Author: buffalopundit

Buffalo Hate Radio Trollbaits Race and South Carolina

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roof

 

It took a heartless massacre to finally convince even some Southern conservatives that the Confederate flag doesn’t deserve state sanction, and should be sent from state grounds to a museum somewhere. This article nicely sums up the sordid factual history of the flag in question,

…history is clear: There is no revolutionary cause associated with the flag, other than the right for Southern states to determine how best to subjugate black people and to perpetuate slavery.

First sewn in 1861 — there were about 120 created for the war — the flag was flown by the cavalry of P.G.T. Beauregard, the Confederacy’s first duly appointed general, after he took Manassas, Virginia, in the first Battle of Bull Run…

…But never did the flag represent some amorphous concept of Southern heritage, or Southern pride, or a legacy that somehow includes everything good anyone ever did south of the Mason-Dixon line, slavery excluded…

…In 1948, Strom Thurmond’s States’ Rights Party adopted the Battle Flag of Northern Virginia as a symbol of defiance against the federal government. What precisely required such defiance? The president’s powers to enforce civil rights laws in the South, as represented by the Democratic Party’s somewhat progressive platform on civil rights.

Georgia adopted its version of the flag design in 1956 to protest the Supreme Court’s ruling against segregated schools, in Brown v. Board of Education.

The flag first flew over the state capitol in South Carolina in 1962, a year after George Wallace raised it over the grounds of the legislature in Alabama, quite specifically to link more aggressive efforts to integrate the South with the trigger of secession 100 years before — namely, the storming of occupied Fort Sumter by federal troops. Fort Sumter, you might recall, is located at the mouth of Charleston Harbor.

Opposition to civil rights legislation, to integration, to miscegenation, to social equality for black people — these are the major plot points that make up the flag’s recent history. Not Vietnam. Not opposition to Northern culture or values. Not tourism. Not ObamaCare. Not anything else.

That’s it. It wasn’t until the middle of the last century that this battle flag became a potent symbol – not of Southern heritage, but of opposition to civil rights for black people; it wasn’t until the federal push to ensure civil rights for Southern blacks during the 1950s and 1960s that this flag flew to protect white supremacy and the supposed right of Southern whites to continue to subjugate black people.

Any bleating about “history” and “pride” and “heritage” you see or hear online, in print, or on AM hate radio is a manufactured lie. It is false – that flag represents white supremacy and treason in the long view, and more recently, opposition to equality and civil rights in the short.

But if you’re a hate radio station, nothing is too low. For WBEN, the station of old, white omniphobes, the push to relegate the flag of sedition to museums is a perfect opportunity to bait that audience, and that audience doesn’t disappoint.

During the 24-hour period of Monday through Tuesday, it posted several things to Facebook with respect to the Confederate battle flag.

and this,

and this,

Now, let’s look at the comments, because Buffalo.

And this, because why the hell not?

More comments you say?

Reducing a symbol of treason, white supremacy, and slavery to clickbait/trollbait is what Buffalo’s hate radio station is good at – riling up the same omniphobes who think Carl Paladino is right on.

Here’s what the President said, as described at Talking Points Memo:

During an interview on the podcast “WTF with Marc Maron,” Obama argued that while America has made some advancement in terms of race relations, “What is also true is the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination in almost every institution of our lives, you know, that casts a long shadow and that’s still part of our DNA that’s passed on. We’re not cured of it.”

Obama added, “And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say ‘nigger’ in public. That’s not the measure of whether racism still exists or not. It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination.”

Yeah. He used the word “nigger”, echoing in large part a description of the Republican “Southern Strategy” as described in the early 80s by campaign strategist Lee Atwater,

You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”

Here’s Wednesday’s “online poll”:

This Confederate battle flag – and every other symbol of the Confederacy – should not be given any state sanction. It is a symbol of hatred, ownership of people as chattel, and white supremacy. The only “heritage” it celebrates is has to do with the ownership and subjugation of black Americans.

The 1st Amendment allows local malcontents to wave that flag all they want. It does not require state or municipal governments to sanction it, nor does it require that Wal*Mart or Amazon sell it.

Enough.

The Preetsmas Mysteries

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New York State Election Law §14-120 forbids people from making any payment – directly or indirectly – to any candidate or committee in any name other than their own. Furthermore, no candidate or committee is allowed to knowingly accept a payment in the name of any person other than the one who is actually contributing. Election Law §14-126 establishes that a deliberate attempt to evade contribution maximums is a crime.

In mid-August 2013, someone bought three money orders in the name of Matt Connors, and gave them to the WNY Progressive Caucus (“AwfulPAC”). Connors insists that he is an innocent victim, and there is no evidence to the contrary. But sources close to the investigation repeat that someone intentionally wrote Connors’ name on the money orders, and the address shown on them is a building that is allegedly owned by one of Nick Sinatra’s companies.

What we don’t know is whether Connors actually lived at the address someone wrote on the money orders, or if he lived where he was registered to vote. The lingering question is why would someone just pick Connors’ name out of the clear blue sky? Why were these money orders bought? Who bought them? Why were they delivered to AwfulPAC? Who solicited those contributions? Why were they made?

They money orders were allegedly hidden in a $4,000 contribution that AwfulPAC reported from Frank Max’s Progressive Democrats. Remember: AwfulPAC reported that $4,000 as one lump sum, but for some reason Max’s group didn’t. AwfulPAC also says that it received money long before Max’s group says it contributed it. It’s much easier to disguise a conduit contribution via money order than a check. But why didn’t they just give cash? The maximum amount of a postal money order is $1,000, and if you buy $3,000 or more in one transaction, you have to show ID.

The three money orders ($1,000, $1,000 and $500) were delivered to someone who deposited them – presumably M&T Bank has the surveillance tapes to show who that was; someone knows something.  But AwfulPAC made the decision that they wouldn’t disclose “Matt Connors” – or the actual purchaser of the money orders – as the contributor, but instead just lump it in with the other check being deposited that same day – from Frank Max’s Progressive Democrats. That was a deliberate decision to hide that money, and against the law.

The Buffalo News reports that Pigeon’s contributions even to Governor Cuomo are now under scrutiny, and Bob McCarthy writes that the authorities are questioning Pigeon’s financial ability to make the contributions he claims, given his tax liabilities. Was Pigeon a conduit for others’ money?

New interest is focused on at least two significant contributions or loans that Pigeon made in late 2013 – including donations of almost $100,000 to the caucus and $54,000 to Cuomo, especially a $50,000 contribution in connection with the governor’s 2012 birthday bash at Manhattan’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Investigators have not suggested any wrongdoing on the part of the governor.

While Pigeon insisted in February that he maintained the financial ability to give almost $100,000 to a fund such as the WNY Progressive Caucus, questions still surround his donations. The fund was said not to concentrate on assisting major candidates for statewide offices, but for county legislator and Erie County sheriff.

“That’s a lot of money for a sheriff race nobody cared about,” said another source familiar with the investigation.

In February, Pigeon revealed his tax returns to The Buffalo News to indicate a more than healthy income in the mid-six figures. But the contention that he was financially capable of such hefty contributions occurred 11 months after he negotiated a tax repayment plan with the Internal Revenue Service as he was incurring even more tax problems with the federal government.

Investigators are now curious about his ability to finance such significant contributions to Cuomo and the caucus, according to several sources.

The source familiar with the investigation said Pigeon’s connection to the Cuomo campaign also interests investigators.

As for Pigeon’s alleged “loans”, Election Law §14-102(1) states that any “statement reporting a loan shall have attached to it a copy of the evidence of indebtedness.” Was that filed with the State Board of Elections?  Has AwfulPAC paid the loan back? Election Law §14-116(6)(a) states that a

…loan made to a candidate or political committee, other than a constituted committee, by any person, firm, association or corporation other than in the regular course of the lender’s business shall be deemed, to the extent not repaid by the date of the primary, general or special election, as the case may be, a contribution by such person, firm, association or corporation.

So, it’s been two years and nothing has been paid back, so these are likely to be treated as contributions. Assuming the legality and applicability of AwfulPAC’s clumsy attempt between September 2013 – February 2014 to retroactively transform itself from a PAC into a multicandidate authorized expenditure committee, Pigeon’s contributions must be apportioned among the various candidates the committee supported, and the pro rata amount of his total contribution must be calculated as to each of the candidates.  He would clearly go way over the contribution limits himself for each of the candidates supported. (See Election Law §14-114(4).

Pursuant to that section, any authorized committee supporting more than one candidate is supposed to have a “formula based upon reasonable standards” to determine how to allocate a contribution to it among the various candidates that it supports.  The reason is to (supposedly) prevent a contributor (who has already maxed out to a given candidate, individually) to simply give more money to a multi-candidate committee, which in, in turn, gives money to the same candidate. That section only applies to party committees and to authorized political committees – it says nothing about “unauthorized” committees.  Which, of course, makes sense, since the unauthorized “independent expenditure” committee is not making “contributions” and is not limited for any amount.

