On Thursday, the new Commission on Citizen Rights & Community Relations held its monthly 9:30 AM public meeting on the 17th fl. of city hall. (I am "banned" from Commission offices for 90 days for criticizing the Commission, but am allowed to attend "public' meetings. Only four of 11 Commission members attended (Peter Weinman, V Chair, who presided as Chair Sandra Mobley Terry was absent & apparently un-excused; Adrian Rodriguez; Leeland Jones; LaVonne Ansari). Loretta Renford arrived at 10:15AM delivering a store-bought birthday (?) cake.

In the minutes of the Feb. 7 Commission mtg. one page was devoted to "Mr. Kern came to the office . . ."

(6 of 11 attendees: Chair Terry; V. Chair Weinmann; Jack Anthony; Robt Perelli; L. Renford; A. Rodriguez.. Three members were absent from both monthly meetings: Lana Benatovich; Ross T Runfola; former-Sheriff & chair of police oversight committee Tom Higgins)

The minutes state:

"The Exec. Dir. informed the Commissioners regarding a disturbing situation that occurred in the Commission Offices on Feb. 6 with Richard Kern. Mr. Kern came to the office & began yelling, the police were called which encouraged him to leave. The Commission is concerned with any individual who comes to the office who acts inappropriately & unrespectfully. Mr. Kern began to say disparaging things about the work of the Commission & staff. Commissioner Weinmann asked that with so many altercations in the City Hall Building, had he not been banned from the building? The response was apparently not. The Exec. Dir. did lodge a complaint with the police dept. Mr. Kern's actions appear to be violations & nothing that would constitute a misdemeanor. The police stated that they would speak to him, but if he continues to come back to the office to harass or trespass, he would be detained.

Jack Anthony asked what was Mr. Kern's topic? Rita Hubbard-Robinson responded the internal affairs report from the police dept. Mr. Kern previously spoke to Doris Carbonell-Medina regarding this matter & it was explained to Mr. Kern that the Commission had requested the report & was handling the matter. Then Mr. Kern went on to continue from that point. The Exec. Director's response remained positive & straight to the point, but Mr. Kern just wanted to be antagonistic & became animated.

Loretta Renford spoke about the concern of the Commission Staff being in the offices alone. Therefore Commissioner Renford recommended that a letter be sent to Mr. Kern requesting that he does not come up to the Commission Offices for 3 to 6 months. The other option would be to obtain a restraining order. Restraints do need to be put in place, because with the work of the Commission, something could set an individual off to respond in an adverse way. This situation should be taken very seriously & something needs to be done.

Sandra Mobley Terry commented that since there is no security in City Hall to monitor the public that comes to the building, steps should be taken to provide protection for members of the Commission & Staff through law enforcement.

Robert J. Perelli asked Peter Allen Weinmann what legal options are available to the Commission to prevent Mr. Kern from entering the offices for about 3 months? Commissioner Weinmann stated that he could be theoretically charged with a couple violations, which he has been charged with previously because of run-ins with staff or Councilmembers. If there is a court order of protection previously then the minute it would be violated the crime would be bumped up from a violation to a misdemeanor. Commissioner Weinmann deferred to David Hayes for further Counsel. Robert J. Perelli suggested that the next time Mr. Kern comes to the Commission office that he should never be seen by just one staff member. Therefore, there would be a witness of what occurs in the meeting.

There was further discussion regarding the matter of security in City Hall. David Hayes stated the criminal side would be the fastest way to go. Civilly getting a restraining order would be very difficult due to the fact that City hall is a public building. The Commission would have to establish what happened in the Commission Office on 2/6 & on prior occasions. Mr. Hayes recommended that he talk with staff after the Commission Meeting. David Hayes stated that he would begin to gather information to initiate the process."

Neo-fascism? Having been prosecuted 11 times on utterly false charges for exposing city hall corruption, the ease with which a "Citizen Rights" Commission is willing to suspend the Bill of Rights & assassinate the character of a critic is frightening to behold.

The Commission members who proposed banning me from City Hall do not seem to know, or care, that my rights were repeatedly trampled by my then-Councilman (DARE Cop-on-leave) Robert Quintana.

