Political Advice For David Paterson

Elected officials don't always have to be politically savvy. It helps, but it's not necessarily a given when running for or holding office. It's quite obvious that Governor David Paterson has little political instinct. Not that this is incredibly shocking to anyone, but what I do find astounding is the political ineptitude of the people he has advising him.

Because I can't bear to see you continue to flounder I'm going to help you out, Dave. Please be assured, this not not because I have any interest in seeing you run for or win the governor's seat next year, but simply because it's painful watching you attempt to force what little political will you have on the Senate and Assembly.

Take for instance this piece from Tom Precious. It begins with "A somber Gov. David A. Paterson on Monday urged a rare joint session of the State Legislature to join him in making the unpopular decisions necessary to erase the state's $3.2 billion budget deficit." No, no, no, Dave. We don't want somber - we want defiant! When the press uses the adjective "somber", it makes people sad - it makes us think we're at a funeral, Dave. Do you want us to think that you are delivering New York State's eulogy?

It's courageous to state that you "will mortgage my political career on this plan, but I will not mortgage the fate of the State of New York", Dave. But you know and I know that there is very little in your plan that puts your political career on the line. You're not calling for tort reform, you're not clamoring for revisions to Wicks Law, Taylor Law or Scaffold Law and you're not pounding the lectern demanding the massive overhaul of Medicaid that is absolutely key to the state getting on a course of fiscal stability.

What you are doing is making suggested "cuts" that do nothing except pass the expenses on to the local governments. That's not reform, Dave, it's cowardice.

But let's get back to the political spin. If you truly are willing to put your political career on the line, use the bully pulpit.

All 212 legislators are up for re-election in less than a year, and they're scared. They know that the people sent a serious message last Tuesday that the status quo is not acceptable. What you need to be doing is using your power of access to the media to start shaming these guys into getting what you need done. If that doesn't work, stand up and tell everyone of them that you will do everything within your power to campaign against any of them that refuse to enact substantive changes and reforms.

At this point, they'd probably laugh at you because, no offense, you have virtually no power at this moment. But this isn't a sprint, Dave, it's a marathon. If you continue to fight the fight against Albany dysfunction, people will come around.

You must be willing to stand up to the public sector unions. The influence they have the ability to wield is significant and relevant, and they have boatloads of money to dump into campaigns.

If you are sincere with your willingness to mortgage your political career, none of this should be difficult. Unfortunately my cynicism has gotten the better of me and I think you'll fall back into the same old routine. Please prove me wrong, Dave - please show me some defiance.

Today's Diatribe

Despite my admitted right leanings, I believe that there are members of our society that are underprivileged and need governmental assistance in order to put food on the table. And I do believe that it is the responsibility of government to assist these people in need, at least temporarily.

What I have a problem with is what I witnessed today.

Stopping at a little sandwich stop in downtown Buffalo after a meeting, I found it appalling to see exactly how my tax dollars are used - or should I say misused.

Person after person ran through the single checkout with a bag full of food. We're not talking milk, bread, eggs and the other staples of life, we're talking two, three and four subs each, bags of chips, cookies, candy, sodas and practically any and every other junk food item in the store. Needless to say, other than the heroin and meth addicts next to me, none of these people looked like they had missed a meal anytime recently. Then they each broke out their "benefits card", which is another way of saying welfare.

So who gave these people the right to eat better than I do on MY tax dollars? Again, you're down on your luck, you need some help getting by, that's tolerable - but this is sickening. And it will go on forever. We don't encourage these people to get off of public assistance. In fact, we encourage them to stay on public assistance by allowing such abuses of the system to occur.

And if you're on social services and you abuse the system, meaning you have no intention of ever getting off and you're going to have lotsa babies and make sure they are on welfare their entire lives, let me clue you in on something: NOBODY OWES YOU A GODDAMN THING. Quit being a scourge on society and try to make something of your life. If Obamanation showed us one thing, it's that people of any socio-economic status, race or creed can ascend to the highest office in the country.

Of course, these people that I refer to are where they are partly because of the Democratic party's desire to keep them right where they are. After all, these people are the base of the Democrats voting block. And they can buy them off with vouchers for the local grocery store, or whatever means they deem necessary to get that vote.

Is it any wonder that the Dems control every single statewide office in the state, the Governor's seat, the State Senate and the State Assembly (with a 109-41 majority, no less). And is it any wonder that NYS has BY FAR the single most expensive Medicaid (welfare) program in the country? This is not a coincidence, people! This is how your Democratic elected officials have rigged the system to ensure their survival in NYS for many, many years to come.

Each and every one of us who gets up every day, goes to work and is a productive member of society are paying for it - and it's disgusting.

Rivera's Days Numbered

Yesterday we posted the Buffalo News piece detailing the resignation announcement of Niagara County GOP Chairman Henry Wojtsazek. Wojtaszek's success in local elections is unprecedented and he's leaving the organization with an extremely strong foundation that will likely remain intact for many years to come.

His counterpart can hardly say the same.

The era of Niagara County Democratic Chairman Dan Rivera has been an unmitigated disaster. His tenure has been marked by failure, scandal, internal strife and humiliation. His inability to identify issues that would resonate with voters is staggering. Even those of us at Niagara Times have made it a fairly regular pastime to point out the multitude of political deficiencies that Rivera brings to the table, as illustrated here, here, here and, one of my all-time favorite posts, here (it's worth reading again, really!)

But most of all, he just doesn't win elections.

He has failed to make any inroads into the GOP's super-majority in the county legislature, which was especially shocking when the entire country swung Democratic with the Obama wave two years ago. But even after the 2007 elections, he still had the Lewiston Supervisor seat and the North Tonawanda Mayoral seat to claim as Democratic stalwarts.

That changed Tuesday, when NT Mayor Larry Soos and Lewiston Supervisor Fred Newlin were pummeled by Rob Ortt and Steve Reiter, respectively. Apparently those two losses, coupled with the loss of Francine DelMonte's legislative aide Nick Melson to Vince Sandonato in the Fifth LD and no pickups in the county legislature, were enough to draw the fury of other prominent Democrats in the county.

In fact, Delmonte and Rivera are engaged in what can only be described as political warfare because of Rivera's abandoning of Melson in the middle of the campaign, and County Legislator Renae Kimble is openly calling for Rivera to step down as chairman. Since he was duly elected by the committee, he cannot be removed. If other Democrats want Rivera gone, they have to pressure him to resign.

That's exactly what's about to happen.

Niagara Times has learned that local Democratic leaders, other than Rivera, will be convening for a meeting on Saturday in Niagara Falls to discuss the future of their illustrious party leader. It's not going to bode well for Rivera.

Prominent Democrats, lead by DelMonte, have had enough of Rivera and are poised to force his resignation.

Those being mentioned as successors to Rivera include former county coroner Jim Joyce, soon-to-be former county legislator Sean O'Connor and former Assembly candidate Gary Parenti.

The reality is that no matter who steps into the role as Chairman of the Niagara County Democratic Party, the only direction he can take it is up. Maybe pick up a legislature seat here, a council seat there. But the damage done by Rivera will take years to recover from.

For all of his rhetoric and hyperbole, and his labeling of politics as a "blood sport", Rivera showed that he is nothing more than a sheep in wolf's clothing, incapable of effectively leading his party on a local level, or any level for that matter.

Wojtaszek To Resign Chairman's Post

The following is the story we were anticipating. Buffalo News political reporter Bob McCarthy's story follows in its entirety:

Henry F. Wojtaszek will resign next week as Niagara County Republican Chairman to return to his private law practice and spend more time with his family. "It's time to get back out there and get back to work, and maybe coach my son's basketball team," Wojtaszek said this morning.

Wojtaszek, 46, has led the Niagara County GOP since 2000. He said today he is leaving after a string of victories in Tuesday's elections, including capturing most offices in the City of North Tonawanda, winning almost all town supervisor posts, and building a 14-to-5 Republican majority in the County Legislature.

He said he leaves at a time when the party "has never been stronger."

"We recruited outstanding candidates at all levels for public office," he said. "Our candidates offered voters ideas for improving our community and then delivered. For that, the voters have consistently given us their support.

"I am most proud of our work at the county level, where voters have elected a Republican majority for four straight elections," he added. "That is proof that running a good government makes for good politics."

Wojtaszek, a North Tonawanda native, said he expects the party will name former Elections Commissioner Michael Norris as the new chairman when it convenes next Thursday in the Wheatfield Community Center. "Mike is an attorney, a great tactician, and very smart," he said.

Wojtaszek leaves the party helm after a bruising and unsuccessful effort to become the new chairman of the state party, losing to Manhattan attorney Edward F. Cox in September. He received substantial support around the state, including from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

But as Wojtaszek deferred to former state Chairman Joseph N. Mondello of Nassau County, who delayed his decision to step aside, Cox gained overwhelming backing from county chairmen across the state.

Wojtaszek said his defeat has nothing to do with his decision to resign, and everything to do with returning to the Harris Beach law firm he left two months ago to pursue the state chairmanship.

"The time has come to hand the reins off to someone else and pursue some other interests and career goals," he said. "My work with the party takes up a lot of time and energy. My wife and three children have been more than patient with me."

Just A Little Class, Please

We're waiting on a pretty significant announcement this morning. We hope to have a post up related to the announcement within a couple of hours.

In the meantime, let's take a look at the sour grapes from some of Tuesday's losers.

Dave Mongielo, candidate for Town of Lockport Supervisor, was completely classless when he walked into town hall last night and whined like a little girl about losing to incumbent Marc Smith. If that tirade was any indication of what things would have been like under his "leadership", it's a damn good thing the majority of voters in Lockport were smart enough to pound this guy into oblivion.

As opposed to whining, soon-to-be-ex-Supervisor of Wheatfield Tim Demler simply chose to out and out lie about the slimey tactics he used in his run for re-election. Flyers about his opponent supporting moving sex offenders into the Summit Park Mall, spray painting grafitti for his write-in campaign, false robocalls and outright lies marked Demler's campaign. This is on top of the hundreds of dollars we as taxpayers had to fork over to protect the community from the goons on your campaign who are so slimey, Sheriffs Deputies had to be called in to oversee the voting in Wheatfield. You must be so proud of your tactics. Good riddance to this lowlife. Go get a real job for the first time in your life.

Outgoing North Tonawanda Mayor Larry Soos labeled winner Rob Ortt's campaign "all smoke & mirrors". Wow, way to insult the intelligence of 66% of your community. Why don't you just come out and say "the people of North Tonawanda are idiots for voting for Ortt", because that is sure what you insinuated.

Come on, guys, go out with a little dignity.

Again, we're following a significant local political story that we hope to have something concrete on soon. Stay tuned.

Election Recap

All I can say is WOW! I don't ever recall such an obliteration of the Niagara County Democratic Party like what occurred last night.

Let's start with the County Legislature. Every single GOP-backed candidate won except Jason Murgia. That surprised no one. Ric Marasco's win in the Primary Election ensured his win last night. The county legislature race that is sending shock waves through the Niagara Dems is the loss by Nick Melson to Vince Sandonato in the 5th LD. Melson, a legislative aide for Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, was thought to have the resources of DelMonte and Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster behind him. The 23 year-old Sandonato pulled a whopping 56% of the vote. This loss is especially disconcerting to the Dems considering it was held by a Dem for over two decades. DelMonte should be extremely concerned with the prospect of facing off against Sandonato in a few years.

The other race the Niagara Dems were counting in the "Win" column was Chris Perna over Russ Rizzo in the 9th Legislative District, the seat vacated by Andrea McNulty, in the heart of NC Dem Chairman Dan Rivera's home turf. Rizzo won with 55%.

While I'm sure there was some token attempt by the Dems to put up opposition in other Legislature races, the results didn't fair well for their efforts. Butch Farnham pulled 65% in the 7th LD; Bill Ross won with 69% in the 8th LD, Pete Smolinski pulled 57% in the 10th LD; John Ceretto won with 64% in the 12th LD; and in the 15th LD, Tony Nemi won with 61%. Not many close races.

The GOP will maintain its current 14-5 super-majority.

Three other races around the county have devastated the Niagara Dems. In Lewiston, Republican Steve Reiter crushed incumbent Fred Newlin 55% - 39%, in North Tonawanda, Rob Ortt annihilated incumbent Mayor Larry Soos 66% - 34% and in Wheatfield, Bob Cliffe beat Sam Conti 59% - 41%.

The wins in North Tonwanda and Lewiston are crushing defeats of DelMonte. She only had three political allies left in Niagara County, the two who were defeated last night, and Dyster. Yesterday's election leaves her with just Dyster, which is just fine, they deserve each other.

What this means for Rivera remains to be seen. He'll probably remain on as chairman simply because no one wants the job. The GOP is okay with that.

Lastly, hats off to Niagara County GOP Chairman Henry Wojtaszek, he had another phenomenal election - a much better election than Ed Cox.

Oh, one more thing - we at Niagara Times would like to point out that we accurately predicted every race that we had prognosticated last week. In fact, we called Cliffe with 57%, Reiter with 54% & Ortt with 60. They pulled 59%, 55% & 66% respectively. Hey, when you're good, you're good.

