Category: Erie County

Vision 2033

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Nothing like a 22-Tweet thread to show everyone how not mad you are.

Never let it be said that Out-of-Date Nate doesn’t have a vision. He has ideas. You can MOCK THEM IF YOU WISH, but he really has these visions and ideas. Visideas. Ideisions.

Whether those ideas actually comport with reality, or fall under the job description of “County Executive” or can be done by such an executive pursuant to the County Charter – that doesn’t matter.

What matters is that you SAY THINGS.

What are you SCARED OF?

We can DO IT.

Let’s sample.

Imagine WNY and Erie County relying on yet another silver bullet project – a downtown domed stadium and convention center. An investment of billions to line the pockets of developers who have been sitting on Cobblestone District properties waiting to cash in on just such an announcement. And honestly, who needs a Cobblestone District, anyway? Pave over those bad boys with some Astroturf for, at best, about a dozen games per year and a convention center that’s been nixed already.

There exists no political will to move the convention center closer to Canalside, much less moving the Bills stadium downtown. We come down to that old tug-of-war between “would be nice” and “must”. (For examples on this theme, see here and here and here.) We must have a new stadium. It would be nice if it was downtown, but this is not of critical importance to the city’s future or the Bills’. Suffice it to say that if the Bills thought it was of existential importance, it would be happening.

The County Executive has no authority to have the Canada Border Services Agency working at some random Buffalo-area train station or Homeland Security to work at Union Station in Toronto or the Go Station on the Canadian side of the Falls. Even in Europe, border police will board a train and run a passport check at a border – even a Schengen one. In fact, in the past, when it was suggested that US agents run entry checks from the Canadian side of the Peace Bridge, the two countries could not agree on the details of such a preclearance scheme.

The problems plaguing the East Side of Buffalo are many and complex, but in one breath to demand redevelopment of the Central Terminal as a train station and then in the next to decry “hail Mary schemes for big developers” strikes me as a bit rich. As for “micro loans”, there are already programs that offer these, including WEDI and the ECIDA. You would think that an informed candidate would promote that, rather than pretend nothing of the sort exists.

In any event, you cannot have a “Lake Ontario regional economic zone” with free movement of people and products without there being a Schengen-style binational agreement, something that is not only outside of a County Executive’s remit, but frankly unlikely for the foreseeable future, given the political situations on both sides of the northern border.

But Nate seems to think the border is closed. For God’s sake, get a NEXUS and you can go back and forth to shop at the Niagara-on-the-Lake outlets or the Walden Galleria to your heart’s content. That way we can have government invest in roofing companies and auto repair shops some more.

An “ecotourism hub.” With “camping and glamping” because evidently that doesn’t exist in WNY.

As for Scajaquada Creek, that work is already underway, my guy. I don’t know how we become the “Yosemite of the East” without a National Park or a big mountain, but someone remind him that Niagara Falls isn’t in Erie County, and there is very little in Niagara Falls, NY that would compel a visitor to stick around this side of the river in any event. I guess that’s why the rest area on Grand Island that isn’t visible to traffic from Canada until you’ve already passed the exit exists.

Nate doesn’t know his Buffalo from his Erie County.

It was only the City’s water supply that was not fluoridated. The Erie County Water Authority, which has not been contracted out to a private company, never stopped the fluoride. Municipal broadband is actually a Poloncarz initiative.

Nate has a plan for poverty, he says, because no one else cares and just points fingers. He sees people for their economic activity (or lack thereof). Imagine he presumes that he is the only person to “encourage new immigration to Buffalo” as if somehow Poloncarz or anyone else in County government has discouraged it. The delusion is just so insulting to everyone who’s been doing this stuff already. I mean, apart from spending trillions to force utilities to put all the electric lines underground, what has he suggested that isn’t already being done or is in the process of being done?

Yes, Mark Poloncarz – famously stingy with culturals. The balls on McMurray. When’s the last time he attended a play at a local theater or a concert at Kleinhans? A gallery opening? He’s going to, what? Fund culturals more? How much more? How much is missing? Which culturals have approached him to complain that Poloncarz is too stingy? And what makes him think Canadians are clamoring to come here to work?

