New Baltimore: Just a Hint of Corruption?

New Baltimore: Do Benway, Norris Recommend Conflict of Interest in Choosing Insurance Carriers!

Can you spell that for me?
Sure: O-R-O-R-K-E + B-E-N-W-A-Y + N-O-R-R-I-S = CORRUPTION.

In her biased article “Dispute arises over insurance carriers” that appears in the March 6 issue of The Ravena News Herald Jessica Mosier (Columbia – Greene Media, Johnson Newspaper Group) reports on the deliberations by the New Baltimore Town Board on whether or not to jump ship from their present insurer to an insurer recommended by board members Lisa Benway and Chris Norris, NYMIR. Problem is: NYMIR has some pretty shady background when it comes to pals Susan O’Rorke, Lisa Benway and Chris Norris, and we probably should throw in their media mole Jessica Mosier, who seems to lose a lot in the translation.

Here’s what we managed to dig up:

In a recent e – mail communication from Lisa Benway to Shelly VanEtten (recently elected to the board with the Dellisanti team that ousted the tyrannical O’Rorke mob), Benway writes:

“I have looked over our current policy again, the Trident Renewal proposal and the NYMIR proposal…I know that people get nervous about changing policies because they are unsure of the service they will get from the new carrier. I can tell you that NYMIR has a very good reputation for claims service and overall service in general….To sum up, based on my years in the business and my interpretation of the policies, I would recommend to the board to take the NYMIR policy.” [emphasis provided]

In the Ravena News Herald article, Mosier reports Norris as having publicly recommended NYMIR “based on savings” not on coverage terms, and Benway agreed. Crazy! You say? No! Just crooked. Because O’Rorke, Benway and Norris have a very cozy—but is it too cozy—connection with NYMIR.

Junk-journalist Jessica Mosier of the Ravena News Herald, a division of Johnson Newspaper Group, and edited by Mark Vinciguerra, a former Albany Times Useless employee, don’t do their in-depth reporting, and manage to stay ignorant—or just don’t report—the dirty connections in which their pals are involved. So here are the facts:

Benway had the gall to admit that, “No two companies for commercial insurances are identical, that I can guarantee you!”

And, Guess what! We know why Benway would make such a statement! It all revolves around conflicts of interest and campaign contributions made to Susan O’Rorke and the New Baltimore Democratic Committee under Diane Lewis made by NYMIR – associated agents, agencies, and people. The donations were made to former New Baltimore supervisor Susan O’Rorke and to the New Baltimore Democratic Committee under chairperson Diane Lewis! Of course “no two companies are identical”! One is paying you and your party off and the other is providing legitimate insurance services! Never a truer statement made! You see, Susan O’Rorke works for Wright Risk Management (WRM), the parent company of NYMIR insurance, the insurer Benway and Norris are pushing the board to hire to insure New Baltimore!

Here’s the real dirt: our late and not–so–great New Baltimore town supervisor, Ms Susan O’Rorke, is an employee of Wright Risk Management (WRM), which is the management company for, NYMIR. (Makes you wonder if O’Rorke had not gotten the boot, would the three stooges, O’Rorke, Benway and Norris have still pushed the NYMIR recommendation? Now that would have been a story leading to a conviction! But it’s a question we should still ask Lisa Benway: Would she still so strongly have recommended NYMIR, and for the same reasons?)

But that, in itself, doesn’t build a very strong case for conflict of interest or charges of corruption. Or does it?

In the period of September 25, 2009 to November 4, 2013, WRM or NYMIR or high – ranking management of those companies or their founder, William Fishlinger made contributions to the O’Rorke Campaign or to the New Baltimore Democratic Committee in the amount of more than $2,500.00.

Contributions?
Maybe, maybe not.

An unconfirmed report is that O’Rorke has given presentations to municipalities pitching herself as a town supervisor and recommends NYMIR as a recommended insurer. She may still be doing that but we have no confirmation of her present activities.

Now we have a leftover pair from the O’Rorke administration, Lisa Benway and Chris Norris, who are recommending NYMIR, the insurance company run by O’Rorke’s employer WRM, as the preferred insurer for the town of New Baltimore, and in fact, vote against the proposal to have the policy renewed by Trident; they favor NYMIR.

Now, we are inches away from corruption and abuse of public office here in the case of Benway and Norris, who have been pushing to give NYMIR the contract for insuring New Baltimore, but both Benway and Norris have gone on the public record pushing for NYMIR and Benway even strongly recommends NYMIR in her communication to vanEtten.

Does anyone see the ghost of Susan O’Rorke at work here? Or even the New Baltimore Democratic Committee and Diane Lewis. Sure, they’re hungry for more campaign contributions from WRM, NYMIR, and their founders. Best way to get it? Send them some business. Then Susie O’R. can go out and sell more municipal insurance policies for NYMIR and make a ton of money for her friends at WRM, NYPIR’s parent company, and the founders, William Fishlinger and others at Congdon, Flaherty, O’Callahan, Reid, Donlan, Travis & Fishlinger.

Great plan, Lisa, Chris, Suzie. But you were caught again doing naughties! Maybe the Attorney General will be interested in this tidbit of incriminating research?

Thank you supervisor Dellisanti, boardmembers Ruso and vanEtten for your attention to detail and your diligence in asking the villains the right questions, keeping this town of New Baltimore and its residents out of the hands of crooks!

 [Editor’s Note: You can read or download our breakdown of the contributors and their interconnections at Donor Lists and Associations Susan O’Rorke.]

“They point their crooked little fingers at everybody else
Spend all their time feelin’ sorry for themselves
Victim of this, victim of that
Your momma’s too thin; your daddy’s too fat.”
The Editor

“Qui tacet consentire videtur ubi loqui debuit ac potuit.” “Silence is admission when when the accused ought to have spoken and was able to.” Special Notice: We make every effort to be truthful, complete, fair, and balanced on this blog; therefore, if you see anything that you know to be false or incorrect, or if you have additional information to clarify any issue, please let us know by e-mailing your information or by leaving a comment. It’s very important to us that we don’t fall into the same category as those whom this blog is intended to expose. Thank you very much in advance for your coöperation and assistance. Graphics and Images Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted and credited, all graphics used in this article are the result of a Google image search, and at the time the images were collected and used in this article, no conspicuous or visible copyright notice or other proprietary mark was shown. Please communicate any claim or corrections to rcs.confidential@gmail.com All images are used in good faith for non-profit, public information and public service purposes.