Four years ago today marks the beginning of...

Four years ago today~  July 3, 2008 ~ I began my blogging adventures with my first post. This post was about Darrel Aubertine and conflicts of interests. Since that day much has happened, however the topic of my first post has taken on a life of its own.

 Lack of Ability  or lack of Character

The special Senate election between Will Barclay and Darrel Aubertine brought forth accusations of a conflict of interest for Darrel Aubertine.

February 23, 2008 The Valley news on line reported that on June 4, 2003, Assemblyman Aubertine voted in favor of legislation that would allow farmers to host wind turbines without having their property-tax assessments increased.

Responding to accusations of a conflict of interest in a television interview Aubertine denied voting on any wind power issues “no, not at all, “he said “I never-one way or the other- certainly not for personal gain”.

February 22, 2008 the Syracuse Post Standard reported that their editorial board asked Aubertine if he thought it was appropriate to vote on a measure that affected his own property he responded, “If it was me alone, no” but, he said, “it’s not me, it’s the town and dozens of other landowners.”

A spokesperson for the Aubertine campaign denied any conflict of interest.

“That vote happened over a year before he sold his wind rights,” Aubertine spokesperson Cort Ruddy said, “those towers, if they are ever built, would be owned by the company and would not impact Darrel’s assessment at all. ”Ruddy added that the only approval process is done locally. “The company is going to set up an arrangement with the town for payment-in-lieu of taxes (pilot payments) and there’s usually no assessment,” Ruddy noted.

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It is true that the June 4, 2003 vote occurred over a year before Aubertine sold his wind rights however, May, 25 2003 the Watertown Times reported that then Assemblyman Darrel J. Aubertine said a company had approached him about installing wind-powered generators on his property and the properties belonging to three of his neighbors. Aubertine also said the company had been monitoring the wind in the town of Cape Vincent for a year and determined it was ideal for wind development.

New York wind/ Acciona applied for a met tower permit for a parcel on Constance road in May of 2002, over a year before the vote in question. Additionally Aubertines spokesperson deflected the conflict question by responding about assessments and PILOT payments when the bill was about land conversion penalties.

Previously, when land receiving an agricultural assessment was converted to a non-agricultural use, it was subject to a conversion payment equaling five times the taxes paid in the last year in which it received the assessment, plus interest of 6% per year for each year it received the assessment, up to five years.

The bill Aubertine signed eliminated this tax penalty for farmers changing the use of their land from agricultural to non-agricultural.

If Aubertine hosts wind turbines on his land he will directly benefit from this bill.

Aubertines problems did not end with the election, after being elected Aubertine hired his sister to work in his district office, violating the ethics reform legislation he co-sponsored in 2007.

He called it an error in judgment, the ethics reform law he broke called for a 40,000 penalty for this type of “error in judgment.”

Darrel Aubertine had another error in judgment that has plagued him through his political career Darrel Aubertines shameful letter to the Cape Vincent Town Board encouraging board members to vote even though they had conflicts of interest.

To date this letter is the Single most down loaded and viewed document on my blog.