By DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI News and Commentary

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 1, 2014) — Welcome to October, in Pittsfield time for leaf changing and double dealing. The leaves will ripen, redden, and fall. The double dealing from the corner office and The Suits (a typo first had it as “The Shits” … perhaps more accurate).

See THE PLANET‘s coverage of Monday and Tuesday for the background on the super-secret deal that led to the move of city employees and retirees out of the state-run GIC insurance pool and back to Blue Cross-Blue Shield. In the meantime, we have continued our investigations into this suspicious deal.

Those who are trying to sell this deal after-the-fact — there is no other way, given the Cone of Silence the mayor and certain complicit Suits engineered — insist that the BC/BS rates will actually be lower than the GIC. They offer no numbers or data to support the assertion. For the sake of discussion, though, let’s grant the point.

Lower Rates? Doubtful, but Even If So, Are We Looking at the Classic ‘Loss-Leader” Ploy?

THE PLANET spoke to an insurance man, a good one. Boiling down his take, he called the alleged lower rates “a loss-leader.” That’s where a company offers a product at an initial rate below market cost, the “loss” part, which basically “leads” the mark into the deal. The company eats the initial hit. One it has the customer locked in, it lowers the boom. Shortly after, the cost skyrockets, wiping out the initial savings and adding more cost. Heroin dealers work this way. They offer the first dose or two for free, under, or at cost. Once the victim is hooked, they must pay, in some cases, literally with their lives.

Welcome to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, employees, retirees, and — most of all — taxpayers. It would appear that they will lose in the long run. The biggest winner appears to be the Healthcare Elephant in the Room, Berkshire Health Systems, which will no longer be restricted by the GIC’s negotiated, fixed rates.

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PLANET Refutes Union President’s Refutation; He Accuses; We Bury Him in Facts

One of the sources we heard from was Scott Connors, president of IUE-CWA 81256, Pittsfield Emergency Dispatchers Union. Here’s what Connors wrote in reaction to our exclusive coverage of GICgate:

Dan,
Your comment: “How do retirees feel? They weren’t allowed to vote nor were they informed.”

Is totally off base. The retirees DO indeed have a representative on the PEC it’s former fireman Gerard Miller. Mr. Miller is “appointed” by the state to represent the retirees and they get a 10% weighted vote. Mr. Miller unlike the union presidents is not beholden to contact nor query his fellow retirees and he can vote as he sees fit, whereas union presidents need to vote how their members tell them.
You should get your “facts” straight or confirmed before attempting to sensationalize an issue and rile people up for the mere purpose of riling people up. It’s called responsible journalism and should carry some ethics and standards before being committed to paper or cyber space.

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Let us respond.

First, we applaud the tone of Connors’ criticism: measured, contained, and straightforward, worthy of a response. Second, note that although he chides THE PLANET for not getting our “facts” straight, nowhere does he specifically dispute an actual fact we cite. Third, about the retirees rep. Here’s what we wrote:

An interesting but related aside concerns retirees. They will have no say in the matter. They will not be allowed to vote. Why?

“Because their representative, Gerald Miller,” says a source, “cast the onlyvote on their behalf, and he has informed no one of this situation.” THE PLANET heard from two retirees who confirmed this.

Connors left that part out. Notice that THE PLANET didn’t deny that the retirees had a rep. We wrote that they didn’t have a say. Big difference. Retirees didn’t have a say. Fact. Why? Because neither The Empty Suit from his arrogant perch in the corner office nor the invisible Gerry Miller chose to inform the retirees that any of this was happening.

Fourth, it’s practically beyond belief and virtually inconceivable that a union president would say the retirees’ rep “is not beholden to contact nor query his fellow retirees and he can vote as he sees fit.” That’s either ignorance, a lack of education, a surfeit of inexperience, a heaping measure of gullibility, or deliberate obfuscation.

Representative, n., a person elected to speak and act on behalf of and with the informed consent of a larger group of constituents.

That definition, and the rational understanding of 99.999% of anyone you might ask (Miller and Connors excepted), says it all. One cannot be a “representative” without knowing what your constituents want. “Informed consent.”

Fifth, Connors doesn’t dispute the fact of the information blackout. He is apparently OK with retirees, a full 10% of the membership, having their lives altered in a significant way without either knowing about it or worse without having a say. He’s apparently upset because THE PLANET broke the story and dared report on something he, and others, obviously wanted to keep hidden.

Retiree: ‘Gerry Miller … Disenfranchised Me’

THE PLANET spoke to a retired teacher. We shall call her Martha. We asked Martha if she knew anything about this in advance (keep in mind that the mayor, most likely carrying someone’s water, initiated this move in July or August and that the PEC unanimously rejected the proposal on Sept. 2). She answered, “Absolutely not. I first heard about it when I read your blog.”

Martha said she thought “the mayor is absolutely insane to propose this.”

She said she “got nothing at all from Gerry Miller. He disenfranchised me. They’re making a major change in my life, and I have no say in it.” We asked her what she would say to Miller: “I would say, ‘Who the hell do you think you are to make that decision without any input from anyone, to unilaterally make this life-altering decision? We like the GIC.'”

Another retiree told us he tried to contact Miller by phone, without success. The person said Miller “doesn’t have a listed phone number.” The retiree then called the retirement board: “They would not give out his phone number,” our source said. He said he then went on the city’s website, trying to find something there. Nothing — no contact information for Miller.

THE PLANET went on the city website. Under Pittsfield Retirement Board, we see “Gerald Miller, Chair.” There is no address, no phone number, no e-mail address — no contact information whatsoever. Also, the current city website tells us that Miller’s term expires Sept. 22, 2013! How “pittsfield” (lower case “p”) can you get?

‘They Could Give a Hoot About Taxpayers’

THE PLANET also talked to a former city official: “This has something to do with the politics of this area and the Democratic Party power structure. All of them benefit. They could give a hoot about taxpayers. How many representatives on the PEC live in Pittsfield? Why didn’t the city share this information? Why wasn’t this done earlier and shared publicly?”

Fair point. If this is such a great move for the city, its employees, its retirees, and taxpayers, why did the mayor, union reps, and everyone else involved from the inside from both the public sector and private work so hard to keep it from going public? They managed to hide it for a month, until THE PLANET found out.

Think about this logically: If this is such a blasted good idea, why wouldn’t the mayor come out publicly with his intentions in August and explain why? Why wouldn’t he be eager to sell this before the fact and not after Yet Again Another Done Deal?

THE PLANET will tell you why: Because this is a lousy move … because this is all about lining the pockets of the Vested Interests … and because the mayor and whomever he’s schlepping for know that with apathy at an all-time high and and morale at an all-time low, citizens won’t fight back. They will drown quietly, while their so-called “representatives” — the city council and school committee — will either roll over and play or read the scripted lines handed to them telling us how this is the best thing since sound came to the movies.

When His Master Calls, you can be sure Bianchi listens.

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“Al di la, del bene piu prezioso, ci sei tu. Al di la, del sogno piu ambizoso, ci sei tu.” — Al Martino, “Al di la,” (1963).

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.