then the next person, in a similar circumstance, MUST also be given a waiver if they ask. Eventually, if an entire neighborhood is granted enough variances it, de facto, becomes a different zoning district altogether! That is the slippery slope which the rule protected the community from!

The new proposed Law #5 completely liberalizes the variance process. It turns it utterly on its head. The rigid test has been stripped away. The old variance rule was presumptively unfavorable to the request, it discouraged change. This new proposal is presumptively favorable to the request, encouraging change. Herein is the threat to our community: Every variance, every liberalization of restriction, will negatively impact Hamlin’s “rural character.”

Who is behind this astonishing change in preservation regulation? Norm Baas and the Zoning Board of course.

It is difficult for the average citizen to understand the culture of the Hamlin Zoning Board. Mr. Baas has installed a philosophy of hostility toward the law. He believes that the mission of the ZBA is to discard the legislative process. The town board writes our laws, Baas believes it is his royal duty to give waivers to them.

Normal Zoning Boards understand that they function foremost as protectors of the law. They understand it is their duty to make property owners adhere to the law. While a ZBA has the authority to grant a waiver, it must consider very carefully the reasons for giving one person an exemption from a regulation everyone else must follow. A normal ZBA has a very narrow and conservative approach to giving out variances. An intelligent, sophisticated ZBA understands that it is a judicial body which may grant variances only if the request passes a rigid set of tests. The guiding principle of most ZBA’s is to deny a variance request unless there are extraordinary circumstances which cause harm to the applicant. Normal ZBA’s are opposed to granting variances as a matter of policy. Normal ZBA’s support their legislators. Further, a strict policy of opposing variance requests serves the community by upholding the legislative process. Laws are not meant to be discarded- even if you have the authority to do so.

Not in Hamlin. Under Norm Baas the ZBA sees itself as separate from, and superior to, the legislative process. There are certain zoning laws which Norm Baas hates! As a member of the ZBA he should be neutral on his personal views regarding the laws, but he is not. He regularly comments on the value of certain regulations and asserts his negative opinions about them.

Worse, is that this attitude has nurtured a culture on the Hamlin ZBA of righteous superiority. The Baas Zoning Board believes it is on a “divine mission’ to right the wrongs of our legislative process. They believe their job is to grant every variance if at all possible. (IE: Tops gas station or the new car wash that is right in the neighbor’s yard!.) Norm doesn’t like most laws. The ZBA follows suit.

Baas’s dislike of laws seems to be part of a larger half-wit political philosophy shared by some core members of the Hamlin Republican committee. There are local officials who advocate a near total rollback of regulation! Judith Hazen, a member of the Planning Board, recently called for eliminating even more protections, advocating abandoning zoning law altogether! “This is still America, people should be allowed to use their property as they want!” she declared in a fit of wild Libertarianism.

Of course you can use your property, Mrs. Hazen! But you don’t live in a vacuum. You can’t burn your property to the ground and endanger firefighters; You can’t process raw sewage on your property; You can’t erect a 350 foot radio tower on it- even if you might profit from doing so. Mr’s Hazen you are part of a community and in every community, throughout civilized society, there are rules. Rules that protect each citizen from the self interest of all the others. Nobody would seriously advocate repealing laws against murder and theft, but stupidly think that limitations on land use is bad. No doubt Ms. Hazen would change her tune instantly if her adjacent neighbor decided to “use their property” to bury toxic waste.

Baas believes that he is being a Conservative when he proclaims that certain zoning laws are infringements to property owners. He cannot recognize that granting virtually every variance request is the very definition of “liberal.”

As to the rest of the zoning board they seem to follow right along, quietly bleating, “ baas, baas, baas.” The other members of the ZBA are complacent, uninterested in learning and profoundly backward in understanding community planning. When Norm baas, they follow.

Despite these policies Baas has occasionally had to struggle with granting a variance because, in reality, the law is written to limit them. Reacting to that, Norm has lobbied the Town Board seeking to liberalize the code. Norm wants legislation to make it even EASIER to give out the candy.

