!!PLANET WEEKEND EXCLUSIVE!! COUNCIL MAJORITY FAVORS FORENSIC AUDIT
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION MAY 7-9, 2021) — Last weekend, THE PLANET queries all 11 members of the Pittsfield city council, asking them a simple question: Do you favor a forensic audit for the city or not, and why?
We heard from eight of our Right Honorable Good Friends: Chris Connell, Yuki Cohen, Tony Maffuccio, Kevin Morandi, Pete White, Earl Persip, and Patrick Kavey, and Peter Marchetti. The other three were too busy counting their bennies to bother with a response: Helen Moon, Nick Caccamo, and Dina Lampiasi.
Kudos to Connell, Cohen, Maffuccio, Morandi, Persip, Kavey, Marchetti, and White. They shared their views and explained them in reasonable terms. But what of Moon, Caccamo, and Lampiasi?
Their silence tells us everything we need to know about their stance: They are against Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski, have no time for their constituents, and are only concerned with their delusional grip on offices that they have debased through the violations of the oath they took at swearing-in. Also, we wonder why they are quaking in their boots over the mere mention of this discussion? They somehow thin it’s beneath them to provide constituents with the information they, citizens, need to make sense of the actions done in their name by their alleged “representatives.”
Moon doesn’t talk to THE PLANET. We are white. We are male. We are heterosexual. You know, an old white guy. Besides, she was busy getting arrested at gunpoint, booked, and jailed. Was it because she is Asian, female, and into goat-yoga or because she’s simply too imbecilic to know the difference between a police cruiser and unicorn? Where did this happen? It occurred in Boston. No, in New Hampshire. Wait, Vermont. Scratch that, Connecticut. We mean, Maine. Rather, Rhode Island. And she wonders why no one believes a word she says.
Caccamo had disappeared entirely from the city scene. The next town manager of Williamsburg has his eye to the north of us. Can’t say we blame him, but … we blame him. Finally, Lampiasi is under strict orders not to have contact with THE PLANET — at least according to one of our moles in the D.A.’s office. How that serves the poor blokes in Ward Six we do not know.
On Monday, we will present the eight articulated views of our Right Honorable Good Friends who took the time and care to response to this most important question.
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Before THE PLANET presents the replies of the five, let present this tutorial about forensic audits. We borrowed most notably from investopedia.com.
A forensic audit examines a firm’s financial records, boring deeply into and within each account in each of the firm’s department. Essentially, it checks to see if the firm’s books are on the level. It will detect financial crimes should they be present. The suspicion of wrongdoing, though, is not the only reason for this type of specialized audit, which is done to confirm the legitimacy of a firm’s financial recording. It is a fact of life that where large sums are present — the city of Pittsfield’s budget is $170 million — and accountability is largely voluntary, the temptations presented are often too great for human resistance. All it takes is one bad apple.
A forensic audit confirms various types of financial activities in a company’s universe of specific accounts. It does more than just do the simple math. That type of audit, performed yearly in the city by Scanlon and Associates, tells us nothing about waste, fraud, redundancies, and the presence, if any, of financial fraud. For example, one of the worst kept secrets in Pittsfield involves the use of city-issued smart phones and vehicles. How much do these public devices get put to personal use. The present audit cannot tell us. How is grant money tracked? We don’t know.
A forensic audit will tell us one of three things: 1. Are the books in order? 2. Are there greater efficiencies to be made in operations? 3. Have any financial crimes been committed? If the latter, the audit will uncover:
- The nature of the fraud
- When it happened
- How is was concealed
- Who perpetrated it
- How much money was lost
- Evidence for possible court proceedings
- Recommendations for how to prevent it from reoccurring.
Misappropriation of funds, false invoices and receipts, payments to non-existent suppliers, stealing inventory (DPW, anyone?), conflicts of interest, bribery and kickbacks in awarding contracts, tax fraud, and money laundering can all be done easily with a tiny number of complicit people. Solo jobs are also well within the power of some offices.
Financial fraud means hiding the true state of an organization’s finances, for example, using free cash and counting leveraged items as assets to improve a firm’s bond rating.
