At Least He is a Better Liar Than Spitzer

Unbelievable. Unfathomable. Incredible. Inconceivable. ... ... ...


The latest reversal in stories by the Watertown Daily Times this week as they relate to the Darrel Aubertine saga was something else I'll tell ya. Here is how it played out from the start...
On Saturday, the Times prints a positive piece about how Aubertine is such a man of the people that he turned down a high paying energy job. They made Aubertine out to be some sort of populist-hero from the Obama generation. Aubertine's office is quoted as saying:

"'I was offered the opportunity to serve as NYPA chairman last week,' Sen. Aubertine said. 'I'm certainly very, very flattered to not only have been considered, but to have been offered the position. After discussions with my family and friends, my decision was to keep my commitment to the people of the 48th Senate district.'"

Then comes his politician spin (i.e. "We need to stay focused on the issues at stake in the this session of the legislature and not let this story distract us... [because I lied and I don't want people to think about me lying...]").

We also find out days later that it was all a lie and that Aubertine was never really offered the NYPA job. The LUV-GOV2, Gov. David Patterson, responded in today's WDT print regarding Aubertine's alleged refusal to take the job or that it was even offered by Patterson's administration. The story goes on to say:

"Conflicting reports emerged Monday afternoon over whether the governor tried to lure a north country state senator into his administration.

In a press conference at the state Capitol, Gov. David A. Paterson said emphatically that he did not offer Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, a job at the New York Power Authority.

'That's a good question,' the governor said in response to a reporter. 'I didn't offer him a job. I don't believe anyone in my office did. That's his (Aubertine's) interpretation.'

So did the governor mean to suggest that the senator was lying?

'Didn't I say 'interpretation'?' Gov. Paterson replied, insisting he didn't know why Mr. Aubertine would have gotten the impression he had been offered the position.

'The same reason you got the idea that I said he was lying, when I said it was his interpretation. He misunderstood, I guess,' Gov. Paterson said. 'But I don't know the reason. I haven't actually seen Darrel in the month of June or the month of May. I haven't seen him in a long time.'"

So here we learn that Aubertine lied about being offered the job in the first place.

Here is what people need to know.... Not only is Aubertine at odds with NYS Senate Ethics for illegally hiring his own sister, he is also a liar. And a bad liar at that. I guess we should give ol' Aubertine some credit though; at least he can cover it up better than his old pal, Eliot Spitzer.

Meanwhile, the Watertown Daily Times fails to mention his competitor on the GOP side. So we'll name him here... David Renzi. Renzi comes from a fine family in Watertown that has made its name in medicine, law, and business. We have quite a stark contrast in candidates for the 48th Senate District this year. On the one hand we have Aubertine, who is a piss-poor representative that breaks the same ethics laws he votes for, who lies about being offered a cozy job in order to make himself look good, and who has a poor relationship with the current Democratic Governor. On the other hand we have a fresh, young, vibrant leader named Renzi who comes from a respectable family. Renzi is ready and able to make the tough, but important, reforms in Albany that will benefit our community.

The choice is patently clear to all of us here in the North Country. David Renzi is our guy for the 48th New York State Senate seat come this November!

Have a great day and please tell your friends to check out the Good Old Boys on the web at: www.upstategoodoldboys.blogspot.com.

Nepotism in New York, part 2

Big story in today's Watertown Daily Times.


It appears that Mr. Aubertine was so excited to be the new Senator of his district that he left his ethics at home... The Watertown Daily Times reported first, and we here at UGOB raised questions next, that Aubertine has hired his sister and that it could raise state ethics questions. Interesting how Aubertine voted for the bill in the NYS Assembly which prohibits the hiring of family members. Is this story over or does it have some legs?

What a difficult week for Mangione to balance! Our next question is: Can you knowingly hire a communications director that does illegal drugs? Is there a law/ethics rule against that?

At any rate, we'll take the credit here for our posting on Wednesday, April 23. Good thing the Albany Correspondent was on top of the ball, Jude Seymour was just going to gloss over it.

