I don’t usually follow town politics, because they are dull.
And petty and crooked and inbred.
And typically deal with matters which, while no doubt important to the people involved, are meaningless to the other 8 billion people on earth.
But I watched yesterday’s Irondequoit Town Board meeting. A friend asked me to. A friend asked me to watch it and see what I thought about it. So I did. I clicked on the link and I watched the video and I tried to follow what went on.
And I didn’t like what I saw.
Basically, it was two people. Patrina Freeman and John Perticone. She’s a member of the town board and he’s the acting town supervisor. And they were having a vote on the budget.
Budgets have lots of votes. I’m not sure which this one was. But it was moved to approve the budget and there was some back and forth about who could speak when and then it was Patrina Freeman’s turn to talk.
And she went on about an $18,000 part-time clerk position that was being eliminated from the budget. A clerk who is supposed to be a liaison between the town government and something called ICARE.
I hate acronyms, especially ones that spell words.
This one stands for Irondequoit Commission Advancing Racial Equity.
Oh. It’s one of those. Some one of those systemic-racism things. The witch hunt thing. I am so not into that. I just don’t buy it.
But this isn’t about my preferences or opinions, it’s about promises made and promises kept, and who gets to sit at the table, and whether or not Irondequoit is going to put its money where its mouth is.
The town of Irondequoit, whose all-Democrat town board is largely hand-picked by Congressman Joe Morelle, has embraced ICARE, and the whole fist-in-the-air woke thing. Joe Morelle and Adam Bello – who Morelle once put in as Irondequoit supervisor and now has moved over to county executive – sat cross-legged in the middle of Main Street during a Black Lives Matter anti-police demonstration in downtown Rochester, showing their solidarity to the TV cameras.
On the town website, there is a nice proclamation touting the town’s commitment to “antiracism,” among other things, and pledging to provide administrative support to ICARE. It’s all pretty and passionate and official, and it’s signed by John Perticone.
He’s the one who started yelling at Patrina Freeman.
But I’m ahead of myself.
Patrina Freeman, as the budget was being discussed, said that she felt the $18,000 for the part-time ICARE clerk should be put back in. She explained what the position did, and she read a couple of letters in support of it and the commission.
She did this professionally, politely and with dignity and decorum. She acted like you would expect an elected official to act.
And he yelled at her. And spoke in a cross and condescending fashion.
He kind of acted like a prick.
He spoke over her, insisted that she stop talking, and he got pretty argumentative.
Which is where I want to leave the narrative of the Irondequoit town board meeting. I want to talk about the principle at play here.
Namely, that Democrats sure like black votes but seem awfully quick to forget the interests of black voters. Everybody wants in on the revolution, but when it comes down to brass tacks, nothing truly gets done.
Like this situation.
It’s a part-time clerk. It’s $18,000.
Out of a $40 million budget.
And it’s a cause which – while I might not agree with it – the Irondequoit town government has claimed to support. The voters behind this have provided steady support to the white Democrat political machine that runs Irondequoit. This issue is intensely important to them, and they – like everyone else – ought to be treated respectfully by their government. And, in fact, the people who believe in the ICARE mission were embraced by the town government, when the TV cameras were around, and promises were made.
One of those was a commitment “to providing administrative support” to the organization.
That was the part-time clerk.
Who the board cut the very first chance it got.
That’s not about race in America, that’s about honesty in politics. When the politicians say something, they should mean it. When they promise something, they should deliver it.
I don’t agree with Patrina Freeman’s politics. But I admire her dignity. Her argument before the board was reasonable and persuasive. Her point was a good one.
And she got yelled at and talked down to by the acting supervisor.
And the promise the board made in its proclamation got broken.
Neither one of those things are good. Both of them are disrespectful.
They don’t speak well of the town government, or of the political machine that runs it.