THE PLANET has no hard evidence of financial crimes being committed in the city. We do, however, have suspicions, and the street does talk about irregularities.
Let’s find out the truth. If everything is on the up-and-up, the mayor, councilors, and department heads should be in unanimous favor. If they are not, and we take the silence of Moon, Caccamo, and Lampiasi as votes against a forensic audit, citizens and the electorate have every reason to wonder why? What are they hiding?
The good news in all this is that, according to THE PLANET‘s poll, a forensic audit would be approved on a 7-1 vote. Morandi, Connell, Kavey, Maffuccio, Marchetti, Persip, and Cohen in favor, White against.
Passing such a measure and commissioning an independent, outside auditing firm to perform the work would be a dramatic and productive action that could set the foundation for a new beginning in a city with such a rich past. It would help enable Pittsfield to re-write its dismal present and set about actions that would help bring about a brighter tomorrow. Citizens and taxpayers deserve no less. Moe Moon, Larry Caccamo, and Shemp Lampiasi couldn’t be bothered.
Don’t forget to check into THE PLANET on Monday, when councilors share their views on the forensic audit, seven in favor, one opposed.
————————————————————————————–
“So many things are possible just as long as you don’t know they’re impossible” — Writer Norton Juster.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
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Even a forensic audit will not uncover the Fraud, Waste, and Abuse. City budget should be cut to what it was before Tyer was elected. Hell, the streest are worse now than they were when she ran the first time. Same with crime. Same with the shitbums holding up the signs at every corner.
Yea but we got bike lanes, free home improvements, and reclining movie chairs!
Madoff went to prison for financial fraud.When it comes to financial fraud the government hates competition…
I think when someone goes to jail for stealing from the public that there should be a closed cilrcuit public TV feed that everyone could watch 24 hours a day. Put them on Tv for all to watch how they spend their day.
Here is what we know so far about Pittsfield politics public finances under the Lovely Linda Tyer since she became Mayor in early 2016 – or over 5 years, 4 months ago.
* Pittsfield has the 2nd highest commercial tax rate in all of Massachusetts’ 351 municipalities
* Pittsfield has passed several record breaking municipal budgets
* Pittsfield has and is planning to raise fees to record levels
* Matt Kerwood has slush fund (or reserve) accounts estimated to be between $10 to $15 million
* Matt Kerwood shuffles city dollars around various city accounts without proper managerial oversight
* Matt Kerwood refinances city debts and places the payoff of city debts decades into the far off future
* Pittsfield has hundreds of millions of dollars in public debts and other hidden liabilities that it will never payoff
* The Lovely Linda trusts Matt Kerwood’s creative accounting schemes where he allegedly cooks the books so she can falsely say that she has stabilized Pittsfield’s public finances
* Pittsfield will receive $41.6 million in Biden Buck$ over the next two years – $34 million in direct aid to the city government and the rest in direct aid to the public school district
* The nearly 23-year-old PEDA so-called business entity is still polluted and mostly vacant, and it has millions of dollars in unfunded financial liabilities
* For many decades now, Pittsfield’s tax base has been shrinking with large numbers of population and job losses in both Pittsfield and throughout Berkshire County
* Pittsfield is one of the most economically unequal areas in the state and nation, and Pittsfield’s new population numbers mostly consist of the underclass that strain state and local social services and welfare assistance budgets
Let us never forget about the Doyle debacle:
* Going way back around 2 decades ago, the now late-Gerry Doyle’s administration had millions of dollars lost and unaccounted for – that to this present day have never been found, while his then Finance Director received a Golden Parachute settlement to stay silent about where the city’s lost money went, and no one was ever charged, but the city government went into state receivership for a temporary period of time
In closing:
My thoughts about Pittsfield politics’ distressed local economy and Matt Kerwood’s financial management of Pittsfield’s municipal budgets are that Pittsfield politics is disconnected from economic reality, and Matt Kerwood is using creative accounting schemes where he is refinancing public debts, hiding and deferring public debts and other financial liabilities, and playing financial shell games that are burdening the proverbial Kapanski family with excessive local taxes and fees.
