I’m taking two weeks to go hiking, kayaking and horseback riding…so this blog is on hold until I get back. However, I may pop in from time to time over the next 14 days.—who knows?

I trust the world will still be here when I get back.

Tomorrow’s column is about next year’s race for Westchester District attorney, a campaign which, believe it or not, is already beginning to take shape with a couple of opponents either officially or unofficially mounting a charge against incumbent Janet DiFiore.

It’s one my longer columns because there are so many players in this drama, among them Sam Zherka, the publisher of the Westchester Guardian and a committed enemy of DiFiore’s.

I talked to Zherka on the phone about any possible role he might have in the D.A.’s race in 2009, since he gave so much money to the ill-fated campaign of Dennis Robertson, a Democrat who attempted to unseat Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone last year. Zherka’s fortune is owed in part to the receipts of a strip club he owns, which made it a little awkward for Robertson, an avowed family man.

Anyway, Zherka told me that while he won’t commit to any one candidate, he’d vote for anyone other than DiFiore. He said he’d even vote for me.

He said “90 percent of politicians are liars.” And that he only backed Robertson because Amicone’s henchmen removed 56 Guardian vending boxes off the streets of Yonkers.

“If he never stole my news racks, I wouldn’t have spent a nickel on that race,” he said, adding that 20 boxes are still missing, despite the fact he won a First Amendment lawsuit against the city.

That line didn’t make it into tomorrow’s column. Nor did Zherka’s interesting and as yet unsubstantiated claim that he has had lunch with County Executive Andy Spano on numerous occasions and that Spano has been a guest at his house “a half-dozen times.”

Politi

 I can hear Paul Feiner leading the cheer now: “Hey, Greenbugh—We’re Number 80! We’re Number 80!”

That’s the ranking Money magazine just gave Greenburgh, 80th on a list of 100 American cities.  Coming in first was Plymouth, Minn. (Say what?)

Greenburgh was praised for its parks and “remarkably open government.”  But this will make Feiner’s political enemies sick to their stomachs. The town supervisor is cited for making “house calls” to settle grievances.

Here’s the top 10

 Greenburgh Town Suprvisor Paul Feiner appeared on my WVOX radio program, “HIgh Noon” last week to give his “take” on the county’s controversial plan to purchas and renovate a building owned by one of Andy Spano’s major campaign donors.

Feiner has been waging an uphill battle to do away with county government, and believes the county executive’s move only adds ammunition to the cause. What do you think?

Listen to the Podcast:

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I usually don’t bother to respond to letters to the editor. After all, in my line of work, you learn to give as good as you get and vice versa. Everybody is entitled to their opinion and after 10 years of column writing, I’ve taken some shots without giving a reply. It goes with the territory.
However, after some thought I decided that I should probably comment on one recently published missive that suggested that my columns were at least partially to blame for Westchester County Board Chairman Bill Ryan’s heart problems. Ryan successfuly underwen open heart surgery a couple of weeks ago.

Here’s the letter in full that was published in The Journal News on June 27:

 

• I hope columnist Phil Reisman is satisfied. His recent uncalled-for, incessant, continuing attacks on Westchester County legislative Chairman Bill Ryan have surely contributed to Ryan’s need for bypass surgery. Stress can seriously affect health. Although it is true that the recent effort of Ryan to increase county legislator salaries was over-reaching, it most certainly did not warrant the continued attacks on Ryan’s integrity. Those of us who have known Bill Ryan since he began his political career know without a doubt that he is an honest, hard-working, dedicated public servant.


• If Reisman wants to serve the good of the public, he should go after the politicians who have really betrayed the public trust. They are well-known and not a bit hard to find. Reisman’s vendetta against Ryan is yellow journalism. He owes Ryan an apology

No doubt I was tough in my reporting, but it wasn’t personal. Indeed, my “vendetta” is only against governmental greed—and in my view, Ryan’s attempt at a salary grab was nothing short of greedy, especially at a time when so many people are facing wage stagnation, higher taxes and job loss. If I harbor any satisfaction at all, it’s because his effort failed.