What does that mean – a “County Executive who eats, sleeps, and lives progressive values?” I mean, in what way is Poloncarz not progressive, exactly? Because he lives in reality and not cloud-cuckoo land? Because he doesn’t make a sport of burning bridges and then demanding fealty and attention?

Not sure how Poloncarz has dropped the ball on “urging” others to do progressive things, but the only way you think that is if you haven’t been paying attention.

Is he advocating for regionalism? Remember that? Regionalism? I think there was a big push for that literally once every decade since the 1990s, and the best anyone can do is have a few towns unify their purchasing.

But regionalism to include Ontario, Canada? So, would we be implementing the EU’s Four Freedoms to accomplish that?

  • The Free Movement of Goods
  • The Free Movement of People
  • The Freedom of Services
  • The Freedom of Movement of Capital

But his biggest hit against Poloncarz is that he’s been CE for 11 years and was Comptroller for five before that. OK, so Mark’s been in countywide office for about 16 years. He’s been pretty good at it, too. He’s competent, he’s a policy wonk, he’s detailed, he’s diligent, but he also has plenty of time for big-picture advocacy, such as what Nate accuses him of never doing.

But he’s been in “office longer than any County Executive ever, longer than any President ever?” I dunno, FDR was President for 12 years, and before that he was Governor of New York from 1929 – 1933, and before that he served in the State Senate from 1911 – 1913. I make that out to be about 18 or 19 years in office. JFK was only President for 3 years, but before that he was a Senator and before that he was in the House. He held public office from 1947 – 1963, which is hey look at that 16 years.

Nate has campaigned for office longer than he ever held one.

All of this is a rehash of things that have already happened, have been discussed, are in the process of happening, or are absolutely and completely outside of the wheelhouse of a County Executive. But more to the point, what the hell is stopping McMurray from advocating for all of these things all at once and altogether for the last 16 years?

But good luck with North American Schengen, there. I think I saw it in the County Charter somewhere about international treaties.

One more thing. In the time that this “elderly blogger” has been blogging – since 2003, if we’re counting – I have been insulted by a lot of people. Only a small handful of them insulted my appearance, and now being attacked for my age is a new one. I’m 54. If that makes me “elderly” so be it, but when someone uses a term like that as an insult, how do I reconcile that with their professions of peace, love, and inclusivity? One of the things that actually exists in the County Charter is a Department of Senior Services, which is run by the Erie County Executive. If using “elderly” as an adjective negatively to describe my age and relevance, I shudder to think how this individual would deal with actual seniors.

Nate Discovers E-Gates

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I can tell from his Twitter feed he was recently somewhere in the UK. He posted a now-deleted photo of some books and they had the pound symbol on the pricetags.

It’s true – at Heathrow, American passport holders can use the e-gates. To use an e-gate, you line up, put your passport on a glass reader, look at a photo, and a computer figures out whether you are the same person as is shown in the Passport. In most cases, you’re allowed through and that’s it – collect your bags, go through customs, and on you go.

They’re not perfect. In December, we used e-gates in Munich for Schengen entry check, and one of my kids was pulled for secondary passport check. We used them again in London for UK entry, and my other kid was pulled for secondary passport check. Glitches happen.

Upon return to Toronto Pearson Airport, can you guess what they have? Well, it depends. At Terminal 1, if you have a NEXUS card, you use an e-gate and wave your NEXUS at a reader and you’re spat through to get your bag and then deal with Customs. If you don’t have NEXUS, you use a Kiosk that does most of the stuff automatically, and then you line up for an in-person check with a human CBSA officer. It’s quite efficient and speedy.

Did you know you could enter the US at the Toronto airport? You go through US passport control – again, there’s an expedited line for NEXUS holders – and boom, welcome to Mississauga, USA and when you arrive in the US, you do so as a domestic arrival. They have this in some Caribbean countries, and in Ireland.

