You Be The "Judge!"

I found it most interesting that my “friend” Jonathan Judge would throw my name into an online dispute between himself and the duly-elected Leader of the 47^th Assembly District, Russell Gallo, in his response to Russell’s supposed “unremarkable and silly critique” of the Brooklyn YRs.

I say “supposed” because apparently, it was remarkable enough and serious enough for Mr. Judge to write about 8 pages of text, complete with pictures and captions. A veritable internet masterpiece dedicated to the unremarkable and silly!

That’s what you call hypocrisy, folks. And you’re about to see a lot more of it from Mr. Judge.

Now, I could nitpick and whine about being called an apologist, or a handpicked crony and all this other junk. I'm not, of course. That’s all political theatrics by Mr. Judge – a dog and pony show to distract the uninformed. Frankly, I don’t lose any sleep worrying about what Mr. Judge thinks about me, or anything else for that matter.

However, I do care about the constant victim of Mr. Judge’s literary assassinations. That victim isn’t me, or Russell, or even the County or anyone in it for that matter. Mr. Judge's regular victim, intended or not, is the truth.

It’s with that in mind that I propose we clear the record - and have a little fun at the same time. Let’s play a game of my own creation called (insert grand musical flourish) *** You Be the “Judge!” ***

It’s quite simple really. We’re going to look at just a few of Mr. Judge’s factual assertions and see what’s true and what’s empty rhetorical nonsense that distorts what the facts show

First up, this little nugget. Mr. Judge wrote:

At the Brooklyn Young Republican Club's January 2010 Meeting, Mike Grimm, the successfully elected Republican nominee for the 13th Congressional District, addressed the club, which allowed him to build volunteers and support in Brooklyn early in his campaign. Many Brooklyn YRs later went on to collect signatures on petitions for his campaign.

Mr. Grimm did address the small gathering of Brooklyn YRs in January – of that I can attest. To verify the rest, I took this statement to as close to the source as I could find. I asked a well-placed source at the Grimm campaign what impact, if any, did Mr. Judge’s meeting – or any YR support thereafter, for that matter - had on his campaign. The response was surprisingly harsh:

“Jonathan is persona non grata with the campaign. They didn’t do a damn thing for us. He's worthless and useless.”

Uh oh, it would seem that Jonathan's statement may just be, at best, an over-estimation of the significance of the YRs influence on the NY-13 race! But hey, “You Be the “Judge!”

Let’s move on to this next one, concerning Mr. Judge’s endorsement of Joe Lazar for City Council. Mr. Judge wrote:

While they are critical that my campaign in the March 2010 Special Election, after learning we would not be on the ballot, chose to endorse the candidate most in alignment with core Republican principles, they never once questioned or called out corrupt Democratic Boss Vito Lopez-approved Republican State Senator Marty Golden’s enthusiastic and unwavering support of Dem Boss Lopez’s handpicked candidate, David Greenfield, over that of a fellow party member.

First, let the record reflect that Senator Golden’s endorsement came long before any Republican declared their candidacy – a teeny tiny tidbit Mr. Judge omitted. The first rule of good propaganda is "never let the facts get in the way of a good story." and this omission is a prime example of just that. But we’ll get back to that later.

Second, Mr. Judge leads you to believe that his link in the quote is proof of his assertion. And if you were led down that path, then you'd be sorely disappointed at the end of it. What Mr. Judge uses as "source material" for his assertion that Mr. Lazar was the candidate most in alignment with core Republican principles is…. himself? W’oh! Flag on the play!

This is basically saying “I am right because I say I am.” Not exactly logical discourse. This link is is proof of nothing. This kind of rhetoric is misleading and show a great deal of arrogance on the part of its author, not only for thinking so highly of himself, but for seriously discounting the intelligence of you, the reader.

But let’s go deeper into this. It seems that before Mr. Judge got bit by the candidate bug and subsequent threw his lot in with the Democratic-machine candidate, he was humming a different tune with regards to both Senator Golden’s endorsement as to which then-established candidate is closest to Republican principles:

If I have to guess, David Greenfield will inherit the seat as Felder's camp has planned all along. Add in the fact that Senator Marty Golden co-sponsored one of Greenfield's fundraisers in 2007, and the Republicans will most likely implicitly, if not explicitly, throw their support behind him.