– Jonathan Melle
Marxism is a failed system.
NO economic system is without its flaws, Mr. Fritz. Marxism = Authoritarian governmental regimes. I believe in the U.S. Constitution and regulated free markets, Mr. Fritz.
Biden is Hitler!
Biden is Hitler!
Nedib si Reltih!
The key to identifying the next Hitler is to watch and identify who sees the Press as the enemy.That is where you can stop the next Authoritarian threat to America.The problem is the society of that country smart enough to see a deciever when they admire that strongmen leaders control their press or media…..Trump is who I have identified as that man.He has America turning in that direction.He has attempted an overthrow.The enemy is the press that reports on him….Questionsing him is his crytonite and he needs them to be weak.He also needs you.
Another awesome brilliant post. Man, how do you do it?
Fox news is the best.They are the blonde channel.
Many disliked or were trying to control the media…..
https://www.cheatsheet.com/culture/presidents-who-hated-the-media-and-how-donald-trump-compares.html/
One would say Biden thinks the press is the enemy, at least his handlers do keeping him away from talking to them or answering their questions. Bumbling Biden would probably make W sound like a genius! Funny how his administration only governs by edict and lies. Sounds alot like your friend Putin or Xi. Don’t forget 1/8 and the treason committed by the speaker of the house. Interesting how Dominion won’t help Arizona do an election audit, why would that be? Would this be a vendor you would want to use or trust? Unfortunately the hate rag continues with their continuous hate speech. Waiting for the day for moderate political cartoons, editorials and letters to the editors. They continue to use the same people speaking the same age and lies, although I will agree they are probably brainwashed from CNN, MSNBC, NY Times and the heated rag. If there was ever a time and party that reminds us of Germany in the 20’s and 30’s it would be now and the cancel culture that is progressing through America
FOX has trained your brain.
Biden don’t know what year it is.
His handlers are the Hitlers
Fox paraphrasing for shutins
Amazing,and I know you believe it.Can not make it up America.
Your post are for entertainment purposes only TSC.
I get a chuckle reading them and wondering what sort of delusional mind comes up with such things
Another commercial for Fox media for Billionaires and shutins
Socialism means “equal outcome”, not equal opportunity or merit,
The irony of all this: under socialism/communism only the elite can live luxurious and profitable lifestyles… under capitalism, anybody has the
opportunity.
Correct!
Yes it is.
GE is a failed company and Pittsfield is what happens when you trust in bid business cancer and poverty is a failed capitalism.
How does the mayor feel about it? We already know but we should get her on record. How does the Berkshire Eagle feel about it? You may need to ask the mayor to find out how the Eagle feels about it. How about iBerkshires? I know Matt believes in open and honest bookkeeping so at least we can count on him. Can’t we?
Can we ask Elizabeth Warren about this? She is all about financial accountability.
Can we put a freeze on most of the 33 million Covid dollars the mayor just got her hands on? Not feeling all that comfortable about its oversight. Forensic audits cost lots of money and she may try to make sure none is available. I am sure the wheels are spinning like crazy to stop any momentun on this audit.
It’s one thing to say, you favor an audit and another saying, I’m asking for one. Word games? It is election season once again. I had a feeling you wouldn’t hear from the usual suspects Dan.
Who knows what has been going on. One audit I’d like to see would be the Beacon a few years ago.
I’m wondering where those expensive movie theater chairs went.
I’d like to know how many city departments and local not for profits use the mayor’s wife as an accountant. Rumors are if you’re a place like Tyler Street Lab and aren’t a real NFP, you get around that by hiring Barry.
If you’re the parade committee or PCTV and you want more cash from the city teat, you hire Barry.
Who was the accountant for the Beacon? Who did spacely sprockets hire as a local accounting firm? Who’s fire ciders accountant?
Brilliant. Corruption. Follow the money.
Almost positive Barry does not do accounting for the parade committee
Good questions.
I hope you get your forensic audit!
Pittsfield’s corrupt allegedly elected officials are NEVER allowing an independent audit, NEVER!
