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PLANET EXCLUSIVE! MAZZEO CLARIFIES ALLEGATION OF JOB PROMISE TO GRAVES … plus … CAMPAIGN ’19 HAS ONLY ONE ISSUE

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BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 25, 2019) — There are only three issues to Campaign ’19 in Pittsfield. All other public problems and social concerns serve as offshoots. Before that, however, mayoral candidate and councilor-at-large contacted THE PLANET with a statement relating to claims that she promised a job to prelim mayoral candidate Scott Graves if she wins in November.

I have been reading the blog over the last few days and have had people reach out to me about a post claiming that I offered a job to Scott,” Mazzeo said. “I just want to state for the record [that] Karen Scott and I had spoken a few times during the campaign and knew that we three shared a very similar platform. We agreed to turn our support to whomever won in the preliminary. No jobs were offered I just wanted to clear that up.”

THE PLANET appreciates the clarification.

———- ooo ———-

Now, back to the three issues:

They are:

  • The rising cost local government
  • Crime and public safety
  • The failure of the city’s public schools.

Distilled further, the three reduce down to finances (at its simplest, government spending v. incoming revenue; proper allocation of funds). Decisions on finances dictate policy, directly affecting every municipal department and the lives of every resident.

Ever-larger city budgets in the wake of declining population wine-presses a dwindling tax base, driving out Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski and invites bottom feeders who consume vast amounts of public services and contribute nothing in return. That in turn instigates poverty and criminality. One only has to look at the number of shootings, stabbings, beatings, robberies, and the like to realize Pittsfield is no longer “in Kansas, anymore.” A mortally wounded Oz has boarded a hearse driven by Indolence and Ignorance. Can the ride be stopped before it jumps the cliff?

This is a large question, admittedly, with no easy answer. In one sense, it’s a pointless one, since the essential fact is that the government HAS grown, and it now is pushing $170 million a year.

———- ooo ———-

In 1982, Pittsfield  passed the Proposition 2½ levy limit. Theoretically, Prop. 2.5 should have capped the financial assault on the Kapanskis. It didn’t. Clever bookkeeping and built-in technicalities assured that unchecked spending might long continue.

Here’s a 16-page primer on Prop. 2.5 from the state’s website: http://www.mass.gov/dor/docs/dls/publ/misc/levylimits.pdf

Proposition 2½ places two property tax limits on a city:

  • Levy Ceiling: The total annual property tax revenue raised by a municipality shall not exceed 2.5% of the assessed value of all taxable property contained in it.
  • Levy Increase limit: The annual increase of property tax cannot exceed 2.5%, plus the amount attributable to taxes from new growth.

Is this confusing? Does it seem unclear?

You’re right. The framers wrote the law deliberately to allow a city to raise as much money as it wishes. If cities want to tax beyond the limit, they can, for instance, raise assessments or claim “new growth.” This is how, for the past 35 years, the city has raised taxes well beyond 2.5%. Even in this year’s FY budget, when mayor Linda Tyer fractionally reduced the tax rate, the cost of running the city grew by millions.

The odds are slim that Campaign ’19 will address the problem of city spending. The school committee and council won’t touch it, for sure. The one thread-thin hope is that it emerges somehow in the mayoral race.

The budget is what is it, but it ain’t what you think.

————————————————————————————————-

“His sister’s black, but she is sho’nuff pretty. To get to school, she’s got to get up early. Her clothes are worn, but never are they dirty.”Stevie Wonder, “Livin’ for the City,” from the Innervisions album.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

The views and opinions expressed in the comment section or in the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not necessarily endorsed by the operators of this website. PLANET VALENTI assumes no responsibility for such views and opinions, and it reserves the right to remove or edit any comment, including but not limited to those that violate the website’s Rules of Conduct and its editorial policies. PLANET VALENTI shall not be held responsible for the consequences that may result from any posted comment or outside opinion or commentary as provided in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and this website’s terms of service. All users of this website — including readers, commentators, contributors, or anyone else making use of its information, hereby agree to these conditions by virtue of this notice. When PLANET VALENTI ends with the words “The Usual Disclaimer,” that phrase shall be understood to refer to the full text of this disclaimer.

 

 

 

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CC The Maze Sun
CC The Maze Sun
4 years ago

“I can show you that when it starts to rain
(when the rain comes down)
Everything’s the same
(when the rain comes down)
I can show you, I can show you

Rain, I don’t mind
Shine, the weather’s fine

Can you hear me, that when it rains and shines
(when it rains and shines)
It’s just a state of mind?
(when it rains and shines)
Can you hear me, can you hear me?

Sdaeh rieht edih dna nur yeht semoc niar eht fI
(rain)
(rain)“

Jonathan Melle
Jonathan Melle
4 years ago

Pittsfield politics’ mayoral election is decided by wealthy Ward 4. The rest of the city’s other six Wards don’t bother to vote in large numbers. The financially well off households don’t feel the same economic pain that their struggling counterparts face. For many decades, Pittsfield politics raised its municipal operating budget by around 5% per fiscal year, + tens of millions in debt per fiscal year for its capital budget. There has not been one dollar in principal payments yet for the new Taconic High School bond. Matt Kerwood makes interest only payments on the new bond for the new THS. Then there are fees that increase by large amounts every fiscal year. Pittsfield politics makes its revenues by taxing hard hit senior citizen households. Thousands of people have moved away from PIttsfield over the past couple of decades due to high taxes and many hundreds of lost living wage jobs. It can’t get any worse!!!!

– Jonathan Melle

Auto Phil
Auto Phil
Reply to  Jonathan Melle
4 years ago

Well if this is true we might as well congratulate Mazzeo. Mazzeo For Mayor signs out number Tyer at least 2 to 1 in Ward 4, if not more.

Johnny99
Johnny99
4 years ago

Dan, very elequently written. Sick, sad and so “perfectly Pittsfield “, as you put it a while back, that it’s not a question of if us Kapanskis are going to get screwed, but rather how far and how deep the penetration will be, with the annual Bendover Baby coming after the budget is already set. Simply put, how much more are our taxes going up this year, after the election of course?

There is no real leadership, management, or supervision At the upper levels of This city. Just one dog and pony show after another and the price of admission keeps going up. And now the 300 jobs Tyer and her cardboard accomplishments claim are coming in autumn are coming maybe in 2021, and we ain’t invited to the dog and pony show invitation only baby can’t wait to see the photos for that performance at the clock tower.

The school committee
The school committee
4 years ago

Mayor Tyer has never once in 4 years mention tax relief for Seniors on a small SS check of 1300 a month.Mayor Tyer does not think about poor property owners flipping the bill for all the future park maintenance with all the new projects.Pittsfield cant take care of the parks they have.The CC is young and does not have money problems.Any candidate can spend your money.Moon,White,Caccamo and Tyer are spenders .Power is what they feel when spending money.We need candidates that feel powerful cutting budgets for the Seniors

Johnny Absurd
Johnny Absurd
Reply to  The school committee
4 years ago

Well sir, sorry to correct you but Stanley and George and Bersteins are just a few of the seniors the mayor is taking care of. (really good care I might add) Maybe she likes to take care of seniors who can show appreciation? I dunno

Walter Webster
Walter Webster
4 years ago

I was there and know what I heard.