So, there’s a big difference when you enter a country through a land border versus an airport. For starters, you’re not likely to be walking. You’re in a car. The car has stuff in it. The person in the booth is both passport control and customs. Now, you’ll be amazed if I tell you that the lanes at the land crossings in our area are all equipped with the same technology as e-gates – RFID scanners – and you can wave your Passport, NEXUS, or Enhanced License at them and they will scan the documents to be ready for the inspection officer.

I find in my experience that the questions asked at the border crossings seldom resemble a “blind date.” I don’t find the questions, “where are you coming from? Where did you go? What are you bringing back” to be especially “weird” nor does it send my “eye brows [sic] wriggling.” After all, it’s a hard border and you’re limited in terms of what you can take across. Usually, the officers are trained to detect oddball behavior and are probably likely to pull the people with weird answers and facial expressions over to secondary inspection.

Anyway, here’s my question – what does Nate’s flirtation with the border guard have to do with the number of lanes that are open? Is this going to be one of his platforms for the County Executive race, opening more inspection lanes at the border?

He Thinks You’re Stupid

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The Tesla deal was negotiated by the State as part of Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion initiative, and it was originally struck with SolarCity/Silevo, which Tesla bought in 2016 for $2.6 billion. (The owners of SolarCity were Musk’s relatives).

The County – and the County Executive – had nothing to do with it.

But our plucky young propagandist is banking on you not knowing that, and will fling his rhetorical dung wherever necessary.

By the way, the article to which that McMurray tweet is linked talks about microloans in Bangladesh and how such an initiative might help untraditional entrepreneurs in Korea. What a great idea, said the WEDI and ECIDA/SBA.

McMania

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Someone was busy lashing out at all of his enemies on Twitter. As usual, they’re all Democrats. He derides the party apparatus as a “country club” that you have to “pay to get in” with “cash or your independence.”

This is another way of saying that party politics is hard work and takes lots of moving parts to run. In the unlikely event that those parts are moving somewhat in sync, things still go wrong. The party committee and rank & file members overwhelmingly support Poloncarz and Zellner. And Hochul. And Hardwick, whom Nate denigrates as a “Trumper”.

Nate should tell all of the hard-working people who do genuinely tough jobs in the private and public sectors that they’re just paid-for lackeys who have no independence. If ECDC is a “country club” it’s a pretty easy one to get into, and it has the charm and appeal of an Arby’s.

Ask literally any Democrat who does work for the party and its candidates if they’re proud of the work they did for McMurray. Then ask them if they’re still on speaking terms with him.

So many people did so much for him and if they’re not in the Cult of Nate, they’re garbage to him. They’re sellouts. They’re bought-and-paid-for. They’re part of a “gravy train.” Did Nate lash out at you and call you names, or accuse you of having worked against him? We want to hear your story.

Make no mistake. It’s not that this guy hates the gravy train – it’s that he burned too many bridges to benefit from it and now he wants to fashion his own gravy train from scratch.

I see he’s at least gotten a bit more accurate about how long Poloncarz has been in office as CE. I wonder where he gets his information that Mark “hates his job”. That’s just insane levels of gaslighting. I guess it’s easy for the former counsel for Delaware North, with which he is still (barely) in litigation, to shit all over the Bills stadium deal, but does he realize that the downtown Seneca casino has been there since 2007? Last time I checked, it would have been opened under Joel Giambra’s tenure. But, as usual, Nate doesn’t know what he’s talking about even as to the details – the Seneca deal was negotiated by Governor Pataki and the County exercises no control or authority over any of it.

I’ve been to London and there’s no stadium downtown. I hardly think LA is a place for Buffalo to emulate any more than it already has. I mean, pick an example that backs up your argument!

Nate – you are in for a fun time as you go around to all the committeepeople whom you’ve insulted and denigrated. Have a great time!

ECDC Committeepeople – Ask Nate What This Means

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If you are inclined to entertain him, ask Nate what this means:

Yes, we know about health coverage as a human right in other countries but to suggest that the Democratic Party “thinks think saying that is dangerous” is such gaslighting BS.

