To the untrained legal eye, it might seem excessive to consistently roll out fresh versions of accumulated grievances, but version #3 does just that. While RIOC President/CEO Shelton Haynes and Chief Counsel Gretchen Robinson trample countless people, one of them offered a concise, funny synopsis of the story.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
While we can’t reveal the name, one victim of version #3 summed it up this way:
“Nobody likes me, and it’s because everyone in the whole world is racist: the boss, the board, the executive chamber, my coworkers, my staff, the newsman, the guy in the street, etc. One thing for certain, I’m definitely not projecting my own racism on everybody else. Oh, and by the way, this conversation is being recorded, but without a warning and certainly not for quality and training purposes. Only because that’s the type of a guy I am.”
If this isn’t sufficient, you can read the whole litany posted below.
Version #3 and Me
Since Haynes replaced Rosenthal, Stone has written several baseless articles about RIOC’s staff and executives, often using racially charged language.
Shelton J. Haynes/Gretchen Robinson
Featuring me as Roosevelt Island’s primary racist, weaving my web around elected officials, Haynes and Robinson cited three specific examples. But are they?
First…
“For example, in one article,” the pair writes, “Stone criticized Rosenthal’s termination (for using racist and sexually inappropriate language) as ‘unfairly firing a caucasian woman and replacing her with an African-American man. On Juneteenth.’”
How is this racist, other than through the eyes of Haynes who’s capable of calling a bus stop racist?
Rosenthal’s dismissal was grossly unfair. She was given no opportunity to defend herself, and the state has never produced a single piece of firsthand evidence. In fact, they’ve fought discovery tough and nail.
And that was the date, chosen by Governor Andrew Cuomo, who wasted no time installing Haynes in her place without competition.
Second…
“In another article, Stone claimed that Plaintiffs had been accused of “teaming up in a practice or [sic] racial cleansing at RIOC.”
It’s true. They have been, and reporting it is far from racist. It’s the opposite because it puts the racism on the other foot.
Third…
“In multiple articles, Stone cited an unnamed source claiming Haynes was building a Roosevelt Island ‘Wakanda’ where he was surrounded ‘by a circle of female loyalists’ or ‘a praetorian guard of females covering for him.’”
How is this racist? It describes what some believe is Haynes’s management style.
Here’s the article that version #3 references: In RIOC News, the Patroon Has a First Ever Chief of Staff.
This fills out the prediction. And for those not familiar, Wakanda is an imaginary African country, a successful one with advanced technology. And praetorian guards were Roman.
Where’s the racism, guys?
Finally, the Haynes/Robinson Complaint Version #3
You can read all 56 pages of it yourself below, but you won’t find anyone portraying themselves as more victimized, except maybe Donals Trump.
Everyone works against them while all they want is to do their jobs. They’re not paranoid, but version #3 shows them recording private conversations without notifying anyone. It exposes multiple leakers of executive session information.
It paints an ugly picture permeating RIOC, from Albany on down, but here it is:
The Committee Man
Committees are supposed to be where outcomes are shaped. They are meant to be the place where questions slow decisions down, where competing interests surface, and where public responsibility is exercised before anything reaches a formal vote.
1 COMMENTS