Was AwfulPAC an independent expenditure committee, or an authorized committee? If the latter, this would have personal consequences for Pigeon, as well as Senator Tim Kennedy’s committee. Pigeon’s “loans” total $90,000, plus $25,000 from his “Landen Associates”, and Kennedy contributed $85,000. These were for legislative races, and those contribution limits are low indeed.

A few additional things we’re hearing:

1. People can’t seem to agree what affect the impending statute of limitations on the alleged misdemeanors is having on state investigators. As far as AwfulPAC is concerned, its period of highest activity came in late August and early September 2013. Some sources are telling me that this looming deadline will hasten the filing of all relevant charges, while others are telling me that the authorities may be willing to let the statute lapse for the minor charges while they chase down the bigger fish. Time, I suppose, will tell.

2. There’s a lot of chatter about Niagara County. So far, only the Sam Fruscione campaign and AwfulPAC’s involvement in it has been mentioned, but people are steering me in the direction of the 2012 effort by Steve Pigeon, Gary Parenti (both of “PAPI Consulting“), and members and leadership of Laborer’s Local 91 to take over the Niagara County Democratic Committee. At that time, the county board of elections suddenly received a spate of angry phone calls from people saying that petitions for election to the county committee were being circulated with their names on them, and they never knew a thing about it. The calls were coming mainly from members of Local 91, and a few days later people suddenly called back to say, in effect, “never mind.” A scan of contemporaneous media accounts provides the outline of that failed effort.

3. The names of Steve Pigeon and several of his hangers-on keep re-appearing in documents and sites dealing with the alleged NXIVM “cult” in Albany. For instance,

In this civil complaint alleging conspiracy, civil rights violations, and other torts:

Defendant [John] Bartolomei was retained by the Bronfman sisters in order to encourage various governmental entities to bring criminal charges against, inter alia, the Plaintiff, Frank Parlato, Jr., Yuri Plyam, and Rick Ross. In conjunction with his work for the Bronfman sisters, Bartolomei, upon information and belief, oversaw the activities of, inter alia, Steve Pigeon and Byron Georgjou — and worked with Defendant Savino on a variety of NXTVM/ESP-related matters…

…NXIVM/ESP and some of the other Defendants have employed, directly and indirectly, a variety of political consultants and lobbyists in conjunction with their efforts to cause harm to the Plaintiff and other third parties. Also based upon information and belief, these political consultants and lobbyists have included, but are not necessarily limited to, the following: John P. Bartolomei/Bartolomei & Associates PC; Steven M. Boggess/Featherstonehaugh, Wiley & Clyne LLP; Alphonse D’Amato, Chris D’Amato and Joel Giambra/Park Strategies; Byron Georgiou/Georgiou Enterprises; Richard Mays/Maybeck, Inc.; Robert McLarty and Paul Neville/The Markham Group; Steve Pigeon/Underberg & Kessler LLP; and Roger J. Stone/STONEzone.com.

NXIVM/ESP and/or other Defendants hired Frank Parlato, Jr. (“Parlato”) to develop a “negative publicity campaign” in order to malign the Plaintiffs reputation in the Albany, NY area (This “negative publicity campaign” included billboard advertisements – and a “story” concerning the Plaintiff that was to be distributed to all of the homes in the Albany, NY area ).

NXIVM allegedly files harassing lawsuits against critics. A cultwatching website has this long compendium of information available about Mr. Pigeon’s litigious and deep-pocketed clients. In connection with the 2009 Pigeon-engineered / “Responsible New York” – Espada senate coup, LittleSis wrote this “Cult behind the Coup?” piece.

If Pigeon is a conduit for campaign contributions, it will be interesting to find out who’s behind the money.

Preetsmas Day. All the kids are waiting, and the cookies & milk are out.

Paladino’s Fauxpology

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Area Man Gesticulates To Make False Point

Area Man Gesticulates To Make False Point

Why won’t the liberal media stop unfairly quoting things Carl Paladino says, verbatim?

Carl Paladino is a misomniac; he hates everything. Well, maybe that’s not true. He hates most things, though. He hates liberals and the media and gun control and Brian Higgins and…for a guy who has $150 million in the bank he’s quite the grouch. If I had that kind of scratch, I’d have the sunniest disposition, ever.

But Carl’s having something of a bad week. There is, of course, the Public Accountability Project’s series exposing Paladino’s demeanor, behavior, and connections. Also, at a recent ammosexual rally in Olean, Carl said some really factually incorrect and hateful things to some reporters about international students at UB – especially the “damn Asians”. He later apologized, amazingly enough.

Paladino’s original argument had been that international students at UB take opportunities away from in-state students, and that they somehow connive to claim New York residency after their first year of studies in order to pay a heavily subsidized in-state tuition.

UB responded that this was impossible, since 99.2% of international students are here on a temporary student visa, thus leaving them legally unable to claim any sort of domicile in New York. In subsequent missives, Paladino has effectively recanted his apology. Consider this story from WGRZ, and this response:

More about this re-framing of his argument (and victimhood) in a second. He then posted a note he received from attorney James Tresmond, praising Carl and attacking the press, and later included some comments he received from random people.

It bears mentioning – repeating? – that Carl Paladino and his right-wing talk radio ilk are a dying breed. Fueled by misinformation and animus, they expertly don an unearned, false mantle of victimhood. They are ignorant, xenophobic, racist, people who examine their own lives and need to blame someone for something – they look at Buffalo and WNY and decide that the real culprits are those who wield the least power. They blame immigrants and minorities for real and perceived ills, regardless of the facts. Coming from someone whose own parents are immigrants, that sort of childish mindset is especially sinister.

Buffalo and WNY aren’t perfect, but such a place doesn’t exist. Blaming immigrants is stupid – we should be welcoming them and their talents and experiences with open arms. They’re here to work, not to mooch. To repeat what the International Institute’s Eva Hassett said,

Immigrants, refugees, international students, foreign born professionals are are critical to the region’s economic growth. International students in particular are more likely than native born students to study in STEM fields, which relate highly to making the investments in the BNMC, Solar City, etc turn into jobs. Lots of cities get this. What they also get is that communities need to be ‘welcoming’ to the foreign born, or none of their other strategies work. Being inclusive and tolerant is a great base for an economic development strategy. Not to mention making it a nicer place to live.

What foreign-born physician or scientist is going to want to work in Buffalo’s fledgling knowledge-based industries if there’s some rich, powerful fossil yelling hateful things about them? What refugee is going to find safe harbor here among our small-minded loudmouths? Elon Musk – a South African by birth – is opening a new plant in South Buffalo in spite of our provincial xenophobia, not because of them.

But as far as UB is concerned, Carl Paladino’s reactionary xenophobia is false. UB has already said that it is complete fiction to allege that international students displace New Yorkers. Of the 5,000 international students attending UB, 99.2% of them pay cash, and they’re here on an F-1 visa; they’ll never get in-state tuition. I also confirmed with UB that the out-of-state tuition Paladino cites above represents the unsubsidized actual cost to attend the school. Comparing UB to Canisius or any other private university is wholly unfair.

According to UB, by the way, its international students had a positive local economic impact of $140,307,100 in 2013, supporting almost 2,000 local jobs.

Let’s examine the comments he approvingly re-posted and endorsed.

You are 100% right on this issue. I have been told that many SUNY graduate programs are almost entirely filled with foreign and non-resident students. They justify this by saying that without these students, they would not have enough students to make the programs viable. This I’m sure is not true, but the cost to these students is a real bargain and subsidized by us.

Keep ‘Hammerin em’!

Ray

It is not “subsidized by us”. On the contrary, these international students pay the full cost of their education – in cash – and they have an incredible positive impact on the local economy. This mindset that the inclusion of an international student represents a state subsidy or displacement of a local hopeful is simply false.

But that sentiment is hardly as bad as this:

Carl,

Not just Asians and Indians but S. Americans, Mexicans, Middle Easterns, Africans, just about anybody that comes here and DemoRats want to make them their voters. They get priority of all our benefits while we work our butts off to make ends meet and send our kids to school.   My and your taxes are paying for them and we keep on getting left back at the end of the line.

What’s the use of being a citizen of American if America doesn’t take care of us first…

Rosa

That’s some laundry list of brown people that Rosa considers to be moocher-takers. I don’t know exactly what “benefits” an international student on an F-1 visa can claim “priority” for on Rosa’s back, but facts don’t matter when you have blind hatred on your side.

This policy affected my son, a prospective med student at Georgetown. He was told by the interviewer that there was a significant percentage of foreign students that had to be placed at Georgetown, which, of course, drastically reduced the number of American students who had tax paying parents.  Very disheartening.

Anne

Georgetown is a private university. To call this anecdote irrelevant is a vast understatement.