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2007/12/bipartisan-support-for-44th-cd.html

But there is still hope! Given the overwhelming Republican tendencies of that district (McCain won Borough Park), and appearances by Mr. Greenfield himself on Fox & Friends (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_VRyG97NfU), the good part is that Greenfield's own political perspective would probably be amenable to a Republican philosophy of government.

So even if Mr. Greenfield becomes Council Member Greenfield in a few weeks, Republicans shouldn't worry too much about that as much as the party should begin to worry about the consequences down the line if we do not engage the Jewish community more so we can effectively compete at the local level within these parts of Brooklyn.

SOURCE: http://urbanelephants.com/index.php/component/content/article/64/2058-felder-out-candidate-needed-in-brooklyn.html

Talk about a 180 degree turn in thinking! So which “Judge” do you believe? Back then, he didn't exactly kick up such a tantrum about Senator Golden's choice, did he? Post-candidacy, he was screaming at the top of his lungs that Senator Golden was conspiring against him! Back then, he was lauding David Greenfield as the next best thing to a Republican. Post-candidacy - he's the devil in the flesh!

So will the real Mr. Judge please stand up? No? OK, then “You Be the “Judge!”

Speaking of Mr. Judge’s failed candidacy, let’s examine further, shall we? Mr. Judge wrote:

Had arcane election law procedure not prevented us from performing a full line-by-line recount of the signatures that we collected, my name would have, in fact, been on the ballot, which the Kings County Supreme Court clearly stated.

That’s his story. Let’s examine the facts.

For facts, there is no better source than the Court record.. You’ll find it at http://www.nycourts.gov . Click on “E-Courts” and then click on “WebSupreme” . After entering the pertinent codes, search by Index No. for 700003/2010 in Kings County. I'll wait until you do so....

You will see that, according to the record, the Hon. Judge Martin entered an oral decision after a line-by-line examination of signatures at the Board of Elections granting the motion which successfully challenged Mr. Judge’s signatures. For those who don’t know, the line-by-line examination is done at the BOE by appointed referees with representatives of all parties present. If there are objections, they are made, preserved, brought before the Court and adjudicated. Thus, the Court heard Mr. Judge's objections, and ruled against him.

Now let’s look at the Appellate Court’s ruling on Mr. Judge’s appeal:

http://www.nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2010/2010_02146.htm

As you can see, the Second Department affirmed the decision of the Supreme Court. You don’t need to be a lawyer to appreciate the common sense approach of the Court, which held that an early filing of an objection to a candidacy is considered timely when processed in the ordinary course of business. This isn’t exactly earth-shattering adjudication!

Those are the facts – You Be the “Judge!”

***

For my two cents here, the “arcane” law that Mr. Judge refers to is the same for every candidate. There is no selective persecution, as Mr. Judge would have you believe. It’s the same law other candidates like Russell Gallo, Ken Rice, Peter Cipriano and I had to follow - and did so with little or no trouble.

If such “underwhelming” candidates can jump this hurdle, why couldn’t the “great” Mr. Judge?

But once again, don't let the facts get in the way of the story - and Mr. Judge is quite the storyteller. If ever the phrase "based on a true story" applied, this would be it!

Of course, it’s fun to argue that “the man held you down”, especially when the truth reveals a somewhat less entertaining tale. But at the end of the day, the facts are all that matter, and the story falls by the wayside.

And true to form, our protagonist chose to point the finger at others and blame them for his own shortcomings instead of taking responsibility for his own failures.

***

Now I could continue, like going into the Cipriano campaign’s dismantling of an entrenched bastion of political antiquity, thus bringing “reform” to the 49^th AD, or going into how he highlights working for out-of-county campaigns when intra-county campaigns were left wanting, and more. But I think you all get the point.

Unfortunately for you, dear readers, this won't be the end. I’m sure you’ll all see the seemingly-never ending rebuttal to this “unremarkable and silly critique” from Mr. Judge that will drone on and on and on – complete with ad hominem attacks, more pictures and captions, and the slings and arrows you come to expect of an internet flame war. He'll tell you that what I didn't respond to must be true because I didn't talk about it here (between you and me, if I did respond to everything, I'd wear out my computer, and you'd wear out your eyes! Isn't this long enough as it is????)

And that’s fine by me because as I said, it’s about the truth, not me.. and truth be told, I kind of look forward to it for the sheer entertainment value alone! This whole piece has been a parody of a real-life parody - why not let the show go on?

