Build a Dome for E-Gaming
I mean, these things write themselves. Build a domed stadium – which would cost more than the complained-off $1BN – to be ready for “NEXT”, which is evidently “e-gaming.”
Out-of-Date Nate Readies His Theme
But Nate is no outsider. He is the ultimate insider, who has since merely fallen out with everyone because he has a gargantuan ego and zero people skills.
Don’t believe me? Let’s go back to February 2018, before Nate’s first run for Congress, when he was still the Rus Thompson-backed supervisor of Grand Island. There was a very strong candidate running for that seat – Army veteran and former Erie County prosecutor Sean Bunny. Nate expressed an interest in running, and the party bosses decided that he was the best shot at winning, so they quite literally cleared the field for Nate, forcing everyone else out of the race, including Bunny, who has regrettably not sought elected office since.
When forced to exit the race in 2018, Bunny was diplomatic and expressed above all an unwillingness to do harm to the Democratic Party in a bruising primary battle against McMurray.
“While I am proud of the campaign I ran, I did not become a candidate to hurt the Democratic Party or hurt our chances in November,” he added. “The most important objective is defeating Chris Collins and his anti-Western New York agenda this fall.”
Bunny would not say if he will support another candidate and would not comment when asked if he was satisfied with the party process that is coalescing around McMurray.
That’s what public service is about – putting others before one’s own self-interest.
Nowadays, McMurray will scream bloody murder about Jeremy Zellner to everyone who will bother to listen. But back then?
Zellner acknowledged that he and seven other Democratic chairmen endorsed McMurray to avoid what could prove a divisive primary.
Nate took to Twitter again on Valentine’s Day eve to pen a weird sort of love note to the people whom he purports to be wooing for an endorsement.
“After much effort” is defined as, two emails – one on February 13th and another the next evening. I hope he’s ok from the strain.
Here, he accuses the party boss of excluding the guy no one knew was running until he Tweeted about it. Evidently, everyone is supposed to either read his mind or closely follow his Tweets. McMurray’s candidacy is based on the premise that ECDC Executive Committee members, representing the county party organization’s rank & file, will jettison one of the strongest, smartest elected officials we have for a three-time loser who is quite obviously just settling scores and feeding his ego.
The pretense – really, the slur – here is that the Executive Committee members are seat-warmers who reflexively do Zellner’s bidding, but the “independent” party chairs really want Nate in there. Maybe one or two, but this is another gaslighting, making the gullible believe that the Executive Committee would really pick Nate if only they had the freedom to do so.
He didn’t help Kim Beaty. He didn’t help Kevin Hardwick. He didn’t help Randy Hoak. He didn’t help any town committees. If you don’t support Democrats when no one’s looking, how can you presume to demand Democrats’ support now? But he’ll make it about personalities and individual beefs he has, and pretend they’re contrived.
Witness the sheer immensity of the egotism here.
The interview is not for him to do anything else but explain to the people gathered why they should get rid of Poloncarz in favor of McMurray. It really is that simple – it’s not really his place to ask questions, but to answer them. The ECDC Executive Committee is not made up of shrinking violets, and I suspect they’ll be the ones doing the interviewing. The same goes for any local committee that may entertain him.
Fundamentally, he does not understand that the purpose of going before the Executive Committee is to ask them to do something for you. He thinks he has already deserved it, and anyone who says differently is a paid shill.
He “believes in reason” and that’s why he’s going to tell the party bigshots to tell Poloncarz to pound salt in favor of three-time-loser McMurray. Why? For “change.”
Nate does not have the self-awareness to grasp why that room will be “tough.” He will overtly insult the committee members by accusing them of being in Zellner’s / Poloncarz’s pocket without once considering that they actually like and support Mark.
So, what is it about the “direction” of the party “or the city and county” with which you “don’t agree”? Is it that – that they like Mark more than you? That they trust Mark more than you? That their committees have all helped by Mark and vice-versa?
Is it the fact that they won’t do your bidding? Because I think it’s the fact that they won’t do your bidding.
Is it the fact that they have exhausted their patience for you? Because I think it’s the fact that they’ve exhausted their patience for you.
