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When the history of Donald Trump’s political rise and fall is written, the Erie County Republican Committee will feature prominently. Few political organizations have done more to enable him than it, and its official party organ, WBEN. 

This entanglement dates back to the unsuccessful 2014 effort to convince Trump to run for governor against Andrew Cuomo. WBEN slavishly tripped over GOP apparatchiks jointly to promote and puff the “draft Trump” effort. Nick Langworthy and Carl Paladino were at the helm, joined by Conservative Fusion Party chair Ralph Lorigo and tea party Assemblyman David DiPietro, as WNY-based right wing leaders shuttled to 5th Avenue to deliver their pitch. 

Trump decided not to run for Governor, but repaid his flatterers with a fundraiser appearance at Salvatore’s in Depew. Despite Trump’s reluctance to run for state office – possibly due to financial disclosure requirements not found in federal races – local Republicans remain among his loudest cheerleaders. It was reportedly Carl Paladino who led RNC jeers against Ted Cruz. 

In the past week, as Trump has run through a gauntlet of gaffes and poorly considered and clumsily executed feuds with Gold Star parents and others, the Republican nominee has proven himself wholly unqualified to be President of this country. Perhaps to deflect from that, or maybe due to the GOP-led Erie County Water Authority controversy, the Republicans found what they though was a perfect nontroversy with which to distract attention – someone in County Hall mistakenly sent a political tweet late in the night, and quickly deleted it. That went nowhere. 

All the while, Carl Paladino has quietly forwarded Trump propaganda to his vast email list, and Congressman Chris Collins has gone out of his way to parrot Trump in his battle against the Gold Star Khans, even at the apparent expense of veteran support. Collins’ weak emesis of Trump talking points is notable; while Paladino has no soul, scruples, or real accountability, Chris Collins is currently running for re-election in a district that is overwhelmingly conservative, but also respectful of our military and veterans. The Buffalo News reported that vets have noticed Collins’ defense of Trump’s defamation of the Khans, and most aren’t pleased. It takes a lot of stupidity and hubris for a conservative politician to so fundamentally insult a core constituency – one deeply rooted in decency and patriotism. 

Collins’ support of the Trump defamation could very well be his undoing. After all, he’s not especially liked. He wins because of the (R) after his name in a district custom-designed for him. But as a person, he’s distant and aloof, and isn’t especially concerned with the affairs of average, middle-class wage earners. His personality is abrasive, his tone caustic. He’s as political as they come. As the Trump campaign reveals its core ugliness, this could have adverse effects on a party that already holds a widespread enrollment disadvantage in western New York. 

It becomes more evident by the day that Donald Trump doesn’t really share western New York’s values. He’s an entitled billionaire with a cabbie’s demeanor, quite unlike most of us here. 

As Republican politicians and donors watch the headlines about Donald Trump’s latest shocker, and as Trump’s poll numbers continue to sink, voters should really ask downticket GOP candidates their positions on what is quickly revealing itself to be a mere facade of a presidential campaign based around white nationalism. 

Ask people like County Clerk Chris Jacobs what he thinks of Donald Trump, his positions, and his antics. Go read this insightful and revealing interview with a pretty despondent Republican intellectual about what’s happening not only to the Republican party, but the conservative movement specifically. Donald Trump is not an accident or aberration – he is the culmination of a half century of movement conservatism. He is bold enough to lay it all bare. 

When the history of Donald Trump’s political rise and fall is written, subsequent generations will be asking you what you did about it. 

While the local news is focused on allegations of Buffalo Sabre Evander Kane’s alleged criminal conduct at a Chippewa bar in June of this year, a lawsuit filed a few weeks ago has been largely overlooked. In December, Kane was being investigated for an alleged “sex offense”. That investigation was dropped in March, with no criminal action taken against Kane. It was reported, however, that the alleged victim had sought medical attention the next morning and had no memory of what happened.

In a complaint filed by her lawyers in state Supreme Court, the plaintiff Rachel Kuechle says that on the day after Christmas 2015, she met Kane at Encore Restaurant on Pearl Street, and he bought her some drinks. Early on the morning of December 27, Kane invited Kuechle to his room at the Harborside Marriott, “under the false pretext of attending a party” in Kane’s room. Kuechle alleges that Kane instructed his driver to take the pair to the Harborside Marriott’s employee entrance, where they entered the building. 

Providing no further details of what happened in that room, Kuechle’s complaint alleges that Kane committed a “violent, offensive” “battery” upon her, causing her to, “suffer bodily injury including lacerations, extensive bleeding requiring multiple surgeries and blood transfusions, and serious emotional trauma.” She goes on to bring causes of action against Kane for intentional infliction of extreme emotional distress, “unreasonably endangering” Kuechle, and negligence. 

Kane’s lawyers have not yet filed any formal Answer, and Kuechle’s accusations are just that. Kane likely will deny these allegations and will have an opportunity to litigate them as the process goes on. Although Kane’s insurance carrier may defend him on the negligence allegation, it probably won’t cover the intentional torts like battery. The complaint, however, provides some insight into the nature and severity of the allegations:

Lawsuit Against Evander Kane by Alan Bedenko on Scribd

Pigeonism is over. No longer can that individual credibly participate in any electoral process, anywhere. He owes more than three Teslas’ worth in unpaid federal taxes, he is under arrest – although free on bond – accused of nine felony counts, including grand larceny by extortion. Right now, two races are testing the scattered Pigeonistas’ ability to continue the patronage gravy train without their depraved guru. In the Assembly 143 race, the former treasurer for the WNY Progressive Caucus (“AwfulPAC”) is running as a Democrat, despite being a major player at the epicenter of the events that led to Pigeon’s downfall. The acting District Attorney, Michael Flaherty, has surrounded himself with Pigeon operatives, and had the nerve to comment on the Michalek conviction Wednesday despite the fact that Flaherty and his predecessor/mentor failed and refused to prosecute the alleged crimes that led to the Pigeon/Michalek bribery counts. 

The word is chutzpah, and we have a glut of it here in western New York. Flaherty has the chutzpah to comment on a conviction his office could have – and should have – prosecuted. Mazurek has the chutzpah to try and make it a scandalous trifecta in the A-143, after the disgraces of Gabryszak and Wozniak. Pigeon and Michalek had the chutzpah not only to devise a jobs-for-fixing-cases arrangement, but were so brazen as to memorialize it all in writing, believing they’d never be seen or caught. Sure, you can tell in some of what’s been released that Pigeon was uncomfortable discussing the ongoing corrupt behavior in emails, but Michalek had no similar qualms. These were two men who were sure this would never be revealed. 

