Search Results for: "chris collins"

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

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

— Dave Greber (@DaveGreber4) September 19, 2018

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

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

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

So, this hit e-mailboxes Wednesday: 

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

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

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

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

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

Bring it https://t.co/emyYtJEFco

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

Like I said.

Here is the rest of McMurray’s statement: 

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

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

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

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

Chris Collins represents everything that’s wrong with Washington.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DAVE
Wow.

“Wow”, indeed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Look who’s really trying to win on technicalities. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sure, they have. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Canalside Development and State Authorities

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The NY-27 Fraud

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

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

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

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

But no.

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

Who Will Replace Collins?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

.@News_8: New York Man Hit With Higher Costs, Fewer Benefits Due To #Obamacare‘s Medicare Cuts http://t.co/zKlMRSPWSe

— Chris Collins (@CollinsNY27) March 29, 2014

 

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

Stay indoors. Grab a 6 pack. Talk about getting your hours cut. #ObamaCare #BuffaloBlizzard2 pic.twitter.com/4Y1LT6l4O7

— Chris Collins (@CollinsNY27) March 12, 2014

 

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

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

#Obamacare may increase premiums for 11 million workers, report says http://t.co/sOEJ3IKJzT — 11 million more reasons it needs to go.

— Chris Collins (@CollinsNY27) February 25, 2014

 

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

“Each week seems to bring entrepreneurs more bad news, more costly regulations, more uncertainty…” #Obamacare http://t.co/Ks3eF4oPPS

— Chris Collins (@CollinsNY27) December 5, 2013

 

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

Hochul doubles down on her support for Obamacare. After all, she voted to keep it in place 6 times. http://t.co/a6yE8J07 #ny27

— Chris Collins (@CollinsNY27) October 18, 2012

 

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

We need more jobs in America, less spending in Washington and we need to repeal Obamacare. Join our campaign here http://t.co/fiBgRP1X #NY27

— Chris Collins (@CollinsNY27) October 8, 2012

 

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

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

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

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

Retweet if you want #Obamacare delayed forever. pic.twitter.com/Iy0ueGhfko

— Chris Collins (@CollinsNY27) July 3, 2013

 

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

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

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

Hochul-Backed ObamaCare is Massive Tax Increase. $2400 more taxes on #ny27 families #fullrepeal http://t.co/twDF6n7g

— Chris Collins (@CollinsNY27) June 28, 2012

 

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

I voted to #RepealAndReplace Obamacare to give WNYers more choices and lower costs. Read my full statement here: https://t.co/2Lk6EVmxef

— Rep. Chris Collins (@RepChrisCollins) May 4, 2017

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Did you hear the news? Mike Zak is running for Congress on the Green Party line. 

No, not that Mike Zak, the Green Party member and environmental entrepreneur who helped to start a “Gro-operative” for sustainable food production. 

In a dramatic display of weakness and fear, the Chris Collins for Congress campaign recruited a MAGA white power guy to run on the Green Party line. This is a typical game the Republicans play because evidently, having the Conservative Fusion Party line, and the so-called “Independence Party” line locked up just isn’t enough. The re-election of Chris Collins will depend, at least in part, on Republican apparatchiks collecting petition signatures for some hand-picked goon who will do nothing but squat on the Green line. The strategy preys on people’s ignorance, and they can count on maybe 1 – 2% of the left-of-center electorate to fill in the green ovals on their ballots. 

The Green Party, for its part, is sick and tired of Republicans co-opting their line. It’s not the first time it’s happened. In 2016, the Greens went to court over the Republican hostile takeover of their party line. They should do so again. After all, the four pillars of the Green Party platform are “peace, ecology, social justice, and democracy”. 

Collins and his coterie of disingenuous goons talk a big game, but actions speak louder than words. They’re afraid this year. The Democrats are going to vote for McMurray, and the hardline Conservatives will vote for Trump’s reliable TV shill, Collins. But there’s a mushy area in the middle of the (R) constituency that doesn’t like Collins and really doesn’t like Trump.