The Hamlin TB, sheep of a different stripe, are poised to give Baas just what he wants- an extreme liberalizing of the language of the law. Once again in Hamlin we see the tail wagging the ram: the ZBA wants a legislative change, the TB follows.

Liberalizing variance law will rapidly erode our community’s rural character. Strict rules which limit growth and discourage "change” are the community’s only defenses! The Warner/MacIntosh administration is totally incapable of grasping this fundamental concept of Town planning.

As children we learned that if, “You keep the rules, the rules keep you.” This applies in Hamlin too. Strict regulation and limitations on variances are good things. They are essential tools to protect the rural character of the community. Take some time to tell your Town Board that you do not support liberalizing the regulations which protect our community. Go to the public hearing at July 11 Town Board meeting- speak up!
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This is outrageous!

The worst and most devious reason for Norm Baas’s plot to liberalize the zoning code is so he and Warner can get revenge on some citizens who have caused “trouble” for the town.

Most readers of The Blog will remember the outrageous story of the house that pretended to be a garage on West Watuoma Beach Road. (See archives: 5/7/03; 5/22/03; 2/9/04; 5/11/04; etc.) This famous embarrassment to the community resulted in a lawsuit by the Delapa family against the Zoning Board. The Delapas won the suit easily with Judge Frazee admonishing Hamlin to “obey it’s own laws.”

Almost immediately after the court decision the property owner, Rick Vito, died. Hamlin used the interval, while the property was in probate, to ignore the judge and scheme to find a way to reward the villain while punishing the innocent.

They have succeeded. The planned revision to the variance law will allow some sleazy new developer to snap up the Vito property and get a variance to subdivide the parcel!

THAT is the plan ladies and gentlemen! Instead of complying with the existing law which forbids two principle buildings (houses) on a single parcel, instead of enforcing the law and punishing the violator by having him tear down the old cottage, instead of doing the right thing Hamlin officials have conspired with the town attorney to rewrite the law to make it easier for the next owner of the Vito property to get a variance!

Norm Baas and the Warner/MacIntosh administration have conspired to disobey a court order just so they can punish the Delapa’s for seeking justice. The court determined that the Delapa’s wre in the right and told the town to act. They have refused to act and schemed to alter the law to punish the innocent.

The Zoning Board has already met in secret and illegal “executive sessions” to plan the strategy.

This action will send a clear message to all the sleazy, creepy disreputable developers in the five county area: “Come to Hamlin! We do NOT enforce the law and we’ll find a way to reward you if you break it!”


What a town!

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Citizens Pitch-In

It looks like the helpful residents of Hamlin are pitching in to help locate a buyer for the Burkes Hardware property.

The project began when realtor, Kyle Rath, placed the For-Sale sign. Knowing the direction Hamlin was developing, he naturally thought that the parcel would make an excellent location for a new gas station.

A good realtor knows that sometimes you have to stimulate potential buyers to "think outside the box." He sought to give people ideas on how to develop the property.

Other alert citizens soon joined in the effort! Many, many residents understand the unfettered liberalism of the Planning and Zoning Boards. They have seen the kinds of dangerous, undermining and commercially disastrous decisions these Boards have made about Hamlin's future. They have witnessed the fear and uncertainty of the boards. They have seen how these men and women are incapable of saying “NO” to any project or proposal. Hamlin residents know that they cannot rely on local government to limit growth. The concept is over the heads of our officials.

So, what the hell!? Let’s go for it. Let’s get this property sold! Maybe a Dangerous Dog Kennel? Maybe a K-Mart or Rite-Aid. Maybe a CLUSTER of cell-towers! Maybe a nice strip mall with an insurance company/sub-shop/tanning & nails/pizza parlor/liquor store/bagel shop/diner? That sounds GOOD! Man, Hamlin will Really be a MODERN town then!

Keep the ideas coming folks! Send an email here if you like and we’ll publish the ideas. Let’s show local government that we have all given up! Let’s show the Warner/MacIntosh administration that Hamlin residents support the kind of development that trashes the future of the community! Let’s get out there and show our support!