What it says to me is that this was likely how people generally operated with Pigeon. All of it was corrupt horse trading of influence for jobs. It all boils down to how the patronage gets dealt, and to whom.

You scratch my back, I subvert one of the foundations of our pluralist democratic republic – an independent and impartial judiciary. 

Ultimately, this all reveals quite clearly that Steve Pigeon was the strongman of a shadow banana republic that operated quite freely and openly for a couple of decades. Pigeon might have been deposed, but his diehards continue their insurgency in A-143, with Flaherty, and perhaps even with Republican state Senate candidate Kevin Stocker, based on rumors I’ve heard. 

I think that it’s becoming clear that what’s left of the Pigeon faction is not going to find great success this election season. They are rudderless and will find it harder to fund their campaigns without Uncle Steve miraculously coming up with hundreds of thousands of dollars in shadily-sourced, seldom properly disclosed funding. The best Flaherty’s Pigeonista ally Jim Eagan can do is buy a Flynn-sounding URL and redirect it to Flaherty’s own site. Weak sauce, shady, savage, salty, are all terms the kids would use for that idiot tactic, and it does nothing to promote the candidate. It simply demeans the office and the process. 

The Republicans, who so often conspired with Pigeon to screw the Democrats, have been uncharacteristically silent, given the disgraceful fall of two prominent local (nominal) Democrats. You’d expect them to be howling, but in this case, Pigeon was oftentimes the greatest gift they could ever have. For instance, it was Pigeon who engineered the 2010 coup in the County Legislature, that transformed a majority Democratic body into a rubber-stamp for the execrable Chris Collins. Just months earlier, he had manipulated a similar coup to transform a Democratic state Senate Majority into a Republican one. That one earned Pigeon a patronage job under convicted felon Pedro Espada. 

In the Preetsmas series of articles, I coined the phrase, “Pigeoning: pi·geon·ing ˈpi-jən-iŋ: (n) the action of using money and influence, oftentimes pushing the election law envelope, to actively sabotage and undermine the Erie County Democratic Committee.” As you might imagine, this oftentimes required the Republicans, but especially the obsequious fusion parties – “Independence” and “Conservative” alike – to conspire with Pigeon to advance not just candidates, but their committees’ access to patronage jobs.

Nothing that Steve Pigeon ever did brought about real reform or good government. Nothing he touched had anything to do with policy, or helping the community – it was all about enriching Pigeon and the pilot fish who clung to him. Western New Yorkers of every party, of every race, of every nationality, of every class deserve so much better than what Pigeon and his cult offered. 

For many, including me, the Michalek bribery charges were anti-climactic. There’s got to be more. What happened to the election law crimes? Former DA Mark Sacha, who is also running for DA, and was instrumental in pushing the allegations of Pigeon’s criminality to the authorities, says that there remain election law-related felonies that could still be prosecuted. He suggests that they’re being swept under the rug because of politics. I hear rumors of other state court judges who have lawyered up. The FBI confirmed yesterday that a federal investigation is ongoing, and Attorney General Schneiderman made it clear that the state’s own investigation is also “ongoing”. There will no doubt be more. In fact, the FBI called this bribery investigation as only “one prong” of a multi-faceted, ongoing investigation. 

There has to be more. I suspect that the Michalek bribery case is just the amuse bouche – the low-hanging, easy to reach fruit that can be pushed through quickly to reassure an impatient public that progress is being made. All the while, law enforcement continues to build its other cases against Pigeon and others. 

(Bonus: read Ken Kruly’s retrospective and analysis here). 

This is all great for western New York generally, reasserting control over our political process and restoring some integrity to the process. But don’t overlook what a huge victory this is for the Erie County Democratic Committee and its chairman, Jeremy Zellner. Every time he’s been disrespected, dismissed, insulted as “young and inexperienced” by Pigeonistas and pundits, he’s maintained his professionalism. He’s taken his licks, and he’s come out on top. Every time someone disrespects him as a “boy”, he can simply wave a copy of the Pigeon indictment around and silently claim victory. Not victory as in, he’ll win every race he backs, but the victory of being the only chief of a Democratic faction who’s not under arrest facing nine felony counts of bribery and extortion. 

Pass the popcorn, because we’re just watching the trailers. 

Allow me to set this up properly. There is profanity ahead. 

Years ago, I used to jump to conclusions much more vehemently and quickly than I do today. I used to assign blame to things and movements and come up with bumper-sticker solutions to problems that were complex and difficult. When it comes to mass shootings or domestic terrorism or whatever you want to call it, I found that my own prejudices were not serving me well and that it was valuable to avoid knee-jerk reactions and sound-bite solutions. I don’t always succeed, but I try. 

I don’t think that all religion is a problem; I have people in my Facebook friends list who are extremely devout and – even if we don’t always agree – they are fundamentally kindhearted. I don’t think gun control is the answer to the problem, mostly because it won’t happen. There is no political will or public consensus for tightening gun laws, because we had an incident where twenty 1st graders were shot dead, and we as a society did nothing. Regardless of the amorality of that non-reaction, it is our reality and we must live within it. If our country won’t respond to Sandy Hook, what hope is there that gun laws will be modernized or tightened when, say, a lunatic shoots up an LGBT nightclub? 

And of that: I could have succumbed to the very strong desire to liken conservative anti-gay sentiment to what happened in Orlando, but to what end? What good will come of getting conservatives’ backs up on this? Regard them now, as they use innocent LGBT lives as ammunition to assail the President. It’s despicable and craven, but see how it forces them to even inadvertently value the LGBT lives lost. 

On Saturday, America had another massacre, and it wasn’t remotely random: it was a targeted attack against the LGBT community. The right wing seem intent on using this as a political matter: but not as a way to strengthen or bolster LGBT rights. Instead, they see it as an opportunity to assail the President and Democrats. Cheap shit by cheap actors. My left-wing friends are all-in for the lost cause of keeping AR-15s out of the hands of violent mass-murderers. I went out of my way to avoid jerking my knee in any direction, except to feel deep sadness and confusion. Here is what I wrote on my Facebook timeline: 

This is an unimaginable tragedy that transcends politics.

