THREE NOT SO LITTLE PIGS TESTA+SCHMIDT+GINSBURG

As promised The Peekskill Guardian has been looking into Peekskill First. As we suspected they are nothing more than a GOP front group, designed by John Testa and Bill Schmidt as a last ditch effort to maintain the status quo. The last thing the GOP wanted was to lose their ability to sell Peekskill to the highest bidder or at least to someone with the ability to sell the mayor a Riverbend Condo at a price so low it was like giving it away. Losing control would also draw back the curtains and shine sunlight on the last 26 years of Republican graft. No one is talking about the two large dumpsters that showed up behind city hall the day after the election.
When Peekskill First formed as a Political Action Committee or PAC they became responsible for filing financial reports with the board of elections. Guess who was financing them? In the last ten days of the campaign Martin Ginsburg gave them $3,000 in three separate donations. All under different names. While the names may have been changed to protect the guilty, the address did not, 100 Summit Ave, Valhalla. The maximum donation allowed is $1,000 and interested party’s can check the website and see that both Bill Schmidt and The Log Cabin Republicans hit that ceiling just days before the election.

http://www.elections.state.ny.us/plsql_browser/getreports?filer_in=C34519&fyear_in=2007&rep_in=F

Let us review, Peekskill first is a group of concerned Independents, Libertarians and Democrats crossing party lines to do what's best for Peekskill. ..............But, the bulk of their financing came from a republican developer with millions of dollars worth of deals with the city, a two time failed GOP candidate and the Log Cabin Republicans. The Peekskill Guardian could not seem to find any Democrats, Independents or Libertarians on that list.
The only thing that shocks The Peekskill Guardian about all of this is that they didn't get away with it. While Bill Schmidt and Tony Seideman may have suggested in their blog Peekskill Guardian that the circus was coming to town, we believe that it's 26 year run in Peekskill has finally come to an end.

DING DONG THE WICKED WITCH IS DEAD

Today was a monumental day for the people of Peekskill. They saw the Republican Party in Peekskill for what it was, a bunch of bullies and thugs. Aided by a misinformed group of patsies called Peekskill First and Martin Ginsberg who wanted to squeeze every last dollar out of peekskill before he left us with a lot of poorly constructed condos. The best thing for the city would be for little Martty to take his ball and go home, like a spoiled child.

We at the Peekskill Guardian see this election as a referendum on John Testa's 6 years of using Peekskill as his own life size version of sim city. Unfortunately for John a real life city doesn't have cheats built in. But he sure tried. Now that Game Over is flashing in his face I'm sure we can expect one more additional cost associated with the Testa Team. After all those giant Mobile shredders don't come cheap. Seriously, we hope that measures will be put in place to prevent the destruction of city records. Rumor has it that the mayor has already quietly put his house up for sale in case he needs to make a quick get away.

Hopefully the people of our city will not forget or forgive just how disgusting Bill Schmidt's behavior was during this election. The lies he told, and the people he savaged, both personally, Schmidt is the author of Peekskill Guardian and through his LOHUD hit squad. They say you shouldn't kick a guy when he down. We say that in this case it's just a smart precautionary measure to keep him from rearing his Clairol colored head again.

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Until the changing of the guard the Peekskill Guardian intends to keep a close eye on city hall. We also intend to use the time between now and January to take a closer look at the members of Peekskill First. When they formed a PAC and attempted to influence the voters of our city they became political operatives and fair game. As you can see from their website http://www.peekskillfirst.net/ they've all crawled back under their Queen Victorian rocks. But we'll flush them out one by one.

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We have high hopes for the Foster administration. Many people feel that head should roll and the new mayor should start from scratch. We hope this is not the case. It would make the democrats no better than the republicans. For a generation Peekskill City Hall appointments have been made based on party not ability. In the process some capable republicans have been appointed. If they feel they are able to continue serving the city, they should be allowed to do just that. With that said, we have learned through reliable sources that complaints have been filed with the State Attorney Generals Office's Public Integrity Unit against city information officer Tony Seideman. The Peekskill Guardian is conflicted on this topic. The thought of even one more city dollar going to this contemptuous individual sickens us to our core. But, perhaps it would be better to let justice take its course. Na, Seideman must go!

