Category: Uncategorized

Countywides

The Democrats lost all three countywide races; Mickey Kearns defeated Steve Cichon for clerk, Tim Howard just barely bested Bernie Tolbert for Sheriff, and Stefan Mychajliw dispatched Vanessa Glushefski 55-45. Democrats can take some comfort in the fact that they were competitive in all of these races, and that two newcomers did pretty well against people who are household names. It is funny that we elect the clerk and the sheriff, as these are positions that require their incumbents to be good administrators and little more. The deputies and assistant clerks do the real work, and neither Mr. Howard nor Mr. Kearns will have “setting policy” included in their respective portfolios. It ought not be forgotten, however, that Mr. Howard goes out of his way to sell himself as the guy who will disobey the NY SAFE Act, and will enable his deputies to inquire of people’s immigration status.

The activist groups like SURJ who have worked tirelessly to inform the public about Mr. Howard’s record, with their #fireHoward hashtags and protests and pickets ran into a harsh reality last week. When Tim Howard says he’s going to extra-Constitutionally break the law, or pledges to harass suspected immigrants, or is accused of mismanaging the jails: It’s not just that some Democrats don’t care, but that they like it. 

One major takeaway is that registered suburban Democrats are more conservative than their counterparts in the City of Buffalo. Although Democratic turnout was higher this year than in 2013 and 2015, that did not inure to our countywide candidates’ benefit; waking up “lazy” Democrats—2s and 3s—didn’t necessarily help. And when I say “suburban”, I don’t just mean Clarence or Orchard Park. In Lackawanna, Bernie Tolbert won 2,123 to 1,745; but look at wards 3 and 4, and Howard defeated Tolbert 1,198 to 1,042. These are predominately working class white areas where Democrats like Mark Poloncarz easily secure 70% of the vote. In Cheektowaga, Howard defeated Tolbert 9,533 to 7,910—this is a town where 30,000 Democrats outnumber 12,000 Republicans. It’s quite possible that every vote brought out for Democrat John Bruso in Cheektowaga for the 8th Legislative District probably went for Howard three times out of four. In Buffalo’s South District, which is Mickey Kearns’s base of support, Tim Howard defeated Bernie Tolbert 3,399 to 3,010. In this district, Democrats outnumber Republicans by an incredible 10,795 to 2,369. 

I can give you some reasons why Tolbert underperformed in those districts, and none of them are pretty. There is a cancer in Western New York, and Trumpism has done a lot to invigorate it. 

Mychajliw has crossover appeal, Howard played to prejudices with his pro-guns, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and I honestly don’t know why Cichon lost; that one I don’t get. My first instinct was to suggest that it would make sense for Democrats to appeal to suburban voters by highlighting qualifications and competence, but if that was the case then Cichon—who did just that—would have won. It should be added that Cichon has similar name recognition to Mychajliw, having been a WBEN reporter for many years. 

People are looking at city turnout, which was lower than it could have been, and pointing fingers at Democratic HQ and especially at Byron Brown’s machine, which they accuse of not being as aggressive in turning out people to support his former primary opponent, Tolbert, as they could have been. I saw Tolbert on TV on Election Night sporting that “22” button and, at WGRZ, had to explain to people what it meant. Translation:Tthat wasn’t communicated well at all. Tolbert won Masten 4,253 to 189, which sounds like a blowout until you realize that there are 15,198 registered Democrats and 569 Republicans there. If Masten came out 50%, Tolbert almost certainly closes his gap with Howard. In the University District, Tolbert received 4,102 to 573 with a Democratic enrollment advantage of 13,294 to 1,121. GOP turnout was better despite there being zero turnout effort. 

LD-8

Ted Morton’s horrible, lying, racist direct mail didn’t work. His use of the American flag as a wedge issue didn’t work. One reader analyzed the numbers in the Bruso vs. Ted Morton race in the 8th Legislative District, and comes up with some hopeful news. In 2016, LD-8 was “Trump Country,” and Trump received 57.3% to Clinton’s 36.4%. This district includes all of Lancaster and Alden, and some of Cheektowaga. If Morton received only 48% of the vote, he underperformed Trump by a almost a full 10%, and this speaks to how significant that win is. The Democrats regain (for now) a majority in the legislature. 

LD-10

The desperate last-minute Republican efforts to smear newcomer activist Michelle Schoeneman prove she was scaring the crap out of someone. Incumbent Joseph Lorigo, son of Ralph and Conservative fusion Party gadfly had his first real competitive race since easing his way into office, and it was closer than most expected. West Seneca is the epicenter of the Lorigos’ political influence, so you should know that Schoeneman beat Lorigo there 6,318 to 6,160, and 2,193 to 2,120 in Aurora. Lorigo’s margin of victory is thanks to Elma, Wales, Holland, and Marilla. Schoeneman lost, but she put up an incredible fight against an outrageously influential political dynasty. 

Amherst Town Races

In sleepy Amherst, Democrats swept the town council and supervisor’s races. Here, Erie County Republican Committee Chairman Nick Langworthy’s wife, Erin Baker, was running in her first election. Her fundraising for a town council race is simply jaw-dropping. In her July disclosure, Baker reports receipts between March and May 2017 of $50,679 in individual and partnership donations. Another $4,474 came from corporate donations, including $2,000 from “Stirling Lubricants” of Rochester. Another $6,943 came from PACs and other local campaign treasuries. Baker’s husband, ECGOP Chair Nick Langworthy, made an approximately $800 in-kind donation by fronting the cost of some campaign swag, and attorney Jeff Bochiechio provided $1,600 in food for Baker’s May fundraiser, totaling $2,488. Finally, the Eden and Buffalo GOP Committees contributed $150. The tl;dr is that for an Amherst town council race, Ms. Baker raised an astonishing $64,700 in her first ever financial disclosure, and had spent about $8,000 during the first seven months of 2017. This includes the cost of her fundraisers, her $250 payoff to secure the “Independence” fusion Party line. 

In her 32-day pre-primary report, Baker’s campaign bought her lawn signs, bought some ads in the Elma Review, and made some contributions to various non-profit fundraisers, totaling about $5,000. She also transferred $5,500 to the county GOP committee, and $2,500 to the Amherst committee. An August 22 fundraiser netted Baker’s campaign $9,654 from individuals and partnerships, $500 from corporations, $1,005 from PACs and other campaigns, and $500 transferred in from the Niagara County GOP Committee. Expenditures were a mere $1935, mostly to secure the Williamsville Anchor Bar for the fundraiser. Eleven days before the primary, Baker had $53,620 on hand. 

In her 10-day post-primary report, about $1,050 trickled in from individuals, and $350 from corporate and campaign donors. Her campaign sent $12,250 to the Erie County Republican committee, and spent only $544 on some other campaigns’ fundraisers and meeting expenses. Going into the general election, Baker had $42,226 on hand for her Amherst town council race. 

In her report 32 days before the general election, Baker only reported $1,950 in various contributions, and expenditures of $1,593, leaving $42,582. Things pick up, however, in the 10-day pre-general report, with an October 13 fundraiser bringing in a total for that period of $9,532, and spending just over $15,000; $13,000 of that went into the coffers of the Republicans’ county committee. In the last report before the election, Baker had just over $37,000 to spend. 

She lost, and although she came in third in a field of five, she was the lowest recipient of Republican votes; that $250 spent for the “Independence” fusion Party line got her 750 votes. 