Election Day

Today is of course Election Day in New York. Please take a few minutes out of your day to vote. Too many Americans have put their lives on the line to allow each and every one of us that privilege.

We'll leave you with these words from a letter sent to Samuel Kercheval, Monticello, July 12, 1816 from Thomas Jefferson.

We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debt, as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our calling and our creeds...

[we will] have no time to think, no means of calling our miss-managers to account but be glad to obtain subsistence by hiring ourselves to rivet their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers... And this is the tendency of all human governments.

A departure from principle in one instance becomes a precedent for[ another]... till the bulk of society is reduced to be mere automatons of misery... And the fore-horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression.

Pretty prophetic, Tom.

Election Preview II

We began our 2009 Election Preview on Friday with a look at some of the more exciting races in Niagara County. Today we'll lay out our predictions for the contested county legislature races.

District 1 - Richard A. Marasco defeats incumbent Jason Murgia.

District 2 - Renae Kimble is unopposed.

District 3 - Jason Cafarella is unopposed.

District 4 - Incumbent Dennis Virtuoso defeats Mark Onesi.

District 5 - Vince Sandonato defeats Nick Melson in the battle for retiring Sean O'Connor's seat.

District 6 - Danny Sklarski is unopposed.

District 7 - Jerry Farnham defeats challenger Roger Chenez.

District 8 - Incumbent Bill Ross beats Robert Collins.

District 9 - Russ Rizzo defeats Chris Perna in the battle for Andrea McNulty's seat.

District 10 - Incumbent Pete Smolinski beats Katie Rich.

District 11 - Paul Wojtaszek is unopposed.

District 12 - John Ceretto beats challenger Dan Antonucci.

District 13 - Clyde Burmaster is unopposed.

District 14 - Kyle Andrews is unopposed.

District 15 - Incumbent Tony Nemi handles Scott Stopa.

District 16 - Keith McNall is unopposed.

District 17 - Rick Updegrove is unopposed.

District 18 - John Syracuse is unopposed.

District 19 - Mike Hill is unopposed.

The county legislature should come out of this year's elections with the same 14-5 majority for the GOP, meaning no gains for the Dems.

This consistent inability of Niagara County Dem Chairman Dan Rivera to make substantive inroads into the Republican's majority in the legislature, coupled with what will likely be huge losses in North Tonawanda, Lewiston and Wheatfield, could mean the end for Rivera.

Election Preview

Another election season is nearly complete, so we're going to offer up some analysis and maybe a prediction or two.

What has stood out to me is the fact that too many county legislature candidates in Niagara Falls, including incumbents, have come out against downsizing of the Niagara County Legislature. Dennis Virtuoso, Nick Melson & Ric Marasco have all stated that they do not support it because Niagara Falls will lose representation.

Look - this is a byproduct of consolidation. Residents of Western New York have resoundingly stated their desire for smaller government. Yes, Niagara Falls will likely lose some representation, but that is because the city has lost population. The irony of Virtuoso crying out against consolidation is that he has done nothing in his nearly 20 years in the county legislature to make Niagara Falls a more attractive place to live, work and do business. If Virtuoso had spent 1/100th of the time he plays politics working for the betterment of the city he allegedly represents, maybe the city wouldn't be talking about a shrinking population and loss of representation.

The race for Wheatfield Supervisor has certainly taken a pleasant turn after a nasty primary election. Tuesday's race will feature former Town Justice Bob Cliffe against union rep Sam Conti. It seems both Cliffe and Conti are gentlemen and the only ingredient missing is the contentiousness of soon-to-be former supervisor Tim Demler. He started the mud-slinging in the primary against Cliffe when he revealed Cliffe's confidential personnel records to the media and hasn't stopped his nasty mud-slinging yet, despite the fact that he is completely irrelevant. A write-in vote for Demler is a wasted one. Cliffe wins with 57% of the vote.

In Lewiston, incumbent Supervisor Fred Newlin is facing a strong challenge from Highway Superintendent Steve Reiter. Kathryn Lake Mazierski is also on the ballot on the I line. Newlin has gone on the defensive, accusing Reiter of doing favors for political allies, allegations which Newlin subsequently withdrew and apologized for. Reiter is well-known and well-liked. The 37% pay raise for Newlin and the huge jump in homeowner's utility bills over the past month are extremely problematic for Newlin. Reiter wins with 54% of the vote.

The race for North Tonawanda Mayor pits incumbent Larry Soos against current City Clerk/Treasurer Rob Ortt. Soos had a back-door victory for the position last election when two other candidates split the vote allowing him to sneak in. He won't be so lucky this time. Ortt is young, vibrant and will take a more aggressive approach to solving the city's problem. Ortt takes 60% of the vote.

We'll look at some of the county legislature races Monday. Have a nice weekend.

Should you be out and about tomorrow tonight, I'll be dressed as Barack Obama. Hell, he masquerades as a leader every day of the the year, I can pull it off for Halloween.

How Can We Miss You If You Won't Go Away

We here at your favorite blog have always had mixed feelings about former Niagara Falls Superintendent Carmen Granto. On one hand, he seemed to do a good job keeping taxes down where possible and managing a school district that, given the socioeconomic situation of Niagara Falls, isn't easy to manage. And the Niagara Falls High school project is clearly a crowning achievement.

At the same time, Granto didn't exactly run a transparent school board. Nor did he seem to do anything significant when he sat on major boards like NCCC, IDA & NFTA. He seemed more interested accumulating power on these boards than doing anything.

But the stinging comptroller's audit that blew the lid off the Niagara Falls School District really showed Granto's true colors. Credit card spending run amok, accumulation of time off that led to a huge payout when he retired, bookeeping beyond shoddy.....and it goes on and on. How he was able to operate the school board in that manner for so long really tells you something about governance in Niagara Falls.

When Granto mercifully retired and handed the superintendent's job off to his sister (only in NF can you pull that off as well), much of the stink from the school district left with him.

Which brings us to today's point: Who the hell on the Niagara Falls Library Board thought that appointing Granto to a vacant position there was a good idea? Given everything we know about a school district run amok, how can any public or quasi-public board that has any fiduciary responsibility at all, justify this appointment?

Granto was better served (as were we all) when he simply faded from the scene with a mixed legacy. Now, how can we miss him when he won't go away.

A Happy Ending In Niagara Falls

After spending most of a lifetime here on the Niagara Frontier, nothing out of the Cataract City should surprise me anymore. I mean, this is a city where corruption is shrugged at and it’s sometimes hard to know who to root against when a political brouhaha flares up.

But I still managed to be shocked when I read that Mayor Paul Dyster’s Tourism Advisory Board is about to urge spending city funds on pole-dancing GoGo girls, a “lingerie show” and a VIP gentlemen’s lounge.

That’s after the promoter of an event being called the “Dream Toys Show” pitched his “economic development” plan to Niagara Falls officials. The article also notes that the Dream Toys Show will feature a “children’s play area with bounce houses.”

Maybe they should invite James McKinney.

Look, ol’ Hobbes is no prude. I mean, you can’t spend your formative years just across the Rainbow Bridge from Lundy’s Lane and not have a somewhat jaded view of adult entertainment. And, honestly, I found myself laughing far more than cringing when the swingers descended on Grand Island. (Not that I plan to ever stay at the Grand Island Holiday Inn ever again, mind you.)

But this article is really disturbing.

Now, in any other city this side of San Francisco, such a proposal would be laughed out of town. But the event’s promoter, Carmen Toromino, has already secured the venerable Niagara Falls Convention Center for his smut show, and the Tourism Advisory Board seems close to urging a green-light for public funding:

“Such a draw would be a welcome sight downtown during one of the slowest times of the year tourism-wise, said board member Vince Mameli.“‘I think there’s going to be a lot of money flying around,’ said Mameli, who was among those encouraging Toromino to bring the show to Niagara Falls.“In the past year, the city has allocated $175,000 to sponsor or support various events, festivals and concerts. Tourism Board Chairman Jerry Genova chose his words carefully when asked Monday if he supported making a financial contribution to the Dream Toys Show.“‘I’m not in agreement with all of what will be going on but I think you always have to look at things across the board before drawing a conclusion,’ he said. ‘You have to see the process through.’”

And this is the city that needed everyone else’s casino money to fix its streets.

Fallout From Lobbyist Memo Continues

When we first broke the story detailing a memo sent to the Niagara County Legislature and County Manager Greg Lewis referencing the New York Power Authority's refusal to meet with the county's lobbyists on the proposed wind-farm project because of a win by the county in their suit against NYPA, we figured there would be some fallout. Legislator Renae Kimble took the ball and ran with it by questioning Lewis, and we commend her for that.

Subsequently, there are have been several articles referencing the issue (here, here & here). They contain statements like "We absolutely want Niagara County to be part of the offshore wind project", "I am 100 percent in line with having the Niagara County Legislature and Niagara County participate fully in this project", "that litigation is irrelevant to our relationship with that Legislature". All of these quotes came from NYPA CEO Richard Kessel.

We're going to make this real easy on everyone. If the memo is erroneous, which everyone from NYPA adamantly states, why hasn't the meeting been scheduled?

Soos Short-Circuits At Neighborhood Cleanup Event

Last week, Niagara Times encouraged candidates and party officials to email us with information relevant to the 2009 elections. We didn’t, however, anticipate hearing interesting election tidbits from ordinary citizens.

That’s why, when this email arrived in our inbox following yesterday’s Bills game, we were a bit surprised. Out of fairness to the email’s author, we’ve omitted names and email addresses; we’ll let you be the judge, though, of what it says about the fitness of North Tonawanda Mayor Larry Soos to continue holding office:

Dear Niagara Times,

I wanted to take you up on your challenge to the public to provide information about the candidates running for office this year. I have a story about something that happened this morning in North Tonawanda that I think you and your readers will find very interesting.

As you may have heard, every year for the past three or four years, several city aldermen have organized an event they call a “Clean Sweep.” The aldermen get some volunteers together and go and clean up one of our neighborhoods. This year, Alderwoman Nancy Donovan of the 3rd Ward was responsible for organizing the event, and the aldermen picked Oliver Street (which I’m sure you know is North Tonawanda’s historic business district).

The volunteers all met up at 11:30 this morning at Oliver and Sommer Street. Mrs. Donovan was there, along with two other alderman (Mr. Pasiak and Mrs. Schwandt). They began to hand out garbage bags, brooms, and rakes to everyone.

Just then, Larry Soos, the mayor of NT, and his wife pulled up in their car. Mrs. Donovan welcomed them both, thinking that they had come to help out.

Instead, Mr. Soos attacked Mrs. Donovan and the other two aldermen! He was swearing at them and saying the whole Clean Sweep was a “political stunt.” He then hollered at them for not attending some clean-up he said he’d held earlier in the year, and kept repeating that this was just “typical republican politics.”

What he didn’t realize was that he managed to draw quite a crowd. About four volunteers were standing behind him the whole time, and they all later said that they hadn’t been committed before but now are going to vote for Robert Ortt. Apparently they like “typical republican politics” if it’s the opposite of what Mr. Soos was offering and it cleans the streets.

I hope you find this informative. I was an eyewitness to this event, and am still surprised and saddened. Mrs. Donovan, Mr. Pasiak, and Mrs. Schwandt tried to do a nice thing, and Larry Soos had to come out and attack them for it. I really hope that things are different, and better, in January.

Yours truly,

[Name Withheld]

Well, there you have it, folks. You stay classy, North Tonawanda.

What Are We Paying Lewis To Do?

As regular readers of this space know, Niagara Times broke the story Tuesday morning that the New York Power Authority was throwing a tantrum and refusing to meet with Niagara County’s lobbyists following the Power Authority’s courtroom loss to the county in the ongoing lawsuit over David Paterson and Francine DelMonte’s sweep of $550 million from the Authority’s coffers, so we were prepared for the story to gain some traction in the press.

We were not, however, prepared for what happened Tuesday night. Legislator Renae Kimble of Niagara Falls must be a Niagara Times reader, because she pounced on County Manager Greg Lewis and Legislature Chairman Bill Ross to demand answers about why, precisely, NYPA was refusing to even talk to Niagara County’s lobbyists.

Kimble would have received a copy of the troublesome memo from the lobbying firm that informed county leaders in no uncertain terms:

1. Discussed NYPA wind farm proposal with NYPA staff for the purpose of scheduling a meeting with NYPA officials to discuss next steps. (Note: Scheduling of this meeting has been delayed due to the ongoing litigation between NYPA and Niagara County.)

Lewis received a copy of that memo by email at 9:44 a.m. Monday morning, 34 hours (and one blog post!) before Tuesday’s meeting. Plenty of time to make a phone call or send an email.

So, maybe Renae Kimble actually expected the county manager—a guy who, after all, makes $115,000 a year—to know what was going on. To be able to answer her questions, even.

And maybe that’s why Ross asked: “Mr. Lewis, do you have any idea why our lobbyists would bring up that point about litigation?”

Lewis’ response?

“Um, no I don’t…That was simply on the report that they supplied the Legislature.”