ALL THE FILTH THAT FIT TO PRINT

Ok, Bill Schmidt is a hypocrite, we knew that from his time on the common council. He’s for free speech, but went along with having the librarian put in jail because she went over her allotted time at the microphone and the republican majority didn’t like what she was saying.
He's the law and order candidate, but he actively sought the libertarian partys support and they support legalizing drugs and prostitution. By the way, for the first time ever our local police union has endorsed a candidate for mayor, it was Mary Foster.
He thinks lawn signs are pollution, but he now has lawn signs. The Peekskill Guardian doesn't buy his excuse that his political action committee did the signs without his permission. If he can't control this small group of newcomers, how can we believe he can control city hall. Finally Mr. Schmidt has said he wanted a civil campaign where both candidates ran on their record. This was something Mr. Schmidt knew he could never do. It was less than two years ago that based on his record the voters of Peekskill rejected him for common council. Why on earth would they make him mayor? Mr. Schmidt knew that to win he would have to do what he does best, smear, misrepresent and outright lie. But how was he going to do it? If he wasn’t covert people would see the mean, nasty, vindictive Bill Schmidt that so many of us know from his letters to the editor and snide dismissals of citizens wishing to be heard at council meetings.

With this in mind let’s look at the Schmidt Campaign

The first thing he did was to start Peekskill Guardian, He’s best buddies with Mr. Bazzo of the bozzo manifesto. They’re as tight as school girls, and just as mean. Andy taught him the ropes and he was off on his mary way. He needed help, all that hate doesn’t just spread itself. Wait he thought, Tony Siedeman hates the democrats, he’s mean and vindictive with a generous helping of self-righteousness. Since he’s sure to lose his cushy job if they take the majority, I know he will help. Mr. Siedeman, the city misinformation officer stuck his head out of John Testa’s pocket long enough to say, I’m on board, and the rest is history.

Together with help from Mayor Testa they created Peekskill Fist. A group so misinformed that their campaign brochure was declared "factually flawed," by Westchester’s fair campaign committee. With Seideman using his position as city information officer, Peekskill First has called press conferences misrepresenting the reasons. On every occasion when the charade became clear they were rebuked by the press.

What has Bill Schmidt left in our mailboxes? Not one of Mr. Schmidt’s mailing has promised anything other than the status quo. He has simply recycled the Testa Team literature from the last election.. It the one instance where it’s fortunate for the Republicans that nothing they promised in the last election has come to fruition. He compounded the insult to the voters intelligents by filling his literature with misleading lies about the democrats voting record. The same lies that were discredited by the Westchester fair campaign committee. As George Bush says, "ya gotta catapult the propaganda."

Mr Schmidt has authored misleading push poll calls through a company called RDI Marketing in Ohio. Their Manager, Josh Bridges verified that the calls were being made on behalf of Bill Schmidt. Mr Bridges refused to release the whole script but confirmed it was provided by Mr. Schmidt. Anyone wishing to verify this on their own can call RDI at (513) 984-5927. For those of you who do not know what a push poll is, let us explain. The caller will ask who’s got your vote. If it is not the unscrupulous candidate they will ask increasingly negative questions until you change your vote. For example, if you said you where voting for Bill Schmidt, they might ask , Would you still vote for Schmidt if you knew he voted to raise taxes by 60% while a councilman? If you said yes they would up the rhetoric and say, would you still vote for Bill Schmidt if you knew he was connected to organized crime? They keep going until you say No. This is one more reason to say no to Mr. Schmidt on Tuesday.

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Lets not forget the political theater created by Nelson Ave. harpie Barabra LoPrete and other Peekskill First members at common council meetings. If you want to them to ask them about their behavior they're the only ones on nelson ave with Schmidt signs. They placed the rest illegally around Peekskill on public land.

Finally, Bill Schmidt showed his real face. Masked only slightly by the front group, Citizens for a safer Peekskill a.k.a. Tony Seideman. This misleading photocopied flyer tries to link the democrats to sex offenders. This was very interesting considering some of the emails we have received regarding Mr. Schmidt’s personal behavior.

QUESTION ANSWERED

Those of us at The Peekskill Guardian have often wondered aloud, is she a good witch or a bad witch? Well, Barbara LoPrete proved Tuesday night at the open council meeting that she is a very bad witch indeed. This founding member of Peekskill First also cemented the connection between this hate group and Bill Schmidt's hate site, Peekskill Guardian.

