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There is no bigger Buffalo fluffer of right-wing power and talking points than the Buffalo News’ Bob McCarthy. He published three articles Sunday – one on fascist wino Steve Bannon and two concerning the Christopher Collins crime syndicate. Here, here, and here. 

Honestly, the beauty of Twitter is its forced brevity. 

This has got to be a fucking joke. pic.twitter.com/3zZunEUCR8

— #NY27 Vote For Nate McMurray 11/6 (@buffalopundit) October 28, 2018

Let’s deal first with the insane Cameron Collins wedding article. It’s not newsworthy. In the wake of the mass murder of Pittsburgh synagogue congregants and the attempted bombing assassinations of prominent Democratic Trump critics, no one really gives a shit from a rat’s ass about the lifestyles of the rich and famous and how “[t]he congressman said last week that his son’s wedding to fiancée Lauren Zarsky remains on despite the charges surrounding the two families. ‘They’re two peas in a pod,’ he said.”

That’s nice.

But no one cares how two rich kids in New Jersey are getting on. The editors at the News must realize that this article is an embarrassment, because you literally can’t find it if you search for it. The only way it appears is if you click on McCarthy’s name on another article, and it pops up in his roster of pieces. It is garbage, and they know it. 

Next, never come between Bob McCarthy and a fascist in a private jet. We already heard this joke when Trump came to town in 2014, and McCarthy got to fly along. Back then, McCarthy penned a love note – no, a sex note – to Trump’s private 757. Any semblance of objective journalism was sucked through the turbofans of that aircraft. Likewise, here, the Republicans recruited their dutiful scribe to accompany Squadrista Steve Bannon in a “luxury SUV” from an Elma fire hall back to Prime Aviation, from where Bannon flew to Teterboro in a private jet. 

A guy in Washington for whom Bannon used to work now calls him “Sloppy Steve.” And it appeared President Trump’s former top strategist had not encountered a razor for a while. But his expensive Barbour field coat indicated he wasn’t worried about getting through the weekend.

Ha ha get it “a guy in Washington for whom Bannon once worked” that’s the PRESIDENT he’s referring to LOL HA HA. Someday Bob might be able to get one of Bannon’s Barbour coats if he quits the News and finds his calling – spitting out Republican press releases and talking points from the cushy office of a PR firm. 

Bannon sat next to a reporter in the rear of an SUV limo, and asked where he worked. “The Buffalo News,” came the reply.

“Ha! The opposition party,” Bannon said, half-sneering, half-smiling.

For the next half hour, a mastermind of Trump’s improbable rise to the White House held court. He likes to talk – about his “economic nationalist” theories, and about Trump, even if the pair are no longer confidants.

Imagine a serious journalist being recruited to interview a noted right-wing demagogue, and being insulted before the car even left the driveway. But he writes the expected puff piece anyway! 

“Man, he knows China,” Bannon said. “He knew chapter and verse in 2010 about China. I can’t have that conversation with five guys in Washington. They wouldn’t understand what he was talking about.”

This is hero-worship propaganda. We know from mere observation that what Trump doesn’t know could fill the Pacific Ocean. There is no follow-up, or request for examples or detail. Mere transcription of Bannon’s nonsense. 

The talk of the SUV turned to 2012, when Trump was thinking about running for governor. Bannon grunted a laugh. He didn’t say it, but the grunt basically said: “Yeah. As if that was going to happen.”

2014, but whatever. Bannon “grunted a laugh”, and McCarthy interpreted that grunt as representing eight entire words. There’s no evidence that McCarthy asked him what that grunted laugh was supposed to represent, or that Bannon was asked any sort of follow-up. Just a grunt and the fucking fascist-whisperer just gets it. 

He delved into a stream of consciousness description of the economic nationalism in which Trump puts “America first.”

“The world is a series of commercial relationships, trade deals and capital markets in an American security guarantee,” he said. “Which now costs us $1 trillion a year and has the deplorables’ kids in Hindu Kush walking patrol, in the South China Sea on ships, and on the 38th parallel in Army divisions.”

Amazing. Evidently, only the “deplorables’ kids” are fighting, so McCarthy lets Bannon get away with literally turning military service into a partisan event. Right wing propagandists like Bannon would call that “virtue signaling”. 

Bannon still talks about the strategies that elected Trump in 2016 ‑ including the art of the deal.

“He told Theresa May to overshoot your target on deals … and get it done in six months,” he said of her Brexit negotiations. “The last thing he said to her was ‘be prepared to litigate.’ Trump always uses litigation as a weapon. Maybe that’s why two years later she’s got no deal.”

Without getting into a long tangent on the abject failure of Brexit, as it turns out the EU doesn’t need the UK. but the UK seems to have issues with market access, travel, pensioners’ homes, and the Irish border. The UK has no plan and has merely lurched from one unworkable deal to another, while the EU has been exquisitely patient. Theresa May triggered Article 50 before a negotiation plan had been set, and one of our closest allies is about to crash out of a customs union in a way that may prove disastrous.  

Even Trump’s personal 757 ‑ the one that cost $100 million, has gold faucets and makes Air Force One look like a crop duster – was part of the plan. Rolling into an airport hangar to greet the faithful, he said, it looked just like Air Force One.

Bannon came to Western New York to get out the Republican vote. That means he was campaigning for Rep. Chris Collins, suddenly in trouble while under federal indictment. Bannon knows the importance of his GOP retaining the House of Representatives; that impeachment is sure to follow should the Democrats win.

Bob misses that 757. His crush. Maybe McCarthy could have mentioned that Bannon is running a dark money PAC that is funding all of his 1st class travel to keep the Congress red? Nah, too much work. No one brought it up, so it couldn’t be transcribed. 

“Trump is an athlete; a scratch golfer,” he said about the president’s current campaign tour. “And he’s a closer, This is classic commit to the shot. Take dead aim.

“On the Democratic side what do you have? Hillary and Bill Clinton are wandering around on some speaking tour, lining their pockets trying to present herself for 2020,” he added. “Corey Booker and Kamala Harris are in Iowa, prepping their 2020 run, and you’ve got Pocahontas putting out her DNA test.”

“Trump is an athlete.” He isn’t. Trump is a “closer.” He isn’t. He calls a sitting Senator “Pocahontas” as a slur, and McCarthy just writes it the fuck down. 

Lastly, we turn to Bob McCarthy’s hero saga for Chris Collins. He hasn’t been this giddy since he cribbed Illuzzi scoops or took a call from a temporary relevant Ralph Lorigo or Steve Pigeon. 

McCarthy dutifully writes down the things Collins tells him about changing his mind and running for re-election. Despite the fact that Collins is under arrest and under federal fraud indictments, he didn’t re-join the race to avoid discovery and depositions, but because litigation over his replacement on the ballot wasn’t a slam dunk. 

“Any thought I did this to protect myself is nonsense,” he added.

Well, nice of Collins to say it and nice of Bob to write that down. The fact is, Collins doesn’t get out of bed unless there’s some personal political gain to be had. 

But he insists that he will be acquitted at trial, that he can remain effective even while facing felony charges, and that his re-election assumes crucial importance as Democrats pose a real threat to assuming control of the House of Representatives.

“That means every seat matters,” he said, adding he aims to “protect the seat, protect our majority, protect the president.”

And he pledged to serve a full term, despite speculation he might win re-election and then resign, allowing the GOP to name a less controversial Republican who would run in a special election in deep-red NY27.