Here’s why the money in Baker’s race is so incredible: Let’s look at the largest recipient of votes, Jacqui Berger. In July, she reported just under $3,000 on hand. Her pre-primary reports show her balance topping out at around $4,200, and dropping to $1,100 right before the primary. Her 10-day post-primary report shows she raised another $1800, and she had a total of $2,774 on hand. Berger raised another $2680 and spent just under $2000, according to her 32 day pre-general report, leaving a balance of $3473. In the 11 day pre-general report, she added $3392, spent $8,000, leaving $2,338 going into election day; in her last disclosure, she had less than one tenth of the money Baker had. 

Erin Baker raised $89,270, spent $52,178 (including over $33,250 she transferred out to various other party committees), and received 13,121 votes on all party lines. Jacqui Berger raised $17,877, spent $14,538, and received 14,418 votes on all party lines. Neither Berger nor her Democratic counterpart, Shawn Lavin, received the Conservative fusion Party line, which this year in Amherst was good for about 2,700 votes in total. So, Jacqui Berger’s campaign spent a little over $ per vote while Erin Baker’s campaign spent $1.44 per vote if you don’t include the transfers out. She spent $4 per vote if you do.

By the way, town Conservative fusion Party chairman Bill Kindel kept the C line from Joe Spino, keeping it for himself. Had Spino received that C line, he’s not likely to have won, but he’d have at least outperformed Baker. Neither the C nor I lines in Amherst did anything for anyone, and no one in town government owes those two entities anything. Town patronage hires are likely looking to get their affairs in order. 

Now What?

I don’t know what the answer is for the Democrats’ issues. It has nothing to do with “OMG pwn the librulz” or the red rose brigade or Hillary or Bernie. Some point to city turnout, and I’ve seen quite a few people on Facebook opine about the need for some new party to launch competitive races in the November election. We have plenty of parties already, and everyone can ask Mayor Sergio Rodriguez—not to mention Anita Howard or Terrence Robinson—all about that. We have to come to that reckoning that we have two Democratic parties in Erie County, and we have to figure out how to appeal to them both. The Poloncarz example is illustrative here: Mark is great at his job, he is smart, and whether you agree with him or not, you are likely to at least think that whatever he does is motivated by a sense of doing right by Erie County’s taxpayers. Mark is also not afraid to get into it with hecklers and take strong opinions, and then back them up. This isn’t, in the end, a challenge of ideas. 

The campaign run on behalf of Republicans in Erie County this past year was outrageous and obnoxious. None of these races was about patriotism or respect for cops or the flag or the troops/ It’s not enough to link Republican candidates in suburban races with Trump and Paladino, because, frankly, Trump and Paladino are pretty popular, whether you like that or not. Linking Kearns with Paladino drew a shrug from voters. Turning out “lazy” Democrats also, as it happens, turned out a lot of reactionary registered Dems. 

Is the solution to this to go even further to the left? I don’t think so, and ditto some shift to the center or right. This isn’t about ideology, but about marketing. Yet Kearns won even with that comical ad in the boxing ring, where he’s going to “fight” whilst filing people’s paperwork .

Finally, if we are to have electoral fusion, then Democrats need to be aggressive with it. Republicans and Conservatives are busy registering as Greens and Independents to influence those lines. Democrats can, generally speaking, rely only on the Working Families Party, a sort of labor imprimatur. For so long as fusion exists in New York, Democrats have to learn to play the game with creativity and ruthlessness.

Amherst showed that money isn’t always the number one factor, and that sometimes the impossible can happen. The people of Western New York deserve good, responsive government that provides a good balance between taxation, services, and getting out of our way. 

Shown above is the flip side of your SAT-formatted Scantron New York State ballot. Be sure to flip over the ballot and mark these three referendum questions. 

These are not endorsements by the staff or editors of the Public: these are my opinions alone. 

Question 1: Constitutional Convention

Every 20 years, the electorate is asked whether it wants to convene a Constitutional Convention. Practically every single influence group in Albany – especially the public sector unions – are calling for a “no” vote, and so has Governor Cuomo. Yet here’s what Cuomo said at the Democratic Convention in Rye Brook in 2010: 

Deeds, not words, to clean up Albany. Need a people’s constitutional convention to change the rules. #nydemcon #Cuomo

— Buffalopundit (@buffalopundit) May 27, 2010

Now he says he’s against it. So is every person and group that has an interest in preserving Albany’s status quo. I believe Albany is broken and this hurts New Yorkers in every region, of every class, race, and political persuasion. 

I have been writing about Albany dysfunction for over a decade, and literally no one in Albany has really undertaken any serious reform of the way in which that town works. (See: Moreland Commission). Dissolving that Moreland Commission wasn’t illegal, but it was disgusting to me that its existence could be ended so cavalierly as a bargaining chip in budget negotiations. I consider anti-corruption reform to be important enough to carry through without regard to day-to-day political expediency. NYU’s Brennan Center pretty much provided a roadmap to reform years ago, to no meaningful avail. 

I tweeted this last week: 

I’m voting yes on the NYS Constitutional Convention because Albany. is. broken., and it’s because of the person there whom you like.

— Buffalopundit (@buffalopundit) November 2, 2017

Even the guy you like is part of the problem in Albany, and there exists no political will to change it. Albany is a place incumbents generally depart only in chains or disgrace. Things like three (four?) men in a room, the way in which Albany’s legislative bodies are seldom genuinely deliberative, unfunded mandates, the abuse of public Authorities in order to render opaque public funding and borrowing: all of these things contribute to New York’s difficulties, especially upstate. 

I have written countless times about the fundamental corruption of New York’s electoral fusion system, whereby microscopically small political “parties” cross-endorse major party candidates to fool the populace and/or to secure patronage favors. It’s enough: no more Wilson-Pakulas, no more fusion, no more tricking people who want to register as “unenrolled” to register for the rudderless, meaningless “Independence Party”. 

There is a lot of propaganda scaring people about how awful the Constitutional Convention would be, but don’t forget: 

If a majority statewide votes “yes,” a constitutional convention will be set for the spring of 2019. The convention would be made up of elected delegates, with three provided from each state senate district — there are 63 in total — plus fifteen statewide. Elections would occur next year, and anyone can run to be a delegate.

These delegates would come together with unlimited abilities to propose amending the constitution in any and all ways they can agree upon. Any amendments approved by delegates would need to be ultimately approved by the voters. This is important to remember: No changes can occur to the constitution without statewide approval at the ballot box.

2019 would be the first Constitutional Convention since 1967, and nothing came of that – voters rejected every proposal that came along. 

Good Government group Citizen’s Union has advocated in favor of a Constitutional Convention. I once wrote a series of articles advocating for New York to adopt a Nebraska-style non-partisan, unicameral legislature. I still think that Albany needs to serve its constituents better, and that Albany needs to stop relying on county and local governments to raise taxes to pay for its mandates, and figure out ways to fund its own plans from the state at-large. I believe that state service entities such as the DOT, the MTA, and Thruway Authority need to be more transparent and modernize in order to better serve the public. 

A Constitutional Convention cannot – by law – take away union members’ pensions or benefits. 

If there was a genuine movement to reform Albany and the way it does business, I’d probably think that a Constitutional Convention was unnecessary. There isn’t, so I don’t. 

Question 2: Felony and Pensions

This proposal asks you whether you think it’s ok that a public official who is convicted of – and removed from office – for a felony relating to the performance of his official duties should lose his rights to a state pension. Think Sheldon Silver taking over $4 million to influence his actions as a legislative leader. I’m for it, but it’s just window-dressing. Sheldon Silver’s and Joe Bruno’s convictions were overturned on appeal because the Supreme Court in a 2016 Virginia case made it extremely difficult – if not impossible – to successfully prosecute these types of bribery cases. 