This is a terrorist action perpetrated by a madman, and I have not once, not on any social media or blog, blamed Republicans or gun control, or lack of mental health treatment, or Muslims, or Obama, or Bush, or anything. I have laid blame on no one other than the gunman who did this, because the bodies aren’t even cold yet.

But it’s ok for [right wingers] to point out that the shooter was supposedly a registered Democrat—something completely irrelevant, as if being a lunatic with a gun is something only one political party owns. I won’t demean myself to make the comparative, because it’s cheap and meaningless. Fuck you for making it. You suck dog dicks in hell.

But it’s ok for conservatives on my timeline to blame Obama, or to say… that it’s ok for [former NYS Attorney General] Dennis Vacco to attack President Obama, as if that is in any way relevant to anything having to do with this tragedy. It doesn’t, and everyone knows it doesn’t, but politics > humanity, so we’re going to pretend that Obama is “calling radical Islamist terror a gun control problem.” He didn’t, and it’s false to suggest that.

No, actually, the mass shootings are a gun control problem. The Islamist terror is a national security problem, and when you allow Americans who are known Islamists to buy guns, the two coalesce and become one overarching sur-problem.

When the Bataclan was attacked, my timeline was polluted by the mentally diseased ramblings from fetid assholes arguing that it would never happen here because Parisians are “pussies” with “pussy” gun laws. Can’t make that argument when it’s Florida.

[Here are President Obama’s remarks], because apparently some of you don’t know how to read, or your ears are broken. Or you’re just too far up your own political sphincter that what he actually said is beside the point of Obama and Democrat bashing.

The most hilarious is that there’s been quite the effort this year to legislate away LGBT rights because they “mock God” or whatever awful justification some people concoct, yet now we’re supposed to believe that these same people give a shit about LGBT lives. They don’t just matter when you get to accuse Obama of being a terrorist, or coddling terrorists, or whatever the fuck semi-lucid point you’re trying to make: they matter all the time, even when they want to marry. Even when they want to adopt. Even when a transgender American wants to use the bathroom with which they identify.

As for Obama, here are the key paragraphs:

“The FBI is appropriately investigating this as an act of terrorism. And I’ve directed that we must spare no effort to determine what — if any — inspiration or association this killer may have had with terrorist groups. What is clear is that he was a person filled with hatred. Over the coming days, we’ll uncover why and how this happened, and we will go wherever the facts lead us…

“…So this is a sobering reminder that attacks on any American — regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation — is an attack on all of us and on the fundamental values of equality and dignity that define us as a country. And no act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans.”

That’s a statement of 11 paragraphs, and 5 sentences remarked upon the ease with which someone even known to the government as being sympathetic to Islamist causes can obtain firearms. Dennis Vacco is a disgusting creature for politicizing this tragedy, and his remarks are absolutely inexcusable. Completely unbecoming.

50 people are dead you motherfuckers. Have a little bit of respect: if not for them, then for yourself.

So, I wrote that and it’s profane and angry. My rant brought about some discussion, and I added a few key points: 

One person reacted, “because the terrorist was a radical Islamist.”

Even if he was a radical Islamist, which is frankly very doubtful, (a) using the words “radical Islamist terrorist” has no magical effect; and (b) and then what? What were law enforcement or intelligence agencies supposed to do with this guy, within Constitutional bounds? There are so many things that contribute to all of this, and I don’t think anyone in American politics has the smarts, patience, or stomach to truly address it honestly or effectively. As for this “radical Islamic terrorism” word-fetishism, I don’t get it. I don’t get why the President won’t use the phrase, and I don’t get why conservatives think it matters one whit. Semantic arguments like this are so beyond relevance. They’re bikeshedding.

So let’s placate everyone and use the phrase “radical Islamic terrorism.” Now what? Not that the President is ignorant to it, as our bombs and drones and Special Forces shrink ISIS’ holdings in Syria (unfortunately with Russian “help”) and in Iraq. The “war on terror” continues apace. We know that horrible people in the US will attempt or carry out more massacres like Orlando. What, precisely, should we do that we aren’t already doing? How do we set up the Department of Pre-Crime?

How does “radical Islamic terrorism” explain Sandy Hook or Charleston or Aurora, Colorado—all terrorist acts. The blood of those shootings’ victims ran just as red as those from Orlando. 

To me, it would seem to be common sense that people suspected of terrorist sympathies be prohibited from owning firearms. If the FBI has had to interview you even once about your particiation in jihadist websites or similar, you should be barred from owning a gun of any sort. But any such action has 1st and 2nd Amendment consequences. What’s the constitutional threshold for revoking a prospective jihadist’s right to bear arms? The perpetrator of the Orlando shootings was born in this country. You can’t eject him, and you can’t refuse him entry. 

And when you label him as a jihadist, what do you do, except to publicize and legitimize his despicable “cause”? Dylann Roof slaughtered nine people for completely different reasons. Was he somehow less of a monster? 

To me, life in a free society is replete with risks and responsibilities. We tickle the edges of totalitarianism when we start to infinge on rights of religious and political expression in the name of security. 

Knee-jerk social media reactions are meaningless.  I don’t know what the answers are and anyone who suggests that they know is lying.

Anyone. 

In the Assembly – in Albany – there is a comfortable, albeit old-fashioned leather swivel chair, and the two people who most recently moistened it will have abandoned it in disgrace. The endorsed Democrat, Monica Piga Wallace, is an accomplished lawyer and the very embodiment of responsibility and accomplishment. Wallace’s new challenger, Kristy Mazurek, is under such a thick cloud of suspicion that, were she already serving as an elected official, she’d be called on to resign. For Democrats, the contrast couldn’t be more stark. 

Dennis Gabryzsak resigned amid a flurry of allegations that he sexually harassed his female staffers. Gabryszak’s behavior was inexcusable, and the timing was fortuitous for people aligned with perennial pseudo-Democratic gadfly, G. Stephen Pigeon and his band of co-dependents. Gabryszak’s fall coincided nicely with the re-election campaign of Senator Tim Kennedy – the A-143 and Kennedy’s district share Cheektowaga and part of Depew – and a competitive Democratic primary for the assembly seat in 2014 would artificially bolster white Cheektowagan turnout for Kennedy, thwarting Betty Jean Grant’s second effort to unseat the incumbent. In 2012, Grant had come excruciatingly close to ousting Kennedy, but Kennedy was prepared in 2014, and won handily. 

