New York State of Corruption – Rural Tompkins County

“The World According to Doctrine” — Ithaca: the place where everybody wants to live

Ithaca is the place where everybody wants to live: because it’s the only place in the county where people have individual worth.

While Ithaca rules the county – it never leads by example. Their plan to blanket rural Lansing with CAFOs is balanced by their own petition to the New York State Supreme Court: enumerating serious concerns about lack of CAFO and Agricultural regulation and oversight, lack of disclosure, and the possible effects of modern farming practices on their own residents and the their own town’s environment. Lansing’s puppet government has expressed no concerns at all.

Ithaca is Camelot: A castle community where people dump their slop on the unprotected commoners outside the walls – without a second thought.

Where would you want to live?

“The World According to Doctrine” — New Normal Corruption – “Lines of Defense”

In our government’s protective reflex to swat away any annoyance, its first response is to “Discredit the Complainant” who is causing the trouble.

When it comes to discrediting the facts that conflict with and undermine government policy making decisions; authorities can choose from a number of passive and proactive methods. A bureaucratic favorite is to present the public with background information that deliberately misrepresents, and even omits key facts; in order to validate their chosen course of action.

If getting government authorities to admit the facts is difficult; getting them to accurately report a situation and make appropriate policy decisions is almost impossible. Not only do they occupy a “high ground” that allows them to cite everything from jobs to jurisprudence as an excuse; they can change the ground rules to suit their objectives.

An important part of today’s regulatory process is how well it works to protect the interests of those who are regulated. Our government continually legislates ineffectual regulations; that effectively protect the wrongdoers.

“The World According to Doctrine” — “The shortest running musical on Broadway”

“It is what it is” young thugs say dismissively – not worrying about what’s coming round the corner. It’s not that experts don’t know the disaster rolling towards us – they’re keeping quiet – and bidding for a place in the lifeboat.

“The World According to Doctrine” — “If representative government isn’t dead . . .”

What’s the biggest stumbling block to representative government? Silence.

The first choice of politicians to address any unwelcome problem is silence. The second is to pass you on. The third it to blame someone else. The fourth is silence. The fifth is silence . . .

Tompkins County politicians’ “vision of the future” is “based on a set of principles that reflect the values of the community as expressed by the County Legislature they have elected” – does that sound like representative government to you?

Since Tompkins County residents overwhelming believe that their government is corrupt and there is no meaningful participation – they don’t either.

The response of Tompkins County officials to their decisions is: Take it or leave it – there’s nothing you can do about it. And if you want to question, debate, disclose, or document issues — silence.

“The World According to Doctrine” — New Normal Corruption – “Gown and Crown”

When a Tompkins County Department Director blatantly lied about existing conditions to avoid regulating influential corporations — nobody did anything.

When the County Ethics Advisory Board was informed of this — they would not even acknowledge the incident.

When I told residents that I was writing a book documenting the circumstantial case for widespread misconduct and corruption in Tompkins County — they frequently said: “It’s going to be a big book!”

When I sent copies of the book to County officials — they would not even acknowledge they received it.

When I sent copies of the book to University and College authorities and professors — none of them would acknowledge they received it.

The County Code of Ethics declares: “Public officers and employees must observe a high degree of moral conduct to maintain public confidence” — while the overwhelming opinion of the public is that the County is corrupt. Everybody know which is correct.

“All Roads Lead to Cornithaca” – “Revised Constitution Bumper Sticker”

After many emails to County authorities with no acknowledgement of my question: “what requirements the residents of other local roads fulfilled to get approval for their “4 Ton” weight limit for non-local traffic”; I received the following response:

“Residents don’t decide where signs are placed. Petitions hold no merit. Roads are posted for other reasons.”

This is an excellent example of Black Box Bureaucracy: even when Tompkins County authorities are willing to respond; there is nothing to get ahold of — not only is there no meaningful public participation in the decision making process; there is no disclosure of why these decisions are made, or even who is making them.

What are the “other reasons” behind their decision that roads in some areas have a 4-Ton limit, and rural roads like Lansingville Road get a 20-Ton limit? Is it that we’re not golfing partners? Or because we didn’t make a big campaign contribution? Or maybe it’s just that we’re rural and have no place in their “vision” of a future society.

The role of Tompkins County government in the continued thru-cutting of large industrial trucks on rural roads will be fully documented and exposed in “Tompkins County and Tammany Hall.”