Consolidate the high schools saving millions.Go 10 to 12 and lying has to be removed from government……If you believe the lie Trump and Republicans continue to lie about then goverment wont hold anyone accountable at any level.Fox/ Trump lie is making America a Trump failure.If the lie is supported just because you have Trump infatuation syndrome America losds.Trump coup failed on 1/6/2021
Brilliant, simply brilliant.
I hope your handlers find you soon before the public realizes you’ve broken free
Liberals in power now. There’re setting all the criminal aliens, criminals and loonies to: free range, roam, rape, pillage , and plunder.
They don’t even bother with catch and release anymore
Yeah, and many so called children with beards in France are probably getting in here, just like there.
https://rmx.news/article/article/france-police-investigation-finds-that-out-of-330-migrants-claiming-to-be-minors-260-are-actually-adults
Poland won’t let them in!!!!
Trumps overthrow 1/6/2021
You must have been proud to find out that your GPA was a little higher than Jethro’s on gaduation day?
TSC has the CNN approved , DIPloma
WE NEED TO RECALL CACCAMO
The people of ward 3 deserve representation. He has all but given up and moved on, I mean not like he ever did much to begin with.
Williamsburg will reap what it sows
Get off your ass Nick and do your job. You finally got out of your parents basement, congrats on that I guess.
Caccamo never showed up.He did not fix one sidewalk in ward 3All ward candidates want to be at large.
word has it that Helen is so delusional that she’s been doing a great job, that she is gunning for a state position. Move over Buffet and Chromedome.
Lord Helen is going to save us all from whitey
Dan: Did Pete White give a reason why he is opposed to a forensic audit?
he has as much financial knowledge as a toe and doesn’t care about raping the tax payers in the name of government
I’m willing to bet Sweet Pete spoke to Linda Tyer and Flogging Mol….I mean Barry, first. I’ll guarantee you there’s no way in hell they want a forensic audit. A dentist and a party DJ getting $5k each, when you had legitimate small businesses suffering? Plus, how much did Stanley kick back to Linda? Maybe in the form of a Birthday or Christmas gift for all she did for him.
Has Sweet Pete come up with the solution to the “houseless” problem he’s been working on for over a year now?
Markus – I think we’re on the same page. Why would you say no to a simple audit if you have nothing to hide.
I love you Marcus Aurelius.
He needs the “houseless”issue to campaign on.What else does he have to run on?
Yes. Pete explained it, and he did a good job of it.
He is not bright enough to be a light bulb. Danny Boy, you must be loosing your marbles. Are they Cats Eye?
Cats Eyes are among them!
It’s White privilege.
Does Lampiasi know lwhich councilors are getting tax breaks and when would she like to have a discussion about it? Helen and Yuki did not deny the suggestion that they were getting gravy so we might well assume it is true. Who else owes the mayor a big favor?
It’s Lampylousy.
The new school committee member, Nyanna Slaughter, lives in Springfield at 39 Yale St. Why has she been voted in? Just because she grew up here doesn’t qualify her to serve.
I hope Mr. Farmer raises a stink about his application being “lost” in cyberspace.
I had wondered about that. Aren’t you required to live in Pittsfield in order to serve on the School Committee?
Guess skin color is the only criteria.
With the “leaders” in Pittsfield not wanting to face the public, she could live in Kentucky and still serve. Zoom and video meetings have been a godsend for the Tyer administration.
Hey. THE PLANET might serve from our bungalow in Palm Springs!
Need a scribe?
Is Joe in the White House or basement in Delaware still , with Jill watching the doors?
Planet for day mayor. Tyer for nightmare.
Isn’t 3am Barry the nightmare?
Too bad she can’t fix a pothole from a Zoom meeting. (assuming she cared to do so)
Are you saying that she does not actually reside here? If they can do that, can we bring M. Mazzeo back to serve on the council?
I’m saying that based on a quick internet search, she is listed as residing in Springfield. She may have given the council & school committee her parents’ or relatives address in Pittsfield. After all, she is working for Warren in Worcester.
I can only hope that Mr. Farmer levels a claim of discrimination and collusion against the Tyer regime for shutting him out of the post. Also, no interviewing of the candidates took place. The decision was based on submitted resumes and the recommendation of the mayor.