“I’m really putting in the effort to run and then not serve?” he asked. “Are you kidding?”

House Speaker Ryan has stripped indicted Christopher Collins of all committee memberships. If re-elected he will be uniquely ineffective and an absolute pariah. He is radioactive, and he knows it. I mean, Collins hasn’t bothered to update his Congressional website, but he’s not on the roster of those committees anymore. That failure to remove those committee seats seems to be a story, by itself. He is deliberately misleading his constituents and voters. 

McCarthy says, 

After he resigned assignments to key committees like Energy and Commerce, he insists he can still do the job.

No, he was removed from those assignments, and still lists them on his website. How hard is it to check this stuff? How hard is it to check the guy’s own website? This is a lie, and Bob just writes it down. 

“I’m going to be in Congress,” he said. “I’m not going to miss any votes. I will meet with constituents, different organizations will come into my office. My job will be the same as ever.”

He won’t meet with constituents. That’s a thing he never does, unless they pay or they give him a nice photo-op. 

He said he will still “follow” House committees, and hopes to regain his assignments after the election.

“I would make the pitch that I was re-elected in an open environment and would like to be back on the committee,” he said. “It may or may not work out.”

It shouldn’t, in a competent meritocracy. LOL. 

Now Collins seems to have resuscitated his well-documented competitive spirit; the same drive that made him a successful businessman and one of the wealthiest members of Congress. He did not debate McMurray, but is criss-crossing the district at Republican-friendly stops, driving home the point that the loss of his seat could spell the difference between Republican or Democratic control of the House.

I hope to God that McMurray can Poloncarz Collins and we have a re-do of 2011. Note that Collins goes unannounced to Republican-friendly stops, so he can avoid literally any tough question. McMurray will go anywhere and talk to anyone. Who is the real “representative”? 

After representing the district for six years, he said he knows it remains deeply Republican and intensely loyal to Trump. He points to the tax cut, new farm bill (which attracted no Democratic votes), improved relations with North Korea, and two new conservative justices on the Supreme Court. Trump has delivered all he promised, Collins says.

Yes, if there’s two things a Wyoming County farmer cares about, it’s geopolitics and tax cuts for billionaires. 

“All that crashes and burns if Nancy Pelosi takes over,” he said.

Yes, and then the middle class gets a voice. This is something Collins simply won’t tolerate. 

He expresses pride in congressional accomplishments such as his Firefighters Cancer Registration Act, which established a national database for firefighters seeking help to battle diseases incurred on the job. His television ads, meanwhile, zero in on McMurray, painting him as “to the left of Bernie Sanders, liberal, radical, socialist.”

Attacks on McMurray might ring a bit more true if this coward had the courage to engage in a proper debate. Instead, he hurls ad hominem attacks from afar, and either through a twenty-something paid surrogate, or through a mustachioed stenographer. 

He points to an “F” rating for McMurray by the National Rifle Association, and claims his opponent is open to impeaching Trump and opposed to tax cuts. He links him at every opportunity with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who he said remains unpopular in the district.

Christopher Collins is legally barred from owning firearms. 

“You put that all together, and he’s opposed to everything that Trump stands for,” he said. “And this is a Trump district. He’s 180 degrees out of sync with NY-27.”

“My goal,” he added, “is to keep this seat Republican.”

And Bob McCarthy’s goal is to dutifully transcribe, unchallenged and unprobed, the propaganda from right-wing bad actors. Seriously, with all of the talent that’s left the News in recent months, why are we still stuck with this guy writing this sort of nonsense? It is shameful. 

1. 501c3/c4 Restrictions

Mike Nolan is just a “selfless first responder” at the Jamison Road Fire Hall. They’ve suffered “threats” and “harrassment” because they hosted noted neo-fascist Steve Bannon at their firehall. 

There were no threats, except “threats” not to rent out the firehall. There were hardly any protests, and what there were were completely peaceful. One of the protesters was right-wing MAGA-hat wearing Reform Party candidate for NY-27, Larry Piezga. 

Mike Nolan is a Republican hack – Elma town councilman and COO of New York State’s OTB-owned Batavia Downs Gaming, which is where all of the thirsty af boys and girls who wanted to take Chris Collins’ place on the ballot met a couple of months ago. He’s a state employee; one of those right-wing socialists. 

With this phone call to some obscure right-wing radio show in Michigan, Nolan was expressly partisan while purporting to speak on behalf of the fire hall, bringing its non-profit status into massive question. To hear Nolan tell it, this wasn’t just some content-neutral rental of a fire hall – this was a deliberately partisan event that the fire hall organized. Who knows if that’s true, or whether he was authorized to speak to the radio show on the fire hall’s behalf, but a 501c3 tax-exempt organization is banned from engaging in partisan politics. I have to assume that the leadership of the fire hall would not be so irresponsible or stupid to threaten their 501c3 status. Here is what the IRS’s website says: 

Under the Internal Revenue Code, all section 501(c)(3) organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office. Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity.  Violating this prohibition may result in denial or revocation of tax-exempt status and the imposition of certain excise taxes. 

Certain activities or expenditures may not be prohibited depending on the facts and circumstances.  For example, certain voter education activities (including presenting public forums and publishing voter education guides) conducted in a non-partisan manner do not constitute prohibited political campaign activity. In addition, other activities intended to encourage people to participate in the electoral process, such as voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, would not be prohibited political campaign activity if conducted in a non-partisan manner.

On the other hand, voter education or registration activities with evidence of bias that (a) would favor one candidate over another; (b) oppose a candidate in some manner; or (c) have the effect of favoring a candidate or group of candidates, will constitute prohibited participation or intervention.

Bannon’s appearance was specifically billed as a Republican get out the vote effort for the midterm elections. Not general “everyone should vote”, but that Republicans should vote. It is very possible that this is a breach – evidenced by Mike Nolan’s own reckless words on a radio show he probably thought no one would hear – of the 501c3 status of that fire department. I don’t know why Mr. Nolan would give up the real rationale behind the Jamison Road Volunteer Fire Department expressly hosting a Republican-only GOTV rally, but he has genuinely put the group’s non-profit status at risk. Maybe next time, get your story straight with the board and management and stick instead to running racinos. 

By the way, not one local candidate – not even alt-right frotteur David DiPietro – showed up to speak at Steve Bannon’s Dummkopf Nuremberg rally. Putative event organizer Michael Caputo told me on Facebook that no candidates could speak because of the not-for-profit status of Bannon’s 501c4 social welfare organization. Oh? 

Bannon’s 501c4 is the opaquely funded group that enabled Bannon to fly private from Teterboro so he could avoid bumping into any real Americans. This whole thing calls into question who paid for the fire hall. Chances are an individual could have rented the hall and invited Bannon, and then the candidates could have appeared without prohibition, and Bannon’s PAC could have just funded his travel. Maybe there was a reason that was not done and why Bannon’s social welfare organization PAC paid for it instead. Maybe it was because Larry Piezga or a few 50 year-old female placard holders so petrified these candidates that they stayed away. Obviously, Collins was never going to come, because an event where he knows press will be there is his kryptonite. Who knows why DiPietro didn’t show, except he had a table there handing out lit and signs, so if you can do that, you bet he could have spoken. 

