North County News Fumbles On Second Biggest Story of the Year

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what are three pictures worth? They are priceless to a politician – especially one who treats politics as a bloodsport, as Mayor Mary Foster does.

This week’s North County News published three pictures of Foster, as if no one else in Northern Westchester is as newsworthy as she. So blinded is the NCN editorial board by Foster’s smoke-and-mirrors routine that they dropped the ball on a huge story. Readers must seriously question whether the paper’s current publisher and editors are capable of recognizing journalism, much less producing it.

In an article entitled, “Peekskill Planning Chair Steps Down,” the NCN meekly reports Foster’s spin on the matter, and then offers a rebuttal, as if this tells the public the story they deserve to hear. The NCN had a great opportunity to produce a piece of real journalism, but they failed miserably – yet again.

Many small newspapers pride themselves on journalistic integrity, but the NCN is not one of them. Since the NCN clearly doesn’t know how to ask probing questions, the Peekskill News will help them get to the bottom of the story they failed to report, another in a long line of missed opportunities by the NCN, gems laid at their feet that they were too weak to pick up.

The NCN reports that Peekskill Mayor Foster was “told by a developer” that Planning Commission Chairman Barney Molloy had just moved to Cortlandt, and that she used this information to justify dispatching the police to investigate Molloy, and ultimately demand his immediate resignation from the Planning Commission.

The first question a real journalist would ask is, What would motivate someone to tell the Mayor Molloy had moved? Real estate transactions are not transparent, and one needs inside information to know when deals are closed. Someone went to a lot of trouble and expense to track Molloy’s personal business. Who did this and why?

Indeed, the natural question a real journalist would ask is, What developer told the Mayor Molloy had moved? Certainly this is relevant information, since developers routinely have business before the Planning Commission. This particular developer induced the Mayor to the extraordinary action of pressuring the police to investigate a private citizen, so the public has a clear right to know who it was. But the NCN editors couldn’t follow a story if Hansel and Gretel had nailed their bread crumbs to the ground.

We have learned that the developer who informed Mayor Foster of Molloy's move was Phil Miller, who had certain projects rebuffed while Molloy was Chairman of the Planning Commission. This was a fact that the NCN could have easily confirmed. But they didn’t. Miller has a long and public dislike of Molloy, something any real journalist could easily discover by talking to any number of people who live and do business in Peekskill.

In addition, Miller is a huge financial supporter of Mary Foster and the Peekskill Democratic City Committee, a fact easily confirmed by checking public records. Just look for contributions from Phil Miller and his entities, including 3 Corporate Drive LLC. That the NCN missed this significant part of the story can only be attributable to gross negligence, willful blindness, or unabashed ignorance.

Did the NCN look to see what was on the agenda at the Planning Commission the evening of February 13th, what was supposed to be Molloy’s last meeting? Phil Miller was applying for a variance. You can bet that Mary Foster was looking out for a big political contributor when she prevented Molloy from presiding over this meeting.

The NCN reports Mary Foster as saying that the Police Chief acted on Foster’s direction to investigate Molloy. Did the NCN talk to the Police Chief? Our investigation reveals that Police Chief Tumulo refused to engage in Foster’s underhanded politics. Foster had to wait until Tumulo left the office for the day to pressure the police on duty to carry out her rogue investigation.

Did the NCN ask at what time the police went to Molloy’s residences? The Peekskill News has uncovered that it was late in the evening, when police do not normally invade residences that haven’t called for help. Why did the police act at such a late hour when the Police Chief was not around?

Was it even appropriate for Foster to act alone in summoning her rogue investigation? Wasn’t this a matter for the Common Council to discuss, not a matter to be carried out underhandedly by a renegade Mayor, consumed by settling political scores on behalf of major political contributors?

Foster hid behind a consultant when explaining why she excluded the public from discussion of the disposition of the taxpayer’s option on the Karta property. And now Foster is hiding behind the threat of litigation from one of her political contributors to justify renegade investigations, dispatching the police in the late evening to harass people she perceives to be political enemies.

The NCN lacked the ability to see through Foster’s political spin and uncover the rank corruption and abuse of power that lay at Foster’s feet.

Dead fish deserve better than to be wrapped in the NCN.

And the public deserves much, much more from paid media.

And this is why we must continue to exist: to do what paid (or bought) media will not.

The North County News will remain a public disgrace until they summon the courage to deplore the blatant abuse of power by Mary Foster.