And this is how McMurray sees himself:
Mark Poloncarz came in and sold to the electorate the idea that they and their quality of life mattered.
Vision 2033
Nothing like a 22-Tweet thread to show everyone how not mad you are.
Never let it be said that Out-of-Date Nate doesn’t have a vision. He has ideas. You can MOCK THEM IF YOU WISH, but he really has these visions and ideas. Visideas. Ideisions.
Whether those ideas actually comport with reality, or fall under the job description of “County Executive” or can be done by such an executive pursuant to the County Charter – that doesn’t matter.
What matters is that you SAY THINGS.
What are you SCARED OF?
We can DO IT.
Let’s sample.
There exists no political will to move the convention center closer to Canalside, much less moving the Bills stadium downtown. We come down to that old tug-of-war between “would be nice” and “must”. (For examples on this theme, see here and here and here.) We must have a new stadium. It would be nice if it was downtown, but this is not of critical importance to the city’s future or the Bills’. Suffice it to say that if the Bills thought it was of existential importance, it would be happening.
The problems plaguing the East Side of Buffalo are many and complex, but in one breath to demand redevelopment of the Central Terminal as a train station and then in the next to decry “hail Mary schemes for big developers” strikes me as a bit rich. As for “micro loans”, there are already programs that offer these, including WEDI and the ECIDA. You would think that an informed candidate would promote that, rather than pretend nothing of the sort exists.
In any event, you cannot have a “Lake Ontario regional economic zone” with free movement of people and products without there being a Schengen-style binational agreement, something that is not only outside of a County Executive’s remit, but frankly unlikely for the foreseeable future, given the political situations on both sides of the northern border.
But Nate seems to think the border is closed. For God’s sake, get a NEXUS and you can go back and forth to shop at the Niagara-on-the-Lake outlets or the Walden Galleria to your heart’s content. That way we can have government invest in roofing companies and auto repair shops some more.
An “ecotourism hub.” With “camping and glamping” because evidently that doesn’t exist in WNY.
As for Scajaquada Creek, that work is already underway, my guy. I don’t know how we become the “Yosemite of the East” without a National Park or a big mountain, but someone remind him that Niagara Falls isn’t in Erie County, and there is very little in Niagara Falls, NY that would compel a visitor to stick around this side of the river in any event. I guess that’s why the rest area on Grand Island that isn’t visible to traffic from Canada until you’ve already passed the exit exists.
Nate doesn’t know his Buffalo from his Erie County.
It was only the City’s water supply that was not fluoridated. The Erie County Water Authority, which has not been contracted out to a private company, never stopped the fluoride. Municipal broadband is actually a Poloncarz initiative.
Nate has a plan for poverty, he says, because no one else cares and just points fingers. He sees people for their economic activity (or lack thereof). Imagine he presumes that he is the only person to “encourage new immigration to Buffalo” as if somehow Poloncarz or anyone else in County government has discouraged it. The delusion is just so insulting to everyone who’s been doing this stuff already. I mean, apart from spending trillions to force utilities to put all the electric lines underground, what has he suggested that isn’t already being done or is in the process of being done?
Yes, Mark Poloncarz – famously stingy with culturals. The balls on McMurray. When’s the last time he attended a play at a local theater or a concert at Kleinhans? A gallery opening? He’s going to, what? Fund culturals more? How much more? How much is missing? Which culturals have approached him to complain that Poloncarz is too stingy? And what makes him think Canadians are clamoring to come here to work?
What does that mean – a “County Executive who eats, sleeps, and lives progressive values?” I mean, in what way is Poloncarz not progressive, exactly? Because he lives in reality and not cloud-cuckoo land? Because he doesn’t make a sport of burning bridges and then demanding fealty and attention?
Not sure how Poloncarz has dropped the ball on “urging” others to do progressive things, but the only way you think that is if you haven’t been paying attention.
But regionalism to include Ontario, Canada? So, would we be implementing the EU’s Four Freedoms to accomplish that?