But it’s all spin and BS – here’s what Caputo told Bob McCarthy on Tuesday: “[candidates] are welcome to come but nobody is required to come,” he said. “We haven’t heard from anybody, but we didn’t ask anyone to RSVP either. And people are coming to hear Steve Bannon, not the local candidates.” I don’t see anything there about 501c4 or 501c3 restrictions on candidates appearing. There must be an innocent explanation as to why he omitted that fact, because Bob McCarthy is nothing if not a dutiful stenographer. 

2. Steve Bannon: Lifestyles of the Rich and Ruddy

The former Hollywood executive and former Goldman Sachs executive has a few choice words for the “elites”. 

Bannon in #ny27: “The elites are not going to pat you on the head. You have to continue to win elections. You have to have Trump’s back.”

— Jimmy Vielkind (@JimmyVielkind) October 24, 2018

 

 

Steve Brannon arrives T Prior pic.twitter.com/hOJLK01inM

— Bob McCarthy (@bobmccarthybn) October 24, 2018

That’s a WorldWide Jet Bombardier/Canadair CL60. It must be the working man’s private jet. Perhaps the populist’s jet. It’s an import – made in Canada. Just like any steelworker or coal miner, Bannon flew direct from Teterboro Airport to Buffalo’s Prior Aviation facility in just under an hour. It’s quite convenient to have a multi-million dollar private jet at your disposal when you’re an anti-elitist working man. How much does a round-trip cost on that jet from Teterboro to Buffalo? 

Gosh, that’s a bargain that would make any fiscal conservative blush. Why spend time with the riff-raff flying commercial when you can plunk down $17k and go in style! 

Teterboro is only 18 miles from Newark International Airport. United flew from Newark to Buffalo at 2pm, arriving at 3. A return flight was available departing at 8:44pm. It had to circle for a while before landing due to weather in Newark, but nothing a working-class American can’t handle. The cost to travel round-trip on United between Newark and Buffalo is about $240if you fly economy, like most volunteer firefighters do. If you go first class, it’s about $500 round-trip.  

If you fly United, you won’t get this nice bottle of Grgich Hills Chardonnay, or a plane all to yourself: 

But you’ll save literally $17,000 of someone else’s money. Here, specifically, it’s paid for by Bannon’s PAC, “Citizens of the American Republic“, which says on its website is a “non-profit tax-exempt advocacy organization under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions or gifts to COAR are not tax deductible for IRS purposes. Not paid for at taxpayer expense.” Not paid for at taxpayer expense, but because its income is not taxed, we all subsidize its operations. It’s dark money – Bannon doesn’t have to disclose who funds his billionaire lifestyle. 

3. WBEN Self-Own

From the guy who runs the station: 

It’s pathetic to me that politicians, both locally and nationally, are using the #SuspiciousPackages incidents to attempt to lay blame on one political side or the other. It explains the continuing decline of any public trust in our elected leaders.

— Tim Wenger (@TimWBEN) October 24, 2018

Yes, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions about these sorts of news events! That was posted around 12:30 on Wednesday, the day the news hit about the attempted assassination of several prominent Trump opponents. 

Literally the next morning on WBEN’s air: 

Could it be the bomb threats are a hoax? 803-0930 @NewsRadio930

— Sandy Beach (@SandyWBEN) October 25, 2018

‘Why won’t Democrats stop terrorizing their heroes’ is pretty fucking depraved, even from Don “Sandy Beach” Pesola. 

Republicans have become indistinguishable from Infowars conspiracy nonsense – the fringe is now the mainstream. They’re accusing Democrats of perpetrating some sort of hoax for two reasons: 1. They don’t really care; they would cheer the assassination of people like Hillary Clinton and George Soros. They would celebrate mass murder at CNN or the bombing to bits of Debbie Wasserman Schultz; and 2. That’s how they think. The entire ethos; the fundamental ideology of Trumpism is to ‘pwn the libs’. So, when some horrifying news hits and it may be politically damaging, the Infowars party assumes its enemies – whom they would be happy to see dead, by the way – are acting how they would.

Weird how deliberate lying, eliminationist rhetoric, and a decade’s worth of nihilistic policy turns a political party into a sarcastic death cult. 

Under no circumstances should we give Michael Caputo and David DiPietro and Chris Collins what they want – a big angry mob that’s just a more diverse and inclusive version of the 2009-era Tea Party rallies. To that end, I agree wholeheartedly with what Aaron Lowinger recommend in his column – leave the rote chants and the angry righteousness (never mind the trash talk) at home. 

As Aaron pointed out my tweet last night, 

Let them have their Dummy Nuremberg.

—BuffaloPundit(@buffalopundit) October 19, 2018

But I know people are going to want to protest the likes of ruddy multi-shirted fascist Steve Bannon coming here to stump for alt-right absentee Assemblyman DiPietro and Chris Collins (R-Innate Immunotherapeutics  & Cell Block C).

So, if you’re going to do it, don’t get angry – mock them. Think Mel Brooks. 

Think “Springtime for Hitler”. Brooks says, 

“You have to bring him down with ridicule, because if you stand on a soapbox and you match him with rhetoric, you’re just as bad as he is, but if you can make people laugh at him, then you’re one up on him,” he tells Wallace. “It’s been one of my lifelong jobs – to make the world laugh at Adolf Hitler.”

Bannon isn’t funny – he’s a white nationalist proto-fascist propagandist. He was drummed out of the White House and wanted to start an alt-right anti-immigrant uprising in Europe, but was basically drummed the fuck out. That’s funny. 

Bannon isn’t funny – he’s a horror. He’s a guy who embodies the central tenet of white nationalism, which is to use the accident of race as a substitute for talent, merit, and hard work. Guys like Bannon and his ilk are fundamentally pathetic, perennial failures. The whole thing is boiled down to, “I’m white – the only reason why my life is a failure is because of the [insert historically marginalized group here].” In 1938, Nazis put “Jews” in that preceding bracket. In 2018 America, these people wear red hats, claim not to be racist, and then blame women, black people, immigrants, etc. for their own Unglück. 

I would take 100,000 immigrants over one Steve Bannon. Mock the shit out of him. Out of them. Think Sacha Baron Cohen. Here’s an example. 

Maybe the good folks of Buffalo can troll anyone who attends. I’ll never forget the tuba players who were playing March of the Valkyries behind a bunch of white nationalists.

— Carl Gorney (@buffalocharging) October 19, 2018

Screw tuba players. A buttload of bagpipers tuning said bagpipes.

— (((Beth))) (@swampcrone) October 19, 2018

There will be morons at this Bannon pity party who will want to provoke counter-protesters into violence. They’re pathetic. Make fun of them. Mock them. 

If anyone protests Bannon stinking up WNY, do it through mockery. Make fun of these people who think being born white in America counts as an achievement rather than an accident. #MockBannon https://t.co/sjWGcm8SaB

—BuffaloPundit(@buffalopundit) October 19, 2018

Listen, Aaron is right – don’t go. Don’t give them what they want. But if you’re going to go, I’m not clever enought to figure out the best ways to mock these proud boys, but let us know your ideas at #MockBannon. Don’t be an angry mob. Be a comedy flash mob. 

Nate McMurray has momentum and is in a statistical tie with Chris Collins. Collins, on the other hand, has seen his support effectively collapse, and there are new questions about possible illegality. 

According to a Siena/Spectrum poll, incumbent indicted Congressman Chris Collins holds a barely-there three-point lead over challenger, Democrat Nate McMurray. This is well within the poll’s +/- 4.7% margin of error. This thing is a dead heat as Chris Collins’ political career of corruption, arrogance, and criminality all catch up with him. The electorate that voted for him in the past seemingly did so grudgingly, and they have largely abandoned him at the first inkling of proper legal peril.  