Headlines from 2/11 Council Meeting

Here are the news headlines from the portion of the Common Council meeting we attended tonight:

Foster to Local Business Owner: I'm as Brain Dead as the Paramount Board

A local business owner asked Mayor Foster and the Council to encourage the Paramount to turn on its lights more than 60 nights a year, since business owners and taxpayers aren't getting a good enough return on their investment, paying Paramount's mortgage. Foster put the blame for the Paramount's slim schedule and lackluster contribution to our community on taxpayers and business owners. Foster responded, "I want someone to give me 5 specific recommendations about how the Paramount could improve its business, then I'll take it to the Paramount Board. It's up to you. I have no idea how to make it work."

Taxpayers are already paying the rent of the Paramount. Why should taxpayers have to write its business plan as well? If the current Mayor, Board, and Director can't come up with a better business plan, why not fire the whole lot and hire people with the ability to maximize the value of one of Peekskill's most outstanding cultural assets?

It's not personal; it's business.

At the end of the day, the Paramount should be run like a business, not a democracy, as Mayor Foster suggests. (Does she even have experience in the for-profit world???) Peekskill taxpayers subsidize the Paramount, and deserve a decent return on their investment.


Foster Tongue-Tied when Confronted By PHA Chair Lee Brown

Peekskill Housing Authority Chairman Lee Brown showed extreme dignity, grace, and class by confronting Mayor Mary Foster about Foster's underhanded political moves to oust Brown from her post because Brown supported wrongfully-imprisoned Jeffrey Deskovic, who served 14 years for the murder of a girl whose dead body was found clasping a love letter to Drew Claxton's son. Foster and the Democratic Party leadership decided to go for Brown's jugular after Brown told the Journal News on 3/8/2007 that “[Councilwoman] Claxton impeded the investigation [of Angela Correa's murder] by not allowing police to take a DNA sample from her son, Freddie.”

From that day forward, the Democratic Party united in a long and dirty campaign to destroy Brown, which one local news source aptly described as a "high tech lynching."

Yet Brown had the grace to rise above the Democrats’ smear campaign. She came to the Council asking for permission to help make Peekskill Public Housing the best that it can be.

Brown frankly confronted Foster with these words: "Stop throwing rocks and hiding your hand... The HUD report is out. You know that we did the right thing by firing the Executive Director... Let us do our job and you do yours... Stop telling people you're going to fire us because we did the right thing."

Foster batted her eyes in embarrassment as she secretly wished she still had Beacon resident Quamie Madden on her campaign payroll. Last year, Foster and the Democratic Party enlisted Madden to stalk and continuously insult Brown. Madden relentlessly heckled Brown at a Common Council meeting last Spring – a fact conveniently unrecorded by Mary Foster’s personal cameraman – which instigated an understandable outburst by Brown. Unfortunately, Foster and her surrogates submitted the heavily-edited video to Fox News, which ran it out of context, one of Fox News’ few hit jobs done on behalf of bleeding-heart tax-and-spend liberals.

Foster and her political handlers are reportedly quivering in fear now that an unprovoked Brown has appeared again on TV, and certain local residents have contacts high in the Fox News hierarchy who have the ability to demand payback for the Democrats’ purchased hit-job against a woman Peekskill widely regards as a public hero.


Foster Hides Behind Consultant When Defending Closed "Charettes" Process

A very articulate and photogenic Peekskill resident by the name of Emily Cunningham asked for an explanation as to why Mayor Foster was selectively using an alleged "charettes process," which excludes public input, for certain development projects, when the ideal charette process as decribed by the national governing "charette" authority gives public input paramount importance.

A taken-aback Foster began by hiding behind a consultant, whom she said told her that she had to exclude the public. Then Foster said, the public was only being excluded from zoning and planning aspects of the plan, and the public's opinion would be solicited when it came time to choose trivial details like paint color etcetera.

Cunningham politely thanked Foster for her response, but we hope she drops the politeness.

Foster's motivation for excluding public input on the zoning of Lower South Street is that the public largely favors Lowe's and Target in that area. This would require a zoning change. Foster is dead set against Target, and therefore won't let the people be heard. This is an abuse of power, and a retreat from her campaign promise to bring Target to Lower South Street.

Foster is selectively using charettes to exclude the public from influencing the disposition of taxpayer assets. (Taxpayers have an option on the Karta property, so public input should be required.) Past administrations did not exclude public discussion about the zoning and planning aspects of the redevelopment plans.

We need more people to enter the arena like Cunningham to stand up for what is right.