Didn’t Mazzeo get caught in a lie about a phone call with Harrington?

I want to hear what Scott has to say. One of them is a liar.

doomiedodger
doomiedodger
Reply to  Walter Webster
4 years ago

I hope you follow up on this. It was important when you said it but more important that she denied it.

SallySays
SallySays
Reply to  Walter Webster
4 years ago

Sally Says,

Walter, how many drinks had you had? If you remember. At least your allegation is firsthand, unlike the Ukranegate whistleblower complaint which A. Is hearsay and B. Trump is releasing transcript so we will have it word for word.

You got a transcript?

By the way, even if she did, and she didn’t, who could be worse than Ruffer, Rubertos Recycled puppet???

Auto Phil
Auto Phil
Reply to  Walter Webster
4 years ago

How much does it really matter? Does anyone actually think the endorsement from Scott Graves was the end-all-be-all endorsement of a lifetime, having to be secured with the promise of a job?

Mazzeo says above no jobs were promised. I believe that. Does that deny any conversation took place about potential roles Scott could be useful in in a Mazzeo administration? No. But conversations aren’t promises, if so.

I believe her.

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  Auto Phil
4 years ago

Story makes no sense.
Mazzeo, part of the political machine is going to trade a jobe for an endorsement from a political neophyte who got less than one percent of the vote? A candidate who couldn’t even get into the double digits on the prelim

I tend to believe the press conference where graves when asked why he endorsed Mazzeo stated.

“ “Well, I just believe that she has my beliefs,” said Graves. “[I] want to take care of crime and help strengthen the city and make it grow moving forward and really focus on business and getting more businesses here and existing ones to expand.”

It would seem that if he was promised a job, he would have made that clear at the press event.

Mazzeo said the agreement was formally made after a candidate mixer earlier in September, but that an alliance began to form from the very first candidates’ debate in August. Mazzeo says the two share her frustration with the city’s direction.

This smells more like a political hit piece. It’s a very simple thing to investigate. Karen would know if there was a plan by all three to endorse the other, if so then it wouldn’t make any sense to offer jobs to one candidate, not the other, and not expect one in return.

This seems like a good Dan question, reach out to the other former candidates on the record. Then again it’s already on the record.

https://www.wamc.org/post/former-opponents-back-mazzeo-against-tyer-after-pittsfield-preliminary-election

levitan
levitan
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

PoliceR

Why does it need to make sense now? It’ll make sense a year from now.

Officer Joe Bolton
Officer Joe Bolton
Reply to  Auto Phil
4 years ago

I believe MM too. I think her clarification says it all. Statement is up front, Doesn’t hide anything. Has the ring of truth about it. Thank you MM for issuing. Thank you Planet for posting.

Johnny Absurd
Johnny Absurd
Reply to  Officer Joe Bolton
4 years ago

Ha ha. You sound like Rudy Giuliani. Maybe Sarah Sanders. good job Mr Bolton.

The school committee
The school committee
Reply to  Walter Webster
4 years ago

Mazzeo said Harrington it happened.Mazzeo said it did not.I believe Mazzeo

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  The school committee
4 years ago

planetvalenti.com/2018/09/mazzeo-on-harrington-phone-call-ive-never-been-so-sick-in-my-life-she-lied-to-me/

Why would DA Andrea Harrington call Melissa Mazzeo for support after knowing she didn’t have Mazzeo’s support?
She wouldn’t, she would only call to threaten Mazzeo to back off.

DA Andrea Harrington made a specific threat that Melissa Mazzeo would not have future political support should she run for office. As one of the founders of the Berkshire chapter of the women’s political caucus, DA Andrea Harrington wasn’t lying. The Women’s Caucus contributed to Mazzeo’s opponent Mayor Linda Tyer over a month prior to Mayor Linda Tyer announcing it. This conveniently after her loss via a second place finish to Mazzeo in the primary, which was done to deflect attention from Mazzeo’s win.

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  danvalenti
4 years ago

Yes, it makes no sense for then candidate for DA Andrea Harrington to call, who she believed to be, the opposition leader of a rivals campaign to ask for an “endorsement”.

If DA Andrea Harrington is taken at her word, she “knew” Melissa Mazzeo was supporting Caccaviello, she was upset about it and raging about how this went against the “democratic process”. Those were words used in letters her supporters wrote from a script during the campaign.

DA Andrea Harrington had no other reason to call. A popular ploy by many that are guilty, have a spokesperson or lawyer deny in your place, so you are never on the record as saying anything that can be directly quoted to you.
Did DA Andrea Harrington ever deny it directly to you or was it all through spokespersons? A question we all know the answer to.

An outgrowth of all of this, The Planet is now a sounding board for placement of political position pieces by supporters in both camps. The Eagle is also blatantly taking opinion queues from the Planet.

Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth
Reply to  Walter Webster
4 years ago

Walter: Where exactly were you when “heard” it ? Do you remember the date and the actual exact time that you “heard” it. How good is your hearing and why would you be in Ms. Mazzeo’s personal space, close enough to ease drop on her conversation ? If you were that close surely she knows who you are.

Truthsayer
Truthsayer
4 years ago

Like all elections, it comes down to answering a few questions (screw the politics bullcrap):

1) Are you happy with the way things are going?
2) Are you better off today than when the current person took office?
3) Do you feel safer in your community?
4) Do you feel money is being wasted or spent inappropriately?

If your answers are: 1) No; 2) No; 3) No; 4) No, you should vote for the opposition.

Johnny99
Johnny99
4 years ago

Not exactly. Money is always wasted and spent inappropriately. No one feels safe in Da Pitts after dark and no one has for 30 years city’s been a hell hole. Whether you are better off or not depends largely on you not your mayor or any other buggyman or villain of your choice.

It comes down to what the candidates platforms are and who you dislike the least. Tyer running on her phony cardboard accomplishments. Mazzeo ain’t Tyer. That about sums it up unless I’m missing something.

Neither one is talking, or has every talked fiscal restraint.

levitan
levitan
Reply to  Johnny99
4 years ago

All we have to do is vote for our preferred candidate and watch her not produce results. Everyone has their genie lamp….

Thomas More
Thomas More
4 years ago

EMA coming to Pittsfield. We’re going to give them 200 grand and they don’t have to pay taxes for 5 years. They’ve been in business since 1977 and already have a gross revenue of $3 million. Wow! They’re going to get Pittsfield on the extraterrestrial map. There plan is to go to Uranus, but before they go they’re going to shove it up Ouranus. How long will it be before they come back for more money?

