Farewell to Bob

So, Bob McCarthy – a longtime target of my ire and occasional appreciation – is leaving the Buffalo News. I can’t say I am sad about it because I thought that he was too often little more than a willing stenographer of politicians’ petty accusations and prevarications. He relied too much on sources who were obvious (Illuzzi, Pigeon, Lorigo) if not completely disgraced. But what I really disliked was McCarthy’s relentless focus on the horserace aspect of politics – who had more cash on hand, who was ahead in polls. He seldom called out politicians who broke campaign finance laws or tried to promote push polls. Illuzzi’s death definitely dealt a blow to his reporting but the last nail in the coffin was Pigeon’s long-coming descent into criminality and disgrace.

There does not exist even one thing I have ever written about, or one story I “broke” in all of my time doing this, that shouldn’t first have been covered by the Buffalo News’ political reporter and commentator.

I started blogging in 2003, and a lot of changes have happened, but a lot remains the same – so many of our acute and chronic problems in WNY come down to bad, lazy, corrupt leadership. It’s like we live in this corner of the country that is somehow insulated from everyone else and immune to good ideas. Sure, there are some exceptions but just look at Byron Brown clinging to office for 16 years and his city unable to handle a gentle snowstorm, never mind a blizzard. Buffalo is too good of a place to deserve that sort of “leadership.” Buffalonians are too good of a group of people to deserve the sort of sleepy one-step-forward-two-steps-back political leadership they too often get.

Just the other day I was thinking about Canalside and Bass Pro. That was a lifetime ago – it is an issue that dates back 15 – 20 years and as it stands now the only retail that exists within the Canalside area is two museum giftshops. There isn’t so much as a permanent toilet.

Artvoice is gone. The Public is gone. Alt-weeklies are basically dead. Print is dead. Investigative Post does good work most of the time, but we deserve more than that.

So, I wish Bob good luck and Godspeed in his retirement, secure in the knowledge that the new owners of the Buffalo News – an entity that had 15 years to adapt to the death of print and the rise of digital – will undoubtedly not replace him and instead rely on wire services and contractors to do the work. The politicians – the elites who relied upon McCarthy to give their bullshit a boost – will only benefit from the diminished threat of scrutiny, to everyone’s detriment.