DECEMBER 5 - DECEMBER 11, 1998
DECEMBER 11, 1998
The "boss" of Kane
We are all familiar with Michael A. Holtz, Kane Borough Manager. We have
watched him vacillate in the Cardimone Affair claiming that he never gave Mike permission
to remove articles from the burnt out property that the borough owned. We are also
all aware that the Attorney General did not believe him.
The Office of Attorney General, an office that I do not believe is an even handed
office when it investigated the affair, evidently felt that Mike was being less than
truthful. One of the investigators told a local law enforcement official that they had
definite reason to believe that he had in fact given Cardimone his permission to remove
paneling from the burnt out building. They felt that when he was questioned on the matter
he was less than truthful with them.
So what is the net result of this matter?
Holtz has walked away, dancing out of any complicity, and has left Mike Cardimone
holding the bag. Holtz is Lilly white and Cardimone is blackened. Was it necessary? Why
didn't Holtz own up to what he had done and get on with it. He could have said he thought
it was okay. What did Cardimone get anyway? Some smoke damaged wood work? My, that
must have been really valuable and I am sure that the Kane Borough taxpayers were really
damaged by Mike hauling off what was going to hauled away. It was all stupidity and
deception!
Everyone knows that I am no fan of Ray McMahon in Bradford. However,
Mike Holtz could take a few lessons from that man.
Kane Borough is in decay. Drive down the main drag and count the empty buildings. Talk
to the property owners and find out what they think. One business, when it could get
nowhere with the Borough, closed its doors after ten years and put eight people out of
work. Talk to landlords and see what help they get.
The Bradford Era has been running a series on blight. The Kane Republican
should run one of its own. Even when you have landlords who attempt to fix up property and
offer affordable and safe housing, Mike Holtz immediately becomes a major obstacle. Why?
Landlords are placed between the rock and the hard place when they are forced to evict
a tenant for non payment. While the tenant has refused to pay the rent, they have also
allowed the utilities to fall behind. Included in that there is usually a bill for the
water which is not considered by law a utility and not regulated by the state. When the
tenant moves out and does not pay the water bill, the responsibility then falls on the
landlord.
Kane is not New York City. Landlords are individuals trying to feed themselves, not
national management companies with billions in assets and lines of credit with
international bankers. As the responsibility falls on the landlord, no exception or any
consideration is ever given. While the Borough and the water department allowed the tenant
to fall behind, once the tenant is gone the burden of payment falls directly on the
landlord. Payment, even though it was allowed to fall months behind, becomes payable in
full immediately if the landlord hopes to have water service for the next tenant. Even
when the local District Justice rules that the landlord should be given a 12 month payment
plan, Michael Holtz is in opposition.
On November 13, 1998 Mr. Holtz wrote to District Justice Kennedy:
This letter is in response to your decision in Kane Borough's civil case against
John and Margaret Confer. You found in the Borough's favor and have indicated that would
would set Mr. and Mrs. Confer up with a twelve month payment plan, pending the Borough's
approval. Enclosed please find a copy of a letter addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Confer, dated
April 4, 1996 stating that the Borough Office will no longer be offering payment
arrangements. At this point in time, the Borough does not accept payment arrangements on
any accounts for any reasons.
Wow!
As all communities struggle to keep their heads above water and stop the continued
deterioration of their towns, we have Kane, PA doing just the opposite. They are unwilling
to work with someone who pays property taxes that keeps their government and their schools
operating. I have been accused of being short sighted and even trying to kill the goose
who lays the golden egg, but Mike really takes the cake on this one.
What is wrong with working with people who want to pay you, Mike? What's wrong with
allowing someone time to recover from the devastation caused by tenants who are bums and
rip off artists? Mike, have you ever worked for a living? Have you ever had to get out and
really earn something? Can't you have any sympathy for these people? They want to pay you.
They just can't afford to pay you all at once.