It’s hard to know whether these are, e.g., suburban parents who don’t like taxes but really don’t like kids getting shot in schools, evangelical types who don’t like the pornstar payoff eruptions, or whether it’s people with Infowars stickers on their car bumpers who hate interventionism. Either way, Collins doesn’t have the entirety of the district’s right-of-center electorate nicely tied up in a bow; he has a sale to make this year, and Trump isn’t the key. Instead, he will try and paint McMurray as an effete liberal “Obamapelosi” Democrat who is coming for your guns, and stealing the Green Party line is just a convenient, extra hedge.

If Nate McMurray is the joke they accuse him of being, they’d be ignoring him; but the Collins crew’s attacks on McMurray have been vicious and relentless, and this sort of behavior is by no means what one would expect from a Republican candidate in a safe Republican district. Sort of like calling earnest high school kids “radical partisans”, Collins is known for hyperbole that’s as breathless as it is disproportionate. The totality of what’s going on reveals that they’re spooked by this year’s numbers, and they know McMurray has a shot, remote though it may still be. They know that it wouldn’t take very much for McMurray to reveal himself to be a reasonable, middle-of-the-road candidate who, above all, isn’t afraid to put himself in front of people who are predisposed to disliking him and his policies. Unlike Collins, who cowers in abject horror at the thought of listening to a middle-schooler advocating for the right to not be shot in math class, McMurray will talk and listen to anyone. 

What if “Obamapelosi” isn’t the magic word in 2018 that it was in 2014? 

In 2015, Republican committee chairman Nick Langworthy himself collected petition signatures for someone to squat on the Green Party line in a county legislative race. Republicans did the same thing to Amber Small in the SD-60 race in 2016. Even Ted Morton did it in 2015. The Green Party does not play the fusion game – they do not issue Wilson-Pakulas granting non-members permission to run on their line. Instead, Republicans take advantage of the “opportunity to ballot”, which allows non-members to run on the line of a party to which he does not belong. Even better? Just find some dupe to register as a Green voter and go out and collect petitions. 

That’s what Collins’ crew did this month. They found Mike Zak – not the Buffalo eco-startup guy, but a West Seneca version who shares – publicly – Trump memes and ‘white lives matter’ stuff on his Facebook page. Mr. Zak registered as a Green on or about April 5th. His petitions – 77 signatures in all – were exclusively circulated by Republican patronage hires; he needed 66.  

Ross Kosetcky is the designated contact for Mr. Zak’s petition filing, and he collected fully 63 of the 77 submitted petition signatures. He is a member of the Republican staff at the Erie County Legislature, and was an alternate delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention, the year he ran on the Republican line against Crystal Peoples-Stokes for the State Assembly. Dennis Ball, a member of the Aurora Republican Committee, collected signatures for Zak’s candidacy when he wasn’t collecting checks for Collins fundraisers (link now deleted) or the Director of Operations at the Erie County Water Authority.  The remaining signatures were collected by someone from Niagara County whose signature is illegible, and Brian Pollner, the “director of operations” for the Republican County Legislators, and a full-time employee of the County Legislature’s Republican Caucus; he is a co-worker of Kosetcky’s. 

Mr. Zak, the nominal Green “candidate”, did not obtain a single petition signature. His own wife didn’t sign a petition for him; not a single signature was collected for him in his hometown of West Seneca, mostly because he lives in Higgins’ district, and not in Collins’. (So much for the “McMurray is a carpetbagger” argument). A former West Seneca school board candidate reached out and recommended a glance at Zak’s Facebook. This is the person whom Collins hand-picked to help his candidacy, and I have to assume that he endorses all of this. 

Here’s the origin of the whole “it’s OK to be white” meme. None of this exactly screams “Green Party”.

As an aside, in 2010, we needed sources to provide us with Carl Paladino’s emails. In 2018, people just have these things hanging out on their publicly accessible Facebook accounts. 

Upon learning of this latest party-raiding scam, McMurray reached out to the Green Party, and posted this: 

…I spoke to Eric Jones, Chairman of the Erie County Green Party, and he shares my shock, horror, and disappointment—they especially do not want to play spoiler for Collins
· You see, this race could be close, and the two or three percentage points that might go to the Green Party could possibly take votes away from me.

