Glascott: Leadership, Respect and Accountability

If you ask people what Captain John Glascott’s best quality is, many would say it’s that “he’s not Tim Howard.”

Much of the debate surrounding this year’s Erie County Sheriff election has revolved around the struggles of Howard’s current administration, and as election day nears Glascott wants voters to not only know what changes need to be made within the department, but why he’s the right man to make them.

“What people need to know about me personally is that I consider myself a law enforcement professional,” Captain Glascott said in an interview on Wednesday. “I believe in holding myself up to a high standard of professionalism.”

Glascott career in law enforcement began when he was 20 years old at the New York State Corrections Academy. Upon graduating he became a corrections officer at Attica from 1973-78 before leaving to become an officer in the Cheektowaga Police Department.

Glascott worked the midnight shift in the accident investigation and traffic departments. He did DWI enforcement, radar, and accident investigation at what was a busy time for the city.

“At the time the drinking age was 18, It was a really interesting time to be a policeman in the town of Cheektowaga,” he said.

From there Glascott became an FTO officer, then Sargent. As he worked his way up the department hierarchy, Glascott began to take a bigger role in leadership. He was in charge of officer training for four years, during a time where 33 new officers were hired in the department.

When Glascott became lieutenant he continued to teach in a variety of ways. Not only did he develop a biased policing class, he taught classes on pepper spray and instructor development, eventually becoming a New York State Master Instructor. He was then sent to the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

Described as a “master’s course in policing,” the Academy selects the top 250 law enforcement officers in the world for extensive training. Glascott said the training was invaluable in grasping the finer points of policing. Glascott’s current role, Captain of Administraton for the Cheektowaga Police Department, has also given him a good understanding of leadership within an organization.

When Captain Glascott spoke of the Erie County Sheriff’s Department, transparency was what often came to mind. Glascott said an important aspect of an orginization is openess and a willingness to communicate, something he says has been missing from the department for some time.

Glascott says he two biggest roles the department has in the county are the jails and road patrols, both areas of concern for the Howard-led Sheriff’s office.

“What’s 80 percent of your budget?” Glascott asks. “It’s those jails.” He says the biggest concern about the jails, most notably the Erie County Holding Center in Buffalo, is that people don’t want to openly discuss the problems they have.

“It’s not the sexy part of policing,” he continues. “It’s not the sexy part of the criminal justice system. Jails are kind of like the ugly stepsister in the criminal justice system. Once people are there nobody wants to know anything. Well, if you wanna keep up that attitude, you’re going to pay the price.”

Glascott’s critics argue his call for transparency amounts to rolling over for officials who have been unable to investigate the situation in the Holding Center, but Glascott stressed an overhaul in the system is clearly necessary.

“I’m not a politician,” Glascott said when asked of his motives. “I’ve never run for office before, and I can count on one hand the number of political fundraisers I’ve ever attended. What they need to know is that I want to go in there and professionalize the orginzation and move it in the right direction.”

Another notable area for the department is their road patrols throughout the county. The department recently lost their road patrol accreditation, something the Captain views as a telling sign of atrophy in the department.

“You also need to address things that the county has felt it needs to provide,” he said. “Things such as the helecopters, the bomb squads, the marine patrols… and the road patrols out in Clarence and Gowanda and Elma.” Glascott noted that the county’s narcotics unit “used to be the best” and he’d like to take strides to improve that as well.

One thing Glascott noted was that public funding is necessary to fix these problems, even with a tight budget.

“If we’re going to provide these things the public has to be willing to provide those resources to do it right,” he said.

Glascott said those resources would be used to reshape the department for the better, something that hasn’t happened under the Department’s previous leadership.

“Sheriff Howard has been there for 12 years, he said. “Nothing, nothing has improved. There has not been notable improvement anywhere in those twelve years. There’s been notable slippage. We need to turn that around, and I plan on doing that.

My Cheektowaga Election Day Tradition

Proud I am of my 2009 slate…Stan Kaznowski, who’s been running for this job 32 months straight; Pat Jaworowicz, seeking her 8th and final term; and Jim Rogowski, watch for his name on the ballot down the road for State Senate or Town Supervisor

Wow. After all these months, literally hundreds upon hundreds of hours devoted to campaign activities on two fronts – the Cheekdems, where I wear the hat of Executive Vice Chairman, and downtown at the EC Legislature, where I serve the Majority Caucus, this all finally comes to an end on Tuesday. John Glascott comes out of Cheektowaga with momentum in the Sheriff’s race. If this were the private sector the other guy would have been shitcanned a long time ago, “genuine hero” or not. If John actually pulls this off it will be a huge gold star for our Cheekdems organization. I have my fingers crossed.