AMEN, welcome to the liberal-owned media. Thanks Carl, for being real/honest/and direct.

Father Joe.

Yeah, AMEN because how dare the liberal media quote your own words verbatim, Carl!

See? Liberal media, askin’ questions and transcribin’ answers!

Hang in there Carl-we know it’s just your passion for Western New York speaking. Too bad the media is not as passionate in the integrity of their reporting. I’m with James Tresmond, who is a true gentleman, all the way. Keep up the fight for us Carl.

Sincerely,

Jim

See, Carl might have said something really hateful and ignorant, but his heart was in the right place – he loves WNY, just not all the people who live in it, if you know what I mean. Especially that pesky media again, writing down things you say. Who do they think they are?!

I completely agree….keep up the good work. As a long-time resident of the area around UB’s South Campus I can assure you that UB spends a lot of money putting a positive spin on any bad news coming at them….in other words….they speak with a “forked tongue”……!!

Fred

Or, you know, pushing out facts to rebut wholesale falsehoods. Tomato, tomahto.

One common refrain is that Paladino is generous and thoughtful in his private philanthropy. That’s laudable, if true. It does not, however, excuse these sorts of knee-jerk mouthnoises.

The real tragedy is that Paladino’s companies are doing some really good things locally, and they would – themselves – endear Paladino to people. All of this sound and fury not only signifies, but accomplishes nothing.

There are no winners here. All of this – and especially Paladino’s continued support in the community – reflects poorly on Buffalo and western New York. 

A Preetsmas Recap and Update

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It’s been just over two weeks since we first celebrated Preetsmas, and here are the posts we’ve done so far:

The First day of Preetsmas (5/28/15): State and Federal investigators raid the homes of political circusmaster Steve Pigeon, former Deputy Mayor Steve Casey, and Chief of Staff to Chris Collins (NY-27), Chris Grant. We examine the likely connections between these three individuals, a brief history of the WNY Progressive Caucus (AwfulPAC), and we celebrate the first day of Preetsmas by concluding that there was likely a plan to move a casino to West Seneca.  There were more questions than answers, especially: why wasn’t AwfulPAC treasurer Kristy Mazurek raided, and what does Chris Grant have to do with anything? Could this reach as far as the Governor?

The Second day of Preetsmas (6/4/15): An in-depth look at the history and activities of the WNY Progressive Caucus, or AwfulPAC. I reported on this Pigeonista conflagration extensively as it happened, so I pulled it into an overall narrative.

The Third Day of Preetsmas (6/2/15): Seneca cigarette bootlegger Aaron Pierce and his various and sundry LLCs are brought up quite often, and we examine his connections to AwfulPAC and other politicians, including Assemblyman Mickey Kearns.

The Fourth Day of Preetsmas (6/3/15): More on the Kearns/Pierce connection; Chris Grant’s Herd Solutions is now based out of North Carolina? Steve Pigeon’s connections to Bricklayer’s Union boss Gene Caccamise; Mazurek is reported to be cooperating with authorities; the Senecas fire Pigeon’s PAPI Consulting as their Albany lobbyist.

The Fifth Day of Preetsmas (6/3/15): We discovered Steve Pigeon’s tax liens, the total of which approach $300,000. This directly contradicted the detailed and scholarly analysis that Bob McCarthy, amateur Esther Gulyas tax sleuth, conducted of Pigeon’s “tax records”.

The Sixth Day of Preetsmas  (6/4/15): Bob McCarthy’s reporting on Pigeon has been sloppy, overly deferential, and approached TMZ quality at times. Especial disgust is reserved for the Buffalo News’ repeated tactic of allowing a public figure to prove some point or another by showing his tax returns to reporters who, in turn, report on them as if they know what the hell they’re talking about. Carl Paladino, Chris Collins, and Steve Pigeon have all been able to avoid any real scrutiny or transparency by letting an untrained, non-expert reporter summarize what was contained in some papers that may or may not have been legitimate tax returns. We also published certain key documents from a pending lawsuit brought by the estate of the late Conservative fusion Party guru Billy Delmont against an LLC controlled by people including Pigeon and longtime acolyte Jack O’Donnell. Apparently, they spent over $300,000 on a newspaper group and building without having done a stitch of due diligence. We learn of a possible grant of immunity to someone inside City Hall, Ed Betz’s name comes up a few times, and Terry Connors denies that he’s representing Tim Kennedy, despite Kennedy’s campaign having paid Connors over $60,000 in late 2014.

The Seventh Day of Preetsmas (6/5/15): Frank Max and his PAC gave way more than the maximum allowed to two AwfulPAC candidates in 2013; we examined some very odd financial “disclosures” involving “Responsible New York”, GDSP, LLC, “Citizens for Fiscal Integrity”, and “People for Accountable Government. Roger Stone’s name comes up, and we take a brief look at current aide to State Senator Marc Panepinto, David Pfaff. We wonder about coordination, given that Wes Moore gave $300 to the PAC then supporting him, we examine that weird AwfulPAC loan to Pigeon’s Landen Associates, and some other financial oddities regarding the Dick Dobson for Sheriff campaign. AJ Pierce lost a big court battle, and we look at whether State Senator Tim Kennedy and some other entities should have been filing as having participated in the 2013 primary races.

The Eighth Day of Preetsmas (6/7/15): There was a Buffalo News story about money orders that had allegedly been bought and donated to AwfulPAC in contravention of several laws, and we reported that someone had put Matt Connors’ name on those money orders, without his knowledge. Connors works for local developer Nick Sinatra. We write some more about Jack O’Donnell, Kristy Mazurek, Marketing Tech and its connection with Steve Casey, and we break the story about how AwfulPAC changed its status in mid-stream.

The Ninth Day of Preetsmas (6/9/15): Examining Pigeon’s claimed addresses, including Sandi Schmidt’s Cheektowaga address, his apparent residency in a condo owned by ganjapreneur Dan Humiston, the fee liens filed against that condo, his use of attorney John Bartolomei’s address, and we look at the lobbying activity of PAPI Consulting, LLC and GDSP, LLC.

The Tenth day of Preetsmas (6/11/15): We define the term “Pigeoning” or “to Pigeon”, and look back at prior efforts to Pigeon races in 2004 and 2008 using various campaign entities, including Tom Golisano’s “Responsible New York”. We compare this to the activities of AwfulPAC in 2013 – especially the Sam Fruscione race – and we examine Chris Grant’s only available financial disclosure to the House of Representatives, dated March 2013.

The Eleventh Day of Preetsmas (6/12/15): We’ve obtained the CF-02 and revisions, as well as the very very late CF-03 for AwfulPAC and examine what it all means, including the absence of some key names from that document. Also, Channel 2’s Steve Brown reported on interesting interactions he had with the owner of Marketing Technologies, and with a spokesman for Nick Sinatra .

Preetsmas: In their Own Words (6/14/15): Using quotes taken directly from the Buffalo News, we take a little trip down memory lane, revisiting prior electoral issues surrounding Steve Pigeon, and we see the progression in the AwfulPAC investigation from total denial to attorneys making statements.

No one’s been accused, indicted, or convicted of any crime in connection with any of this. The purpose of these various Preetsmas posts is to push out what’s there, to establish patterns of conduct among groups, individuals, and campaigns, and to try and figure out what may ultimately come from all of this. We just don’t know yet, but rumors are now swirling that indictments should come within the next several weeks. We don’t know against whom or for what.

Preetsmas Update

The Buffalo News published an interesting article on Sunday focusing on direct mail. Specifically, it’s alleged that Steve Casey and Chris Grant were deeply involved with direct mail for AwfulPAC, which accounted for a huge chunk of that group’s expenditures in 2013. Casey would reportedly come up with the general concept, and Grant would turn that into an actual mail piece, and the files were sent to Marketing Tech and Gallagher Printing for production and mailing. However, if you look at the financial disclosures, only the payments to the printing shops show up – these shops would allegedly, in turn, pay Casey and Grant directly, (or through Casey’s “LSA Solutions” and Grant’s “HERD Solutions”, respectively).

From the News’ article:

The WNY Progressive Caucus paid the printer for the design and printing costs, and then the printer paid Grant and Casey, the sources said. The total cost therefore showed up on campaign filings as an expense paid to the printer.

A similar billing process was used for work Grant and Casey also did together for Brown’s 2013 re-election campaign, according to a source who has knowledge of their relationship.

State election law requires that second-party payments be itemized if they are over $5,000. The News could not find evidence of any political campaign in New York State filing such reports.

9 NYCRR §6200.8 says,

Whenever a person or entity, such as a consultant acting on behalf of a political committee which supports or opposes candidates for any public office or party position or which supports or opposes any proposition, subcontracts for finished goods or services, the treasurer of the committee shall, in addition to reporting the expenditure made to such consultant or agent, report the name, address and amount expended to each person or entity providing such goods or services the cost of which exceeds … $5,000. The treasurer of any committee which makes such expenditures may, in lieu of providing such information on the statement which lists the expenditure, include the information on a separate schedule to be filed with the committee’s 27-day post general election statement or if it relates to a primary election, with the 10-day post primary statement. In such case the schedule entry shall reference the statement in which the expenditure is listed.

