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Chris Collins: Indicted

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If you had told me Wednesday morning that Representative Chris Collins would be arrested, indicted, and arraigned for federal crimes, I’d have thought you were crazy. 

If you told me that he’d be arrested, indicted, and arraigned for federal crimes and not resign, and instead continue to mount a re-election campaign, I’d have thought I was crazy. 

Yet, here we are. 

On Wednesday morning, a grand jury indictment was unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York accusing Chris Collins, his son, Cameron, and his son’s fiancee’s father, Stephen Zarsky, of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and lying to the FBI. The indictment is quite detailed and very damning. 

A bit of background about Chris Collins. He rose to power through a “run government like a business” ethos that bought him one tumultuous term as Erie County Executive. After losing re-election in 2011, he narrowly won himself a House seat in a newly re-drawn district that seemed custom-made for him. He elevated himself out of backbencherdom through his full-throated support and defense of Donald Trump. He was the first Congressman to endorse Trump, sticking his neck out quite a bit at the time. At the time, Collins said he was endorsing Trump for an “end to business as usual” in Washington. Arguably, one way to end business-as-usual is to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit security fraud, and lying to the FBI. 

Before we go on, I have this to say directly to my Congressman: Resign. Now. We deserved better than you; we deserve better than you. You are in it only for yourself and your cronies, and that has palpably been true since day one of your benighted tenures in public “service”. I have written about you—almost always critically—since 2007. Here is the compendium of posts from WNYmedia.net, here are the Artvoice-era posts, and here are the ones from the Public. This is a post I did after Collins lost re-election as County Executive in 2011; it is a pretty good run-down of his tenure, even if the links are mostly broken.

In November 2017, I mockingly likened Collins’ pimping of Innate Immunotherapeutics stock to “Mad Money”. Now, as the excrement hits the fan, it goes without saying that a day where your official Congressional website contains a rote exculpatory statement from your lawyers is a bad one. 

The Indictment

So, let’s look at the indictment itself. 

Chris Collins was a member of the board of Australian biotech company Innate Immunotherapeutics. He was also its largest shareholder. As a member of the board, he was among the first people to learn that a key Innate drug trial had been a failure. The law requires him literally to shut up about that; he is duty-bound to not pass the information along—the law demands that insiders not use their status and information to gain an advantage in the market.

This is not an obscure law that Collins wouldn’t have been aware of. He was quite obviously cognizant of it, given that he didn’t sell his own shares. Instead, Collins called his son, Cameron, who was also heavily invested in Innate. At the time Collins received the news about Innate’s drug trial failure, Collins was attending the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House, and pictures emerged of him at the event, on the phone at the exact time he is accused of calling his son. 

Almost immediately, Cameron began dumping his shares, seemingly in a panic. And, like the old shampoo commercial goes, he told two friends, and so on. As a result, Collins’ family and cronies avoided over $750,000 in losses they otherwise would have incurred had they waited for the information to be made public. Classic case. 

Collins himself was already under federal scrutiny for his dealings with Innate, and knew better than to try and sell his shares. 

Cameron, however, sold 1.4 million shares, and realized over $550k in savings by doing so based on his inside information from his dad. 

Cameron’s fiancee sold her Innate shares based on Chris Collins’ insider information, avoiding $19,440 in losses. Cameron’s fiancee’s mom did the same, avoiding $22,000 in losses. The fiancee’s dad saved $144k in losses through insider trades. This will undoubtedly put a damper on the wedding, and one has to imagine Cameron’s shock and horror as he saw his future father-in-law’s new Innate-fueled nest egg become worthless. 

When the news broke, and the Buffalo News’ Jerry Zremski made inquiries, Collins and his crew lied about it. 

Collins made a name for himself by promoting “lean Six Sigma” and implementing it—with no measurable effect—in county government. The point is to streamline corporate processes and make them as efficient as possible. Well, the most efficient way to buy yourself a federal penitentiary stay is to lie to the FBI. 

The government also demands that the indictees surrender and forfeit all money and property derived from proceeds traceable to the commission of the accused offenses.

SEC Lawsuit

These are just the criminal allegations. There is also a simultaneously filed civil action brought against these three defendants—including my Congressman—by the Securities & Exchange Commission. This civil suit contains a nice, handy graph of the tipping conspiracy: 

The SEC demands that the defendants, if found liable, “disgorge” themselves of their ill-gotten gains, and further demands that Collins be forever barred from ever again serving as a director or officer of any SEC-regulated corporation. 

and 

Now, imagine you’re a father of a 25 year-old and you buy your kid a federal indictment and SEC lawsuit.

The Complaint goes on to allege that Chris Collins breached a duty he owed as a member of Innate’s board to protect material non-public corporate information. The moment Chris Collins learned of the failure of Innate’s drug trial, he set off a “tipping chain” with material, nonpublic corporate information.

The SEC alleges that Cameron was careful in selling his Innate shares so as to minimize his impact on the share price for other tippees; he knew exactly what he was doing.

The SEC includes some more detail about Collins’ lies to the News’ Jerry Zremski regarding the Collins family’s sale of Innate shares.