I know nothing of Ryan’s health history in terms of his diet or exercise habits. However, I always took him at his word that he worked ridiculously long hours. His self-imposed work regimen was something he used to justify the idea of raising his pay beyond that of a part-time legislator.

In a March 20 column, I wrote the following:

“Ryan claims he toils from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., which sounds like the daily regimen of those workaholic Tokyo executives who never go home, rarely sleep and end up dropping dead on the street. In Japan, they have a word for this; it’s called ‘karoshi.’

“If the boss of the board is truly working these kinds of hours, and there is no reason to think he isn’t, then we must worry about his long-term health.”

Three months after those words were written, Ryan underwent heart bypass surgery. Less than two weeks later, he rushed back to the county board to participate in a vote on the county’s controversial $13. 6 million purchase and renovation of 450 Saw Mill River Road in Ardsley.

Only his doctor knows if that was a good idea. But I might suggest, as I did in March, that Ryan might do well for himself to slow down a little bit. His full recovery, it seems to me, depends on two things— good medical care and his own common sense.

In the meantime, I only wish him well.

Last night, the Westchester County Board of Legislators voted the way Andy Spano & Co. wished. They approved the $13 million-plus purchase of 450 Saw Mill River Road, a vacant office building in Ardsley that happens to be owned by one of the county executive’s favored campaign contributors, Jon Halpern.

The approval was not a surprise. Spano had the votes line up going in. Indeed, they were so confident that work on the building’s air conditioning was already going before the board meeting, according to my sources.

The deal screws Ardsley taxpayers because they”ll have to make up more than $192.000 in lost school tax revenue. Plus, Halpern is suing for a tax reduction going back four years., which will likely cost taxpayers many, many thousands of dollars.

Evidently, Spano and the legislators have been taking a great deal of heat for all this—and I’ve written more than a few columns on the subject. The public anger is so intense that Andy was moved to send out an e-mail, defending the purchase, repeating the rather dubious claim that the Ardsley building was the best deal out there and that anyone who disagrees (i.e. County Legislator Tom Abinanti and Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner) are “fiscally irresponsible.”

Received today, here’s the Spano e-mail in full, with my title added.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON A CROOKED DEAL

Thank you for contacting me about the purchase of 450 Saw Mill River Road. It is our understanding that your email is based on information you have received from Supervisor Paul Feiner. It is unfortunate that the information he is circulating is false and irresponsible. Here are the facts:

First of all, we do not want to buy any building, but are mandated by the federal government to purchase and store new voting machines. Without a place to store 1500 new voting machines and warehouse the old machines for two years, we’d be in violation of federal law.

Contrary to what you have heard, we have no county facility big enough to house these machines. The county building at 375 Executive Blvd. is full; it would cost $30 million to build a second story extension to increase it to a size necessary to house and maintain the machines.

We did not single out this property owner for special treatment. In fact the county sent out at three different times, requests for proposals to get the lowest price possible on a rental or a purchase. Repeatedly, the building at 450 Saw Mill River Road was by far the least expensive alternative.

Far from rushing this through without public notice, this proposal has been discussed publicly at Board of Legislature meetings and in the press for more than one year, as we attempted to get the best deal for our taxpayers.

Recognizing that taking the property off the tax rolls would be a hardship for the Ardsley School District, we offered to give the District $1 million in capital improvements to make up for the loss of tax revenue. Last year, the Ardsley school board approved the purchase in return for the $1 million. Yet Legislator Abinanti who represents this area, voted against it.

Paul Feiner sent a letter to us in January – not to oppose this purchase, but to ask for $50,000 for the town. The County Executive agreed.

The bottom line: Mr. Feiner (as well as Legislator Abinanti) is being fiscally irresponsible in opposing this purchase. The terms for the purchase of 450 Saw Mill River Road are the most advantageous to county taxpayers. We will get 85,000 square feet of space to use for the storage of the voting machines, needed administrative offices for the Department of Public Safety and storage of records. Plans were already being discussed to build a new Public Safety facility which our police department has greatly outgrown. So 450, besides being the best deal for the storage of the machines, is even more cost effective now that it eliminates a new public safety building which would have cost taxpayers almost $10 million to construct.