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., writing for the court, narrowed the definition of what sort of conduct can serve as the basis of a corruption prosecution. He said only formal and concrete government actions counted — filing a lawsuit, say, or making an administrative determination. Routine political courtesies like arranging meetings or urging underlings to consider a matter, he added, generally do not, even when the people seeking those favors give the public officials gifts or money.

That still leaves prosecutors plenty of room to pursue classic bribery and kickbacks. But there was widespread agreement among prosecutors and defense lawyers on Monday that the decision would make it harder for the government to prove corruption.

QUESTION 3: FOREST PRESERVE LAND

New York’s massive forest preserves (Catskills, Adirondacks, e.g.) have a mandate to preserve wild land but also accommodate people and businesses who live and work there. It’s a delicate balancing act, but this creation of a land bank would make it easier for municipalities to make changes for health and safety. From the measure’s summary: 

New York State’s Constitution protects the State’s forest preserve as wild forest land and generally prohibits the lease, sale, exchange, or taking of any forest preserve land. The proposed amendment will create two new exceptions to this broad protection of the forest preserve to make it easier for municipalities to undertake certain health and safety projects.

First, the proposed amendment will create a land account of up to 250 acres of forest preserve land. A town, village, or county can apply to the land account if it has no viable alternative to using forest preserve land for specified health and safety purposes. These purposes are (1) to address bridge hazards or safety on specified highways; (2) to eliminate the hazards of dangerous curves and grades on specified highways; (3) to relocate, reconstruct, and maintain highways; and (4) for water wells and necessary related accessories located within 530 feet of a specified highway, where needed to meet drinking water quality standards. The State will acquire 250 acres to add to the forest preserve to replace the land placed in the health and safety land account, subject to approval by the Legislature,

Second, the proposed amendment will allow bicycle paths and types of public utility lines to be located within the widths of specified highways that cross forest preserve land. The work on the bicycle paths and utility lines must minimize the removal of trees and vegetation. The proposed amendment will allow a stabilization device (such as a guy wire) for an existing utility pole to be located near the width of a highway when necessary to ensure public health and safety and when no other viable option exists. The proposed amendment prohibits the construction of a new intrastate gas or oil pipeline that did not receive necessary state and local permits and approvals by June 1, 2016.

Sierra Club urges a “yes” vote on Prop 3, and so do I. 

Polls are open until 9pm, and I will be on WGRZ Channel 2 tonight to provide commentary. Turnout is key today, so make sure you and everyone you know gets out to vote. 

Since everyone has a short memory nowadays, what with your iPhones and e-devices, here’s a little trip down memory lane. 

It’s 2011, and Joe Lorigo is running for County Legislature against Christina Bove. Bove was an acolyte of federal indictee Steve Pigeon’s who flipped her allegiance during the Erie County Legislature mini-coup of ’09 to enable the minority Republicans to have a de facto legislative majority in order to help propel Tim Kennedy to the State Senate, and to sell out to then-County Executive Chris Collins. 

Within the context of the outright lies Lorigo’s campaign is saying about Michele Schoeneman right now, here’s the text of a press release that Joe Lorigo sent in response to something Bove must have said about his father, the way-too-powerful chairman of the Erie County Conservative Committee: 

LORIGO BLASTS BOVE FOR ATTACKING HIS FAMILY

(WEST SENECA, NY) – Republican, Conservative and Independence candidate for Erie County Legislature Joseph Lorigo has had enough. After running a campaign based entirely on issues important to the voters in the 10th District, he called out his opponent today after she placed newspaper ads, mailed letters and organized anonymous voter calls – all mocking his family.

“Christina Bove has crossed the line in this campaign by insulting my family over and over again,” Lorigo said. “I have not and never will bring her family into this race because I know voters want to hear about the issues, not the malicious carping we’ve all grown so tired of in Erie County politics.”

Bove holds no job except her part-time employment as a County Legislator. In stark contrast, Lorigo is a respected attorney with an MBA and law degree from the State University at Buffalo. He is a family man devoted to working for the taxpayers as a public service.

“Bove is a career politician who does nothing but connive behind the scenes to advance her career at the expense of Erie County taxpayers,” Lorigo said. “The voters of the new 10th District are far more interested in Bove’s 154 votes to raise our taxes – and my commitment to hold the line on taxes – than in my family or hers.”

“I am proud of my mother, my father and all the members of my family. Christina Bove may not respect family values, but I wouldn’t be where I am today without their love, guidance and devotion,” Lorigo said. “Bove waited until the final days of this campaign to attack my family because as a career politician she will do or say anything to get re-elected.”

“I will not stoop to the low-level tactics of Bove’s low-class campaign, now or ever,” Lorigo said. “The voters of the 10th District can rest assured that after they vote for me on Tuesday and elect me to the County Legislature her mean-spirited political games will end and the work of the people will begin.”

A lot of that 2011 press release hasn’t aged well. 

So, Schoeneman accused Lorigo of lying and defaming her, and filed a “summons with notice” commencing a lawsuit against him for defamation. A summons with notice is missing a key component of a lawsuit – a formal complaint. In New York practice, a defendant served with a summons with notice demands that the plaintiff serve a complaint, which they have 20 days to do. In Schoeneman’s case, she particularized the alleged defamation within the summons with notice. 

Lorigo’s response: 

“This is nothing more than a stunt,” said Lorigo, the Legislature majority leader, adding that Schoeneman has made personal attacks against him and his family and false accusations about him. “If anyone is defaming anyone it’s Michelle Schoeneman.”

Is it a campaign stunt? Most assuredly. That doesn’t, however, mean it is without merit. Libel is a written defamation – a false statement of fact. In this case, alleging that Schoeneman said in a public forum that she wants to put publicly funded heroin shooting galleries near schools or the “cider mill”. She didn’t.

No one would know whether this is a “stunt” better than Lorigo himself. 

In 2011, when then-candidate Lorigo accused incumbent Christina Bove of being mean about his mom and dad, he didn’t just issue the press release shown above. He had his dad file and serve a summons with notice agianst Bove for defamation. From my 2011 Endorsement column: 

District 10: No Endorsement: I will not endorse Christina Bove, as she helped create the de facto Collins majority in the legislature as a consummate follower and “what’s in it for me” type politician. On the other hand, the Lorigo name should be drummed out of our collective body politic, firstly by abolishing the family nest egg that’s built upon the hyper-corrupt electoral fusion system. Lorigo’s efforts to bully Bove by having daddy file a $3MM defamation suit over an ad in – of all things – the f’king PENNYSAVER, takes pettiness to a whole new level – the fact that this prominent law firm can’t even be bothered to actually file and serve a Summons and Complaint, with the alleged libel plead with the requisite particularity, instead relying on the lazy lawyer’s “Summons with Notice”, which gives them indignant headlines and nothing else.

Ralph Lorigo and Bryan Young filed the Summons with Notice on November 7, 2011 against Tina Bove, Dale Clarke, and the West Seneca Pennysaver. Election Day 2011 was November 8th that year. This SpeakupWNY thread is the only evidence of this lawsuit I can find nowadays, but it appears to stem from something Bove wrote about Ralph Lorigo’s representation of Young in connection with some real estate development. By January 12th there was no evidence that Lorigo had served the Summons on the putative defendants; ditto February 12th. They were so eager to pull a stunt on Election Day that they threatened a $3 million lawsuit, but never followed through. 

So, their whining today about Schoeneman’s “stunt” is delightfully hypocritical. Now Lorigo’s campaign is sending out a mailer – part of which is visible above – that purports to be from Schoeneman’s campaign and solicits recipients to harass her over a wholly manufactured, made-up lie. 

