Boy Blunder on The Hudson: The opposite of crisis management -pouring more gas on the fire and your own already bad reputation. N.Y. Governor Andrew Cuomo is the thin-skinned boy governor who can't help himself

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Boy Blunder on The Hudson: The opposite of crisis management -pouring more gas on the fire and your own already bad reputation. N.Y. Governor Andrew Cuomo is the thin-skinned boy governor who can't help himself Cuomo the Bad, who if you didn't know it, opposes a version of Jessica's Law in New York State, would make a very good South American general who overthrows the democratically-elected government and who -wait for it- imprisons reporters in a soccer stadium, a la Missing.
Unless you want to go another way and go the Emperor's New clothes route, though I've probably used that metaphor a little too often here on the blog over the years.

New York Times 
Top Cuomo Aide Delivers Public Rebuke of State Worker Who Talked to the Press
By Thomas Kaplan
February 21, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/nyregion/top-aide-to-cuomo-rebukes-state-worker-who-talked-to-the-press.html

CapitalNewYork

Why Andrew Cuomo is losing a fight against an engineer named Mike

By Azi Paybarah

February 22, 2013 4:02 p.m.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/politics/2013/02/7929992/why-andrew-cuomo-losing-fight-engineer-named-mike?top-featured-1

Andrew Cuomo freaks out over a little hostile media coverage.

http://moelane.com/2013/02/23/andrew-cuomo-new-york/

For those of you who don't already know the story, let me share with you a true tale about Andrew Cuomo that happened in Washington, D.C. when I was living and working there, and sadly, many years pre-blog.

it's the sort of delicious and meaningful story that likely didn't make its way down the media food chain to South Florida because the Herald and Sun-Sentinel's editors were either asleep at the wheel, disinterested, or deemed it too-inside-baseball.

That sort of lazy journalism attitude 15-20 years ago -and continuing to this day- explains why, as I've stated here and other places previously, so few people in South Florida, even usually well-informed people, DON'T realize the extent to which the Beltway press corps had completely soured on Sen. Bob Graham, and towards the end, often could barely stifle their contempt and laughter for him.

So here's the story as best I remember it. 

Cuomo, while HUD Secretary for the Clinton White House and with the tough task of filling the boots of perpetually effervescent Jack Kemp, was actually verbally reprimanded by top people within the White House -by Chief of Staff Mack McClarty if I recall correctly-  as well as verbally tonue-lashed by Congress, for being SO overly concerned with his own image and

press that he actually over-spent HUD's budget for PR/media, and spent either three years worth in two years, or four years in three.

Don't recall which of the two it was but it really happened, so you get the larger point.

(As has been said so often about New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, especially the first few years post-9/11, when Sunday morning network TV chat show bookers semed to have him on every weekend, to everyone's dis-satisfaction, don't ever, ever get between Cuomo and a mirror or a microphone.)

So, on top of that episode, and then the very weird situation with his ex-wife, Kerry Kennedy, where we're led to believe that largely for their kids' sake, she seems to have gone out of her way NOT to talk publicly about his well-known control-freak tendencies when they split -which raised all sorts of flags among the crowd I knew in Washington precisely because of what was being squelched- we can add this latest episode of Cuomo-style "Seldom is heard a discouraging word."

The paint is beginning to dry on Andrew Cuomo and the overall picture that emerges is increasingly looking more and more like one of a megalomaniac elected official who is getting

closer and closer to exploding, like Martin Sheen's fictional character, Greg Stillson, at the end of the awesome film version of Stephen King's The Dead Zone, just as Christopher

Walken's character Johnny Smith had foreseen.

As for those East Coast/Beltway media types who, rather than focusing their time and efforts on writing about pols who are genuine problem-solvers and not puppets, instead, keep writing that Cuomo, hyper-liberal Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and moderate Virginia Senator Mark Warner will emerge as the top 2016 Democratic presidential candidates from east of the Mississippi, would be wise to drop Cuomo from the equation before they invest too much more time and energy into a relationship that will never bear fruit.

He doesn't have either The Right Stuff or enough self-control, and if you doubt me on this, wait until his competitors and their supporters get a chance to bait him. 

He can't help himself.