Any lawyer will tell you that the regulatory or legislative use of the word “shall” denotes mandatory – not discretionary – conduct. The question isn’t whether anyone – or no one – actually does what the law says, but whether the law requires it to be done. No one goes 65 on the New York State Thruway, but that’s not a defense to getting a ticket for going 80.

From the Buffalo News,

… the billing process used to pay Casey and Grant for work done for the WNY Progressive Caucus raised a red flag for investigators. Their probe includes following the money trail to learn where Pigeon’s political committee raised money, and where the money went.

And several elected officials contacted by The Buffalo News, who did not want to be identified because they didn’t want to be drawn into the controversy, said that while it was legal, the billing process WNY Progressive Caucus used seems unusual. Casey was placing the orders with the printer who paid him and Grant, which resulted in the printer being identified on campaign records but not them. That gives the impression that the two didn’t want their role with Pigeon’s organization publicly known, these sources said.

Was it “legal”? Perhaps not, according to the letter of the law – more specifically the regulation shown above as it relates to any fees to consultants in excess of $5,000. It also violates the spirit of the law, which exists to provide the public with transparency and information as to who is paying whom for campaign and election work. AwfulPAC contracted with Byron Brown’s Deputy Mayor and a Republican Congressional aide to design the campaign literature for candidates from whom AwfulPAC was allegedly independent.

Is there enough here to prove illegal coordination? It’s nice to have confirmation that the Republicans are actively involved in conspiring with the Pigeon faction to sabotage the Erie County Democratic Committee and its candidates. We can take Mickey Kearns’ word for it – “Chris Grant does work for all Republicans”. More specifically, could AwfulPAC have simply been a joint effort by the Pigeonists and the Republicans to embarrass ECDC and its Chairman, Jeremy Zellner, and to ensure that a Republican majority would take over the County Legislature? The entire Pigeoning M.O. relies on stealth – it was wholly by accident that we learned of AwfulPAC when we did, so it should come as no surprise that it would dance around the edges of legality in order to hide the identities of its consultants, vendors, and supporters to whatever degree possible.

Turning back to AwfulPAC’s disclosure – even today, we have no idea who produced the Dick Dobson TV commercials that AwfulPAC paid for. Someone was paid to produce them – did that person interact with the candidate? How did they obtain the photographs of Dobson that were used in the ads? Did AwfulPAC use a middleman or consultant to place TV ads with Buying Time, LLC from Washington, D.C.? Mayor Byron Brown and Governor Andrew Cuomo also use that firm, and it was the subpoena to Buying Time that reportedly caused Governor Cuomo to interfere with the Moreland Commission’s investigation. This all seems like a pretty major league operation just to screw around with a handful of small-potatoes county legislative races.

Hell, if we really want to get into the question of coordination, here’s a question – AwfulPAC paid “Start to Finish” $500 for “photography” on August 26, 2013. Whom or what did they pay to photograph? The gentleman whom I called refused to answer.

D’Amato & Park Strategies

The Daily News published an article about former Senator Al D’Amato’s power in Albany, and this passage caught quite a few eyes:

But the recent D’Amato scandal connections don’t all revolve around Albany. The FBI and state investigators hit the headlines in Buffalo recently when they raided the homes of three major political operatives, including Steve Pigeon and Steve Casey, both of whom work for one of D’Amato’s biggest upstate clients, the Congel family, father-and-son mall developers.

Their companies paid D’Amato $2.7 million in federal and state lobbying fees. Not only did D’Amato represent the Congel company on a troubled Rochester project, he represented the Monroe County government that backed it.

Pigeon ally and donor Joel Giambra heads up the local office of D’Amato’s Park Strategies.

Kennedy hires Ed Betz

Ed Betz is a young lawyer whose name has come up quite a bit in connection with recent Pigeonings. He has represented Aaron Pierce, and he represents Jack O’Donnell and Steve Pigeon in connection with the lawsuit brought by the Billy Delmont estate.

In May, Betz became an employee of the state Senate as counsel to AwfulPAC donor State Senator Tim Kennedy. He is a former employee of the City of Buffalo and the Erie County Water Authority.

The Sinatra – Pigeon Connection?

Ever since local developer Nick Sinatra’s name came up within the context of the mysteriously purchased money orders, no one has quite understood the connection between them. Perhaps a few articles from faraway San Diego might clear that up? In May 2014, the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote about the real estate situation in that area, and this is notable:

“This business is not for the faint of heart,” said Anthony Nanula, the group’s San Diego manager. Last month, American Coastal sold a home at 1330 Eighth Ave. in downtown that was built in 1920. The Irvine-based group bought the property for $720,000, restored it and closed a deal for about $1.825 million, a sale price they consider a success.

American Coastal Properties has about 12 projects in San Diego County and 30 in Southern California. Those add to the 50 homes already revamped and sold. The group also recently secured $50 million from Colony Capital and the Pritzker/Vlock Family Office to buy and redevelop single-family properties throughout coastal Southern California. That continues a big change from what founding partner Nick Sinatra originally did in 2009: buy homes at auction to fix and flip in the Inland Empire.

“We were purchasing properties at the trustee sales, buying from banks, fixing them up and reselling them,” Sinatra said. “That business sort of was getting squeezed out by some of the institutional people, so we started to look at adding more value through construction.”

So, Pigeon assocate Anthony Nanula is the San Diego manager of a company founded by Nick Sinatra. The Nanulas also work with Sinatra on at least one local project. For his part, in 2013 Pigeon donated $1,000 to San Diego’s GOP Mayor, Nathan Fletcher, raising some Californian eyebrows.

The Nanulas’ Clarence office was the address for the AwfulPAC-backed Wes Moore campaign. The Sinatra projects are funded, at least in part, by an investment from the Pritzker/Vlock Family Office.

Feel free to send tips, info, hints, and bags of cash to buffalopundit[at]gmail.com.

Preetsmas: In Their Own Words

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In their own words:

Matt Spina, Discrepancies found in reports from PACs controlled by Pigeon – Buffalo News: June 28, 2009:

Bank records subpoenaed by the Erie County Board of Elections revealed that two political committees controlled by G. Steven Pigeon failed to report several donations and expenses. Here are a few that the Erie County Board of Elections says it found during an investigation:

*Citizens for Fiscal Integrity, supporting Pigeon-friend Gary Parenti in his race for Assembly in 2006, received $5,000 on Aug. 31 of that year from then-County Executive Joel A. Giambra’s committee, the Friends of Joel Giambra; $1,500 from Pigeon’s personal checking account; and $2,500 indirectly from Watermark Financial, an investment company the Securities and Exchange Commission would later allege operated a Ponzi scheme.

The Watermark check was made out to Pigeon for “legal consulting — August.”

While a total of $9,000 was deposited, the transaction was initially recorded as only a $4,000 deposit from Pigeon, the commissioners said. Giambra’s $5,000 deposit was missed, although the Friends of Joel Giambra reported making the payment.

A week after the $9,000 was collected, the Citizens for Fiscal Integrity was able to cover a $9,000 invoice from a direct-mail company that Parenti had been using.

*In mid-July of 2008, Citizens for Fiscal Integrity filed a statement saying it had no activity to report for the first half of the year. But after the county Board of Elections issued its subpoena for bank records, the committee instead filed a report saying it had received $5,000 and spent $4,000 in the first six months.

It had directly spread $3,000 to the campaigns of State Senate candidate Joe Mesi, a Democrat; Frank A. Sedita III, a Democrat running for district attorney; and Democrat Barbra Kavanaugh, running in an Assembly primary against incumbent Sam Hoyt of Buffalo.

*During the second week of June 2008, the People for Accountable Government had too little money on deposit at M&T Bank to write a $1,000 check, the county elections commissioners learned during their investigation. But the committee on June 12 deposited a $1,000 check from the Friends of Joel Giambra and then wrote a $1,000 check to the Friends of Antonio Villaraigosa, the Los Angeles mayor who was holding a fundraiser in New York City.

At the same time, the Friends of Joel Giambra wrote another $1,000 check for the Villaraigosa fund when $1,000 is the maximum that can be donated to a Los Angeles mayoral candidate.

Said Giambra: “I was not aware the money I gave to Mr. Pigeon’s PAC [political action committee] was going to any specific candidates.”

*The Erie County elections commissioners cite the Villaraigosa transaction as an example of one that exceeded contribution limits, in this case California’s. Another example involves Citizens for Fiscal Integrity and the Responsible New York fund formed by billionaire B. Thomas Golisano.