This all jibes with Nate McMurray’s internal poll, which he announced last week, showing a dead heat. 

This is what 10 years’ worth of using elected office as one’s personal peerage amounts to for Collins – if you are sent to Washington to represent people, your refusal to meet with or put yourself out there and listen to people is fundamentally disqualifying. This was a R+11 district that is now a tied toss-up. 

I don’t think that’s due solely to the felony indictment for insider trading. I believe that even Republicans tolerate Collins rather than genuinely like or support him. He pulled some support for his relentlessly deep-throated defense of President Trump on cable news shows, but that was only able to take him so far. Collins lives in a stratosphere wholly different from practically every other western New Yorker, and nowhere is that more evident than in this particular rural, economically modest district. 

Even now, in the middle of the campaign of his life, Collins sneaks around the district, showing up to sparsely attended, Republicans-only events to take some awkward pictures with his few supporters. Meanwhile, Nate McMurray is all over the district, drawing bigger and bigger, enthusiastic crowds who want to hear someone talk about issues that matter to them. McMurray is on the air now in this TV-friendly district, and his ads are positive and patriotic while Collins’ are relentlessly negative and hateful, like their paymaster. 

Independents are breaking to McMurray, as are people in Erie County generally. McMurray has some catching up to do, and rumor has it that he will be added this week to the “Red to Blue” list through the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which will help considerably with crucial fundraising McMurray needs. 

Tellingly, last night when Spectrum News’ Ryan Whalen called around to the campaigns to tell them about the poll and solicit a comment, Collins refused. 

Tomorrow morning Spectrum News will release our Siena College poll for the NY-27 race. @CollinsNY27 says he will not be available to respond. We have put in several interview requests since he resumed his campaign. We are planning to speak with @Nate_McMurray and @NickLangworthy

— Ryan Whalen (@RyanWhalenCT) October 15, 2018

Speaking of fundraising, if you take a look at Chris Collins’ latest disclosure, it’s pathetic and might show evidence of illegality. 

In the wake of his indictment, Chris Collins’ campaign raised a mere $32,000. Of that, only $6,210 came from actual humans – the rest came from special interests looking to buy influence. Of that $6,200 from real people, only $2,325 came from anywhere near the district. The rest is from deep-pocketed out-of-staters. The Collins campaign has absolutely zero credibility, zero momentum, and nothing much to tout, which explains its relentlessly negative campaign to destroy McMurray. 

But this item was especially interesting in Collins’ disclosure: 

Why is Chris Collins flying private jets and billing that to his campaign? That’s generally illegal in a House race. 

According to the Buffalo News’ Jerry Zremski’s reporting, 

Collins took [the private jet] from New York to Buffalo on Aug. 8 to meet with the media after his indictment, said Collins campaign spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre.

You may remember that August 8th was the date of Collins’ indictment, and he famously held a big press conference at the Avant. As I described it at the time, 

Collins held a “press conference” at the Avant Wednesday night. He kept the media waiting 90 minutes past the scheduled start time. He and his wife came out to the podium, and Collins engaged in languorous autofellatio about what a great businessman he is, and how he wants to abolish multiple sclerosis. He insisted that he’s innocent, will defend himself vigorously, but will not take any questions at this “press conference”. Instead, he’s going to stay in Congress, run for re-election, and not respond to one question about these charges outside of court, ever. 

He kept the press waiting longer than it takes to fly from JFK, Newark, or LaGuardia to Buffalo. There are 24 scheduled non-stop flights from the three New York area airports today on JetBlue, United (CommutAir), and Delta (Republic and Endeavor Air). Chances are it was similar on August 8th. But that’s not how indicted Congressmen roll. They fly private and pay a fortune for the privilege to which they feel entitled. 

Why fly like us plebes when this is within reach? 

Nate McMurray is on the stump throughout NY-27 talking to real people about their questions, concerns, problems, and hopes. He will meet with anyone and you don’t have to pay him in advance for the privilege. He’ll listen to people and has empathy for the issues they bring him. On the issues, he’s a smart, knowledgeable, and wholly un-extreme. Every time a Collins ad runs, it ends with “take Nate McMurray at his word”, and the electorate is doing just that. Collins’ ads are so hilariously negative (or, in one instance, racist), that they’re probably backfiring. While McMurray is offering a positive and patriotic message, Collins’ media blitz makes him seem like the grumpy old troll who lives under a bridge to avoid the cameras, lights, and people. He’ll keep hitting and a McMurray who ignores the ads and offers instead a positive and hopeful image, protecting people’s farms and businesses and ensuring that everyone has health coverage. 

Right now is when Nate McMurray needs your help – write postcards, make calls, canvass, or donate. Or any combination of those. Sure, the district might overwhelmingly support the President, but do we really need an accused criminal representing us in Congress? Naters gonna Nate. 

It wasn’t too long ago that Christopher Collins and Steve Pigeon were co-conspirators in a perfectly legal, albeit scummy, scheme to transform a Democratic majority in the Erie County Legislature into a shaky “reform coalition” controlled by Republicans to do Collins’s bidding. Who can forget how a small handful of nominal Democrats conspired with Pigeon throughout 2009 to hand the legislature over to Collins. Everyone got something out of the deal except for the people of Erie County, who were shafted, as was routine. In the end, as with many Pigeon-orchestrated hijinks, the effort crumbled into failure. Collins lost his re-election bid in 2011, but the damage that Pigeon, his money, and his cohorts could do to good Democratic candidates continues even today, despite 2013’s “WNY Progressive Caucus” (a.k.a. AwfulPAC) blowing up in their faces and resulting in Pigeon’s recent conviction for felony bribery, Frank Max’s conviction for election law violations, and the pending prosecutions of Kristy Mazurek and David Pfaff. 

But memories are short and convenient, and the villains of January 2010 have largely not been drummed out of local politics. This is a testament, I supposed, to that whole “city of good neighbors” thing. You can back your enemy for short-term tactical political gain, and you will still be tolerated within Democratic ranks later on. 

Steve Pigeon’s rogue political machine was a cancer on the Erie County Democratic Committee. Like any cancer, people tried valiantly to halt its spread, to attack and counter-attack, to do as little damage to healthy tissue as possible while killing the cancer. Getting rid of Pigeon as chair was just excising the tumor—the margins weren’t clear, and the battles continued. Unlike most cancers, however, we know exactly what fed and enabled Pigeonism: electoral fusion. Without the ability routinely to screw over Democratic HQ through malignant wheeling and dealing with the execrable “Independence Party” (which is neither independent nor, really, a party) or the so-called “Conservative” Party, Pigeonism couldn’t have existed.

As with most cancers, Pigeonism brought good days and bad days; but the prosecutions over 2013’s WNY Progressive Caucus seemed a miracle cure. The cancer got sloppy and an exciting trial of a new drug called “Enforce Existing Rules and Laws” showed promise. The cancer is now in remission, but there is no known cure. Steve Pigeon may be a convicted felon, and he may be disbarred for it, but there is nothing stopping him from re-infecting our political organism. Even this primary cycle, aberrant cells of breakaway Dems mounted failed attempts to play the same old game, but it doesn’t work anymore; not like it used to. Not remotely. 

Preetsmas carries on, and we must remain vigilant against the cancer returning. 