The Balls on this Guy

Before you give me the “innocent until proven guilty” shtick, save it for court. That’s the only place that matters – within the justice system. The judge and jury need to be impartial, and will be required to operate under that presumption of innocence. The prosecution doesn’t have to presume his innocence; it would be unethical for them not to zealously represent their client, the people of the United States. Commentators don’t have to presume that Collins is innocent – I read the indictment, and so far I haven’t heard Collins utter even one syllable about how that indictment is factually or legally incorrect. All he’s said is that he didn’t sell his shares. We know; you couldn’t have anyway, and you don’t get a booby prize for accidentally doing one thing right. 

Given all of this very well-documented evidence of criminal activity, one would assume that the targeted, arrested Congressman would resign. How can an indicted lawmaker currently in federal custody (out on $500,000 bail) credibly represent his constituents, much less run for re-election? Right now, his number one job is to stay out of jail and defend these charges and the SEC lawsuit. He’s trying to buy some time, perhaps, but the writing is on the wall here. He held a position of public trust and blew it to pieces so his kid and cronies could save a few bucks before shares in Innate plummeted. How did he advance the interests of his constituents here? 

More to the point, 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. 

How are you going to run for office while under arrest for crimes you won’t address? The only way that happens is if you don’t leave the house. He can’t debate his opponent, plucky Grand Island Democrat Nate McMurray. He can’t show up to your chicken BBQ or lawn fete. He can campaign and get asked incessant questions about his supposed crime, or he can stay home and do nothing. Given that he won’t resign or drop out, I have to assume that Collins believes that the (R) after his name is all he needs. Maybe he can self-fund some TV ads and direct mail, and coast to re-election. 

There’s no way Nick Langworthy and the other Republican county chairs are supportive of Collins’ decision to stay in this race, and incredibly their hands are tried until and unless Collins decides to drop out. Collins isn’t just pre-occupied with criminal and civil fraud charges, but effectively holding the seat hostage and preventing his party from properly assessing its options. 

For McMurray’s part, he held a respectful news conference where he didn’t gloat, but reminded the people of NY-27 that they deserve better than this.

They deserve better than insider trading and corruption. They deserve better than Collins’ trademark specialty—condescending, self-righteous hubris. “Because my focus is to defeat the charges in court, after today, I will not address any issue related to Innate … outside of the courtroom,” Collins said. 

I have to hope that the people of NY-27 won’t stand for that. I have to believe that Collins will reconsider and exit the race by the end of the week, because anything less than that is sheer insanity. His Avant statement was all me-me-me and nothing about the actual crimes being alleged. I can’t imagine that Nick Langworthy or any other local Republican is happy with this catastrophe of a candidacy. Make no mistake: given the choice of stepping aside so the Republicans can more safely hang on to that seat or staying in despite a federal indictment, Collins chose his own power and prestige; not his party and not his constituents. 

Nate McMurray is the Democrat running against Collins. He needs your help and support. 

Nate had a very slim chance in this R+11 district on Tuesday, but Wednesday changed everything. Clearly, Collins could continue to run and he could even win. That (R) means a lot in this bespoke conservative district. 

As of April, the district had a moderate GOP enrollment edge with 183,641 active Republicans, 142,703 active Democrats and 97,801 independents.

But the district has voted heavily for Republicans since the most-recent round of redistricting in 2012, when a court redrew it to include all or part of eight western New York counties, including portions of Erie and Monroe.

Trump won the district by a 24-point margin in 2016, making it by far his best congressional district in the heavily Democratic state, according to The Cook Political Report.

Collins himself won big in 2014 and 2016, taking home 71 percent and 67 percent of the vote, respectively, against little-known opponents after narrowly defeating then-incumbent Rep. Kathy Hochul, D-Buffalo, in 2012.

Collins also has another distinct advantage: $1.3 million in his campaign account compared to McMurray’s $81,772.

Bad news, right? But this one change means a lot: 

With this may come the two things McMurray’s plucky grassroots campaign desperately needs: organization and money. If the left-of-center PACs and SuperPACs smell enough blood in the water, look for a ton of money and ads to come into the district. Look for young and experienced campaign workers to come into the district and do a re-run of the Hochul races. This is a big deal, and a big influx of money is the shot in the arm McMurray needs. Yesterday, McMurray earned himself an extra 1100 Twitter followers, and raised more money yesterday than during the entire previous campaign period. 

Look out, NY-27, now we have a race. 

Electoral Fusion is Corruption: Livingston County Edition

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I believe that New York’s system of electoral fusion is a more pervasive scandal than the alliterative Buffalo Billion bid-rigging. Electoral fusion is worse for New York and the root of its corrupt political culture. 

In a nutshell, electoral fusion is the system whereby New York State—and only a small handful of other states—permits political parties to endorse and run non-members. It’s how Republican candidates show up on the “Conservative” and “Independent” and “Reform” party lines on a November ballot. It’s how Democratic candidates show up on the “Working Families” and “Womens Equality” party lines. Even more horrifically cynical is party raiding, most frequently seen by Republicans hijacking the Green Party line by running handpicked dummy candidates to split the left-of-center vote and weaken Democrats. 