That’s right, folks. Lewis has 34 hours to make a simple phone call, ask a few questions, and get control of what would seem an important issue. I mean, a quasi-governmental state agency just slapped the county’s lobbyists around, after all. You’d think he’d care, especially since our lobbyists are making $5,000 a month to be able to approach state agencies.

(Oh, and by the way, Greg—nice attempt to squirm out of ownership of this one, but judging by the header of the memo, the section called “Recipients,” the memo wasn’t actually “supplied” to the full Legislature—but it was “supplied” to you.

For $115,000 a year, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect the county manager to at least have a clue what’s going on in his county.

But, hey, see for yourself. There’s video and a copy of the memo from the county’s lobbyists below:

Election 2009

We at Niagara Times are often emailed various tips, stories, leads and information. Since we are just under two weeks away from the 2009 General Election, we'd like to encourage candidates and party officials to feel free to send us any information that may be relevant to this election season.

Should candidates themselves like us to publish a bio, campaign platform or simply why he/she is the best person for the office sought, please feel free to send it to us. We will do our best to print said information unedited, so please take into consideration length and content.

Our email is niagaratimes@hotmail.com. Do not send any attachments as they will not be opened due to virus concerns.

Over the next 12 days, we will print information received, as well as publish our election prognostications.

Legislature Must Say No To Muscarella

Congratulations to Niagara County Legislator Pete Smolinski for taking what is likely a difficult position in the discussion on paying Undersheriff Sam Muscarella an extra $5,080 on top of his salary of $87,172. Smolinski, who is Chairman of the county's Community & Safety Committee, opposes a resolution by spendthrift legislator Jason Cafarella to pay Muscarella the bonus for performing duties that are already outlined in his job description.

Let's call this what is is, folks - it's an attempt by Muscarella to bump up his pension. As we know, pensions of employees in the state retirement system, like Muscarella, are calculated using the employee's top three income earning years. The $5,000+ bump in salary will likely equate to another $3,000 a year in Muscarella's pension. For Cafarella to even think of bringing this resolution to the floor for consideration is a huge slap in the face of taxpayers who will foot the bill for Muscarella's pension.

Cafarella is trying to justify this moronic legislation by stating that Muscarella assumed the responsibilities of the Sheriff when Tom Beilein left the post to become the Chairman of the State Commission of Correction. What Cafarella doesn't tell us is that in the event of the Sheriff not fulfilling his term, the Undersheriff assumes those responsibilities. No questions asked, no additional compensation.

If he wanted additional compensation at all, he should have asked for it when the situation first came to light, not a year later. And if he knew then that he wouldn't be getting the extra cash, he could have abdicated his responsibilities or he could have just quit. Bringing this bullshit request to the Legislature now is pure garbage. It's just so sad that Cafarella is willing to make the taxpayers dig deeper to fund what we all know is nothing more than a money grab by Muscarella. Classy, guys....real classy.

NYPA Thugs At It Again

Well, that didn’t take long.

Just a few days ago, this blog reported that Niagara County had scored a huge win in its lawsuit to reverse the state’s sweep of NYPA’s “excess” funds, and get to the bottom of how an agency charged with producing power at the lowest possible cost to consumers could possibly have an extra half-billion dollars laying around.

Well, sources report to us that in the days since that win, the Power Authority has gone about freezing Niagara County out of the application process for wind turbines on the Great Lakes.

This blog has detailed concerns in the past over whether our county’s stimulus-fund lobbyists were getting access to key state agencies, and now we can most definitely report they are not.

Apparently, last week, when the lobbyists tried to set up a meeting with NYPA staff to discuss “next steps” in the application process, they were put off quite rudely and told that, as a result of the county’s lawsuit, there would be no further meetings. Up until the county’s attorneys beat NYPA’s state-paid lawyers in court, of course, these meetings were proceeding on track and everything was just hunky-dory.

Now think about that: One of the counties with some of the most Great Lakes frontage in New York State has been frozen out of the application process for a taxpayer-funded wind-power initiative because the big babies at NYPA’s headquarters in White Plains are throwing a tantrum. Brilliant.

This gives lie to so many things, of course: all the “green” talk about “green energy” and the like, for starters. Apparently, green energy isn’t bigger than politics.

It also blows a big hole in Richie Kessel’s promised change in tone in NYPA and Niagara County’s relationship.

Mostly, though, it peels back any pretense that NYPA is anything more than a politically-charged quasi-governmental agency. Of course, so do press releases like this, that quote every Dem politician in Western New York (frankly, we’re surprised they didn’t manage to quote the mayor of Wilson while they were at it).

So, we have now seen the new era of “my way or the highway” Democrat governance of New York. If we stand up to them, it’s cute and they send in Richard “Call Me Richie” Kessel to charm the County Legislature. If we stand up to them and win, they’ll try to cut our throats.

County Democrats Once Again In Turmoil

Though it's been a common occurrence at election time under Niagara County Democratic Committee Chairman Dan Rivera, the internal fighting within the party has now flared to new levels.

Party insiders have told us that Rivera's tunnel-vision focus on certain races while virtually ignoring other contests has refueled what had been a simmering animosity towards Rivera from other party leaders and Democratic elected officials.

More specifically, party insiders are concerned with:

• Rivera allowing 11th District County Legislator Paul Wojtaszek to go unopposed. Anyone and everyone who follows local politics knows that Niagara County GOP Chairman Henry Wojtaszek, Paul's brother, has beaten and humiliated Rivera for years. The fact that Rivera allowed Wojtaszek's brother to go unchallenged, especially in North Tonawanda, Rivera's home turf, has more than a few Dem insiders chuckling at Rivera's incompetence.
  
• The refusal of Rivera to assist Lewiston Supervisor Fred Newlin, who is engaged in the most challenging race of his political career. Facing a double threat from Steve Reiter and Kathryn Mazierski, Rivera has refused to put aside his personal differences with Lewiston Dem Chairwoman Diane Roberts to provide aid to Newlin.
• Rivera's obsession with winning the First Legislative District seat currently held by Jason Murgia. Rivera dumped a dozen pieces of mail, costing thousands of dollars, into the district prior to the September Primary Election. Granted, Marasco did win the election, but many are perplexed by the action since the seat will in all likelihood be part of the consolidation/downsizing of the county legislature when they re-district next year. With Niagara Falls likely to lose two seats in the county legislature, Rivera likely set the stage for a 2011 primary between two Dems, Marasco and Renae Kimble, instead of simply waiting for the downsizing to occur and allowing Kimble to challenge Murgia straight up.
  
• Allowing North Tonawanda Mayor Larry Soos to flounder. Once again, in Rivera's backyard, Rivera has done little to help Soos combat the serious challenge from Republican Rob Ortt. Many Dem insiders are saying that Rivera's inability or unwillingness to provide Soos with the resources he needs to fend off Ortt is indicative of Rivera's "my way of the highway" approach.
• Rivera pulling party resources off the campaign of Nick Melson in the Fifth Legislative District. After Melson, who works as an aide for Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, lost his Working Families Party primary to Vince Sandanato through a write-in campaign by Sandanato, Rivera was so infuriated with Melson that he pulled two campaign workers who had been solely dedicated to Melson and reassigned them to Marasco. (One Dem commented that Rivera dumped Melson quicker than he did two years ago after county legislature candidate Bob LaBarbera's DWI arrest). This has left the Melson campaign in a serious lurch and some even greater hard feelings between Rivera and DelMonte.
  

On top of all of this, the fact that there are seven county legislature seats currently held by the GOP majority which are unopposed is not sitting well with many Dems in the county.

What does all of this mean? That remains to be seen, but in all likelihood it means the GOP will continue to hold a very comfortable majority in the county legislature, and a very real possibility of the GOP picking up wins in both the North Tonawanda mayoral and Lewiston supervisor races, two of the Democrats last bastions of success in the county. As for Rivera, he has a lot of work to do in order to get back into the good graces of those in his own party. If election night plays out the way it's shaping up, that effort may be futile.

A Little Levity - Though Quite Appropriate

A guy from Buffalo dies and is sent to Hell. He had been a horrible man his entire life.

The devil puts him to work breaking up rocks with a sledgehammer. To make it worse, he cranks up the temperature and the humidity. After a couple of days, the devil checks in on his victim to see if he is suffering adequately.

The devil is baffled as the guy from Buffalo is happily swinging his hammer and whistling a happy tune. The devil walks up to him and says, "I don't understand this. I've turned the heat way up, it's humid, you're crushing rocks; why are you so happy?"

The guy from Buffalo, with a big smile, looks at the devil and replies, "This is great! It reminds me of August in Buffalo. Hot, humid, a good place to work. It reminds me of home. This is fantastic!"

The devil, extremely perplexed, walks away to ponder the remarks of the guy from Buffalo . Then he decides to drop the temperature, send down a driving rain and torrential wind. Soon, Hell is a wet, muddy mess. Walking in mud up to his knees with dust blowing into his eyes, the guy from Buffalo is happily slogging through the mud pushing a wheelbarrow full of crushed rocks. Again, the devil asks how he can be happy in such conditions. The guy from Buffalo replies, "This is great! Just like April in Buffalo. It reminds me of working out in the yard with spring planting!"

The devil is now completely baffled but more determined to make the guy from Buffalo suffer. He makes the temperature plummet. Suddenly Hell is blanketed in snow and ice. Confident that this will surely make the guy from Buffalo unhappy, the devil checks in on him. He is again shocked at what he sees.

The guy from Buffalo is dancing, singing, and twirling his sledgehammer as he cavorts in glee. "How can you be so happy? Don't you know its 40 below zero!?" screams the devil. Jumping up and down, the guy from Buffalo throws a snowball at the devil and yells, "Hell's frozen over! This means the BILLS won the Super Bowl."

Have a nice weekend.

State Senate Dems Continue To Spend Recklessly

Western New York's own Bill Stachowski and his fellow Senate Democrats have just hired a “Director of Upstate Relations,” and tapped a controversial ally of ex-Erie County Democrat Chairman Steve Pigeon to fill the post.

David Pfaff now works as the $70,000-a-year “director of upstate relations” for Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr., a Democrat. The new position reports directly to Espada, the Bronx-based Senator that Stachowski helped install as Senate leader this summer.

This position is in addition to the directors of all of the other Senate Democrat's directors of the Senate’s upstate offices, including offices in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse. They are controlled by the president of the Senate, Malcolm Smith, who hails from Queens. But since neither Smith nor Espada recognize the authority of the other, they both need to create these offices across the state.

What's sickening is that the state is facing a $4 billion deficit, but the Senate majority leader does not want to go without his own director of upstate relations.

All of the people from Upstate who have put people like Stachowski and Antoine Thompson, who may be the dumbest person on the planet, in office are getting exactly what they deserve. Unfortunately, those of of us who know better are also paying the price.

We're said it before, and we'll it again - if you vote for a Dem at the state level, you are voting to send all of the power and money to New York City. Get your collective heads out of your asses people, this is not about parties, it's about Upstate getting our fair share and ending the tyranny bestowed upon us by New York City Dems.

Once again, watch idiot Senator Kevin Parker give his take on how invaluable Upstate is. If you think he's in the minority with his thinking, you're dead wrong.

Put The Animals Away Forever

I've noticed that as I've gotten older, I've become immune to certain societal acts, and that's sad. I guess the more exposure one has to just how evil man can be, it gets harder and harder to sympathize. It's not that reading or seeing a story about murder, rape, arson, assault or whatever one person can so easily do to another doesn't bother me, it just seems so prevalent in our society that it's hard to get a handle on it.

This story out of Palm Beach really struck a nerve. How people can do this is beyond me. The story goes into some of the most graphic details, but the actions of these four animals against a 35 year-old mother and her 12 year-old son include gang raping and sodomizing the mother, forcing her and her son to have sex with each other and then dousing the two victims with cleaning solutions in an attempt to destroy DNA evidence.

How can people such as these four get so much pleasure through the suffering of others?

Rape is a horrible, life-altering crime that no one should ever go through. But to make the mother perform oral sex on her own son is so far beyond sadistic, these animals need to be locked up for the rest of their lives.

Unfortunately, the families of the defendants don't see it that way - a melee ensued after the animals were sentenced to life in prison.

And of course, during the trial, the defense attorneys and the defense psychologists lined up to portray these animals as poor, poor products of their environment. The defense attorneys and two psychologists who testified for them argued that the youths were products of troubled upbringings. One was born cocaine addicted, another lost his father at a young age and another was constantly beaten by his grandmother.

On defendant's mother testified that she had been treated for mental illness and alcoholism, and herself was raped twice. His father testified that he had been in and out of recovery for drug addiction. The father went on to say, "I'm asking you to give him a second chance and take into account what he has endured."

Are you fucking kidding me? You raised this animal to be just like you, and you want him to get a second chance? What about what the victims of his crimes have endured, do they get a second chance to get their lives back? The answer is no, they don't, and neither do these four animals that perpetrated this hideous crime.

Let's hope these four get what they've given a thousand times over in prison.