What is going on in Kane in the exact opposite to the Keystone Opportunity Zone the
County Commissioners recently approved for the Borough. Had I known at the time that they
were so backward that they would discriminate against existing business people I might
have asked that the zone be placed somewhere else. Mr. Holtz came to the Commissioners'
Meeting and said he wanted to give new businesses an 11 year tax break on everything, even
personal income taxes earned in the zone. He was willing to do that but is not willing to
help out people who are struggling just to survive. That is wrong and Mr. Holtz needs to
examine his conscience.
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
DECEMBER 10, 1998
State Republicans and their record
Coming from an area dominated by Republicans, Republican pretenders like our
State Senator and Party Chairman, and being one myself, I wonder how we are doing in
Harrisburg?
The House Democratic Policy Committee, or at least someone on it, must be an on-line
reader of this page. Via e-mail I received the WEEKLY MESSAGE OF November 24,
entitled REPUBLICAN RECORD OF FAILURE. It seems that they are
trying to answer my question while providing a response to our editorial of December 7.
They begin:
As the sun sets on another two year legislative session, it's worth noting the
important things that did not happen in the General Assembly. It's a long list. And
it's a list that is remarkably similar to the list we compiled two years ago, as the 95-96
session came to a close. The bottom line is, despite a lot of hoopla and rhetoric, Tom
Ridge and the Republicans have done very little to improve the lives of Pennsylvania's
working families.
They point to several key areas.
They point out that: "No one in Pennsylvania has seen any property taxes cut
as a result of their reform." I remember that property tax reform was the
keystone, so to speak, of Governor Ridge's first run for the office of Governor. He
promised us the right to referendum on School Taxes. That has not happened. The Democrats
say that they ...proposed using the state's annual revenue growth to fund a 50% school
property tax cut over five years, thereby bringing the state's share of funding local
education up to where it should be. Governor Ridge and the Republicans ignored this
proposal and instead shifted costs to local governments, causing property taxes to
increase by hundreds of millions of dollars. The Republican local school tax reform law
has been a bust.
I am inclined to agree with them.
Whatever they call the law that came out of passing the Homestead Act is the biggest
joke I have ever seen. It is a mess that they rushed on the books just to say that they
have given us Property Tax Reform. It is nothing of the kind! It is, if anything, a shift
in taxes, not a reform. Prompted by the County Commissioners Association, I personally
called Senator William Slocum. I pointed out that the law they were considering did
absolutely nothing to help us. He knew the feelings of the elected officials back home and
he chose to ignore those feelings and wishes. Instead, he voted for this mess of a law and
saddled the County Assessment Offices across the state with a near impossible and
ridiculous job of maintaining records for something that will never happen. Instead of
Property Tax Reform, they have given us chaos and confusion.
Other items and arguments in the WEEKLY MESSAGE appear as weak to me
as the Republican Property Tax Reform.
Weak HMO reform, out of state dumping and dropping the ball on school violence are good
issues to talk about, but beyond that they are nothing more than the same rhetoric they
accuse the Republicans of having. Basic education being neglected and college still being
too expensive are national problems. Even if all the feather brains in the House would
come together and agree on those two items nothing would ever get done. The days of a
cheap college education are gone unless we embark on a national welfare program just for
education. That will never happen.
Again they cry about job training and raising minimum wage. Is Lyndon Johnson
still President? I've been listening to these things for years. All that has ever happened
is we create a massive debt and the bums they put on job training buy a gun and hold up a
liquor store and then buy dope. Give us a break!
Child day care, they say, is less safe and less accessible. Whose fault is that? How
did Tom Ridge help contribute to that? More bunk!
To tell you the truth, with few exceptions, I have trouble identifying
Republicans from the Democrats. They are full of it and none of them seem to be able to
do, or want to do, a damn thing. The exception is Jim Lynch.