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http://www.capitalnewyork.com/

The fallacious Fact Check epidemic: As the U.S. Mainstream Media's bias becomes ever more apparent, some are naming names and shaming the guilty and aggressively pushing back; TheWrap on Dinesh D'Souza calling-out the AP's Beth Fouhy; PolitiFact Florida "rulings" show a pro-Democrat bias according to MediaTrackers.org

Fox News Channel video: "Fox News Watch" -Media coverage of the RNC; Host: Jon Scott, Special Guests: Judith Miller, Jim Pinkerton, Alan Colmes, Cal Thomas. Uploaded September 1, 2012. http://video.foxnews.com/v/1818497994001/
See the entire show at: http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/fox-news-watch/2012/09/03/media-coverage-rnc

Seinfeld's Cosmo Kramer once famously felt compelled to share with his best friend what he was doing with some of his free time when we didn't see him -"I'm watching the watchers, Jerry.' 

Similarly, former LA-based Slate blogger Mickey Kaus, long a favorite of ours, and now with a media perch at The Daily Caller, takes a scalpel to the the U.S. Mainstream Media over their new "Fact Check"-ing obsession and wonders if what they're really doing is simply walking onto more thin ice -and only MORE BIAS.; Kaus adroitly observes that it "opens up a giant sluice for the introduction of concealed bias, esp. when “facts” are fed to the fact-checkers by the competing campaigns"

The Daily Caller

Credulous fact-checkers fall for scam

By Mickey Kaus

September 2, 2012

Why the Fact-Checkosphere is failing: So, as I understand it, this year the MSM will righteously strike back against “Post-Truth Politics” through rigorous fact-checking, followed by a manly, non-balanced, yet authoritative calling out of transgressors for the liars that they are.  James Fallows and Jay Rosen, among others, have heralded this great new day. One problem, of course, is the ease–rather, the constant temptation–of presenting debatable policy issues as right/wrong fact issues, a problem emphasized by dissenter Ben Smith yesterday. Another is the way what Smith calls “the new pseudo science of fact-checks” opens up a giant sluice for the introduction of concealed bias, especially when “facts” are fed to the fact-checkers by the competing campaigns.

Read the rest of his post at:

http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/02/credulous-fact-checkers-fall-for-20-scam/ 

Earlier this afternoon, TheWrap had the story on an effort by one prominent conservative media personality to push back at what they see as the guilty parties. In this case, reporter Beth Fouhy at the AP who seems to have a history of... well, you be the judge, and take a look at what one well-known conservative media website says.

Can they really be so wrong about one person who has such a proven track record like Fouhy's, many of whose pieces appear in the Miami Herald? 

That would have to be an awful lot of coincidences for her to be correct every time, wouldn't you say? http://newsbusters.org/people/beth-fouhy

TheWrap

'2016: Obama's America' Author Dinesh D'Souza Fires Back at Associated Press 'Fact Check'

By Todd Cunningham

September 03, 2012 @ 2:37 pm

Author Dinesh D’Souza, who wrote and co-directed “2016: Obama’s America,” told TheWrap Monday that a recent Associated Press report “fact-checking” his hit documentary is “a crude and inaccurate attack masquerading as a news story.”

The AP article, posted Friday and written by Beth Fouhy, was headlined “Fact Check: Anti-Colonial Obama Not Plausible.”

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/article/2016-obamas-america-author-dinesh-dsouza-fires-back-associated-press-fact-check-54501

Closer to home, the problem of media bias, and even institutional bias, is even more rampant on a local level because there are not only fewer people paying close attention and who know all the details and context about what's REALLY GOING ON, there are fewer people in newsrooms who will stand up and stop it from airing or going into print.

They just look the other way and make a mental note of it.

A SUBTLE FORM OF BIAS IN LOCAL NEWS

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/09/01/A-Subtle-Form-of-Bias-in-Local-News

And just so there's no confusion on this point, let me be clear.

In my opinion, despite the efforts of Journalism Schools to inculcate a stronger sense of pro-active ethical probity into their students the past thirty years, the evidence to date suggests that in an era of news reporting retrenchment and uncertain economic futures, fewer people in the press corps will stand up to their own corporate management team, editorial superiors or Editorial Board when those people engage in untoward behavior and bias, and in some cases, don't even try to hide it,.The reason?

Because, hello, those are the very same people who will have a say in who is around a year from now in that very newsroom.

