What have been the most egregious examples of racism in Rochester?
We just saw it with the public defender. That was just blatant. There was a 35-year process that had been set in place. I led the fight to get that process in place when I was president of FIGHT. It was an open and fair process. It was unique. It didn’t take anything away from the politicians. It just allowed people access. [Former county GOP boss] Steve Minarik bucked the process: “I’ll do what I want to do.” And the little puppies on the County Legislature on the Republican side didn’t have brass enough to stand up to him. It goes back to the old quote: “I’d rather be right than be president.” The way I see things, I’d rather be right than to sit in a chair that made me nothing more than a puppet. Those guys, in my estimation, they were wimps. They were cowards. And that’s exactly what I called them. Were you surprised that something like that could happen in Rochester in 2008? Yeah. I remember when I walked in [to the County Office Building], there was already a huge crowd there. No