I called to congratulate Jim on his stand against the Stadium Funding Packages. He used
his position as Deputy Whip to speak out and call on the Legislature to offer a pure bill,
without all the favors and gifts for the rest of the state attached to it, and put it on
the schedule for a vote. Jim wants to vote only on whether or not we, the taxpayers of
Pennsylvania, should support millionaire owners of football and baseball teams, and the
million dollar players, just to give them new stadiums.
We have a duty not to waste taxpayer dollars, he says.
Good for you, Jim. Where is McKean County's other representative? Why isn't he
speaking out against this deal? In fact, where are the other rural Pennsylvania
Representatives? Is Lynch the only one who isn't afraid to speak out against doing what
the voters in 16 Southwestern Counties voted down by a 2 to 1 margin? It certainly seems
so.
If you examine records, you will find that Lynch is a bit of a phenomenon for House
Representatives from this area. He is because he actually does something. You know -
envision,develop, work for, and actually see the law he wants passed. He
has four this year! Do any of the other representative have even one? Ken Jadloweic
doesn't. Bill Slocum in the Senate doesn't. It seems that only Lynch has the desire or
ability to see his ideas become law. Is he the only true leader out of the bunch?
With Tom Ridge positioning himself for a run for the White House in two years, it is
unlikely that much will happen in Harrisburg. The Republican Party spent $3.5 million to
lose one house seat. Without Democratic defectors they would not hold the majority. They
are not as powerful as they would have us believe. Looking at the so called property tax
reform, they aren't all that smart, either.
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
DECEMBER 9, 1998
$$ Financial Advisors $$
Good morning. At 2:08 A.M. it is 32.5 degrees and the wind is blowing outside.
Now that the County Budget is on display, instead of working on that in this time frame I
will be writing more. Good for some; bad for others.
My dog, Star, must be having a good dream of sorts. She's barking in her sleep. She
might be dreaming about one of those bears that escaped the fierce and deadly bear
hunters. She always takes great pride in herself when one of the bears passes close to the
house and she is awake and smells them. Immediately she will spring into action. Her hair
will rise on her back and she will attack as far as the fence around the yard will allow
her. The entire time she will be spouting out a deep growling bark, much different from
her "I want attention" or "I want fed" bark.
While Star really has not a single enemy in the world (once when we came across some
new born fawns in the woods, before I could call her off, she licked the face of one of
them while the mother stood off snorting her displeasure) she does not want those smelly
bears on her turf. Good thing for that bear the fence is holding her back! Oh yea, really!
Anyway, Star is smiling in her sleep and has stopped the little barks. She must have
gotten what she wanted.
Yesterday's headline in The Bradford Era was County holds the line on
taxes. We are going into another year without raising taxes. In fact, this is the
fourth year that we have begun and have held the line on taxes.
We have continued to work for higher state and federal reimbursements that take the
pressure off the budget when we hit bumps like losing $386,000 in anticipated property tax
revenue. However, how can we justify to the taxpayers higher taxes when they receive so
little for their tax dollars?
Looking at the County Budget for 1999 we are generating $3,357,197.69 in property
taxes. Immediately, $2.15 million goes to the Judge Cleland empire known as the Courts.
That includes his highly paid yes persons: The Family Law Master, Adult Probation/Domestic
Relations Director, Juvenile Probation Director, and of course the Court Administrator;
and the related departments. When you begin adding in other departments, not under his
control, but supporting this necessary evil, look what happens.
When crimes are committed the police round up the usual suspects and arrest them. Our
not so competent math major of a District Attorney then begins the prosecution so we can
all sleep in our beds at night. That costs $237,643. In our county it seems that most of
the law breakers are unemployed and unable to pay for their own lawyer. The Public
Defender costs $169,372. Of course there are situations where two or three are involved in
the same crimes and only one gets the Public Defender so the court has to appoint council
for the other two at the new rate of $70 per hour. That will cost $120,000 and that is
buried in the solicitor's budget.
