| I hate to pile on (actually, I don't) but there are a few things that I will add to what Phillip said earlier about Dennis Delano's attempt at blogging.
Now, I know who Rus Thompson is. He is the blogger that featured this rambling from Delano. Thompson is a conservative and for him to say that we are all Democrat, all the time over here is hypocritical. You have your allegiances too, pal. We don't hide our bias and who we are aligned with. You don't either. So let's get beyond this shock that The Albany Project is a bunch of liberals. We know. We have known for some time.
As for Delano, there are a few things he said in his rebuttal that are funny, stupid and shows how uninformed he is.
For example, Delano said this: "#6. There is no federal law that prohibits "politicking while collecting a public paycheck!" Actually, there is. It's called, well, the Hatch Act. And the Hatch Act DOES apply to state and local employees. For state and local employees, you can run for non-partisan office (for Delano, that is an election where no political parties are involved), you can join and be a member of political clubs and organizations, campaign for candidates who are running for any office, partisan or non-partisan, and contribute money to political organizations.
But one of the things you CAN'T do is run for partisan office. Delano is suspended with pay from his post with the Buffalo Police Department. The Buffalo Police Department, like many police departments in this country, receives funding from the federal government. So what you are going to argue Delano? That the Buffalo Police Department doesn't receive federal funding?
In relation to this topic about police officers and the Hatch Act, Larry James (General Counsel for the National Fraternal order of Police) wrote an advisory opinion on this. As Delano correctly noted, this is just an advisory opinion. However, everything James said was true. Delano doesn't think so though. Delano said this about James' advisory opinion: "#22 (A) an advisory is a written opinion on something not a person to person communication like it seems to be here, but either way it is a Totally false statement, and must be cut from a longer statement!"
That is partially correct. While an advisory opinion is an opinion (or else it wouldn't have the word "opinion" in there), the advisory opinion in this case includes what is permissible and impermissible according to the Hatch Act. When Delano says "... either way it is a Totally false statement" he is referring to this line:
In an advisory by Larry James, General Counsel to the National Fraternal Order of Police, it is plainly noted as impermissible to "run for any elected partisan office."
Apparently Delano didn't bother researching the advisory opinion. Not surprising since he doesn't care about the issues. In James' advisory opinion under "It is impermissible to" it says, among other things, "Run for any elected partisan office."
As they say in the courtroom, I rest my case. |