A decade ago, the fusion game was played on political pamphleteer Joe Illuzzi’s page, where the “Independence” party endorsement was largely dependent on whether a candidate bought an ad. The payoff here is that these tiny parties, which would otherwise have zero clout whatsoever, get to wield ridiculous influence over our electoral process that is totally out of proportion to their actual numbers. Party stalwarts get jobs. If it sounds like racketeering, that’s because it is. The only innocent minor party is the Greens, who do not cross-endorse, and are victims of repeated Republican attempts at theft of their line. 

If New York abolished fusion, a massive amount of casual corruption would immediately cease. This wouldn’t mean minor parties couldn’t exist—it would just mean that they actually would have to run candidates, recruit members, and compete in elections. Given the sad state of New York politics, I’d bet a third party could gain quite a following and become influential because of its ideas, rather than its craven dealmaking. 

But today is not that day, as an Assembly race out in the Rochester area is so glaringly revealing. 

There is a nasty Republican primary race now for the 133rd Assembly race, and sparks are flying. This is the seat that was vacated by the late tea party/talk radio Assemblyman Bill Nojay, who took his own life on the morning he was to go to trial for federal criminal fraud charges. Joe Errigo, who had served in the Assembly for 10 years under previous lines that largely overlapped, agreed to come out of retirement to serve again. He managed to win in the Trump deluge, despite showing obvious signs of Paladino Syndrome, like having a racist meltdown on live radio, insisting Obama was telling blacks to murder whites. Supposedly, the understanding was that Errigo would just be a seat warmer until the GOP could get its act together for this year’s election, but he stunned everyone by announcing he was running for reelection. The man is not well: sheriff’s deputies had to bring him home after he got lost a few weeks ago.

Enter Marjorie Byrnes, who decided to primary Errigo. She is a former Democrat and former Rochester City judge, but now she lives in Caledonia with a man named John Pauers, who just happened to be a vice chair of the Livingston County Republican Committee. Pauers engineered the Livingston County Republican endorsement for Byrnes, after which (coincidentally, Pauers says, but maybe not) the long-time GOP chair resigned. This leaves Pauers as acting GOP chair in Livingston County.

Livingston was the only county that designated Byrnes. The Monroe and Steuben GOP committees stuck with Errigo.

The explosive news is that a Republican Assembly candidate paid Livingston County Conservative Party chair, the Reverend Jason McGuire, an outrageous $20,000 for “consulting” just before the Conservative County Committee gave Byrnes its designation as candidate in the race. McGuire—who has used his pulpit for anti-LGBTQ political purposes—has since returned the money, but you’re unlikely to find a more egregious or obvious example of the electoral fusion culture of bribery and scandal. This sort of payoff isn’t an unintended consequence of fusion, it’s become baked into the system itself. Here’s what a Rochester political consultant said about that amount of money: 

“The $20,000 fee is beyond comprehension for a race for the Assembly. We are talking about a primary not a hugely contested general election… and even then it is more than twice what it should be,” said Arnie Rothschild, a Rochester Political Consultant who previously worked on Mayor Lovely Warren’s Campaign. “I have been in 150 or so elections around the state and would never ask for that kind of money.”

So, that $20,000 “consulting” gig coincided with this: 

Marjorie Byrnes, who decided to primary Errigo the unwell, is a former Rochester City judge (she was a Democrat then). Byrnes received the endorsement of the state Conservative fusion party, and this happened: 

“I am so incredibly proud that the state committee party chose to endorse me as their candidate,” Byrnes said. “I am sad that some politicians want to work against the conservative party candidate and their principles for political motivation.”

Prior to the vote, McGuire had written a letter to the state Conservative Executive Party Committee, outlining the reasons why the Livingston County Conservative Party was supporting Byrnes. In the letter, McGuire also disclosed to state committee members that he had assumed campaign manager responsibilities for Byrnes.

“In full disclosure, you should know that I am assuming campaign manager responsibilities for the Byrnes campaign,” McGuire wrote in the letter.

But the letter did not disclose that he had accepted $20,000 from Byrnes to do the job. At the same time, Byrnes filed and disclosed her campaign expenditures with the state, as required by law. Her filing included full disclosure that she had paid $20,000 to McGuire for his services coordinating her campaign.

The obviousness of the pay-for-play was pretty glaring, even for right-wingers:

The [State Conservative fusion] committee ultimately decided to authorize Byrne as its candidate for the 133rd Assembly District, but some members did not realize McGuire was receiving compensation and felt misled. State Party Chairman Mike Long said in the aftermath he asked for the regional vice chair’s resignation.

So, McGuire returned the money, explaining: 

“I honestly felt that when I used the phrase ‘in full disclosure’ that my point was clear,” McGuire told The Livingston County News via email. The response was received after this week’s print edition had gone to press.

“The phrase ‘in full disclosure’ means that there is something that needs to be disclosed. There would be no need to disclose that I was voluntarily supporting a candidate. However, not everyone at the meeting understood my intention, and I now realize that my statement could have been more express,” McGuire said.

When the committee learned that McGuire was a paid member of the Byrnes campaign, McGuire returned the $20,000 payment to Byrnes and sent a letter on July 23 to Michael Long, chairperson of the state Conservative Party, notifying him that he had returned the money to Byrnes and offering to resign his seat on the executive committee.