I finally got an 'order of protection' from Judge LoTempio against his "crime family" (who have now all split with him). But one day later Quintana stalked & harassed me on the 14th floor as I left Coppola's office escorted by then aide, now BMHA cop Craig Palladino. I went into Byron Brown's office seeking protection (Palladino seemed intimidated as I debated whether to get on the elevator or take the stairs, as Quintana waited menacingly) Quintana followed me into Brown's office, where I asked his chief of staff Emerson Barr to call security to escort me from the building. Quintana ordered him not to. I moved to the far side of the office as Barr & Quintana-aide Yvette Corredor (who had followed him,, trying to tug him back ) tried to keep him from me. Quintana forced himself past them & punched me in the face.

I went to the Mayor's Office to report the incident, but the cop on duty was unavailable (I spoke to Masiello himself).

Demonstrating a lack of respect for rule of law, both Barr & Byron Brown resisted signing a statement about what happened. And Craig Palladino 'disappeared' into the police academy where he was trained to be a BMHA cop.

Barr finally relented & signed a statement. But when he got to court, he contradicted his statement, insisting that Quintana never got close to me. That is called PERJURY. No matter that Barr allegedly has a Ph.D. in political science. Barr left town to go to California. Barr has returned to work in Ellicott District office, now lying that he lives on Norway Place, while (illegally) living on Grand Island.

Soon after the Brown-approved perjury, Quintana threw a fund-raiser for Brown's NYS Senate run at his then 'family compound' at Plymouth & Jersey (where Q's 'family' beat me & had me jailed for "stalking' his then 19 yr.old live-in HS dropout "chief-of-staff" Maria Padilla, daughter of his other live in aide fiancee' Millie Castro. Castro has since charged Q with domestic violence. Commission member Ross T. Runfola, defended Q then as he had defended the family earlier when they assaulted me.)

NO CRITICISM ALLOWED Having watched & reported on the ineffective city hall civil rights body for years, it is troubling to see how quickly a Citizen Rights body, now having a $63,700 a year director, can attempt to trample basic constitutional rights.

It is unclear whether Rita Hubbard-Robinson is suited to her job of advocating for 'citizen rights & community relations'. She has repeatedly spoken about her fear for her safety, as the office has an air of paranoia. She seems unclear about the distinction between "lawful criticism" (the being "annoyed" all public officials must tolerate in a free society) & harassment.

I was flabbergasted by her immediately "yelling" that I had to have an appointment & calling the police when I expressed concern about Commission inaction on police misconduct, made more visible currently by the high profile trial of 4 narcotics cops. I do acknowledge that I challenged her and stated that perhaps I should remain to again be arrested in the "Citizen Rights" office for exercising my citizen rights of 'free speech' & 'petitioning the government for redress of grievances'. It is well documented that DA Clark will prosecute me for any perceived offense of a political entity he wishes to court. Indeed, his prosecution #12 of me may be for the Citizen Rights Commission?!

CITIZEN WARNING Any citizen concerned about "citizen rights" should be forewarned. You could be arrested & "banned" from city hall for "yelling"(Commission staff may yell, however), "acts inappropriately & disrespectfully", "say disparaging things about the work of the Commission & Staff"

The Bill of Rights does not apply in City Hall (or on the 17th floor at least).

FASCISM A-COMING

As a person with 'German genes', who considers himself a 'recovering Aryan' with special responsibility to sniff out fascism, I am worried. The Commission seems more concerned about its rights than citizen rights. Criticism of the Commission apparently will not be tolerated.

After protracted debate about needed citizen review of the police during Charter Revision, the $167,000 a year Commission has now seemed to abandon that mandate under Charter. Meanwhile a police internal affairs department of 10 (11?) costing over $1/2 million annually operates in virtual secrecy.

It is not clear that a retired Sheriff (whose son has had lots of complaints about police abuse) is best suited to monitor police misconduct. He has not attended the last two commission meetings.

Indeed, it is very unclear whether a commission appointed by the powerful can advocate for the rights of the powerless. That is what civil rights are about. The Commission's executive director instantly calling the police when getting a complaint about police misconduct was a powerful 'Freudian slip'!