But more importantly, it’s fine by me because the more Mr. Judge talks, the more people will see his hypocrisy, his hubris and his hatred. They’ll see him for what he really is.

What is that, you ask? You Be the “Judge!”.

Chairman Eaton on WABC's "Up Close With Diana Williams"

All Talk, No Action

It is no secret that the Brooklyn Young Republicans, under the leadership of Jonathan Judge, have marginalized themselves to the point of irrelevancy.

That said, you might be asking, "Why write anything about them then?" Well, as much as it pains me to say, it's time for me to publicly turn in my membership to this dysfunctional organization. It's broken beyond repair.

And it's a shame - because it didn't have to happen this way.

I've been a member of that club and have been for years, and considered Jonathan a friend during the early years of my tenure... and considered him at the very least a political acquaintance when our relationship began to sour a little over a year ago.

I always felt that the idea of a YR Club is to "build the bench" for the County lineups of the future. We were supposed to be the Soldiers listening and learning from the more experienced leaders. We were supposed to be the pavement pounders for our candidates, doing the things necessary to get our guys elected.

That's not what the YR Club in Brooklyn stands for now and hasn't for a while.

The YRs under Mr. Judge don't care to listen or learn from those who have walked the road before them. Quite the opposite. Instead, they think they know it all, or should I say they think they know better than everyone.

And pounding pavement? They don't go out during petitioning. They don't do literature drops. They don't go door-to-door. They don't stuff envelopes, or hold signs or make phone calls or do any of the other things that get candidates elected. Things that actually matter when it comes to "pounding pavement" for the Party.

It's a shame.

Over the past 1 1/2 years, Judge and Co. have endorsed candidates based solely upon opposition to whomever the County has endorsed. What's worse than the lack of support to the Party candidates - they endorse Democrats over other Young Republicans (like they did in the 44th Council Special Election).

Once their endorsements are announced, they do little or no work for those candidates - as is evident in the disastrous candidacy of Lucretia Regina-Potter (She's a sitting District Leader and was beaten almost 2 to1 in the Republican Primary by Peter Cipriano - a young Republican)
or when Jonathan Judge endorsed Joe Lazar, an entrenched Democratic machine-politician over Ken Rice, a young Republican who succeeded in making the ballot where Judge failed.

Notice a theme? Mr. Judge and his ilk go after young Republicans who work with the County. But it's deeper than that. Peter Cipriano and Ken Rice are dynamic young Republicans who have been bitterly attacked by both Jonathan and his club simply because they are young Republicans, like myself, who work with the County. In the case of Mr. Rice, he beat Mr. Judge at his own game, making the ballot for the Special Election in the 44th where Mr. Judge failed, and in the case of Mr. Cipriano, he did something no young Republican member can claim - he won an election.

It's a shame.

What's worse, they flaunt their arrogantly lazy approach to political activism. They were essentially defunct and derelict in their duty to their membership when their leader shut down operations to make an unsuccessful attempt at candidacy in a no-party race. More recently, the day after Primary Day - after a hard day of doing nothing - the Club met for snacks and conversation. Do you know where I and many other hard working Young Republicans were? Crashing at the Brooklyn HQ after hours of overnight lit dropping, phone calling and poll watching, taking in the lessons learned from wins and losses in Brooklyn and in the State.

It's a shame.

Aside from the above, the YR Club go out of their way to hurt the Party. The YR Club bylaws allow for Democrats as well as people that do not live in Brooklyn to become voting members of their club. It is rumored that officers of the club run or contribute to blogs that attack fellow Republicans on a daily basis - a rumor yet to be denied after over a year. Some active members openly support this garbage.

They obviously have all the free time in the world to do so, seeing as how none volunteer for any kind of political operation. They're content to stare at computer screens and scream into the wind that is the Internet.

It's a shame.

It is because of these and other reasons that I can no longer in good conscience be a member of the Brooklyn YRs as currently constituted. I call on every member of that club to evaluate what that organization has done to advance the Republican Party and our ideals. Upon review, I am certain that many of you will join me if you look at the situation objectively.

It's Primary Day!

Then, after you vote, come down for some refreshments and watch the returns at the Brooklyn GOP HQ on 7620 17th Ave. at 9:00 PM for the Post Primary Party. Click on the graphic to confirm that you're coming on Facebook!

Never Forget...