The Errigo campaign pounced, accusing McGuire and Byrnes of corruption: 

“This is the worst of what New York state politics is all about and it should not happen,” campaign spokesperson Arnie Rothschild said. “The fact that Mr. McGuire now says he has returned the money is an indication he recognizes this was wrong. However, if you rob a bank and return the money two days later, you’re still guilty of robbing a bank.”

Rothschild questioned why McGuire did not recuse himself from the state committee’s conversation about the race. He also said $20,000 is an unusually large amount to pay for an Assembly race and, to his knowledge, McGuire has not served as a campaign consultant before this year.

The Livingston County chair said he has in fact been involved in numerous campaigns although he typically works for free. The Errigo Campaign said it is reviewing the incident with attorneys and has not filed any formal complaints, although they believe it is potentially a felony.

It’s not just the “worst” of what New York politics is about; it is emblematic of the fundamental corruption of our fusion system. Fusion and these sorts of commonplace payoffs—usually done more subtly than this McGuire/Byrnes scenario—is at the heart of our system and the root of New York’s culture of corruption. It is pervasive and constant. It happens here in Erie County every election cycle. It is everywhere. After all, what good is it running a minor fusion party with a handful of members if you’re not getting paid? 

The Cult of Trump

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This is a tweet posted yesterday by Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel: 

It’s likely I don’t have to tell you this, but this ridiculousness is straight-up anti-democratic dictatorship cult worship stuff. They’re not even trying to hide it anymore. 

Sort of like the mural at this former Wal-Mart that’s been repurposed into a jail for refugee children whom the government has separated from their parents. 

That’s pretty astonishing. It goes without saying that the Trump-cult right wing would be flipping out if even a fraction of what’s going on was happening under President Obama. As Tom Nichols, a conservative professor at the Naval War College explains, Trump is everything conservatives accused Obama of being. 

Going all the way back to the 2008 presidential race, Republicans were certain that Obama would be more attuned to the needs of America’s worst enemies than willing to discuss the shared interests of America’s best friends; this captures the destructive arc of Trump’s actions from last week’s Group of Seven meeting in Quebec to the spectacle in Singapore.

Republicans were scathing about Obama’s immense (and obvious) self-regard. But Trump has shown himself to be beyond any of the GOP’s worst nightmares about Obama. A political narcissist transfixed by his own image and utterly addicted to television coverage, Trump is unwilling to be briefed, incapable of being educated and has now blundered into a summit with a monster in exactly the way Republicans were once certain Obama would do if a camera was pointed at him.

That’s all well and good, but don’t forget: your President has identified the real enemy. Our free press. 

Dovetailing nicely with this whole cult / authoritarian theme, and as evidenced by the tweet showing the Trump mural, our government is busy separating families and throwing kids into jails. These aren’t criminals – they are refugees, mostly from Central American countries fleeing violence and crime. The American government will rip breastfeeding infants from their mother’s nipples because they crossed the border illegally. 

The American government refuses to process asylum claims at the Mexican border for people crossing legally, giving asylum-seekers no choice. It is inhumane and unconscionable for our government to rip apart asylum-seeking families who have endured so much struggle just to get here, and to specifically and carefully set up the conditions to do so. To bar the pathway to legal asylum processing and then punishing them for illegal entry is tantamount to framing someone for a crime. It’s clear that the real aim is simply to bar brown people from entry and criminalizing refugees. 

Consider, 

“Every day we hear that parents are being separated from their children and are given different reasons for the separation. Some are told the truth,” Mr Nogueres told The Independent. “Others are told that they’re children are being taken for a break to play, or bathe, or sleep, … little white lies to ameliorate an exploding situation.  The parents will realize they were lied to when they meet us before court.”

On top of this manufactured and artificial Catch-22, Jeff Sessions’ DOJ says it will no longer approve asylum applications from people fleeing gang violence or domestic abuse; in essence, sending them back to injury and death and fear. On the one hand, Trump will accuse MS-13 of being the worst scourge of “animals” America has ever endured, while throwing parents and children who flee that violent gang right back into the worst of it. And let’s not tiptoe around any of this: the separation of children from their parents is not mandatory. It is discretionary, and right now it is an intended result of Trump administration / Jeff Session-implemented policy. Separating asylum-seeking children from asylum-seeking parents is morally repugnant, totally antithetical to everything for which the US purports to stand, and is not legally necessary. It is cruelty for cruelty’s sake. It is a set of conditions manufactured specifically to exclude and harass one set of refugees. If they could do this at airports, they’d do it to implement their Muslim ban, too. 

Trump says some law the Democrats are somehow to blame for is forcing him to separate refugee kids from their parents.  

Before the Trump administration, immigrants entering illegally as families were rarely prosecuted, said Sarah Pierce, an associate policy analyst of the U.S. Immigration Program at the Migration Policy Institute. Instead, immigrants were held in family detention centers until they were sent to appear before an immigration court or deported.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on April 6 the Homeland Security Department would now be referring all illegal border crossings to the Justice Department for prosecution. Facing criminal charges, parents would go to detention centers, leaving their children unaccompanied.