Union Sun & Journal's Marren The Real Coward In Lockport

It's been a long time since I mentioned the name Tim Marren, primarily because I don't get the Union Sun & Journal. The idea of paying 50 cents for a paper that has such little success at keeping me interested simply isn't worth it. I'll periodically take a quick look at the online version of the paper, but it's such a watered-down version of hard copy that even wasting the three minutes out of my busy day which it takes to read the online version holds little value for me.

However, when I friend drew my attention to an editorial that Marren, the Editor of the USJ, published in the October 10 paper, I figured I'd take a peek.

The piece, which is entitled "Council let taxpayers down", centers on the removal of a complete curbside recycling program from the city's 2010 budget by the City of Lockport's Common Council.

Now, on the surface, I don't disagree with Marren. The city should have a full curbside recycling program, and I believe they someday will. Where Marren goes woefully wrong is in two pieces of the editorial.

Firstly, he calls the council cowards. Maybe he thinks that this is the way to get things done, by labeling people and lobbing personal attacks at them. Maybe in the Marren household, Marren comes home to whatever poor soul took his hand in marriage and says, "Honey, I called the Council cowards today! Aren't ya proud of me?" And maybe that poor, poor woman says, "Oh, Timmy, you're such a big man! Maybe some day you'll move up to editor of the Metro Community News! You keep hurling those insults and personal attacks, sweetheart!"

In the real world, that's not how you accomplish things. You come up with substantive and productive ways to convey your message. Obviously Marren has never learned this.

Where Marren goes even further off track is in his labeling the Council cowards because the "council wasn’t prepared to make the necessary cuts needed within the current budget to afford adding recycling". Marren goes on to say, "Cut, cut, cut. Find the money."

Here's the problem with that, and it is absolutely indicative of just how weak-minded Marren is: Any idiot can say "cut, cut, cut". Marren has been in the community for many years. He says that he knows the people of Lockport want recycling, so he obviously has the pulse of the people. So, what do they want cut, Tim? Police? Fire? Streets? Parks? Garbage pick up? Roads plowed?

The real truth is that Marren is the coward. He's a coward because he can say that we need to reduce personnel. He can say that the city should look at privatizing of the fire department. He can say the city workers must contribute to their ever -increasing health insurance and pension costs. But he won't because he's a coward.

That being said, I do want to thank Marren for reinforcing for me the reasons why I don't get the USJ. It's a rag, he's a punk and the paper itself is barely sufficient to line the the bottom of the cage of Scott Leffler's new hedgehog.

Keep up the good work, Tim. I'm sure circulation will be down to nothing soon enough.

Best Wishes To Ric Marasco

We've been critical of Niagara County Legislature candidate Rick Marasco of Niagara Falls for a variety of reasons over the years, including his actions during Governor David Paterson's visit to Niagara Falls earlier this year, the details of which we won't rehash here today.

That being said, although we have very different political philosophies from Mr. Marasco, we want to wish him all the best in his ongoing health battle.

As many of you know, Ric was rushed to the hospital three weeks ago. Shortly thereafter, he underwent emergency brain surgery to remove a portion of a brain tumor, though we understand doctors were unable to remove the entire tumor due to its proximity to the brain's memory center.

We are told that Ric is home resting now.

Once again, very best wishes to Ric in his battle. Politics certainly pales in comparison to what he is enduring and what he will likely face in the future.

Friday Ruminations

As military officials are preparing to ask Obama for as many as another 60,000 troops to add to the 68,000 already serving in Afghanistan, the level of hypocrisy from B.O. and his supporters is sickeningly astounding. Wasn't it Obama who said he would be bringing our military personnel home shortly after he took office? Wasn't it the supporters of this fake who crucified Bush for leading out country into war to in the name of preserving freedom? Not only is Obama sustaining Bush's military policies, he's augmenting them. What a fraud.

Speaking of Obama, I wonder if he thinks it's too much to ask of the Niagara County Democratic Party to spell his name right on their "Elected Officials" page. Once again, nice job Dan. You do such a fine job representing your party.

So the State of New York is facing a multi-billion deficit, and what do the NYC Dems that control that State Assembly & State Senate do? They raise their per diem by nearly 7 percent.

The resolution by the Niagara County Legislature opposing the proposed expansion of the CWM landfill in Lewiston because it will impede the county's economic development efforts is nothing more than pandering to one loud-mouth, overzealous opponent of the project. The attempt to connect the economic development efforts of the county with the proposed expansion is, at best, a stretch.

As Lockport Mayor Mike Tucker said, an arbitrator's ruling that the city's fire department must have a minimum of 10 men on each shift is "absurd". The ruling will cost the city's taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's time the city took a serious look at the privatization of it's ambulance and fire protection services.

So we have our own local version of the Octomom. Look, I guess everyone has the right to procreate, but that doesn't mean I should have to pay for it. This couple looks like they have a very loving and caring family, and that's great. But the fact of the matter is that they both work at Wal-Mart, and the reality is that they will likely end up on some form of social services. It sickens me that the mainstream refuses to acknowledge this fact.

We're hearing that the budget that outgoing Wheatfield Supervisor Tim Demler has proposed has some serious problems in it, including a revenue line of $400,000 from the Oz project that will never materialize. This is the type of smoke & mirrors garbage that drove voters to boot him out of office.

Lastly, how pathetic is your city when people would rather lose their jobs than live in that city? Obviously for the folks who chose to get fired rather than live in Niagara Falls, it's extremely pathetic. It's all good, though. Falls Mayor Paul Dyster has things in the Cataract City flowing so smoothly that he has time to go to the Hardrock to give a toast to a fictional TV couple that spent one day in the city. God, it's just so pathetic. Why not give them the damn key to the city since they spent one day in your city like idiot Byron Brown did with Terrell Owens?

County Gets Huge Win In NYPA Lawsuit

In a decision that will surely create serious concern within the New York State Power Authority, State Supreme Court Justice Ralph Boniello has rejected an effort by State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli to change the venue of the county’s lawsuit against NYPA.

As you may recall, Niagara County is suing NYPA to reverse the sweep of $544 million in NYPA overcharges by Governor David Paterson and the State Legislature. The monies were diverted to the state’s general fund as part of this year’s state budget.

The attempt to change venues was a smart one by DiNapoli. Changing the venue to Albany, which DiNapoli was seeking to do, would have surely led to the case being dismissed. After all, Albany politicians and their downstate brethren view us as little more than a fly in the ointment. Well, that fly just became the elephant in the room with Boniello's decision.

Considering that this blog has been as critical as anyone, any organization or any media outlet of the actions of NYPA, we're ecstatic with this development. As we told NYPA CEO Richard Kessel in our September 4 post, we've had enough of NYPA taking advantage of this community and our resources. By the way, Kessel still hasn't responded to our invitation to respond to that post - so much for keeping those lines of communications open that Kessel likes to talk about.

NYPA and Kessel are going to have a hard time with this lawsuit. It's going to force them to open their books and we're going to get a real nice look at how all of those tidy NYPA profits are derived. More importantly, we're going to see where those profits are going because I can assure you, they're not staying in Niagara County.

This county overcame a significant hurdle with this ruling. If NYPA wants to continue to battle, we say "bring it on". The county has been screwed by NYPA for so long, they have nothing to lose. Take this battle to the end, boys - we're counting on you.

Virtuoso Has No Soul

Dennis Virtuoso is an asshole.

I thought about writing something less strident, less combative this morning, but I kept coming back to that first sentence because it was just so…well, so accurate.

For those of you just catching up, last night the Legislature confirmed a new member who will hold the 9th District seat in North Tonawanda, which has been vacant for a month. At the time the seat became vacant, Virtuoso was among the loudest voices demanding that the Legislature’s Majority Caucus act quickly to fill the seat.

So, they did just that. They sought applications, they held interviews, and they settled on a candidate. Actually, by “they”, I mean a bi-partisan panel that included Democrat Jason Cafarella. That panel then made a unanimous recommendation of a Democrat named Barbara Zellner, a 41-year-old former PTA president, homemaker, and waitress.

Now, I’ve never met Ms. Zellner, and doubt I ever will. Her political career is only guaranteed to be three months long. But I can assure you right now, Barbara Zellner has a lot more class than Dennis Virtuoso.

Why do I say this? Because Virtuoso is a back-stabber who doesn’t have the balls to insult someone to their face, that’s why.

Last night, the Legislature confirmed Zellner unanimously—following in the steps of the hiring committee (the one that Cafarella sat on) which, as I mentioned, recommended her unanimously. A friend who witnessed the spectacle in the chamber actually was impressed by the Democrats’ willingness to support the nominee unanimously. Maybe common sense, or human decency, or just the realization that Zellner would only be a legislator for three months had settled in.

Of course, Virtuoso didn’t mind blasting his new colleague for “reporter” Mark Scheer of the Niagara Gazette. Because Zellner decided to caucus with the Majority, Dennis called her a “turncoat” and much worse. And, he decided to make himself the arbiter of what constitutes a “real” Democrat. But most despicably, he decided to unload on a colleague who’s going to spend all of three months in the Legislature—three months!

Honestly, I’m not quite sure what Virtuoso expected. If you’re a legislator, and have all of three months to make an impact, are you really going to go sit in a minority that only holds a quarter—a pathetic QUARTER—of the seats in the chamber? Or are you going to go where the power is and where you just might get to make an actual difference and take care of your constituents?

Of course, maybe the fact the Dennis showed absolutely no interest in this process had something to do with it. A friend in the Legislature tells me that Majority Leader Rick Updegrove from Lockport attended the interviews with both candidates for the job, while Dennis was nowhere to be found. (Incidentally, the interviews were held in Sanborn—closer to Virtuoso’s house than Updegrove’s.) If you were Zellner, you might conclude that Updegrove actually gives a damn about the Legislature and the business of governing and decide he’s the leader you want to follow, since Dennis couldn’t even show up.

What’s really sad, though, is that Dennis Virtuoso—a man with plenty of political enemies—had a chance to open a door and start off a new relationship with a new colleague with whom he had no history, no fights, no baggage…but maybe, just maybe, some common ground. And by this morning, he had already slammed that door shut.

It’s no wonder he can’t even get Democrats to join his caucus.

What a tool.

Sedita Story a P.R. Disaster, Politically Intriguing

If you're a political junkie and have not yet read this story from the Buffalo News, I highly recommend taking a few minutes to look at the piece. I can assure you, you're not going to feel any better about politics after reading it.

As you undoubtedly heard if you live in Western New York, former Assistant District Attorney Mark Sacha was terminated from his position earlier this week by District Attorney Frank Sedita for going public with his assertion that political insider Steve Pigeon should have been prosecuted for election fraud. Sedita says that as a "cooperating witness," Pigeon received the "functional equivalent of immunity" from then- District Attorney Frank J. Clark in a case involving the 2007 campaign for county executive by former West Seneca Supervisor Paul T. Clark.

The problem for Sedita is that Clark says no such arrangement was ever made. Clark acknowledges that Pigeon was indeed a witness, but for all intents and purposes, is saying that Sedita is using him as a way out of this mess. Clark isn't going for it.

The story goes through a multitude of he said/she said/he said scenarios.

We're not talking about some rinky-dink community here. We're talking about one of the largest counties in the state, some serious political players and huge allegations of improprieties. It's quite obvious to anyone who's been following this debacle that it is not going to be resolved anytime soon, and certainly not by local officials.

It is time for the Attorney General to jump in. Of course, considering the fact that all of the players in this fiasco are Democrats, the state will likely proceed with extreme caution as any findings of misdeeds will likely burn of of their own. But that shouldn't matter. It does, but it shouldn't.

Stay tuned for more of politics at its worst. This situation is far from over.

Gillibrand Continues To Disappoint

New York's junior Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, has caught a significant amount of heat for being one of just seven United States Senators to reject a Senate plan to deny federal housing dollars to the left-wing radical group ACORN.

The group has been accused of voter registration fraud during last year’s presidential campaign and recently was cut off from assisting the Census Bureau during the next census because of repeated allegations of misdeeds by the organization. Inflammatory undercover videos that show ACORN employees counseling people posing as a pimp and a prostitute on how to pay workers under the table and evade taxes have crushed the credibility of the group.

Gillibrand is unapologetic of her support for the group, saying they do good work that should continue. Shockingly, ACORN endorsed Gillibrand earlier this year. Gillibrand is likely to face a stiff challenge from former governor George Pataki in 2010.

In addition, Gillibrand is steadfast in her support of Employee Free Choice Act, also known as check-card. If you don't know what this job-killing legislation is, you should probably take a moment to read this piece.

It is believed that the enactment of the incredibly misnamed legislation check could destroy millions of jobs – including 600,000 in 2010 alone – by “eliminat[ing] secret ballot organizing elections” and “mandat[ing] government-directed arbitration.” House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) says the bill “is not about workers’ rights. It’s about meeting the demands of special-interest allies who helped Democrats take control of Washington.”

Still there is Gillibrand standing firm in her support of of EFCA. And ACORN.

It's interesting because there are mixed feelings about Gillibrand within her own party. When she first took over for Hilary Clinton, Dems labeled her too conservative on many issues, including guns and immigration.

She's worked hard to buck that image because she knows she will need all of the resources that labor can bring to the campaign if she is to win the election next year.

