Wednesday, March 02, 2005
I am no fan of County Legislator Al DeBenedetti, but I have to give him his due: per PoliticsWNY.com DeBenedetti says, inter alia: "What [Judge Makowski] should be doing is dealing with the law suits before him. He should be telling us exactly how far we can go in cutting certain departments in order to be consistent with the Erie County Charter, state law, and the state constitution. Instead of that he is dabbling in the budget process, appointing mediators and the like, when that is really not his job. It is the County Legislature that is charged with the task of determining budget priorities, not Judge Makowski."
DeBenedetti goes on to slam the compulsary mediation process the court ordered. "Those aren’t professional mediators he appointed, those are three political operatives. He appointed Dennis Penman, a Republican operative, Mr. Gioia, who is an active Democrat, David Rutecki who works for Mr. Wilmers. These people aren’t mediators. For one thing, they broke the first rule of being a mediator. They held a press conference....Making these cuts is the Legislature’s job, not the Judge’s."
Of course, it would have been helpful if the Legislature had been doing its job, but we can put this aside for the moment. The fact is that he is spot on about this bogus mediation process, which is the favorite toy of many judges. The idea of "compulsary mediation" is antithetical to a properly functioning mediation process, as is the appointment by the court of the mediators.
Interesting site, PoliticsWNY. Reading it makes me want to take a shower.
DeBenedetti goes on to slam the compulsary mediation process the court ordered. "Those aren’t professional mediators he appointed, those are three political operatives. He appointed Dennis Penman, a Republican operative, Mr. Gioia, who is an active Democrat, David Rutecki who works for Mr. Wilmers. These people aren’t mediators. For one thing, they broke the first rule of being a mediator. They held a press conference....Making these cuts is the Legislature’s job, not the Judge’s."
Of course, it would have been helpful if the Legislature had been doing its job, but we can put this aside for the moment. The fact is that he is spot on about this bogus mediation process, which is the favorite toy of many judges. The idea of "compulsary mediation" is antithetical to a properly functioning mediation process, as is the appointment by the court of the mediators.
Interesting site, PoliticsWNY. Reading it makes me want to take a shower.
// posted by Bill @ 11:48 AM 
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