Ms. LoPrete decided to stage a bit of political theater for the cameras. She stormed up to the microphone and demanded that Councilman Don Bennett answer the rumor started by Peekskill First that when he sold his home He was moving out of Peekskill. She knew full well what the councilman has since stated in a press release. He is downsizing but has no desire or plans to leave a community he loves. We do not believe that it is a coincidence that moments after Ms. LoPrete mounted her broom and fled the chamber the same ugly lies appeared on Bill Schmidt’s Blog, Peekskill Guardian. Peekskill First may deny it, but it is clear that while they smile and talk about civility on the surface, behind the scenes they are the behind all the hate anonymously peddled by Peekskill Guardian and on the LoHud Blogs.

HIS ROYAL BLOG-NIFICENCE

The Peekskill Guardian has arrived!!! We have been called to task from on high. His royal blog-nificence has taken time out from his full time job, trying to make himself relevant, to chastise us, or so reliable sources have told us. Truth is, Mr. Bazzo has become sooooooooo long winded in his blog entries that no one at The Peekskill Guardian was up to the tedious task of reading to the end. We thank him for his support. But Andy, we recommend you get a pet or a hobbie, other than Bill Schmidt. He's destine to fade further into obscurity after november 6th and a quick check of the Warhol Clock shows you already up to minute number 16.

Speaking of Bill Schmidt, his hate machine at Peekskill First and our rival blog has release a new utube video entitled, Mary foster, Queen of Pain. First of all you would think with all the artist at Peekskill first their production would be better. We were suprised that Mr. Schmidt made such a blatant mistake on the subject of royal succession. Doesn't he know that as long as he's alive Ms. Foster can not rise above Princess of Pain.

AMSTERDAM ON THE HUDSON LIBERTARIAN BILL SCHMIDT REVEALS HIS PLANS FOR OUR CITY

On the Peekskill First website they identify themselves as libertarians. On his web blog, Bill Schmidt identifies himself as a libertarian.
http://www.blogger.com/profile/16842195779507844780 So we at the Peekskill Guardian decided to look into what Libertarians believe. On drugs, Libertarians believe, "We have addicts today despite drug criminalization. We also have the violence that is caused by drugs being illegal. Let's decriminalize drugs. " http://www.faqs.org/faqs/libertarian/faq/ On prostitution Libertarians believe, " Criminal penalties do not stop prostitution. They just create real problems. One study showed it costs taxpayers two thousand dollars every time a prostitute is arrested. Let's respect people's right to control their own bodies." http://www.faqs.org/faqs/libertarian/faq/
This was not a casual choice made by the Schmidt Team. It can not be down played as an attempt to appear on as many lines as possible in the voting booth. The Schmidt Team had to carry petitions and gather signatures. According to a source at the board of elections in White Plains this is the first time in recorded history anyone has run for a Mayorship in Westchester County on the libertarian line. To see the other cast of clowns running on the LIbertarian Platform in New York State, you can go to their website. http://www.ny.lp.org/ The Schmidt Team must not be allow to make excuses. A Political Parties Platform is not a chinese menu, you can not pick one issue from column A and one from Column B. This was a conscious decision based on strongly held beliefs. If it wasn't, then maybe Bill Schmidt is the one who will say anything to be elected.

We at the Peekskill Guardian will defend an individuals right to habor whatever beliefs they choose to hold. However, we have to draw the line somewhere. That line appears for this author when Bill Schmidt campaigns on make drugs and prostitution more available to my children. We know that if elected Mr. Schmidt can not legalize prostitution and drugs in Peekskill, but a Mayor Schmidt with a libertarian minded majority can cutoff enforcement funding to the Police Department. There are some parts of the Schmidt Teams agenda we would be willing to consider. We feel his plan to extend benefits to same sex partners of city employees has merit, but this could be done without embracing the Libertarian Platform. With that said, we at The Peekskill Guardian must stand up and with one voice loudly declare, Bill Schmidt and Peekskill First are wrong for our city.

ALL ABOARD THE HYPOCRITE EXPRESS

We know a certain local blogger and would be Journalist fancies himself a "King Maker." But shouldn't he get his facts straight? He has bent over backwards to help 4th string candidate Bill Schmidt become mayor of Peekskill, but he doesn't even know Schmidt's position on immigration. He happily attacks Gov. Spitzer for wanting to issue a Drivers License to illegal immigrant. Ignoring the fact that providing them with a photo ID would make it easier for police to identify dangerous individual and act accordingly. His candidate Bill Schmidt would go much further and offer them much, much more. This is an excerpt from the March 7th, 2006 issue of Newsday. http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usimmi074653228mar07,0,7870205.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-print
Bill Schmidt, a councilman from Peekskill, feared the guest-worker program would create a tier of second-class citizens. "If there is a labor shortage in the United States that can't be filled by American citizens and we want to bring people from other countries to fill that void, why wouldn't you want to do it in such a way as that they would ultimately become citizens so they fully integrate with our country's values and lifestyle?" Sounds like someone who supports immigration to us. Similarly, prior to his running for mayor Mr. Schmidt supported Jan Peek House.