From the Desk of Brooklyn GOP Chairman Craig Eaton:

On this 9th anniversary of the attacks of September 11, let us all take a moment to remember those who were lost, be thankful for those who survived, be grateful to those who answered the call in our city's most desperate hour of need, and be ever vigilant until those responsible for the attacks are brought to justice. On this day, our city is united against those who would do us harm and committed to protect the freedoms that make America the greatest nation in the world.

Let us never forget what happened in 2001, but let us also look forward towards a brighter future as a new beginning is rising out of Ground Zero more and more each day. With every floor built and every aspect of the Memorial fixed into place, New Yorkers move closer to a rebirth at Ground Zero. And everyday, a message is sent to terrorists around the world that New Yorkers will not be defeated.

September 11 - Should The Show Go On?

Russell and I have had a running argument regarding whether or not to do any broadcast this Saturday, September 11th. Since we can't decide, we're putting it to YOU. Respond with a comment to this article by Saturday at 12:00 AM. The most votes wins.

Russell says YES:

The show must go on. John McCain learned the hard way that taking time off for any reason during a critical campaign period is disasterous. Of course, we all know that 9/11 is not just "any reason", but we don't stop doing what we do on Pearl Harbor Day, D-Day, or the day that Gettysburg's bloodiest battle took place.

We all lost friends and family on 9/11. Soldiers are dying every day in Iraq and Afghanistan. In their honor, and to put a thumb in the eye of our enemies, we must carry on. Whether or not we do a show I will be out campaigning for someone. I recommend you all follow my lead.

Gene says NO:

I think Russell and I agree that we both want to honor those lost and those who sacrificed on 9/11. We only disagree on how best to honor them. I believe that we are - at our essence - a show about politics. I think politics should take a backseat on this day.

By not doing the show, I don't believe that we are dishonoring the lost, or that we are dishonoring those who had served and continued to serve. We are saying that 9/11 transcends politics.

Let the comments begin!

My Morning in Gravesend

On the way out of my house this morning, I walked passed the old Asian woman that regularly comes into my driveway to look for cans and bottles in my recycling bin. I don’t think she has much luck usually because, as far as I know, everyone that lives in the house returns their bottles and cans for the 5-cent deposit that the State holds hostage.

I continued down my block to the corner 7-11 to buy a cup of coffee before my ride into work. I passed several neighbors that were also heading to their cars on their way to work. In the 7-11, a working class man in front of me in line asked the clerk for a tin of apple flavored chewing tobacco. The clerk informed him that the City has banned the sale of all flavored tobacco products (not completely accurate- they still allow menthol flavored cigarettes!) Needless to say, he was not happy and made some disparaging comments about the Mayor and stormed out.

As I approached my car with cup of coffee in hand, I see a man standing near the tree in front of my car acting suspiciously. The woman in the car behind me had a baffled look on her face and began walking away quickly as I approached. I gave the man by the tree a closer look and saw that his pants were open and he was urinating on the tree in front of my car on the corner of Avenue U and West 8th Street!

Being the polite person that I am I waited for him to finish up before going to have a chat with him. Before I could open my mouth I heard another neighbor’s voice saying “Hey Russ, what the f@#$ is this guy doing?” So we asked him in a very Brooklyn-esque way what he was thinking and he frantically apologized. That was probably a good idea on his part.

The man that came to my aid is somewhat of a friend of mine. I'm not going to name names, but he is also one of the stars in a new show on Spike TV called “Scrappers” (http://www.spike.com/show/38515). It airs every Tuesday night at 10 PM. I don’t know his political persuasion, but I do know that he is as Brooklyn as it gets and he did the right thing this morning.

Our Mayor and local elected officials are busy banning aluminum baseball bats and flavored tobacco while our streets revert back to the way they were pre-Giuliani. I live in a relatively safe neighborhood, but quality of life issues/crimes are increasingly making life uncomfortable here.

Where are the police? I see traffic enforcement agents and sanitation supervisors issuing out tickets every morning and throughout the day to hardworking residents while they are powerless to stop graffiti taggers and public urinating dirt bags.

President John Adams once said “Liberty once lost is lost forever.” Our government at all levels has gotten into the business of taking liberty from the working class while turning a blind eye toward street hoodlums and other special interest groups. When will it stop? Just because the Mayor doesn’t like tobacco, trans fat, or salt and Councilman Jimmy Oddo doesn’t like aluminum baseball bats doesn’t mean that they should use their government power lent to them by the people to ban them.