The Chair of the Commission who banned me for 90 days working at BMHA, a notorious 'federal plantation" where "citizen rights' are routinely trampled makes me nervous as well. BMHA Executive Director Sharon West would love to have me silenced as well as the Commission on Citizen Rights.

NOTE: Years ago I was "banned" for 3 years from BMHA's many "federal plantation" sites for trying to expose the travesty of BMHA's collecting $200 monthly HUD rent on 100's of VACANT apartments. It was a condition of "probation" imposed by Judge Sconiers, as those most hurt by that practice were black (&poor).

It may prove that black women are just as capable of abusing power (& the poor) as WHITE MEN (& GERMANS!!) certainly are.

COPY: Feb 11:Rita Hubbard-Robinson . . .Vs Police Abuse

On Wednesday (2/6) Rita Hubard-Robinson angrily called the police when I expressed concern about her failure to monitor police internal affairs as ($63,700) Executive Director of the Commission of Citizen Rights & Community Relations. Although Buffalo "Police Professional Standards" is required by Charter to issue an annual report, few know about it. Buffalo police corruption is national news as taxpayers are spending millions on an FBI investigation & protracted high profile drug corruption trial . . but Internal Affairs could not see blatant corruption under their noses. Each of the past two years the Commission 'forgot' the report until I shook it loose.

The problem is the report gives little information & raises more questions than it answers. In summary, last year the 9 cops & a clerk in "Professional Standards" (costing well over $1/2 million annually): conducted 189 investigations

80 were internal, 109 were external (from citizens)

there were a mere 52 "on-duty conduct" , 44 procedure violations, & 40 "use of force" (of special concern . . this can kill)
Incredibly, only 39 cases were "sustained" (who, for what, whether any were repeat violators . . & what punishment not indicated)

Equally of concern, 33 were not guilty, 8 exonerated, 4 unfounded & 8 "other miscellaneous" . . 57 were open at the end of the year . .as were about the same number last year

I have no evidence that the Commission knows any answers to questions raised by a report they did not request until 'reminded'. Worse still, when I complained about failure to monitor police corruption, Ms. Hubbard-Robinson called the police to have me ejected (I had been at her door about one minute on the 17th floor of City Hall, after having repeatedly asked, with no response, for Commission intervention previously into police accountability issues).

TABOO TOPICS: Of special concern is failure to discuss resistance to one officer cars by "Dirty Cops" fearful of retaliation by drug dealers, especially kids, long been shaken down for their drug money.

The Commission has also ignored widespread anger in neighborhoods that 911 complaints about dealers too often lead to cops exposing callers, not stopping the dealing. That costs taxpayers dearly, as two officer cars too often cover up police corruption, while not addressing the very safety & quality of life issues driving folks out of the city.

THE COMMISSION HAS MAJOR STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS . . . leading to "politically correct" & "feel good" efforts while ignoring deep-seated problems. The commission is appointed by the very politicians (Masiello & Pitts) who long kept civil rights off the table in city government. The prior, intermittantly defunct commission had no staff nor budget, or any informal support from Pitts or Masiello. The new Commission got a generous budget & hired a director virtually unknown in civil rights & activist circles. There is only one policing activist on the Commission (Loretta Renford). Other Commission members lack credibility. Most dramatic is Pitts' appointee Ross Runfola, Esq., who repeatedly defended Cop-Councilman Robert Quintana as he trampled the Constitution & civilized behavior, while refusing to discuss major destruction Quintana wreaked on his struggling Hispanic community.

It is well known that Pitts relies heavily on PBA (& developer) financial support, while playing on "race" to garner black votes to preserve his status quo agenda. That is deeply cynical, since the PBA is dominated by white suburb-dwelling cops, who commit rampant (& very costly) abuse of sick leave to avoid coming into a city they often openly despise . . . as Internal Affairs last year found a mere 5 "Sick & Military Leave Abuse(s)".

The Police Code of Ethics demands near saintly behavior (I plan to post it on www.kernwatch.com) . . . as the Commission on Citizen Rights ignores rampant (& very costly, both financially & socially) police abuse . .while trampling the First Amendment to call the cops on me for "petition(ing) the government for redress of grievances".

Something is wrong here!

Richard Kern, MSW, Feb. 11, 2001
882-2388