Bonus points for Joe’s mom defending him in the Buffalo News’ putrid comments section in this now-deleted post: 

LOL at the wife of the chairman of a local fusion party calling anyone a “puppet” of anyone. At least Schoeneman brought her own lawsuit, and didn’t have a family member do her dirty work for her.

I will not stoop to the low-level tactics of Bove’s low-class campaign, now or ever…[t]he voters of the 10th District can rest assured that after they vote for me on Tuesday and elect me to the County Legislature her mean-spirited political games will end and the work of the people will begin.”

Happy voting!

Whoever is designing the literature for the Erie County Republicans is a white nationalist. Any candidate whom this propaganda is supposed to benefit should publicly reject and denounce it. 

This new alt-right “white nationalism” for which Donald Trump is the figurehead has now afflicted western New York like an aggressive cancer. Our region is segregated and racist enough as it is, so for one political party to deliberately and blatantly exploit that is worthy of nothing more than contempt. 

This racist anti-immigrant hysteria is the opiate of the WBEN listening masses. We’ve gone from wink-wink dog-whistles to something much bolder and more overt. Legislature candidate Ted Morton demagogues over welfare queens and makes sure his constituents know that his opponent is, in almost as many words, a ni**er-lover. The state GOP sends around lit about how a candidate for clerk, sheriff, and comptroller are magically going to protect you from black athletes kneeling during the national anthem to protest police killings and brutality. 

They have no record to run on, no positive agenda to give people a better or safer life. They aren’t even going after tax and spend liberals. Now? It’s all race-hate, all the time. They want you to know that the candidates for clerk, sheriff, and comptroller are going to protect you from those damn Messicans. 

Here’s the newest piece of literature. Remember how Donald Trump started his entire Presidential campaign by demonizing Mexicans and calling for the construction of a border wall? We’ll start with an unintentionally hilarious image of what appear to be migrants thwarting that wall by climbing it. 

The image is copyrighted by the Associated Press and shows Mexican immigrants climbing over a border wall in Tijuana in 1991. Hope they paid to use it!

The premise is that Trump’s border wall – a device obsolete before it’s even built – is going to protect a community 2,000 miles away that doesn’t have a big problem with illegal Mexican and Central American immigration. If anything, we complain about the decline in our population, and contrary to what WBEN and the Republicans tell you, there is no “invasion” of WNY by long-haired Mexican kids from 1991 who are going to come here and take those menial dishwashing and farm jobs your white kids in Lancaster covet. 

It also demagogues the issue of Erie County being a “sanctuary county”. As it stands, local, state, and county law enforcement are already prohibited from asking someone for their citizenship information. You’re not required to carry your passport around, and the only time a cop can ask to see your papers is when he has at least a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed, or it’s a traffic stop. Under neither circumstance is a regular cop empowered to detain anyone over immigration status. We leave that up to ICE and other Federal agencies. Convict/Sheriff Joe Arpaio tried to do it, and was shut down. 

Erie County (and Buffalo) is not a “sanctuary county”. Ted Morton introduced a resolution in the legislature, which died in committee, to preempt any attempt to turn Erie County into one. Sanctuary status would also allow undocumented immigrants to assist law enforcement with the investigation of crimes without fear of deportation or arrest. 

To put it bluntly, neither illegal immigration nor the presence of undocumented migrants is a pressing problem in Erie County. This is a non-issue that these people are bringing up in order to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment in a region that struggles with its post-industrial transition. 

So, literally no “liberals in County Hall” have proposed making Erie County a “sanctuary county”. Again – take a look at the WBFO article from last December: “Ted Morton aims to Ensure Erie County Maintains Non-Sanctuary Status“. Here’s what Legislator Pat Burke said in response to Morton’s proposed resolution: 

It’s awful. Everybody knows it’s awful. He used statistics cited from the Center for Immigration Studies, which was founded and funded by a white supremacist. It’s a disgrace, and it has no business in this body.

and 

Sanctuary cities are pronouncements from elected officials who are encouraging their law enforcement not to follow through on certain rules, but it’s not set policy. So you can’t have an anti-policy of a policy that doesn’t exist. Also it’s a resolution so it’s not binding. It literally makes no sense at all.

It’s just white supremacist propaganda. It’s bullshit. By the way, the “Center for Immigration Studies” was founded as a spin-off from a Holocaust denier. 

The Republicans’ white nationalist lit suggests that this non-existent liberal push to turn Erie County into a “sanctuary county” would lead to increased crime, loss of jobs, pressure on school districts, and an “explosion” (nice imagery) in costs of welfare and Medicaid. Them against us. Invasion. Crime. They took our jobs. They’re sending their kids to our schools. They’re going to collect welfare. This isn’t directed, by the way, at one subset of immigrants – this is an attack on all immigrants, regardless of visa status or country of origin. 

Again, I don’t know how Mickey Kearns is going to direct his file clerks and DMV workers to set federal immigration policy, and I don’t know how Stefan Mychajliw is going to comptrol these Mexicans away, but Sheriff Tim Howard has weighed in on this. When Governor Cuomo issued an Executive Order reiterating that state, county, and local police can’t inquire into someone’s immigration status, Howard said he would affirmatively and deliberately disobey the Governor’s order. The job of the sheriff is to enforce the law, not to set – or thwart – policy. A sheriff’s deputy has no authority to enforce federal immigration laws. Being in the country without proper documentation or visa is not a crime defined in any municipal or state statute; it is a violation of federal immigration law, and anyone apprehended by ICE goes to the immigration detention center in Batavia, not to the county lock-up. 

This is an issue where the sheriff has pledged to disobey the constitutional order of New York State, and our federalist system whereby Washington and its agents set and enforce immigration policy. 

But all of that is nuance. What’s really going on? The Republicans in this region are doubling down on the anti-immigrant sentiment and outright racism that Donald Trump stands for. If western New Yorkers reward this sort of behavior, we can take that “City of Good Neighbors” thing and relegate it to the nearest landfill. You flirt with this sort of white nationalism at your peril. 

It is a well known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. – Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The reckoning is almost upon us, and local Republicans seem to be having trouble running on their records, or any coherent agenda. They are, instead, relying on the old standbys of culture war and resentment. 

Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and his trusty sidekick Richard Gates stand indicted, accused of “conspiracy against the United States”, tax evasion, conspiracy to launder money, and other crimes relating to their enrichment as representatives of Viktor Yanukovich, a corrupt Ukranian kleptocrat with close ties to Vladimir Putin. Another former Trump foreign policy aide, George Papadopolous, pled guilty in early October for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia during the Trump campaign. Papadopoulous was engaged in collusion to dig up Russian dirt on Hillary Clinton, including “emails”. Manafort’s patron, Yanukovych, was ousted in a 2014 revolution, and lives in exile in Russia under Putin’s protection. It was that overthrow, and the promised resulting hastening of Ukraine’s departure from Putin’s Russia’s sphere of influence into the waiting arms of NATO and the EU that led Putin to have his proxy army invade and occupy eastern Ukraine, shoot down a Malaysian airliner, and to concoct a sham plebiscite whereby the Crimean peninsula went from being Ukranian to Russian territory overnight.

It was, in turn, Russian aggression and its Anschluss of Ukranian territory that led the US and the EU to impose sanctions on Russia’s oligarchs to make it more difficult for them to spend their stolen fortunes in London, San Tropez, and New York. When combined with the Magnitsky Act, which specifically punishes a handful of corrupt Russian officials for the death of anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, you have the broad-brush outline of why it is that Putin’s Russia is busy trying to sow division and havoc in the US and EU. It begins to explain why Russia, and her agents and tools promoted Brexit, spent money on social media ads and useful idiots to deepen social and political divisions in the US, backed the Trump campaign and sought to destroy Hillary Clinton’s, recruited a naive Tonawandan to push a “Calexit” campaign, and other separatist movements elsewhere. 