Pigeon’s co-conspirator from 2010, Christopher Collins, also finds himself facing criminal charges. He stands accused of various types of fraud and is out and campaigning on $500,000 bail; evidently, he’s a moderate flight risk. After suspending his campaign and pledging to step aside, Collins—ever looking out for himself over the good of his constituents—flip-flopped and decided to stay in the race. So far, “campaigning” means throwing up racist, lying TV ads and showing up to events where he is guaranteed a friendly, placid audience. Christopher Collins can’t really debate anyone in any meaningful way. After all, he is under arrest and subject to a Miranda warning—everything he says can be used against him in a court of law. 

But there is one constant that has helped to accelerate the growth of the cancer on our body politic represented by Pigeon and Collins, and it is beautifully embodied by this Buffalo News article. Written by dutiful longtime Pigeon stenographer Bob McCarthy, it seems simply to regurgitate a Collins campaign press release announcing a new television ad that will attack Democratic, un-arrested challenger Nate McMurray for supporting Medicare for all. 

“Nate’s push for European-style health care shows how radically out of touch he is with the 27th District,” said campaign spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre. “His plan raises spending by $32.6 trillion, doubles taxes for every American, and jeopardizes care for our seniors while severely raising their taxes. Voters should take Nate McMurray at his word – at least until he deletes this video.”

Let’s operate under a few assumptions, all of which give accused criminal Christopher Collins the undeserved benefit of the doubt. We start with the premise that the status quo, as it relates to American healthcare and insurance, is inadequate or unacceptable. Collins has spent years deriding Obamacare as a “socialist” failure, so he bears a substantial burden of proof to offer up an alternative. Not just any alternative—but specifically an improvement upon not just Obamacare’s status quo, but the pre-Obamacare years, as well. The goal is ostensibly to maximize how many are covered, the type of coverage, protection for pre-existing condition coverage, and lower cost. The pre-Obamacare system left too many people uninsured. President Obama cobbled together a Frankenstein compromise to maximize coverage within the context of the American private health insurance system, and expansion of Medicaid. 

Here is a post from June detailing Collins’ relentless attacks on Obamacare and how he helped make everything even worse. 

Although Obamacare was by no means a perfect solution, it has succeeded in expanding coverage, increasing the number of people insured, and guaranteeing a minimum standard of what “health insurance” should include. Despite all of this—despite it being a national roll-out of Romneycare, a single-payer alternative thought up by the ultra-conservative American Enterprise Institute think-tank—Republicans accused Obama of being a Kenyan socialist and Obamacare was an un-American socialist government takeover of healthcare. 

So, let us assume for a moment that Republican attacks on President Obama and his signature health insurance scheme were somehow grounded in reality or even remotely sincere. Obamacare was passed into law in 2010. The Republicans had eight years to devise some sort of cheaper, better alternative. When they gained control of both houses of Congress and the White House, however, they couldn’t do it. All of their anti-Obamacare “repeal and replace” bluster was revealed to be little more than lies when they failed to actually do what they said they would do. For his part, Christopher Collins proudly went on TV and told his constituents that he hadn’t even bothered to read the bill for which he voted.

That video is, itself, disqualifying for re-election. Collins doesn’t care about you or your mommy or your daddy or your grandma or your farm or your business. He serves masters higher than his constituency—his political party and his relentless greed and ambition. 

In recent years, the idea of expanding Medicare—the hugely popular single-payer health insurance plan for senior citizens—to all Americans has grown in popularity. It has become a viable and politically tenable alternative concept. As it stands now, Americans’ loudest and most sincere criticisms of private health insurance in the era of Obamacare is that it is too expensive, and deductibles are untenable and unaffordable. Medicare for all alleviates both concerns. So, Christopher Collins and his shills—experts at using ruthlessness as a cut-rate replacement for talent—deride Medicare as “radically out of touch” with people in the district. Go tell it to seniors. Go tell it to common ratepayers who devote thousands every year to cover healthcare costs and get little out of it. Tell it to people who can’t afford their medication. Tell it to people who fundraise for chemotherapy treatment through coin jars at convenience store check-outs. For the best and richest country in the world, we operate our healthcare like a tropical kleptocracy. Christopher Collins has no work ethic—he’s not trying to devise a reasonable alternative health insurance scheme. Christopher Collins has no ideas—he’s just a coward too afraid to even show up to debate his opponent on this or any other issue. Christopher Collins talks a big game when his high-priced DC swamp media gurus get a hold of him, but he trembles at the idea of a debate or being challenged. 

Who cares what Christopher Collins says? I don’t get life tips from guys at Rikers, either. 

Collins has no ideas, can’t be bothered to defend the few he purports to have in a public forum, and is just an empty vessel—an abject failure as a “representative” whose political survival is wholly dependent only on his party affiliation. When Bob McCarthy regurgitates a Collins press release, and then calls the McMurray campaign for comment, that is the laziest form of “journalism” available. Like Collins’s excuse for representation, it is a poor excuse for fact-finding. When Collins and his shills attack Nate McMurray for wanting to expand Medicare, why isn’t McCarthy asking them simple questions: What system do you prefer? What system do you propose? What changes would you make to McMurray’s plan? What changes would you make to ensure that health insurance and healthcare are comprehensive and affordable? 

Sure, McMurray supports the expansion of Medicare to all Americans. No American should be faced with an illness and not have the means or opportunity to seek and obtain necessary medical treatment. McMurrayCare might indeed be a reduction in health insurance bureaucracy into one simple plan. (Ask doctors what they would prefer.) So, what is CollinsCare, except free access to a mason jar to use at cash registers to pay for your kid’s leukemia treatment? 

Dave Greber tweeted this Wednesday afternoon, and it perfectly and succinctly sums up Chris Collins’ (NY-27) sense of honor and duty, if not consistency: 

Recap: Aug. 11, @CollinsNY27 suspends reelection campaign. Sept. 7: Tells me exclusively he’ll cooperate to remove name from ballot. Sept: 17: Says he will no longer cooperate. Sept. 19: Tweets he will “actively” campaign for #NY27 seat, rejoin the race. @news4buffalo pic.twitter.com/ZKPMt5Q79Z

— Dave Greber (@DaveGreber4) September 19, 2018

No one ever got rich betting that Chris Collins would put his constituents or the interests of others before his own self-interest. 

This is especially true for the poor saps who invested in Innate Immunotherapeutics at his urging, and didn’t get his heads-up call about the company’s failed M.S. drug trial. 

Collins is under felony indictment, accused of lying to the FBI and engaging in securities fraud. There are images of him calling his son from the White House’s South Lawn on the day Innate confidentially informed its board members that its key drug trial was a failure. Almost immediately after that call, his son started dumping Innate stock, and urging others to do the same. Allegedly. 

So, this hit e-mailboxes Wednesday: 

This man is currently under arrest. He’s out on bail, but in custody. He’s surrendered his passport; he’s a moderate flight risk. He is subject to a grand jury’s felony indictment, charges filed by Donald Trump’s hand-picked prosecutor. After weeks of nonsense from the Republican chairmen in NY-27 about possibly replacing Collins on the ballot with bright, service-oriented, humble luminaries such as Carl Paladino or Stefan Mychajliw, Collins just yelled “psych” and stayed in the race because his lawyers told him to. 