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  Thomas More
4 years ago

It’s not just $200k, it’s going to be closer to $1.8 million to $2 million
There’s a pending deal for $660k or so for preliminary building and equipment, and that’s just first round. Supposedly there are three phases of funding to fully equip this venture.

Their gross revenues are based on mostly existing software sales (licenses) and small contract consulting services for larger corporations. if the city gives them $140k that will be about the money they earned in 2019 from government project contracts.

Johnny Absurd
Johnny Absurd
Reply to  Thomas More
4 years ago

Would Barry buy stock in this company? Are they even listed? Do they have a board of directors? A business plan we can all see? Do they have a Facebook page? What is their definition of “space”? Outer space or empty space? Will there be a landing spot for extraterrestrials on the site? Will the airport commission have oversight? Will they need a special permit to store rocket fuel? Will ALF hold a management position? How about Captain Kirk? Will their booster rockets fall harmlessly into Silver lake or will the city need another ambulance service? Is Elon Musk worried about losing business to them?

Goodbye Krol World
Goodbye Krol World
Reply to  Johnny Absurd
4 years ago

Better yet Barry can loan the money. It’s only pocket change to him.

Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow
4 years ago

Up to 207 votes for the Dems–only 11 more to go.

And then what?

Seems to me they have already impeached Trump in the public arena, so this is really anticlimatic.

But, my dear folks, impeachment does not mean removal from office–need 67 votes in the US Senate. Good luck with that.

All of this according to the Michigan lineman’s dictum:

“An impeachable [and conviction] offense is whatever the half the House and two-thirds of the Senate thinks it is.”

Bring it on.

As for politics in the Pitts: just vote for MelMazz in keeping with the principle of frequent rotation in office.

Kavey v. JLo in the FIFTH Ward, not the 6th. A bit shocked by Kavey’s showing, which is good because JLo’s had his time.

But in the end, does it really matter here who sits on the City Council? Maybe a tad difference who is mayor, but not much.

levitan
levitan
Reply to  Edward R. Murrow
4 years ago

Dems, who hate electoral calculi, have lost the public vote on impeachment. Their leadership as it stands (whoever that is) has no interest in forwarding the process to the senate. They won’t compromise Red district democrats.

House majorities are short lived.

Spider
Spider
4 years ago

$200,00 for EMA?

Isn’t this where we came in? How many more times will this city have to be fooled?

Put me down for a NO!

Magic
Magic
Reply to  Spider
4 years ago

Spider we don’t get a vote

Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth
4 years ago

What is a “Cultural Competency Coach” ? How many are there in the Pittsfield School System ? What exactly do they do as a daily work routine? And $42,000 of tax payer cash for “Teach Pittsfield”. Teach Pittsfield what exactly ?

Spider
Spider
Reply to  Sojourner Truth
4 years ago

Good questions, Sojourner.

Here’s a question for the Teachers Union. Among the goodies that will be offered for “diversity” teachers:

1) Salary flexibility
2) Relocation expenses
3) Student loan forgiveness

How do your non-diversity union members feel about this? Will their student loans be forgiven?

Mr. Fritz
Mr. Fritz
Reply to  Spider
4 years ago

It’s called racism.

Mr. Fritz
Mr. Fritz
Reply to  Mr. Fritz
4 years ago

And it may take a lawsuit from a prospective teacher who is turned away from a job in favor of a less qualified “diversity candidate” – to stop this blatantly racist hiring policy.
Good point Spider – where does the union stand on this issue? If I’m a white teacher with student loans – I would sue the school district over point #3!

Spider
Spider
Reply to  Mr. Fritz
4 years ago

Exactly, Fritz!

Mr. Fritz
Mr. Fritz
Reply to  Mr. Fritz
4 years ago

Tonight McCandless receives his annual review from the school committee.
Last week the super announced his new code of conduct policy, right before his review.
Perhaps this committee should be asking why there is discrimination in the district’s hiring policy? Does the committee approve of it? Would it stand up in a court of law?
You’d think a lesson would’ve been learned from the two “diversity” principal hires several years ago – both were disasters!

PorkyPig
PorkyPig
Reply to  Mr. Fritz
4 years ago

McCandless and the rest of the PPS administration need to fill those special ed positions and specialty skills such as teachers of the blind/deaf, ABA certified teachers, etc. instead of focusing on culture competency.

You have a student on an IEP with services that aren’t being met you are legally out of compliance and open yourselves up to potential lawsuits or losing money to send kids elsewhere.

This district has been out of compliance for years on numerous levels I can prove it

Aerin
Aerin
4 years ago

Apparently our DA was out of county again yesterday, fighting for the rights of law breakers in Boston. Undoubtedly she was spewing the dogfood on brains aren’t developed/tough on crime approaches don’t work. Protecting young criminals in Berkshire County (primarily of color, primarily from out of county) who come here to commit their crimes is Job 1 for Harrington and her “progressive prosecutors.” This group is on record promising to adopt the least restrictive sanction possible. Will anyone hold them accountable? https://malegislature.gov/Events/Hearings/Detail/3291

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  Aerin
4 years ago

While DA Andrea Harrington is out playing parent to children and the under 25 year-old juveniles, back home her office is bring questioned about the ethics of their prosecution in a murder case.

Assistant Berkshire District Attorney Joseph Yorlano wants to put a witness on the stand that they know will lie, and has lied before to police and the courts. The man in question either shot or witnessed someone else shoot Anthony Gamache.

Older still DA spokesman Andrew McKeever on Tuesday declined to confirm whether an appeal was going forward and declined to comment on Callan’s order, saying only that the office can’t comment on pending cases.

Isn’t that his job, and isn’t that what the DA’s office does, in part, comment on pending cases?

Tom Betit
Tom Betit
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

Police report
Yorlano is from previous administration

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  Tom Betit
4 years ago

And the issue still stands, this is a complicated murder case with a witness that has a problem with recanting testimony, why isn’t DA Andrea Harrington heading this trial? Or why hasn’t the DA Andrea Harrington moved Karen Bell into the first chair? An offer of limited immunity might make sense as well, as seen in the Smith trial.

Aerin
Aerin
Reply to  Tom Betit
4 years ago

And he was not fired like everyone else in superior court because? You’re an idiot with no inside knowledge so please spare us.

James
James
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

That case is completely FUBAR. Where is the great prosecutor Karen Bell who is supposed to be providing adult supervision while the DA marches for criminals rights?

Blare
Blare
Reply to  James
4 years ago

The case is FUBAR because as Peter Campbell’s trial approached, he decided to flip on his accomplice. Capeless offered him a deal and put him in front of a grand jury – to lie. After securing his deal and playing Capeless for a complete fool, Campbell renounced his accusation against the accomplice, which is why things are so screwed up at this point.

DA Harrington and Yorlano are left with only bad choices in this case, thanks to Capeless’s poor judgement and unethical behavior. Such as keeping Campbell in jail – without a trial – for nearly 4 years so Capless could play his games. That right there is why we have a new DA. Even the accused have rights, no matter what crimes they are accused of.