NATIONAL USC ANNENBERG-LOS ANGELES TIMES POLL SHOWS LOCAL TELEVISION NEWS RULES WITH VOTERS

Posted August 24, 2012

http://annenberg.usc.edu/News%20and%20Events/News/120824LATimesPoll.aspx

That is especially true in South Florida, where despite what you may want to believe, the general level of ethics in the news room down here is certainly no higher than you'd find in the offices at City Hall, County Halls and the State Capitol that are being followed. 

That level of newsroom ethics in South Florida is largely below-average compared to the rest of the country, and some have been able to keep jobs despite how well-known their own biases and proclivities are for looking the other way and making excuses for shoddy journalism practices. 

Over the next week, I'll be pointing-out some examples of this to you readers here on the blog by putting some sunshine on some stories and news angles that you haven't seen mentioned or reported upon elsewhere.

MediaTrackers.org

PANTS ON FIRE: PolitiFact Florida Rulings Show Clear Bias in Favor of Democrats, Against Republicans

By Sean Davis

30TH AUG 2012 AT 12:36

http://florida.mediatrackers.org/2012/08/30/pants-on-fire-politifact-florida-rulings-show-clear-bias-in-favor-of-democrats-against-republicans/

Recent posts of mine on media bias in its various guises include my April 16, 2012 blog post, titled, Despite self-congratulatory declarations, Tampa Bay Times' PolitiFact's bias in analyzing "facts" over past few years is becoming increasingly apparent to everyone, and Breitbart's Big Journalism's Tony Lee points out some recent examples re Romney.

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/despite-self-congratulatory.html

as well as my January 1, 2012 post, Florida voters shake their heads in wonder as Tampa Bay Times continues flogging their stories re their poll of "political insiders" -favoring incumbents in 2012. Surprise! 

http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/florida-voters-shake-their-heads-in.html

BP oil spill remediation funds: Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, little towns gotta spend money like crazy like... well, little towns. And South FL?

Entering Miami-Dade County sign on south-bound U.S.-1/Biscayne Blvd., Aventura, coming out of Hallandale Beach. Aventura Hospital on the right. November 16, 2010 photo by South Beach Hoosier.


Birds gotta fly, fish gotta swim, little towns gotta spend money like crazy like... well, little towns...
Like many of you out there reading this post today, I'm really looking forward to finding out where the BP remediation funds sent to Miami-Dade and Broward Counties -that saw no oil- actually wind-up being spent.


Given the long and well-chronicled tradition in South Florida of our elected officials and municipal/county leaders' outside-the-box thinking when it comes to ways of treating themselves (and their pals) like kings and queens, with money that's supposed to be spent in very specific ways -for instance, money for environmental code enforcement getting squandered by cocky and patronizing Miami-Dade cops on TVs, see below- I wait with baited breath to see which local print or TV reporters are first to expose how the money was spent down here in ways that only raise more questions about the character and caliber of the people making those decisions.

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St. Petersburg Times
BP buys Gulf Coast millions in gear
By Michael Kunzelman, Mike Schneider and Melinda Deslatte
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Tasers. Brand-new SUVs. A top-of-the-line iPad. A fully loaded laptop. In the year since the Gulf oil spill, officials along the coast have gone on a spending spree with BP money, dropping tens of millions of dollars on gadgets and other gear - much of which had little to do with the cleanup, an Associated Press investigation shows.

The oil giant opened its checkbook while the crisis was still unfolding last spring and poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Gulf Coast communities with few strings attached.

Read the rest of the article at:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GULF_OIL_SPILL_SPENDING_SPREE?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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Orlando Sentinel
Central Florida Politcal Pulse blog
BP gives NW Fla $30 M
Posted by khaughney on April, 11 2011 11:54 AM
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2011/04/bp-gives-nw-fla-30-m.html

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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/13/2015129/miami-dade-police-wont-repay-misspent.html

Miami-Dade police won't repay misspent environmental funds

By Matthew Haggman

January 13, 2011

The Miami-Dade Police Department is acknowledging it misspent funds meant to fight environmental crime on flat-screen TVs, SUVs and firearms.

"Clearly inappropriate,'' Police Director James Loftus says.

But putting the money back into the green funds, as the county's inspector general has requested? Not so fast.

"No, we are not,'' county police spokeswoman Nancy Perez said.

