We picture a Western: Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks sits atop a runaway stagecoach, desperately clutching at reins that dangle just outside her grasp, while twin nags Renaissance and Robutrad pound frantically across an expanse of prairie, kicking up geysers of brown dirt.
Once upon a time, Brooks had it all: popularity, pull, and most importantly, the promise that she could - and wanted to - put an end to the sledgehammer style of politicking practiced by former Republican king and kingmaker Steve Minarik. Her inaugural embrace of then-Mayor Bill Johnson was called "the hug heard 'round the world."
She was the one-name lawn sign. Republican candidates lined up to have their pictures taken with her, as if "Maggie likes me" was the only qualification that mattered.
But Minarik is gone, and Brooks' coattails aren't what they used to be; blame Robutrad, Renaissance Square, a dash of old-fashioned entropy, and a widening oeuvre of outrages that has paraded down the throat of every county resident.
And right under Brooks' wing stand 15 Republican county legislators and a broader Republican community comfortably ensconced in plum positions all over Monroe, apparently eager to ride along on any disgrace that comes their way.
The people exhibit: the FAIR Plan, the rigged public defender search, the nearly rigged search for an MCC president, an utter failure to enact meaningful budget reform, the gleeful suppression of dissent and all non-Republican proposals, the increased use of minimally accountable LDC's, corruption at the Water Authority, the Renaissance Square quagmire and implosion, and, most recently, Robutrad, in the case against Monroe County.
The Brooks promise is irrevocably broken.
Two years ago, this newspaper urged you to put an end to the closed-door, tone-deaf, heavy-handed, self-enriching practices that years of Republican dominance have wrought. You came close, bringing the County Legislature within one vote of Democratic control. You've got another chance.
There are 16 seats up for grabs in the Legislature this year: nine Republican, seven Democratic. Our appraisal is that the Democratic seats are probably safe, and that there are between two and four Republican seats in play. The election is Tuesday, November 3.
Tell Brooks and the GOP "no more." Stop the steamroller. Bring oversight, accountability, and respectability back to Monroe County.
It's up to you.
Exhibit one: the county's annual budget gap. Monroe has a habit of plugging budget holes with one-shot trickery, like using tobacco settlement funds and selling county assets such as the Civic Center Garage, instead of doing the hard work of finding a permanent solution to the county's persistent structural deficit. The county plugged multimillion gaps in 2009 and 2010 with federal stimulus funds.
The Brooks administration's attempt at a long-term solution, the FAIR Plan, had mixed results. The sales-tax intercept may save the county money this year, thanks to low sales-tax returns. But the part of the plan that stripped sales-tax revenue from school districts ended with the county - under the cloud of a lawsuit - promising to repay $29 million, with interest.
And that's ignoring the way the proposal was passed: FAIR was introduced and approved - with only Republicans voting in favor - in a single evening.
Whether anybody - including Democrats - has a solution to the budget problem, short of an unprecedented countywide economic rebound, is up for debate. And that's what's lacking here: debate. Republicans have shepherded administration budgets through largely unquestioned and unchanged, aside from technical amendments. There was a bipartisan panel to look at the budget last year, but the most significant result was a couple of bipartisan measures that dealt with financial and audit reports.
The 2010 budget is a different story. The county is using $30-million in stimulus cash to stave off a deficit, but that money's a limited-time offer. The county will certainly face deficits in future years if no long-term solutions are enacted.
This is where the Democrats can step up, if they win. Lej candidates Frank Muscato and Mark Coon, drawing on their school board backgrounds, have suggested incorporating some school district budget-review methods into the county's budget process. The Lej could, for example, have budget meetings that focus on specific areas or departments, and increase public input to help find cost savings or areas that can be cut. Other Democrats say that Legislature committees could take a more active role in the budget process.
The county has an accomplice here, and that's the public, who want all the benefits of stable or decreasing taxes, without sacrificing services. Tough choices have to be made about what government should provide. Is the public willing to pay for well-maintained parks and functioning libraries, if it means higher taxes?
It's important to keep in mind that the county's deficit problem isn't the fault of one administration. A 2002 Blue Ribbon Commission report said that the problem was a decade in the making. So, clearly, this is an issue that won't be solved in a single year.
Exhibit two: The Lej Republicans' practice of systematically ignoring outside voices, whether it's the LGBT community wanting domestic-partner benefits, or the legal community asking for a nonpolitical search for public defender.
The public-defender selection was a particularly egregious show of power, political or otherwise. Attorneys, religious leaders, a college president, antipoverty groups, and respected community leaders turned out to reinforce the importance of an independent, effective public defender's office. Many recalled the days when it was simply a patronage depot and plea-bargain mill.
The suspicion was that Republicans had a preordained candidate - and true or not, that's what the appointment confirmed. By many accounts, Tim Donaher is doing a good job. But it doesn't change the fact that the process was tainted and that will likely haunt Donaher, and the county, for a long time.
A similar situation nearly played out during the MCC president selection. Though the Legislature didn't have direct control of that process, it was clear that the county Republican machine was working to put a party loyalist in the job. In this case, faculty, student, and community outrage - the public-defender fiasco still fresh in people's minds - succeeded in derailing that plan.
A second search was free of politics and resulted in the appointment of an MCC president without local political connections, Anne Kress.
Exhibit three: local development corporations. These quasi-governmental agencies pose a basic problem: they're tough to scrutinize. LDC's take governmental functions away from elected officials and operate out of the public eye. When LDC's borrow money, it's not on the county's books - an advantage or disadvantage, depending on who's talking. And when they issue contracts, they can do it without competitive bidding. Left unchecked, LDC's create an environment with potential for political rewards or favoritism in awarding contracts.
The county has increasingly used local development corporations to take care of functions as disparate as county phone and computer systems, to operating a cogeneration power plant that supplies electricity and steam to county facilities. Most recently, the county contracted with a newly-formed LDC to upgrade its public safety communications infrastructure. The LDC will have to comply with various open-government measures, but it can still award contracts without adhering to state competitive bidding requirements.
The communications proposal, a 20-year, $224-million contract, was submitted only a matter of days before September's committee meetings, and was scheduled to come before the full Lej for a vote two weeks later. That vote was delayed until the end of September - only because an illness prevented the GOP from having the votes to pass it. And when it did pass, only Republicans voted in favor.
Democrats this month introduced legislation that would give the Legislature authority over things like LDC budgets and appointments. It would also require quarterly financial statements. But like all Democratic proposals under this Legislature, it'll be lucky to make it out of committee and it certainly won't pass.
Exhibit four: Robutrad, a mess of misconduct, fraud, and coercion, allegedly.
Some building trades workers who were employed by the county have admitted to working on private projects on county time - including work performed for Republican officials or their families. They allegedly did this at the direction of their county-employed supervisor, Robert Morone, who also allegedly tracked the workers' time "volunteering" for Republican campaigns. Morone is facing state and federal charges.
The criminal investigation led to charges for the executive director of the county Republican Committee, Andrew Moore. Former Deputy County Executive James Smith also faces charges - he allegedly protected Robutrad crews, which allowed the activities to continue.
Robutrad seems to indicate, at the least, a large-scale supervisory failure. At worst, it could indicate institutionalized politicization of the county's work force.
So where does the Lej fit into this? It's a department-level issue, so it's not a given that the Legislature could have uncovered it. But the Legislature can certainly set the tone for county operations and foster a culture that will not abdicate - and will, in fact, demand - oversight and accountability.