The Democratic Party has had some form of national health insurance cover as part of its platform for probably 80 years. There is only one impediment to that happening, and that is the Republican Party. Leave it to Larry Scott of the Buffalo School Board to fact-check this blatant misinformation.

It is shockingly dumb and factually wrong and merely underscores the lack of any rationale for this campaign except to settle scores with perceived enemies who supposedly stabbed him in the back.

Unfortunately, I Remember

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Oh, I remember.

I remember being signed up for updates from the Nate McMurray Democrat-running-against-a-Republican-for-Congress campaign. I do not ever remember signing up for updates from the Nate McMurray Democrat-primarying-one-of-our-most-effective-local-Democratic-politicians campaign.

In fact, I’m sure I never did. So, let’s take a look at this spam folder reject, which seems only slightly more poorly targeted than the letters he sent to the committeepeople earlier this week seeking their support against Mark Poloncarz for County Executive.

I ran for Congress in rural New York—in the reddest district in New York State, where Trump won by over 20 points. Despite the odds, I stood proudly for democracy, for healthcare as a human right, for choice—and I almost won, defying convention and without national party support… TWICE!

Almost won. Didn’t win. Despite going up against an insurrectionist. Despite going up against a felon. And you didn’t have “national party support?” That will come as news to the DCCC. But, as usual with a malignant narcissist, a failure cannot be his, but must be blamed on someone else. It is literally the driving rationale behind this primary campaign itself.

Now I’m back again. I see the creep of right-wing radicalism on school boards, state legislatures, and in our small-town councils. And I know that the only way to combat threats of extremism is through grassroots leadership. So, I’m running for Erie County Executive.

How does running for County Executive stanch the ills cited earlier in that paragraph? The County Executive, as I’m sure he knows, has no authority to alter school boards or other governmental bodies. Perhaps he means he would use his bully pulpit – something he already has with his name recognition and verified Twitter account.

Erie County boasts the nation’s second-highest arrest rate for January 6th insurrectionists. And although Democrats outnumber Republicans here, our problems extend beyond MAGA fundamentalism.

One would think that a guy who ran in the former Collins/Jacobs district would realize that there are a lot of very conservative, nominal Democrats in this region.

Erie County is home to the City of Buffalo, where on May 14, 2022, a gunman entered a busy grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood and murdered 10 and wounded three others in a racist attack. And late last December, nearly 50 people died in a brutal blizzard—most by hypothermia in historically disinvested neighborhoods—because our local leaders failed to properly warn and prepare residents.

Chalk this up as the first overt politicization of the Tops massacre and the blizzard. It’s pretty grotesque for him to blame the mass murder by a racist lunatic on the failure of “local leaders”. Each story of death and deprivation from the blizzard is entitled to more than clumsy, slapdash accusation of governmental negligence within the context of the County Executive race, but the crass exploitation of tragedy is right up this guy’s alley. I think Nate believes he’s running for Mayor of Buffalo, a city which does actually operate a housing authority. But let’s keep it simple and see this for what it is.

I have never taken corporate donations, and I’ve consistently been an independent voice in the Democratic Party fighting for change. I believe that true change starts locally, where you have the ability to touch and change the lives of those who need it most, and that’s why I’m running for Erie County Executive. Will you chip in $7.16 to help make my vision for Erie County a reality?

Corporate donations are not allowed in federal races – they’re usually filtered through 501c4 special interest charities, PACs, and SuperPACs. There’s always the $500 he received in 2019 from the Erie County Town Chair’s Association. There’s $500 he received in 2017 from Hodgson Russ, LLP – a partnership. Higgins for Congress supported McMurray in every one of his races. On September 20, 2020, he received $40.40 from now-defunct Maroon Technology, LTD. He also received $400 from Montana International, LLC that same month. On October 30, 2019, SolarPark Energy – a Delaware LLC – donated $500. ECDC Chair Jeremy Zellner gave McMurray $750 in October 2019, $150 in 2015, and $150 in 2012. An LLC is not technically a corporation, but something called “Ltd” probably is, so let’s chalk this up as a bit of a stretch.