Anderson williams
Anderson williams
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

What a total bunch of BS!!

Anderson williams
Anderson williams
Reply to  Aerin
4 years ago

Bitter Bitter.

The school committee
The school committee
4 years ago

Biggest problem in the hood are the large multiplex landlords.They get their cash and the gangsters run Pittsfield.Get the health department walking the hood for violations

Tom Betit
Tom Betit
Reply to  The school committee
4 years ago

TSC
The district attorneys office credibility problem began with the previous administration which Yorlano, was one of capeless main subalterns.
See: Lach’s murder.
None of capeless/Caccaviello cases will end in prosecutions.

Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow
4 years ago

Nowhere in the transcript does Trump say he would withhold OUR money if Ukraine didn’t look into Biden’s son.

So it is OK for a sitting vice president to bully the Ukraine–AND threatened to withhold money–into stopping the investigation of his son and fire the prosecutor, but it is not OK for a sitting president to ask Ukraine to reopen the investigation?

Wa?

Impeachable Offenses?

The President [Trump]: I would like to have the Attorney General
call you or your people and I would like you to get to the
bottom of it. As you saw yesterday, that whole nonsense ended
with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with
Ukraine. Whatever you can do, it’s very important that you do it
if that’s possible.

The President [Trump]: Good because I heard you had a prosecutor who was very good and he was shut down and that’s really unfair. A lot of people are talking about that, the way they shut your very good prosecutor down and you had some very bad people involved. Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man. He was the
mayor of New York City, a great mayor, and I would like him to
call you. I will ask him to call you along with the Attorney
General. Rudy very much knows what’s happening and he is a very
capable guy. If you could speak to him that would be great. The
former ambassador from the United States, the woman, was bad
news and the people she was dealing with in the Ukraine were bad
news so I just want to let you know that.

****The other thing, there’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the
prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so
whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great.
Biden went around ***bragging that he stopped the prosecution*** so if you can look into it . . . It sounds horrible to me.***

President Zelenskyy: I wanted to tell you about the
prosecutor. First of all I understand and I’m knowledgeable
about the situation. Since we have the absolute majority in
our Parliament; the next prosecutor general will be 100% my
person, my candidate, who will be approved, by the parliament and
will start as a new prosecutor in September. He or she will look.
into the situation, specifically to the company that you
mentioned in this issue. The issue of the investigation of the
case is actually the issue of making sure to resolve the honesty
so we will take care of that and wi11work on the investigation
of the case. On top of that, I would kindly ask you if you have
any additional information that you can provide to µs, it would
be very helpful for the investigation to make sure that we
administer justice.

Mr. Fritz
Mr. Fritz
Reply to  Edward R. Murrow
4 years ago

Biden’s in deep guano!

levitan
levitan
Reply to  Edward R. Murrow
4 years ago

The ‘phone call’ thing is most likely Dem leadership intervening to poison Biden’s campaign. They likely fear his corrupt dealings in Ukraine will smash his campaign if he should secure nomination, so it would be preferable for them to boot him beforehand.

Why would the Congress start talking announcing impeachment based on a contaminated whistleblower’s claim prior to reviewing it? Bad leadership combined with stupidity or pursuit of an outcome not related to Pres. Trump.

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  Edward R. Murrow
4 years ago

Although this whole political theater is named as a Trump-centric attack, the actual target is Biden.
There’s nothing in the “transcript” that hints at investigations for money or aid.
A president is given wide latitude in discussions with foreign leaders, and nothing in the dialogue even hints at a quid pro quo aid for investigation.
What the narrative of the “complaint” does do is create a subtle breadcrumb trail back to Biden. Biden is on video bragging about how he quashed a corruption probe into the Ukrainian company his son worked for. Biden did so by directly threatening the withholding of loan guarantees for the Ukraine if the prosecutor wasn’t fired.

This whole thing is less about Trump and more about internal Democratic Party infighting and a way to move Biden out. If Trump takes some damage in the process, so much the better.

“There are few people who fit into the kind of progress that we all want to see in this country, and I would say he is not one of them,” Omar said of Biden when speaking to a reporter from the Guardian.

The school committee
The school committee
Reply to  danvalenti
4 years ago

Dan you were there in the 70s for the daily tv of Nixon impeachment.I watched alot of it and it developed very slow.Just because Trump says things does not mean their true.Trump had his lawyer in the Ukraine…..as a Senator would you find this odd?

Pat
Pat
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

True. The radical Dems want the most far left candidate they can get like wild eyed Lizzie or Kamala. They need that Green New Deal to pass to get total government control with themselves in charge of all the money and power of course.

Kennedie Vosubiak
Kennedie Vosubiak
4 years ago

Kennedie says,leave our President be. Or should I say,front running a President.

Dewey Slambroso
Dewey Slambroso
4 years ago

Trump wants him bad.

Fuji Destelles
Fuji Destelles
4 years ago

Unfortunately there is an implication of support to Ukraine with the tenor of an element of quid pro quo, which is clearly there.

levitan
levitan
Reply to  Fuji Destelles
4 years ago

What’s the ‘pro quo’? What’s the Quid?

Perhaps it’s the President’s duty under the Constitution to request foreign leaders to cooperate with investigations of crimes committed by citizens.

Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow
4 years ago

“Unfortunately there is an implication of support to Ukraine with the tenor of an element of quid pro quo, which is clearly there.”

On whose part? Clearly not seen in the transcript.

If you mean Trump, then you should be able to get a job in the media immediately, because this is the sort of thing they purvey: an “implication” and a “tenor,” which words are meaningless. I expect to see you on CNN with Wolf this evening.

But others are right, that this will sink Biden–and most likely an inside hit job on ol’ Joe.

The school committee
The school committee
Reply to  danvalenti
4 years ago

Trump used 450 million to leverage dirt on the Biden family.Trump is a pig.

levitan
levitan
Reply to  The school committee
4 years ago

SC:

What is Trump’s leverage?

Vice Pres. Biden’s leverage is evident in this speech:

“I remember going over and convincing our team, others, to convince that we should be providing for loan guarantees. And I went over, I guess, the 12th, 13th time to Kiev. And I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yatsenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor. And they didn’t.

So they said they had—they were walking out to a press conference. I said, nah, I’m not going to—or, we’re not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, you have no authority. You’re not the president. The president said—I said, call him. (Laughter.) I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a b-tch. (Laughter.) He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”

Hunter lives to fight another day!

Mad Trapper
Mad Trapper
Reply to  danvalenti
4 years ago

https://www.wnd.com/2019/09/justice-department-clears-trump-ukraine-call/

DNC are are just a bunch of crooks, Lieawatha too.

Mad Trapper
Mad Trapper
Reply to  danvalenti
4 years ago

pdf of the stuff the left winged parrots are squawking about

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf

Pat
Pat
Reply to  danvalenti
4 years ago

I really think that Hillary and Obama are behind this whistle blower.