Foster’s Analysis a Sham, and a Crude Attempt to Re-write History

Mayor Mary Foster’s commentary in this week’s North County News demonstrates that she is not concerned about facts, but is at heart a shrill opportunistic partisan who will say anything to advance her irresponsible views.

When John Testa joined the Common Council in 1998, the City’s assessment was $62,596,347. Over the next five years, through a series of tax certioraris that offset redevelopment, the assessment declined by $177,915. When Testa became Mayor in 2002, the City’s taxable assessment was $62,418,432. Then, as residential developments in Chapel Hill and Riverbend were populated, and commercial redevelopment in the Beach Shopping Center was completed, the City’s taxable assessment rose by $2,814,030. In 2006, the assessment was $65,232,462. Foster refuses to acknowledge this objective accomplishment and writes “the tax legacy and fiscal policies of the past decade … is not rosy.” If increasing the assessment by nearly $3 million isn’t a positive accomplishment, then the small reduction in that increase in 2007 should not be viewed as something negative.

Why does the North County News allow Foster to flat out lie? She writes “tax assessments have decreased in three of the last four years.” Review the objective facts, and you’ll see that the year 2007 was the first time in 4 years the assessment dropped.

Year Assessment
2004 63,803,547
2005 64,308,762
2006 65,232,462
2007 64,932,462 (est)
Source: City of Peekskill

When not lying, Foster fails to accept responsibility for her own actions. She writes “tax increases become necessary in order to carry on city business .. and planning for long-term economic development that may actually remedy the tax problem.” Again she is wrong. Tax increases are not necessary when there are concrete plans in place to increase the assessment. If she and her Democratic colleagues truly wanted Target in Peekskill, as they alleged in their campaign, we would have had both a Target and a Lowe’s built this year, which would have been a huge economic boost for Peekskill. But Foster and the Democrats killed Target and Lowe’s. Foster has some nerve to complain about a decreasing assessment when she killed the deal that would have helped us out of her proposed tax increase.

It’s astonishing that Foster refuses to accept responsibility for her own actions. She is also responsible for derailing agreed-on plans for Downtown and Waterfront redevelopment. Rather than continue the plans for mixed-use residential and commercial space, Foster has forced a “do over”, and declared that her priorities are commercial development (so long as it’s not viable multi-billion dollar businesses like Lowe’s and Target) and low-income housing. This is not rosy for Peekskill’s future.

Finally, Foster shows her shrill partisan opportunism in her misleading chart, with the note “unexpected sales and mortgage tax revenues in 2004 and 2005 enabled the improvement in fund balance by December 31, 2005.” Foster knew this point during her fall campaign, and instead of facing this reality, she extrapolated these unexpected revenues in a straight line, and told voters we’d have never-ending surpluses for the foreseeable future, which she would spend. This was irresponsible of her.

In short, the only sham is Mary Foster herself. Her commentary is a bald attempt to re-write history. But the objective facts won’t go away. Foster inherited a City in the strongest financial position in over a decade. The policies that got us here were sensible. But Foster has de-railed these policies, and now is complaining about the effects of her own actions. The people of Peekskill will not allow her to continue her campaign of lies.

MLK Lives On

If I can help somebody as I pass along, If I can cheer somebody with a word or song, If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong, Then my living will not be in vain. If I can do my duty as a Christian ought, If I can bring salvation to a world once wrought, If I can spread the message as the master taught, Then my living will not be in vain.

Alma Androzzo (1945)

Near the end of his sermon now remembered as "The Drum Major Instinct," the Reverand Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked his audience not to remember him for his awards and honors, like the Nobel Peace Prize, but for his attempt to live up to the Sermon on the Mount.

He ended his famous sermon by quoting some lyrics from the gospel song "If I Can Help Somebody," made famous by Mahalia Jackson. And this is how we would like to remember MLK today: He challenged us all to be better Christians, or to use more secular terms, to live up to the better angels of our nature. His example lives on as an inspiration to all.

Press Misses Biggest News Story So Far This Year

What could be a bigger news story than the attempted manipulation of the press and public by elected officials? It’s big news at the federal level, where presidential candidates are making candor the cornerstone of their campaigns. People are losing tolerance for blatant attempts to mislead and manipulate public opinion.

But the journalists in Northern Westchester are blissfully unaware of this national trend. They are asleep at the wheel in Peekskill, and have missed the biggest news story so far in 2008.