UPDATE: We try to stay as balanced as we can here at UGOB! Today, the managing editor of the Watertown Daily Times, Mr. Bob Gorman, notified us that Jude Seymour does not cover the Albany political beat. That distinction goes to the reporter who did end up covering the story, Tom Wanamaker. We apologize that we "speculated" Jude Seymour was glossing over Mr. Aubertine's ethics violation.

We are confident that the Watertown Daily Times will see to it that Debra Wiley does not get paid by the New York State taxpayers for the week she did work as Mr. Aubertine's constituent relations pro.


Aubertine's sister quits as liaison
RESIGNATION ACCEPTED: Reform that the senator voted for in Assembly prohibits hiring family members
By TOM WANAMAKER
TIMES ALBANY CORRESPONDENT

TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2008
ALBANY — State Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, said Monday night that his sister, Debra A. Wiley, Cape Vincent, has resigned her position as a constituent liaison in his office.

Ms. Wiley was appointed to the post last week, but a statement issued by Sen. Aubertine's communications director, Drew G. Mangione, said questions on whether the appointment followed state law prompted the senator to investigate the propriety of the move. The questions were posed Monday by the Watertown Daily Times.

In a statement, Mr. Mangione said: "Earlier today, Senator Aubertine became aware of a situation involving the employment of his sister, Debra A. Wiley, in his Senate office. After reviewing the appropriate policies, Debra has submitted her resignation and our office has accepted it."

Ethics reform legislation enacted in the early months of former Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer's administration generally prohibits the hiring of family members by sitting members of the state Legislature.

Section 73, subdivision 14 of New York's public officers law, adopted in March 2007, reads, in part: "No statewide elected official, state officer or employee, member of the Legislature or legislative employee may participate in any decision to hire, promote, discipline or discharge a relative for any compensated position at, for, or within any state agency, public authority, or the Legislature."

Exceptions may be granted for people with "a physical impairment," or for "the temporary hiring of legislative pages, interns and messengers."

The measure passed the Assembly on Feb. 14, 2007. It passed the Senate on March 7, 2007, and was signed into law by Gov. Spitzer on March 26, 2007.

Then representing the 118th Assembly district, Mr. Aubertine voted in favor of the measure.

"This was the proper course of action once we became aware of the potential conflict in this situation. Sen. Aubertine has been a longtime supporter of government reform and accountability and will continue to fight for strong ethics laws in Albany," the statement concluded.

Mr. Aubertine represents the 48th Senate District, which includes Jefferson and Oswego counties and part of St. Lawrence County. He took office March 3 after defeating Assemblyman William A. Barclay in a special election Feb. 26. The election was held to replace former Sen. James W. Wright, who resigned.

Times state editor Perry White contributed to this report.

Nepotism in NY?

Sorry that I, Mr. Thomas Nast, have been sleepless in Seattle for weeks and haven’t posted. But it has come to my attention that we have some serious nepotism in upstate New York politics, just when we thought those days were over!

Today, directly from the Watertown Daily Times we found out that our newly elected State Senator, Mr. Darrel J. Aubertine, has added several new staffers to the state’s payroll. One such staffer just happens to be his sister, Debra A. Wiley. Now the move is all fine and dandy, except her salary comes straight out of the wallet of the New York State taxpayer. Sounds like straight up nepotism to me. I wonder if the Watertown Daily Times and the writer, Jude Seymour, will follow up and find out just how much she is being paid for her new role as head of constituent liaisons… and I wonder how much Senator Jim Wright paid his constituent liaison staffer? If Wiley gets special treatment for being the new Senator’s sister will anyone make an issue of it when Aubertine wants to run for Congress?

On a positive note for Aubertine at least he can get this out of the way before his Congressional run in 2010 or 2012, depending on how long McHugh wants to stay in the US Congress. It looks like he is staying put and he is making a heck of a run for chair/ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. Bravo to Mr. McHugh!

I remember another former New York politician who sought to clean up New York politics, rid the state of nepotism, and special interest… his name was Eliot Spitzer. It looks like Hillary Clinton taught Aubertine well – reward those close to home.