Mad Trapper
Mad Trapper
Reply to  Edward R. Murrow
4 years ago

I bet Ole Joe the Pervert has dirt on both the Clinton’s and Sotero.

And why hasn’t Holder been investigated? Some more of his/Barry’s “fast’n furious” guns just turned up at murders in Mexico.

They both deserve a Mexican jail.

levitan
levitan
Reply to  Edward R. Murrow
4 years ago

Didn’t Joe Biden, who never seem far from Hunter in the pics, brag about using billions to leverage a corrupt president to scuttle an investigation that touched his son’s financial interests?

For Biden, the leverage was “fire the prosecutor [and cancel the investigation] or no loan? What is the leverage for Trump.

“I remember going over and convincing our team, others, to convince that we should be providing for loan guarantees. And I went over, I guess, the 12th, 13th time to Kiev. And I was supposed to announce that there was another billion-dollar loan guarantee. And I had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yatsenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor. And they didn’t.

So they said they had—they were walking out to a press conference. I said, nah, I’m not going to—or, we’re not going to give you the billion dollars. They said, you have no authority. You’re not the president. The president said—I said, call him. (Laughter.) I said, I’m telling you, you’re not getting the billion dollars. I said, you’re not getting the billion. I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money. Well, son of a b-tch. (Laughter.) He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time.”

Dara Delbatigagalia
Dara Delbatigagalia
4 years ago

Can you believe these DemoCrats are on another phony witch-hunt against probably the greatest President of all time. Our economy’s alone should win him re-election. God Bless OUR President!

The school committee
The school committee
4 years ago

Electro Magnetic Applications that nobody knows about and this is where Mazzeo shines.Her talent is to ask questions like what kind of money did you make?why do you need us to build this for you?I need to tell the taxpayers about you guys and need all the facts…..The eagle did no research on this company.We want Mazzeo asking questions.

Auto Phil
Auto Phil
4 years ago

Interesting exchange on a Berkshire Eagle’s Facebook post regarding EMA…

The spokesperson/employee for EMA says they will take their company somewhere else if they don’t get the city incentive package…

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  Auto Phil
4 years ago

So here’s a response.
They will go elsewhere, the jobs are “new” jobs but already 50% are not. Two are jobs for two of the people that work for the company, they will create new jobs BUT they will either poach people that are already working here (consultants at GD) or they will motivate others to come here. Notice they are looking for PhD level scientists in the field and Pittsfield doesn’t have a ton of those.
They will have some entry level jobs that can maybe be filled by locals.

He talks about risk, about needing capital for a startup. In most cases a company that’s been in business for 40 years would do planning for this type of thing, structure their debt, have lines of credit to get a loan easily. They would also have venture capitalists and angels banging down their doors to invest.
Why does Pittsfield have to take on risk? Haven’t they taken on enough risk? At $140k cash on $600k in equipment, that’s almost 25% of the risk and that’s just phase one of risk.
Also remember that this man has been with the company six months and has been working as a consultant for the last 6 years. What experience has he in building a company? In looking at his linked in and resume, not a whole lot.

“Yes, we will go elsewhere. $600k in one large purchase is a difficult undertaking for any company. Even for a highly successful business such as ours (we have been in operation for over 40 years), that’s quite a lot. The big key is that for any of this to work, we need to buy everything all at once, and that’s why we worked with the city to help support this.

The goal of the BIC itself is to support programs such as this. It’s intended to drive innovation and growth by providing high value capabilities to companies that are commonly needed to grow and expand their business. The issue with growing and starting a new business is the risk that companies face and the limited capital that nearly all business have to support these operations. The BIC is there to help foster and grow these businesses so that they can flourish and benefit the area.

These will be new additions to EMA as a company. We have no plans to relocate any of our existing employees to the area. All of the jobs created here are going to be a combination of specific, PHD and graduate level people we’re looking to poach from various places, and some motivated young entry level type folks. We’re hoping that we can find some local talent to fill these roles, and we also have our existing lines of business that will be operating out of Pittsfield as well that present further growth opportunities.”

Mr. Fritz
Mr. Fritz
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

The BIC needs an investment stream, and not from the coffers of the GE Fund.

EMA needs to find their own investors instead of looking to the city of Pittsfield to meet their needs.

This is a political ploy in an election year to 1)secure the first BIC tenant, and 2) give the appearance that economic improvements “ are happening” under Tyer.

Auto Phil
Auto Phil
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

I have to say, this whole thing is fascinating. Looking at other comments on the thread –

Justin McKennon:

“It’s not a measly $140k. When you’re a successful, but still a small business, spending $600k in cash capital asset acquisitions is a large undertaking. We’re contributing a considerable amount of our own funding, in addition to grants and the city’s support to make this happen without financing additional debt. It helps us maintain cash flow to support our existing operations,while pouring the necessary resources into this project.”

“Jim McCabe it’s incredibly difficult, complex, and there are only a handful of people that can build something like this. Two of which (myself and Greg Wilson) happen to work for EMA. You can’t buy expertise and experience if it doesn’t exist. Space radiation effects is an important, but small piece of the space puzzle. In addition, the big companies individually do not have the volume of internal work to make investing internally (hiring, training, building, etc) viable. However, across the industry there is a lot of fruit to be picked.”

The fascinating part is the fact that there are only a handful of people (in the world?) that can build this chamber facility. So do the other qualified and expert scientists (the new job folks) even quite exist? And if something happens to the two local people who can pull it off (they quit, move away, get lost in space,etc) is the project dead?

How intriguing.

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  Auto Phil
4 years ago

This has gotten ridiculous. This Justin fellow is unhinged and clearly a charlatan.

In 40 years of “thriving” (are they vibrant too?) they only have had, at most, 23 employees and a number of them are associate consultants, not real employees but as needed consultants.
Their gross sales for last year? $3 million, which includes software licenses for their simulation software.
Let’s compare that to a direct competitor of EMA3D
Dassault Systèmes
Founded in 1981
For 2018
Revenue $4.2 billion
Operating Income $823 million
Net Income $614 million
Total Assets $8.11 billion
Total Equity 4.99 billion
About 16,700 employees

Seems like Dassault Systèmes has built a “space empire”
While EMA3D has been sort of doing not much.
I’d love to know exactly how much of their own capital they are spending, exactly. For the record $600k is not a lot of money for “most companies”, unless you are a small business that’s new into a market or just underperformed.
A good example, a large local car dealership floats a floor plan loan of over $3 million a month. A local “tractor dealership” has over $7 million in equipment in inventory.
These folks are actually acting like their company is a “startup” after 40+ years in business and seeking “first round” funding from the city and other sources.
Before the city gives them dime one, they should lay out all the funding and where the city would sit in that line.

Well, you should look to inform yourself before you make inflammatory accusations such as this. We’re investing a considerable amount of our own internal funding to support this project. We are NOT a startup. We are a multi-million dollar company who has been around since the late 1970s and has been thriving for many years. By partnering with the city and state through grant initiatives, we don’t need to take out a loan. This helps ease the capital cash burden ($600k is a lot of cash, for any company) we face to make this happen, not to mention the wages, training, onboarding, and all of the other associated costs with this endeavor.

