By Jim Willis on Sep 30, 2009 in Exec Barbara Fiala, Government & Politics, Taxes & Spending | 2 Comments
Guest Viewpoint: County Executive Fiala Has Shown Leadership on Medicaid Issue
Today I am pleased to announce a first for RSSBinghamton–a guest viewpoint. And it’s from someone who is (cordially) taking me to task over my recent remarks about Medicaid. Long-term readers of this blog will know that I welcome dissenting opinions and views from my [...]
By Jim Willis on Sep 28, 2009 in Exec Barbara Fiala, Government & Politics, Taxes & Spending | 5 Comments
Medicaid is Bankrupting Broome County and All of New York State
Each year when Broome County Executive Barbara Fiala releases the proposed budget my blood pressure goes through the roof. Not because of Barb or her proposals per se, but because the real story is so well hidden in the numbers. I believe politicians do their [...]
By Jim Willis on Oct 16, 2008 in Exec Barbara Fiala, Government & Politics, Mayor Matt Ryan | 0 Comments
A few months ago, the Binghamton-Johnson City Joint Sewage Treatment Plant’s board put forth a budget with a 63 percent increase. Believe me folks, I don’t make this stuff up! New state and federal “mandates” placed on the plant to clean up discharges into the Susquehanna River are being blamed, in part, for the increase. [...]
By Jim Willis on Dec 31, 2007 in Exec Barbara Fiala, Government & Politics | 0 Comments
Broome County Executive Barbara Fiala muses in today’s Press & Sun-Bulletin that her greatest accomplishment and frustration for 2007 was the George R. Harvey Justice Building. She fought to use Broome County’s slice of tobacco settlement money (money the states stole from legitimate businesses in a massive shakedown and later split amongst their counties) to [...]
By Jim Willis on Nov 21, 2007 in Exec Barbara Fiala, Government & Politics, Law & Order | 0 Comments
Broome County Sheriff David Harder has crafted a masterstroke against the ever-whining “it’s everyone else’s fault” County Executive Barbara Fiala. In what appears to me to be “the nuclear option,” Harder called in the New York State Commission of Corrections to do a review of staffing levels at the county jail. By doing so, he [...]
By Jim Willis on Oct 10, 2007 in Exec Barbara Fiala, Government & Politics, Taxes & Spending | 3 Comments
A few weeks ago County Executive Barbara “The Whiner” Fiala released her 2008 proposed budget. In her address to the County Legislature, she found it necessary to blame just about everyone else for an increase in the property tax rate. First of all, it’s Jeff Kraham’s fault–the man who held the position prior to Fiala–two [...]
By Jim Willis on May 16, 2007 in Exec Barbara Fiala, Government & Politics | 1 Comment
Whatever happened to statesmanship? I won’t repeat the trite phrases (OK, maybe just a few chestnuts) about how “politics is a blood sport” and “the public discourse has coarsened these past few years.” Frankly, it’s always been that way. It was when I worked in the federal government in the 1980s, and it is today. [...]