- The Free Movement of Goods
- The Free Movement of People
- The Freedom of Services
- The Freedom of Movement of Capital
But his biggest hit against Poloncarz is that he’s been CE for 11 years and was Comptroller for five before that. OK, so Mark’s been in countywide office for about 16 years. He’s been pretty good at it, too. He’s competent, he’s a policy wonk, he’s detailed, he’s diligent, but he also has plenty of time for big-picture advocacy, such as what Nate accuses him of never doing.
But he’s been in “office longer than any County Executive ever, longer than any President ever?” I dunno, FDR was President for 12 years, and before that he was Governor of New York from 1929 – 1933, and before that he served in the State Senate from 1911 – 1913. I make that out to be about 18 or 19 years in office. JFK was only President for 3 years, but before that he was a Senator and before that he was in the House. He held public office from 1947 – 1963, which is hey look at that 16 years.
Nate has campaigned for office longer than he ever held one.
All of this is a rehash of things that have already happened, have been discussed, are in the process of happening, or are absolutely and completely outside of the wheelhouse of a County Executive. But more to the point, what the hell is stopping McMurray from advocating for all of these things all at once and altogether for the last 16 years?
But good luck with North American Schengen, there. I think I saw it in the County Charter somewhere about international treaties.
One more thing. In the time that this “elderly blogger” has been blogging – since 2003, if we’re counting – I have been insulted by a lot of people. Only a small handful of them insulted my appearance, and now being attacked for my age is a new one. I’m 54. If that makes me “elderly” so be it, but when someone uses a term like that as an insult, how do I reconcile that with their professions of peace, love, and inclusivity? One of the things that actually exists in the County Charter is a Department of Senior Services, which is run by the Erie County Executive. If using “elderly” as an adjective negatively to describe my age and relevance, I shudder to think how this individual would deal with actual seniors.
Enemies Everywhere!
McMurray attacks Poloncarz because the trains stop at Exchange Street and not at the Central Terminal.
There was a vote in 2017, and the decision was made to do just that. Poloncarz voted against it.
McMurray did, indeed, prompt this “elderly blogger” out of semi-retirement. It was things like this that prompted it. I don’t remember Nate calling me “elderly” when I gave him free promotion over and over again during his campaigns, but I am just a thing – a piece of shit – just one of McMurray’s many burned bridges.
When I ceased to be useful to him, he lumped me in with all of the other people whom he blames for his failures. He thought he could bully me and repeatedly call me names – even after I politely asked him not to – and he figured that I would be ok with that. I found him to be little more than a manipulative, gaslighting POS. FWIW, I still have the receipts.
Remember early 2021 how you were going to have someone primary Higgins – was it Eddie Egriu? You were going to start a PAC. You were going to write a book – you know, that thing you just slammed Poloncarz for doing? I guess the difference is that Poloncarz’s book was about an accomplishment while yours would have been about failure.
But consider this,
What McMurray would like to change, if he can, is what he sees as conservative media’s wholesale demonization of Democrats.
“You hear people talking about Democrats in a way that sounds like they’re talking about Satan-worshippers,” he said. “I think we have to start to think on every level, the local level and the national level: How are we going to overcome this?”
Pot, kettle.
But what really sucks is that McMurray feeds his own poison to people. For instance, every Presidential election both parties enjoy a little burst of interest and activity from people who had formerly been on the sidelines. Do you think it helps or hurts Democratic recruitment to have a prominent but salty ex-candidate going around telling anyone who will listen how awful and corrupt it is?
When it comes to kneecapping Democrats, who needs Republicans?
Nate Discovers E-Gates
It’s true – at Heathrow, American passport holders can use the e-gates. To use an e-gate, you line up, put your passport on a glass reader, look at a photo, and a computer figures out whether you are the same person as is shown in the Passport. In most cases, you’re allowed through and that’s it – collect your bags, go through customs, and on you go.
They’re not perfect. In December, we used e-gates in Munich for Schengen entry check, and one of my kids was pulled for secondary passport check. We used them again in London for UK entry, and my other kid was pulled for secondary passport check. Glitches happen.