Also in 2014, longtime Democratic operative Camille Brandon was running as a Democrat for A-143, and she had the support of both Democratic HQ and breakaway Democrats led by Frank Max.  But helping Tim Kennedy trumped unity, so Pigeon and Mazurek ran a primary using Mazurek’s brother, Mark, who went on to win the September primary. Mazurek’s campaign faltered in November, however, and he lost to current occupant/disgrace Angela Wozniak. Mark’s sister, Kristy ran his campaign effort that year. It wasn’t a failure, though. The larger mission was accomplished in September for Kennedy. 

For her part, Kristy Mazurek is the former host of “2Sides”, a political talk show she co-hosted with a variety of Republican operatives such as Stefan Mychajliw and Michael Caputo. In 2012, Mazurek ran the failed David Shenk for Comptroller campaign against Mychajliw. Throughout her return to WNY, she has been aligned with Steve Pigeon, and at war with Democratic HQ.

In 2013, Mazurek was famously the treasurer for the WNY Progressive Caucus, or “AwfulPAC“. That campaign committee’s campaign finance irregularities led to the May 28, 2015 raids of the homes of Steve Pigeon, Steve Casey, and Chris Grant, (a.k.a. “Preetsmas“), ultimately leading to the recent empaneling of a special Grand Jury to investigate any and all crimes arising out of that commitee and those searches. 

The Buffalo News reported in mid-2015 that investigators had questioned Mazurek, and that her home wasn’t raided because she was cooperating with law enforcement. 

As it stands now, AwfulPAC maintains an outstanding $15,000 campaign debt owed to printing firm Marketing Tech, last reported in its January 2015 disclosure. AwfulPAC also last disclosed over $26,000 cash on hand in that same disclosure, so query why it hasn’t yet satisfied that debt to Marketing Tech. Since then, AwfulPAC has filed, “no activity” statements.  Mark Mazurek’s Assembly campaign committee last reported $900 on hand, and has failed and refused to make mandatory financial disclosures to the Board of Elections in January and July of 2015, and January of 2016. 

The Public revealed the extent and ongoing nature of federal tax liens that the IRS has filed against Steve Pigeon, calling into question his proclamations of financial liquidity to the Buffalo News’ Bob McCarthy, and selective revelation of his tax returns. For a guy who told Bob McCarthy he could easily afford personally to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars into obscure political committees, he found himself facing: 

• March 1, 2012: $26,527 federal tax lien
• October 30, 2013: Lien for unpaid condo fees of $1,123 for 1003 Admiral’s Walk (owned by Dan Humiston, occupied by Steve Pigeon)
• March 31, 2014: $118,650 federal tax lien
• August 18, 2014: Lien for unpaid condo fees of $9,264 for 1003 Admiral’s Walk
• June 2, 2015: $126,259 federal tax lien for the 2011 and 2013 tax years
• November 24, 2015: $65,806 federal tax lien for the 2014 tax year
• December 22, 2015: Lien for unpaid condo fees of $4,486 for 704 Admiral’s Walk (owned by Steve Pigeon)

That’s almost $337,000 in federal tax liens alone. The suspicion is that federal investigators with access to Pigeon’s financial records could see money passing through his accounts for political activities, which Pigeon perhaps didn’t report as income. 

Similarly, Mazurek finds herself the subject of federal tax liens as follows: 

• June 19, 2014: $16,432 federal tax lien for the 2007 tax year 
• October 8, 2014: $4,125 federal tax lien for the 2012 tax year
• October 27, 2014: $7,785 federal tax lien for the 2010 and 2013 tax years

Could it be that at least some of these liens are the fruit of the Preetsmas raids? Could law enforcement with access to banking records have revealed monies flowing through Mazurek and Pigeon’s accounts for political purposes from other sources? Money that should have been declared as income, but wasn’t? 

Mazurek’s candidacy has been rumored for some time, and a post on a particularly irresponsible local blog announced/press released it thusly: 

Kristy Mazurek, the local socialite and muckraking journalist whose pioneering career spanned decades in a half dozen American media markets, intends to wage an aggressive campaign for New York State State Assembly against a little known candidate recruited by Erie County Democrat Party headquarters.

Socialite: ‘sōSHəˌlīt/ (n) “a person who is well known in fashionable society and is fond of social activities and entertainment.” “A socially prominent person”. I am not aware of the qualities and qualificiations that being a “socialite” might lend to someone running for office, but it seems to be a euphemism for “unemployed”. 

In this, the year of anti-corruption sentiment, it seems an odd choice to elect to the Assembly a person so close to an ongoing federal and state investigation. As for the “little known candidate”, that’s Monica Piga Wallace, a law professor at UB with over a decade’s experience as the confidential law clerk for a federal court judge. She’s a wife and mother with an adorable family, and any party chairman, regardless of political affiliation, would count himself lucky to have such an excellent outsider/newcomer candidate run for elected office. 

Mazurek is a formidable political contender with fundraising prowess and a well placed network of supporters. The consummate activist, Mazurek has been involved in local politics since she was a child and her father represented the Polonia neighborhood on the County Legislature. Mazurek is a Cheektowaga resident and Chairperson of the town’s Polish Heritage Festival.

Mazurek is almost $30,000 in arrears to the federal government for unpaid income taxes, her activities as treasurer for AwfulPAC find her in the center of an ongoing criminal investigation, the campaigns she has been most closely affiliated with (Shenk, Moore, and Mazurek) were all failures, and her fundraising “prowess” amounted to $38,500 for her brother, not including thousands in family loans. By contrast, Conservative fusion Party candidate Angela Wozniak – who defeated Mazurek’s candidate in 2014 – quickly raised close to $60,000 in a traditionally Democratic district, not counting $30,000 in Republican PAC money. 

Jeremy Zellner, beleaguered by controversy relating to a 2014 incident in which he was perceived to be extorting bribes from judicial candidates, is backing Mazurek’s opponent. Zellner’s leadership of the Democrat Party has attracted much scrutiny. The chairman’s ouster is expected at the next party reorganization meeting later this year.