I am mentally and emotionally spent. It has been exhilarating and at the same time such a sucky experience. I love the campaigning and the energy of devoting time to a cause that I believe in. At the same time, I have been pulled in directions between Cheektowaga and downtown, all demanding of my time and skills and energy. Whatever happens this Tuesday, over the next couple weeks I am going to do some heavy thinking and soul searching in terms of where I want to be and what I want to do politically moving forward, and to what extent I want to work in government. I do know this – I will not go through another year like this ever again.

In the din of Tuesday’s Election Day activities, a group of us is going to take a break and partake in a tradition that goes all the way back to 1981.

Back then, Pat Jaworowicz, running for the first time for Council, and her future husband Don Wegner, standing for re-election, and a few family members and campaign workers gathered at Roma’s on Genesee St for a “good luck” luncheon. That night Pat won and Don lost, but we kept the tradition going, every time one of us was on the ballot, and it became the Primary Day and Election Day thing to do.

In 1987 it was my turn on the ballot for Council, and I remember my Conservative friends John Abraham and the late “Chicky” Roberto and a couple of their friends just happened to walk into Roma’s for their own lunch engagement. We pulled a couple tables over and invited them to take part — hey without those guys and their endorsement I wouldn’t have even run. I also remember Pat bringing then EC Legislature Chairman Richard Slisz to my luncheon, and him proclaiming me “a big winner” and how flattered I was him just being there. (And yes I did win that night).

The other memorable luncheon was Primary Day 2001… We walked into Roma’s with the surreal backdrop of the news of 9-11 unfolding on the TV screens. That was a bitter and divisive Cheekdems primary year in Cheektowaga, but the events of the day made us realize how really silly and petty our differences really were. I remember then Supervisor Dennis Gabryszak walking into the bar that day around 12:30, coming to our table and informing us that the Governor had ordered that the election be cancelled.

So here we are 2009, and it dawns on me that this will probably be the final time that our group convenes in this setting, in this venue. Heck even Roma’s is no more, our boy Richie finally retired after three decades as a restauranteur, so we scrambled to pick a new place, and settled on Danny’s, down the street. Then I think how different things are; this is definitely Pat’s last election, and if you ever see the name “Jaworowicz” on an election ballot, it will instead be her son Tim. Ray Pugh, a member of our Planning Board and part of our group from day one, isn’t getting any younger either. Then there’s me and my game planning my future endeavors, and surprise, surprise… “Cheektowaga” doesn’t come up in the mix.

And then there is Don… Our dear, dear friend Don Wegner, Pat’s husband, succumbed to cancer in 2007, and this will be the first time that his chair will be empty at this gathering. Don so loved the political arena and Election Day was always a special and exciting day for him. We know that Don’s spirit will be with us as his beloved “Pat-reesh” makes her last hurrah on the Cheektowaga ballot.

Come Tuesday, I will reflect on all the election days of the past, and despite how flithy this business can be sometimes, that there is also something really good in terms of the lifelong associations, friendships and fellowships that are derived from these shared experiences.

My big rooting interests this Tuesday… of course Pat and my Cheekdems council slate… in LD-8, Tom Mazur. “Maze” is a good friend and a consensus builder who quietly gets things done… in LD-12, Bob Reynolds is being deluged with negative campaign flyers, which is too bad. He is such a decent guy and I’d say our best legislator… Props in LD-11 and Lynn Marinelli. Yeah she’s my boss and all, and also a really nice gal and someone I’m proud to work for… and finally Cheektowaga’s own John Glascott.

The Cheekdems and Glascott party starts at 9PM Tuesday over at Leonard Post VFW, 2450 Walden Road, corner Nagel Drive. All are invited. C’mon down and have a beer with me!

A Note to A.J. Baynes

The anti-Howard videos that appear on WNYMedia.net were created by WNYMedia.net on our own dime, on our own time. At no time did anyone from the Glascott campaign have anything to do with them, or pay for them.

Pointing out Sheriff Howard’s patent failure is fun, easy, and effective – we don’t have to be paid to do it.