Upon return to Toronto Pearson Airport, can you guess what they have? Well, it depends. At Terminal 1, if you have a NEXUS card, you use an e-gate and wave your NEXUS at a reader and you’re spat through to get your bag and then deal with Customs. If you don’t have NEXUS, you use a Kiosk that does most of the stuff automatically, and then you line up for an in-person check with a human CBSA officer. It’s quite efficient and speedy.
Did you know you could enter the US at the Toronto airport? You go through US passport control – again, there’s an expedited line for NEXUS holders – and boom, welcome to Mississauga, USA and when you arrive in the US, you do so as a domestic arrival. They have this in some Caribbean countries, and in Ireland.
So, there’s a big difference when you enter a country through a land border versus an airport. For starters, you’re not likely to be walking. You’re in a car. The car has stuff in it. The person in the booth is both passport control and customs. Now, you’ll be amazed if I tell you that the lanes at the land crossings in our area are all equipped with the same technology as e-gates – RFID scanners – and you can wave your Passport, NEXUS, or Enhanced License at them and they will scan the documents to be ready for the inspection officer.
I find in my experience that the questions asked at the border crossings seldom resemble a “blind date.” I don’t find the questions, “where are you coming from? Where did you go? What are you bringing back” to be especially “weird” nor does it send my “eye brows [sic] wriggling.” After all, it’s a hard border and you’re limited in terms of what you can take across. Usually, the officers are trained to detect oddball behavior and are probably likely to pull the people with weird answers and facial expressions over to secondary inspection.
Anyway, here’s my question – what does Nate’s flirtation with the border guard have to do with the number of lanes that are open? Is this going to be one of his platforms for the County Executive race, opening more inspection lanes at the border?
He Thinks You’re Stupid
The County – and the County Executive – had nothing to do with it.
But our plucky young propagandist is banking on you not knowing that, and will fling his rhetorical dung wherever necessary.
By the way, the article to which that McMurray tweet is linked talks about microloans in Bangladesh and how such an initiative might help untraditional entrepreneurs in Korea. What a great idea, said the WEDI and ECIDA/SBA.
McMania
Someone was busy lashing out at all of his enemies on Twitter. As usual, they’re all Democrats. He derides the party apparatus as a “country club” that you have to “pay to get in” with “cash or your independence.”
This is another way of saying that party politics is hard work and takes lots of moving parts to run. In the unlikely event that those parts are moving somewhat in sync, things still go wrong. The party committee and rank & file members overwhelmingly support Poloncarz and Zellner. And Hochul. And Hardwick, whom Nate denigrates as a “Trumper”.
Nate should tell all of the hard-working people who do genuinely tough jobs in the private and public sectors that they’re just paid-for lackeys who have no independence. If ECDC is a “country club” it’s a pretty easy one to get into, and it has the charm and appeal of an Arby’s.
Ask literally any Democrat who does work for the party and its candidates if they’re proud of the work they did for McMurray. Then ask them if they’re still on speaking terms with him.
So many people did so much for him and if they’re not in the Cult of Nate, they’re garbage to him. They’re sellouts. They’re bought-and-paid-for. They’re part of a “gravy train.” Did Nate lash out at you and call you names, or accuse you of having worked against him? We want to hear your story.
Make no mistake. It’s not that this guy hates the gravy train – it’s that he burned too many bridges to benefit from it and now he wants to fashion his own gravy train from scratch.
I see he’s at least gotten a bit more accurate about how long Poloncarz has been in office as CE. I wonder where he gets his information that Mark “hates his job”. That’s just insane levels of gaslighting. I guess it’s easy for the former counsel for Delaware North, with which he is still (barely) in litigation, to shit all over the Bills stadium deal, but does he realize that the downtown Seneca casino has been there since 2007? Last time I checked, it would have been opened under Joel Giambra’s tenure. But, as usual, Nate doesn’t know what he’s talking about even as to the details – the Seneca deal was negotiated by Governor Pataki and the County exercises no control or authority over any of it.
I’ve been to London and there’s no stadium downtown. I hardly think LA is a place for Buffalo to emulate any more than it already has. I mean, pick an example that backs up your argument!