It’s the decision to prosecute parents that is causing the separations.

It’s a lie, and as always happens in cults, the followers just swallow it whole. This is happening because Trump and Sessions want it to happen. They don’t want it to happen to deter anything, they want it to happen because it harasses brown people and triggers the libs, which seemingly are the last two vestiges of conservative dogma. 

And, as the GOP Chairwoman reminds you, get the fuck in line behind Donald Trump’s every action or you, too, will suffer the consequences. Pastor Niemöller warned us – this happens incrementally, in steps. First they come for the asylum-seekers, then they’ll come for the green card holders, then they’ll come for the naturalized citizens, then they’ll come for the kids born here as citizens. 

I wrote about it in August 2015; you can’t say Trump didn’t warn you. Elections have consequences. 

Kim 1: Trump 0

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George_Osborne_on_Twitter___Today’s__EveningStandard_as_Trump_meet_Kim…__

At an historic summit meeting, North Korean hereditary communist dictator Kim Jong Un won a massive concession, and in return, America got nothing. Not even a promise of future denuclearization; just some pablum while Trump called the military exercises we conduct with our South Korean allies “provocative”. 

The Singapore summit gave Donald Trump the pomp and circumstance he seemingly craves – far more so than what he experienced with America’s historic allies last weekend in Charlevoix, Quebec – but all of the show was a win for North Korea, which got everything, and in exchange gave up nothing. Trump claimed that the cost savings from halting the war games was some sort of “win”. 

Kim gets to go home to his brainwashed and subjugated population and show them pictures of KIm and Trump together on the world stage – an elected president and a hereditary dictator treated as equally legitimate. Equals. When Nixon met Mao in 1972, they put the flags away. There’s no doubt that North Korea insisted on the bank of American and North Korean flags, and the Trump team acquiesced, apparently without realizing what a propaganda coup it was to put these symbols on equal footing. Equals. 

I’m all for peace and diplomacy, but I’m not in favor of blind obsequience to regimes like Kim’s – not without some major concessions, anyway. For Kim, the meeting itself was the win – his father agitated for years to get a summit with an American President, and the closest he got was Bill Clinton in return for halting his nuclear ambitions. The meeting didn’t happen, and North Korea kept building nukes. Kim won by securing the meeting; Kim won through the symbolic framing of the imagery of the leaders from the summit; Kim won by getting a massive concession from the US in exchange for nothing. 

I’ll withhold judgment until this whole process is played out, but I don’t get how this advances much at all, but certainly it doesn’t seem to be in line with “America First”. What it does is weaken an historic military and political alliance for free. I haven’t seen Trump’s “Art of the Deal” yet. 

The Difference is Guns

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LOCKDOWN

Despite the best efforts of the federal government, America is still a first-world country. Just barely.

America is unique among her peers in the modern industrialized world in that access to firearms is practically unfettered. It doesn’t take much effort for any American to amass a veritable arsenal. The gun manufacturers’ lobby – the NRA – advocates for this very thing based on a fundamental and intentional misrepresentation of the 2nd Amendment. Instead of looking at the ease with which people can arm themselves, gun activists point to issues surrounding mental health. That’s a fair point until one realizes that many of these same people spent a decade agitating universal health care for every American, including mental health services. 

Regard NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch’s argument here: 

Oh, yes, by all means let’s engage Ms. Loesch in her fantastical charade. Right now, the NRA is literally on the record supporting the sale of, e.g., AR-15s to 16-year-olds who beat their girlfriends. The NRA opposes restrictions on the sale of firearms to people on terrorist no-fly list. Does she really think we believe that her organization would go along with the government preventing the Parkland shooter from obtaining a firearm because of some pesky criminal record? 

When Britain had a mass school shooting, its society and government took decisive action, and that is not an event that has recurred. 

America tolerates a new Dunblane every few months. 

When Australia had a mass school shooting, its society and government took decisive action, and that is not an event that has recurred. 

America tolerates a new Port Arthur every few months. 

Some point to knife attacks and other isolated acts of violence in Australia or Britain. Sure, restrictions on gun ownership don’t get rid of every crime, nor is that a promised result. But the difference is quantitative in terms of potential harm done. An AR-15 does more damage more efficiently than a knife or a Ford Transit on a sidewalk. 

Every other first-world country has troubled kids. Every other first-world country has suicidal kids. Every other first-world country has Nazi kids and “incel” kids. Every other first-world country has kids who are homicidal lunatics and bullies and victims of bullies and kids seeking some sort of revenge. Every other first-world country has social media and video games – even violent ones. Yet no other first-world country has mass school shootings.

I’ll give you two reasons why that might be: 1. No other first-world country offers its citizens what amounts to unfettered access to firearms; and, 2. every other first-world country offers all of its citizens some form of universal health care, including mental health care. It’s as simple as that. This is a uniquely American problem facing a uniquely American refusal to deal with it. (Not inability – refusal). 

Instead, we keep on watching innocent kids die in school. Politicians keep offering empty thoughts and trite prayers. People tiptoe around the one issue that separates the American experience from that of other free, rich nations: guns. The people who refuse to consider that guns make the difference want to arm teachers – as if gunfights in school are a good idea. Some want to turn schools into prisons – I don’t think the pods in Oz‘s Em City would have made for a good learning environment. They will literally exercise door control before gun control. 