When these people are arrested, if they can't afford a lawyer they generally can't make
bail either. Immediately they go to jail The Sheriff's budget is $1,536,416 for
deputies and costs of housing our local law breakers. The Prothonotary keeps the records
for the court so we know where everyone is and how far along the case has gone. That
office costs $170,223. Add all of those department up and see what you get. Better yet,
I'll do it for you.
You get $4,393,654.
Now, we do get some reimbursements for various departments. Thirty-six percent of
Domestic Relations comes back to us - subtract out $317,855. We get $70,000 for our Judge
who does not generally work on Mondays. We also get other reimbursements for Juvenile
Probation and some placement costs associated with that department, but not much, so
subtract, just to be fair, say, $150,000. Taking that out we come up with a new total.
You get $3,755,799.
Keep in mind we only are expecting to collect $3,367,197 in Property Taxes. Keep
another fact in mind.
Crime, or the appearance of crime, in McKean County costs us
$388,602 more than what we collect in taxes. Without
the limited reimbursements we receive for this part of our budget, it would be $1,026,457
more than what our taxes generate. One mill of our taxes is $275,000. Any expansions or
over spending in the area we are discussing will produce a need for increased millage. In
other word, higher taxes.
The fact that three men were able to hold the line on County taxes was quite a
feat. There is no surplus in the budget. There is no fat. There is no room for additional
spending beyond what has been laid out. Why? There is no more money to spend.
Now, you do not have to be a financial advisor to understand that. All you have to be
is someone who can properly compute the distance from Smethport to Pittsburgh and back and
the humility to know that the County can only afford Motel 6, not the Ritz Carlton.
Fortunately, I know the distance as well as the difference between a necessary overnight
expense and an unnecessary one. Also, I recognize that I am not a Financial Advisor.
At the same time I do not need a pompous stuffed shirt know it all like the
Chairman of the Solid Waste Authority, Robert Falk, to point that out.
His reported statements regarding the restructuring of the Solid Waste Authority's debt
(all guaranteed by the taxpayers of McKean County), specifically:
Adding that he wished to follow the advice of the authority's financial adviser, he
said, "The commissioners are not financial advisers."
Only Merle Johnson, a newly appointed board member, asked the obvious when he
questioned, "If the savings is invested, who's going to insure that the money
stays invested?"
Again, Falk arrogantly answered: "The people around this table."
Well excuse me Mr. School Superintendent (Falk is the superintendent
of the Otto-Eldred School District), but the last time I checked, you and the
people around that table did not have such a great track record. Look at how you have
squandered over $5 million on the lechate treatment plant! Why are we $15 million in debt?
You have the gall to believe that you have the right to prevail upon us and lecture us
about finances and financial advisors! Get real! What is your record on taxes for the last
four years? We all know that you need the money from the refinancing of the bond just to
operate - something you said you did not need. I am here to see that you do what you said
you would.
As a County Commissioner it is my job to oversee any and all expenses, including debts,
assumed by the taxpayers. That includes you and the 15 million dollar garbage dump. If the
County Commissioners tell you how they will approve a restructuring of debt, do it! We do
not have to be financial advisers, just the elected representatives of the taxpayers who
have guaranteed your enormous and unnecessary debt.
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
DECEMBER 8, 1998
A good man gone
Good morning. It is 38.8 degrees at 5:13 A.M.
Stopping in at My Father's Barbershop for a haircut yesterday, I
popped next door to say hello to Phyllis Ross, the Custer City Postmaster, and pick up the
mail for the MLR. In the mail was a letter from Al Ryzner, a former Lafayette Township
resident who moved to Massachusetts. Al, one of the original Rabble Rousers (so
named by reporter Jim Lakely of The Era during the 1995 primaries) was writing to
tell me about the HOAX. No single piece of information, or misinformation, has enraged
veterans more.