If true change starts “locally, where you have the ability to touch and change the lives of those who need it most” why would you run to be executive of a million-person county? Why wouldn’t you run for the town board of wherever you live? Or Mayor? Make it make sense. And no, I will not chip in $7.16 or even another cent of my family’s money.

To win this campaign, I need your financial support to disrupt the status quo of party politics. With your help, we will prevail and bring about a new day for a community that needs it most. Read more about my vision for Erie County on our website, nateforerie.com.

It’s interesting because nothing in the earlier paragraphs really builds a proper foundation to end on “disrupt the status quo.” We don’t need an Elon Musk type character “disrupting” government, because the last guy who tried that was an utter disaster. Next thing you know, we’ll be hearing about Six Sigma again.

It’s easy for a candidate to solicit prime Democrats for aid and financial support in a close race against a genuinely repugnant Republican candidate, as McMurray had the privilege of doing a few times. It’s a whole different ballgame for you to challenge one of the most respected and competent, winningest Democrats in the region and set out to kneecap him. There is not a syllable uttered here to explain even a mild – much less a compelling – reason to get rid of Poloncarz in favor of McMurray.

McMurray is, in the end, no different from the Republicans from whom he once sought to distinguish himself. He gleefully parrots their anti-Poloncarz talking points and is like the dime store version of Mychajliw or some hackneyed Pigeonista. His “disruption” would come at great cost. The best argument he can muster is to blame the Tops shooting on Poloncarz? I doubt even Chris Collins would have stooped so low.

Narcissists Don’t Listen

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I said what I said.

The next time this guy “listens” will be the first.

To rebut his anticipated attacks, I don’t do business with the County of Erie, I don’t derive any income from the County of Erie in any way, I do not work for – nor am I on the payroll of – Mark Poloncarz, I am not a contractor for or otherwise retained by the Poloncarz campaign, etc. I am not an ECDC Committee member, nor a member of any local Democratic committee. I do not owe my job to Mark Poloncarz or Jeremy Zellner or any other political person or entity. I am a private citizen who has known Poloncarz for about 18 years and who has also had dealings with Nate McMurray over the last five or so.

I think it’s definitely important for politicians to listen, but it’s more important for them to think. To have humility. Humor. To have empathy and have a capability of seeing things in different ways. I know Poloncarz has those abilities. His opponent does not.

In the last 5 or so years, I have given McMurray much more of my time and money than I have to Poloncarz, which honestly isn’t saying much. I’m older and it’s not 2006. As to McMurray, I regret every nanosecond and every penny. It was wasted on someone who fixates on a daily compendium of Quixotic battles with enemies real and perceived. (Usually, perceived until he gets going, then they’re real).

Never had I heard from an adult public figure such a broad but shallow collection of grievances and victimhood. Want a well-documented example? Here you go. How many times, and how many different ways, can this intemperate man scream about all the people who supposedly won’t help him and are, thereby, out to get him?

Literally I cannot think of one Democrat whom he has badmouthed – in public or private – who has not at least begrudgingly lent to him their vocal and financial support. Kathy Hochul, Mark Poloncarz, Jeremy Zellner, Brian Higgins – all of his many bêtes noires have dutifully lined up to get people to vote for him and to give him money. He thanks them by hurling at them an endless reserve of rhetorical feces, e.g., getting his surrogates to demean hard-working campaigners for other candidates as “errand girls” and the like. Heaping scorn and derision on Kevin Hardwick for being an ex-Republican when Nate himself relied on under-employed fascist convicted vote fraudster Rus Thompson to get him elected to the one government post he ever held, in a town where you have to cross a bridge and pay a toll to get to a hospital.

As an aside, you know to whom I owe an apology? Natalie Baldassarre. She and her family were right all along and they had his number when the rest of us were too busy thinking there was something there.