No one cares about his attacks on Nate McMurray, or on a “Canadian” health care that is so popular in that country that Canadians named Tommy Douglas – the guy who came up with their Medicare program – the Greatest Canadian of All Time. “Radical leftist” is one of the many attacks on Nate McMurray the Republicans are opaquely testing out with these obscene, borderline racist, false, defamatory, push-polls: 

This sort of thing is an outrage. Every reporter covering this race needs to ask Collins about these push-polls. Who paid for them? Who approved them? Who wrote the questions? Who’s running the poll? What’s with the attacks about Asia? 

His lawyers, Collins will listen to. That’s more listening than he’s ever done with his constituents in all his years in office. Even a Collins partisan would have to concede that defending oneself against a federal felony indictment is one hell of a distraction for a Congressman. 

Meanwhile, Democrat Nate McMurray probably can’t believe his luck here. Cook’s has upped this from likely Republican to leans Republican. Before Collins’ arrest, it was solid Republican. 

Bring it https://t.co/emyYtJEFco

— Nate McMurray for Congress (@Nate_McMurray) September 19, 2018

Like I said.

Here is the rest of McMurray’s statement: 

“It looks like the criminal is returning to the scene of the crime – and I’m not just talking about insider trading, lying to the FBI and everything else he’s been accused of – I mean the derelict of duty he did by ignoring his constituents and their interests for every second of his elected life.

I’m curious to know what Mr. Collins means by ‘actively campaign’ because he hasn’t talked to his constituents, hasn’t held town halls, and has been hiding in his penthouse since the FBI arrested him. Now he thinks that the voters of this district who are getting hurt by a trade war, are struggling to make ends meet, and know that Washington is more corrupt than ever, he thinks they’re going to trust him? Give me a break. He looks out for himself. And maybe his donors.

Chris Collins has been charged with a crime. He can’t buy his way back into his job.

Chris Collins thinks the rules don’t apply to him. They do.

Chris Collins represents everything that’s wrong with Washington.

Chris, if you’re listening from Manhattan, here are a few words you may remember, ‘lock him up’ ‘drain the swamp’. I hear your next court appearance is on October 11. I bet some folks from NY-27 may take a road trip.

Every single one of McMurray’s points is valid. Chris Collins is not a man who sought elected office to serve people, but to serve his own self-interest. It was true when he was County Executive, and it’s been clear since he became the third in a spree of Congressional Republicans from Clarence disgracing themselves. 

Chris Collins was the first Congressman to endorse Donald Trump, who ran on a platform that included “draining the swamp”. Chris Collins is the swamp, and that swamp has only grown deeper and more fetid since Trump came to power. It is up to us – the electorate in NY-27 – to drain our little, acrid corner of the D.C. swamp and send Collins back home, where he can devote all of his energy to defending himself in court. 

Here’s a quote from Erie County Republican Committee Chairman Nick Langworthy, which I assume he said seriously and not at all as a joke: 

“My opposition went on television saying they were going to sue us in every direction because they want to win this seat on a technicality,” Langworthy said. “They know damn well that Nate McMurray can’t beat a clean Republican candidate. But I am confident that we have Congressman Collin’s cooperation, as he said to you, in your exclusive interview, but also that we have the best legal team in the state of New York, in the U.S., on this. I have confidence that we’re going to work as one and make that substitute happen.”

What this is all about is the farcical and unprecedented effort the Republicans are considering to replace Chris Collins on the November ballot in the race for NY-27 with someone not under felony indictment.  Channel 4’s Dave Greber interviewed Collins and his opponent, Democrat Nate McMurray, this week, and they were eye-openers. There was Collins in his office – one last stage-managed event – whining about how the FBI came to his home (which one?) at 6 in the morning to chat about insider trading. The transcript is here; here’s a telling excerpt: 

DAVE
When did you first learn of the federal charges, when were you first tipped off about that?

COLLINS
When they knocked on my door on April 25 at 6 AM.

DAVE
What was that like. I mean, you’ve never faced anything like this in the past?

COLLINS
That was the shock of all shocks. To have, as it turns out, two agents at your door at 6 AM, saying they just want to talk. As it turns out, they don’t read you your rights, they don’t tell you you could have an attorney, they don’t tell you while you’re there. It’s just, a we’d like to talk. And the next thing you know, of course you’re innocent, you invite them in. I’m in a bathrobe, and bare feet and just got out of bed and I chatted with them for 45 minutes or so. They wanted to know about my involvement, and I shared everything from A-to-Z. And then at the end of it all, they said, oh by the way, we have a subpoena for you.

DAVE
Wow.

“Wow”, indeed.

Now, imagine you’re a multi-millionaire businessman and you’re already the subject of an ethical investigation in the House of Representatives, to which you were elected; you know you’re under scrutiny. It’s April 25th and the FBI is at your door at 6:00 a.m., but Collins plays victim, suggesting that something shady went on. He wasn’t arrested on April 25th, and the FBI won’t read you your rights or tell you you have a right to an attorney until and unless you’re in custody. Collins should know this as a lawmaker, but also as a person under felony indictment – he wasn’t arrested until mid-August. 

It doesn’t really matter who you are – common sense would dictate that, if the FBI shows up at your house at 6:00 a.m., you ask to see their warrant. You call a lawyer. You don’t just invite them in for a chat; it’s not a social call. If literally anyone showed up unexpectedly at your door that early in the morning, you’d first call the cops or else ask to see the warrant. 

This was a campaign pitch – maybe for some unnamed Republican to replace Collins, but at least for a pardon. The Trump tchotchkes, (e.g., the “Fake News Network FNN mug behind Collins’ head), were the giveaway. 

I think Collins letting the FBI in to chat at 6:00 a.m. like he was expecting them is evidence of a guilty conscience. He knew why they were there; he knew the subject matter of their inquiry. He was trying to talk his way out of it; to throw his weight and prestige around to yet another bunch of poors. 

But look at the date – Collins was approached and subpoenaed by the FBI for allegations that he engaged in insider trading and fraud on April 25th. He was already under Congressional investigation for possible insider trading as early as October 2017. 

Shortly after the private placement purchase, legislation that Collins authored to speed up clinical trials of drugs was signed into law as part of the 21st Century Cures Act and the company’s stock price tripled shortly thereafter. The stock price plummeted in June, however, when the company announced its lead drug failed to help secondary multiple sclerosis patients in a clinical trial.

All of this was out in the open in 2017. The FBI came a-calling in April 2018. The Republicans – and Nick Langworthy – knew they had a problem to address a year ago. They didn’t; they ignored it. 

Petitions for Congress hit the street on March 6th, and were due in mid-April. The primary was in late June. Someone credible could have primaried Collins and taken the fight to him. Some Republican, surely, believes in the rule of law and that corrupt politicians under investigation shouldn’t be re-elected without a battle. But alas, none stepped up. They knew Collins was ethically dirty, but went with him anyway. 

The Republicans are banking on their ability to manufacture a phony, fraudulent “vacancy” by running Collins for some town position somewhere like Eden. Then they have a September 19th deadline to fill the “vacancy”. Then voila! Congressional candidate Carl Paladino or whatever other alt-right frotteur they can convince to run and self-fund. 

Except it’s a sham and a fraud. The “technicality” of which Mr. Langworthy complains isn’t whether McMurray lucked out by running against an incumbent who turned out to be crooked; Nate McMurray is running against an incumbent whom Langworthy knew – or should have known – at least by April was crooked. Langworthy bought this problem by going along with Collins’ own hubris. 