Nate – you are in for a fun time as you go around to all the committeepeople whom you’ve insulted and denigrated. Have a great time!
ECDC Committeepeople – Ask Nate What This Means
If you are inclined to entertain him, ask Nate what this means:
The Democratic Party has had some form of national health insurance cover as part of its platform for probably 80 years. There is only one impediment to that happening, and that is the Republican Party. Leave it to Larry Scott of the Buffalo School Board to fact-check this blatant misinformation.
Fact Check pic.twitter.com/eLJ4o0xgJR
— Larry Scott (@Larry_Scott19) February 10, 2023
It is shockingly dumb and factually wrong and merely underscores the lack of any rationale for this campaign except to settle scores with perceived enemies who supposedly stabbed him in the back.
Unfortunately, I Remember
I remember being signed up for updates from the Nate McMurray Democrat-running-against-a-Republican-for-Congress campaign. I do not ever remember signing up for updates from the Nate McMurray Democrat-primarying-one-of-our-most-effective-local-Democratic-politicians campaign.
In fact, I’m sure I never did. So, let’s take a look at this spam folder reject, which seems only slightly more poorly targeted than the letters he sent to the committeepeople earlier this week seeking their support against Mark Poloncarz for County Executive.
I ran for Congress in rural New York—in the reddest district in New York State, where Trump won by over 20 points. Despite the odds, I stood proudly for democracy, for healthcare as a human right, for choice—and I almost won, defying convention and without national party support… TWICE!
Almost won. Didn’t win. Despite going up against an insurrectionist. Despite going up against a felon. And you didn’t have “national party support?” That will come as news to the DCCC. But, as usual with a malignant narcissist, a failure cannot be his, but must be blamed on someone else. It is literally the driving rationale behind this primary campaign itself.
Now I’m back again. I see the creep of right-wing radicalism on school boards, state legislatures, and in our small-town councils. And I know that the only way to combat threats of extremism is through grassroots leadership. So, I’m running for Erie County Executive.
How does running for County Executive stanch the ills cited earlier in that paragraph? The County Executive, as I’m sure he knows, has no authority to alter school boards or other governmental bodies. Perhaps he means he would use his bully pulpit – something he already has with his name recognition and verified Twitter account.
Erie County boasts the nation’s second-highest arrest rate for January 6th insurrectionists. And although Democrats outnumber Republicans here, our problems extend beyond MAGA fundamentalism.
One would think that a guy who ran in the former Collins/Jacobs district would realize that there are a lot of very conservative, nominal Democrats in this region.
Erie County is home to the City of Buffalo, where on May 14, 2022, a gunman entered a busy grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood and murdered 10 and wounded three others in a racist attack. And late last December, nearly 50 people died in a brutal blizzard—most by hypothermia in historically disinvested neighborhoods—because our local leaders failed to properly warn and prepare residents.
Chalk this up as the first overt politicization of the Tops massacre and the blizzard. It’s pretty grotesque for him to blame the mass murder by a racist lunatic on the failure of “local leaders”. Each story of death and deprivation from the blizzard is entitled to more than clumsy, slapdash accusation of governmental negligence within the context of the County Executive race, but the crass exploitation of tragedy is right up this guy’s alley. I think Nate believes he’s running for Mayor of Buffalo, a city which does actually operate a housing authority. But let’s keep it simple and see this for what it is.
I have never taken corporate donations, and I’ve consistently been an independent voice in the Democratic Party fighting for change. I believe that true change starts locally, where you have the ability to touch and change the lives of those who need it most, and that’s why I’m running for Erie County Executive. Will you chip in $7.16 to help make my vision for Erie County a reality?
Corporate donations are not allowed in federal races – they’re usually filtered through 501c4 special interest charities, PACs, and SuperPACs. There’s always the $500 he received in 2019 from the Erie County Town Chair’s Association. There’s $500 he received in 2017 from Hodgson Russ, LLP – a partnership. Higgins for Congress supported McMurray in every one of his races. On September 20, 2020, he received $40.40 from now-defunct Maroon Technology, LTD. He also received $400 from Montana International, LLC that same month. On October 30, 2019, SolarPark Energy – a Delaware LLC – donated $500. ECDC Chair Jeremy Zellner gave McMurray $750 in October 2019, $150 in 2015, and $150 in 2012. An LLC is not technically a corporation, but something called “Ltd” probably is, so let’s chalk this up as a bit of a stretch.