Personally, I had high hopes for Gillibrand when he was first appointed, thinking she may be moderate enough to bring a bi-partisan approach to the Senate. Unfortunately, she has proven me wrong, big time. She is in bed with labor and doesn't care one iota about bringing jobs to New York.

Even though this election is over a year away, I've already cast my vote - for whomever is opposing Kirstin Gillibrand.

Friday Ruminations

Thank God that everything in this country is in such fine shape that Obama can take time away from his Presidential duties to fly to Copenhagen to lobby for the Olympics for Chicago. Of course, him being out of the country may impede his weekly Leno/Letterman appearances.

Speaking of Obama, since he's in Copenhagen, he may not have heard that the country- THIS country - lost 263,000 jobs in September as the nation's unemployment rate soars to nearly 10%. How's that "Change You Can Believe In" thing workin' out fer ya?

The testimony of two witnesses who stated that they wrote in Steve Reiter for Supervisor in Lewiston on the Working Families line may heavily influence the outcome of the November election. Reiter is represented in court by well known GOP attorney John Ciampoli while Fred Newlin is represented by First Amendment rights expert & Lewiston Dem Committee Chairwoman Diane Roberts.

Former Governor and likely U.S. Senate candidate George Pataki had his official portrait unveiled at the State Capitol yesterday. Eliot Spitzer has yet to have his portrait commissioned. I gotta tell you, I think it's a real stretch to have his portrait hanging in the Capitol. He was a disgrace before he was Governor, he was a disgrace while Governor and he resigned a disgrace. Why would he want his picture there, to be the subject of ridicule everyday?

Kudos to Niagara County Sheriff Jim Voutour for his utilization of technology and social media to keep the public informed and to receive tips. Keep up the good work, Jimmy V.

Get ready to kiss a little but more of your freedom goodbye - Obama has banned texting while driving for federal workers and is setting the stage of a nationwide ban.

Defense attorney Andrew LoTempio apparently thinks that threatening Niagara County with a big bill will get his scumbag client off. LoTempio and his client deserve each other.

The Sabres open the regular season tomorrow night. Hopefully they'll give us something to cheer about - the Bills certainly haven't. I think my Bills prediction of 5-11 may have been a bit optimistic.

Tragedy has once again struck the community of Wilson. God bless the friends and families of these two young men whose lives were taken much too young.

Barker Rapes Taxpayers, Klatt Unapologetic

Well how about those Barker Central School District administrators just sticking it to the taxpayers. In just a sickening revelation of the district's finances by the state comptroller's office, the Barker Central School District has been stashing millions of dollars in overstuffed reserve funds for the past five years, to the tune of nearly $9 million in accumulated surpluses from 2004-05 through 2008-09.

District Superintendent Roger Klatt said the district was using the reserve funds to protect itself from the possible results of litigation over the property assessed value of the AES Corp. power plant in Somerset. Here we have another overpaid bureaucrat who has done nothing to cut costs in a district that has among the highest paid teachers in Western New York and the best facilities taxpayer's money can buy.

Since this AES issue became so prominent a few years back, the Barker School District has cried wolf to anyone and everyone who would hear their cries. They cried when AES fought for a lower assessment and they cried when the Niagara County IDA granted AES a PILOT. What were they crying about? They were crying about how devastated the school district would be from the loss of revenue they would incur from the reduced assessment.

Now we come to find out that the whole thing was just one big hoax perpetrated upon the people of the school district. What a disgrace.

When the Tax Foundation releases their study showing the highest taxed counties in the country when taken as a percentage of home values, Niagara County is right there. But as we've said before, this tax burden is fed by city taxes, town taxes, village taxes, county taxes, special district taxes (water & sewer) and school taxes. Any idiot knows that the overwhelming majority of the basis for the Tax Foundation's findings are school taxes. To think that the people of this community, just ONE community in Niagara County, have been overtaxed to the tune of millions of dollars by the taxing jurisdiction of the Barker Central School District is unconscionable.

Despite the fact that the audit said the reserve funds were not properly used and that the district should consider cutting taxes, Klatt is unapologetic. And that is what is so infuriating about the situation. People like Klatt who have spent their entire lives feeding at the public trough have no regard for what those of us who work in the private sector must do to pay our health insurance, save for retirement or simply have enough money to take a vacation. They take and take and have no remorse for the burdens that they place on taxpayers.

Until that mentality is changed, and true consolidation is implemented (not this Kevin Gaughn garbage), we, the taxpayers, will get screwed and screwed over and over again.

DiNapoli's Proposal Just Another Tax

Although idiocy and Albany go hand in hand, I'm continuously astounded at the level of ignorance that comes out the of state capital.

The latest lunacy comes from State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

Because DiNapoli believes that we are under-charging out of state students to get their higher education at SUNY schools, he would like the SUNY system to significantly raise the tuition of out of state residents. He believes that SUNY could take in $340 million in additional revenue over four years if it gradually brought out-of-state tuition more in line with other states in the region.

I'm going to go out on a limb and state that DiNapoli failed economics. You see, one of the most basic principles of economics states that if you increase the price of an item, demand is likely to decline. If the amount of students coming from out of state declines, the number of adults staying here upon graduation is also going to decline.

Considering that the "brain drain" is one of the most significant problems facing New York, one would think that the state would have a better solution to addressing the issue than simply placing another tax on the backs of people (students) who have chosen to do business (go to college) in this state. But I guess that's what we get when we're stupid enough to elect Democrats to every statewide office in the state, let them maintain their stranglehold in the State Assembly and hand them the State Senate. You've chosen the party of tax and spend liberalism, then you bitch about the taxes in the state. Amazing. But I digress.

DiNapoli needs to get his head out of his ass. This is nothing but another tax, fee, assessment or whatever you want to call it. How about this novel idea: Propose CUTTING SPENDING, you dolt. Continuing to lay your bloated budgets on the backs of overtaxed New Yorkers is not the answer. But with clowns like Paterson, DiNapoli, Suozzi, Sampson, Silver, Smith and the like running the show, why the hell should we expect anything else?

Dems Silence On Monserrate Disgraceful

I never really thought of a man assaulting a woman as a political issue, but apparently the New York State Senate has made it one. The trial of Senator Hiram Monserrate, who allegedly slashed the face of his girlfriend, began this week in New York City. According to the New York Post, Monserrate's girlfriend told the emergency room doctor this account of what happened:

"You want the water? You want the water? Here’s the water!"

With those angry words, state Sen. Hiram Monserrate smashed a glass into his girlfriend Karla Giraldo’s face, an ER doctor quoted her as saying.

Testifying yesterday in Monserrate’s assault trial at Queens Supreme Court, Dr. Dawne Kort, who works at Long Island Jewish Hospital, said Giraldo sobbed constantly while in the ER on Dec. 19.

“I can’t believe he did this to me. My face! My face! I can’t believe my face,” Kort said Giraldo told her.

The doctor, who speaks English and Spanish, said Giraldo, who is from Ecuador, told her she and Monserrate “were fighting and she asked for a glass of water and he shoved it in her face.”

(snip)

Asked how Giraldo reacted, Kort said: “She said many times it was not an accident. They were fighting and he took a piece of glass and cut her face.”

Giraldo became hysterical again when Kort said she was going to call the police, saying: “No! No! You can’t call the police!”

But Kort said she did call cops because “it appeared to be a stab wound. It’s hospital policy that all stab wounds get reported to the police.”

Now, everyone is entitled to their day in court. Of course, Monserrate was smart enough to choose a non-jury trial. I assume he wouldn't be too keen on a jury with women on it. I'd think his hope is to get a politically connected judge to hear his case.

Nonetheless, not a single member of the Senate Democratic caucus has said a word about this. They are so desperate to hang on to their majority that they are willing to sit next to a man who slashed his girlfriend's face, requiring 20+ stitches, allegedly.

So the question begs: what kind of man does this to a woman? And what kind of man sits next to someone who could do this without saying a word? Thank God there are some on the other side of the aisle who have the sack to call Monserrate out for this brutal assault.

Click here to see the video of him dragging his bleeding & and crying girlfriend from their apartment.

Council's Concerns Unwarranted

On the surface, it may appear that the application for a grant to turn a building on Main Street in Niagara Falls into a wellness center by Niagara Falls Democratic Party Chairman Michael Lewis and his wife would create a conflict of interest for the city council. After all, the entire body is Democratic, and the man who they need to sway at endorsement time is the same man whose application they need to prove.

But that should not be the case. If Lewis and his wife have met all of the criteria of the application process, should they be excluded from eligibility simply because of his affiliation with the party? Absolutely not.

Several Council members are already running for cover because they're concerned it would be a conflict for elected officials who seek endorsements from the Democratic Party and benefit from its fundraising efforts to vote on the proposal. That's a cop-out. Do your due diligence and there won't be a problem.

The city is crying out for economic development. We're going to go out on a limb and suggest that Lewis is likely investing some of his own money on top of the grant. In addition, Niagara Falls isn't exactly a beacon of healthy living.

If someone, such as Lewis, wants to invest in the community while providing a service that will likely improve the quality of life of residents, give him the opportunity.

Given the city's history of political corruption, it's not surprising that the Council would be hesitant to immediately act on such a proposal. That being said, let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater - the city cannot afford to be chasing out investors.

ESD's Deception Runs Deep

We’ve always found Christina Orsi to be little more than a more than a cheerleader carrying out the orders of political bosses than a real economic development official. Several friends say that Orsi, the Western Regional Director for the Empire State Development Corp., doesn't do much. Actually, her vapid smile is about her only asset.

That’s why when news reached us from a more-than-casual friend inside ESD that Orsi had been on a tear all day Wednesday, we chuckled. It seems that the Niagara County Legislature’s decision to take ESD to task for its decision to give 1.3 million taxpayer dollars to First Niagara Bank to relocate its headquarters—and its highest-paying jobs—to Buffalo ruffled her feathers.

Apparently the final straw for Orsi was a phone call from “reporter” Mark Scheer, whose piece in Wednesday's Niagara Gazette reads like little more than a re-hashing of an ESD press release.

Our friend inside ESD said that Orsi punted Scheer to ESD’s PR flack and then spent the next 10-20 minutes “swearing up a blue storm.”

But instead of taking all this as a learning point, Orsi decided it would be a good idea to completely burn her bridges. So, she called Niagara County Legislator Renae Kimble, who sponsored a resolution at Tuesday night’s Leg meeting that called on the State Legislature to bar ESD from using taxpayer dollars to finance moving jobs from one county to another inside New York State.

We’d have loved to have been able to listen in on her telephone conversation with Orsi. Because it seems, our friend at ESD tells us, Orsi decided against trying to smooth over relations with Niagara County in her phone call, and instead immediately launched into telling Kimble that she “had no clue what she was talking about” and, our personal favorite, “Niagara County didn’t need to handle this this way.”

No, of course they didn’t. They could have just let ESD crap all over us.

But Orsi wasn’t done damaging her relationship with Niagara County. She then called Economic Development Czar Sam Ferraro at the Niagara County IDA’s offices in Sanborn and “tried to ream Sam out.” Actually, they used a description involving new orifices, but we'll avoid the blatant unpleasantness - for now.

Apparently, Orsi then spent several minutes attacking the Niagara County Legislature’s Republican majority for Kimble’s resolution. (Apparently that Kimble is a Democrat and that it passed unanimously escaped her.)

The real kicker came, though, when she told Ferraro that “Niagara County could have at least called us before they did this.” Apparently Ferraro was barely able to contain his laughter as he reminded Orsi that ESD never bothered to call Niagara County before it announced it had moved First Niagara’s headquarters to downtown Buffalo. Ferraro may have also been reacting to the fact that, the day after the First Niagara move, he called Orsi, only to be put off for six hours before she returned his phone call late in the day on a Friday because she “decided to sleep in,” as her secretary put it.

Let’s be very clear here: Orsi handled this situation in a disastrous manner, and this move was political. Empire State Development is apparently in the business of raping Niagara County and asking for a kiss afterwards. And we’re willing to back up that claim. Below is ESD’s news release announcing that they’d just financed First Niagara’s move to Buffalo. Notice all the Erie County pols who are quoted in the release—and that no one from Niagara County was quoted. And then decide whether you believe ESD’s statement, today, that “It was important to ESD to ensure that both Erie and Niagara Counties benefited from First Niagara’s expansion.” (Click to enlarge the below images)

First Niagara, ESD Screw Niagara County

In what can only be described as another kick in the groin of Niagara County, First Niagara was given a $1.3 million incentive by the state of New York's Empire State Development Corporation to move its headquarters from Pendleton to Buffalo.

Now, FN is trying to spin the move with a "the Pendleton office will remain at capacity" angle. Obviously the folks at First Niagara think we're complete idiots. Sure, the space will be utilized as a glorified call center, at least until the bank's latest round of IDA tax breaks come to a close, but the highest paying jobs are being sucked right out of our community.

It's always disgusted me that the IDA of one community can solicit the businesses of another community to move. Now we have the state giving incentives to a company to move from one community to another, and it's a goddamn disgrace. How anyone would think this is a good move is mind boggling. The state is doing nothing more than cannibalizing businesses.