Here’s what Nate McMurray, the Democratic candidate, told Channel 4’s Dave Greber in an interview that aired Tuesday: 

DAVE
Is that difficult for you to campaign, knowing that you are Nate Mcmurray potential he campaigning against a question mark? 

MCMURRAY
There is some challenges there for sure, but I will say this. I’m really campaigning against Team Collins, Team Collins and all those surrogates who supported him, propped him up and told you even to a few weeks ago, that this is someone you should vote for. When they knew better. So to the end of this campaign, I will be campaigning against that system, and I’ll be working to break the party machine that brought you Mr. Collins and told you to vote for him again and again and again. If I was a Republican voter, who donated to the party, who donated time to the party, who committed to the party, and I was taken advantage of in this way, I would simply give a protest vote for them, saying we need change. I would ask all those involved to fight against the system. They took advantage of you, they used to you, they exported you. It’s time for you to fight back. If you don’t fight back now, when you have a guy like Chris Collins endorsed to be your senator, and now you have this gamesmanship at the last hour to save the face of the party bosses, when will you stand up? It’s time for everyone to stand up and say look, business as usual must end. 

There’s no precedent for this. These whiny clowns were with Collins after October 2017, when a Congressional ethics board said Collins may have engaged in illegal conduct; they were with Collins after April 25th, when the FBI showed up at Collins’ door; they were with him right up until the indictments hit, and then they started scrambling to defraud the electorate. The deadline for Collins to decline the nomination passed on April 16th. As Buffalo Attorney Frank Housh explains on his law firm’s blog, 

…when a candidate seeks to disqualify himself from an office for which he was nominated but did not timely decline, he “must present a legal basis for doing so” other than being nominated for a different office. 

“Oh, shit a grand jury indicted me for securities fraud and lying to the FBI” is not a legal basis for disqualification. 

So, let’s swing back to Langworthy’s “poor me”. 

My opposition went on television saying they were going to sue us in every direction because they want to win this seat on a technicality,

The Democrats are going to sue your committee in “every direction” because you’re attempting to perpetrate a fraud on the electorate in NY-27. 

They know damn well that Nate McMurray can’t beat a clean Republican candidate.

Maybe you should have run one, then. Not now, in mid-September as part of some ham-handed, extra-legal do-over, but ab initio; from the get-go. 

But I am confident that we have Congressman Collins’ cooperation, as he said to you, in your exclusive interview, but also that we have the best legal team in the state of New York, in the U.S., on this.

Oh, yes. The best legal team actually in CHRISTENDOM. IN THE UNIVERSE. Collins’ “cooperation” merely means that he’s willing to participate in the fraud. I mean, participate in securities fraud, participate in electoral fraud; all in a day’s work for the worst Congressman in New York. 

I have confidence that we’re going to work as one and make that substitute happen.

Look who’s really trying to win on technicalities. 

Meanwhile, the Democrats have a fantastic and brilliant candidate who is neither under felony indictment, nor part of any other sort of electoral, financial, or legal fraud. If you think Langworthy’s bluster is as hilarious as I do, throw a couple of bucks Nate’s way, or volunteer to get the word out.

If you haven’t yet read the blockbuster reporting from Channel 7’s Charlie Specht regarding the ongoing cover-up and coddling of predator pedophile priests in the Buffalo Diocese, you should do so here and here. Specht’s evidence shows that Bishop Richard Malone knowingly placed priests who had been accused of predatory sexual harassment of adults and children in situations where their crimes could simply be repeated against a fresh batch of victims. 

Given the choice between siding with abused parishioners or predatory pedophile priests, alt-right frotteur Carl Paladino sides with the pedophile priests and is very upset that their crimes—and the diocesan cover-up—are being exposed.

In this idiotic Paladino e-mail missive, he pays lip-service to the “pain” of the victims of pedophile priests whose crimes were systemically covered up by the Church heirarchy for decades in Pennsylvania and Buffalo. But then he launches into a non-sequitur tirade against his biggest enemy: the free press that reports on him and his racist, dumb antics. What do the roster of Buffalo News writers and editors he name-calls have to do with anything? Paladino implies that they have some sort of unnamed secrets in something called an “anxiety closet”, and are presumably unworthy to comment on the topic of priests raping children. 

I think pretty much anyone has the right to be outraged by priests raping children. Even, e.g., moral giants like guys who tell their wives about their secret love child the week of their son’s death. 

Paladino is furious—furious—that the media have forced the diocese to release the names of a fraction of its clergy against whom credible accusations of predatory sexual behavior had been made. The diocese has the names because it investigated the allegations, and then covered them all up. The media aren’t the villains here, Carl. It’s your beloved Church: the one that presumably still welcomes you despite your adultery and hateful racism. 

But Carl comes to the rescue for priests who “invested their lives in the pain of the poor, sick and downtrodden” and have earned the right to due process. He rhetorically asks whether his media and political enemies ever considered the right of an accused to confront their accuser and be tried by a jury?

Sure, they have. 

The problem is that when a priest —a holy person of authority within a hierarchy that demands obedience to that authority—molests a child, that is a massive and deeply traumatic event for that child. In the few instances when people made a complaint, the Church covered it up or simply moved the perpetrator to a new parish. Consider,

Researchers, advocates for abuse victims and the victims themselves say it can take years, even decades, for victims to come to terms with what happened to them as children, and speak out about it or go to court. That’s why proponents of the Child Victims Act insist it contain a one-year window for victims to file lawsuits over abuses that happened long ago.

The Buffalo Diocese has paid out at least $1.2 million to victims of predatory clergy over the past two decades. (Not counting this $1.5 million in 2016.) More often than not, the child is too afraid to make a formal complaint. The statute of limitations, as Carl—a lawyer very concerned about the Constitution—would know, is effectively age 23 for a child victim. The Child Victim’s Act found bipartisan support and passage 139 to 7 in the New York State Assembly, but the Republican State Senate blocked it. The bill would allow for a one-year window for victims to bring claims even if the statute of limitations had expired. 

Does Carl, the pedophile defender, know which group is lobbying hard against the pending Child Victim’s Act? New York’s Catholic Conference has spent $1.8 million over six years in a lobbying effort to prevent victims of pedophile priests to seek justice. Justice in court. Where victim and accused alike are entitled to due process. Where the accused priest and diocese would get to confront their accusers. Carl’s Republicans have blocked that opportunity. How convenient for him to take to his email list to demand justice and due process, while his party blocks exactly that in the legislature. 

Carl goes on to whine about Chris Collins and his felony indictment, and all of it can be boiled down to one salient point: 

Given the choice between supporting the victims or perpetrators of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, Republican avatar and alt-right frotteur Carl Paladino sides with the predatory pedophile priests. 

Canalside Development and State Authorities

Hey, Buffalo, did you see the news about Nick Sinatra’s deal with the Erie County Harbor Development Corporation to build two buildings at Canalside?

Can someone explain to me how this bullshit RFP process to select a designated developer is a proper utilization of government power? Because what really should be happening is that the government builds out the streets, ensures that the necessary utilities are in place, does whatever environmental remediation is needed, and codifies whatever zoning and design restrictions to which it wants the prospective buyers to adhere. That. ls. It.

The state should have simply made the parcels “shovel-ready” and then auctioned off or sold the individual properties. Let Sinatra compete in the open market against Paladino and Savarino and the Montantes and Pegulas and whomever else is interested.

