Hate to say I told you so...

Chris Collins has apparently decided the Apprenticeship Law shouldn't be followed. The Legislature, led by Lynn Marinelli, made it legal for him not too.

One of the few decent accomplishments by Lynn Marinelli in her tenure as Chairperson is approval of the Apprenticeship Law. However, due to Lynn Marinelli's belief that the County Legislature attorney is there for campaign donations and the County Executive's attorney is there for real legal work (See here), the Legislature got caught with their pants down.

From today's Buffalo Business First article "Collins suspends apprenticeship law"

To suspend the law, Collins on July 21 submitted a new set of rules and regulations that withdrew the apprenticeship requirement to the Erie County Legislature. The Legislature’s majority had 60 days to block the new set of rules, but failed to do so.

“We did this in the open,” Collins said. “This has been in the light of the day for the past 60 days. We did not try to sneak it past anyone.”

One would expect that at the very least the County Legislature attorney would go over the items submitted by the County Executive and would catch this. But I guess when you have to hand over 20% of your salary in campaign donations, their really isn't much expected of you.

Maybe she did catch it and Lynn Marinelli didn't care. Who knows. Lynn Marinelli is either incompetent or she just figured out a way for Chris Collins to get what he wanted without having to oppose building trade unions.

Way to FAIL Lynn.

Our first ad

Why would lawmakers need a lawyer?

If you were going to court, wouldn’t you want to have a better lawyer than your oppenent? One person who does not subscribe to this train of thought is none other than Lynn Marinelli.

Lynn Marinelli hired as the Majority counsel to the Legislature Jennifer C. Persico of Mosey Persico LLP. She will receive an annual stipend in the 2008 budget of $22,000 and no benefits.

For $22,000/year, one does not expect a qualified and experienced lawyer to work more than 8 hours a week. In order to be an independent body, Lynn Marinelli really should have asked for more money to hire a qualified and experienced lawyer, which Ms. Persico appears to be, so the majority caucus could have more access to legal guidance. Lynn Marinelli, however, doesn’t even think she needs access to a $22,000/year lawyer.

On March 13, 2008, Lynn sent out a press release announcing she hired her Jennifer C. Persico for this position. On June 25, 2008, just three months later, Jennifer Persico “donated” $1,500 to Friends of Lynn Marinelli. Since that time, Jennifer Persico donated $500 to fellow turncoat Democrat Tim Wroblewski. In less than six months, in which Jennifer Persico would have received $11,000 (pre-tax), she gave campaign donations of $2,000. Is Jennifer Persico really doing anything for the Legislature other than returning taxpayer money to turncoat Democrats campaign accounts?

Who does Lynn Marinelli believes need a high-payed attorney. Republican Chris Collins of course? Lynn Marinelli voted to give County Attorney Cheryl Green a $30,000 raise before she worked a day. At the time, she was quoted as saying "I don't remember an instance where we have had such a conversation about how much someone is being paid." I guess the conversation she had with Jennifer Persico in which they discussed how much of her paycheck would be “donated” to her campaign account must have been shorter.

I guess when you plan on rubber-stamping every single one of the Republican County Executive’s initiatives; you don’t really need a good lawyer of your own.

21st Century Commission

Lynn Marinelli has shown us her true color once again - Republican Red.
From PoliticsNY.net

Lynn Marinelli (D-Buffalo, Tonawanda), Chair of the Erie County Legislature, today announced the appointments to the 21st Century Commission. This volunteer group will be charged with studying and advancing its recommendations for the future structure and functions of the Erie County Legislature, subject to voter approval via the public referendum process.

Marinelli named Martha Lamparelli of Buffalo as Chair of the Commission.

So who did Lynn Marinelli put as Chairman of this Commission that may very well determine the number of seats of the County Legislature and redistricting of County Legslature seats? Republican Bigwig Martha Lamparelli. In fact, she was Lynn's opponent in the 2003 General Election.

Some more facts about Marinelli appointee Martha Lamparelli:

• Donated $500 to Chris Collins during his 2007 run for County Executive
• Donated $575 to the Erie County Republican Party between 2006 and 2007
• Donated $250 to Republican District Attorney candidate Diane Lavallee
• Donated $1,000 to George Bush in 2004!!!
• Donated no money to Democratic Candidates in last 4 years

Why would Lynn Marinelli put a Republican in charge of such an important Commission – one that has the power to redistrict the County Legislature to make it more Republican-friendly? Because she really doesn’t want the Democratic Party to succeed in the Erie County Legislature.

100% of the Republicans supported her for Chairman to the Legislature
41% of the Democrats supported her for Chairman to the Legislature
59% of the Democrats opposed her re-election as Chairperson

She probably figures if she adds another Republican or two, it will make it easier for her to retain her Chairmanship.

John Greenan

At yesterday's session, the Erie County Legislature reappointed Republican John Greenan to Erie County Personnel Commissioner. This is what Lynn said, according to the Buffalo News:

“He’s done a good job, and a lot of the work he’s done was hailed in today’s session,” Marinelli said.

In August, we learned how Republican John Greenan ran his Dept. From a Aug 1, 2008 Buffalo News article:

A ranking official in the Erie County Personnel Department was suspended without pay for five days last week on a sexual-harassment complaint, filed by the subordinate who trains county employees on the harassment policy.
Joseph Murphy returned this week to his $75,000-a-year job -- principal executive assistant to Personnel Commissioner John W. Greenan .
It goes on:

Greenan said. "As a result of that investigation, Mr. Murphy was suspended for one week. This was the first time I had received a specific complaint from Mrs. Fanti regarding harassment."
Fanti disputes Greenan on that point. She says Murphy 's behavior has been a long-term problem that Greenan had not addressed.
"John laughs it off and says, 'That's just Murphy ,' " she said.

Joeseph Murphy is back on the job and Lynn Marinelli thinks John Greenan is doing a great job. The only logicial conclusion that we can reach from this is either Lynn Marinelli supports sexual harrassment or John Greenan helped land Lynn Marinelli cronies some patronage jobs.
Democrats don't tolerate sexual harrassment in the workplace Lynn. You should know, you've been pretending to be one for almost 20 years.

Welcome

Welcome to the Lynn Marinelli Is a Republican blog. I am a Kenmore resident since 1991, originally from the Albany area. I am a life-long Democrat and bleed Democratic Blue.
This blog is dedicated to exposing Lynn Marinelli for what she really is - a Republican. If she wants to continue to run for County Legislator, that is fine - just do it as a Republican. She switched over to being a Democrat so she can get a patronage job when she was younger, and hasn't moved back. This blog will expose her Republican position and her support for Republican politicians, including Joel Giambra and Chris Collins.
We hope to keep you interested.
Thanks.