Thanks, Lenny for the info. I think it’s safe to say…..”this doesn’t look good”.
I could serve in Pittsfield politics elected office, too, even though I live in Amherst, New Hampshire. I have a computer and I can connect over the Internet on Zoom. (Funny $tuff – Sarcasm!!!!)
You could be a stooge and have your own show on pctv.
The mayor pretty much lives in the outskirts of the city. Pretty close anyway.
In fairness, she is about a four minute drive to City Hall.
Physically yes. Meantally? Who knows where she is? She does not seem to be aware of how bad the city roads are. They may not be as much fun as getting your picture taken with your feet up in Stanleys theater but most of us consider the rods critical. I don’t get it. She is behaving like that MaraLargo fella.
Don’t worry they keep west street well paved, the potholes get filled quickly, unlike the rest of the city
Good point. She lives in Pittsfield, close enough for all practical purposes. That she lives in a fine home in a gated community should not be an issue. Thanks, JD.
Good, go see her!!!! In Person!!!
Where’s she lives not how long she drives.
Any relation to Enos Slaughter, he of the “Mad Dash” in ’46?
Dan, I know this story. I heard the game..Was it Johnny Pesky who held the ball? What a fabulous series pitcher Harry Brecheen had.
Brecheen won three games that Series.
‘Harry the Cat’
I remember that day in October of ’46. Pesky held the ball. Slaughter kept running. I was in the back seat of my mothers car in Lenox, listening to the game. I also remember Pearl Harbor, Roosevelts death, Kennedy’s death and 9/11. Those dates all pale in comparison to how I felt on that October afternoon in 1946.
Wow. Great memory. I had the chance to interview Slaughter at an Old Timers’ game at Fenway. He said he made up his mind as he was going around second. He ran through 3b coach Mike Gonzalez’s stop sign. Pesky was blamed for holding the ball, and it’s a point of dispute to this day. Pesky said he couldn’t have thrown Slaughter out with a canon but manned up and accepted the traditional scenario of the play. Thing is, if Dom DiMaggio had been in center, would he have gotten to the ball sooner and either relayed it to Pesky more quickly than Leon Culberson or maybe have thrown directly to the plate to catcher Roy Partee? Problem is, in the top of the eighth, Dom sprained his ankle running out a double, one that tied the game. Cronin put Culberson in center. Culberson was a decent fielder, but he was no Dom DiMag, who was the best fielding CF in the majors. The film shows Culberson gets to Harry Walker’s soft single to left center in good time. Pesky gets the relay and does a slight double-pump before pulling the trigger. Slaughter told me he thought Pesky got a bad rap on the play. By the time Culberson got to the ball, Slaughter was almost to third base. That’s the other factor that must be considered. Did pitching Bob Klinger do a good enough job holding Slaughter on first? In any case there were two outs, and Slaughter was running on of before contact. Al Barlick was the HP ump. Great moment, great game.
That game I believe was carried on live radio. The regular season games were broadcast on WBRK from Boston The western teams, Chicago, St. Louis (Browns), Tigers and Indians were transmitted by telegraphic recreation from Boston where Jim Britt would announce the play action as it came off the telegraph. The Colonel, Dave Egan, a Boston Record sports columnist referred to him as Jim ‘its a home run under the fence’ Britt. Egan also hated Ted Williams. In turn, Red Sox fans hated Egan.
Never heard that GREAT description of Britt by Egan. I wasn’t around for the telegraphic recreations of baseball, but I find it fascinating. The Colonel was an acerbic columnist but one of the good ones, perhaps great ones, in the sense of generating interest and attracting readers. Thanks, TM.
Dan we kids had the 67 Sox, when games were broadcast in the day.
Coming home on the school bus, 1 kid had an AM transitor radio, his hand and radio out the widow for reception. A half dozen kids next to the widow……..
Now games are too late for kids, but it’s all about $$$.
Not watched the Woke Sux at all. Nor Kneelietts.
Yup, ’67. The year that saved baseball in Boston. I wrote the book on that year — literally!
Admire this very much.
Do you remember Bill Buckner in 86?
