Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Right on Schedule

As we predicted last week, and right on schedule for the coming election, today brings another "Robutrad"-related indictment.

This time it's James Smith, former Deputy County Executive.

Amazing how, after sitting on it for months, the Democratic-controlled District Attorney's Office suddenly needs to bring these indictments just before an election!

And exquisitely timed for late morning, assuring coverage in both the Noon and evening local newscasts!

There's more to all of this than the individual indictments, the politically-motivated timing and the career ambitions of the District Attorney.  We'll discuss it in an upcoming post.

Posted by Philbrick at 12:01 PM

4 comments:

Rottenchester said...

I haven't really been paying a lot of attention to Robutrad. From what I've seen of him, Green seems like a straight shooter, but he wouldn't be the first prosecutor to do something politically-motivated to get ahead.

But let's look at a few facts. Rachel Barnhart just posted the FBI's investigative report on Smith. It's pretty much his side of the story, and it's troubling, to say the least.

Smith caught a bunch of Robutrad workers at the Klassy Kat one afternoon, and his response was to give them a stern talking-to the next day. He didn't document the event with human resources, nor did he tell anyone about it, apparently. The Klassy Kat incident was preceded by at multiple complaints from the then-head of the D.E.S about the quality of work from the Robutrad workers.

At a minimum, Smith looked the other way on Robutrad. What's your argument that he shouldn't have been indicted.

Here's the report:

http://www.13wham.com/content/blogs/story/Bad-Manager-or-Criminal/xqpfut6jTkizcT50M1XkAw.cspx?rss=1085

October 7, 2009 at 5:56 PM
Philbrick said...

Hi, Rottenchester, and thanks as always for your comment.

We don't have a beef with the substance of the Smith indictment, in the following sense: the charge alleged actually appears to fit the conduct involved. That doesn't mean Smith is guilty, just that the indictment is at least plausible.

This is in stark contrast to the indictment that really has bothered us. That's the totally contrived charge against Moore, the former GOP Exec. Director. Moore's being charged with coercion, where all he did was to write a letter.

Our point about the Smith indictment has to do with its timing -- so transparently geared to election day next month. Even if the charge has substance, it's the timing and media-conscious rollout that betrays a political motivation on the part of the DA's office.

October 7, 2009 at 6:24 PM
Rottenchester said...

OK, thanks for the clarification. I do agree that the Moore indictment is flimsy. However, I was also wondering if maybe Green indicted Moore to flip him, and that Moore has something to say about Smith, which would explain the timing of the indictments.

I guess we'll see. If both of these guys go to trial and are acquitted, I'll think less of Green.

October 7, 2009 at 8:47 PM
Anonymous said...

"However, I was also wondering if maybe Green indicted Moore to flip him"

If that were the case, and naturally Green's not going to say it is, that sounds like a major abuse of power. Scary at the very least.

October 9, 2009 at 8:43 PM

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