The commissioners found that Responsible New York last year gave $4,000 to Citizens for Fiscal Integrity. Noted on the check was that it was to go toward the party primary expenses for Mesi in his Senate campaign.

CFI, however, had already donated some $3,000 to Mesi’s campaign. Assuming that the $4,000 was spent on CFI’s Mesi-related expenses, commissioners reason that CFI exceeded contribution limits for the primary.

From Mark Sacha: September 27, 2009:

These matters involve the district attorney’s sworn responsibility to enforce the law and do justice in the public interest,” Sacha said. “These matters include instances where the power of the district attorney has been used improperly to protect political interests and to retaliate against me for pursuing an ongoing investigation.

“Prosecuting the powerless is easy,” he added. “The real test is when you are asked to investigate the powerful. District Attorney Sedita so far has failed the test.”

“Pigeon also helped elect Sedita as district attorney by helping him obtain the Conservative Party endorsement, one that Sedita used to get the Democratic endorsement despite Erie County Democratic Chairman Leonard R. Lenihan’s earlier support for another candidate.” – Buffalo News: September 29, 2009

“Frank Clark told [Pigeon] that if he was a cooperating witness, he would not be prosecuted. Everything that I’ve understood is, that was the arrangement.” – D.A. Frank Sedita: October 6, 2009

“Pigeon was a witness, period. He was never given immunity or asked for it. That is absolutely, positively incorrect.” – Former D.A. Frank Clark: October 6, 2009

From that same Buffalo News article,

He also asked why his office sent investigators to interview Lewis “Babe” Rotella of Niagara Falls, whose exploratory run for mayor of Niagara Falls was said by Pigeon to be the ultimate beneficiary of money he says he independently spent.

The source of that money was the focus of Sacha’s probe.

“It would have been a waste of time,” Sacha said. “And why would I be going through what I’m going through now?”

Frank Clark, meanwhile, characterized the term “cooperating witness” as a “term of art.”

“It normally means somebody gets something in return for something,” the former district attorney explained. “But whether he was a target or not a target has nothing to do with being a witness,” he said. “He was simply a witness.”

According to Clark, “[Pigeon] was never given immunity. There was no understanding — spoken or unspoken — that he be given a quid pro quo.”

“It never happened. Why would we give immunity to someone who was not cooperating and perhaps was the ultimate target?” – Sacha, on Pigeon September 30, 2009

And,

One of those allegations surrounded a $10,000 political contribution from former County Executive Joel A. Giambra to a Pigeon consulting company called Landen Associates LLC. Pigeon said it was for consulting work helping Giambra publicize his accomplishments before easing into private life.

But Giambra listed it on his campaign expense report as a political contribution — not for consulting.

Pigeon said Tuesday that report notation was a mistake.

From there, Sacha said, the money went to a company called Media Co., owned by Timothy Clark. And then, Timothy Clark made a $9,000 loan to his brother’s campaign.

Giambra’s contribution traveled the circuitous route to Paul Clark, Sacha said, without any connection to the politically toxic former county executive.

Pigeon said he paid Timothy Clark’s company for consulting work on a possible mayoral run in Niagara Falls by Lewis “Babe” Rotella.

Rotella never declared any campaign expenses or contributions from Pigeon or Timothy Clark, according to campaign reports.

And Sacha said he questioned Rotella and obtained a statement that he had never met Timothy Clark and done anything on his campaign.

“Mark Sacha created a story because he was demoted for his own reasons and had his own problems.” – Steve Pigeon: June 13, 2010

“We concluded the existence of a pattern of violations of election law, some of which may involve money laundering or deliberate evasion of requirements of the election law…We thought that needed to be addressed by someone.” – Peter Kiernan, in a referral to U.S. Attorney for the SDNY Preet Bharara in 2010 (Kiernan was counsel to then-Governor David Paterson).

“They’re reckless and false, and I think he’s engaged in prosecutorial misconduct” – Steve Pigeon, discussing Mark Sacha: December 12, 2011

“I followed the election law to the letter…I was shown no favoritism because I broke no laws.” – Steve Pigeon: December 12, 2012

“This PAC is made up of a group of like-minded individuals who share the same thought processes and who are not happy with the leadership of the party” – Kristy Mazurek: September 4, 2013

“I’m not doing the dirty work of some behind-the-scenes individuals. I know every single one of the donors who has contributed to me. Whether it’s Frank Max, Steve Pigeon or Ronald McDonald, what does it matter?” – Kristy Mazurek: September 4, 2013

“I can show up as a volunteer or for lit drops or fundraisers, but I have been hands off because I know the rules and regulations. And I don’t understand these continuing, vicious attacks on Steve Pigeon. I’ve never heard such a bunch of crybabies before.” – Kristy Mazurek: September 7, 2013

“Everything was done not only to the letter but the spirit of the law,” – State Sen. Tim Kennedy: September 21, 2013

Steve Pigeon: September 21, 2013:

Pigeon labeled the Grant-Hogues letter a “frivolous action” and questioned whether Cuomo’s Moreland Commission is even charged with probing political campaigns.

“The charge is to investigate corruption of public officers,” Pigeon said, “not to be a campaign watchdog. That power still lies with the Board of Elections.

“They’re all a bunch of bellyachers, crybabies and sore losers.” – Steve Pigeon: October 30, 2013

“I have been in compliance the entire time.” – Kristy Mazurek: October 30, 2013

“Why am I the only person in Western New York they investigate? And why is their standard for me any different than for anybody else?” – Steve Pigeon: November 3, 2013

“Every dollar brought in by donors has been documented,” she said, adding that any technical errors were corrected by amendment and “duly noted.” – Kristy Mazurek: March 11, 2014

“…frivolous, political witch hunt” … any discrepancies lying at the heart of the local complaint are “technical and clerical” in nature – Steve Pigeon: March 11, 2014

“This is about an elections official destroying a document. There is no doubt it violates the law in several areas besides election law, including abuse of power. This is exceptionally serious.” – Steve Pigeon, commenting on an allegation that former Election Commissioner Dennis Ward destroyed nominating petitions: July 22, 2014

“I’ve never seen a petition with Mike Deely’s name on it – ever. I don’t know what he’s talking about.” – Dennis Ward: July 22, 2014

“These allegations are very serious. I will press this to the fullest extent of a criminal investigation and charges.” – Kristy Mazurek: July 22, 2014

“They love making accusations, but they’re the ones breaking the law.” – Steve Pigeon: July 22, 2014

“Never happened. Never, ever.” – Dennis Ward: September 4, 2014

“In the presence of all, including, of note, Assemblyman Sean Ryan, Ward ripped the petitions of Deely and Walsh into pieces and tossed the shreds in the air stating that Mr. Deely would never be elected as committeeman.” – Local NYSUT chief Mike Deely Affidavit: September 4, 2014

“I didn’t see any of these things happen. It’s news to me.” – Assemblyman Sean Ryan: September 4, 2014

“The issue of conflict of interest is the reason why nothing gets done. In our area, it is especially an issue because of the connection of Pigeon to Cuomo and Sedita.” – Mark Sacha: January 31, 2015

“All these years, these half-truths and innuendoes only involve me donating or spending my own money or raising money. It’s ironic that I’m now grouped with people who have been enriching themselves….In today’s atmosphere of what’s happening in New York State, I’m fine with the fact they’re finding out I followed the law.” – Steve Pigeon: February 21, 2015

“I have not done anything wrong during my role in this, and I’ve had to endure years of this. There is no direct allegation of me coordinating with a candidate or offering any quid pro quo in any way. All you’ve got to do is look at my tax return.” – Steve Pigeon: February 21, 2015

“In politics, a lot of people and reporters say a lot things. They should either show something or shut up.” – Tom Golisano: February 21, 2015

“It sounds odd, but when you look at how I live and how much I make, it really isn’t.” – Steve Pigeon: February 21, 2015

[Pigeon] blames “clerical errors” and “sloppy” record keeping on the many questions posed about the fund. “People make mistakes, but it wasn’t me,” he said. “And the reports were amended. There was nothing criminal.” – Steve Pigeon: February 21, 2015

“I don’t know what their perception of coordination is. It’s what you might perceive versus what is actually fact.” – Kristy Mazurek: February 21, 2015

“It’s probably not worth taking these yearly hits. But I will always be a player, one way or another.” – Steve Pigeon: February 21, 2015

“Frankly, I don’t see any violations of the law. There’s nothing to hide.” – Paul Cambria on his client Steve Pigeon: May 29, 2015

“He cooperated completely to the agents who came to his door on Thursday, and I am sure the results of the investigation will show that he has done nothing wrong.” Tom Eoannou, on his client Chris Grant: May 29, 2015

“Having someone conduct a search warrant on your property is a big difference from someone having a criminal charge filed against them. Obtaining a search warrant is just a fancy way of getting evidence for law enforcement. No charges have been filed against anyone in this case.” – Rod Personius on his client Steve Casey: May 29, 2015

The Western New York Progressive Caucus (“AwfulPAC”) “…currently has minimal money, or no money in it, and is dormant.” – Joel Daniels on his client Kristy Mazurek: May 29, 2015 (Ed. note: AwfulPAC claims to have over $26,000 on hand right now.)