Translation: some people have an acute, chronic, exhausting case of butthurtitis and sour grapes over Steve Pigeon’s ouster as Erie County Democratic Chairman over a decade ago. Inter-party squabbles like this swing from cold to hot every so often, and Mazurek, who is busy accepting service of legal process for Pigeon at his former apartment, is merely doing her boss’ bidding. 

This is how Mazurek announced her candidacy: 

Political operative Kristy Mazurek officially announces her candidacy for 143 Assembly District on Facebook. pic.twitter.com/GFz1Xw5b6j

— Ryan Whalen (@RyanTWCNews) May 27, 2016

Nothing about ethics and corruption in Albany. Nothing about public service. Nothing about what she might do differently from her predecessors, or a hint at what her platform might be. Nothing about how she is more qualified or better suited than, say, Monica Wallace. With this Facebook post, Mazurek lays bare her entire reason for running: this isn’t a campaign. It’s a vendetta.

Remember: even though Albany corruption matters, Donald Trump shows us that 2016 is the year of grievance politics, and for that Mazurek has a deep well. 

Mazurek alleges that she reported Gabryszak’s “attacking behavior” to Len Lenihan and Jeremy Zellner, and, I suppose, she’ll say they did nothing about it. But even if true, party bosses aren’t in charge of an Assemblyman’s behavior. An Assembly staffer who is subjected to “attacking behavior” at the hands of her boss has other channels to use. There is a grievance procedure spelled out in the Assembly rules, for instance. Had Mazurek followed that, she would have complained to the Counsel to the Majority. If attacked, she could have gone to the police. She could have brought a lawsuit. Complaining to Lenihan and Zellner seems odd, especially if she’s alleging that another party boss, like Pigeon, would have acted differently. Perhaps all of this is prologue to the inevitable, failed attempt to oust Zellner at the party reorganization later this year. 

Mazurek did bring a lawsuit, incidentally. She left Gabryszak’s office in 2009. She was the last of Gabryszak’s accusers to bring a lawsuit, in November 2014. The court dismissed it: 

The court’s dismissal of Mazurek’s complaint against Gabryszak is up on appeal, but why wait over three years to bring suit? Why blow through and past the statute of limitations? Was it because the timing was inopportune before November 2014?  How? Gabryszak resigned in January. Election day was November 4th.

In her complaint, she mentions only complaining to Gabryszak’s chief of staff, Adam Locher. Not to Zellner nor Lenihan. The Cheektowaga electorate may be attracted to Mazurek’s surname and grievances, but on the issue of ethics and accomplishments, Mazurek has a very steep hill to climb.

One thing is for sure, in a year where Albany corruption, ethics, and good government are at the fore; in the year where both Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos were tried, convicted, and sentenced for crimes arising out of their theft of honest services, it seems beyond odd for a key player in an ongoing local political corruption scandal to run for elected office. We have our Preetsmas candidate.

Rus Thompson is to Carl Paladino as Joe Percoco is to Andrew Cuomo. A confidant. A right-hand man. Rus Thompson and Carl Paladino are loudly and brashly supporting Donald Trump for President – Paladino is the statewide co-chair. Paladino has the support of Erie County Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy and lying liar of a Congressman, Chris Collins. Donald Trump is the bigot they’ve all selected to lead our great nation and the free world.

Let that sink in. 

Rus Thompson considers himself a mover and shaker in Erie County politics. The problem is, he doesn’t live here anymore; he doesn’t live on Grand Island anymore. He might be busy waging a vendetta in the press and courts with former Grand Island Supervisor Mary Cooke, but for what? He’s lived in Niagara Falls since about October 2014. 

On or about October 3, 2014, Rus’ wife, Julianne M. Thompson transmitted the following to the Erie County Board of Elections: 

Please remove us from the Erie County voter roles [sic] and from the ECBOE mailings. We are moving out of Erie County. Thank you. Julianne M. Thompson.

As it happens, they moved to the City of Niagara Falls in Niagara County. The problem is that Rus Thompson didn’t register to vote in Niagara Falls—he never has, to this day. In fact, he’s still registered at his old address on Grand Island in Erie County. 

Whether or not Jul Thompson had the legal authority to have her husband’s name removed from the voter registration rolls via the scribble shown above is irrelevant; it establishes when they left the county, and it appears that Mr. Thompson may have falsely attested to living at an address he no longer occupied as his residence. 

The state statute on voter registration is pretty clear. In order to vote, you must: 

• be a United States citizen;
• be 18 years old by December 31 of the year in which you file this form (note: you must be 18 years old by the date of the general, primary or other election in which you want to vote);
• live at your present address at least 30 days before an election;
• not be in prison or on parole for a felony conviction and;
• not be adjudged mentally incompetent by a court;
• not claim the right to vote elsewhere.

It’s the address part that’s tripping Rus up here. You don’t get to vote where you work; you vote where you live. If you change your address, and plan on voting at your new domicile, you should notify the Board of Elections as soon as possible, but at least about 20 days before an election.  If you want to keep voting in the town from which you’ve moved, that might be possible, but it’s illegal. It’s voter fraud, and it’s a felony. 

As of Wednesday May 11th, Niagara Falls resident Rus Thompson is registered to vote at an address on Bedell Rd. on Grand Island, in Erie County. 

Voter history indicates that he voted in the primary and general elections in Erie County in September and November 2015. It’s unknown at this time whether he voted in the Presidential primary. 

Thompson has told at least one media outlet that his alleged voter fraud isn’t his fault; that his name was mysteriously purged from the voter rolls. I think we’ve solved the mystery, because his wife clearly notified the Erie County Board of Elections to do exactly that in October 2014. 

Here is Thompson’s affidavit ballot, dated September 10, 2015, which he used to vote in the primary election: 

Here is the text of the very specific oath Mr. Thompson took: 

So, based on what we know, in 2015, Rus Thompson found himself purged from the voter registration rolls on Grand Island. This was done at his wife’s request in October 2014 when they moved to Niagara County. Yet he still wanted to vote in Erie County, and when his name wasn’t in the book, he filled out an affidavit ballot. The problem for him is that when you execute an affidavit, you are swearing an oath that certain things are true; in this case, that, Rus has “lived in the county, city or village for at least 30 days before the election.” He hadn’t. The oath very clearly states that the penalty is a fine and prison term. 

