MONROE COUNTY TAXPAYERS AWAIT AG REPORT ON LDC DEBACLE

Rochester, N.Y.--  According to the D&C, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has forwarded his audit of a local development corporation contracted to manage Monroe County’s information technology systems to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to review for any potential criminal wrongdoing.  To read a copy of the audit, you can go here.

The audit, a draft of which was reported in the Democrat and Chronicle on Sunday, charged that the county wasted millions of taxpayer dollars creating and contracting with the local development corporation, Upstate Telecommunications Corp., and appeared to misled legislators into approving the deal.

Auditors also charged that the agreement violated county law, and suggested the deal was orchestrated by a small circle of county government insiders who either stood to gain or inappropriately influence the contract.

“It is hard to see how the use of a (local development corporation) in this instance was in any way good for Monroe County taxpayers,” DiNapoli said today in releasing the final version of the audit.

Responding to inquiries last week about the draft of the audit, the county denied any wrongdoing and said its timing appeared to be politically motivated.

Editor's Note:  The taxpayers of Monroe County know better than to accept the county's media response to the NYS Comptroller's report.  When asked point blank to respond to these developments, the Brooks administration reverts back to their small-minded spin language to divert your attention away from the facts, data, testimony and truth of the matter.  When they can't twist the facts as they see fit, they rely on the ol' trusty "politically motivated" angle.  It will not work this time.

A reasonable response would of bordered something like this:  "We want to reassure the taxpayers of Monroe County that we are cooperating in every way possible to find remedies and solutions to any issues surrounding the creation and implementation of local development corporations."  Instead, and in predictable fashion, they had to get defensive and attack the messenger and plead "not guilty."

The taxpayers of Monroe County see right through this thinly-disguised charade perpetrated on the citizens of our community.  Their dismissive attitude toward the same people they were sworn to represent and their arrogant soundbites to suggest they are beyond reproach makes this all the more unpalatable.  Frankly speaking, the petulance and smugness is an embarrassment to every citizen who cares about democracy and good government.

Sooner or later, the questionable actions of this administration would reach a tipping point-- and now it has.  People are fed up.  People are tired of being manipulated and lied to.  Most of us know better now-- the majority of taxpayers in Monroe County are finally waking up to this pay-to-play, nepotistic, self-serving corrupt system we call county government.  This particular LDC debacle is just the tip of the iceberg.  Just you wait.

To read an earlier Voice Reporter post about the LDC debacle, you can go here.