“When The News questioned him about the discrepancy in February, longtime associate David B. Pfaff called to accept responsibility for what he also called a clerical error.” – Buffalo News: June 2, 2015

“She has cooperated … she has answered questions,” said a person who knows Mazurek and is sympathetic to her situation. “Kristy is in a very tough spot right now. Steve Pigeon is her friend, but she doesn’t want to become a target” of law enforcement. “She’s walking on a very thin line.” – Buffalo News: June 6, 2015

“I feel much more sorry for anyone who was unfairly targeted by the [AwfulPAC]. They ran vicious campaigns. They put some candidates and their families through a lot of heartache.” – Betty Jean Grant: June 6, 2015

“In the business, it’s a classic case of hiding a true contributor.” – Buffalo News: June 6, 2015

On the Eleventh Day of Preetsmas

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Earlier this week, I FOILed the CF-02 and CF-03 filings for Kristy Mazurek’s, Frank Max’s, and Steve Pigeon’s WNY Progressive Caucus or “AwfulPAC”. The CF-02 declares the type of committee being formed, declares who the treasurer will be, and where the money will be deposited. The CF-03 is a separate document filed by certain committees to inform the Board of Elections which candidates a committee will be supporting or opposing.

On August 1st, Kristy Mazurek executed the CF-02 to create the AwfulPAC. The NYS Board of Elections received this paperwork on August 22, 2014.

AwfulPAC August 2014 Filing

This document was all the PAC needed to get up and running.

As you know from previous days of Preetsmas, a PAC doesn’t really exist under New York State law – but a committee that files only this CF-02 document only has the right to raise money and donate it to political campaign committees. It is not allowed to undertake its own expenditures on behalf of campaigns (or to oppose them) unless it declares its intent to do so on a CF-03 form.

So it was that AwfulPAC raised almost $300,000 and allegedly spent all but $26,000 of it within the span of about a month. It did not, however, simply raise money and then donate it to campaign committees. Instead, it spent its fortune on behalf of candidates or to oppose candidates – hundreds of thousands of dollars on political mailers and TV ads.

Shortly after the media got wind of this new PAC, and it was spooked into revealing its existence, Mazurek tried again:

WNY Progressive Caucus: Amended Filing

The documents in the PDF are out of order, and you have to scroll to the end. There, you’ll find that Towards the end of the PDF, you can see that in early September, Mazurek filed an amended CF-02 with the state board due to “wrong type of committee selected”. Instead of “PAC”, she changed it to “9 – other” for a “multi-candidate committee”.

The cover letter blamed the “complex outline” and lousy advice from the telephone “help desk”.

However, on September 11, 2013, the New York State Board of Elections returned this amended filing to Mazurek, noting an omission on its CF-02 and the complete absence of the required CF-03. Mazurek had filed as a multi-candidate committee without listing the candidates. She then went on to do so – but not until February 2014. 

It was witnessed by David Pfaff. (Pfaff mentioned here, here, and here)

Isn’t it convenient, this nunc pro tunc retroactive legality? If I rob a bank but return the money before I’m caught, all is forgiven, right? 

The AwfulPAC’s shiny new CF-03 – filed five full months after its period of activity – listed its intent as to various candidates as follows: 

County Sheriff (Primary & General)

Support: Dick Dobson

Oppose: Bert Dunn

County Legislature (Primary only)

Support: Barbara Miller-Williams, Rick Zydel, Wes Moore, Joyce Nixon,

Oppose: Wynnie Fisher, Lynn Dearmyer, Pat Burke, Betty Jean Grant, Tim Hogues

Town of Amherst (General only)

Support: Mark Manna

Not included in this compendium are two items:

1. Why would you support Dick Dobson in the general election and oppose only Bert Dunn? Why are you not also opposing Tim Howard? For a Democratic or “Progressive” PAC, wouldn’t/shouldn’t Howard be the primary target?

2. As predicted on day ten, note the absence of Niagara Falls Council candidate Sam Fruscione from this list. AwfulPAC admitted to Channel 2 that it produced the mailer for Fruscione, but he’s not listed as a candidate on its CF-03.

NB: On the Tenth Day of Preetsmas, I originally wrote that AwfulPAC hadn’t independently declared the expenses it made on Manna’s behalf. I was wrong; it had. I corrected it, and credit Ken Kruly for the catch. I should also note that Kruly also reported on Chris Grant’s federal disclosures for 2014 and 2015 are missing:

The United States House of Representatives Committee of Ethics requires House staff members who make approximately $120,000 or more per year (actually $120,749 in 2014) to file a Financial Disclosure statement by May 15 each year.

We’ll keep an eye out at Legistorm.

Channel 2’s Steve Brown is the only TV reporter chasing this story, and he had a very interesting piece Thursday night. He tried to talk to the owner of AwfulPAC vendor “Marketing Technologies”,

But owner Don Papaj had little to say when 2 On-Your-Side approached to get more information about the work WNY Progressive Caucus had done with them.

“I am very aware of the investigation,” said Papaj, “I have been physically asked not to talk.”

Asking potential witnesses not to speak publicly is a fairly standard request by FBI agents, and the agency is at work on this investigation.

Brown also contacted developer Nick Sinatra, who responded through a spokesman:

Brown adds,

So, it seems that Sinatra knows something about the investigation.

How many more days of Preetsmas are there, and what’s going on in Niagara Falls?

On the Tenth Day of Preetsmas

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What is the true meaning of Preetsmas?

The Story of Preetsmas has many purposes and goals, and among them is to establish that the campaign finance irregularities and accusations surrounding Steve Pigeon and his coterie are not novel nor rare, but chronic and longstanding. Let’s call it “Pigeoning”.

Pigeoning: pi·geon·ing \ˈpi-jən-iŋ\: (n) (1) A periodic use of New York’s byzantine election law to actively sabotage and undermine the Erie County Democratic Committee; (2) The action of accumulating and using money, power, and influence.

But really, the sabotage bit has been a secondary goal, if it’s been one at all. The singular unifying thread has been to enable Pigeon and his hangers-on to gain money, influence, and political power. This is accomplished by, among other things, exploiting the squishy edges of a state election law that’s not written for ease or transparency.

It’s accomplished through doling out patronage and buying people’s loyalty. It’s accomplished through a magnetic attraction to big money, and by our typically New Yorkish corrupt-but-legal minor fusion party horse-trading. Through his machinations, Pigeon has, at times, controlled the Independence fusion line and influenced the Conservative fusion line. We can probably read some volume of quids pro quo within the word “machinations” in the preceding sentence.

Even now, literally not one District Attorney in Western New York has bothered to investigate or prosecute any alleged illegalities, and even enforcement by the Board of Elections has been lukewarm, at best. How convenient it must be, then, for a PAC to simply file a piece of paper and retroactively alter its very nature and being into an unauthorized or authorized committee.

The Pigeoning

Back in 2004, Joe Golombek challenged Sam Hoyt for the Democratic nod for Assembly, and found the backing of a committee called “Renew NYS“, the address for which is the home of Pat Ruffino. (There exists a similarly named, earlier PAC called “Renew New York“.  Inactive now, its address is listed as 101 Reo Avenue in Cheektowaga, which we know from the Seventh and Ninth Days of Preetsmas, is the home of Pigeon bookkeeper Sandi Schmidt.) Renew NYS was started and funded by Pigeon and Joel Giambra.

In a complaint to the state Board of Elections, Hoyt alleged that Renew NYS was illegally coordinating with the Golombek campaign. In addition, Hoyt alleged that the PAC was acting as an unauthorized committee, spending money on behalf of the Golombek campaign and against Sam Hoyt’s, but was not legally constituted to do that. Renew NYS simply re-constituted itself as a multi-candidate committee and refunded whatever contributions had been above the limits that such an entity could accept, and avoided enforcement action or prosecution.

That’s not how it’s supposed to work, though.  The purpose of these election laws isn’t to enable committees to violate the law and then, when caught, re-declare themselves as something completely different, and have that apply retroactively. Candidates and the public deserve to have accurate information in real time – not months later, after the campaign is long over.

As far as evidence of coordination, take a look at the complaint brought against Pigeon’s and Golisano’s “Responsible New York” in 2008 and recall that Pigeon was a co-signatory for the Joe Mesi campaign while simultaneously running a pro-Mesi PAC, and that Jack O’Donnell was helping Responsible New York while simultaneously a co-signatory on the Barbra Kavanaugh campaign’s committee.

