The CSEA Doth Protest Too Much

I seem to have hit a nerve with my letter to the editor dated March 16, 2011 entitled, aptly as it turns out, In the Center Ring . Describing the machinations of our county board of legislators as a circus I attempted to explain the absurdity of the board's tacitly working in tandem with a public employee union as it pursued a lawsuit against the County Executive -in effect enabling a special interest group to sue the citizens of Westchester - whom they were ostensibly elected to represent.

In that letter I mis-characterized the status of the board regarding the union's lawsuit when I wrote;

"Although the CSEA is suing the County they are really suing you and me, the taxpayers, since we pay for all lawsuits - legitimate or not. So the CSEA is suing us - but your county legislature joined the suit - on the side of the CSEA ! That's right, against us, the tax payers. We are being sued and our county legislature is backing the union that is suing us. Or another way to look at it is - our legislators are suing the taxpayers."

"It gets worse, or better , depending on how much humor you find in these things. The board then sued to prevent Rob Astorino from using the county attorney, whom he appointed, to represent us, and again for whom we pay taxes. No, said our board, the county attorney must represent "the County"- which they define as the board of legislators -and join with them and the CSEA in suing us. Astorino,to defend us, must hire his own counsel."

I subsequently discovered the board did not yet “join” the CSEA suit at the time I wrote this-- nor had they yet decided whether or not to actually sue Astorino. So I was wrong. Of course when you're looking down the barrel of a gun the fact that the gunman has not yet decided to pull the trigger - while more desirable than the alternative - is none the less not exactly reassuring.

Before I could correct my letter - by deleting joined the suit and replacing sued with considered acting - a letter was published from Billy Riccaldo -Southern Region President of the CSEA. The letter called me to task for writing that the board had joined the suit - when they had not (yet). He then wrote my letter amounted to spewing inaccurate information in an attempt to turn the public against the victims in this case.

Well now - Any fair reading of my letter would conclude that it is the time wasting behavior of the board of legislators that is my target. I address those who've been engaged for more than a year in doing anything possible to thwart Rob Astorino's efforts – the value or merit of the matter at hand be damned. That has not changed. This latest tempest if anything confirmed my belief that the board was on the verge of publicly supporting the lawsuit, was in fact already actively involved behind the scenes and only backed off when the media got wind of it. It was Jenkin's own words that led me to that conclusion, which I'll explain shortly.

I was mulling my response to Mr. Riccaldo when an interesting document appeared over the transom ( h/t Alan Simpson ) e mailed to the publisher of this blog with instructions to forward it to me. It was a letter from early February - fully six weeks before board member Peter Harckham got all worked up on You Tube of all places in defense of his esteemed colleagues. The letter was from Chairman Jenkins to the County Attorney (remember him?) ordering him to not only not file a motion to dismiss on behalf of the board, but instead to answer the CSEA's suit by asserting cross claims against Astorino! Jenkins specified these claims “...would essentially mirror the 3 claims asserted by the CSEA”. I included the letter in it's entirety as a link so you can read it for yourself. It's unbelievable.

So the CSEA is getting all in a lather on this site demanding I apologize to the 38 members who were fired ( calling them “victims” ) for the "lies" I repeated, all the while knowing full well they've been working in tandem with Chairman Jenkins for at least 6 weeks now! More likely they've colluded from the onset since anyone who knows anything about the symbiotic relationship between democratic legislators and the public employee unions knows the CSEA would never have even commenced a law suit in the first place without the consent and participation of the elected officials in question. The fact that the CSEA included the board as a respondent was a red herring that should fool no one.

Regardless, there is now proof that Jenkins at least was actively supporting the union- against the taxpayers- since February 3rd. The question is – did he act alone - a rogue chairman if you will? When Peter Harckham got up and did his outrage soliloquy ( kind of a mash up of Khrushchev with the shoe and the Checkers speech ) was he aware that his chairman had in fact done the very thing of which he was outraged to have been even accused? If he was he should be ashamed of himself. If he wasn't he must be really really angry with Jenkins for making him look so foolish. Only Harckham can answer that.

Regarding the predictable responses that I'm an operative merely restating Astorino's talking points - in my brief bio when I stated up front that I was a former political operative I did not state for which party. Perhaps I should have. The fact is I'm a registered Democrat. Moreover since I first voted for Jimmy Carter I can count on one hand the number of times I supported a Republican.

Rob Astorino is one of those times. The thing that Jenkins and the CSEA isn't getting is that I'm not alone here. Astorino won decisively because many voters unaligned with either party chose him over Spano and, more important, so did many Democrats. The Democratic majority on the board does not have a mandate to ensure the County Executive we elected is rendered powerless at all costs. This scorched earth mentality does not benefit anyone other than the players who live to play such games.

I think my last letter provoked the response it did from readers, who apparently copied it and mailed it all over Westchester, because they find this behavior equally deplorable. Sending a CSEA paid employee to attack me for repeating talking points is beyond ridiculous when you consider the source. If my opinion of this mess is similar to the County Executive's ( and for the record I don't receive his fund raising missives – I imagine they're for contributors and Republicans – I'm neither) consider that it could be the only logical conclusion to which a reasonable adult can come.

All the CSEA's righteous indignation - on full display in this letter - is a sham – a ploy. The truth is they've been in league with the board all along and Ken Jenkin's letter is the proof. Now who owes whom an apology, Billy.

Charmian Neary is a bored housewife and former Democratic political operative from Rye New York who is much better at politics than homemaking.