We’re already making it big, and this is our chance to make it bigger, and benefit the city at the same time.

ResearchGuru
ResearchGuru
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

Dassault Systèmes is not a competitor to EMA. EMA would provide services to Dassault.

Mad Trapper
Mad Trapper
Reply to  Auto Phil
4 years ago

Good, EMA can take their 6 jobs to Hades.

I stopped buying THE LEFT WINGED PARROT years ago.

Their website wants to track you, and extort you, so I don’t do that either.

The used paper offends my cat, and she wouldn’t use her litterbox unless I removed it. The woodstove is still O.K. with it.

Figures they have a Farcebook page, they are censors/censored too.

Pat
Pat
Reply to  Mad Trapper
4 years ago

That’s so weird because my cat would scratch her feet like she was trying to bury the newspaper even if it was on the coffee table. She was sending a message loud and clear about what she thought of the Berkshire Eagle.

Mad Trapper
Mad Trapper
Reply to  Pat
4 years ago

Good clean cats bury stanky $#!t!

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
4 years ago

Let’s hope DA Andrea Harrington makes sure this young child gets a diversion program and some milk and a cookie.

PITTSFIELD — A city man brandished a 12-inch kitchen knife during a disturbance Tuesday at Berkshire Crossing, according to police.

Police say no injuries were reported in the incident.

Officers with the Pittsfield Police Department responded to the Market 32 parking lot of the Hubbard Avenue shopping plaza at around 4:36 p.m. Seven 911 callers reported that the occupants of two vehicles were involved in a disturbance and that several people were fighting, according to a news release from the department.

Based on witness accounts, officers say they were able to locate the vehicle and recover the knife. Police say the weapon was in the possession of 18-year-old Juan Velez, who will be charged with one count of disorderly conduct and one count of possession of a dangerous weapon.

Pat
Pat
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

A lot of bad stuff happening at Walmart lately. A police office should be permanently assigned there.

Truthsayer
Truthsayer
Reply to  Pat
4 years ago

Have you ever looked at Walmart denizens? There’s a reason why there’s a website called peopleofwalmart.com.

As for DA Harrington, does DA stand for Dumb Ass? Just wondering.

Pat
Pat
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

Also he is under 21. Does that mean he is not responsible for his actions according to our far left District Attorney? We believe young kids and must take their knowledge seriously when they are giving us political advice about climate change, but when it comes to crimes, we know they do not have the brain capacity to know what they are doing is wrong.

Mad Trapper
Mad Trapper
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

I wonder if Juan had the knife with him or he just borrowed it from Walmart?

Is 12″ an assault knife?

Johnny2Shoes
Johnny2Shoes
Reply to  Mad Trapper
4 years ago

MD,

https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2019/09/26/california-shocked-find-bill-decriminalizing-retail-theft-resulted-retail-theft/

These laws are just creating more crimes. They now know if you commit a crime, you won’t do the time.

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  Johnny2Shoes
4 years ago

In DA Andrea Harrington’s world, crime goes down because you just stop prosecuting it. Then after a while, crime goes down more because the police stop arresting people, just ask Chief Wynn. A little later, crime goes down again because people just stop reporting it. Then a short time after that crime goes even lower because the people with means, who keep getting robbed, move away.
Then Mayor Linda Tyer, to prop up the facade that is a “vibrant and dynamic” Pittsfield gives away money to lure charlatans to the community.

Gigi
Gigi
4 years ago

Unfortunately yesterday’s Democratic clown show overshadowed a great speech to the United Nations by President Trump:

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/09/24/donald-trump-to-the-united-nations-the-future-does-not-belong-to-globalists/

“The future does not belong to globalists, the future belongs to patriots, the future belongs to sovereign and independent nations.”
President Donald J. Trump, 9/24/19

Pat
Pat
Reply to  Gigi
4 years ago

It was an excellent speech by President Trump. The far left wants power pure and simple and as we have seen they will do just about anything to get it. It’s all about their insane and dangerous vision they have for this country which gives them all the money and power while the rest of us tiptoe around and make one sacrifice after another for climate change. They are terrifying the young people and trying to convince them NOT to have children while the wealthy on the far left buy up tons of oceanfront property while telling the gullible young that the coastline will soon disappear.

Pat
Pat
Reply to  Gigi
4 years ago

Excellent speeches President Trump today and yesterday.

The far left is telling the gullible young NOT to have children because of climate change while the wealthy far left is buying up tons of property on the coast while telling the gullible young that the coastlines will soon disappear.

Pat
Pat
Reply to  Gigi
4 years ago

True Gigi. People around the world are also disgusted by the outrageous behavior of the far left and their terrible treatment of President Trump.

Truthsayer
Truthsayer
Reply to  Pat
4 years ago

Trump cheats at real estate, taxes, paying contractors, running fake universities, and on his wives – especially if they’ve just delivered a baby. Trump is absolutely the second coming of Jesus. I’d like to see him wearing a jumpsuit the same color as his skin – orange. Makes me ashamed to be a Republican.

Mr. Fritz
Mr. Fritz
Reply to  Truthsayer
4 years ago

Hey Fakesayer –
Your true colors are showing – you’re a GLOBALIST!

Pat
Pat
Reply to  Truthsayer
4 years ago

President Trump is a huge improvement over the way Republicans have acted for the past 20 years. Republicans have acted more like Democrats and have been weak and afraid to stand up to the far left. No wonder the far left prefers that type of Republican over President Trump. They were able to get away with most anything and easily further along their globalist/socialist/marxist/communist agenda. This is why President Trump poses such a threat to the far left. He calls them out for their insane agenda.

SallySays
SallySays
Reply to  Truthsayer
4 years ago

SallySays doesn’t make him a bad president.

The school committee
The school committee
4 years ago

Trump and Barr took over the U S government.

Mad Trapper
Mad Trapper
Reply to  The school committee
4 years ago

Trump, was elected and took over Jan 2017 from emperor Sotero.

The H-Beast LOST, get over it TSC.

Barr should do his job and put half of the DNC in jail., along with those who have violated their oaths off office. Starting with sanctuary city mayors. They are federal felons.

Carolina St Francois
Carolina St Francois
4 years ago

Trump should be on Wheaties Box.

Gobsig
Gobsig
Reply to  Carolina St Francois
4 years ago

Warren should be on a milk carton

SallySays
SallySays
4 years ago

And now some blacks want higher pay, moving expenses, and student loan forgiveness to fill school teacher openings instead of hiring most qualified local person regardless of skin color

https://www.berkshireeagle.com/stories/pittsfield-education-leaders-outline-push-to-diversify-citys-teachers,585641

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  SallySays
4 years ago

They should start with the superintendent and work their way down. It’s like the NFL, leadership positions, not player positions.