If ever there was a case deception or deceptive trade practices, none stands out more
than the conversion of GI Life Insurance. I know that when I was finally discharged from
active duty in 1972 I was lied to both by the military and the Allstate Insurance agent I
went to in Virginia. We were told when we enlisted that our GI Life Insurance was valuable
and did in fact have dividends accumulating for us. The friendly Allstate agent (and I am
not singling out one company because agents from all the other companies no doubt said
much the same back then) told me all I had was the guarantee of being insured. He said
there were no dividends on my GI Life Insurance.
The American Legion Magazine, April 1998, in reporting on Return of
the Hoax, points out that there are dividends on those policies. They state: VA's
legitimate insurance dividends are paid annually to policyholder, usually on the
anniversary date of their policies. About 2.5 million veterans share in annual dividend
distribution and payments are automatic to those who continue to pay premiums.
So, what was the hang-up with so many of us who seemed to have missed out? How could
that have happened? I had no problem running a paid ad that may or may not have been true.
It appears that someone is as enraged as I am to pay his money to attempt to highlight
this government rip off of veterans. We were ripped off and there are a hell of a lot more
of us than 2.5 million who should be receiving annual dividends.
Thanks Al, but back to you and the great letter you wrote with the info. Al continues:
With that burr off my shoulder, I want to take this opportunity to again thank you
for telling it like it is back there in McKean County, PA. As you can see by my return
address or from making your "rounds" of the area, my wife Ruth and I have moved
from our wonderful home on big Shanty to a smaller home here in N. Dartmouth, MA. This
area is okay but I sure do miss "back home" on big Shanty Road and the Bradford
area, the people, the air, the wild critters, etc., etc.
BUT, one to the several reasons for us moving back to TAXACHUSETTS, was THE
BRADFORD AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT and their constant raising of property taxes. We had no
school age children, but yet the taxes were and still are too high for the area and the
constant misuses of taxpayers' money and silly and not needed pipe dreams of the people in
Power.
I don't blame them one bit - I blame the ass-holes who voted them into office and
the stupid ones who didn't get out to vote in the first place. I'm not going to get into
any song and dance story, Bub, (he's always called me Bub!) but you know what
I'm trying to say and you say it so well in your magazine which I can't wait to receive
from our former friends and neighbors. Take care and KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
CWO Albert J. Ryzner, USCG (Ret.) will be missed. We wish him and his
wonderful wife, Ruth, the best of luck in this new beginning.
I first met Al Ryzner when I began writing The Mountain Laurel Review. Al, as
you can tell from his letter, is not afraid to speak his mind. He walked right up to me
one day in the grocery store, introduced himself, and asked me to speak at a dinner for
The Retired Officers Club. That offer I gladly accepted and as I got up to speak that
Saturday night, even I was in awe of the "Brass" that was in attendance at the
affair. I nervously said:
The last time I was in a room with this much brass, I was in big trouble.
And I was! But that is another story for another time about another time and what seems
anymore, to be another person. In the midst of attacks on my good name and slurs and
comments being made about me and my service to this country, Al Ryzner and many of those
officers stood with me. They respected my desire for privacy. They above all others had
known that I seldom spoke of specific places and events and knew that the story being
spread was false. When I later tried to thank Al, he said it was not necessary. That was
Al.
The statement at the top of his letter with the American Flag, Show your
Colors, Be Proud You're an American, says it all about Al Ryzner. He's a man
who is not ashamed to show his colors and is very proud to be an American. We are better
people because we have known him and our nation is better because of him. Thanks Al!
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
DECEMBER 7, 1998
Then what's it all about?
Good morning. It is 56.5 degrees at 5:15 A.M. The weather is rainy and very
windy. It appears that the warm weather is leaving us and the temperatures will begin to
drop today. I would say that it was to be expected.
I received an answer to the letter I sent to the Attorney General regarding
Michele Alfieri's expense account fiasco. It was brief and to the point.
"Your recent letter to Attorney general Fisher has been referred to the
Criminal Law Division for a response.