If true change starts “locally, where you have the ability to touch and change the lives of those who need it most” why would you run to be executive of a million-person county? Why wouldn’t you run for the town board of wherever you live? Or Mayor? Make it make sense. And no, I will not chip in $7.16 or even another cent of my family’s money.
To win this campaign, I need your financial support to disrupt the status quo of party politics. With your help, we will prevail and bring about a new day for a community that needs it most. Read more about my vision for Erie County on our website, nateforerie.com.
It’s interesting because nothing in the earlier paragraphs really builds a proper foundation to end on “disrupt the status quo.” We don’t need an Elon Musk type character “disrupting” government, because the last guy who tried that was an utter disaster. Next thing you know, we’ll be hearing about Six Sigma again.
It’s easy for a candidate to solicit prime Democrats for aid and financial support in a close race against a genuinely repugnant Republican candidate, as McMurray had the privilege of doing a few times. It’s a whole different ballgame for you to challenge one of the most respected and competent, winningest Democrats in the region and set out to kneecap him. There is not a syllable uttered here to explain even a mild – much less a compelling – reason to get rid of Poloncarz in favor of McMurray.
McMurray is, in the end, no different from the Republicans from whom he once sought to distinguish himself. He gleefully parrots their anti-Poloncarz talking points and is like the dime store version of Mychajliw or some hackneyed Pigeonista. His “disruption” would come at great cost. The best argument he can muster is to blame the Tops shooting on Poloncarz? I doubt even Chris Collins would have stooped so low.
Narcissists Don’t Listen
The next time this guy “listens” will be the first.
To rebut his anticipated attacks, I don’t do business with the County of Erie, I don’t derive any income from the County of Erie in any way, I do not work for – nor am I on the payroll of – Mark Poloncarz, I am not a contractor for or otherwise retained by the Poloncarz campaign, etc. I am not an ECDC Committee member, nor a member of any local Democratic committee. I do not owe my job to Mark Poloncarz or Jeremy Zellner or any other political person or entity. I am a private citizen who has known Poloncarz for about 18 years and who has also had dealings with Nate McMurray over the last five or so.
I think it’s definitely important for politicians to listen, but it’s more important for them to think. To have humility. Humor. To have empathy and have a capability of seeing things in different ways. I know Poloncarz has those abilities. His opponent does not.
In the last 5 or so years, I have given McMurray much more of my time and money than I have to Poloncarz, which honestly isn’t saying much. I’m older and it’s not 2006. As to McMurray, I regret every nanosecond and every penny. It was wasted on someone who fixates on a daily compendium of Quixotic battles with enemies real and perceived. (Usually, perceived until he gets going, then they’re real).
Never had I heard from an adult public figure such a broad but shallow collection of grievances and victimhood. Want a well-documented example? Here you go. How many times, and how many different ways, can this intemperate man scream about all the people who supposedly won’t help him and are, thereby, out to get him?
Literally I cannot think of one Democrat whom he has badmouthed – in public or private – who has not at least begrudgingly lent to him their vocal and financial support. Kathy Hochul, Mark Poloncarz, Jeremy Zellner, Brian Higgins – all of his many bêtes noires have dutifully lined up to get people to vote for him and to give him money. He thanks them by hurling at them an endless reserve of rhetorical feces, e.g., getting his surrogates to demean hard-working campaigners for other candidates as “errand girls” and the like. Heaping scorn and derision on Kevin Hardwick for being an ex-Republican when Nate himself relied on under-employed fascist convicted vote fraudster Rus Thompson to get him elected to the one government post he ever held, in a town where you have to cross a bridge and pay a toll to get to a hospital.
As an aside, you know to whom I owe an apology? Natalie Baldassarre. She and her family were right all along and they had his number when the rest of us were too busy thinking there was something there.
The endorsement process should be amusing.