Why is this wrong?

· If the evidence available is correct, it is not only terribly shocking that the GOP and Collins would circulate petitions in this manner, but that they would do it for this particular man
· Specifically, people who likely hate the Green Party lied to Green Party members by going door-to-door and telling unsuspecting people, “We have a great candidate we want to get on the ballot, do you mind signing?”
· This does not happen in most jurisdictions
· It happens mostly in Erie and Niagara County
· It is the unethical act of a strong party (and wealthy candidate) taking advantage of the Green Party
· It’s also anti-Democratic, because they are trying to fool voters

What can we do?

· I will petition to open the ballot, which means we are collecting signatures this weekend
· Even if I get enough signatures, however, my name will not appear on the ballot
· Green Party members will have to write my name in
· Spread the word—don’t let them get away with this scam

Transparency and an aversion to trickery and cheating. What a refreshing thing from a Congressional candidate. 

Chris Collins and Mike Zak are united in interest, and one has to assume that Collins’ crew of bright young Republican stars checked out and vetted their surrogate. There is no sunlight between Collins and Zak, the anti-McMurray partnership.  

UPDATE: Early Monday, the Erie County Green Party released the following statement: 

For Immediate Release

Green Party denounces theft of ballot line by Republicans in CD-27

Erie County Green Party officers and members are greatly disturbed by the actions of local Republican operatives acting on behalf of Congressman Chris Collins to place a fake candidate on the Green Party line in the 27th congressional district. These operatives misled Green Party members into signing a petition for a candidate who does not represent the Green Party.

The candidate in question has been identified as a supporter of right wing causes who only recently registered as a Green for the sole purpose of stealing the line. He does not represent in any way our party’s four pillars: Ecological Wisdom, Social Justice, Grassroots Democracy and Non-Violence.

By filing this petition Chris Collins and the local Republican Party have shown voters how they truly feel about democracy. They would rather trick residents of the 27th congressional district into voting for a false candidate than provide them with an honest election. This would be a deplorable action for any candidate, but it is especially so for a sitting member of Congress.

The Green Party is an international progressive political party. The Erie County Green Party currently has 1,700 registrants. For more information, please visit our website www.eriecountygreenparty.org.

###

Last week, I wrote of Chris Collins’ extraordinarily hyperbolic attacks on his young constituents: There were a lot of moms, dads, and kids at those marches. You call them all “radical extremists” at your peril; the only reasons you’d use such laughably extreme hyperbole is if you’re scared, and you need to rile up a shrinking base. Collins – afraid to face constituents or the media – sent out a flak to accuse his teenaged constituents as Marxist shills, “radical partisans have co-opted the Parkland tragedy in an effort to score cheap political points.”

All of that to avoid appearing at a student-organized forum on school gun violence. He thinks these attacks will trick his core electorate into thinking that his refusal comes from a position of strength. 

But like the Parkland kids, the typical right-wing smears don’t stick. Just like extreme right-wing Fox News propagandist Laura Ingraham mocked Parkland survivor David Hogg for not getting into UCLA – and lost all of her advertisers as a result – these kids don’t give up, they don’t acquiesce, and they don’t vet their responses through a bunch of Democratic consultants before taking to social media and jabbing back. Specifically, 

Here’s the problem Ingraham and her ilk: they have nothing, not a god damned thing, to counter the fairly modest proposals made by the Parkland students. Normally, when these assholes have zip diddly, they simply launch into whatever low-grade, unfunny ad hominem they can dream up. But with the MSD group, ad hominems are a third rail – after all, these kids had friends and family gunned down, and one of them who spoke last Saturday still carries shrapnel from the attack in her face. So, really, the only choice that someone like Ingraham has is to argue her case without ad hominems. But, for her, that’s like baking a cake without an oven or driving a car without wheels. It simply can’t be done.

and the old rules don’t apply: 

Not these kids. They have clear messages that haven’t been muddied by technocratic bullshit- “My friends got shot and there are too many fucking guns and we’re going to do something about it and we’re going to go after people who won’t.” The end result, obviously, is legislation, but these kids are not pushing specific laws- they’ll let legislators do that.

