BOBBY'S FIGHTIN' MAD!

It takes a lot to get DPW Commissioner Bob Mirch fired-up. One thing that does bring his passion for public service to the surface is....his money.

From The Record:

As the City Council sat down for its first meeting of the year, tension among several officials was tangible mainly due to a controversial email that was recently uncovered that implied that a Democratic council member believed several Republican officials should be “punished” by having their retroactive raises rescinded.

A retroactive pay raise expert was brought-in to discuss the issue.

Initially, the expert considered using a County employee to discuss the issue by by anonymous robo-call. Instead, with his tax-payer induced lifestyle on the line, he decided to whine in-person.

“The reason I stand here tonight is because of this email I received from Councilman Dunne,” said Mirch. “This is clearly an example of Dunne seeking political revenge and violating my rights as an employee. Only the city’s judicial system has the right to ‘punish’ people and that is dictated by the law.”

Mirch, who has already talked with his attorney and plans to see the district attorney today, asked that the city launch an investigation to answer questions such as who is deciding this “punishment” and why anyone should be “punished” to begin with.

“These are questions that need to be answered,” Mirch continued. “I don’t deserve to be ‘punished.’”

Ironically, Mr. Mirch has never stood to tell us why he deserves the raise. Mirch also failed to speak publicly about why he deserved a post-election raise as County Legislator after raising the taxes of Rensselaer County residents.

Despite righteous indignation, Mirch did misspeak. Mirch did not receive the e-mail from Dunne. He received it via a third-party, something the Democrats may want to look into. Mirch is also not an employee. He's a public official. There's a difference.

As for illegality and violating the Charter? An expert on those issues weighed-in:

In response to Dunne’s email, the mayor said, “I am shocked by the contents of the e-mail and the intention of Councilman Dunne to carry out ‘punishment’ of members of my administration. This action would violate the City Charter and, more importantly, it would violate the rights of these employees. Here we are on Jan. 3, and we are already reading about illegal political punishment.”

Mayor Tutunjian is correct. Only the Mayor and his appointees can violate the law.


Let the good times roll.