But thanks for the opportunity to re-post these:

From the Buffalo News:

The sheriff’s department came under fire when a volunteer search party discovered the body of the Clarence mother of four the day after the department scaled back its own round-the-clock search.

“He could have called in other law enforcement agencies,” Glascott said of Howard. “You never should stop a search and let friends and family find the body.”

At the time, Howard’s right-hand man took responsibility for scaling back the search and acknowledged the bike path area where Diver was found had been searched at least twice.

“We may have missed it,” Undersheriff Richard T. Donovan told a packed news conference three years ago.

Howard, who often points to Sanchez’s arrest as one of his proudest achievements, took issue with Glascott’s criticism of his department’s handling of the search.

“The investigation never ceased,” Howard said. “It was never stopped.”

The sheriff’s role in the Bike Path case has emerged as a campaign issue in part because of radio and Internet political ads praising and criticizing him.

A new Internet video by Marc J. Odien, founder and editor of WNYMedia.net, an online source for local news and information, lambastes Howard for his handling of the Diver search.

The ad, now widely available on YouTube and other online services, claims Howard called off the search, “less than 24 hours after Joan Diver went missing.”

Odien, who was paid to build Glascott’s campaign Web site, said the candidate had no role in the video.

“This is all mine,” he said. “I just think the whole Diver thing was mishandled.”

A.J. Baynes, Howard’s campaign manager, called the ad a “blatant, desperate attempt by a losing campaign to garner votes.”

What’s Another Mistaken Release?

Sheriff Tim Howard does it again!  Wow! What competence!

Who’s Doing Campaign Work on Your Money?

No, it’s not the horse Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard rode in the Puerto Rican Day Parade (who said that?).  That’s  Erie County Sheriffs Department Public information Officer Mary Murray,  a.k.a Tim Howard’s mouthpiece.

Here she is at a political press conference while working on taxpayer money back in August.

That’s right Erie County taxpayers, you paid for Mary to do some campaign work instead of working hard for you, the taxpayers of Erie County.  You would think some more pressing issues in the sheriff’s office would be a little more important than what their opponent was saying.

But Mary wasn’t alone in her “on the clock” campaign work.  Here is Erie County under sheriff Brian Doyle, looking on in the background of a similar campaign related press conference today:

Was Mr. Doyle on the clock while attending the Glascott presser? Was Mary Murray? The event was at 3pm on a Thursday. Doyle is a busy guy.

While the current Undersheriff for Erie County, he is also the Deputy Town Attorney in Hamburg and currently, in addition to his position with the Sheriff’s Department, has his own private practice.

How often does he clock out of work in the middle of the day to attend to his two other jobs?

For good measure, here’s another pic of the two of them from today’s presser:

A FOIL request has been sent to the Sheriff’s department,  but don’t expect this information to even be available. Both hold “management confidential” positions, so it’s doubtful they actually fill out time sheets.

But someone needs to answer why these taxpayer funded employees  are covering political press conferences on taxpayer money?

There’s a Sex Offender in your Neighborhood

Senator Jeff Klein (D-Bronx/Westchester) and Senator Bill Stachowski urged Governor Paterson to sign legislation (S1362B) into law that would create a statewide e-mail notification system, by which concerned residents could receive an alert every time a sex offender moves into their zip code.

Thanks to the statewide emergency communication system, NY Alert, which is managed by the Department of Homeland Security, it will be easy for New Yorkers to register for instant e-mail notifications. Currently, New Yorkers desiring up-to-date information on registered sex offenders in their communities must make daily searches of the Sex Offender Registry maintained by the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS).

There are currently 11,428 level 2-3 sex offenders on New York State’s Sex Offender Registry, which classifies offenders according to their risk of re-offending: low-risk (Level 1), moderate risk (Level 2) and high-risk (Level 3). Members of the public can access this database at local police stations or via a toll-free telephone number. Level 2 and Level 3 offenders are also listed on an internet subdirectory at the DCJS website.

However, the information changes constantly as new offenders are added or existing registrants update their information. E-mail updates would allow New Yorkers to keep tabs on a specific geographic area, such as where they live or where their children attend school, and would save them the time-consuming chore of making regular visits to the subdirectory website.

“New Yorkers deserve to have the convenience and peace of mind that these email alerts would bring and I urge Governor Paterson to sign this bill so that we can continue to protect our children from the kind of unsavory individuals who are, in many cases, our neighbors,” said Senator Klein.