And it is working. A clear message, the moral high ground, and inclusive approach, and most importantly, not taking any shit. Someone throws bullshit at them, they turn it back around and amplify it on their target. See also, Laura Ingraham. And when they get minor victories, like the weak laws that passed in Florida, they don’t celebrate, they nod and get back to going after the motherfuckers who keep putting guns on the street.

So, when Chris Collins sends out some spokesdrone to denigrate kids in his district who may not vote yet, but whose parents do – and they’re probably Republicans – as being “radical partisans”, they’re going to clap back and it’s not going to go well for the guy pushing 70. 

These students are trying to get their elected officials to come together and find solutions to a real problem, and Chris Collins has cavalierly attacked them, and they’re not going to take it. They’re not going to be defamed by Donald Trump’s most reliable TV shill. 

Here is the information for the students’ gun summit. Elected officials denigrate them – and this meeting – at their peril. Maybe it’s the “accountable” language. 

Saturday April 7th, 1:30pm @ St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Buffalo, NY.

NY-26’s Rep Brian Higgins will be there as well as Collins’ opponents.

The elephant is scared of the mouse. 

Don’t you unhinged leftists know? Like his predecessor Dale Volker, Demented Dave DiPietro thinks he – not the electorate – gets to decide when his Assembly tenure is complete. Nothing sends the local right into a bigger frenzy than Facebook activism (no coincidence, the most preternaturally annoying and unreasonable right-wing trolls I’ve ever encountered are white men over the age of 50 on Facebook.) 

Sure, it’s a “tiny” group by most measures, but I’m a member and from what I can gather, everyone’s showered, tolerant, and not remotely vile. Compared to, for instance, the crusty, faux-alpha freaks who show up to DiPietro’s gun raffle fundraisers, where they vie for the chance for them or their family to be the latest homicide or suicide statistic, we’re downright responsible and reasonable. 

If these “leftists” “don’t stand a chance” to beat “Dave”, then surely this “tiny” group would hardly merit a mention from his attack dog. This is an example of a special kind of aggressive snowflakeism that is a hallmark of the MAGA radical set. 

The anti-Trump left may not have – or ever have – its shit completely together. I mean, who does? Certainly not the West Wing. But it’s motivated af, and it’s coming for guys like Demented Dave and Creepy Chris Collins because the y’re Trump lieutenants, and they’re complicit in the rapid erosion of American democracy and values, which has motivated millions of people who had until recently taken these things for granted. 

Like DiPietro, Collins also wears his public office like a title of nobility. Days ago, his endorsed Democratic challenger, Grand Island Supervisor Nate McMurray, bumped into Collins. McMurray wasn’t rude to him – he didn’t angrily confront him or anything else we vile, unshowered, intolerant leftists are wont to do. He merely introduced himself and invited Collins – who has never once held a town hall meeting to listen to constituents who may conceivably disagree with him – to a debate. 

Here’s how it unfolded at the Pride of Wyoming County Agricultural Dinner:

Guess who I ran into tonight? Collins. I asked him for a debate. He said no. Actually he said never. Essentially, he said he’s too big for that. Does that seem right? It’s not.#natewantsadebate pic.twitter.com/YsX7j7Sn0b

— Nate McMurray for Congress (@Nate_McMurray) March 4, 2018

Collins laughed. He refused. He told McMurray he’s too big of a deal to “debate”. It’s the same thing as when County Executive Mark Poloncarz invited Collins to hold a public discussion about gun violence. Collins and DiPietro think that elections are mere formalities they have to endure every couple of years. They think they’re entitled to their seats in Congress and the Assembly. Even the tiniest suggestion of a credible challenge – regardless of how credible or organized it is – drives them to apoplexy. 

Maybe Collins and McMurray can debate at DiPietro’s church, since that seems to be the fashionable new venue for overtly partisan political events. 

Sure, unseating DiPietro and Collins may be an uphill battle, but elections aren’t mere formalities. These two need to stand up before the voters and defend not only their own scant accomplishments, but the degradation of American democracy under their leader, Trump. 

No wonder they’re terrified.