There are a number of Federal programs for inner city and rural teachers to get loan forgiveness, special stipends, and even housing allowances.

https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/teacher

An interesting read
https://www.city-journal.org/html/how-i-joined-teach-america—and-got-sued-20-million-12393.html

The school committee
The school committee
Reply to  SallySays
4 years ago

Nobody wants to work in Pittsfield schools and its much worse than last year and no one is going to tell you.The greatest dog and pony show in the country.They want you to believe that the crime in the streets is not in the schools.Im hearing so much turnover in staff they cant cope.The MAYOR knows but she wont talk….cant wait for Mazzeo

Johnny Absurd
Johnny Absurd
4 years ago

Mazzeo needs to climb al over this new Space Tech company looking for handouts from Pittsfield senior citizens. She needs to do it because Tyer will not. Are any other cities wooing this “company”? If so who are they? This needs to be put on hold till someone who cares about Pittsfield can do a deep dive and background checks on everyone involved.

On the surface it sounds ludicrous. No competent money manager would advise their client to get involved with this. So why is mayor Tyer?

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  Johnny Absurd
4 years ago

Yes, we will go elsewhere. $600k in one large purchase is a difficult undertaking for any company. Even for a highly successful business such as ours (we have been in operation for over 40 years), that’s quite a lot. The big key is that for any of this to work, we need to buy everything all at once, and that’s why we worked with the city to help support this.

So they don’t care about Pittsfield, the region, any part of the Berkshires at all, location to businesses or defense contractors. It’s only about the money and what Pittsfield can offer.
This guy has only been working for EMA for six months, as a principal scientist level I. He’s not an owner, his not the president of the company, or even a managing partner. He’s an employee that’s barely out of new employee probation. He also seems like he’s never heard of the concept of leasing. He’s going to outright buy $600k worth of equipment, with what seems to be, other people’s money for effectively an unproven new business that they plan to be in. The concept of space test chambers isn’t new, but it’s a new thing for them. For my tax dollars, I’d want to see investments in proven companies that are expanding what they do because they’ve hit the wall of production. This is a risky venture, new employee, new type of business, and a new way of doing things.

“No test facility in the world has all these capabilities, let alone in a single test chamber,” EMA states in documents within the proposal”

Sounds better suited for VC money, and a TIF with ties to performance, not outright cash. At most cash as a loan but we know how those work so I wouldn’t even suggest that.

ResearchGuru
ResearchGuru
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

McKinnon is certainly experienced and serves as a consultant for EMA per https://www.ema3d.com/ema-consultants/. Here is his resume per linkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-mckennon-2b280833/. He is more than qualified. To call him names is hardly productive. No he is not an owner. So what? he represents the company. The company is a proven company. The 3 mill gross a year does not make sense. Gross is a meaningless number anyway. Net is what is important.

Auto Phil
Auto Phil
4 years ago

The EMA story gets more interesting when you read this blog written by Justin McKennon and found on the EMA website.

https://www.ema3d.com/blog/space-weather-strikes-again/

The short of it – Five months ago, some space satellite failed due to its unpredicted encounter with space debris. Or something like that.

“In April of this year (2019), the Boeing-built Intelsat 29e communications satellite (launched in 2016) suddenly failed. A recent investigation concluded that an electrostatic discharge, or a micro-meteoroid strike, was the cause of the premature end of the satellite’s mission. This failure was expensive – costing Intelsat ~$382 million.”

Now pay attention closely to the end of the article.

“With the massive costs of space programs, it seems logical to try and address these issues in the design phase. EMA has been involved in many of the industry’s largest space programs, and has helped countless customers make their designs safer and more reliable. At the moment, EMA is in the process of developing a test facility to empirically evaluate the effects of spacecraft charging on materials, and in parallel, EMA is also developing a simulation tool to better allow for the analysis of these effects. EMA hopes that these capabilities can help to prevent things like the 29e from occurring!“

At the moment this article was written – five months ago – EMA was already in the process of developing a test facility and simulation tool. (The Chamber?)

Have they been working on the BIC idea for 5 months? Did they try to develop a facility somewhere else at least five months ago? If so, what happened to that development?

Outer space is so mysterious!

Pat
Pat
4 years ago

I agree with this article from the New York Post about the exploitation of children by far left climate change obsessives. Greta, who is the main subject of this article, has Aspergers, but that hasn’t stopped her parents and the climate change movement from terrorizing her about climate change. They are the ones who have stolen her future and her present. Except for the one snide comment about President Trump (what do you expect from New Yorkers) I completely agree with this article.

https://nypost.com/2019/09/25/devine-irresponsible-adults-have-caused-the-climate-fear-plaguing-greta-thunberg/

Cam Erra
Cam Erra
4 years ago

Please knock the old fire station down on Tyler street before someone gets hurt,it is an Eye a Sore.

Edward R. Murrow
Edward R. Murrow
4 years ago

Yup, yup, yup, “disturbing,” “troubling,” all this Ukraine stuff.

Dems only ever seem to have adjectives to offer, never any facts or logical conclusions from those facts. Never mind any crimes or the slightest evidence thereof.

They all of a sudden they’re great constitutionalists.

DNI hearing now–starting with Rep. Shifty’s opening babblings.

By the way, Ukraine is basically screwed, especially since March 2014. We might give them some help, but we ain’t going to the wall for them against Russia.

Mr. Fritz
Mr. Fritz
Reply to  Edward R. Murrow
4 years ago

Trump should sue Shifty for slander!
Shifty is blatantly lying!

UAlbany
UAlbany
4 years ago

Tyer doesn’t want to be Mayor anymore. 1/2 her base has left her and campaign has no energy. Bring on the new Mayor – the only change will be the coat of paint in the corner office – carry on people

Johnny Absurd
Johnny Absurd
Reply to  UAlbany
4 years ago

and better food at lunch time.

Claude Nonsensissi
Claude Nonsensissi
4 years ago

Is that true,Tyer doesn’t want to be Mayor?

Cheshire Cat
Cheshire Cat
Reply to  Claude Nonsensissi
4 years ago

It looks like it stopped being fun a long time ago over there and I would agree the preliminary loss was probably a relief. Even Barry has quietly withdrawn.

Pat
Pat
4 years ago

Don’t believe anything you are hearing from the media about the Whistle blower’s statement. Even Fox News has left out 500 very important words from the statement which shows this impeachment attempt has nothing to do with Biden. It’s all about President Trump closing in on DNC corruption in Ukraine. This is why there is the urgency to quickly discredit President Trump by the far left.

Johnny2Shoes
Johnny2Shoes
Reply to  Pat
4 years ago

Just for you Pat.

https://welovetrump.com/

The Orange Hornet
The Orange Hornet
4 years ago

Can’t touchTrump.

This Just In
This Just In
4 years ago

Pittsfield, On the steps of city hall this morning, Mayor Tyer announced that all her half assed, half baked ideas will be available in pumpkin spice through Thanksgiving..