Miami-Dade Inspector General Christopher Mazzella said in a recent memo to Mayor Carlos Alvarez that the police have adopted many of his recommended fixes, following a scathing IG audit that found the police used two environmental trust funds as a kitty for pricey purchases with little connection to environmental crime-fighting.

But the police department is flatly rebuffing two IG recommendations: that it stop using green-fund money to pay expenses such as monthly cellphone and aircard bills, and that it repay the misused public dollars.

"We continue to stand by our original recommendations that the Trust Funds be reimbursed,'' Mazzella said in a Dec. 21 memo to Alvarez.

The police department isn't obligated to follow the IG's recommendations, unless the mayor or the county commission act. And there's little push coming from the county executive's office.

Mayoral spokeswoman Victoria Mallette would only say in a statement that "administrative procedures have been strengthened.'' When pressed whether the mayor thinks county police should pay up, she referred questions to Loftus and hung up.

The standoff is the latest chapter in a scandal that erupted last year over county stewardship of funds that were meant to combat polluters. Instead, amid "overall chaotic administration,'' the funds were steered to "excessive, unreasonable, or unnecessary'' purchases, the IG audit found.

The IG's inquiry, following a Miami Herald series last year that detailed dubious spending, focused on nearly $6 million spent from 2000 to 2009 from two funds: the South Florida Environmental Task Force Trust Fund and Florida Environmental Task Force Trust Fund.

More than $1.1 million was spent on vehicle-related expenses, including the purchase of 23 SUVs and trucks that went to top brass rather than environmental investigators working in remote areas. Another $1.1 million went for cellphones used, in many cases, by officials in non-environmental departments.

Three Sharp 52-inch flat screen TVs were snapped up for about $6,000. Nearly $35,000 was spent on 30 Smith & Wesson M&P-15 rifles and holographic sights. Police justified the firearms on the grounds that an environmental investigator might encounter "a wildlife poacher armed with a high-powered rifle.''

Three Segways were bought for $25,000. One was used periodically to patrol MDPD's suburban headquarters, and two were found "sitting unused in a warehouse,'' auditors found.

The episode served as an embarrassment for embattled Mayor Alvarez, who is facing a recall vote on March 15.

Division Chief Frank Vecin, a close ally and supporter of Mayor Alvarez, was in charge of fund spending. At one point, Alvarez was ferried around in a Chevy Tahoe purchased with green-fund money. The county mayor later returned the automobile, saying he didn't know it was bought with funds meant to fight polluters.

The revelations of fund mismanagement prompted the retirement of Vecin.

"The IG believes the funds were managed improperly,'' said C. Michael Cornely, Vecin's attorney. "It was their opinion. To me, the IG justifies its existence by looking for things and making issues out of things that are not really an issue.''

The two environmental funds, created in 2000 by the county commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, were established to help fight polluters in South Florida, which the county has called a "drum dump capital.'' Funding sources included fines and court judgments.

Police director Loftus -- named to the top job in February, after spending questions were already being raised -- now says new money will not be accepted into the two funds. The remaining balance in the accounts is $1.5 million.

In defending his position that the police department need not repay the misspent dollars, Loftus contends that over the life of the trust funds, the department paid some $27 million out of its general fund for the salaries and benefits of officers and directors working environmental investigations -- that, in sum, the contribution of personnel costs far offset the questioned expenses.

Mazzella responded that the trust fund money was "to augment, not replace'' general funds.

If they police were to repay for misspending, the precise amount isn't clear, though the August audit provides a road map.

"We left it to the police to determine what was justified, and repay what was not,'' said Mazzella.

Miami Herald staff writer Martha Brannigan contributed to this report.

In case you live outside of South Florida and are reading this and wondering if the sort of inappropriate behavior by law enforcement officials -described above in such great detail by Matthew Haggman- is common, and whether the cumulative effect of such moral and intellectual laxness was a factor in the successful recall from office of former M-D mayor Carlos Alvarez last month, the answer to both questions is YES.

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Not that you asked but the BP station in Aventura on Biscayne Blvd. & N.E. 211th Street, across from Aventura Hospital and near the Venezuelan Target, is my favorite service station in the area to use, as I've probably only used a different operator maybe five times in the past year. They are always clean, efficient and extremely well-lit at night, which is more than I can say for many other service stations in SE Broward/NE Miami-Dade.

Plus, they usually have copies of the NY Times available when other places are already out.