The endorsement process should be amusing.

The Fatigue Election of 2020

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Joe Biden is the perfect general election candidate for our time. He is known. He is kind. He is experienced. He is empathetic. He is smart. He is moderate. He is the hard reset that this country so desperately needs.

It goes without saying that the Democratic Party could have nominated a quarter-pound of ham for President, and that thinly sliced cold cut would offer a more positive vision and plan for America over the next four years than the current occupant of the White House.

We have endured a relentless, constant, chronic geyser of bullshit spewing from Donald Trump over the past 5 years, but that’s not the only thing shaping and defining our zeitgeist. The potent, toxic mixture of grievance and cruelty that fuels the American right is as exhausting as it is ugly. We are all of us Joseph Welch, expressing publicly how fatigued we are by the endless stimulant-fueled shower of hatred, lies, and cruelty that falls from Trumpworld like volcanic ash. Whining about things hasn’t helped. Neither has blaming Black people, Jewish people, immigrants, feminists, LGBTQ+ people, Latinos, Hispanics, Asians, Mexicans, China – good God, it’s enough.

It’s enough.

The pandemic is the icing on the cake. It is Trumpworld’s downfall. It lays bare the fundamental lie.

We all know that the Obama Administration, which had its own experiences with infectious diseases, left behind a literal pandemic playbook and an office staffed to take charge when necessary – the Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense at the National Security Council. The Trump Administration got rid of it in 2018. Now, the United States ranks among the worst countries in terms of its response to the novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. We have almost unlimited community spread in many places, the federal government has failed, and plans only to continue its policies of failure for the foreseeable future. Over 220,000 Americans are dead and this is a massive public health catastrophe, not to mention the economic destruction that has taken place as a result of our feeble, third-world quality response.

This all started in mid-March. It is now the end of October, and you still can’t get a Coronavirus test on demand for any reason and have reliable results within the day. We’re instead still relying on travel bans and quarantines when testing and tracing is key.

The most glaring failure? The federal government’s response was so deliberately inept and poor that mask wearing is now a political statement in some places, and we are left with a situation where the lives of people in North Dakota are effectively less valuable than the lives of people in New York. That shouldn’t be. Everyone in America deserves the same protection from uncontrolled community spread of this virus, and history will forever condemn us for allowing some places needlessly to suffer while others benefited from competent government following science.

In late October 2020, our Trump fatigue intersects neatly with our Covid fatigue. Most Americans have simply had it with the bullshit geyser and the manufactured drama. We’re not interested in this season of the Apprentice anymore.

Everyone’s life is upended in some way, you can’t just not “let it dominate your life” because that is literally impossible. It dominates our lives. You can’t really go out and do stuff like you used to, you can’t travel literally anywhere, and everyone is still hunkered down, waiting for a truly effective treatment protocol or a vaccine. (On the bright side, flu cases will be hopefully down this season as more people are masked and distanced than ever before. Also get a flu shot).

The outcome of the Presidential race won’t fix everything, but if Biden wins (and I think he will), it will reset the federal government to being at least minimally competent again. We will implement a Covid strategy that values every American life equally. We will restore good relations with our allies and keep a closer eye on our enemies. We will reintroduce the rule of law and eliminate nepotism in the White House. Our government will listen more closely to experts and science, and the deniers will be relegated to their fringe websites and YouTube channels where they can freak out about – and consume themselves with – lizard people and Pizzagate 2.0. Hunter Biden won’t matter because Hunter Biden won’t be paid a public salary to be a Presidential aide.

In New York State, early voting starts today – October 24th and runs through November 1st. The polling hours and locations for Erie County are here, and you can vote at any of them. If you applied for and received an absentee ballot, send it in. If you changed your mind and want to vote in person, discard the absentee ballot you received.

I am hopeful that this will be a big year for America to turn a positive corner. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3rd. If you didn’t vote absentee or early, that’s your chance – in Erie County polls will be open from 6am – 9pm. Every vote counts, even in New York. Lots of downballot folks are relying on you. People like Monica Wallace, Karen McMahon, Jacqui Berger, Pat Burke, Sean Ryan, Bill Conrad, Brian Higgins, and Nate McMurray are depending on you to turn out and turn up.