This is likely what Kristy Mazurek’s and Steve Pigeon’s WNY Progressive Caucus (“AwfulPAC”) tried to do when it filed its CF-03 in February 2014 to transform it – retroactively – into a multi-candidate committee participating and spending on candidates’ behalf in the 2013 primaries. We are awaiting final confirmation, but sources indicate that the AwfulPAC declared – nunc pro tunc – that it was an unauthorized committee for Dick Dobson in the primary and general elections, and in the primary for Joyce Wilson Nixon, Barbara Miller-Williams, Rick Zydel, and Wes Moore. They also claimed to be an unauthorized committee for Mark Manna for Amherst Town Board in 2013’s general election. Had AwfulPAC done that at its founding, it could have spent money on behalf of those candidates without coordination; however, as it was originally constituted it was legally only allowed to raise and donate money to campaigns. We’re meant to believe that it broke the law at the time, but a retroactive “oops” filing of a piece of paper retroactively rendered all its activities legal.

The Pigeoning: Niagara

Those of you who pay close attention may recall the AwfulPAC’s brief foray into the Niagara Falls City Council race, specifically working on the behalf of Sam Fruscione. Literature appeared that smeared and defamed Buffalo developer Mark Hamister, who is working on a subsidized hotel project in the Falls.

At the time, Channel 2 ran a story on it, and AwfulPAC admitted it was behind the lit.  Again – not something a PAC is allowed to do. Fruscione lost his election, and it was this piece of literature that led Governor Cuomo angrily to confront Pigeon over the smear against Hamister. 

We’re waiting to see whether Fruscione is among the candidates for whom AwfulPAC declared it was an independent expenditure committee. 

Mark Manna & AwfulPAC

Note that the AwfulPAC’s retroactive reconstitution as an unauthorized committee included the general election race for Mark Manna. Manna’s campaign’s 2013 10 day Post-Primary disclosure shows the AwfulPAC paying these amounts on his campaign’s  behalf, which Manna reports as “in-kind” donations.

(Click to enlarge) – that’s almost $5,000 in expenses that AwfulPAC supposedly paid for. CORRECTION: These expenditures appear as line-item expenses on AwfulPAC’s own disclosures here and here.  However, they are not disclosed as being expenses made on behalf of the Manna campaign.  Manna listing these as “in-kind” reveals that these expenses were authorized – not unauthorized – expenditures on his campaign’s behalf by an independent committee.

Three of the four AwfulPAC expenditures on Manna’s behalf relate to a Conservative fusion Party primary he had in September 2013. The maximum allowable contribution for that race, however, was $1,000. The fourth expenditure was for lawn signs, which conceivably could have been used for both the primary and the general elections and pro-rated over the two elections.

As for AwfulPAC, they’re in a bind – on the one hand swearing on their paperwork that the money was not authorized by Manna, but Manna swearing that the amounts were authorized contributions. That authorization is held and given by the candidate, not the committee.

This must be another one of those mysteriously accidental clerical errors on the part of the AwfulPAC. How does an independent expenditure committee, claiming no coordination with the candidate or his committee(s), pay for lawn signs? What does it do with them? If AwfulPAC bought the signs and gave them to the candidate or his committee, that’s “coordinating”.

One more point on coordination and AwfulPAC: in a Geoff Kelly article that ran in Artvoice at the time, Mazurek said,

Mazurek laughed off the controversy and called her detractors cry-babies, saying that she’d grown up around hardball politics. She also shrugged off responsibility for the content of the Hogues mailer, saying that the messages were crafted by the managers of the campaigns her PAC supported. “I don’t micromanage,” she said; she just writes the checks.

That bolded part sure sounds like “coordination” to me.

Chris Grant’s Disclosure

Little has been written about Chris Collins’ Chief of Staff, Chris Grant, whose home was also raided back in late May. We know of his involvement with Herd Solutions, but you’ll recall that we’ve written quite a bit about Aaron Pierce and his questionable tobacco money, and ties that Pierce had to Mickey Kearns. One of Pierce’s companies invested heavily in the AwfulPAC in 2013.

Here’s Grant’s disclosure. Note that he was paid to advise Aaron Pierce‘s campaign to become Seneca President, and also Kearns’ Assembly race.

Grant Disclosure

There’s also a sizeable income – over $150,000 – from his side-business at Herd Solutions while simultaneously employed by the County. Grant earned around $160,000 as a federal employee last year, yet Herd Solutions is still in existence and consulting on campaigns, as recently as November 2014. Working in the public sector is great, as Grant took a $9,000 payout of accrued vacation time from the County when he left.

Ganjapreneurs Fire Pigeon

We know that Pigeon’s PAPI Consulting, LLC lobbying firm lost its contract to lobby the state on behalf of the Seneca Nation. We know that Pigeon is renting his home at 1003 Admirals Walk from ganjapreneur Dan Humiston. We now also know that Pigeon’s PAPI Consulting, LLC lobbying firm was recently fired as the lobbyists for “Lewiston Greenhouse“, the marijuana growing company that Modern Disposal now operates as a tomato growing plant called H2Grow.

You can see the original contract between PAPI and Lewiston Greenhouse here.

Note: on Monday we revised our information about Matthew Connors, noting that it was his name that appeared on some mysterious money orders that ended up with the AwfulPAC, but that he had nothing to do with obtaining them. So, who used his name and possibly forged Connors’ signature on these money orders in order to hide the source of these funds? Why didn’t AwfulPAC file a proper disclosure?

Above all – wouldn’t you love to compare AwfulPAC’s bank records with its election law disclosures? I’ll bet they don’t remotely match up.

UB’s International Students

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Via Wonkblog

Via Wonkblog

Yesterday saw something unprecedented happen. Carl Paladino apologized.

As originally reported in the Olean paper, Paladino appeared at something of a failure of a tea party rally over the weekend, and said hateful and ignorant things about Asian students at UB.

On Monday, Paladino said the point he wanted to make at the rally is that out-of-state students – whether foreign-born or not – are taking advantage of New York’s heavily subsidized university system at the cost of taxpayers. Since the state – via taxpayers – heavily contributes to its university system, the tuition for out-of-state residents is far lower than the actual cost to educate them, Paladino says.

“I don’t think that’s fair to taxpayers,” Paladino said Monday. “Even nonresident tuition is highly subsidized tuition. I was pointing out deeper problems that are not otherwise being expressed.”

UB boasts – BOASTS – about 5,000 international students. 99.2% of them attend UB on an F-1 student visa. While in-state students pay a tuition of just over $6,000 per year, international students pay close to $20,000 to attend UB.  Before obtaining an F-1 visa, the student must have already applied – and been accepted – to a school that is certified under the Student & Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).  In order to obtain an F-1 visa, the applicant must prove that he does not intend to abandon his foreign residency. As such, it is impossible for the holder of an F-1 visa to claim domicile in New York State in order to reap the benefits of a subsidized in-state SUNY tuition.

Paladino said he does not take issue with the fact that foreign students attend UB, but thinks their education should not be subsidized by taxpayers. He said he selected Asians as an example of out-of-state students because it is easy to assume they are not from the area, an assumption for which he apologized.

“I apologize to all Asians for the coarseness of my remark and selecting them as my example,” he said. “That wasn’t the point I was trying to make.”

“Easy to assume they are not from the area” – here’s a case of an apology being pretty much as bad as the original insult. The International Institute’s Eva Hassett explains, “Immigrants, refugees, international students, foreign born professionals are are critical to the region’s economic growth. International students in particular are more likely than native born students to study in STEM fields, which relate highly to making the investments in the BNMC, Solar City, etc turn into jobs. Lots of cities get this. What they also get is that communities need to be ‘welcoming’ to the foreign born, or none of their other strategies work. Being inclusive and tolerant is a great base for an economic development strategy. Not to mention making it a nicer place to live.”

Paladino isn’t the disease, but merely a symptom of longstanding, ingrained xenophobia and ignorant animus plaguing western New York. Look no further than the absolutely disgusting, desperate clinging to a racist team name going on in Lancaster. Imagine people willing to turn their backs on the student who designed the new Lancaster mascot, or yelling “Heil Hitler” at the school superintendent. Lancaster isn’t the disease – it’s also a symptom.

We seem to have this mentality that it’s not our own fault that the region doesn’t – or we individually don’t – advance. Don’t blame the easily identifiable Asians or brown people or black people, western New York. “Stop being a bigot” may just be the key to regional and personal advancement.

On the Ninth Day of Preetsmas

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Preetsmas9

101 REO AVENUE

On the Seventh Day of Preetsmas, we reported that Pigeon had used an address of 101 Reo Street in Cheektowaga for some of his personal political contributions, as well as the address of record for at least one of his LLCs and two of his PACs. 101 Reo is the home of Sandi Schmidt, Pigeon’s long-time personal assistant and bookkeeper. Pigeon used Schmidt’s address to contribute $50,000 to Andrew Cuomo’s campaign in 2013. It’s believed that Schmidt helped Pigeon handle his money and pay his bills. She would be a critical person for investigators to question, as she would have knowledge about Pigeon’s activities since day one. 