Mr. Schmidt, for what do you stand? Do you only hate immigrants and homeless veterans now that you are running for mayor? Do you have one ounce of integrity in your body? Is there anything that might jump start your conscious and cause you to shut down your hate machine and win or lose this election based on the merits of your record and ideas?

The short answer is no, and it's just one more reason that Bill Schmidt is running at break neck speed away from his record and courting the Libertarians and Independents of Peekskill First.

Now that Schmidt has been abandoned by his republican base he has been forced to cozy up to the nouveau riche, we got ours, to hell with yours, newcomers of Peekskill First. These people are easily frightened. A scratch to their artsy, liberal, compassionate veneer reveals their insecurity, distrust and contempt for anyone different, less fortunate or browner than them. Yes, yes, we know, you have a hispanic and an african american member. We bet you brag about knowing them at cocktail parties.

What their over producted and factually flawed 7 page mailer does not tell the citizen of Peekskill is that all but three of these would be erudites live within three blocks of each other on Nelson Ave. in their giant Queen Anne Victorians. They don't care about the rest of us. One of their founding members, Barbara LoPrete even admits, "Sure, progress in Peekskill is slow." But is she willing to bid farewell to a council majority that has constantly shortchanged the majority of Peekskillians, NO! Lemmings like continuity, even if it means taking the entire city over a cliff with them.

THE FACE OF PEEKSKILL FIRST

This small group of newcomers is proof positive that a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. While ignorance is not a defense in a court of law, we at The Peekskill Guardian are more forgiving. By virtue of proximity they fell into orbit around one of Peekskill's more corpulent couples. From our mole within the organization we know many attempted to avoid the bile they spew, the crushing gravity exerted by this portly pair allows few to escape.

As for his plan to destroy a world that has shun him, Schmidt decided he would start with "Peekskill First" and destroy the rest later. In the style of his evil mentor he has manipulated the Huts with promises of keeping a no show job at city hall, only a short slither from home. They simply needs to continue anonymously attacking their former friends on Mr. Schmidt's blog (Peekskill Guardian) and LOHUD. But beware Peekskill Firsters, these people turn like milk in the sunshine and it's only a matter of time before they turn on you.

The following are some of the lies being peddled by Schmidt and friends. They support smart development and long-term growth???? Do they mean the smart development that lead to them giving prime main street property away at rock bottom prices to companies like CPC? A company that Peekskill will now have to sue to get the property back. Our city hall insider informs us that legal costs will exceed the amount of money CPC paid for the property in the first place. Thank you Bill Schmidt for rubber stamping that deal for John Testa, we hope you got your cut. The only smart growth decision made on that project was when Claxton voted no to it from the beginning.

Through Bill Schmidt's hate site, "Peekskill Guardian" he has suggested that Democratic Councilmembers have preformed a white wash. If you want to see a real white wash take a look at the gateway townhouse project. Before the last election there was a rush to erect several jumbo glossy signs, which were featured on Republican campaign literature. Along with now faded images the signs screamed, "coming in 2006." For those of us keeping track it's 2007 and the only thing that changed on the lot is the sign, "in 2006" has been painted out or should we say, white washed. Another project rubber stamped by Bill Schmidt, we hope he got his cut.

As far as quality of life enforcement for health and safety, many of you have written in to let us know that it's not true at Mrs. Diaz's house, where she was cited for a fence whose height exceeded allowable limits. Sources informed us that she received a lot of thank you notes from would be slum lords who were happy she helped devalue the neighborhood and make it more enticing to set up shop.

As an aside, we would like to thank everyone for their submissions. We expected to find skeletons, you guys gave us the catacombs. Special thanks goes out to the former Mrs. Bid and also to the twins. And as far as what the custodian saw, and the e-mail we received amusingly entitled, "Here Comes the Judge," look for those stories on our spin off blog, "Testa Watch." We feel it's important to keep an eye on this guy just in case he tries to slither back onto the public scene.