And the reliever goat Bob Stanley, he is to blame too!
Last game Seaver pitched in Fenway 1986, 2-0 shutout into 9th against Texas.
They pull Tom for The Goat. Goat gives up 2 runs. Sox win in 9th, Goat gets win, Seaver a no decision for one of his finest games.
Was that Seaver’s last game?
Molestation, Incest and Rape in African American Families – Yumpu “While the subject of child molestation and incest remain a taboo topic, within the African American collective, it’s prevalence and impact can no longer be ignored.”
Black Morels Matter!!!
They are popping up in the woods now!!! Go get them!!!
Don’t be racist , there are White Morels TOO!!!
Hello Erin – Act on Mass,
Thank you for your email about Beacon Hill being so secretive and unaccountable that Massachusetts state government is not a functional democracy. I agree with everything you wrote, which I copied and pasted below my name. I would like to state the facts about what happened so far this year of 2021 under Boston’s shiny golden dome’s corrupt Statehouse. On January 1st, 2021, the 200 corrupt Massachusetts State Legislators were all eligible to receive up to 3 legislative pay raises, while over 1 million Massachusetts workers lost their jobs and health insurance during the coronavirus pandemic. State Representative Ronny Mariano was elected (or anointed) as the new Speaker of the House with no opponent. Governor Charlie Baker oversaw a botched vaccine rollout. In March 2021, the Boston-based corrupt state lawmakers gave big business hundred of millions in state government tax breaks within 24 hour’s notice with no public hearings or public input. The state’s unemployment account still has over $400 million missing or unaccounted for due to fraud. The state lawmakers low balled public education in their state budget proposal(s), while giving away $17.8 billion per fiscal year in state tax breaks to big business. Local governments and public school districts are putting together their budgets without knowing how much state aid they will receive for their schools, roads, and the like because Beacon Hill lawmakers have yet to negotiate and pass the fiscal year 2022 state budget that starts in less than 2 months from now on July 1, 2021. Beacon Hill has received billions of dollars in federal stimulus funds, but Governor Baker has not spent most of the money while the working people are struggling to survive and stay financial afloat. Next week, Beacon Hill lawmakers will meet in a state constitutional convention to pass a surtax on millionaires, which will hurt the interests of small business in Massachusetts who are trying to recover from the Covid-19 K-shaped recession.
Like you, Erin, I would like to see Beacon Hill lawmakers in Boston have an open government with reasonable exceptions that would ensure accountability and a functioning democracy that invests in all of the people who live and pay taxes in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I dislike Beacon Hill corruption, secrecy, special interests dollars, greedy lobbyists, and career politicians who only do disservices to the people they are supposed to represent in Boston. But the reality of what I have wrote about so far this year of 2021 shows the exact opposite of legislative reform. Beacon Hill lawmakers are NOT investing in all of the people who live and pay taxes in Massachusetts, but, in fact, they are always screwing over the hard hit working class. I write email letters to Massachusetts state and local politicians, too, but they never send me a response to my concerns, nor does the news media publish my email letters.
I am a 100% service connected disabled Veteran, and I am upset with Governor Charlie Baker’s mismanagement of the Holyoke Soldiers Home where nearly 80 Veterans died of Covid-19 over the past year. My pen pal Patrick Fennell, who is a U.S. Army Veteran like myself, sarcastically wrote to me that they should put the Massachusetts Statehouse in the Holyoke Soldiers Home so the corrupt state lawmakers can experience their disservices and failures that our country’s heroes and their families tragically went through. I wrote email letters that if Beacon Hill lawmakers want to raise state taxes, including the millionaires surtax, then they should lead by example and cut their own public pay and perks by at least 50 percent first.
Best wishes,
Jonathan
“I wrote email letters that if Beacon Hill lawmakers want to raise state taxes, including the millionaires surtax, then they should lead by example and cut their own public pay and perks by at least 50 percent first.”
Fat chance of that!!!!
Seems to be a pattern going on with no one answering you.What could it be? I’m stumped as to why.
I write email letters to Massachusetts state and local politicians, too, but they never send me a response to my concerns, nor does the news media publish my
email letters.