ADMIRAL’S WALK

Who lives where? In some filings, Pigeon says he lives at 101 Reo. In some, he uses 703 or 704 Admiral’s Walk. In others, he uses 1003 Admiral’s Walk. That’s odd, right?

Steve Pigeon bought 703 Admiral’s Walk in 1997, and sold it in May 2009, but not before taking out a $58,000 mortgage through GSDP, LLC at 1900 Main Place, (but has also used 101 Reo—remember this disclosure?) which was then the location of Pigeon’s law firm.

Pigeon bought 704 Admiral’s Walk on October 5, 2007, and still owns it.

1003 Admiral’s Walk is owned by Tanning Bed founder and current ganjapreneur Dan Humiston, who is applying to transform the Tyson chicken plant into a medical marijuana growing facility. Back in 2012, Humiston was running for Assembly (Pigeon donated), primarying David DiPietro on the Republican line and Christina Abt on the Independence fusion line. A lawsuit alleged that Humiston didn’t live in the district, and DiPietro’s campaign sent out literature alleging that Pigeon and Humiston were living together.

and the doorbell:

As it turns out, Humiston had claimed that his residence was out in the district, but that he also had a second home at 1003 Admiral’s Walk, which has recently been on the market. Or was it 703?

But more significantly, there are currently two condominium liens against 1003 Admiral’s Walk on file with the Erie County Clerk’s Office for unpaid common fees and assessments; one for $1,122 from October 2013, and one for $9,264 from August 2014. This is separate and distinct from the federal tax liens filed against Pigeon.

and

Why is Pigeon not living in 704, and instead occupying a 10th floor apartment owned by Dan Humiston?  We know this to be true because look at this image from the Buffalo News regarding the raid of Pigeon’s home on May 28th. See the floor number on the elevator?

Is Pigeon paying for someone to live there? Why aren’t the condo fees being paid? We know that Humiston owes the duty to pay the condo fees, but who is really responsible for the arrearage—the guy who just put down over $200,000 to grow medical marijuana or the guy who has over $200,000 in pending tax liens going back to 2008?

BARTOLOMEI

Another oft-used Pigeon address is that of lawyer John Bartolomei in Niagara Falls. Bartolomei’s associate Bill Berard represented Aaron Pierce’s AJ’s Wholesale in this lawsuit, and his office has been known to represent people in connection with inquiries from boards of election. For instance, Berard represented Kristy Mazurek when the Erie County Board of Elections subpoenaed the records of the WNY Progressive Caucus (AwfulPAC) and she resisted turning them over. That matter was litigated before Judge Troutman. Bartolomei is also representing some of the plaintiffs (including Mazurek) in the sexual harassment suit that led to Dennis Gabryszak’s resignation in disgrace, and paved the way for Mazurek’s brother to first defeat Camille Brandon in the Democratic Primary before losing in the general election to Conservative fusion Party member Angela Wozniak for A-143.

FAILED FOIL TO THE ERIE COUNTY BOE?

When the state Attorney General’s office took over the Erie County BOE’s investigation into AwfulPAC, it took every file and directed the board to cease all activities. That’s why this Buffalo News article about Pigeon attorney Dennis Vacco serving a FOIL on the Erie County BOE for AwfulPAC records is so funny. There likely are not any substantive files at the BOE.

PAPI CONSULTING’S LOBBYING

Way back on the first day of Preetsmas, we speculated as to why a bigshot Syracuse developer like Scott Congel would need to associate himself with every political malcontent in Western New York just to build a glorified shopping center in West Seneca. Our conclusion was that this may have been an effort to move the Seneca Creek Casino from Buffalo to a more prominent location off the Thruway in West Seneca. It bears mentioning, then, that the NYS Joint Commission on Public Ethics lists Steve Pigeon’s PAPI Consulting, LLC as an approved lobbyist for S&R Company of West Seneca, LLC., which is the owner of the Seneca Mall location of Congel’s project in The JCOPE record is here. Also note this:

and this:

Interesting, then, that the Senecas also retained PAPI Consulting, including Pigeon, Gary Parenti, and Grassroots’ Maurice Garner to lobby the state. The Senecas have since fired Pigeon’s group. Pigeon’s GSDP, LLC also engaged in lobbying, based on this document, but there appears to be nothing else on file with JCOPE right now.

That’s because GSDP was the subject of a JCOPE enforcement action, settling for a fine of $500.

GSDP Settlement by Alan Bedenko

STEVIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD

Back in January 2014, Bob McCarthy and Pigeon’s other stenographer, Frank Parlato, reported on how Buffalo’s own G. Steven helped sponsor a big-ticket Hollywood fundraiser for Governor Andrew Cuomo. Where’s the donation? Who made it? Pigeon is shown to have paid $50,000 in January 2013 and Landen paid $5,000 in December 2013. But where was this supposed $25,000 ticket for the LA fundraiser in January? It doesn’t show up under PAPI or GSDP or Landen, either. Very odd.

Paladino Opines About “Damn Asians”

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Via Governor Cuomo on Flickr - anti-Asian bigotry everywhere

Via Governor Cuomo on Flickr – anti-Asian bigotry everywhere

At long last, you can put a fork in the Palinist wing of the WNY Tea Party.

But before we get to the reason why, it bears mentioning that, as much as we can ask where Frank Sedita is when it comes to Preetsmas:

Where’s Carl Paladino?  The raids on Pigeon, Casey, and Grant took place on May 28th, and this supposed hero of anti-corruption and good government has absolutely nothing to say about it.  He’s sent some stuff out. He likes that US Attorney Preet Bharara may be getting closer to Cuomo, but other than that he has zero to say about three local political movers being under scrutiny for possible corruption or illegality. Nada. Zilch.  Maybe it’s because Pigeon and Paladino are buddies. Carl has made peace with Byron Brown for business reasons, and Chris Grant is a political ally. So, corruption only matters to Carl Paladino when it’s someone who isn’t a friend or ally. But you have to figure Paladino is a guy who has a lot of very strong opinions, and he isn’t shy about expressing them. So, when the biggest political earthquake in years takes place, you’d sort of expect him to have a field day.  His silence reveals him to be a fake – a phony. The same goes for all of these so-called “tea party” types. They don’t really care about good government or corruption.  But that’s not why the tea party is toast. Paladino and his driver/companion Rus Thompson organized some sort of ammosexual rally in Olean this weekend. The Olean paper was there, and you won’t even believe this. First of all, Thompson and Paladino organized the rally to protest, in part, State Senator Cathy Young, who did something Carl didn’t like. But Young supporters showed up to Carl and Rus’ rally, and outnumbered the tea party by “maybe a dozen“.   

Paladino, who arrived about 45 minutes late for the scheduled noon rally, led the group in singing “God Bless America” before speaking for about 20 minutes. After starting by berating Republicans for speaking without cohesion or leadership, Paladino veered off into what some thought was “borderline” racism by referring to all the “non-Americans walking around” the University at Buffalo campus. Asking “why do we have this huge population of foreigners?” Paladino answered his own question. While they pay higher out-of-state tuition their first year, they soon declare themselves residents, and pay the lower tuition, Paladino stated. This is because “we have la-de-da legislators,” Republican-in-name-only GOP officials and liberals allied with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Paladino said. Later, when he spoke to reporters, Paladino made reference to those “damn Asians coming here to go to school” and keeping local students from educational opportunities.

Late for his own rally. 20 minute diatribe. Quick and pointless lurch to racist xenophobia. Not “borderline” racism, but straight-up anti-Asian animus. Seriously, was he drunk? Who talks this way? Who does it in public? In what way do these, “damn Asians coming here to go to school” appear on the tea party agenda? On Twitter,   

So, who thinks WBEN is going to publish this video? Me, neither.

But this is the elected member of a school board, going to some public demonstration and expressing anti-Asian bias apropos of nothing at all. Can this be it? Can this be the end of this noxious individual’s political career? How much more does there need to be? Are we done now? Can we stop pretending like this is a serious movement led by serious people?

Russ Thompson of Tea New York, warmed the crowd up for Paladino, outlining how six Upstate Republican senators including Young, “threw us under the bus” by naming Flanagan majority leader to succeed Skelos.

Thompson got into a verbal scuffle with Mark Williams, the county American Legion commander, who was carrying a sign supporting Young.

Thompson made reference to Williams circling the park with the Young sign, at which time Williams, the county’s public defender, walked toward the gazebo waving his sign and saying he was a veteran.

Thompson thanked Williams for his service and asked him to keep walking.

Seriously, these guys can’t even organize a demonstration without being outnumbered by supporters of the person they came to denigrate. They can’t hold an anti-Skelos rally without going after Asian students at UB?!

At long last, can we be done with these clowns?

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