While there may not yet be definitive proof that the Trump campaign colluded with Putin’s Russia to meddle in the 2016 campaign, the motive is crystal clear. The fact that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has a cooperating witness regarding the Trump campaign’s Russia outreach is also quite significant. Putin’s nobility can’t remain under economic stress forever. What’s the point of plundering Russia’s wealth if you can’t spend it? 

Against that backdrop, it bears repeating that Erie County’s Republican Committee is almost single-handedly responsible for the Presidency of Donald Trump. It began with a sub rosa effort to quash a proposed Jon Bon Jovi buyout of the Buffalo Bills, segued into an aborted 2013 attempt to convince Trump to run against Cuomo in 2014, and ended up with Clarence’s own Chris Collins coming out as the first sitting Congressman to endorse Trump’s candidacy. All this culminated in what we have today – a country at war with itself; half incensed that Puerto Ricans have been without electricity and clean water for over a month, and the other half offended by pre-game anthem etiquette. 

As we look, then, at the efforts that Republicans locally are mounting in various regional and countywide races of note, we find that nonsense has overtaken substance. Take these, for example. Here’s incumbent Erie County Legislator Ted Morton going after welfare recipients. 

Sure, there’s nothing easier than heaping scorn and derision against the poorest people in your community, but this recyclable claims that Morton is doing something to prevent welfare recipients from spending benefits on cigarettes, alcohol, and gambling. What, exactly, is he doing? Several quick Google searches of various terms including Morton’s name and welfare fraud turn up nothing. Not one news story or article exists highlighting the important work Mr. Morton has accomplished to stamp out welfare fraud. The most recent story I found involving welfare fraud in Erie County has to do with a criminal case. Morton hasn’t even press released anything having to do with this issue neither recently, nor in 2014, or 2015. This is Morton using class warfare and race hate to spur his suburban constituency, which probably pays scant attention to his legislative tenure, to turn out. Don’t believe me? Morton also thinks you’re innumerate or stupid. Here’s another piece of literature he’s sending out, slamming his opponent: 

So, the Grassroots political club endorsed Bruso. How was Bruso “bought off”? If we’re rejecting “politicians who are proud to be supported by organizations raided by the FBI”, someone should sit Mr. Morton down and tell him about Donald Trump’s campaign manager and, frankly, Chris Grant. This side of the mailer reads, “East Side” no fewer than three times – what do you think Morton is trying to convey here to his constituents? I think I know. Let’s flip it over. 

So, Grassroots endorsed Bruso on June 9th. The FBI raided Grassroots as part of the expanding Pigeon / Mazurek investigation on June 15th. I mean, I guess it’s true that Bruso was pleased with the support “within days”, but it was within a few days before the raid.

I would suggest that Morton lie better, but don’t forget that the FInancial Industries Regulatory Authority, or “FINRA”, the body charged with regulating stockbrokers and financial advisors, temporarily banned Morton from practicing his profession in August 2013 for borrowing over $300,000 from his customers and lying about it. His employer fired him over it. Morton may stand for the National Anthem and kick up some latent race hate over it, but he engaged in corruption before he was ever elected; just before he was first elected. 

Likewise, this piece of literature, generated by the New York State Republican Committee, has substituted dog-whistles for pretty blatant racism. 

Does it get much more obvious than this? Here you have the state Republicans touting two incumbents and one opportunistic Paladino “Democrat” running as a Republican, and instead of running on their respective records, accomplishments, or achievements, it opens with what can be generously described as an effort to manufacture outrage against black football players protesting police brutality, and setting these three white men up as the thing standing between you and Colin Kaepernick’s afro. What, precisely, does the controversy over kneeling have to do with issuing driver’s licenses, law enforcement, or being a fiscal watchdog? 

My favorite part of this pathetic effort to kick up a little good old-fashioned race hate is this line, from the back side of the mailer: “Are you tired of being convinced that you are narrow-minded because you are patriotic and believe in our traditional American values?” Yes, it really says, “being convinced“. Setting aside whether “Democratic Candidates think ‘taking a knee’ is acceptable”, this, too, is nothing more than an effort by Republicans to stoke white resentment and anti-black hatred in a very segregated area. It is incredible and unconscionable that this is the best the Republicans have to offer. Nothing about Trump or the Trump agenda, nothing about these candidates’ individual accomplishments or positions – just little more than, paraphrasing, ‘we share your hatred for uppity negroes’.

Not to be outdone, Representative Chris Collins seems to be all but ready to announce his campaign to unseat Governor Cuomo by deliberately (?) mangling American history.

By way of background, Collins was one of only two New York Congressmen to vote in favor of Trump’s proposed tax reform plan, which would eliminate the deductions for mortgage interest, and what you pay in state or local property taxes. These are, simply put, key deductions upon which New Yorkers rely. Elimination of these deductions – even with a supposed hike in the standard deduction – would burden New York’s middle class homeowners, and utterly ruin housing values and everything these state and local taxes pay for, including public schools. This is nothing more than a massive tax cut for multimillionaires like Chris Collins, paid for by middle class folks already under stress from stagnant wages, Trump’s sabotage of the health insurance industry and Obamacare, and his corrupt, spendthrift administration. Of Collins’ betrayal of New York’s middle class, Cuomo said, “I think it’s modern treason against the state. I think they are the Benedict Arnolds of today. They voted against the interests of the people in their districts. Period.”

In an article Collins published in the right-wing New York Post, he compares Governor Cuomo to King George III, the tyrant against whom the American colonies rebelled in the 18th Century. Collins calls Cuomo an “imperial governor” who imposes “unjust” taxes on New Yorkers. 

The problem is twofold:

1. Americans rebelled against George III not just over taxes, but against “taxation without representation”. Given Mr. Collins’ repeated and reported attitudes towards constituents who do not share his views, it is he who shares George III’s imperial attitude; and 

2. Cuomo doesn’t tax or spend; that’s the legislature’s job, and Mr. Collins’ own party controls one-half of it.

It speaks volumes that Collins is waging this schoolyard battle in the pages of a downstate tabloid, and not here where his constituents live. He has no use for them, after all. He doesn’t hold town halls to seek out ideas or concerns. “I represent the 72% of people who voted for me. You didn’t vote for me.” Let’s expand that sentiment: 

I represent the white people who are angry at black athletes protesting police brutality. 

I represent the suburban folks who share my hatred and disgust for welfare recipients. 

I represent the people whom the new economy has left behind and need someone – or something – convenient to blame. 

New York Republicans have no platform or accomplishments on which to run, so it all boils down to class war, race war, and culture war. 

As Vice President Michael Pence parachutes into Buffalo to raise money for Congressman Chris Collins—then makes his hasty escape—consider where the money is going. 

By my count, in the most recent reporting quarter there are almost $163,000 in disbursements to Collins’s attorneys defending him against a facially valid set of ethical complaints. Assuming a conservative hourly DC partner rate of $400, that’s well over 400 billable hours of time on something you’re being told is a meritless witch hunt. 

By my count, that’s almost $163,000 in attorneys fees for Collins to address very serious ethical allegations, including apparent insider trading: 

…in late 2015 and early 2016, he may have engaged in “tipping” — using inside information that he knew about Innate to persuade investors to put more money down on the company.

In a December 2015 email, he provided Innate investors with information about clinical trials of Innate’s multiple sclerosis drug that the company had not made public, the ethics office said.