What’s happened here is that uniquely “New York” way of doing business, which—if it isn’t expressly and directly corrupt—is nevertheless covered in a sheen of Albany sleaze. This award by the ECHDC board allows for subjective opinion and corruption to flourish. I’m not accusing this award to Sinatra of being corrupt, per se; but it’s that same opaque Albany process that leaves Utica factories empty, and leads to convictions of people close to the governor.

The South Aud Block is now done, and the North Aud Block is going to be under consideration next, and the developer designation there will also be awarded in a process that has the appearance of transparency, but isn’t based on objective criteria. Think about it: Canalside is now a decade old, and as great as it is, it’s still just a lawn with summertime temporary tents for concerts, and morning yoga programming. The whole thing was hijacked by a farcical “placemaking” process to hinder development of long-extant master plans, and instead “lighter, quicker, cheaper” quickly revealed itself to be “grass, tents, and no toilets.” Until now, the most significant structure has been the snack shack. How has it taken a decade to get to the point where an actual proper building—the Children’s Museum—is finally going up? 

That’s easy: Planning by committee is a slow enough process in the private sector, but grinds to a snail’s pace when it’s done by a public benefit corporation run by a state authority—it’s why the only Roy Rogerses in Christendom are on property run by the Thruway Authority. It’s shit food for a captive audience—no one with any sense or choice would voluntarily eat poor food served in an apathetic atmosphere. 

Every big developer in Buffalo is politically connected, and a massive donor to all and sundry. In the wake of what happened with Ciminelli, you’d think these people would be reticent about even setting up an opportunity for bid-rigging. I look forward to the North Aud block project being awarded to another predictable company. 

The NY-27 Fraud

There’s a well-documented fraud being perpetrated upon the voters of the will-be-gone-by-2022 27th Congressional District. As a preliminary matter, it is by no means a guarantee that the Republicans will be able to remove Chris Collins from the November ballot and replace him with someone else. They may be stuck with him, and they very rightly should be. Collins can’t simply move out of state, and his mere indictment isn’t enough to disqualify him.

The only way the eight Republican county chairs touching NY-27 can arguably replace Collins is to devise some fraudulent scheme to do so. That’s why we are left with rumors that Collins may be shunted into some picayune campaign for town clerk in Amherst or Elma, or some town position in Clarence. What self-respecting town committee would sacrifice itself for this (alleged) crook? 

In the meantime, there are now 11 GOP candidates coming to Batavia to kiss the rings of the bosses of the eight families, and looking to curry especial favor with the boss of bosses in the Erie County GOP. They’re making no bones about it: They want someone with name recognition and an ability to raise a million bucks. That’s a tall order—most have one, but not the other.

What this is can be simply described: It’s a ruse and a plot and a scheme—a fake, phony fraud to jettison Collins, a guy they were telling us was fantastic just two short weeks ago but is now the embodiment of poison itself. The amazing part of all of this is that they knew Collins was, at best, ethically challenged with his puffery of Innate stock, and using his official post to help Innate in its private business dealings in the US. Yet, they dutifully endorsed him anyway, all the while insisting that the accusations were false. They could have had a come-to-Jesus talk with Collins a year ago. Maybe Collins could have, I dunno, let someone know about the target letter he certainly received from the Feds. You don’t spend a quarter-million dollars on DC attorneys if you’re not in serious legal peril. 

But no.

Instead, the Republicans in NY-27 left the vetting of their candidate to the Democrats and the Department of Justice. And this is what they get—a fraudulent scramble to circumvent the rules and crown some Albany seat-moistener (or similar) to Congress, and trick their own constituency. 

Who Will Replace Collins?

It doesn’t matter—the campaign script is already written: Just insert alt-right Trump avatar

It’s downright irresponsible for Representative Chris Collins—currently under arrest and out on bail due to federal felony indictments arising out of insider trading—not to resign his office. To the extent he was really representing his constituents in New York’s 27th Congressional District at all, it’s become quite clear that his priorities have shifted from “public service,” such as it was, to self-preservation. 

At least he (finally) had the self-awareness to drop out of the race. Now, everyone is talking about the process to replace him on the ballot—an exercise that will be far more difficult than anyone realizes, given the late date. The consensus seems to be that Collins can’t simply move out of state, so there are talks underway for Collins to be either appointed to some other elected position, or to run for some minor position such as Clarence town council or town justice. 

Generally speaking, it’s easy to boot a lawyer off a ballot because they can be shunted off to literally any judicial race anywhere in the state. A non-lawyer can serve as a town judge, so it is possible that Collins gets moved into a town judgeship race in Clarence. The town’s Republican committee is a pretty strong monolith, which can probably take the hit of acting as a safe haven for an accused felon. Ed Rath’s Erie County Legislature seat has also been floated as an example, as well as the possibility that a town councilman sacrifices his office so that Collins can run for it, for the good of the party. 

That would then, ostensibly, allow the Republican chairs in the eight western New York counties to select Collins’ replacement—a wholly undemocratic and opaque process. Chances are the chairs are looking for someone with name recognition in the district who can quickly and easily attract the financing needed for the run. 

There are close to 20 names floating out there for Collins’ replacement. Some of them you know, some you probably don’t. But over the weekend, shortly after Collins announced he’d drop out (I predicted it’d be Friday), a slew of thirsty GOPers were tweeting and posting “I’m all in for #NY27.” Notables from Buffalo include the aforementioned Ed Rath, Assemblyman Ray Walter, State Senators Rob Ortt and Mike Ranzenhofer, disgraced racist developer Carl Paladino, and Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw. 

I don’t care whom the Republicans pick, because it doesn’t at all matter. The campaign strategy has already been polled and formulated. All they have to do is plug in an avatar for the carefully crafted pro-Trump/anti-Pelosi messaging that attacks family man and in-house corporate lawyer—Democrat Nate McMurray—as some sort of antifa radical. Mychajliw, especially, is trying to paint McMurray as some sort of Marxist guerrilla rebel leader slightly to the left of Che Guevara who will feed you a Venezuelan existence. Imagine: a supporter of Donald Trump’s robotically parroting someone else’s talking point about McMurray’s demeanor. To call it insane would be an grave insult to insane people. 

With his oddly aggressive table reads of this season’s script, Mychajliw pivots awkwardly from his putative 2019 Erie County Executive race by simply replacing “Poloncarz” with “McMurray.” Mychajliw tells you absolutely nothing about what he’s for, except one thing: Donald Trump. They love to invoke Nancy Pelosi, who has as much influence on the average Western New Yorker’s day-to-day life as, say, the Ancient Aliens guy, but these people need to play to the WBEN-listener rubes who hate Democratic women from the coasts, for whom they have choice one-word nicknames. 

Many of these guys are going to flirt with the racist alt-right, if, like Paladino, they aren’t full-blown members already. 

It’s curious to watch the guy who’s been a household name in Buffalo for about 20 years punch down so hard and so falsely against McMurray, who was an unknown until last Wednesday morning. The Republicans know they’re at risk, and if Trump is as popular in the district as they say, it makes little sense for them to go so laughably negative so fast. Maybe McMurray’s doing better than even he realizes. 

So, whom will the Republicans pick? It doesn’t matter. By all rights, the default Republican candidacy should belong to WBEN commentator David Bellavia, who has been patiently waiting through Chris Lee, Jane Corwin, and Chris Collins. But money talks and decorated soldiers walk, so it’s likely to be someone from the Buffalo area. 

There will be litigation, and the Republicans have only Chris Collins and their trust in him to blame for this mess he’s handed to them.