Klein & Stachowski also released data for all registered sex offenders living in Buffalo, broken down by zip code. Currently there are 430 known sex offenders residing in Buffalo. The top ten zip codes are as follows: 14210 (68 registered sex offenders), 14213 (55 registered sex offenders), 14201 (45 registered sex offenders), 14206 (38 registered sex offenders), 14220 (30 registered sex offenders), 14224 (24 registered sex offenders), 14218 (22 registered sex offenders), 14203 (20 registered sex offenders), 14222 (20 registered sex offenders), 14075 (19 registered sex offenders).

” There is nothing more important than keeping our children safe. This legislation will provide, at no charge to the mothers and fathers who live in our neighborhoods, regular e-mail notification of level 2 and 3 sex offenders who live in their county or zip code. Becoming aware of the dangers and threats to our children is critical to keeping them safe. I am proud to stand here today with Senator Jeff Klein and join with him in urging Governor Paterson to sign this legislation into law,”  said Senator Stachowski.

In Buffalo, an average of 140 level two and 116 level three sex offenders reside in each zip code. In addition, with more sex offenders subject to the 12-year-old registration requirements being released from prison every day and an increasing number of sex crimes, like sex trafficking, being added to the list of offenses requiring registration, the registry is likely to continue its expansion well into the future.

Meanwhile… Cheektowaga Democrats are on a roll

We interrupt this sports themed site to bring you political updates from the Town of Cheektowaga

I’m kind of riding high today.

This afternoon I sat in on a hearing at Erie County Board of Elections, to testify to objections to petitions which we filed against an unendorsed candidate seeking to run for Cheektowaga Councilman.

The lady’s name is Lorna Castanik. I hardly know her and have only spoken to her a couple times. She seems very polite and well spoken, but I know she doesn’t like our party leadership very much; probably less after today. Only she and her mother went out, banged on doors and in the obtained 527 signatures to run for Council, just 27 more than the minimum.

Political veterans know to always get double than the minimum; obtaining just over 500 was playing with danger.

That was like red meat to me. I dove into her petitions, and within minutes found flaw after flaw after flaw – wrong number of signatures claimed in the witness statements, wrong witness identifier, people who previously signed our petitions (you can only sign one and the first date is the one that counts). By the time we were done scouring her sheets we had identified 207 bad signatures.

So for the first time I went through the exercise of filing objections, no easy task and a paperwork process that has to be technically accurate or the Board will reject them. Today was the hearing, and Commissioners Mohr and Ward saw things our way and kicked her petitions.

What does that mean? It means that our endorsed slate of Pat Jaworowicz, Stan Kaznowski and Jim Rogowski will not have to execute a primary campaign. We can save our resources and time and funds to battle the Republicans, instead of having to put forth a campaign to fend off the Castanik challenge, which had no support, no funding and no committee or platform to run a credible race anyway.

But there’s more.

We have no shortage of bon vivants here in Cheektowaga. A committeewoman named Diane Benczkowski decided that it was “her time”, and decided she wanted to be Erie County’s next Comptroller. I and others pleaded with her not to do this; we had wanted her to chair our Endorsed Candidates Committee, and she had just been named to our Town’s Planning Board and to the Master Plan Steering Committee. Nonetheless, she knew better, and off she went into her own little world. She got absolutely no traction from our Cheektowaga committee people or other stakeholders in our political family, all of whom believed that keeping our party united and on message for Team Poloncarz, Team Glascott and our local slate was crucial.

So I was not surprised when she called me two weeks ago, asking for a meeting. I met with her that same evening for coffee, and she told me she wished to withdraw from the race, sharing a number of reasons why she wanted out which I will keep private. I immediately turned her over to my Chairman Frank Max, who in turn contacted the ECDems, and in the end, she stipulated to and accepted the findings of specific objections against her petitions, which in essence meant an end to her campaign.

In the big picture, what is the impact of all this? It means that Mark Poloncarz, who by the way is a damned good Comptroller, could save his resources, not having to spend time and money and energy doing direct mail and media buys for a primary to fend off another Democrat, and instead can now focus on his real opponent, the Republican Phil Kadet.

In the end I and the Cheekdems can’t take the full credit for getting one of our own out of this race, but I played a vital part and for that I feel pretty damned good.