And when kids speak up about it, the gun lobby and its useful protectors brand these kids as traitors; as un-American; as bought & paid for by some sort of liberal group. It rises to the level of attempted murder by SWATting. 

I don’t really think our kids or yours did anything to deserve living in a country that tolerates this song, sung to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle” or the Alphabet song: 

But so long as this new reality goes unaddressed by our government and our society, we might as well give the NRA a publishing credit. 

There’s an element of exhaustion and hopelessness in all of this, isn’t there? Columbine, Sandy Hook – ancient history. But if the mass murder of twenty 1st graders didn’t provoke this country into doing something meaningful about average citizens’ access to military arsenals, literally nothing will. The body count will grow. Your kids, whose grandparents had to “duck and cover” from Communist H-bombs now have to undergo lockdown drills lest a disgruntled and well-armed alum bursts through the door with an AR-15 and twenty-two 30-round magazines. For what? Not all speech is protected, so how can the Constitution guarantee a person’s right to amass this sort of military arsenal? So modern-day minutemen can arm themselves against the tyranny of a group of 1st graders? The Constitution isn’t so permissive.

All of this is a broken issue in a broken, bloodthirsty country. The gun lobby and the politicians it has on the payroll will never allow our country to confront this sickness. The only thing we can do is vote those politicians out. 

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please contact the Erie County Suicide Prevention Hotline at 716-834-3131. If outside Erie County, call 1-800-273-TALK. 

Collinscare in #NY27

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According to an article WGRZ published on Wednesday, some New York health insurers are asking for massive premium increases for 2019.

This isn’t the health insurance solution President Trump promised us, is it? 

No one will lose coverage. There will be insurance for everybody. Healthcare will be a “lot less expensive” for everyone — the government, consumers, providers.

That was the promise of Donald Trump and his most obedient Congressional lapdog, Chris Collins (NY-27). Even before the Republicans’ failed efforts to “repeal and replace” Obamacare saw a vote, it was estimated that tens of millions of Americans would lose their coverage. These people had literally a decade to come up with an alternative plan that was better – in any way – than Obamacare, and when the time come they had nothing. 

So, in December, Trump got his tax cut, and in it was a repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate. 

The goal of Obamacare was to expand access to affordable, quality health insurance. It forbade the sorts of scammy plans that took your money but offered no meaningful coverage. It wasn’t perfect, and it was flawed in its planning and implementation, but it was something.

And that something resulted in a lot of Americans getting health coverage who otherwise wouldn’t be able to – people working jobs with no benefits, people who were self-employed, people who earned too much to get on Medicaid and couldn’t afford astronomical individual plans. Obamacare was a national implementation of a conservative think-tank’s idea for universal health care – something Republican Governor Mitt Romney had introduced to Massachusetts in 2006. It wasn’t a federal takeover of health care, but a regulated system of private marketplaces offering insurance. The way to get closer to universal coverage was to obtain buy-in from the insurance industry. To do that, you needed the individual mandate because without it, only sick and older people would sign up while younger people would opt out. By opting out, you’d have too many payouts and too few premiums to cover it. The only other way to achieve universal coverage was to just have some sort of public plan – the “public option” on the exchanges, or Medicare for all Americans. 

Republicans wanted no part of it. They agitated against it from the get-go, and held countless meaningless votes to repeal it. But when they controlled Washington, they had no alternative and everything they came up with guaranteed that people would lose coverage en masse. 

So, let’s take a trip down memory lane and juxtapose that against the facts in WGRZ’s article. 

 

“The state’s 14 private health insurers are requesting on average a 24 percent increase in rates next year, citing growing costs and a major looming change to federal health care.” – WGRZ June 4, 2018

 

“The insurers on Monday released their proposed rate increases for individuals and small group plans for 2019.

“They said they need the substantial increases in part because the individual mandate under the federal Affordable Care Act is being repealed.” – WGRZ June 4, 2018

 

“For individual plans, the largest increase being sought is 39 percent by Fidelis, which serves 1.7 million members.” – WGRZ June 4, 2018

 

“The proposed premium rate requests are reasonable, reflecting the cost of care and taking into account a number of factors contributing to rising health care costs,” said Eric Linzer, president of the state Health Plan Association, which represents insurers.” – WGRZ June 4, 2018

 

“EmblemHealth, which largely serves the New York City area, asked for a 32 percent increase.” – WGRZ June 4, 2018

 

“The individual mandate was a key piece of Obamacare in 2010 because it required people — particularly healthy, young people — to buy insurance.

“The goal was to limit the risk pool and lower rates, but President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress said the measure was ineffective and repealed it last December.

“Still, Vullo said insurers cited the loss of the individual mandate as the main reason for large increases sought by insurers.

“The individual mandate, a key component of the Affordable Care Act, helped mitigate against dramatic price increases by ensuring healthier insurance pools,” Vullo said.” – WGRZ June 4, 2018

 

“Any increase approved by the state could affect the rates paid by people on private insurance, as well as the 4 million New Yorkers enrolled in its health exchange.

