Monday, February 5, 2007

Kingston Freeman Article No. 1

IS IT PORNOGRAPHY OR POLITICS?
By Joshua M. Rinaldi, Freeman staff 02/01/2007
ACCORD - A Rochester woman who wants a seat on the town's Historic Preservation Commission is upset over an interview with the Town Board during which she says she was accused of being associated with a pornographic Web site.

Manuela Mihailescu believes the allegations were fabricated because of her husband's activity with the Rochester Republicans. The Town Board has a 3-2 Democratic majority.
Mihailescu, a five-year resident of Rochester, said she expected a closed-door session at the Jan. 24 Town Board meeting to be a second interview for her to serve on the commission. But instead, she said, she was told by board members that a Yahoo search of her name turned up an adult Web site.
Mihailescu, 57, said she initially thought the board members were kidding but that they pressed her on the issue. She said she asked for proof and was shown color printouts of pornographic images (of other people, not her). The board did not provide Mihailescu with the name of the Web site, she said.
A Yahoo search of Mihailescu's name by a Freeman reporter and editor turned up no adult Web sites.

"There was not a word, not a letter about preservation," Mihailescu said of the closed-door session. "In my mind, they were just enjoying torturing me."
Mihailescu believes the board is trying to keep her off the Historic Preservation Commission because she and her husband, Jon Dogar-Marinesco, have been active members of the Rochester Republican Club.
Dogar-Marinesco operates the club's Web site, which has been critical of the Town Board.
Frances Gray and Ronald Santosky, the two Republicans on the Town Board, both declined to discuss the matter because it occurred during an executive session.
"It was an executive session," Gray said. "The Town Board cannot respond outside of that meeting."
Santosky, too, said it would be wrong to discuss what happened in an executive session.
"I don't have any comment at this point," Santosky said. "In time, it will all come out."
The board's three Democrats - Supervisor Pamela Duke and Councilmen Alex Miller and Tony Spano - did not return phone messages Tuesday or Wednesday. Duke was in the Town Hall Wednesday but would not come to the phone when a reporter called, and Miller's wife confirmed her husband had received a reporter's message.
Carl Chipman, president of the Rochester Republican Club, said he will call on Duke and other Town Board members to resign when the board convenes tonight.
"There is a right way and a wrong way to deal with people, and this is almost certainly wrong," Chipman said.
Chipman said there should have been no discussion of adult Web sites during an interview for a commission seat. Also, he said, "I can put anyone's name in (a search engine), and eventually I'm going to pull up a porn site. That's the way the Internet is."
Chipman said he has been rallying people to come to tonight's board meeting and expects a "huge" crowd. Mihailescu said she and her husband will attend.

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