Tons of illegal immigrants now at our border from Venezuela, that failed socialist country. They are coming here to try their luck with the next failed socialist country…our country. Kamala still desperately trying to figure out why they keep coming here while avoiding the obvious reasons that are staring her in the face….socialist countries always fail and “come and get your freebies” is a recipe for disaster.
Kumalla should welcome them all on her knee pads Ron Brown gave her
Great send them to the Berkshires we need people who want to work.
They can clean up all the $#!t the beggars/homeless strew about, that the Beacon Hill Idiots sent here.
Then the Beacon Hill Idiots will hire them to mow their lawns and rake leaves rather than citizens……….
The politicians on Beacon Hill won’t even pay the immigrants $15 an hour to mow lawns or for housekeeping etc.. You know the minimum living wage they preach about every election season.
Socialism isn’t a strategy for running a successful economy, but a marketing campaign to entice the ignorant toward the idea of turning the economy over to the arbitrary decrees of elite rulers.
Democrats want open borders just like was done in Europe and during a pandemic. They are completely power mad. Agents on the border say that Russians, Romanians, and really everyone across the world is flooding into our country. The Democrats want to create a very dangerous situation in this country so they can do a gun grab. Look at how dangerous it is they will say when they will have created the situation with their open borders, anti-police and let everybody out of jail agenda. They also want to win every future election. We have very corrupt people in charge of our government right now.
Traitor Joe’s
1600 PA ave WA DC
Since 1 /20/2021
We sell America’s soul
May 8, 2021
Hello blogger Dan Valenti,
We both love our native hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and I really enjoy reading your blog essays about Pittsfield politics. I believe you are the only journalist &/or blogger who brings an alternative and critical view of how City Hall and the divided School Committee operates from the perspective of the proverbial Kapanski family who pays for state and local government disservices.
I respectfully disagree with your statement:
Good point. She lives in Pittsfield, close enough for all practical purposes. That she lives in a fine home in a gated community should not be an issue. – Dan Valenti
I also respectfully disagree with your past statements that former Mayor Jimmy Ruberto’s permanent residence is in Naples, Florida, and his temporary residence is in upper class Lenox, Massachusetts should not be an issue.
The reasons I disagree with you are that you write about Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski living, working and paying state and local taxes in Pittsfield, while City Hall, the divided School Committee, and Trippy Country Buffet and Chrome Dome in Boston are only doing disservices to the proverbial little guys. The Lovely Linda living in an around $700,000 home in a gated community only a few feet from the Hancock border with her millionaire Accountant husband Barry Clairmont shows that she is out-of-touch with the working class Kapanski clan. She gave millions of dollars in Kapanski Ka$h to out-of-town millionaires over the over 5 years and 4 months she has been the Mayor of our native post industrial city with a decades-long distressed local economy. Through Matt Kerwood, she has passed record high municipal budgets, fees, and public debts and other hidden liabilities that have been refinanced into the far off future. Pittsfield politics is literally placing the financial burden of municipal government on the back of the low to moderate income working class, senior citizens, and/or Veterans.
Pittsfield is one of the most economically unequal areas in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the nation because it has a decades-long distressed economy with scarce living wage jobs. I graduated from Pittsfield High School nearly 28 years ago in June of 1993, and after all of this time Pittsfield politics has done nothing of value to bring back living wage employment to the working class after GE dramatically cut its workforce there. It tells me that Pittsfield does not want to invest in all of the people who live there, but rather, they want to take in federally funded and state administered social services, welfare assistance, overpriced public school, and not-for-profit dollars. To be clear, Pittsfield politics is perversely profiting off of its distressed working class and underclass residents by the designs of the state and local ruling elites taking in all of the public dollars they can fill their provincial public coffers with that they can receive from Boston’s corrupt Statehouse and Capitol Hill. Pittsfield politics has become a shakedown operation at the expense of Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski’s family.
