May 15, 2012 3:34 PM
An appraisal commissioned by the East Hampton Town Board to figure out the value of a town-owned alleyway that bisects the Ronjo Motel in Montauk prices the 20-foot-wide strip at between $30,000 and $40,000.
The appraisal, conducted by Ronald Paradiso, the vice president of the New York City firm Jerome Haims Realty, Inc., appears to confirm the figure Supervisor Bill Wilkinson set when he moved to authorize the sale of the land to the motel’s new owners, Chris Jones and Larry Siedlick, on March 6. When asked where he got the number, Mr. Wilkinson, a Republican, replied at the time that he had “plucked it out of the air”—a phrase that lit a political fuse and prompted a sharp reaction from Democrats, who demanded the town conduct an appraisal before selling... more
The appraisal, conducted by Ronald Paradiso, the vice president of the New York City firm Jerome Haims Realty, Inc., appears to confirm the figure Supervisor Bill Wilkinson set when he moved to authorize the sale of the land to the motel’s new owners, Chris Jones and Larry Siedlick, on March 6. When asked where he got the number, Mr. Wilkinson, a Republican, replied at the time that he had “plucked it out of the air”—a phrase that lit a political fuse and prompted a sharp reaction from Democrats, who demanded the town conduct an appraisal before selling... more
Regardless of the final outcome, we thank the petitioners for shining light on yet another instance of arrogant misfeasance by the Republican ...more majority.
The object of the investigation is to see if there was mis/malfeasance by Wilkinson and/or Quigley and/or Cohen and/or Overby, not just the ones you don't like.
If the political chest-beating by both sides results in ANY legal action I will be surprised.
Finally, had Wilkinson not been such an arrogant, insensitive boob, this contretemps would never have occurred.
["meow"]
to connwatcher:
More castles in the air. When an actual litigator is asked about the possibility of legal action, he will inform whoever asks him that he can spend his money if he wishes but the outcome will be unfavorable. The notion of the DA becoming involved is particularly risible.
Moreover, you assume that there is no substance to Cohen's assertions although there has been no finding to date. If Cohen is correct, there has been ...more a serious breach of the public trust. By contrast, the Republican allegations (e.g. that Overby was strong-arming the building inspector) are pedestrian political mummery.
We all look forward to the outcome but, truly, the assumptions by the EH Republican Tag Team are naught but intellectual self-abuse.
You may have "heard" that the investigation doesn't include Wilkinson and Quigley but you have heard it from the EH Republican Tag Team. They bat apocryphal tales back and forth like shuttlecocks, magnifying them in their own minds with each comment. Neutral observers are aware, however, that they are playing with themselves.
Here's what The Independent actually has to say about the DA's investigation,
"Two weeks ago town attorney John Jilnicki ...more asked the DA to investigate Cohen's allegations ... "
Now, "I" read that to mean that Wilkinson and Quigley are being investigated for misfeasance AND, implicitly, that Cohen is being investigated to see if he made unsupported charges. It would seem to me that any other reading is tendentious.
Moreover, the article that the Tag Team references is a report of an interview with the Ronjo principles, Larry Siedlick and Chris Jones. It reports THEIR opinion, not the reporter's. Unsurprisingly, they are critical of Cohen and Overby.
With each passing hour, the Tag Team drives itself into an ever more rabid, rumor mongering frenzy. Now it claims that an indictment of Overby is nigh and adds the names of Elaine Jones, Cindy Marshall, Van Scoyac, Frankel, Kloppmann and “others” [to be named later(?)] to its list of those conspiring to "embarrass" the Republicans.
In light of their extraordinary shared delusion, it is perhaps time to begin using the word, "cult", when referring to local reactionaries.
In the poison'd entrails throw.—
...
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,
...
. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble." + *
[ + Invocation preceding meetings of the EH Republican Tag Team]
The reactionary right is tireless in ...more weaving ever greater swaths of whole cloth to defame EH Democrats generally. It only remains to wait and see if any of their delusional fabrications have any grounding in reality at all. ( Although one assumes that when nothing transpires, they will claim that it is all due to underhanded Democratic pressure.) One looks forward to the novel fictions they have yet to assert. (E.g. SWAT team readied to take out Overby!)
