Soft Corruption Is Now Endemic In Monroe County
After the November 2023 elections, a significant number of local elected officials are directly accountable to Democratic power brokers. The “coaching tree” emanates from now-Rep. Joe Morelle, who served in the New York State Assembly for three decades and won the primary election for Congress in 2018. Morelle had served as MCDC Chair for almost a decade, stepping down only after being appointed Majority Leader of the Assembly.
Morelle’s former aide Adam Bello, having ascended from Irondequoit Town Supervisor to Monroe County Clerk to County Executive, wields enormous power in the form of patronage positions: politically appointed positions that serve at his pleasure, pay well, have great benefits, and can be used as leverage on other elected officials who are directly or indirectly beholden to those relationships.
It’s important to understand that the recipients of this largesse know that it comes with strings attached. A legislator accountable to a party boss cannot so much as pass gas without permission, or they or one of their loved ones will instantly lose their job. That almost never happens, of course, because they simply do the party bosses’ bidding, acting as force multipliers without any independent thinking and without serving as a check on their power.
The list of legislators who fall into this category is too long to keep straight at one time. A partial list is appended. In the meantime, voters of Monroe County would do well to pay closer attention to the power structures underpinning various candidates’ campaigns.
It is worth mentioning that there have been some disruptions to planned installations. In LD-17 (which intersects parts of Irondequoit and the City of Rochester), Assemblyman Bronson staffer Allan Richards was designated, but was defeated in the primary election by incumbent Monroe County Legislator Rachel Barnhart, who moved from LD-21 to avoid running to represent a majority-Black district. And a few years ago, the voters of Irondequoit, a Town with a decisive Democratic majority, elected two Democratic Town Councilmembers, but failed to elect Joe Morelle’s namesake progeny, Joe Morelle Jr., as their Supervisor. The November 2023 provided a fitting coda to that rare tale of accountability, when Democrat Andrae Evans was elected as Town Supervisor of Irondequoit – the first Black Supervisor elected in the history of Monroe County.
Here is a partial list of legislators with direct ties to Democratic party bosses:
Monroe County Legislator Rose Bonnick (LD-27) works for State Senator Jeremy Cooney.
Monroe County Legislator Howard Maffucci (LD-10) has a daughter who serves in the Bello Administration.
Monroe County Legislator Santos Cruz (LD-21) is the brother-in-law of Assistant County Executive Anthony Plonczynski-Figueroa.
Monroe County Legislator William Burgess (LD-29) is married to the Deputy Director of the Monroe County Department of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Monroe County Legislator Albert Blankley (LD-24) is Chief Operating Officer of Common Ground Health, a 501(c)(3) dependent on funding from Joe Morelle and Adam Bello.
Brighton Town Councilmember Nate Salzman, a long-time self-described “political operative” who co-founded the political consulting firm Tuesday Digital with MCDC Chair Stephen DeVay, now works for Monroe County as a Senior Information Specialist.
Rochester City Councilmember Bridget Monroe works for Brighton Town Supervisor Bill Moehle.