When we checked in mid-April, Rus and three twenty-somethings sharing his surname were still registered on Grand Island; one Conservative fusion, one Independence fusion, and one Republican. At that time, Jul Thompson was not found in a current voter database in either Erie or Niagara Counties. 

However, the fact that Jul is not registered to vote did not in any way impact her civic duty to campaign in and out of state for Donald Trump, or to circulate Conservative fusion Party petitions for Shelly Schratz. On those petitions, Mrs. Thompson gave an address on Lewiston Road in Niagara Falls. Interestingly, one of the aforementioned twenty-somethings, Abram Thompson, was the only person registered to vote at that Niagara Falls address. It is possible that there was some processing error in Mrs. Thompson’s enrollment/change of address, since it appears that the Niagara County BOE either never informed Erie County of Abram’s change of address, or more likely, Abram mistakenly registered as a new voter, and neglected to fill in the area asking if he had registered at another address previously).

It would tough for the Thompsons to chalk this up to a government conspiracy against them when representatives of both major parties oversee each board of elections, but that’s likely how they’ll play this. Already, Thompson is rushing the Paladino victimhood playbook. Regardless, you have 5 people at 2 addresses enrolled in as many as 3 different political parties. And this is after Rus’s history as being enrolled as a Republican, an Independent, a Conservative and as a Democrat (remember how he was going to primary Antoine Thompson?) There’s clearly some weirdness happening here. Also, TEA New York now operates out of a PO Box on Grand Island. (A PO Box also doesn’t establish residency, by the way). 

From TWC News, 

According to sources, Thompson moved from his Grand Island rental property to Niagara Falls. But when he voted in last November’s election, he filled out an affidavit ballot at his usual polling place on Grand Island and used his old Grand Island address, allegedly voting in a district where he did not reside. Thompson would not comment Wednesday, but said there is another side to this story and already there are some high-profile Grand Island residents coming to his defense.

The rules are that you have to have been a resident of the place where you are voting for the immediate preceding thirty days. If Rus Thompson was a Niagara County resident, at any point in the 30 days leading up to any vote, he had no right to do so on Grand Island, in Erie County. Furthermore, when you execute an affidavit ballot, you are swearing an oath to God that you are eligible to vote in that location; that you are eligible in every way, including but not limited to having been a resident for the past thirty days. 

On the Tea NY website, they link to the extreme right-wing organization, the “Oath Keepers”.  Rus Thompson appears to have violated an oath, which is ironic and hilarious. On their site, Thompson and his wife have posted no fewer than ten posts referencing voter fraud. (No links because that website once falsely accused me of having fraudulently manufactured Carl Paladino’s pornographic, bestiality, racist, misogynist, bigoted emails; Rus and Jul Thompson are despicable liars.) In one, he writes, 

We are now, as Carl Paladino says, focusing like a laser beam on single issues, and have determined the following to be our top priorities:

2nd Amendment Rights
Agenda 21
Voter Fraud

Just days after President Obama’s re-election, Thompson chalked it up to massive Soros/Obama voter fraud, 

Unbelievable.
No wonder the election result was “unbelievable.”
…because it can’t be believed.  Massive voter fraud and the numbers just don’t add up.

I eagerly await Rus and Carl’s expose on voter fraud and Agenda 21. What does Rus have to say about it all? 

Some houses are made from glass. Other houses are already surrounded by shattered glass. The past few weeks have brought about a cornucopia of allegations of criminality and breaches of public trust. Former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his corruption; former Republican Senate President Dean Skelos awaits his fate. The Buffalo Billion trudges along under a cloud of accusations of bid-rigging and corruption arising out of the contracting process. Governor Cuomo’s right-hand man, Joe Percoco is under investigation, as is a lobbyist with ties to the governor and various firms with Buffalo Billion contracts. Locally, there may or may not be a special grand jury looking into allegations of widespread corruption as it relates to political operatives and patronage. 

New York is a big state run by some very flawed people. I’m pleased when law enforcement swoops in to hold those in power truly accountable. 

But it’s not just the powerful – it’s also a problem with the wannabe powerful. 

And when actual scandal hits local Democrats – think back to Dennis Gabryszak – our local leadership demands their resignation. We’re not afraid to call out our own for their misdeeds. The Republicans, however, have no similar urge. 

Assemblywoman Angela Wozniak, who sexually harassed a staffer, may choose not to run again, but she isn’t resigning. Hell, Langworthy can’t even bring up the guts to demand it. He refused to condemn her actions in any way, except to say it was something she needed to deal with on her own. No condemnation, no call for resignation, no demand that she not run again – just mealy-mouthed weasel words and silence. The same happened when Carl Paladino’s bigoted, pornographic emails came to light. The same will happen with tea party activist and indicted Niagara County resident Rus Thompson. They’ll say nothing; the Erie County Republican Committee simply lacks the courage or ethics to call out one of its own for corruption or misconduct; ever. 

Let’s also make another thing clear: when people like Rus Thompson call for an end to voter fraud, or the implementation of an ID requirement, it wouldn’t have made a difference in this case. Everyone knew who Rus was at his polling place; they just didn’t realize he was now a Niagara County resident. He appears to have lied under oath in order to vote where he used to live. 

Thompson was to be arraigned before County Court Judge Kenneth Case Wednesday, and the indictment against him unsealed. That didn’t happen; since Judge Case and Thompson are Facebook friends, the matter was transferred to Supreme Court Justice Christopher Burns, and adjourned to Friday at 10:30. 

Rus Thompson and his wife accused me of something they know I didn’t do, and she wished she could “sue the pants off” me and get me to take a “lie detector test” over Carl’s emails. Whatever; that’s the thanks I get from these creatures after defending them and their motives when the Tea Party split in 2010. Yet, as far as the courts are concerned, Rus Thompson is innocent until proven guilty. He deserves his day in court, and he may get off for being stupid or lazy rather than malicious. 

That’s one hell of a political epitaph. 

Preetsmas is the Reason for the Season

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Erie County Republicans have their Antoine Thompson, and her name is Angela Wozniak. 