NEW BOOK – “Tompkins County and Tammany Hall” – Preface

Preface

“Early Sunday morning, June 4, 2017, I was sicker than I had ever been before.

Too sick to even bend over, as I vomited all over the toilet, myself, and the bathroom floor— and I didn’t even care.

The previous afternoon, when I was outside mowing the lawn, a high-clearance agricultural boom sprayer sped towards me from an adjoining field and sprayed me with a cloud of a toxic herbicide.”

This issue is unresolved; and so are all the other issues and incidents presented in this book. The complete lack of any meaningful or substantive action on the part of authorities in Tompkins County and New York State was a driving force behind continued efforts to publish this book and get a positive resolution for the county’s marginalized rural community.

My “closure” in writing these narratives was not the bureaucratic closing of a file; but the act of keeping those files open and exposed to public view — and, hopefully, public pressure.

The circumstantial nature of these accusations is greatly strengthened by a singular lack of any contradictory evidence. Every incident I was able find has the same “earmarks” and points in the same direction. The sole basis for selection was the amount of documentation available through public records and my personal involvement.

Any effective circumstantial case depends on the number of facts that support a single conclusion: I have sometimes sacrificed readability in an effort to present those facts. This is not a Detective Story, it’s not a “who-done-it”; it’s a “what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it?”

In our government’s “vision” of society; there seems to be no room for public participation, approval, or oversight of its actions — we need to replace that vision, and that power, with ours.

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Everyone I talk to in the rural community thinks that Tompkins County government is corrupt and biased, although many are afraid to speak out in public. There are those who believe that my herbicide spraying was in retaliation for my advocacy of Rural Social Justice.

Urban Colonialism, like other colonial arguments, takes on a much darker form when its “greater good” rhetoric turns to on the ground boot heels in rural towns and villages.

This book exposes only a part, but a part is enough to begin with. The rest is just the same — and it stretches farther than you would believe.

“All Roads Lead to Cornithaca” – Cornithaca Road Signs – “Discredit the Witness”

There is a certain animal cunning in the survival tactics that authorities employ to protect their acts of corruption and misconduct from exposure; but they follow predictable pathways, and leave recognizable tracks.

One of their most common tactics is exemplified the progression in these signs. The first two steps: “Discredit the Witness” and “Discredit the Facts”; need no explanation. The third step; “Discredit the Context,” is the deliberate attempt to minimize and trivialize the incident or issue; they will claim that it’s been exaggerated to obtain money, or notoriety, that it’s a political attack, and more recently; to use scams like TDML to convince the public that everything is now under control, and there is no need to investigate or take further action.

If inquiries persist; authorities pull together to create an inescapable maze of “in-house” adjudications: by conducting investigations that ignore all pertinent material, handing the issue back to the group accused of the misconduct for a self-investigation, or falling back on the legality of a permit or a regulation that has been formulated for just this sort of eventuality — thereby effectively “caulking” all the cracks.

“Tompkins County and Tammany Hall” may be able to document and expose corruption — but that doesn’t mean anything will be done about it.

“All Roads Lead to Cornithaca” – Cornithaca Road Signs – “Corruption’s Just a State of Mind”

Corruption is sophisticated, corruption is the “Wild West” — it’s cool, it’s a tool, if you’re upstanding up you’re a fool.

Ethics committees are only for show; they’re a calming measure for the public. It’s not just that they’re useless in promoting an ethical government — every complaint gives a warning to those involved that it’s time to cover up and put on an act of innocence.

Corruption, like bias in government policies, is considered a means to an end — and no more subject to ethical review than the self-serving results it achieves.

Corruption is the cost of doing business. It’s the cost of keeping your job.

Corruption on the quiet.

“All Roads Lead to Cornithaca” – Cornithaca Road Signs – “All Your Excuses”

All the talk of “it’s your actions that define you” is just talk. And it’s more talk that’s used to cover all those actions and empty claims: loud talk, aggressive and threatening talk.

That’s because we’re living in a world of adolescents — because there is no need, and very little pressure to grow up. And there’s always somebody in the background waiting to make some money and grab some power by encouraging it.

Responsibility has come to mean means that other people have to take care of you — and they will; until it’s time for the shearing . . . or the “bleat” “it’s not fair” “bleat” silence.