On Monday, January 14, 2008, the Peekskill Common Council voted to appoint Andrew Torres to the seat vacated by Mary Foster. The new Mayor and supermajority of Peekskill Democrats made a big political point about the alleged openness of the appointment process. And the press let them get away with it because the journalistic instinct is dead in Northern Westchester – at least, among those who control print media.

The Peekskill News acquired copies of the resumes that were submitted, and did what no journalist or Common Council member did: We read them.

One fact screams out for explanation: Mr. Torres submitted his resume on December 7^th, 2007, to Democratic power broker Michael Kane. The first sentence of his cover letter reads: “First and foremost, thank you for considering me to fill the vacant Peekskill City Council seat. Enclosed please find a copy of my most recent resume, as you requested by phone earlier today.”

This document shows very clearly that early in December, the Peekskill Democrats had hand selected a member of the Party faithful to fill Foster’s seat. The deal was sealed that day. The North County News asked Mary Foster on December 12^th to describe how her party would fill her seat. “Foster refused to get into specifics and would not say who they are interviewing,” the paper reported. They then quoted Darren Rigger as saying, “We want the process to be open and deliberate.”

But the process was not open. The closed, smoke-filled room of Peekskill Democratic politics had made their decision.

In direct response to our post of December 13^th, which exposed their corrupt process, the Peekskill Democrats began scrambling for political cover. They looked to the press to cover up their broken campaign promise to issue in a new era of nonpartisanship.

On Monday December 24^th, the Peekskill Democrats issued a press release to Mid Hudson News, saying that they were accepting resumes to fill Foster’s seat. Mid Hudson News has a lower circulation than even the North County News, whose Peekskill circulation is reportedly less than 3% of the population. (The only people who read Mid Hudson News are those who have a Google Alert on “peekskill”.)

The North County News repeated this story when covering Foster’s inauguration.

But did anyone in Peekskill (other than Mary Foster) read that issue?

The most compelling evidence that no one in Peekskill knew that it was possible to apply for the vacated Council seat is the number of people who ultimately applied.

At the end of the day, the Democrats circulated to Council Members the resumes of only 4 people other than Torres, who submitted cover letters expressing a desire to join the Common Council. Three of them were Democratic Party District leaders, the fourth was an unknown computer repairman from Benefield Boulevard – perhaps the person behind the awful Peekskill Democratic Party website. (Council members also received a number of resumes without cover letters; there was no indiciation in these documents that the individuals were applying for the Common Council spot. These resumes could have been pulled off of Monster.com, for all the public knows.)

Curiously missing from the resumes was that of former Councilman Mel Bolden, who applied for the position, but whose application was rejected without comment by the partisan Democrats.

It is the Democrats’ prerogative to employ a corrupt appointment process. But if you’re feeding the public beef jerky, don’t try to pass it off as Prime Rib.

There was a time when journalists felt a responsibility to expose the corruption and broken promises of politicians. But there are no journalists in Northern Westchester, outside the blogosphere. Stay tuned for more...

Governance Hijacked by Partisanship

The Peekskill News has learned that Mayor-elect Mary Foster’s intent to appoint a Republican to fill her vacated seat has been nixed by the Democratic Party Machine. Foster is reportedly frustrated that even after being elected Mayor, she lacks the power to make a single decision on her own. Her predecessor, John Testa, made his political name by bucking the Party authority and acting on principle. Foster has no such moral backbone. Instead, she has allowed the process of selecting her replacement on the Common Council, as well as replacements for City boards, to be subcontracted to Marina Ciotti, a declared Democratic partisan, who was the treasurer of Patricia Salvate-Riley’s campaign. Councilwoman-elect Riley has shown poor judgment by agreeing with Foster that politics should influence governmental issues.

But will Mayor-elect Foster Act in a Nonpartisan Fashion?

The Peekskill News has received a tip from a source close to Mayor-elect Mary Foster, who claims that she intends to appoint a Republican to the Council seat she vacated, a dramatic move aimed to demonstrate that she is serious about putting an end to partisan politics in Peekskill.

Yesterday, at Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors’ School for inexperienced leaders, Foster spoke out against politics driven by partisanship instead of the issues.

While we are disappointed that Foster has chosen to use a closed, anti-democratic process to choose her successor, our disappointment will be muted somewhat if Foster actually acts on what she has said.

We hope our source is accurate. Come January 1, 2008, we will learn whether Foster is going to take our City in a new direction, or whether she intends to continue down the road of divisive partisanship.