“The state put the rate increases squarely on the repeal of the individual mandate, saying without the change, insurers would be seeking increases of about half as much.” – WGRZ June 4, 2018

(Incidentally, as of 6/7/18, only three people clicked “like” on Collins’ 2013 tweet).

 

“Insurers cited other cost factors, too, such as the increase in prescription-drug prices.” – WGRZ June 4, 2018

 

“[Bill Hammond, director of health policy at the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think tank in Albany], said it is the fifth year in a row that insurers have sought double-digit increases.

“Even after DFS knocks the requested rates down a little bit, the final increase is on track to be in the double digits for the third straight year,” Hammond said.” – WGRZ June 4, 2018

In response to all of this, Collins is silent while his opponent, Democrat Nate McMurray has renewed his invitation to debate Collins at any time, in any place. 

Let’s see if this “Representative” will bother to debate his opponent on issues affecting his constituency. 

What Is A Clerk?

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Erie County Clerk Michael “Mickey” Kearns says he’s a Democrat, but he’s just another Trumpublican. He is now taking a cue from Sheriff Tim Howard and threatening to disobey state law. Whereas Howard pledged not to enforce the duly enacted New York “SAFE” Act, Kearns is promising to ignore (if enacted) a proposed law requiring NYS clerks to issue driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants. 

Kearns is Erie County’s clerk; not an Erie County legislator. His job is purely ministerial; he is not given power to set policy, nor is he granted any sort of discretion in performing his duties. His job is to issue licenses, record and file paperwork, and that’s about it. More to the point, there is literally nothing within the clerk’s power that gives him authority over immigration law enforcement. 

While it’s now politically popular to shit all over immigrants generally—and undocumented immigrants in particular—Kearns’s effort is stupid and ham-handed. Undocumented immigrants aren’t criminals; lack of proper visa status isn’t a crime, it’s a violation of immigration laws and regulations. These are not enforced by the DMV, but by federal immigration agents and law enforcement. Kearns’ pronouncement, coming just hours after Donald Trump referred to undocumented immigrants as “animals”, is just pandering to a hateful and xenophobic base. 

What does Kearns care about immigration—documented or not? We live in a region that has been shrinking for decades. Who, exactly, is threatened here by any sort of immigration? Someone who overstayed their visa is enemy number one? This is utter nonsense.

What this really amounts to is treating migrants as outlaws to pwn the libs. 

The oath of office for the county clerk is: “I do solemnly swear…that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of New York, & that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Erie County Clerk according to the best of my ability.” Where does it say that Mickey Kearns gets to decide which laws to carry out? Where does it deputize Mickey Kearns as an immigration officer? Where does it say, “except for the Messicans”?

It’s a license to drive—if the person fills out the forms and passes the tests, honestly, who is being harmed by this? What he’s promising to do is to not “faithfully discharge” his duties as clerk and issue licenses to people because of their visas.

He is threatening to break the law to stick it to lawbreakers; the logic of cretins. 

Maybe stop treating immigrants as “animals” and criminals. Their visa status is literally none of your business. It may play well with your new Republican and Conservative fusion masters, and it may fend off a registered Republican’s primary against you, but you’re just a hateful disgrace who doesn’t understand his oath or his authority. 

Schneiderman Resigns

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Attorney General Eric Schneiderman will resign today after a blockbuster expose in the New Yorker revealed four women’s credible accusations against the state’s top cop of abuse and harassment in several of his personal relationships. Schneiderman is a former state Senator and was elected Attorney General in 2010, and re-elected in 2014. His resignation leaves the AG race wide open, and the legislature will select an interim AG to serve out his term. 

It is a shocking fall for the man whose office prosecuted everything from the Steve Pigeon crew’s electoral racketeering to the Trump University fraud, and who has worked since Trump’s election to lead other Attorneys General in countermanding the dismantling of environmental and other regulations. 

When the New Yorker first released its article, Schneiderman released an odd statement about “role playing”, but within hours submitted his resignation after, e.g., Governor Cuomo demanded it; there was no way forward through this, given the seriousness of these on-the-record allegations. 

It is right and good that we hold our most powerful people – and in the case of Schneiderman’s public acts, our best political actors – to high standards. 

Isn’t it? 

America: Great Again?

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There are two hugely anti-American things going on right now that are getting very little, if any, regular mainstream media attention. The first is the absolutely disgraceful process to restore power to Puerto Rico. The hurricane that knocked the American territory’s power out on September 20th, and as of earlier this week only a fraction of electricity had been restored to the island…before a freak accident knocked it all out again this week. 

We complain when NYSEG doesn’t get us a restoration time within a couple of hours – imagine being without power since September. National newscasts should all start with “day 210” like this countdown at the Daily News.  It’s 2018 – there’s no legitimate excuse for this. 

The second story has to do with ICE – the Immigration and Customs Enforcement federal police force. Since Trump’s inauguration, there have been myriad stories from throughout the country that are straight up Gestapo or Stasi tactics. Warrantless searches and arbitrary apprehensions. Families torn apart. Parents detained by ICE and sent to detention facilities thousands of miles away, out of nothing more than animus or spite. Children left without parents. We’re talking, for instance, about people with some form of legal status who were abiding by all of ICE’s rules being suddenly apprehended and imprisoned indefinitely pending deportation – the check-ins ultimately providing nothing more than the time and place best to make the arrest, in many cases with kids around. We’re talking about people being thrown out of the country over minor paperwork errors or delays. 