Fusion Voting Jamboree

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The 5th Legislative District seat is so hot that people are tripping over themselves to obtain an infinitesimal electoral advantage through ballot shenanigans, including the outrageous and corrupt practice of electoral fusion. “Opportunity to Ballot” petitions were filed for two party lines in that district race. Republican county legislature staffer and Lancaster GOP Committee Chair Robert J. Matthews filed an OTB last Thursday for the Working Families Party – a fusion party not known for its close ties to the anti-labor Republicans. This is the same district where Nick Langworthy filed Green Party petitions for Lynnette Batt.

That’s some abrupt Republican love-fest with left/labor political parties!

An OTB for the Green Party and Working Families Party was also filed in LD-8, currently held by Republican Ted Morton.

All of this is a cheap farce. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Dem filing a Green or WFP petition, or a Republican filing a Green or WFP OTB petition. All of it is sleazy, all of it treats the electorate like cattle, and the entire ballot access and fusion systems in New York.

Somewhere recently, I stumbled upon these digital leavings from an obsessed fan:

Alan Bedenko, a local Democratic blogger and self-styled paragon of political virtue, has complained bitterly about these Republican efforts, but remains mysteriously silent on the activities of his pals Poloncarz and Zellner.   Maybe Bendeko wants to safeguard his law firm’s business with Erie County by not biting the hand that feeds?   Or is it Poloncarz appointments he so covets?  At least Langworthy isn’t attempting to steal the Green line.  If he was, he would have circulated an OTB petition for his candidate, Guy Marlette.   Looks like Langworthy didn’t start the war, he’s just playing defense.

I’m not sure that this article was “complaining bitterly” rather than simply pointing out how ridiculous the system has become. My mysterious silence had to do with the simple fact that Langworthy had submitted the petitions in the past tense, while “my pals Poloncarz and Zellner” had done no such thing by that point. So, it would seem to me to be premature to condemn something that hadn’t yet happened; after all, it doesn’t matter for whom you circulate petitions if you don’t file them.

I certainly don’t “covet” any further appointments – my appointment to serve as an unpaid volunteer on the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library board wasn’t something I sought, and I have already disclosed my firm’s representation of Erie County on multiple occasions. So, I suppose I’d respond by noting that probably no one in western New York has written more articles critical of New York’s fusion voting system than I. Indeed, ever since the days of Joe Illuzzi’s politico-financial love affair with one-time Independence Party chair Tony Orsini, I have written countless articles about how fusion and cross-endorsements count among the very roots of corruption in New York politics – unless you abolish fusion, no effort to clean up politics can be successful.

I think that the Green Party’s ballot should be unmolested by Democrats and Republicans alike – I find it unseemly that a Green OTB was filed for any candidate of any other party. As for the others – Working Families, Independence, Conservative – all of them should be forced either to run their own candidates or fold. The Independence fusion Party is a patronage pit designed to trick voters who intended to register as what New York calls “unenrolled”. It’s no accident that, at various times its line has been within the sole control of Steve Pigeon. The Conservative fusion Party also has an unholy alliance with Pigeon from time to time, especially insofar as it helps serve the dual purpose of (a) helping Republicans; and (b) sabotaging the Democratic committee.

As a partisan Democrat (I’m also a committeeman – full disclosure!) I deplore and denounce the use of fusion voting and minor parties, regardless of who’s doing it. All of it is designed to cheapen and degrade our system.

The Heroin Epidemic & Erie County

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The Buffalo News’ headline announces that there have been ten heroin overdoses in just 24 hours. People throughout WNY are dying after taking a deadly mixture of heroin and fentanyl. Erie County Health Commissioner Gale Burstein calls it a “public health crisis”. It’s not limited to any one neighborhood or town – it’s regional. We are apparently on track for overdoses to double those of 2014.