I am pleased to have this opportunity to set the record straight. It is of utmost importance to me to run a cost-effective, fiscally responsible government. I pride myself on this, and I assure you that I will continue to do so. I am well aware of the difficulties our residents are experiencing in this economy. That is precisely why I have worked so hard to get the most cost effective and best long term facility for the County.

For all of you who embrace the idea of abolishing Westchester County government, here’s a book for your summer reading list. The title is “County Government in Connecticut. It’s History and Demise” by Rosaline Levenson (1966).

You frequently hear people say if Connecticut can get by without county government, then why can’t Westchester. Well, this book goes into how Connecticut did away with the county system.

Here are some excerpts:

“On the day that the counties ended their near 300 year existence, it is doubtful if many persons other than public officials and political figures were aware of the occasion. For the most part, the passing of Connecticut’s county governments occurred quietly and unnoticed by most people.” (pg 2-3)

“…criticisms of conduct ranging from secretiveness with which county operations are sometimes carried out to actual acts of malfeasance.” (pg 10)

James Bryce in the American Commonwealth in 1888: “Counties are the dark continent of American politics.”

There was strong resistance from some politicians because it “provided a lucrative source of patronage to whichever political party controlled the General Assembly.”

Abraham Rubicoff, the Democratic nominee for Governor in 1954, described the
counties as a “governmental fifth wheel that is neither efficient nor representative…” and existed “for purely political purposes of power, prestige and patronage.” (pg 118)

Westchester County’s pending purchase and renovation of 450 Saw Mill River Road in the town of Greenburgh has given new life to the anti-county government movement.

Tomorrow’s meeting of the Board of Legislators is expected to attract a contingent of protesters led by Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, who opposes the purchase of the vacant office building because it will take the property off the tax rolls. The impact would be especially felt by the Ardsley school district which currently reaps more than $192,000 a year in taxes from the building.

County Executive Andy Spano wants to buy and renovate the building in order to store 1,600 new voting machines. As I noted in my Sunday column, the total cost of the deal is pegged at $13.6 millon, which will certainly help the building’s owner, John Halpern, a generous contributor to Spano’s election campaigns.

One thing I didn’t know, but found out today: It turns out that Halpern’s firm, Ardsley Partners III, is also in the process of suing Greenburgh for a tax reduction. So, not only would the building no longer pay taxes, the town may end up paying Halpern untold thousands in rebates!

Here’s a $13.6 million question: Why is Westchester County buying a vacant office building at 450 Saw Mill River Road in Ardsley?

They’re going to store voting machines there, but it seems that a cheap circus tent could  just easily do the trick. Well, I’ve written about this in my column and touched a couple of sore spots with the Spanoista regime when I pointed out that the owner of the building, Jon Halpern, happens to be a generous campaign donor to the county executive.

Anyway, we’re going to talk about this deal today on my “High Noon” radio program. Our guest via telephone will be County Legislator Tom Abinanti, D-Greenburgh, who  has opposed the sale.

Tune in to 1460 AM at noon, or log onto wvox.com. Calls as usual will be taken at 914-636-0110.

PODCAST:

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I was off last week, and for the sake of sanity I disconnected from e-mail and voice mail, only to return today and find my various mail boxes filled with messages—mostly crap.

However, one missive that caught my eye came from the wily impresario of the radio airwaves, my old pal, William O’Shaughnessy of Whitney Media in New Rochelle. On June 23, the O-man wrote a letter to his attorney, Erwin Krasnow, about the recent death of the 71-year-old comedian George Carlin. One of Carlin’s famous bits had to do with the seven words you can’t say on radio.

O’Shaughnessy wrote:

“Counselor:

“We were going to lower the flag to half mast in George Carlin’s honor…but then I got a better idea.

“I am instead going to—in his honor—read the “SEVEN DIRTY WORDS” on the air!

“Could you please advise which time slot you think would be the most appropriate to honor this great man.

“And, could you please e-mail me the actual seven words? (I can think of a few.)

“Please get back to me ASAP.”

What a jokester. He even added an unprintable post script to the letter…and needless to say, the attorney took the whole thing seriously. The FCC can breathe easy. By the way, Bill, you don’t lower the flat at half mast. It’s half staff.