Here's an idea Empire State Development and New York State Legislature: try making the state a little bit more business friendly. Try lowering taxes and utility rates; try eliminating Wicks Law, Scaffold Law and the Taylor Law; try not caving into the special interests who own your asses.

I laugh out loud when I hear these candidate forums and read these candidate questionnaires when they ask elected officials what they're going to do to create jobs. IT IS NOT THE JOB OF GOVERNMENT TO CREATE JOBS; IT IS THE JOB OF THE GOVERNMENT TO CULTIVATE AND CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT THAT IS CONDUCIVE TO JOB GROWTH. It's not a difficult concept to grasp. Then again, maybe it is.

As for First Niagara, I believe that I have five accounts with them. I will be pulling all of them out. If they're not committed to my community, why the hell should I have the least bit of commitment to them? I'll move my accounts to HSBC. At least the Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation doesn't pretend to be a local bank.

If you live in Niagara County, especially Lockport, where the former Lockport Savings Bank got its long forgotten roots, join me in telling First Niagara exactly where they can stick their deposits.

Not Such A Cute Couple

Earlier this year, the Wheatfield Republican Committee pulled its endorsement of incumbent supervisor Tim Demler. Subsequently, a significant number of allegations have been lodged against Demler's handling of town affairs.

When the committee pulled the endorsement, many said it was because of Demler's alleged affair with a town employee, Tracy Gurnett. Demler vehemently denied the rumors of nailing a married town employee.

Now, if the allegations of improprieties against Demler in his dealings with town matters do in fact prove to be true, the law will handle them appropriately. But when it comes to sleeping with another man's wife, that's just slimey. I'm not saying the female doesn't have some culpability, but Demler should know better, if the rumors are indeed true.

This video was shot in Jamestown earlier this year, and it features Demler and Gurnett.
We'll let you decide for yourself.

Congratulations to the voters of Wheatfield for dumping this slime.

Breaking News -- Newlin Storms Out of Senior Center

Lewiston Supervisor Fred Newlin chugged on over to the Lewiston Senior Center today to talk to the older men and women as they dined on their usual Tuesday lunch. But according to some knowledgeable sources, when Fred got there he was angry that one little old lady had the audacity to be wearing a Steve Reiter for Supervisor t-shirt. Newlin pulled the Senior Center director aside and demanded that granny be told change her t-shirt or hit the road.

Obviously Fred Newlin never learned that you don’t badger a senior citizen because this particular woman refused. The director demanded again, at Newlin’s urging, that the lady leave or change her clothes and this started a little dust up. Again the lady refused, saying this is a free country and she can wear whatever she wants.

Well Newlin apparently sensed that his demands on this senior lady had turned the crowd hostile toward him so he said he’d come back next week and bid a hasty retreat out of there.

Clearly, Newlin’s legendary thin skin is already showing and the campaign hasn’t really started yet. The only thing rising faster that Newlin’s temper these days are the electric bills of Lewiston homeowners….but that’s a blog for another day.

Why Isn’t ACORN Vote Fraud A Criminal RICO?

Why Isn’t ACORN Vote Fraud A Criminal RICO?

By Former US Attorney for Philadelphia David W. Marston

The Old Prosecutor
You don't need to be John Gotti--or even Tony Soprano--to be prosecuted criminally as a racketeer. You could, instead, be the ACORN employee who gave 19-year-old Freddie Johnson dollar bills and cigarettes in exchange for signing 73 fraudulent voter registration cards in critical swing-state Ohio.

Indeed, beyond high-profile Mafia prosecutions, the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act--RICO--has been used against targets as disparate as the Key West Police Department, financier Michael Milken and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club. The purpose of RICO is to focus on the criminal "enterprise," not just individual criminals, to prosecute and eliminate criminal organizations with multi-state or national reach. On conviction, RICO criminal enterprises forfeit all of their assets, and individual defendants are subject to stiff prison sentences.

RICO cases need three key elements. Criminal charges can be brought against: (i) a "person," who is part of an (ii) an "enterprise" which includes any legal entity (iii) which engages in a "pattern of racketeering activity" (defined as committing any 2 of 35 named crimes within a 10-year period). And yes, fraud is one of the crimes that can trigger RICO.

So let's consider the enterprise called ACORN. A successor to the militant and now defunct Welfare Rights Organization, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now has engaged in an in-your-face 30-year effort to "organize the poor" and bring about "social change."

Typical ACORN tactics: In 1995, 500 ACORN protesters yelling "Nuke Newt" and "We Want Newt!" overwhelmed hotel security at the Washington Hilton, where Gingrich was scheduled to speak; the Speaker's speech was cancelled. On Capitol Hill, ACORN thugs shouting "CRA Has Got To Stay" and "Banks for Greed, Not for Need" muscled their way into control of a House Banking Committee hearing; they were finally removed by Capital Police. In Baltimore, ACORN activists dumped a huge pile of garbage in front of City Hall, and a busload of profanity-shouting protesters "demonstrated" outside Mayor Martin O'Malley's home. [They] "scared the daylights out of my wife and kids," O'Malley said.

But scared apparently worked. After the O'Malley clash, ACORN got an annual $50,000 payment from the city of Baltimore, for "housing counseling for the poor." Similarly, across America, taxpayers at every level regularly--and unknowingly--ante up millions of dollars, to subsidize ACORN's extortions.

Fast-forward to 2008. Supported in part by an $832,000 contribution from the Obama presidential campaign, an ACORN entity has engaged in a national "non-partisan" campaign to register new voters. ACORN uses paid hourly workers for the voter sign-ups, and hard-nosed bullying to enforce mandatory daily quotas (26 voter registrations per day for $9 an hour workers). Teshika Elder, a single mother from Cleveland who did voter registration for ACORN said: "Every day, there was pressure on us. Every single day."

But pressure, like scared, worked. ACORN points with pride to the fact that 1.3 million new "voters" were registered nationwide. Unfortunately, one of those new Florida "voters" was named Mickey Mouse, and the Dallas Cowboys starting lineup also "signed" ACORN registration cards. ACORN workers found a homeless man reading a book in a Cleveland park, and under pressure, he signed some of the 13 registration cards that had his name, with his mother's house or workplace as his address. At last count, election officials in at least 15 states were looking into widespread fraud and abuse charges related to the ACORN registration tactics.

In short, separate crimes in separate places. Pre-RICO, there would have been no effective way to prosecute all of the crimes together; organized crime thrived because a mob extortion in Miami could not be legally linked to a mob fraud in New York. But RICO changed all that. Now, when multiple crimes are committed in various jurisdictions, the prosecution target is the enterprise that links all the crimes together, and in the massive multistate election fraud of 2008, that enterprise is ACORN. And the recently disclosed FBI investigation into ACORN is evidence that the federal prosecutors get it.

The need to consider ACORN for a potential RICO criminal prosecution is particularly acute at this point, because the U.S. Supreme Court recently scuttled the most ambitious effort by any state to insure the integrity of the 2008 federal election process against the ACORN registration onslaught. With thousands of suspect new voter registrations having been filed in Columbus, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court in ordering the Ohio Secretary of State to verify the new voters' identity, by matching information with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Social Security Administration. Based on a narrow legal technicality, however, the U.S. Supreme vacated that order. ACORN's "mismatches" will be allowed to vote in Ohio, and may well decide the outcome of the presidential election.

At this point, there is no possibility that a RICO prosecution against ACORN will be brought in the remaining few days before the election--nor should it be. But after the election, no matter who wins, in light of ACORN's blatant registration fraud, a vigorous RICO prosecution against ACORN is essential to restore the integrity of the American electoral process.

(David W. Marston previously served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania which includes the city of Philadelphia). From The Stone Zone.

Rivera's Failures Put Him On The Hot Seat

Just under a week removed from the primary election, there seems to be little for the local Democratic Party to get excited about.

The GOP won every single Independence and Conservative primary in Niagara County. Now, this shouldn't come as too much of a shock since the county Republicans have a proven track record of success on the I & C lines, and the Democrats haven't had any luck with the two minor lines since Al Hollands annihilated the very fabric of Conservative values by giving the C line to any and every Dem in the county. Hell, I still remember when the Niagara County Conservative Party honored Renae Kimble as the Conservative of the Year! Renae Kimble!!

Anyway, I digress.

Where there should be significant concern for the Dems is their inability to hold the ACORN, errrr, Working Families line for their candidates. As I stated, the GOP won every primary for the Republicans. The Democrats, on the other hand, lost six Working Families primaries to the GOP.

Maybe you're asking why these minor lines are so critical. They represent what is referred to in politics as a "drop off line". Republicans who refuse to pull the lever for a Democrat, even though they may like the candidate, will drop off to one of the minor lines, and vice versa. If there is no drop off line, as in this case for many of the county Democrats, it hurts a candidate's chances of winning the election.

Niagara County Democratic Chairman Dan Rivera, one of the best allies the Niagara County GOP has ever had, continues to wallow in failure. In addition to losing the six primaries, North Tonawanda Mayor Larry Soos is facing a significant challenge from Rob Ortt and Lewiston Supervisor Fred Newlin is facing a double threat from Kathryn Mazierski and the popular Steve Reiter.

In Rivera's defense, he did win the Niagara County Legislature's First District primary against Jason Murgia.

But the North Tonwanda and Lewiston seats will likely determine Rivera's future with the Niagara County Dems. If he loses one of those seats, many within the Dem ranks will call for his resignation. If he loses both, many will be calling for his ass.

Should be an interesting six weeks.

Write Your Own Caption

How Obama Got Elected

The following video is a collection of interviews of Obama supporters on election day. I'd like to say that I'm shocked by the responses to these questions, but the reality is that their answers are exactly what I'd expect. The video also illustrates just how powerful and distorted the media is in shaping the thought process of voters.

Lewis' Ineptitude To Cost Taxpayers Millions

Well, this one's gonna be painful. Niagara County Manager Greg Lewis' ineptitude is going to cost us, the taxpayers of the county, millions and millions of dollars.

The county, which closed the Mount View nursing home at the direction of Lewis, is now facing a $5 million bill after a state arbitrator agreed with the union that the county failed to follow layoff procedures as required by contract when it moved forward with Mount View’s closure. The arbitration is binding.

It's hardly been a secret that we have no use for Lewis. His buffoonery aside, his complete and utter lack of accomplishments during his six years is unquestionable. He despises the unions, has sheer disdain for the taxpayers, pure contempt for the legislature and has absolutely nothing substantive to show for his time here.

This must be the last straw. The county legislature, although following Lewis' lead on the Mount View closure, is ultimately responsible to the voters of this community. Sure, Lewis will recommend appealing the decision of the arbitrator, which of course will cost you and I thousands of dollars in legal fees, but this decision will not be overturned. Anyone who follows such proceedings knows this.

It's time to cut bait, boys. You've had this line in the water for six years, and it's simply not working. He is not the one who is accountable to the taxpayers, you are. Start taking responsibility. After all, how much longer are we, the taxpayers, going to have to suffer the indignity of Greg Lewis' costly mistake after mistake?

Our Buffalo Bills Prognostication

No NFL season would be complete without the pigskin prognosticators at Niagara Times giving our outlook for the Buffalo Bills. As you may recall, last year we predicted a 6-10 season for our beloved Bills. The team finished a very mediocre 7-9, missing the NFL playoffs for a ninth straight season, the longest current streak in the NFL.

Let me start out by saying I am a fan of the Bills. When I say that, I mean the players. That's where my support of the team ends. I despise the front office, which is more concerned more with putting butts in the seats than putting a winning product on the field. This is evidenced by the hiring of a slew of marketing guys to run the football team. I'm sure Russ Brandon could sell shit to a plumber, but he is not a football guy. In fact, the front office has very few football guys.

What the team has absolutely forgotten over the past 10 years of mediocrity is that I am the consumer. They have made no attempt to put a quality product on the market, so I won't buy it. I understand that there are loyal Bills fans in WNY, and I think that's good. But I would not spend one dime of my hard-earned money to support an organization that unequivocally refuses to put a product on the field that is worthy of my money.

Even more than that, I am repeatedly given the opportunity to attend Bills games for free. I won't go. They're not worthy of my money and they're not worthy of my time. I refuse to give up one of my weekend days to watch this team - they're just not worth it.

Even my respect for the players has limitations. I think most of them are spoiled, over-paid and under-educated, despite the fact that most of them have obtained, not earned, a college degree.

Which leaves us with the prediction. The O-Line is in utter shambles. Three of the five starting offensive lineman have never taken an NFL snap. Trent Edwards has regressed immensely. T.O. is a nightmare waiting to happen. Members of the D-line are past their prime. The secondary looks good, as does special teams. The head coach is among the worst in the league. Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt has never called an NFL play.

What do all of these ingredients make? They make a 5-11 team that will miss the playoffs for the 10th straight year.

Have a nice season.