Former Mayor Jimmy Ruberto said he had a rolodex and would be Pittsfield’s greatest salesman from 2001 through 2011, but the reality was that Pittsfield’s worst economic losses occurred during that time. I understand that there were the second (2008) and third (2002) worst recessions since the Great Depression prior to World War 2, that the company Mitt Romney founded – Bain Capital – bankrupted KB Toys, that GE sold its plastics unit to Sabic, and other factors that happened back then had nothing to do with Jimmy Ruberto, but the truth still is that Pittsfield’s already distressed local economy tanked when he was in the corner office in City Hall. Given all of the economic struggles, Jimmy Ruberto still spent tens of millions of public dollars on his downtown Renaissance that local residents sarcastically joked would be like Paris, London, NYC and L.A. Like Jimmy Ruberto’s rolodex and salesman pitch, his Renaissance failed, leaving Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski with decades of public debt payments. I remember when Mayor Jimmy Ruberto blamed local residents for Spice going bankrupt instead of blaming himself for all of his failures over the 8 years he led Pittsfield politics into the proverbial ditch.
Jimmy Ruberto, along with the late-Gerry Doyle, led the campaign for the Berkshire Museum to sell its most historic and valuable pieces of artwork for tens of millions of dollars. The irony of it all was that Jimmy Ruberto said he would rebuild Pittsfield post industrial, post-GE distressed economy through his so-called Renaissance of arts and culture, but then he sold out Pittsfield and Berkshire County’s residents by leading the political campaign for the Berkshire Museum to sell its 2 Norman Rockwell paintings and other priceless art pieces. Jimmy Ruberto was as phony as his useless rolodex!
In conclusion, the Lovely Linda and Jimmy Ruberto both campaigned to rebuild Pittsfield, but they both live charmed lives in wealthy communities that are totally disconnected from Pittsfield. They are leaving the Kapanski family with the bills for their failed public investments, high taxes, fees, debts and liabilities, while not walking in the shoes of the proverbial little guy who has to pay for all of their tax and spending ways. I don’t understand how you don’t see this when your blog is dedicated to Mary Jane and Joe Kapanski and all of the other little guys who live in Pittsfield.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
Reyt si Reltih!
Reyt si Reltih!
JM this is what everyone on this post has been telling you for years, the Democrats don’t care about the little people. They only use them to cement their power. Government is a necessary evil and the citizens should keep it as small as possible so it can be a government by and for the people
Sports fans:
WALLACE, N.C. (CBSNewYork/AP) — Former Notre Dame, Redskins and Giants quarterback Ralph Guglielmi has died.
He was 83
Did a spell, too, with the Eagles in 1963 after the Giants let him go. Somewhere in heaven, they’re playing the ND fight song. RIP, RG.
BLM reign of terror continues unabated in Portland
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/05/video-blm-militants-draw-ar-15s-ak-47s-portland-motorists-no-police-scene-reign-terror-continues/
“VIDEO: BLM Militants Draw AR-15s And AK-47s On Portland Motorists; No Police On Scene As Reign Of Terror Continues”
Fake news, I don’t see that on cnn or read about it in ny times
Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mother’s out there in the Planet community and beyond! The job of being a mom is the hardest of all the jobs out there. Bless you always.
What is the cost of a forensic audit? Who does this and why does anyone think they are reliable? Financial analysts typically rate the debt of municipalities. Municipal bond credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings rated the city’s 2/25/2021 bond issue of $28.45 million as “A+” citing the city’s “strong budgetary flexibility, very strong liquidity, and strong institutional framework” as positive credit factors.But the best ratings are AAA through BAA. Pittsfield is still in the “investment grade” category but at the lower end. Maybe this is justification enough for a “forensic audit”
That is a big improvement from the Doyle debacle and several years of state receivership oversight of Pittsfield politics 2 decades ago.
Yes, but how much “free cash” and COVID money and who knows what else was considered in the “liquidity” department. Is the bong rating, at A+, well below AAA, a mirage. Opps, uh, I mean, “bond” rating! Thanks, CT.
I found the Lovely Linda’s fiscal year 2022 municipal budget proposal summary online at:
6097110f4422e.pdf.pdf (townnews.com)
$179,410,963
I love that the Lovely Linda’s line item called Unclassified is $53,837,125
Raise your hand if Trump is still your president.