Friday, December 26, 2008

A+ District Attorney.. Really, Franky?


By most all accounts District Attorney Holley Carnright has been an absent District Attorney since taking office almost a year ago. Many go far as to say (and we agree) that Holley Carnirght has done nothing more than sit at Don Williams' desk, doing nothing to establish himself as Ulster County's District Attorney. Then of course there are the many fumbles that have taken place under his watch this past year, so we were more than a little surprised in the Saugerties Times to read a glowing report by Frank Dart rating Carnright's performance as A+!

There is a great segment on SNL done by Seth Myers and Amy Pholler called REALLY? It goes after people that say and do stupid things,this ones for you Frank...


REALLY? UC FISHBOWL EDITION

So you think Holley Carnirght is doing an a+ job huh?

REALLY, Frank? Everything is just great.. you could of given Holley any rating but you felt strongly about an A+. Not an A, that was not good enough or even an A- but an A+ ... Really? Frank, Really?

The same A+ DA that fudged the KHS Sex scandal two months after taking office?

Really, Frank? Really?

The same A+ DA that failed to indict a SINGLE person in the Ulster County Jail Fiasco, and you are the chair of the Criminal justice committee??

Really Frank? Really?

The same A+ DA that refused to even look at launching an investigation into State Senator Malcolm Smith after he practically solicited bribes on the DA's home turf?

Really, Frank, Really?

The same A+ that has done nothing but ask the County legislature for more money and pay raises since taking office?

Really Frank Really?

The same A+ DA that admits in the Saugerties Times that Ulster County residents are not safer since he took office?

ALL A + STUFF FRANK? REALLY?

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

What do you expect? Frank is an idiot who should consider retiring.

Anonymous said...

this is the same Frank Dart that told his running mate Jean Provanzno that he was 99.9% sure he was voting for her as Chair of Letgislature. He sounds a little off cource

Anonymous said...

I find it a bit ironic that you would (on the one hand) criticize Holley Carnright for not doing enough while (on the other hand) criticize him for asking for an increase budget for the D.A.'s Office. The fact is, the D.A.'s budget is less than 1% of the entire County Budget. How much do you expect him to do with that money? He is given no funds for investigations, forcing him to rely on whatever evidence he receives from the police with no ability to independently follow up on new leads.

You really expect the District Attorney's Office to prosecute the soon-to-be Majority Leader of the State Senate with the paltry budget he is given by the County Legislature?

Really, Fishbowl? Really?

The incoming County Executive wants 600 thousand dollars to renovate his new throne room. That money would be better spent prosecuting criminals. Likewise, if the Legislature stripped all the fat and waste from the Budget, there would be ample money to adequately fund the D.A.'s Office.

Right now, I'm amazed Holley is doing as well as he is.

Ulster County Fishbowl said...

First, Imre, I never criticized Holley for not prosecuting Malcom Smith but for failing to even investigate! An investigation may have vindicated Senator Smith or sunk him, the message that DA Carnright sent to everybody is that pay to play will not be investigated by the Ulster DA.

Also, I would have no problem if the DA was trying to increase his budget for prevention programs or any other methods that he feels would reduce crime. However, DA Carnright has only put in for money for staff raises and I find that absurd.

Anonymous said...

Frank Dart, the same cretin who backed the jail all the way through and even wanted a BIGGER jail. Now he acts like he had nothing to do with it. He had as much to do with it as any Republican did.
If anyone takes him seriously, they need professional psychiatric help.

Anonymous said...

You can't blame Holley for the jail fiasco. By the way Fishbowl, attacking a power with the guy to subpoena your "secret" identity is a bright idea.

Back to the point though, Carnright didn't take office until after the statute of limitations had run to indict anyone on the jail fiasco.

You can't blame him for that. Go to an analysis of the County Clerk's records and the Sheriff's horrible mismanagement of the people in his Department. Talk about asleep at the switch.

Ulster County Fishbowl said...

Yeah, we highly doubt that DA Carnright would violate his sworn oath of office by going after people that disagree with him politically. There is nothing said on this blog that is illegal or slanderous in any way.

Anonymous said...

Fishbowl..you are way off target with regard to Mr. Carnright. I worked tirelessly on his campaign because he is NON POLITICAL and a very HONEST MAN. He turned away a good deal of money from the Rep. power machine in Albany during his campaign because they wanted to do the dirty politics as usual and he wanted no part of it.

Trust me when I tell you, that Holley doesn't care about the good ol boys in the club there in UC, and if he has the money and ability to handle something with his integrity, he will do so. Unless you have met him and discussed his reasoning with regard to the issues you mention, you are doing your readers a disservice. don't be another Rich Cahill.

Anonymous said...

Let's face it Jolly Holly is a "good ol' boy", we all know it, his strings are tied to the Spanda, Nina, Degroot, and the High School Boys. Where was he for Bernardo? Word is Bernardo delivered Rochester. But Jolly Holly got the word to stay away and stay away he did. What are the odds on Ryan getting the County Insurance business...Jolly Holly will look the other way once again. Jolly Holley knows the deal.

Anonymous said...

That Independence line could be very helpful to Jon Sennett, and from what I hear Bernardo doesn't really have a problem with Sennett.