The one assertion made by Peekskill First that made us nearly wet ourselves is that Bill Schmidt will, "continue keeping taxes low." Since you people are new to the city let us catch you up to speed. During Mr. Schmidt's tenure on the Republican dominated council taxes went up over 40% in the City of Peekskill in a period of less that 6 years. It wasn't until Democrats began being elected to the council and providing oversight that taxes where held to zero. If you want to thank someone for zero percent tax increases make it the Democratic candidate for mayor, Mary Foster.

WHY DOES BILL SCHMIDT HATE OUR TROOPS?

We guess as far as Bill Schmidt is concerned, don't ask don't tell also applies to his plans for our homeless veterans. Jan Peek House is just one of the many issues that Schmidt ignored during his tenure on the council. As councilman, Schmidt was happy to sit back, collect his share of our tax payer dollars, and rubber stamp whatever John Testi wanted. Now as he grasps at straws looking for an issue he is more than happy to attack the weakest among us. Real leadership means solving problems, not passing them off on others.

TESTA SCHMIDT IN BED TOGETHER

Rumor have been flying about whats going to happen with Peekskill's housing board. We know that one of the Republican appointment is headed off to jail and now sources close to us have informed The Peekskill Guardian that the Testa, Schmidt pick for Chairperson, Leesther Brown might not be far behind. A city hall insider has informed us that when it came time to pick a firm to handle security at Bowman Towers, Ms. Brown was quoted as saying, "why are we voting on this anyway? I thought we agreed we were giving it to ADVANTECH." So why Advantech? Advantech was a small, privately owned Internet service provider. What does a ISP company know about providing security? I guess this is one of those cases where it's not what you know but who you know. Sources close to The Peekskill Guardian have informed us that Advantech's owners have close ties to Testa and Schmidt. A private investigation has shown that when this all began to coming to light that Advantech shuttered it's doors and shut off it's phones . We are curious why the mainstream media has not picked up this story. The tentacles of corruption have reach every nook and cranny of the Peekskill Republican Party.

Schmidt's Attack Site at it Again

Once again those lies slingers at Peekskill Guardian are looking for any reason to attack the Democratic Candidates for common council. This time its Don Bennett’s turn. This good mans crime, he has decided to sell his home. Remember the only way property is supposes to change hands in Peekskill is when it given away at cut rate prices to friends of and contributes to the Republican majority. This does sometimes back fire, look no further than the deal authored by out going mayor and future felon John Testa. Now that their buddies at CPC have defaulted on the sweetheart deal that cost Peekskill taxpayer hundreds of thousands of dollars, those same taxpayers are going to have to spend thousands of dollars to sue CPC to get the property back. Rumor has it, that the reason the GOP chose Bill Schmidt to run for mayor is that he has promised that the city will pick up John Testa’s legal costs when the inevitable happens and he is indited for his tampering with the housing authority. After all, why else would they nominated the low vote getter from the last election cycle. Bill Schmidt was unacceptable as a council member, he is unthinkable as mayor.
This is not the end of Peekskill guardians hipocracy. It turns out, according to relyable sources, the the GOP’s own Selma Diaz is also selling her home. The differences in the sales is clear, sources have said that while Councilman Bennett’s neighbors have expressed regrets to see him go, Ms. Diaz’s neighbors are looking forward to new neighbors who will keep up their property and stop dragging down property values on the street.

MORE TIME WITH HIS FAMILY??

GIVE US A BREAK. Mayor Testa, a man who could forgo food an oxygen for the light admitted by flash bulbs suddenly wants to take time away from the public eye. Its a good thing that federal prison is right around the corner, he'll finally be able to put his feet up and relax. He'll be able to keep his housing board appointment and good buddy buddy Eric Hines company. According to sources, Mr. Hines was arrested on july 4th, on weapons charges. as this is not his first arrest, interested parties can feel free to look his record up. One can only hope that he there's a cozy cell for three so he can take Housing Authority chair, and Harpie Leesther Brown with him. Boy, the Peekskill GOP really knows how to pick the winners.

Call the Coast Guard, because this ship is sinking fast. You need only watch the rats abandon ship. Local citizens are speculating why Councilman Mel Bolden, who never bothered to resign from the board to run in the past suddenly felt the need to do just that. I would love to show up at a meeting of Peekskill Republican Committee with a bottle of sodium pentothal, we could find out who killed Kennedy, what's hidden at area 51 and what brand of box wine a certain Republican Council Woman drinks her own body weight of each night.