In 2007, the Erie County Legislature received $1.4 million from Albany to fund a program “targeting drug abuse among young people.” Then-County Executive Joel Giambra supported the program, and the control board was on board with the county’s participation.

In 2008, new County Executive Chris Collins abruptly pulled the county out of the program before it had even had a chance to begin. Why?

Collins’ deputy, Mark Davis, who has been reviewing a long list of county contracts, deemed it not in the best interest of county taxpayers, aides said.

…Collins administration officials reasoned that county caseworkers already focus on drug abuse, as do numerous not-for-profit organizations. The county also was expected to provide an office and computer equipment for what was going to become a new unit, so the program was not totally free to Erie County taxpayers.

Further, Collins and Davis did not want the 20 new unionized employees, to be represented by Local 815, Civil Service Employees Association, to become the county’s responsibility if the grant money dried up after the first three years, the aides said.

The County under Chris Collins pulled out of a specialized program to tackle drug abuse because “the taxpayer”.

“Under the grant, New York State dictated how the program would run,” said Collins spokesman Grant Loomis, “and the administration does not feel those terms make for an efficient program.”

Loomis said the county is asking the state and its Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services whether Erie can use the money to hire private or nonprofit agencies that target drug abuse.

So, a program that was funded by Albany and approved by a prior administration, the county legislature, and the control board were just set aside unilaterally by Chris Collins. To be fair, Collins had an alternative proposal – that the county would spend the $1.4 million to hire more counselors at ECMC, but that’s not the same.

“I’m really not happy about this,” said Legislator Robert B. Reynolds, D-Hamburg, one of the lawmakers who want to know how Collins can abandon a program, especially one that helps young people, after the Legislature and the control board had approved.

Since Erie is New York’s largest upstate county, with a large number of child-protective cases, it was to be an “evaluation county” whose experience with the program would determine whether it should continue.

At the time, people were scrambling even to find out if what Collins had done was legal. Did he have the authority to simply disregard previously voted-on and approved county actions?

The Legislature gives the county executive authority to sign contracts, but it is unclear what happens when the county executive decides not to or wants to cancel a contract.

The county’s state-appointed Fiscal Stability Authority cannot affect Collins’ decision.

“Under our authority, we review and approve or disapprove county contracts of $50,000 and above,” said Chairman Anthony J. Baynes. “Even if we approve a contract, if someone decides at a later date that they do not want to enter into the contract or to cancel that agreement, that’s not within our scope.”

Collins’ staff is drafting a letter to lawmakers explaining his reasoning. Meanwhile, Legislator Thomas J. Mazur, D-Cheektowaga, is among those who want an opinion from the Legislature’s new lawyer.

“I don’t think he can just pull the plug on a project like that,” Mazur said.

The County Legislature reacted in May 2008 with a resolution, “Opposition to the County Executive’s Termination of a 100% State-Funded Grant to Provide Substance Abuse Services for At-Risk Families“:

2008 Erie County Resolution Re: Substance Abuse

The matter was referred to the committee on health and human services, and the only member to vote against sending it to the full legislative body was Ed Rath. The full legislature voted on the resolution, and the minutes record: “MR. MAZUR moved to approve item Number 3. MR. REYNOLDS seconded. MR. MILLS, MR. RANZENHOFER, MR. RATH and MS. IANNELLO voted in the negative. CARRIED. (10-4).”

In hindsight, it’s shameful and anti-democratic that the County Executive was permitted to simply refuse to implement a program that the legislature and his predecessor had pushed forward and approved, with support from the control board. Government ought to help and protect its poorest and most vulnerable, and Mr. Collins – who has since been promoted to Congress – not only abdicated that role repeatedly during his tenure as County Executive, but did so by simply ignoring duly enacted laws and procedures. Having pledged to run government “like a business”, I’d be wary of any business that would act with such cavalier disregard to the dictates of its board of directors. I’d avoid any business that would refuse to participate in a cost-free program to help vulnerable customers struggling with substance abuse.

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