This is a hoary Republican tactic (remember Whitewater) but unique here in the small scale of the operation and the utter lack of substance.
Nonetheless, I hope that nothing that I have said dissuades them from continuing to creatively write. Their fanciful ramblings are a fun read.
While we divert ourselves with tag team anecdotes, however, those of us without access to the (dubious) team crystal ball will await with anticipation the final report, particularly as it pertains to misfeasance by Wilkinson and Quigley.
* from "Macbeth", W. Shakespeare
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------to Board Watcher:
In answer to your question, should Cohen's assertions be shown to be entirely without merit, an apology would be in order. Should they be true, Wilkinson and Quigley should step down. There is an ocean of difference between the obligations of a private citizen and those of a public official.
You have taken appropriate, or innocent, or, at the very least, non-actionable behavior and conflated it by repetitive gossip into a gigantic hot air balloon of expectation. One hopes, when that balloon comes crashing to earth, that you will learn the lesson that zealotry and rationality are antithetical.
A suggestion, however, your copy is becoming stale. Why not introduce allegations of sexual impropriety, a given of most political "scandals"? I'm ...more sure that Cohen and Overby have sex. (You can omit the detail that it's not with each other.)
§ 195.05 Obstructing governmental administration in the second degree.
A person is guilty of obstructing governmental administration when he
intentionally obstructs, impairs or perverts the administration of law
or other governmental function or prevents or attempts to prevent a
public servant from performing an official function, by means of
intimidation, physical force or interference, or by means of any
...more independently unlawful act, or by means of interfering, whether or not
physical force is involved, with radio, telephone, television or other
telecommunications systems owned or operated by the state, or a county,
city, town, village, fire district or emergency medical service or by
means of releasing a dangerous animal under circumstances evincing the
actor's intent that the animal obstruct governmental administration.
Obstructing governmental administration is a class A misdemeanor.
Read the Independent article. If what the Building Inspector said happened -- that he was intimidated and pressured by Overby to do something wrong, and that the Planning Director and Cohen were all involved it sure looks like this section of the Penal Code was violated. If the Building inspector is not lying then there are some problems for Overby and maybe Van S. that will need to be addressed. I'm sure ADA McPartland is right on top of this. Cohen and the Dems, coordinating with Overby and Van S. also led a media campaign to further the obstruction - if the Building Inspector is being truthful. Big problems here.
The same cannot be said of the charge that Wilkinson and Quigley colluded clandestinely and illegally to promote the Ronjo project.
The finale of this drama had better transpire soon, for your sakes. If you should begin to view the rest of reality through the same fantastical prism that you employ for local ...more civic events, you will all be institutionalized.
The drama has transpired. The Democrats have been caught in a political charade so egregious that the DA has called in elected officials to answer for their actions according to the ...more Independent article. If there is a denial by Overby that she was questioned by the DA, or a claim that Cohen stands by his letter, or a denial by Frankl that Democrat elected officials met with party bosses to coordinate the "Ronjo issue" then you can say something. Until then this matter is a done deal - a total embarrassment to the Democrats and something that will not go away. If you are saying Wilk and Quig colluded illegally to promote the Ronjo project then you are calling the new Ronjo owners liars based on their clear statements in the Independent article. Since you are obviously the mouthpiece for the Democrats I would guess the Ronjo owners may have more to say about what has happened to them. I dare say although this matter is already a political disaster for the Dems irrespective of what happens next, and could result is legal action or a DA report, that more could come out from the Ronjo owners, the Building Inspector and other town employees.
Your most recent comment is pure puerile casuistry. We STILL do not take your fantastical unsubstantiated constructions and misconceptions of reality to be fact, although we are glad to see that you appear to have given up the delusion that the DA will ever validate them with indictments.
While you exult in the supposed "political disaster" for EH Democrats, the truth is that this perception exists only in your own mind and in the minds of your reactionary ...more ideological brethren.
Neutral observers, on the other hand, await with anticipation the DA's report on Wilkinson and Quigley's illegal collusion to promote a private development, the only actionable charge outstanding.
Quote:
" I guess we should just wait and see where this goes."
I could not agree with you more. One hopes, though, when absolutely nothing substantive is established, that the reactionaries will not initiate an entirely new round of fanciful gossip attributing the lack thereof to another evil Democratic cabal.