Collins provided more previously undisclosed information about those clinical trials in an email to investors in January 2016, the ethics office said. In addition, that email included previously unknown details about Innate’s plans to work with a large pharmaceutical company to produce its multiple sclerosis drug.

And in a June 1, 2016 email, Collins discussed Innate’s upcoming private stock offering before the company announced it.

Adding up the information in those three emails, the ethics office said: “Some information Representative Collins shared with Innate investors was likely nonpublic and may have been important to investors making a decision on whether to purchase Innate stock.”

Collins’s lawyers defend this communication of private, inside company information to induce people to invest, as well as other intervention from Congressman as, “nothing improper…constructed from whole cloth and are without validity…the result of a tortured interpretation of reality and also bespeaks a misunderstanding of the facts, the law, or both, and should be rejected.” Collins’s lawyer’s letter to the House Committee on Ethics cost $12,300 per page. 

tl;dr: $163,000 buys you a lawyer who uses “bespeak” in a filing. 

Collins calls it a “witch hunt.” The problem there is that the term “witch hunt” implies that the accusations lack merit or substance. Nevertheless, to paraphrase Gertrude Stein, there is a there there. 

It also bears mentioning that President Trump “joked” about how Pence wants to “hang” all gay people. So, that’s who’s coming to pump local Republicans for money. Have a nice lunch, assholes!

The reason why most homicidal jihadist maniacs in Europe use homemade bombs or mow pedestrians down with cars is that it is exceedingly difficult to obtain a gun in those countries. It’s not impossible –  nothing’s impossible – but it is very difficult. In fact, in some cases, the European attackers couldn’t even rent the bigger truck they really wanted to use to mow people down, and had to settle for renting a Ford Transit van. It’s like all the trite, jejune pro-gun retorts about banning cars come to life. 

Yes, I know Switzerland has a lot of guns. The Swiss also take responsibility, order, and discipline seriously. If you want to make us more like Switzerland, that’s a conversation with which I am totally cool. 

I have resigned myself to the reality that America lacks the foresight or political will to do a thing about mass shootings. The 2nd Amendment, as recently interpreted by the Supreme Court, guarantees an individual’s right to possess and own a firearm for hunting, sport, and protection. States can, however, impose restrictions on the ownership of certain types of firearms, and New York’s own SAFE Act passes Constitutional muster, despite what somebody’s lawn sign might say. 

Some random guy set up an arsenal of weapons in a casino hotel and then rained bullets and death at people below who just wanted to hear some music. Just under 60 people killed and over 500 injured, and for what? How is that “freedom”? 

How do you reconcile “liberty” with an inability to peacefully enjoy an outdoor concert? Why does the freedom to own an arsenal of weapons and ammunition trump a citizen’s freedom to listen to Jason Aldean without having to duck for cover or “get small“? Why does the freedom to outfit oneself with the ability to shoot thousands of bullets at innocent people over the course of 10 minutes outweigh the right of those concertgoers to not have bullets shot at them in such volume, at such rapid succession? Why did Adam Lanza’s right to bear those arms outweigh the rights of 20 first graders to see their next Christmas? Where was liberty and freedom for those kids and teachers? The kids’ parents? Are they more free? Would they be more free if they lived in a country where guns like that aren’t available, like the UK or Canada, but their kids were alive? 

In Congress, concerned lawmakers bleat about “mental health” while pocketing blood money from the gun industry lobby. Yet when proposals are put before them to restrict gun sales to people who have been adjudicated to be mentally ill,  they reject them. When they are given an opportunity to ban gun sales to people on the FAA/DHS no fly list, they reject that. Objectively speaking, why isn’t that political suicide, to back the sale of literal arsenals of weaponry to the mentally ill or suspected terrorists? 

Here is some choice verbiage from our own Rep. Chris Collins, from just this week: 

At a closed-door meeting of House Republicans on Tuesday, there was talk about what happened Sunday in Las Vegas, but, according to several members, little was said about a legislative response.

“We all discussed the tragedy and certainly all of our thoughts and prayers go out to them, and that was pretty much the total extent of it,” said Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.).

Thoughts and prayers, and let’s move on to financing a massive tax cut for millionaires by hiking taxes on the middle class. 

Collins added that Congress ought to focus on mental health rather than gun restrictions: “We are not going to knee-jerk react to every situation. The Democrats continue to want to say, when a mentally deranged person does what they do, it’s the gun’s fault, not the shooter’s fault. . . . People focused on mayhem and the kind of evil this person was — in their heart, you can’t stop them. They will do it one way or the other. You can’t stop a mentally deranged person.”

“You can’t stop a mentally deranged person”, except perhaps with universal access to mental health care and appropriate treatment and medication. They’ll do it one way or another, so let’s not restrict the number of available “ways”? Choosing to commit murder may not be something you can legislatively prevent, but limiting the extent of that murderous intent is. No one can perch 32 floors above a concert and in 11 minutes kill 60 people, wounding 500 with a knife, or even with a pistol. Pretending there’s nothing that can be done is stupid; restricting one’s response only to thoughts and/or prayers is depraved. 

After all, when Chris Collins is asked to guarantee universal health coverage to every American – including for mental health treatment and medication – he told the Batavian, 

The Democrats want universal health care, no if ands, or buts. Hillary Clinton wanted that. Barack Obama wanted that. They never could get there and that’s when we ended up with the abomination that I call Obamacare…The life I live is here now, and Republicans will never support universal health.

So, Congress should “focus on mental health” but will “never support universal health”. In other words, get yourself the psychiatric care you need, if you can afford it, and voila! No more mass shootings! 

Like it matters. 

Rep. Collins admits he wasn’t able to read entire health care bill and had to rely on staff https://t.co/5NN39ElZAj https://t.co/UmK3tuCfFC

— CNN (@CNN) May 4, 2017

Just as every civilized, 1st world country has seemingly figured out how to guarantee universal health coverage, every 1st world country has devised a way to prevent most mass shootings; after Dunblane, the UK acted.  After Port Arthur, Australia did more than just offer up a round of thoughts and prayers. There are horrific exceptions, obviously, but how many mass shootings has, e.g., Norway suffered since Anders Breivik? 

There is a way to reconcile the 2nd Amendment with the people’s right to attend concerts, clubs, or school without being massacred. 

One argument goes that restricting access to military arsenals won’t prevent bad people from shooting other people. While true, that is literally an argument against every law, ever. I mean, anti-homicide statutes don’t prevent people from murdering other people. Anti-drug laws don’t prevent pushers from selling or users from buying. Anti-DWI laws don’t prevent people from getting behind the wheel after one too many. This is among the sillier arguments. 

I have written more about this topic than I care to admit. The right to bear arms is not absolute; it is not unrestricted or unrestrictable. The 2nd Amendment doesn’t grant you to the right to arm yourself for civil war or insurrection, nor to water the tree of liberty with people’s blood. 

That tree is inundated. 

“Thoughts and prayers” are garbage – here’s audio Chris Smith and I did with Brad Riter on that subject for Trending Buffalo in 2013, after the Boston Marathon bombing. When a jihadist murders people, we don’t just think and pray, our current government tries to ban immigration and visitation of Muslim people. But when something like Las Vegas happens, Washington stands silent and still, waiting for the heat to blow over so they can get back to lifting restrictions on suppressors, or distracting us with culture wars about the National Anthem. 

Almost exactly two years ago, in October 2015, I wrote about our mass shooting leitmotif. Nothing has changed since then, reminding us of the anecdotal definition of insanity. In 2016, after Orlando, I wrote about how social media reactions generally suck.

After Orlando, Representative Chris Collins blasted President Obama and anyone else who suggested any tighter gun restrictions. 