Wake up my brothers and sisters. Elect people that believe in our republican form of government and will also protect us by cleaning up our streets before it is too late.

Wilson on Brooklyn GOP Radio Sept. 18th, Giuliani Stumps For Turner!

Looks like we have fans in high places!

After posting and talking about Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's guide to "Maximizing Your Benefits", which is essentially a how-to in pension padding that would drive the State to ruin, Brooklyn GOP Radio received a nice thank-you note from Mr. Wilson, who then agreed to be a guest on our show LIVE! in two weeks.

Did I mention that Mr. DiNapoli earned last week's "Buffoon of the Week" honors for this debacle? No? Well, if you missed that discussion, check out this past Saturday's show!

(By the way, the page in question has been taken down, but we have a cached copy of the content saved via PDF here!)

For more on the pension-padding issue, check out some of the coverage linked below, and don't forget to support Harry Wilson for Comptroller!

Rochester Democrat & Chronicle - who broke the story
NY Daily News 9/4
NY Daily News - Daily Politics
NY Post 9/3
NY Post 9/4
NY Post - Opinion
Poughkeepsie Journal

***

UPDATE: Just received a press advisory from the Bob Turner For Congress campaign that America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani will be hitting the campaign trail with him before his "Move the Mosque" Rally later tonight.

Is this the best GOP Campaign that no one (but us) is paying attention to, folks?

For More, check out

http://capitaltonight.com/2010/09/giuliani-stumps-for-weiner-opponent/

Brooklyn GOP Candidates & The Ground Zero Mosque Issue

If you've tuned into the show the past few weeks, you've heard us talk about the Mosque issue - probably the most talked-about issue on the campaign trail. So let's see what the Republican campaigns out there are saying about the mosque.

We checked in with the Bob Turner For Congress campaign, and received this notice about his "Move The Mosque" Rally tomorrow at the Forest Hills Band-Shell on Forest Park Dr. & Woodhaven Blvd. in Woodhaven, NY

I think Bob is on to something - this is the first "Move The Mosque" Rally, as opposed to the anti-Mosque rallies that have taken place. Just about every Republican campaign has spoken out against the mosque near Ground Zero:

Susan Kone is running in the Congressional district where Ground Zero and the mosque are physically located. She has planned a "Sensitivity Summit" for tomorrow, where she has invited Imam Rauf and other community leaders to gain a "sensitivity to the pain and grief of those New Yorkers and Americans who were so profoundly affected by the tragedy of September 11 and the continued emotional distress that would be caused by the presence of a mosque so close to the location of the sacred site of the former Twin Towers."

Both NY-13 candidates have also been very vocal in their opposition to the Mosque near Ground Zero, and we encourage you to look up their - and everyone else's - positions on the issue.

Volunteer At The "Victory Center"!

I took this photo this week on a busy Thursday night as volunteers were making calls, checking lists and organizing literature for the next day's pavement pounding.

As you can see, there's plenty of work to go around, so come down and volunteer! There's opportunities for all ages, and you'll meet a lot fo good people as well.

Stop by the "Victory Center" at 7620 17th Ave. and lend the Brooklyn GOP a hand!

NY-13: Testing Candidates Under Fire

As Primary Day approaches, tensions grow. How candidates react under this tension should tell you how they'll handle adversity as your representative.

I respectfully submit the NY-13 race as a prime example. In recent days, Michael Allegretti has been pressing Michael Grimm on the use of photos of Grimm by his campaign showing him with medals that he knew he wasn't entitled to wear.

Says Allegretti:

Why does Michael Grimm continue to avoid giving a credible explanation as to why he knowingly used photos of himself, on numerous campaign materials, wearing military awards that he knew he did not earn and should not be wearing? The voters of Brooklyn and Staten Island deserve answers.

The issue revolves around a photo of Grimm in his Marine dress uniform that he used on his website and campaign materials until several weeks ago. Specifically, he is wearing a Meritorious Unit Citation and Presidential Unit Citation, both from the Army.

Here is the photo in question:

Grimm's Response:

At the time I was wearing them, I was entitled to wear them," Grimm said. "To have this petulant child say anything about my military service when he hasn't served a day in his life is truly distasteful.