Oh, for pity's sake, the building inspector acts under the authority of the Town Board. Oversight of his performance is a duty of the office. If a board member suspects that the inspector has behaved improperly, it is incumbent upon him to notify the inspector of his suspicion and demand an explanation. To stand mute would be dereliction.
That's the objective view of what transpired. The "pressure", to use your loaded word, was an appropriate demand of accountability, ...more as all reasonable people will conclude when everything is settled.
A Town Board member should never impose their will or authority of their elected office on someone with law enforcement authority ...more like the Building Inspector on a specific application. If you want to discuss the general process, the meaning of regulations, overall office policy and general procedures OK, but to impose oneself on a specific application in an effort to get the inspector to do what you want is just not right, which is why there are laws prohibiting such behavior - as illustrated on this thread. It would be like a Town Board member pressuring a police officer to arrest someone or write a ticket based on the elected official's whim and not the professional knowledge of the officer. That is just not permitted.
So if you take the Building Inspector at his word that he was intimidated and pressured to make a decision on a specific case in a way he believed was incorrect based on his expertise and authority, then indeed something wrong occurred here. Does it rise to a an actionable event? I don't know. The fact the Building Inspector appears to have done the right thing in the end, at the risk of feeling the wrath of the elected official, may just let her off the hook with the DA, but maybe not on a civil suit by the property owners. But I suspect with this much capital invested in the matter the DA will issue some kind of report similar to what he did with Steve Levy. In any case it seems some damage to the elected official and those taking part in this effort has already been done. The former Supervisor candidate comes off looking quite unstable and rather silly, the chairman of the Democrat Party looks like and obstructionist, and those that sue the poor Town Clerk for doing his job look tremendously vindictive. And I though Southampton had problems.
Those who haven't surrendered their rationality to group hysteria can't help but wonder what the celebration is all about. Your recent comments repeat the same old baseless charges; your conception of real events is still distorted by the same old political ...more bias; and you continue to transform perfectly innocent behavior via the same old misconstructions.
You are so focused on each other that you haven't noticed that no one outside your frenetic dance circle is paying any attention to you. That's why none of those whom you accuse have bothered to refute your spurious charges. THEY HAVEN'T NOTICED YOU.
And High Hat is not from Quogue. I know.
Little connection to his insight on this matter). I hear from someone on the inside of this mess that it's going to be a bad week in the office from our democratic conspirors and collusionists this week. Since being called out "eh ranter" alias Silvia overby... Has gone all quiet! Come on miss overby- shed some light on things here. All BS or does ...more it give you that 3am moment of waking up in a panic- every time you read these posts.
If you are referring to a finding by the DA, that would certainly be a relief. Unfortunately, based on your performance and that of your colleagues to date, I am sure that you are NOT referencing any authoritative report. Rather, you will likely further assault our senses with more delusional nattering by EH Republican fishmongers about what they have "heard".
Nevertheless, even a public exposition by your people explicating their peculiar perception of reality would ...more be a treat if if were more cogent than the mumbo-jumbo posted on this site.
A word or caution, though, don't interpret every piece of news that can possibly be conceived of as a boost for your cause to be a reason for renewed jubilation. You have become the Shakers of partisan politics.
Yes, I read what you wrote and, as I replied, any substantive finding would be a relief after all the rumor and gossip in which you and your colleagues (in the treatment of prejudiced assertion as fact) have indulged.
My point, which I though I had adequately expressed, is that one should base one's opinions on objective data rather than on the prattle of True Believers. Having professed your faith in the fable of a wide-spread Democratic conspiracy, you now expectantly ...more await the imminent authoritative validation of your belief. You will wait forever.
Those of us without preconceptions will be happy to learn if the DA has found a factual basis to Zach Cohen's allegations.
Funny how some people can conspire to deny someone else's civil rights then hide behind those same rights in order to avoid prosecution. Ms. O and Mr.C will likely now try to create a diversary issue to smokescreen their unethical and/or malfeasance. Hope they look good in ...more "pin stripes."
Doesn't Mr. Cohen owe everyone an apology? And shouldn't all of the bloggers who added fuel to Mr. Cohen's lies also say "sorry."