“No…it’s actually quite shameful. Our president politicizes every tragedy with a suggestion to Americans that some sort of gun legislation to take away Americans’ second Amendment rights would stop this from happening, and that’s just not truthful. In fact, it’s an outright lie. When you think about it, this was a security guard who obviously had weapons, and it…anything that the President would have suggested, this person still would have had his weapons, and unfortunately the tragedy still would have occurred.  We should be focused on the root cause, which in this case is ISIS — it’s Islamic terrorism, it’s those who don’t respect America’s way of life, who hate women, who hate gays, and hate America.  And that’s the difference you saw yesterday — we need to identify the enemy — it is ISIS, we need to take the fight to them and we shouldn’t try to divide America, and especially suggesting that there’s some sort of law we could pass that would stop ISIS, whether this was a lone wolf or not, from attacking Americans. So, I was very … not pleased at all with the response of the President, Hillary Clinton, or Chuck Schumer, who yet again are politicizing tragedy.

I will say this — I think there’s a lot of Americans waking up this morning saying, who’s going to keep me safe? Who’s putting America first? And in fact that is Donald Trump, I think this could be a bit of a turning point as people are focused not only on jobs and the economy, but they’re focused on their own safety, and I think Americans know who the enemy is, and it’s not the Republican Party. So I was yet again disappointed, and that’s just a mild adjective, in the President, and certainly Hillary Clinton, but I wasn’t surprised…they politicize every tragedy, and it’s shameful. 

When a particular problem has a political, governmental set of solutions and nothing is done, that is already politicized. When you motherfuck the President and an opposition political figure to make a political point, you don’t get to whine about politicization. Who’s keeping us safe, Collins? Who’s putting “America” first?

Way back in early 2013 – soon after Sandy Hook, and around the time the New York legislature passed the SAFE Act, I wrote, “Fuck Your Gun,” and I incorporate its text here by reference. 

Why do the rights of the Orlando murderer or the Las Vegas shooter outweigh the rights of their victims to dance in peace? Just. Answer. That. 

In July 2017, Chris Collins proposed a law which would effectively abolish New York’s laws on firearms and require them to be no more restrictive than those found in the most permissive and ammo-liberal state in the Union. State’s rights matter only in the furtherance of a particular ammotastic political agenda. The people who most stridently oppose legislative action on guns enjoy mocking victims of gun violence, suggesting that the USS Gabby Giffords be nicknamed “grey matter splatter”. Then they’ll whine about “tone”, or kids holding picket signs that read, “f racism”.  

Our nation endured decades’ worth of armed airline hijackings, but it took 9/11 to install armored cockpit doors. What will be the gun equivalent to 9/11? Clearly, 59 killed and 500+ injured isn’t enough. Clearly, 20 1st graders wasn’t enough. What will be the gun law equivalent to armored cockpit doors? 

I don’t have any or all of the answers. But I know that the thoughtless repetition of sentiment and hypocritical, temporary attempts to demand that something be done about mental health aren’t enough. 

The victims of these ceaseless American mass shooting – and the victims of mass shootings yet to be – deserve more. 

President Donald Trump is worsening the NFL kneeling controversy for only one reason: he has to drive a wedge through Americans in order to distract from the extraordinary corruption, and catastrophic failure of his administration. What better way to change the subject from the federal government’s slow and inadequate response to the devastation in Puerto Rico than to use patriotism to stoke a culture war, and attempt to transform it into a race war, while he’s at it? 

There is no question now that Donald Trump is even worse than anyone could have reasonably expected. His administration isn’t making America great “again”; it is going out of its way to weaken it physically, mentally, financially, and morally. 

Query, then, why a Republican incumbent in the Erie County Legislature, of all places, would need to grab a bellows and stoke the culture/race war within the context of a county race? Ted Morton (LD-8) did just that, and our local media was all too ready to help him. That help was due either to a conscious effort to assist his campaign, or some serious attention deficit. 

On Friday, the official organ of the local Republican committee, WBEN, gave Morton over five solid minutes’ worth of free air time to publicize his planned giveaway of “proud to stand for the Anthem” bumper stickers. Featuring a blatant violation of the Flag Code, these bumper stickers would be handed out for free at a Majestic Pools location, and both Morton’s campaign and the pool store received free advertising during WBEN’s morning drive “news” show. 

How do we know this was a divisive campaign stunt and not legitimate news? 

Here’s an image that WBEN posted showing Morton getting ready to distribute bumper stickers. Note how his left index finger conspicuously covers up the bottom of that sticker. Could it be that this isn’t Morton personally handing out stickers to constituents? Is it paid for by his campaign? By someone else? 

Better. It’s paid for by the Erie County Republican Committee. 

Any media outlet that colluded with Morton – or was duped by him – to cover this important sticker “news” either wittingly or unwittingly participated in blatant electioneering on behalf of one candidate and one political party; an in-kind donation of free airtime or ink. If the “news” outlet didn’t make clear to its consumers that this was an election stunt, or in furtherance of a candidacy, it did the public a tremendous disservice. Looking at you, Buffalo News, WKBW, and WGRZ. 

WBEN is an FCC licensee, and any use of the public airwaves is a matter for federal law. The Communications Act of 1934 requires a broadcast radio station to offer equal time to Morton’s opponent for this blatant free advertising. WBEN’s operations director, Tim Wenger, argued that his station’s in-kind donation to “Friends of Ted Morton” were part of a “bona fide news interview” – one of the exceptions to the equal time rule. Specifically, he said: 

Morton is making news by distributing bumper stickers. Regardless of position on issue it’s of note and would be covered by wben. The end

— Tim Wenger (@TimWBEN) September 29, 2017

No. He’s distributing bumper stickers on a newsworthy issue. Happy to cover both sides of the legislative race when it’s forefront.

— Tim Wenger (@TimWBEN) September 29, 2017

Plain and simple. Coverage of a sticker being distributed on a major issue in the news. Someone else doing the same? Let me know.

— Tim Wenger (@TimWBEN) September 29, 2017

“Coverage of a sticker being distributed”. He really said that. Michael Caputo, sitting in for Sandy Beach on Friday, offered Morton another significant block of electioneering time during the second hour of his broadcast, and that interview touched on more issues than just important, late-breaking bumper sticker developments. The Buffalo News did it, by blindly regurgitating a portion of a press release that went out Friday morning. Here it is. It came not from Ted Morton’s legislative office, but from the Erie County Republican Committee. It’s not news any more than e.g., “Steve Cichon will be handing out lawn signs at his campaign HQ today” would be news. 

Morton’s and Nick Langworthy’s attempt to commandeer patriotism for divisive political purposes is pretty low. FCC licensee of public airwaves WBEN owes Ted Morton’s opponent, John Bruso, a significant block of free air time. If I owned a company that competes with Majestic Pools, I’d be on the phone with WBEN demanding free ad time. Tick tock on that happening. 

See the kid in that image holding that sign? Obviously, that’s someone’s kid.

Before I continue, please note that I have express permission from the person who took the image to use it, and from the kid’s parents to publish it, provided I pixellate the child’s face. 

The kid’s mom attended a protest relating to a fundraiser at a downtown restaurant that has been the subject of some recent controversy. 

The sign speaks for itself, but let’s examine it anyway. It reads, “F Racism Im going to Lloyds” [sic]. The parents know that “Lloyd” is singular, but didn’t have the apostrophes needed to render the sign’s punctuation correct. When I first saw it, I thought the sign was hilarious, in part because a kid was holding it. It’s a great protest sign – not too rhetorically heavy, and all-American with its sanitized “f” word, a great anti-racism sentiment, and recognition of the patent choices that consumer capitalism grants us to choose where and how to spend our money. 