Never, Ever Forget

A Youngster No More

I happened to be listening to a local radio station this morning, as I usually do, for the 7:30 news. During the broadcast, the "news guy" went on to report a story of an 18 year-old who was arrested for a litany of relatively serious charges. What I've got a problem with is the DJ's use of adjectives in describing this scumbag, who like most criminals, has likely only been arrested for a fraction of the crimes they've actually committed. The news guy went on to describe the alleged criminal as a "youngster".

I don't mean to nitpick, but that is simply ludicrous to describe this man as a youngster. I'm sure he stopped being a youngster 7 or 8 years ago when he committed his first crime.

The term youngster connotes youth and innocence. Even dictionary.com defines youngster as a child or a young person.

This mentality in our society that age has something to do with responsibility is so misguided. I know 10 year-olds that are more mature and more responsible than some 40 year-olds that I know.

This man is 18 years-old, and he is on our streets committing crimes. He is not a "youngster".

When I heard the piece, I immediately thought of Tyquan Rivera. You haven't heard of 15 year-old Tyquan? Well let me share with you a little information about this "youngster". He was just convicted of attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault in connection with the Jan. 31 shooting of Rochester Police Officer Anthony DiPonzio, 24.

Media types need to stop portraying these criminals as kids. If you commit a crime (I'm not talking about snagging a pack of gum from the local 7-11), you've lost your innocence, and you've lost your right to be a youngster. The quicker we start treating these punks like the criminals they are, and not some poor, young mind gone astray, the better off our society will be.

Demler Supports Cliffe In Wheatfield

As if the primary contest in Wheatfield wasn't contentious enough, you now have the wife of the incumbent coming out publicly for her husband's opponent, Bob Cliffe. I swear, you can't make this stuff up - Tammy Demler doesn't support her own husband! I would think that she knows him better than anyone else, and she is quite well known and popular in the community, so her endorsement of Cliffe will carry alot of weight in Wheatfield.

Making matters worse for Demler are accusations by town councilmen that Demler overstepped his authority as supervisor by paying bills and taking action without going through the proper channels. As we stated before, we have receive document after document showing Demler usurped the authority of the board and unilaterally authorized the payment of bills that the council had denied.

Demler's response, in today's Niagara Gazette, is problematic for him. “Every one of these so-called issues were decisions made by me, properly, to address a concern for residents at a particular time,” Demler said. Here's your problem, Tim: You do not have the authority to make those decisions on your own. That is why the people elected a town board, so there isn't this dictatorial type of decision-making going on.

The allegations against Demler are so serious that committee members have turned the information over to the Niagara County District Attorney, the FBI and the offices of the New York state controller and attorney general.

Take a moment to click the above link to read of the allegations against Demler.

Our Take

By now I'm sure many of you have heard of the armed robbery in Lockport last night. Although the Buffalo News has its own take on last night's events, we're going to write the story how it should actually read in the media.

(Lockport, New York) - Three black men, who have been a scourge on society since they were born, walked into the Lockport Kentucky Fried Chicken and stuck guns in the faces of terrified workers.

The men, all with extensive rap sheets, although what they've actually been convicted for pales in comparison to the number of crimes they've committed, escaped on foot after attempting to run over a Lockport police officer.

Multiple police agencies were called in to search for the the three scumbags, who ravaged through the quiet streets of the community. Police used helicopters and police dogs to aid in the search.

Residents of the city were forced to take additional precautions and many feared for their lives, especially knowing that Lockport's children were to return to classes with these pieces of shit still on the loose.

One of the perpetrators was eventually caught, and quickly confessed. When asked why he did it, he stated, "My welfare check just ain't doin' enough for me, man. I gots 11 kids to feed and Kentucky Fried Chicken looked like a good place to rob. And I figured I could gets me a 20 pack while I was there".

A member of the Niagara County Sheriff's Department, speaking on the condition of anonymity, knows the three suspects well. "Oh yeah, we know these scumbags. We keep arresting them and arresting them and these weak judges keep putting them back on the street. I guess it's going to take someone getting killed for these judges to start taking this shit serious."

Two of the scumbags remain at large, but they'll be in custody soon since the first rat-bastard gave it up like a two dollar whore.

Obama To Decide Who Lives & Who Dies

Ezekiel Emanuel, Chief Health-Care Policy Adviser to President Obama:

"Ultimately, the complete lives system...empowers us to decide fairly whom to save when genuine scarcity makes saving everyone impossible. When implemented, the complete lives system produces a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughly 15 and 40 years get the most substantial chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated".

Exactly who decides what "fairly" means? God? Obama? Are they one and the same? Because if Obamination has his way, and you're not between 15 and 40, your life doesn't mean as much as those who do fall into that age group.

If this doesn't scare the shit out of you, you'd better stop drinking the Kool-Aid.

Time To Step Up, Richie

We admit, we tend to beat up on NYPA and its CEO, Richie Kessel. But let's make one thing clear: we don't do it for the fun of it; we do it because the Niagara Power Project unequivocally generates the vast majority of NYPA profits, and NYPA and Kessel continue to fail to deliver for this community.

Sure, they came in and dropped in some low-cost power for the Yahoo! deal, but the number of times that NYPA has failed this region far outnumbers what they brought to the table this one time.

To be fair, not all of that should fall on Kessel. There have been plenty of opportunities for former NYPA CEOs to do something for the betterment of our region, and they all failed us.

It's not surprising. They view those in Western New York and a bunch of hicks that are so far removed from civilization that we wouldn't even notice that we're getting screwed. Well, we have noticed, and we're sick and tired of it.

People from WNY that have been appointed to the NYPA board, like Elise Cusack and Pat Curley, have zero character. They have been put in a position to be strong advocates for our community, and they have completely let each and everyone of us down. How the hell either of these people have the audacity to show their faces in public is beyond me. But, I guess if you're going to sell your soul to the devil to make yourself politically relevant today, your time will most certainly come later. And it will.

After yesterday's post, hell broke loose in NYPA. Yes, we know this for a fact. So, I sent an email to Michael Saltzman, a spokesman for NYPA, stating that should he or Kessel have the desire to respond to yesterday's post, I would be more than willing to print a response. Shockingly, they haven't responded. But really, why would Kessel respond? He's never shown any accountability before, so what was I thinking when I thought he would now?

From a public relations perspective, I like Kessel. I like people who can walk into a crowded room and deliver hour after hour of pure unmitigated bullshit. It's a talent that I personally have worked for years to cultivate. I think I have it down pretty good.

But my bullshit doesn't impact thousands and thousands of people; Kessel's does.

So I'm willing to make a deal with you, Richie. I will sit on the godawful amount of information I have about the most intimate details of the inner workings of NYPA, which I gave you just a little taste of yesterday, and you start being a man of your word. And I mean now, not six months from now.

I want to see a major announcement of something NYPA is doing for the betterment of this region - and I'm not talking Niagara Falls or Buffalo, or the $250,000 you're planning to bring to North Tonawanda in order to try to save Larry Soos' sorry ass, or I can assure you, the proverbial shit will most certainly hit the fan. I shit you not.

NYPA Chronicles: Welcome To The Unqualified Mr. Fournier

Let’s get this out of the way. Places like NYPA are always going to have the fair share of patronage. The practice is as old as time itself. However, Richie Kessel’s NYPA seems to be taking that to the extreme. The number of people being stuffed into security guard, janitorial and tour guide jobs (especially considering the state has a hiring freeze, I believe, though I could be wrong) has been unbelievable.

Now the thing with patronage is you try to keep it low profile and put people in jobs who are actually qualified. Well, that’s what most people do, but Richie Kessel’s NYPA is all about winning over gullible local politicians who are willing to sell their souls, keep their mouths shut and attend every Kessell press conference in the hope that maybe he’ll throw a few scraps their way.

Which brings us to the latest bone that Kessell has thrown to a local – the hiring of the Niagara Falls City Councilman Steve Fournier to work at the Niagara Power Project. Where to begin with this one.

You might remember Fournier is the Councilman who got loaded one night, get into a minor brouhaha and started dropping some N-bombs all over the place. As is the course for these politicos, he apologize, pled out and promised to go meet with the local chapter of the NAACP about what prompted him to drop the N-bomb in the first place.

Problem is that Fournier blew off the NAACP twice, skipping the scheduled meetings. That tells you all you need to know about his character. Now, the vice Chair of the Niagara Falls NAACP is Shirley Hamilton. Ms. Hamilton, who we have a growing fondness for, is also a union muckety muck over at NYPA.

So, sources have told us that Ms. Hamilton and other African American employees are off the wall angry that Fournier has been given this plumb gig.

Secondly, Fournier was supposed to be a security guard or janitor but couldn’t pass the friggin test so the shoe horned him into the tour guide job. Now, the only reason we know this part is because Fournier himself walked around the Niagara Power Project yesterday telling everyone about his inability to pass the test. (Note to Steve: best not to tell people you ain’t all that smart, though I’m sure they’d figure it out soon enough.)

Third, the City of Niagara Falls and the NYPA have a contractual relationship through the relicensing process. There are times when the Council and NYPA are adversaries, there are times when the City is looking to NYPA for cash for projects, etc. So, given this, tell me how this isn’t one big fat conflict of interest for Fournier to be working on NYPA’s payroll.

Last, Fournier himself said he couldn’t pass a test. So, clearly he wasn’t hired on the merits. As such, the public has a right to know who made calls on Fournier’s behalf to get him this sweet gig that we hear pays close to $30 bucks an hour (though we haven’t verified that yet.) Did Dyster help his Council ally? Did DelMonte make calls? Given the racial implications, we can’t believe Senator Thompson would be involved, but he has been king of getting people in at NYPA. And when we find out who, the next question is why?

Demler's House Of Cards Crumbling Down

We read with great interest today's Buffalo News story about allegations made against Wheatfield Supervisor Tim Demler by town council members. It seems, according to the councilmen who are serving with him, Demler has repeatedly authorized the payment of town bills even after the town board denied them. That's a big problem. Even worse, there is documentation showing that Demler later received campaign contributions from those he unilaterally had the town make payments to.

Interestingly, we also have also received much of the substantiating documentation, but were looking for further verification before we moved forward with it. And I can tell you, it does not look good for Demler.

As you may recall, Demler's endorsement was rescinded by the Wheatfield GOP a couple of months back. At the time, no reason was given by the committee, but it was widely speculated that the decision was based on Demler's affair with a town GOP committeeman's wife, who happens to work for the town (which in itself, banging another man's wife, would be reason enough for me not to support this slime). It now appears that the decision of the town GOP committee had nothing to do with Demler's philandering, but with the massive corruption that has become the staple of his organization.

Demler's response to the allegations was to simply attack the councilman who has been the most vocal, Larry Helwig. Well, here's an idea, Tim. Take the documentation that shows repeated indiscretions on your part and sit down with the councilmen, the media and the public and explain yourself. Going after the accuser is smoke & mirror bullshit, and no one is going to buy it.

Of course, since these allegations are being looked at by the Niagara County District Attorney, the F.B.I. and the New York State Attorney General, Demler may just as well be served by keeping his mouth shut. Because if what is being alleged is true, and the documentation certainly seems to support that, Demler has a big, big problem ahead of him. We're talking prison.

As a side note, kudos to Helwig for having the courage to speak out. We've never known Helwig to be a big political guy, just a local person who enjoys serving on the town board. It's not easy to put yourself out there as he has done, but he's doing the right thing.

You never know what you're gonna get in these sleepy little towns like Wheatfield. This election, which wasn't even on the radar a few months back, now appears to be one of the most interesting ones to watch. Stay tuned.

Obama To Take Control Of The Internet?

(The following is a cross-post from our friends at Monroe Rising).

Where are the liberal/progressive/radicals when you actually want them? And where is the vast mainstream media and their professed objective investigative reporting when we need it? I guess Obama-bias remains alive and well here in the U.S.S.A.

Or the leftwing loonies and the press think it’s absolutely hunky dory that a Democrat U.S. Senator has introduced a bill that would grant powers to Obama to take control of private internet servers “during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.” It is appalling that this is even being considered.

Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.

They’re not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft of S.773 (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.

The new version would allow the president to “declare a cybersecurity emergency” relating to “non-governmental” computer networks and do what’s necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for “cybersecurity professionals,” and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.

Civil liberties groups were “alarmed?” How about totally off the wall batsh*t crazy-a$$ outraged! So called “civil liberties groups” would go completely insane if this were proposed by a Republican Senator for a Republican President.

Apparently not so much when it’s a Democrat/Democrat proposal. Then they simply became alarmed. That, and the whole behind closed doors process is now ok too – you know, because it’s the Democrats doing it.

This part of the CNet news story was particularly amusing and concerning:

The Rockefeller proposal plays out against a broader concern in Washington, D.C., about the government’s role in cybersecurity. In May, President Obama acknowledged that the government is “not as prepared” as it should be to respond to disruptions and announced that a new cybersecurity coordinator position would be created inside the White House staff. Three months later, that post remains empty, one top cybersecurity aide has quit, and some wags have begun to wonder why a government that receives failing marks on cybersecurity should be trusted to instruct the private sector what to do.

