State Board Deals with Similar Complaint facing Desso

Yet another wake up call for Lou Desso in today's Times Union. The State Board of Elections is engaged in enforcement action against Albany's mayor in reaction to a complaint alleging contributions that exceed the maximum allowed by law. Lou Desso has several such contributions which exceed the maximum allowed in North Greenbush ($1000.00) and the State Board has several complaints on this matter as well as his falsification of reports which fail to report his outstanding $6270.00 bill at Moscatiello's Restaurant as either a payment or an in kind contribution. You may have guessed it, the amount of the unpaid bill far exceeds a legal contribution which is why ultimately Desso would be breaking the law by keeping it as a contribution.

Also in possession of the Board is a court order declaring the amount as an unpaid bill which Desso is ordered to pay. Recently the Times union reported the arrest of the Queensbury Supervisor for falsification of records regarding documents he submitted to the State BOE.

It is possible the State BOE has already communicated with Mr. Desso concerning these complaints but we probably won't know until we read about it in the papers. By then, well who knows what Desso will be saying.

You can read the Times Union here.

Local talk radio continues its unprofessional rants

For years a local talk radio station has served as a propaganda tool for the conservative right. Like their TV counterparts, they continue to fill the airwaves with partisan agendas. With Fox right winger Sean Hannity hiding his legal relationship with Trump's lawyer while defending Trump and Cohen and attacking the investigation, the local stuff pales in comparison.

But Talk 1300, especially former journalist Fred Dicker is setting a new standard for partisanship. His show spends most of its time attacking Democrats, especially the governor and is a love fest with Republicans, especially those who share his hatred of the governor.

But to think Dicker would see himself as a non partisan debate moderator for an Assembly race is at best laughable. He has spent so much time promoting the GOP candidate Jake Ashby and attacking the Democratic candidate Cindy Doran that his daily rants against Doran, the League of Women Voters and the Times Union make him the last person to claim he could be an impartial debate moderator. What's really happening here is the station and it's hosts are volunteer tools for the Republican side in an effort to draw attention away from the Republican candidate's refusal to debate using the non partisan League of Women Voters. Instead, Republican's are far more comfortable using a GOP apologist like Fred Dicker. Yes, turn the lights down to a soft hue when a friendly Republican calls to use the platform and turn them up all the way when it's time to attack Democrats.

Some years ago, the morning host who has an ownership interest in the station used to demand and set up debates each election cycle. Then one day a friend running for Congress, John Sweeney, didn't want to debate and the host, Paul Vandenburgh did a 180 turn on his bulldog style demand for debates. Now, to serve the interests of Republicans afraid of a nonpartisan debate, they run cover behind the partisan antics of Fred Dicker, aka, "Mr.Moderator"!

Fortunately the station has rather low listenership, but to use this media platform as a tool for the benefit of one candidate at the expense of another on a daily basis is a sterling example of how bad local talk radio can be in the realm of fairness. You can see their Nielson rating here, second from the bottom, WGDJ. Perhaps you now understand why.