You don’t have to agree with the sign, or where it was being used to picket, but there is literally nothing wrong with the sentiment “f racism”.

Is there? 

Oh, the hand-wringing over this has been so epic, you’d have thought this was satan himself. 

The first person to chime in was the owner of the targeted business, who denigrated it as “child abuse” – a very serious allegation that is in no way true. 

Remember a few months ago some guy had the time to secure a ticket to a speech Governor Cuomo gave at UB, only to scream a steady stream of internet comments at him? He wrote about it, too. 

LOL “Coloncarz”, right? I mean, you see that the level of thought and discourse here is firmly planted in the 5th grade. 

To be clear – I was not at the protest. I had nothing whatsoever to do with the protest – didn’t attend, didn’t organize, am not a member of any group having anything to do with that protest, just so we’re all clear. That’s a lie. I had nothing to do with kids holding signs with “implied vulgarities” – a pretty hilarious way to make something benign seem sinister. “Thugs…keeping it real classy”, sort of like the unhinged threats that this guy hurled at people on the street? Threatening to “take your ass out, too”, and acting belligerently towards people? 

Full version is below. “Who would Jesus threaten” is a good line. 

Wow. that’s “classy”. This “thug” should have been arrested on the spot for disturbing the peace. 

This is a guy supposedly so worried about a kid holding a sign with an “implied vulgarity”, yet threatened to “take your ass out to” literally within the presence of that same kid. 

County Executive Mark Poloncarz weighed in on Twitter with, “Why is a girl that young holding that sign? That’s too much. Bring her to the protest but that’s not needed.” I replied that I didn’t have a problem with a 9 or 10 year old kid holding a sign that reads, “f racism”. Rightist commentator Michael Caputo agreed with Poloncarz, adding, “kudos to [Mark] for standing up to #Buffalo radicals’ profane use of children.”

Yeah, no. 

Forget the subject matter of the protest itself – set that aside for a moment. It’s “radical” to oppose racism? It’s “child abuse” to teach your kids to detest racism? It’s “profane” for a kid to hold a sign that reads, “f racism”? 

No, none of those things is true. 

Racism is the thing that is obscene, indecent, and profane. Racism is the thing that everyone should be piling on about, not some kid holding a sign with the express permission of her parents, who could do without the lecture from you, thank you very much. I’m a parent, and I’d have no problem whatsoever with my kid holding a sign that reads, “f racism”. I’d rather have my kid march in a rally denouncing racism than have one of them go down to Charlottesville to protest the long overdue eradication of monuments to slavery-fueled treason. 

Are you saying that you oppose the sentiment, “fuck racism”? Because that’s what the sign is about. It’s not a controversial thing, and this focus on its form – as opposed to its substance – is nothing more than a bunch of people with no standing tsk-tsking and substituting their morality for that of this girl’s parents. 

F that. 

Last week, the President of the United States of America took time out of his busy schedule of golf and watching Fox to hector black football players about exercising their 1st Amendment right to political seech. This resulted in the NFL’s highest ratings in a while, and a massive production increase in self-righteous right-wing hand-wringing about millionaire black athletes who should really be more “grateful” than to protest police shootings of black people. 

Personally, I will always stand for the national anthem, and the reasons why are none of your business. Well, that’s not completely true – like you, when it plays on TV before the start of a sports event, or during a medal ceremony, I stay firmly planted on the couch. But if an athlete takes a respectful knee during the anthem in order to make a political point, I respect that choice and hope the message being sent is being received. If you stand, but don’t recognize the right of others to sit or kneel, what is it, exactly, that you’re standing for? A flag? A flag is merely a symbol for our country and its Constitution. Compulsory show-patriotism is not what that flag stands for. 

I’m not a Bills superfan, I’ve never been to a game, don’t plan to, either. Not my thing; not my scene. But I am a fan of the Constitution. Politics are my thing. Freedom and liberty and respectful protest are my scene. Players kneeling during the National Anthem affects me in no way whatsoever, whether I agree with it or not; it is silent, respectful protest. It disturbs nothing. It is kneeling, which is arguably more respectful than standing. I may be a lightweight or fair weather football fan, but that’s better than being a lightweight or fair weather American, and people aren’t kneeling to disrespect the flag or the country or your momma or apple pie or Chevrolet; they kneel to protest systemic racism, and almost all of the criticism and hate boils down to – you’re too uppity (now repurposed as “ungrateful”); stand the fuck up. The hand-wringing over this from people who just a few weeks ago expressed their support for statues of men who fought to buy, sell, and own other people is astounding. It sickens me not that players kneel, but the phony patriot-show virtue signaling from people who exalt symbolism over substance.

One man made headlines in Buffalo over the weekend because he quit his seasonal part-time job working security for the Bills to protest a few of the athletes taking a knee. Erich Nikischer made it to Channel 2, Huffington Post, the New York Post, the Daily News, and countless other media because of his principled resignation. Mr. Nikischer has another job, though. He is a state employee earning $71,000 as a court officer, to be precise. His wife, Tammy, earns the same, also working for the state. 

You’ve no doubt see the carefully posed image of Mr. Nikischer outside the stadium just after he dramatically, “took off [his] shirt, threw [his] my Bills hat on the ground, walked out”. He continued that he could no longer, “work in a place where multi-millionaires cry that they are oppressed.” 

There’s this thing called the “US Flag Code“.  It isn’t enforced because the 1st Amendment forbids it – this is a “free country”, so you’re free to pretty much do whatever you feel like with an American flag, and the government can’t do a thing about it. You can burn it, you can cut a hole it in and wear it as a poncho, you can even wear an Under Armour t-shirt that shows an American flag within the product logo. That’s what Mr. Nikischer is wearing in that now-iconic image, and that shirt violates the flag code’s prohibition on advertising, printing for temporary use, and “wearing apparel”. Why does Mr. Nikischer feel so strongly about black athletes kneeling before the flag during the anthem, but so flagrantly violates the code designed to ensure proper respect for our flag? Either way, I support Mr. Nikischer’s 1st Amendment right to disrespect the flag with his Under Armour shirt.

Mr. Nikischer has carefully santitized his Facebook timeline since he thrust himself into this controversy and made himself a public person for this issue, but yesterday he had posts up that he had shared from a page called “Fuck Sensitivity”. He gleefully posted that there’d be a civil war and one side had a lot of guns, while the other side wouldn’t know what bathroom to use, thus cleverly mixing bloodlust with transphobia. He had a large number of posts that could be summed up as, ‘fuck your feelings‘ – a favorite of Trump supporters. He had a post up that joked about murder, and this one was good, too: 

Someone sent me that screenshot – I didn’t take caps of the other posts, because I thought he’d be satisfied to keep them up. Incidentally, NASCAR has a big issue with its fans and confederate treason-slavery flags. Call me crazy, but waving the flag of a country that fought a war against the US for the right to maintain the right to keep, buy, and sell human beings as chattel is a lot more disrespectful to the US than kneeling during the National Anthem. 

My favorite part of Mr. Nikischer’s timeline was the juxtaposition of anti-Constitutional Convention, ‘don’t let Cuomo take my state pension’ posts with ‘fuck your feelings, #MAGA!’

Hey, Mr. Nikischer and “Easy Home Ideas”, schools in the US still recite the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Everything else has either been removed or stuck behind tightened privacy restrictions. 

I wish Mr. Nikischer well and certainly defend his right to express his deeply held political speech. It’s too bad that he can’t see past his own point of view to do the same for others. America stands for the right of people to stand, kneel, sit, or stretch during the National Anthem. If black athletes peacefully and silently protesting police brutality offends you, well, to paraphrase,