In fact, I was at a event for the Ulster Community Foundation at Marianne Murray's house and both Bernardo and Sennett were there, and the two of them and their wives all looked very chummy to me.

One can only wonder how Bernardo feels about Carnright after he stayed "neutral" with his friend Nina.

Bernardo worked awfully hard for Carnright when he ran. It's a shame that Carnright didn't return the favor.

Anonymous said...

If Bernardo worked so hard to deliver Rochester why didn't he work even harder to get his own wife elected to the Legislature?

Ulster County Fishbowl said...

Why don't we leave Mr.Bernardo's wife and family out of it, ok?

whatsthebigidea said...

It may be off topic a bit, though "Anonymous" is another way of saying, "I'm too ashamed of my comments to admit I wrote them". All the secrecy, even by this blog's author (where's the "about" in the "About" info?), is just like the old politics that have plagued Ulster County for many years. It's time for some transparency.

Anonymous said...

Let me get this straight...you people want the elected DA, who has sworn to act apolitically, to come out and endorse a political candidate running for office? DO you actually read what you write? It would be ILLEGAL for him to get involved in an election or endorse any candidate for office, whether he wanted to or not. Not to mention Carnright was not the only governmental body who decided not investigate Smith at all; ie Feds, Senate Ethics, Cuomo, or State Investgation Commission. All of these agencies have the funds and ability to investigate this situation and chose not to without a peep. It is obvious there was nothing to investigate except some stupid comments by a stupid man.

Anonymous said...

Nonsense. A district attorney must be apolitical in his or her role as chief prosecutor. They don't give up their right to support candidates for other offices. Afterall, they are endorsed by political parties.

Show me the law that prohibits their right to be political in their daily lives.

Anonymous said...

Show me a DA who you have ever seen endorse a political candidate while he was not running for office himself. DA's are pretty much under the same rules as Judges, they cannot be politically active except for the years they are running for office themselves...that is widely known and enforced by Bar Associations.

Anonymous said...

Judge candidates are rated by the Bar Association. You are correct in that they can only be political for approximately 9 months surrounding the election. They can't even answer political questions.

It is a district attorney's choice whether they remain apolitical. They are wise to do so, but are not mandated to remain apolitical as are judges.

You are confusing mandated judicial conduct with choice. Political activity by a DA, outside of official business, is not illegal,as your previous post emphasized.

By the way, I have no problem with Holly's work nor do I question his integrity.

Anonymous said...

Actually, if you go to NYSBA eithics opinion it is pretty clear it is not illegal BUT..it is clearly been ruled unethical for DA to act politically when not running for office. How one would define acting politically in an offical capacity rather than in private capacity is not really defined. Probably because you really can't differentiate the two when talking about a public figure. Bottom line is they do not, and should not, get involved in politics when not running for election. So this premise that he should of and could of done this or that for Bernardo is a ton of crap. Let it go

Anonymous said...

The District Attorney in this county often does not get enough crime cases from local law enforcement because local law enforcement pick and choose what to send up based on what their political mentors, ie, elected officials, WISH TO SEE HAPPEN. That's a FACT, Jack. We keep hearing the mantra there is no crime in the city of Kingston. That is based on the premise that if you repeat a lie often enough it starts to sound like the truth. The Nazis used this principle quite effectively. This principle of "marginalization" also worked effectively in the runup to the latest national economic boondoggle, where the culture seemed to feel that feelgood bank home loans on feelgood credit based on a feelgood outlook in reality based on a house of cards was ok--until oops, all of a sudden, gee, it wasn't ok after all...
You can't blame even Mr. Carnwrong for the local yokel Mayberry way of business any more than you can blame one man named "John Q. Public" for the Recession!!

Anonymous said...

Being a strong supporter of our DA
(the first DA's race I ever became involved with)I can honestly say alot of these comments are just opinions. Unlike alot of you I am willing to sign my name to my comment. Does anyone really know how much an attorney makes at our DA's office? Does anyone realize what's involved in these crimes their prosecuting? Perhaps if you educate yourselves rather than making these uneducated comments you would realize that more money is needed to keep attorneys employed. I suggest you go in and ask Holley exactly how much he's looking for and what exactly is the guidelines for prosecuting crime if one of your children are the victim of that crime. I'd hope there were no budget restrictions on the police investigating nor the DA's office prosecuting the crime in question. Holley is a very honest, hard working man who deserves alot more respect from those who don't know their facts.

Anonymous said...

Maryann: perhaps you shouldn't sign your name to your comment. There's no such word as "alot", you don't know the difference between "their" and "they're" ("...THEY'RE prosecuting"), and since "guidelines" is plural, it should be "...what exactly ARE the guidelines...". You sound more uneducated than the ones you're accusing to be so.

And, if newbie attorneys don't like the salaries that the public sector is offering, then they shouldn't be in the public sector. Public sector jobs cannot, nor should not, even try to be competitive in salary with the private sector. There are other benefits instead (health insurance, dental plan, vision, PENSION, etc.) that I doubt the local law practices offer. The money spent on salary increases would be better spent on investigations and/or crime prevention programs. Unfortunately, the taxpayers cannot afford both.