In 2007, then-state Senator Antoine Thompson made statewide news in this particularly embarrassing way:

Senator Antoine M. Thompson of Buffalo, a freshman Democrat, made a fiery speech on the Senate floor last week, denouncing the bill to increase legislators’ salaries when it came up for a vote in his chamber. He cited the lack of raises for Buffalo city workers, police officers, teachers and sanitation workers, and said, “I can’t in good conscience vote for myself, or anyone else, a raise.”

That led Senator Frank Padavan, a Queens Republican, to pose a question:

“Why did your conscience allow you to be a sponsor of this bill?”

Indeed, all 29 Senate Democrats, including Mr. Thompson, had co-sponsored the bill days earlier, but, in a speedy turnabout, almost all of them ultimately voted against the measure, as the governor urged.

That made Thompson a local laughingstock pretty quickly, and that was before he had staffers pretending to be other people. 

Now, embattled ethical basketcase Assemblywoman Angela Wozniak (C-143), (see here, here, and here) took to the floor of the state Assembly to apparently speak out critically of a bill she sponsored. From the Daily News’ political blog, Wozniak

…raised eyebrows when she expressed fears during a floor debate last week that a bill to legalize mixed martial arts could open the door for sex offenders to prey on kids at MMA training schools.

The comments struck many on both sides of the aisle as odd given that Wozniak (R-Erie County) was not only listed as a co-sponsor of the MMA bill, but also recently was sanactioned by the Assembly for retaliating against a staffer with whom she had an extramarital affair.

“It made no logical sense what she was saying,” said one Democrat.

Wozniak during the debate on the bill raised concerns that legalizing mixed martial arts would somehow lead to registered sex offenders owning schools that teach amateur mixed martial arts to kids.

Pay special attention to the following passage: 

“We can’t be naïve to the fact that these people target these schools,” she said. “They know what they’re doing. They know that if they’re teaching a child they can put that child in a situation where they’re doing a maneuver perhaps to touch them in a way that that the child might not even realize they’re being touched or they can gain trust with that child and really harm that child.”

What is the pathology here where Wozniak assumes that anyone and everyone is out to sexually assault children? What is she talking about when she says that sex offenders would run MMA training facilities? What sort of a “maneuver” could lead to an MMA teacher touching a child in a way “that that the child might not even realize they’re being touched”? 

She urged passage of a separate MMA bill she introduced that would regulate the amateur levels of the sport.

Noting that much money had been spent on lobbying for passage of the legalization of professional mixed martial arts, Wozniak said “I really hope it isn’t just about the money. I think that’s deplorable.”

She then voted in favor of the bill.

So, blusterblusterbluster, assume everyone’s out to be weird with kids, and then vote the way you were going to vote anyway. All the while, you’ve just been sanctioned for sexual harassment. But that passage I highlighted above reminded me of what Wozniak told WGRZ’s Danny Spewak in December, when she appeared at a Lancaster School Board meeting to demagogue against a proposed LGBT anti-discrimination policy and displayed knowledge that was both an inch wide and an inch deep. She “explained” her position thusly, 

How is a child s’posed to feel safe and have dignity when they’re having to be forced into a situation where they’re having to be watched when they’re potentially naked in front of someone of the opposite sex who sexually prefers them. This is wrong, and this I think that’s why we have such a strong turnout of parents speaking out against it tonight.

Again: arglebargle and assume everyone wants to be weird with kids. It really deserves to be seen (start at 1:58): 

Wozniak seems preoccupied with all the sex offenders who are going to rush out to run amateur MMA training centers, and upset that the proposed bill doesn’t address that, but, (a) chances are pretty high that registered sex offenders whose crimes involved minors are already barred from having contact; and (b) the proposed bill involved the legalization of professional MMA bouts and had nothing to do with amateur MMA or the training of fighters. So, Wozniak got up to get some screen time during the debate on a bill likely to attract media attention, and looked ridiculous in the process. 

Astonishingly, it’s now been several weeks since Wozniak was admonished and censured for sexual harassment of a member of her staff, yet she’s still in Albany, she’s still running for re-election, and neither GOP chairman Nick Langworthy nor Conservative fusion Party Chairman Ralph Lorigo have publicly demanded her resignation or withdrawal from the race. 

The Assembly’s bipartisan Ethics and Guidance Commission censured Assemblywoman Angela Wozniak (C, 143) on Wednesday. Wozniak and her legislative aide Elias Farah had an inappropriate, adulterous affair, and when Farah tried to break it off, she harassed him, defamed him, and made it impossible for him to perform the functions of his job. 

Longtime listeners of the Howard Stern show know that “143” is a code for “I love you”, which Sal Governale’s wife texted to her “emotional friend”. That storyline fed the Stern show for months, and made it into Sarah Silverman’s lyrics for “Stop the Clock”, performed at Stern’s 60th birthday bash a few years ago. It would seem that New York’s Assembly district 143 seat, covering Cheektowaga and Lancaster, has somehow become a magnet for inappropriate, pervy behavior. 

Dennis Gabryszak resigned from the state Assembly in January 2014 when a parade of former female staffers accused – some sued – him of inappropriate and sexist conduct. Those accusations became public in late 2013, and Albany “ethics” boards recenty fined him $100,000 for his behavior. 

While there’s little question that Gabryszak’s own creepy behavior cost him that seat, cognoscenti theorize that the Steve Pigeon axis carefully coordinated that Gabryszak takedown to help Tim Kennedy in his September 2014 primary rematch against Betty Jean Grant. With Gabryszak out, there was an open (D) seat up for grabs. Since there exists overlap of A-143 and SD-63 – notably in Cheektowaga – the nasty (D) Assembly brawl between Mark Mazurek and Camille Brandon worked nicely to help Kennedy decisively defeat Grant after an embarrassingly close call two years earlier. 

Registered member of the Conservative fusion Party Angela Wozniak succeeded Gabryszak. Her tenure has been largely unremarkable and uneventful, except for that time she went to a Lancaster school board meeting to demagogue against LGBT rights while quite clearly having little idea what she was talking about. 

Wozniak’s win in a traditionally Democratic stronghold was pretty significant, seen as a huge get for ECGOP chair Nick Langworthy and Conservative fusion chair Ralph Lorigo. She was going to fight for the taxpayer. She was going to clean up Albany and “fight” the “status quo”. She was going to advocate for term limits, fight corruption, and institute “the nation’s toughest ethics plan”. 

Being the second consecutive A-143 Assemblyman to be sanctioned for ethical violations arising out of sexual misconduct is pretty much a facile maintenance of the status quo. 