Now, we have this story from near Rome, New York, where ICE came onto a farm to rough up and apprehend a Guatemalan farmhand who had legal status. When the owner of the farm confronted ICE about them being on his property without a warrant and tried to take cellphone video, they knocked the phone to the floor and handcuffed the farmer. 

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand tweeted this: 

Efforts to restore power to Puerto Rico are making America great again, if by “again” you mean “2005” and if by “America” you mean “New Orleans”. ICE is making America great again, if by “again” you mean 1961 and by “America” you mean East Germany. The two most affected groups of people happen to have one thing in common. 

Naters gonna Nate

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Just around lunchtime Monday, the Buffalo News’ political columnist, Bob McCarthy, tweeted this: 

What a bombshell, right? “Last minute efforts are underway” to replace Nate McMurray, the Democratic challenger to Chris Collins, with former Congresswoman and current Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. McCarthy indicates that Hochul’s people were unavailable for comment, but omits any mention of McMurray’s campaign. The whole thing was worded to make it seem like a fait accompli – omitting McMurray made it seem as if they had somehow confirmed the story. McCarthy says he has two sources! Efforts are “underway”.  It’s a done deal, people! 

Within seconds, I had McMurray on the phone and he vehemently denied that he was stepping aside. McCarthy later posted a story to the Buffalo News site going into more detail about this story, but the damage was already done. 

Democrats are in disarray! They are disappointed with McMurray, whose fundraising figures, released this week, were lackluster compared even to the guys who stepped aside in the race! McMurray was a placeholder for Hochul this whole time! With one ill-worded, semi-accurate Tweet, the Buffalo News’ coiumnist had done someone’s work for them, and helped sink the Democrats in the process. 

Did Illuzzi call from the grave? Did Pigeon call so he could help some crony get a job? 

Here’s how the story goes: the rumor comes courtesy of Governor Andrew Cuomo. Seeing a challenge from the left from current Working Families Party endorsee Cynthia Nixon, Cuomo knows he’s got trouble downstate. In the City and its environs, there’s not a lot of love for Hamburg’s Kathy Hochul, and she may be especially vulnerable in the Lieutenant Governor’s race against the WFP candidate, Brooklyn’s Jumaane Williams. City residents don’t care about the SAFE Act or Buffalo Billions shenanigans, but they do care about the fact that the state-run MTA is falling apart and affecting people’s ability to get on with their lives. Nixon has siezed on that issue. 

The Governor primarily tasked former Assemblyman and more recent Empire State Development executive Sam Hoyt to be the point man to cajole McMurray to hand the race over to Hochul. This would solve Cuomo’s “I need a leftist” problem downstate, and give Hochul an exciting re-match in a suddenly and unexpectedly competitive NY-27 race. 

Cuomo’s emissaries spent the weekend alternately offering McMurray the sun, moon, and stars, and mixing a little bad cop in the mix, too. 

McMurray had already been viewed suspiciously by some in the anti-Collins coalition because he was endorsed by party bosses over people like Sean Bunny and Nick Stankevich, who had announced their candidacies earlier. It would be sheer insanity for McMurray now to do the same in favor of Hochul. Not only would it underscore a “Democrats can’t shoot straight” narrative, but McMurray and his people just spent a month or so collecting signatures in the snow for him; not for Kathy Hochul. The governor’s exercise was an insult to the grassroots that has coalesced behind McMurray in recent weeks. 

As an aside, I like and respect Kathy Hochul and love that she still represents our interests in Albany. I don’t believe she was the impetus behind this effort – I have heard nothing to indicate this to be the case. This was more about Cuomo’s war on two fronts, rather than Hochul wanting in on a rematch against Collins. 

If Andrew Cuomo is spooked by Cynthia Nixon, that’s not a problem that he’s going to solve by strong-arming plucky Congressional challengers in a rural upstate race. It is unconscionable that he attempted to toy with this race in this way – first, do not harm. The harm here is incalculable, not because of the clumsy effort to shunt McMurray aside – that could have come and gone without a peep. The harm comes from the idiotic and ill-considered yammering to McCarthy’s dutiful transcription service, which took to twitter to word it as a done deal. 

The Republicans are already crowing about McMurray’s fundraising. We really could have done without the Democratic Governor giving them even more nonsense about which to crow. 

I won’t be sold on Cynthia Nixon until she visits an upstate city not called “Albany” Buffalo and sets out her platform for areas not within the five boroughs, but right now I’ve lost an amazing volume of respect for the Governor, and Nixon’s job just got a whole lot easier. After all, she’s not gone to the media to sabotage any local Democratic campaigns, of which I’m aware. (Updated to reflect that she did, in fact, visit Syracuse on 4/5, and Rochester on 4/6. She has not, however, visited Buffalo nor mentioned it in any meaningful way.)

In any event, Gen Xers will appreciate McMurray’s clever web ad taking on Collins’ positions on Social Security. 

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