"In your letter concerning the incorrect expense form submitted by the
District Attorney of McKean County, you state that District Attorney Alfieri has
admitted that she made a mistake and she has subsequently corrected this submission.
"Please be advised that there is no credible evidence to contradict Ms.
Alfieri's explanation and therefore no basis for a further investigation of this matter by
the Office of Attorney General."
It was signed by William H. Ryan, Jr., Executive Deputy Attorney General; Director,
Criminal Law Division.
That is all well and good. The Attorney General's office, being fellow
lawyers, like rattlesnakes, do not bite each other. However, the fact remains that our
District Attorney tried to beat the taxpayers on her expense account by incorrectly
stating the mileage between Smethport and Pittsburgh.
Had that mistake not been caught, Mrs. Alfieri would have pocketed the money and gone
on her merry way without an thought about it one way or another much the same way she
didn't give it a thought when she spent $189 of our money so she could stay in the
fanciest hotel in Pittsburgh. Still, I never expected the Attorney General or his office
to do a damn thing. Why should they? It is a very minor infraction - you know - stealing
$77 from the taxpayers. That gets me to my point and the reason why I wrote the letter in
the first place.
I'm not stupid. I never expected General Elmer Fudd or his office of fellow cartoon
characters to begin a criminal investigation to the DA cheating on her expense account. I
wanted them to tell me that they wouldn't do it and they did. I find it interesting that
in her case all she had to do was apologize and say she made a mistake. That was a case
where the money was leaving the county treasury and going into her pocket for her to spend
on herself for whatever she wanted.
Now, I want someone to explain to me exactly what I did to warrant criminal
prosecution. Keep in mind that I was charged originally with felony Criminal Conspiracy in
a case involving $370. It was an amount that I not only accounted for, but also
scrupulously reported each person who contributed to that awesome amount of money. To date
I have spent nearly $30,000 defending myself and my sister-in-law from criminal charges
that are totally political in nature.
The Attorney General, the Court of Common Pleas, and the Commonwealth Court have
attempted to change the law as it was written and historically upheld. Instead of offering
me the opportunity to place the contributions on the form they felt was the right form;
instead of allowing me the opportunity to say I was sorry and maybe I made a mistake;
instead of allowing me to blame the whole thing on someone else like the DA did; they
filed criminal charges against me. Why?
Think about it! They were trying to steal your vote. They were trying to say
that the people of McKean County did not have the right to pick their leaders. They were
saying that anyone who ever got it in their mind again to try to buck the party and the
system had better be prepared to endure what I am enduring. That is what they are saying
and they are saying it very loud and very clear.
Attorney General Mike Fisher is bought and paid for and totally owned and operated by
the Republican Party. He was told to go after me and run me out of office. They expected
me to try and make a deal with my office in order to escape prosecution. They expected me
to resign and never be able to ever hold office again just to escape the potential of the
punishment that the court could hand down against me.
They expected wrong! They are not going to discourage me and they are not going
to beat me. Mike Fisher was a sissy in high school and he is less of a man today for
what he has tried to do. He is a true cartoon character in the very worst sense. He is
bending and twisting the law to suit himself and the political agenda of people who don't
care about you and me. All they care about is preserving the way things are supposed to be
done. They are protecting their party.
I've been a Republican a long time. I've been a Republican longer than our Party
Chairman C. Russell Johnson and our State Senator William Slocum combined! The Republican
Party is not what they believe it is nor is it what Mike Fisher says it is. The Republican
Party is people and what they believe. They see it as power and we see it as a way of life
that seems to be being taken away from us. They want to attract people like themselves to
hold office, not people like you and me. They want us to pay for what they want and are
not willing to protect what little we have. I am at odds with them because I am for the
little guy and not the powerful and the privileged. I guess I am wrong and a real bad guy.
So what is it all about? I think you have the idea by now. If you are not their friend,
don't spit on the side walk. If you are not their friend, don't think about running for
office.
Comment on this article at editor@www.mlrmag.com.
December 5-6, 1998
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