Let’s take a look at this new-found power Barack Obama would have:

Probably the most controversial language begins in Section 201, which permits the president to “direct the national response to the cyber threat” if necessary for “the national defense and security.” The White House is supposed to engage in “periodic mapping” of private networks deemed to be critical, and those companies “shall share” requested information with the federal government. (”Cyber” is defined as anything having to do with the Internet, telecommunications, computers, or computer networks.)

“The language has changed but it doesn’t contain any real additional limits,” EFF’s Tien says. “It simply switches the more direct and obvious language they had originally to the more ambiguous (version)…The designation of what is a critical infrastructure system or network as far as I can tell has no specific process. There’s no provision for any administrative process or review. That’s where the problems seem to start. And then you have the amorphous powers that go along with it.”

Translation: If your company is deemed “critical,” a new set of regulations kick in involving who you can hire, what information you must disclose, and when the government would exercise control over your computers or network.

There it is. Under this proposal, the government would decide WHO private business can hire, WHAT information you must give the government and WHEN the government would take over your technology.

I laugh hysterically every time I hear a leftwing lunatic say with a straight face that we’re not headed to socialism/communism under Barack Obama. Keep telling yourselves that in between sips of kool aid kids.

On a side note, I can’t help but wonder if Al Gore had any inkling that this would be possible when he created the internet. Would he have changed his mind and scrapped the entire concept if he knew a Republican president would have this power too?

Cayuga County Manager Gets The Boot

It is amazing, what Forrest Gump said, about life being like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're gonna get.

So when I came across this story at syracuse.com, I was astounded at the similarities between the situation the Cayuga County Legislature had with their county manager, and the situation our county legislature finds itself in with their county manager. Where the similarities part ways is in how the legislative bodies handled their respective situations.

In Cayuga County, they had a county manager who was completely disconnected from the legislature. In fact, back in July, the Cayuga County Manager sent an email to each of the county legislators letting them know just how "out of the loop" he felt he was. Wow, does that sound eerily familiar.

The crux of the Cayuga County Manager's concerns centered around the fact that the county legislators were bypassing him and going directly to the department heads for their needs and concerns, and that the committee form of government was inhibiting his ability to manage the county. Guess what kind of government we have in Niagara County - the committee form of government.

Interestingly, Allen was the county's first county manager.

Apparently, the relationship between Allen and the legislature has gotten progressively worse. Allen said he's had trouble with some lawmakers since he was hired, and those relationships soured in recent months.

So you know what the county legislature did? They fired him in a special session on Saturday.

With more than a year left on his four-year contract, the county legislature came to the realization that this relationship was not working. Then they had the courage and fortitude to do the right thing by letting Allen go.

There are so many similarities between the situation in Cayuga and the circumstances in Niagara, it's downright amazing. The one difference is how the bodies ultimately will resolve their situations.

Cayuga took immediate and swift action. Niagara is content to wallow while Greg Lewis, who has shown nothing but utter contempt and disdain for the county legislature, sits in his office searching for the next best job.

Congratulations to the Cayuga County Legislature for having the strength to do the right thing.

Stapleton's Actions Insubordinate

Niagara County Public Health Director Dan Stapleton has done an excellent job since taking the reigns of the Health Department a couple of years back. He's proactively addressed health threats such as H1N1 and MRSA, as well as creating and implementing programs to better the overall health of our community.

However, Stapleton has seriously crossed the line in attempting to dictate policy that has nothing to do with his responsibilities.

In today's Buffalo News, Stapleton states that that the former Harrison Radiator plant in its current condition is not a suitable location for his department. As you may recall, two Lockport county legislators directed County Manager Greg Lewis to investigate the feasibility of moving the county Health Department and Mental Health Department out of the run-down Shaw Building to the Harrison Place.

Now, Stapleton could in fact be right in his assessment. But it's not his place to speak on this. He was not asked to do the analysis, and he certainly was not asked to make comments to the press about it. Seriously, Dan, what the the hell are you thinking? He has unequivocally undermined the authority of his the people who employ him. In the private sector, we call that insubordination, and you get fired for it.

In reality, Stapleton's screw-up probably isn't entirely his fault. Greg Lewis, in between his attempts to find the next best job, likely used Stapleton as his pawn. But Stapelton needs to be smarter than that - Stapelton has a future with the county - Lewis does not.

But that does not excuse Stapleton's actions here. Let's hope someone in the county legislature is strong enough to convey to Stapleton that actions such as this will not be tolerated again.

Kill NCCC Culinary Plan

This idea of placing a culinary institute in the decrepit Rainbow Mall in Niagara Falls stinks on a multitude of levels.

First of all, anything that David Cordish is involved in should raise a red flag. The guy has done nothing to revitalize a once thriving retail space smack dab in the middle of a city that draws 11 million visitors a year. How the hell is that possible? You don't even need to develop with the "if you build it they will come" mentality. They're there already! Cordish has been a complete disaster as the owner of the mall.

Jim Klyczek, President of Niagara County Community College, is delusional if he thinks this thing is going to get past the county legislature. Considering the county contributes approximately one-third of NCCC's budget, I don't want a single freakin' penny of MY tax dollars going to support what will be another failure in the City that Always Weeps. If any legislator does decide to support this, get ready for an onslaught.

You've got to love Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster's quote in today's Buffalo News: "What happened today was that you had all the key entities sitting around one table," he said. Who, you? You're a key player? In what, overseeing the demise of what once was one of the greatest cities in the country? Please. You're not a key player in watching water boil.

Dennis Mullen and Peter Kay....well, let's just say I wouldn't trust them to oversee the development of a house made of Lincoln Logs.

Bill Ross, Chairman of the County legislature, apparently was in attendance as well at this meeting of supposed "key players" (I'm sorry, I just have to laugh out loud when I read that...my colleagues keep wondering what the hell I'm doing in here). Let's hope Ross doesn't get steamrolled by Klyczek the way he's been run over by Greg Lewis.

Call your county legislator and tell them if they support this waste of your tax dollars, they lose your support.

1st Jason Murgia 439-7177
2nd Renae Kimble 282-1618
3rd Jason Cafarella 285-8132
4th Dennis Virtuoso 284-1582
5th Sean O'Connor 298-5179
6th Danny Sklarski 297-7982
7th Gerald Farnham 433-0703
8th William Ross 731-5949
9th Andrea McNulty 572-4994
10th Peter Smolinski 695-1873
11th Paul Wojtaszek 695-7134
12th John Ceretto 754-7066
13th Clyde Burmaster 791-3111
14th Kyle Andrews 751-6252
15th Anthony Nemi 434-0133
16th Wm Keith McNall 434-8070
17th Richard Updegrove 434-2140
18th John Syracuse 778-5064
19th Michael Hill 735-3259

R.I.P. Ted Kennedy

It will come as no surprise to readers of this space that Niagara Times has never been particularly enchanted with the late senior senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Ted Kennedy was far too liberal for our tastes, and, frankly, we never quite bought his explanations for the events that night at Chappaquiddick. But now, that’s between Kennedy and his Maker, and no longer for us to judge on this earth.

Instead, we today salute the man who managed, despite a legislative record we found far to the left on many issues, to accomplish some significant and important things for his country.

Among his most important legacies was being, arguably, the leading voice pushing the 26th Amendment. While, by being born near the end of the Vietnam War, we never had to contemplate the notion of “Old enough to fight the war, old enough to vote,” Kennedy was right on this point—at least in the era of Vietnam and the draft.

Likewise, Kennedy was critical in ending the filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (which, incidentally, was being carried out by his fellow Democrats), which allowed the landmark legislation to finally come to a vote in the Senate. Now, while that law was far from perfect, and probably overstepped federal authority in a few areas, all in all it was good, and the right thing to do to end America’s own apartheid—the Jim Crow laws in the South.

Ted Kennedy was wrong—horribly wrong and misguided—on far more, of course, and his legislative “accomplishments” seem a laundry list of things that have increased our taxes. But despite that, we cannot help but feel like Ted Kennedy’s death was the end of an era that began to wither away when his brother Jack died in Dallas.

And maybe that nostalgia for Jack Kennedy’s idealism is why Ted Kennedy’s eulogy of his other brother, Bobby—a man whose convictions, if not all his policy ideas, we truly do admire—is how we prefer to remember him today:

County Leg: Fire The Lobbyists

Two weeks ago, Niagara Times broke news that County Manager Greg Lewis was misusing lobbyists hired by the County Legislature for a cool $30K, having them devote all their efforts to his ego-driven priorities: namely, a countywide wi-fi initiative and the Gregory D. Lewis Public Works Facility, a $42 million project in a cow pasture in Cambria.

When news reached us last week that the lobbyists hadn’t changed course, we were duly disturbed. After all, we’d hope that calling out Lewis like that would light a fire under some legislator, maybe even Bill Ross, to demand Lewis stop using the lobbyists for pie-in-the-sky “projects” and start focusing on real, concrete, shovel-ready projects. But then we remembered that this is the same Legislature that let Lewis negotiate his own pre-signed contract and made them ratify it.

But news that reached us yesterday after we returned from vacation convinced us that at least one person—namely, Gregory D. Lewis—has been reading our blog.

At 2:02 p.m. Monday afternoon, Lewis sent the following email, titled “Federal Stimulus Request Update,” to department heads throughout Niagara County’s government:

Dear Department Heads,

At the County Legislature's direction, the County is organizing to describe our status with regard to stimulus funding . Please read the message below and directly respond to Ben Biddel accordingly. This will enable the County to have an updated status on stimulus funding for the County Legislature's review. Your assistance is appreciated.

My best,

Gregory D. Lewis
Niagara County Manager
Telephone 716.439.7006


The email contained 18 PDF attachments for proposed stimulus projects from various government agencies. Reading through the 18 documents—many of them containing page after page of proposed projects, one thing became clear: the county’s lobbying firm hasn’t delivered jack.

With helpful notes like, “The Department of Economic Development was advised by the U.S. Economic Development Administration and NYS Empire State Development that this project is not eligible for funding under any of their programs” and “The Department of Economic Development continues to monitor potential State and Federal funding opportunities” and “Letter from SED does not identify a project sponsor or any specific projects/programs, so it can only be assumed that this letter pertains to projects from NCCC” and “NYS Office of Community Renewal provided a letter for a Niagara County Department of Public Health project, but the letter does not reference which project” and “Letter from NYSDEC indicates that a funding source could not be identified, but funding may be available through NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation or NYSDEC Water Quality Improvement Project Program” we’re left scratching our head as to what, exactly, we’re getting for that $30,000. Because it sure as hell doesn’t look like results.

Basically, after Lewis hand-picked Capitol Public Strategies to manage stimulus-funding lobbying efforts for the county, all they seem to be producing is one excuse after another, written in bureaucratese.

In fact, the only positive news in the whole report is that the county received $900,000 for its brownfields program. Unfortunately, as the report notes, that was because County Senior Planner Amy Fisk wrote up her own proposal and sent it in independent of the county’s stimulus request, and without any participating by the county’s lobbyists. (In case you ever wondered what, exactly, “chutzpah” was, mentioning Fisk’s funding in this report qualifies.)

Hiring a lobbyist was a good idea turned bad by Greg Lewis’ mismanagement of the program. Now, it may be too late to reap any benefits. But it’s also clear to us from the notes on various projects that Capitol Public Strategies was clearly too busy pursuing everything but shovel-ready initiatives. That not a dollar has been won for road or bridge repairs speaks volumes.

We’ve already said our peace on Lewis. However, let us be clear: Capitol Public Strategies has been complicit in this failure. As they are being paid $5,000 a month for this failed project, it’s time to cut our losses and cut them loose.

Buffalo Fire Department

Our very deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the Buffalo Fire Department personnel who perished this morning.

Jefferson

Today's post will be brief as we pack to head to the U.P. Have a great weekend.

I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government; I mean an additional article taking from the Federal Government the power of borrowing.
- Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1798.

What a wise, wise man Jefferson was.

Dyster A Faster Study Than County Legislature

At Niagara Times, we’ve done little to hide our disdain for Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster. We even find ourselves in agreement with several of Dyster’s critics on the Niagara Falls Council who privately refer to him as “Dysaster.”

So when we first heard the news that Dyster—or more accurately, City Manager Donna Owens—had kicked uncredentialed Niagara Falls City Engineer Ali Marzban to the curb after five months, our first reaction was to cluck at yet another Dyster debacle. We even contemplated a blog post mocking Dyster. How do you manage a nationwide search for a highly-paid government official and end up with such a dud?

But then a friend gently reminded us that the Niagara County Legislature—a governmental entity that we find ourselves usually in the position of supporting—did precisely that back in 2003, when they hired this man. Nearly every single day since he started, Greg Lewis has managed to give Niagara County a black eye.

After five months of one embarrassment after another by Mr. Marzban, Dyster—or, more accurately, Owens—finally had enough and got the spine to fire an insubordinate worker with a penchant for grabbing unflattering headlines and bringing embarrassment to the government for which he worked.

So, for once, we’re ready to offer Paul Dyster some praise here at Niagara Times. Yeah, he screwed up royally hiring Marzban, but at least he didn’t take six and a half years to get rid of an employee that was completely out of his depth.

Maybe Bill Ross and the Legislature’s Majority Caucus should be taking notes.