Allegretti's Retort:

Michael Grimm has done something wrong, something dishonest, something that goes to the core of his integrity. It has absolutely nothing to do with his service. It has to do with his integrity," Allegretti said in an interview. "What he has done is use a photo in which he admits that he has medals on that he is not supposed to be wearing, and he is trying to confuse the issue by saying 'Allegretti never served, so don't worry about it'

You see where this is going... Let's give actual fact-finders the final word:

Grimm’s service record also includes the full list of the awards he received: the Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Southwest Asia Service Medal with 3 bronze stars, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal with bronze “M”, the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia) the Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait) and the National Defense Medal.

Those, and only those, are the awards Grimm won while serving from 1989 through 1997 and achieving the rank of corporal, according to his file retrieved by Major Shawn Haney, a Marine Corps public affairs officer. (Emphasis added)

Moreover, according to City Hall newspaper, the military record keeper was not familiar with any Marine unit serving jointly with the army in Iraq.

Unfortunately, after all this sound and fury, we're still without a definitive answer to Mr. Allegretti's question and are still left to ask why Michael Grimm used a photo of him in uniform with honors he knows did not earn in his political campaign.

Needless to say I have my own opinion on this situation, but I encourage everyone to investigate this and any other competitive race and judge for yourselves. Test your candidates to see how they react when they are pushed, prodded, questioned and challenged. That's the true measure of a prospective representative.

DiNapoli's Fuzzy Math

In my opinion, the strongest Republican campaign in New York has been Harry Wilson's run for comptroller. Wilson, a hedge fund manager with an M.B.A. from Harvard, recently wrote a report pointing out the deficiencies in the calculations of the state's pension fund. For you financial wonks out there, here is the paper.

From the NY Times:

When the state takes its snapshot of the fund, he says, it makes several mistakes, including two big ones. First, it counts money that is not in the fund — hoped-for investment gains that may or may not appear and future contributions from workers and taxpayers. Second, it does not take into account that the state pensions are worth more than other such promised money because they come with a constitutional guarantee.

The difference in dollars is huge, Mr. Wilson writes in a paper due out on Thursday. If New York recalculated its pension numbers with the stricter standards that companies use, it would come up $30 billion to $80 billion short, he says.

“The coming public pension crisis is the largest financial problem our nation faces at the state level,” he warns in the report, adding that it would eclipse the cost of the bailouts of companies like the American International Group and Fannie Mae, or the savings-and-loan industry in the 1980s.

New York’s retirees will not have their benefits cut, Mr. Wilson says, citing the constitutional guarantee. But over time, residents will see more cuts in public services and less money for infrastructure maintenance as public dollars are diverted to fill the hole in the pension fund.

The state’s plan to borrow billions more from the pension fund to get through this year’s fiscal squeeze, meanwhile, will drive the fund deeper into the hole.

Economists who were shown the paper said Mr. Wilson’s analysis of the problem was sound.

“That part of it is exactly spot on,” said Joshua D. Rauh, an associate professor of finance at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University who has written extensively on the accuracy of state pension numbers. He stressed that he was not endorsing Mr. Wilson’s candidacy.

DiNapoli's Response? Pure political cover.

Mr. Tompkins, the comptroller’s spokesman, said he was “flabbergasted” that Mr. Wilson would claim the state pension fund had a shortfall. He cited a report in the August issue of Governing, a publication for state and local officials, that called New York State “the nationwide pension leader, with the country’s highest-funded public pension at 107 percent.”

Every year, Mr. Tompkins said, the state requires a team of actuaries to review all pension calculations in detail; if something is awry, the chief actuary must report it to the comptroller and recommend an adjustment.

“The comptroller cannot arbitrarily change that number,” Mr. Tompkins said. “This is one of the more clearly defined processes in the law.”

Only once, more than a decade ago, did a state comptroller try to squelch an actuary, he said, and in that case the actuary resigned.

“We do things right,” Mr. Tompkins said. “We’re not New Jersey. We’re not guessing here.”

But, as one expert states, that's the problem!

That is the problem, said Zvi Bodie, a finance professor at Boston University who was asked what he thought of Mr. Wilson’s report. The state was following all the accounting rules to a T, Dr. Bodie said, and was coming up with misleading numbers because the rules were flawed.

What a great illustration of a fundamental flaw in governing - we need to pick candidates who see the broken system and who have the know-how to fix it. We can't afford anymore pols who stick their head in the sand and hide behind flawed systems. They care more about themselves than they do about us.