Next… the Sheriff’s race. Cheektowaga’s own John Glascott is picking up momentum every day as he tries to unseat Tim Howard, who has had nothing but bad news lately about the shoddy mess that his department has become. It is amazing how the various factions of Cheektowaga’s diverse political family are coalescing to support Team Glascott. People who were at each other’s throats during last year’s committee fights are practically showering together now, and this show of unity bodes well for our organization as we move forward into 2010 and beyond.

One interesting side note – of all the Erie County Legislature districts, two key Primaries will be waged right here in Cheektowaga. In LD-8 our own Tom Mazur has a spirited and energetic opponent. In LD-9, which overlaps into our Southline area, Tim Wroblewski is facing an all out attack on three lines to disrupt his campaign and try to unseat him. Both these men are hands on Legislators, very engaged in their districts, and enormously popular among their Cheektowaga constituents. But with no other races on the Primary ballot, it will mean a coordinated “get out the vote” effort to get our people to the polls in what is really an off Primary year. We will do all we can to be up to the task.

I have put literally hundreds of hours into the Cheekdems effort and for the EC Legislature Democratic Caucus these past two months.

It has been exhausting, exciting, exhilirating and yet shitty all at the same time. But in the end, being Executive Vice Chair of our County’s largest suburban Democratic organization is really a cool gig!

We now return you to our regular sports programming, already in progress…

VIDEO: Sheriff Howard Cowards Behind County Attorney

The recent scathing report from the US Justice Department about the mismanagement of Erie County prison system is just the tip of the iceburg in what has been  four years of complete and utter incompetence at the Erie County Sheriff’s department under asshat sheriff Tim Howard.

Here is the report:

Today, we sat down with Erie County sheriff candidate and Cheektowaga Police Captain John Glascott to get his take on the report, the republican misfire about the non violation of the Hatch Act,  how the campaign is going and what he’s going to do to fix the broken Erie County Sheriff’s Department when he is elected in November. here is the video::

Chief Brian Doyle took today’s media heat for the MIA Sheriff. Doyle’s answer is short, sweet and lack’s the response leaders are made of, cowering behind County Attorney Cheryl Green:

“The county attorney will deal with in an appropriate fashion,” Doyle said.

Green tried to spin this story out of control earlier this week with this ridiculous reasoning on why the Justice Department was refused entry into the jails:

Erie County Attorney Cheryl Green said, “Because it’s the same reason you don’t let the police into your house without a search warrant. It’s to protect the county and it’s taxpayers from a fishing expedition.”

Green says the county would’ve allowed it on the condition that a county attorney and stenographer be present to make sure the questions aren’t leading questions. She says the Justice Department refused, and finally got the United States Marshals to let them in.

Meanwhile, their inability to allow the Justice Department to look around and monitor the human rights issues happening at the Holding Center has now opened the doors to lawsuits, costing us hard working Erie County taxpayers a boatload more money than was needed to spend by not properly dealing with the situations inside the prison walls:

Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz said, “This in some ways gives whoever decides to file lawsuits greater ammunition because now you’ve got a record from the Federal Government saying here are the deficiencies at the jail, and they’ve known about it for some time and haven’t fixed it. That’s bad.”

Awesomeness!

Meanwhile, Glascott held a press conference outside the Sheriff’s Department to discuss  the federal government finding that there is no basis to allegations raised by Republican political operatives alleging that Glascott violated the Hatch Act. In a letter dated July 29, 2009, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, the federal agency which oversees and monitors compliance with the Hatch Act, informed Glascott that “you are not covered by the provisions of the Hatch Act at this time, and your candidacy for Erie County Sheriff does not violate the Act.”

The Hatch Act is a federal law that restricts the political activity of individuals principally employed by local governments or agencies with programs funded in whole or in part by federal funds. The law mandates that an employee covered by the Act may not be a candidate for public office in a partisan election.

“The federal ruling proves what we said all along,” said Erie County Democratic Committee Chairman Leonard R. Lenihan. “The Republicans and Tim Howard are desperate and very worried about Captain John Glascott’s candidacy for Sheriff. Tim Howard cannot defend his abysmal performance as Sheriff and the Republican Party knows it. That is why the Republicans tried to intimidate John Glascott into dropping out of the race before it even started by alleging phony claims.” Lenihan concluded “John Glascott will be an excellent law and order Sheriff. He will fix the myriad of problems in the County’s jails, get the Sheriff’s patrol division re-accredited, and continue to put the community first, as he has for more than 30 years as a career police officer.”

Erie County’s Next Sheriff

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmsBupiLD3s[/youtube]