Wozniak’s accuser, Elias Farah, is a Republican who recently ran for county legislature. There has been a flurry of hateful criticism thrown his way by Republican insiders, mostly because all of this must be embarrasing for a pol who ran on an anti-corruption platform. 

Reports indicate, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s letter confirms that Wozniak, “entered a consensual sexual relationship with her director of legislation in June 2015. The staffer objected to and tried to stop the sexual nature of the relationship, which ended after Wozniak told her husband. The report found Wozniak banned the staffer from working in the district office or attending community meetings she was at.” 

The report found Wozniak spoke negatively of the staffer to damage his job performance, and her counsel told reporters the name of the staffer and used the press to tarnish him further by saying she’d go after “anyone who maliciously defamed her.” The report says inconsistencies between both parties made it hard to determine if this was quid pro quo sexual harassment by Wozniak.

Certainly any report on “ethics” coming from a contemporary Assembly-run corruption watchdog should be taken with a grain of salt, as there is a long history of the Assembly coddling and protecting harassers. In 2007, Republican Assemblyman Mike Cole was similarly censured for getting drunk at a party and sleeping on a female intern’s apartment floor. While he insisted nothing happened, he lost the Republican nomination to Jane Corwin the following year. 

It’s hard to see a path forward to Wozniak here. She promised the people of Cheektowaga that she would be different; that she would end the corruption and ethical lapses that led to her predecessor’s downfall. Yet here she is, two years later, accused of sexual harassment. The sanctions against her include: 

That a letter of admonition be issued publicly to Assemblymember Wozniak by the Speaker on behalf of the Assembly, enumerating the findings of the Committee, and indicating that Assemblymember Wozniak’s conduct violated the Assembly’s Policy Prohibiting Harassment, Discrimination and Retaliation as it pertains to retaliation and is inconsistent with the standards of conduct to which members of the Assembly should be held;

That’s pretty toothless, but damning nonetheless. 

That Assemblymember Wozniak is hereby directed to cease publicizing details of the investigation and to cease making disparaging statements against her former Director of Legislation, unless reasonably necessary to defend herself in the event of any claims brought against her in an administrative agency or a court of law.

This one is significant. Her lawyer, HoganWillig’s Steve Cohen, went out of his way to try this thing in the media. As of right now, Farah has not filed a lawsuit against Wozniak or anyone else for what happened to him, so the viciousness with which he’s been attacked by has been puzzling. 

That the Assembly will make efforts to place Assemblymember Wozniak’s former Director of Legislation into a comparable job with comparable pay and benefits and until such placement has been made, he shall receive pay at the same rate at which he was earning during his employment, beginning February 9, 2016 through and including February 8, 2017, or the end of Assemblymember Wozniak’s term, whichever is sooner.  All such pay is to be allotted solely from Assemblymember Wozniak’s staff budget, and her staff budget shall not be increased from its current amount;

That is par for the course for any complaining victim of workplace sexual harassment, whose perpetrator has jeopardized his job. 

That Assemblymember Wozniak is precluded from having any interns working in her Assembly office or her district office; this prohibition applies to interns assigned by the Assembly as well as any interns that might be engaged through unofficial channels;

Angela Wozniak is not trusted to have free student labor in her office. 

That an independent investigator conduct climate surveys of all of Assemblymember Wozniak’s Assembly employees at least semi-annually to ensure that there is no repeat of the conduct; and

That Assemblymember Wozniak be required to attend immediate and comprehensive supplemental sexual harassment and retaliation prevention training.

One tidbit that most people missed came in October from Time Warner Cable News. It appears that Farah is represented by Niagara Falls attorney John Bartolomei, a favorite of Steve Pigeon’s. Bartolomei also represents several of the complainants against Dennis Gabryszak. If the theory set forth above is true, could it be that the Pigeon team is working to get one of theirs back into the Assembly? The plan would have been for Mark Mazurek to take the seat, and his sister has been quite famously aligned with Pigeon in recent years – just Google, “Preetsmas + Mazurek“. That didn’t go as planned, so now they have to fix the Wozniak mistake. 

So far, two Democrats have announced bids for A-143; Jim Rogowski and Monica Wallace. Wallace is a former law clerk for federal judge Richard Arcara, and is now a lecturer at UB School of Law. Rogowski is a Cheektowaga town councilman. It’s not hard to decipher which one might have the backing of the Pigeon squad: 

Kristy Mazurek and Jim Rogowski are the clear frontrunners for the 145th Assembly Seat. Bring on the special election! #WNY #Politics

— Steve Pigeon (@StevePigeonPol) January 14, 2014

That Tweet is from January 2014 – right after Gabryszak’s resignation.

Rogowski didn’t run, and neither did Kristy Mazurek – but her brother did, and lost. So, try, try again.

Rogowski’s election disclosures show contributions from a PAC controlled by a Pigeon associate, and Frank Max’s Progressive Democrats. He donated $60 to Cheektowaga’s “Right Democratic Team”, which is still out of compliance (read: breaking the law) by not filing campaign disclosure of any sort since the 2015 11 day pre-primary report. By my last count, the “Right Democratic Team” has failed to account for over $2,000 that others say they donated to it. Max’s crew does the same thing. 

Now, that figure approaches $4,000 that other people say they contributed to the “Right Democratic Team“, which never disclosed more than $125. 

Suffice it to say that if you think corruption in Albany is remotely important, these aren’t the people with whom you want to associate. That failure to disclose isn’t some sloppy mistake – it’s deliberate and calculated. 

As for Wozniak’s transgressions, Democratic candidate Monica Wallace released the following: 

Angela Wozniak’s misconduct as determined by the Assembly Ethics Committee is inexcusable and a textbook reminder of what is wrong with Albany. It is especially shocking that a legislator who ran on a platform of family values and personal ethics should be sanctioned for precisely the behavior she once condemned. This wasn’t just bad judgment; it was unethical and illegal.

This kind of conduct has no place in Albany or anywhere else. The people of this District expect and deserve an elected official who is as hard-working, honest, and principled as they are. We are tired of the culture of scandal and corruption that has undermined the public’s faith in state government. It is time for leadership this community can be proud of. 

It would seem that the voters in A-143 have a clear choice this year when it comes to ethics.