Officer Joe Bolton
Officer Joe Bolton
4 years ago

Planet can I bring the conversation back to topic. Melissa clarified her relationship with Graves. She was being honest and forthcoming. More than I’ve seen from the mayor. The complaint about her promising anything to Graves sound like dirty politics from the other side. As if Graves endorsement means anything.

The school committee
The school committee
4 years ago

Its deep state Pat.Right?

The Andul Professor
The Andul Professor
4 years ago

Dan,I am going to make a wicked prediction on who the so-called whistleblower is…..Nikki Haley.

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  The Andul Professor
4 years ago

No way. I’ll bet CIA comms officer or or desk officer or maybe the liaison officer, also with help from an intelligence subcommittee member or staffer of a member and a lawyer

Fran Delapuislasonshondere
Fran Delapuislasonshondere
4 years ago

Why would Mazzeo want those Graves Votes? Because they are included citizens that are fed up with the Mayor. This Mayor got the needed money from Joe Tax and literally squandered it for incompetency and special interest projects. Mazzeo won’t be a doormat for certain citizens,everyone will be included. In the conversation not like the water sewer discussion for a chosen few. I’ve seen Mel at the Senior Center,she genuinely cares. Think she’ll make a fantastic Mayor. Give her the chance.

Two Cents
Two Cents
4 years ago

Not only is there not one single surprise here but this list represents all that has gone wrong in Pittsfield over the last decade….It should have been Mazzeo that released this because its all the reasons to vote for her…

PITTSFIELD, Mass. (Sept. 26, 2019) – United in their strong support for Mayor Linda Tyer, 16 notable community leaders and elected officials assembled on the front steps of the former St. Mary’s Church on Tyler Street to collectively endorse the mayor for re-election. Tyer, who is running for a second term, is the City of Pittsfield’s first four-year term mayor.
The roster of endorsers (in alphabetical order) include:
Kathy Amuso, former Pittsfield City Councilor At-Large and School Committee Member
Josh Cutler, Pittsfield School Committee Member
Gerry Doyle, former Pittsfield Mayor
Shirley Edgerton, Community Activist and Cultural Competency Coach, Pittsfield Public Schools
Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, 3rd Berkshire District
Mary K. O’Brien, State Committee Woman (D) and former Middle Berkshire Register of Deeds
Gerry Lee, former Chief of Police and former City Council President
Peter Marchetti, Current President, Pittsfield City Council
Louis Markham, Jr. former Ward 1 City Councilor
Helen Moon, Pittsfield City Councilor
Earl Persip, Pittsfield City Councilor At-Large
James Ruberto, former Pittsfield Mayor
Kevin Sherman, Chair of the Democratic City Committee and former City Council President
Cindy Taylor, Pittsfield School Committee Member
Peter White, Pittsfield City Councilor At-Large
Kathy Yon, Chair, Pittsfield School Committee
In addition to today’s multiple endorsements, Mayor Tyer is also endorsed by the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus (MWPC) Political Action Committee.

Juicy Lucy
Juicy Lucy
Reply to  Two Cents
4 years ago

How ironic the Cult of Corruption on the steps of St. Mary of the Morning Star. There has been no significant economic development under the leadership of this Cult. Most of these
Cult members are or have been eating out of the public trough. We do have trash can Tyer on Tyler, but most of the nip bottles are tossed on the ground. EV Worldwide was a success, just ask the Bar Stool Mayor. Did they celebrate with vodka and diet?

Johnny99
Johnny99
Reply to  Two Cents
4 years ago

A veritable who’s who of GOBSIG players if there ever was one. and ya wonder what’s wrong with Pittsfield.

But why is Harrington MIA? Outta town at another taxpayer funded junket.

By the way, tain’t a real leader among them.

And the fact Tyer would have them endorse her in front of another taxpayer supported private investment speaks volumes.

Roberto Del Halitoso
Roberto Del Halitoso
Reply to  Two Cents
4 years ago

Doyle brought three of his friends, Jim Bean, Johnny Walker and Sam Adams. He said he would donate his empty beer cans to help with Pittdfield’s OPEB.

Two Cents
Two Cents
4 years ago

Amen, Johnny!

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
4 years ago

Clearly the “trump memo” was written by a career intelligence officer who is stationed in the white house. Most likely a CIA officer either in communications or associated with the “Russian desk” and very familiar with the Ukraine.

I have a feeling that as this plays out, this will be more of the type of behavior we’ve seen with partisan government service employees, this is the “Strozk effect.
The FBI agents trying to undermine Trump didn’t work, so send in the CIA.
Funny how trump asked for loyalty and he was right to question the loyalty of those that he works with. They are not loyal to the country, they are not loyal to the president, they are only loyal to their own ideology.
If you notice the CIA agent wrote the memo to include carefully worded triggers. Saying they were trying to coverup the transcripts which then will allude to there being a coverup if nothing is found.
Also saying that the information was not first had precludes there being direct testimony because anything the CIA “overheard” or was “told” was third party hearsay.

PoliceReport
PoliceReport
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

The more I look at the content of the memo the more it seems it was written by a CIA desk officer with help from either a lawyer or a CIA officer that is a lawyer or works NSC classification.

It’s way to detailed of a narrative on classification and it is so precisely crafted to use words and phrases to force an investigation but provides very little first hand information except naming names that should be interviewed.

This was written with help from someone inside the intelligence sub committee, has to be. Also the fact that they knew about the memo means there was backchannel communication with someone on the house or senate intel committee. Smells a lot like Warner to me.

Pat
Pat
Reply to  PoliceReport
4 years ago

I agree PoliceReport. This is the Obama and Hillary loyalists still in government who are doing this. They also know that Trump and Barr are closing in on exposing all the corruption from the 2016 election and the Russian collusion that they blamed on President Trump, but which was proven false. In fact the collusion with Russia and Ukraine was coming from the far left.

Moe not Joe
Moe not Joe
4 years ago

Where was the nan whore Stooge? Or the Ward two City Councilor? Tyler isn’t finished,Wayfair hasn’t hired, the Beacon isn’t succeeding, EMA unproven,the trash cans are fading,the river project hasn’t started, B F I and Covanta probably leaving! Crime has arisen, city streets are filthy, your water rates are skyrocketing as well as your property taxes are at the Zenith,your schools are failing, your school kids are leaving,Hess still stands,

Commander Ukrane
Commander Ukrane
4 years ago

Kevin and Trish looked to be uncomfortable or maybe someone let one go?

Cambeau Field
Cambeau Field
4 years ago

A photo op on what is considered marginal examples of Tyers failed administrations,these former hacks are in need of being noticed and a few of them could use some vitamin d

Hoister Realkins
Hoister Realkins
4 years ago

So it’s im listening to the scanner and the greatest athlete I’ve ever seen as a young boy has his named mentioned. This dude once poured in 70 points in a game at the club. I was there. Yep,he was better than Belanger or Frankie.