Tag: reactions

Yesterday, elections were held. With apologies to the Goose’s Roost, a gif recap. 

It was a bad night to be a Democrat in Erie County. I haven’t yet decided what it all means, except that the Republican candidates and messaging resonated with voters, while the Democrats’ didn’t. 

After years of concern-trolling then-Comptroller Mark Poloncarz’s lack of accounting credentials, the Republicans have re-elected a guy with no financial or legal credentials of any sort. 

To top it off, they viciously and dishonorably attacked a civic activist who has a 20-year record of working outside the political system to help reform Erie County government and make it more efficient. 

After all, he committed the sin of “paying off a tax debt over time”. It was like saying someone defaulted on buying a couch because they bought it on credit. 

Republicans are also big fans of the “rule of law”, “term limits”,  and the “constitution”. That’s why they re-elected Sheriff Tim Howard to a third term. 

This is the same Tim Howard who mishandled the Joan Diver investigation, mismanaged the holding center, and saw numerous escapes, including Ralph “Bucky” Phillips, who went on to murder some more. 

But this year, Howard demagogued the NY SAFE Act, appointing himself a de facto Supreme Court Justice and declaring the law unconstitutional before the Court of Appeals ever saw it. 

For their part, the Pigeon cabal that helped to sabotage the Erie County Democratic Committee’s endorsed Sheriff candidate with $112k in likely illegal spending completely abandoned their pick, Dick Dobson, when he outlived his usefulness. 

We also saw a Republican legislative majority emerge yesterday, and time will tell how this will play out. After all, the legislature only has control and discretion over about $100 million; 10% of a billion-dollar budget. I expect more calls for road repairs and less money for social services and things that matter to poor urban residents. 

In particular, Ted Morton, who lost his job and the license to do his job was elected, after launching a despicable, ugly, and dishonorable smear campaign against Wynnie Fisher. In fact, Fisher’s malevolent neighbors defamed her to the Pigeon-backed guy she beat in the primary, who then turned the information over to the Republicans. Hey, Ted Morton, Kristy Mazurek, and Wes Moore, 

Same thing in Orchard Park, where a nasty smear campaign against Republican Pat Keem seems to have backfired on incumbent Janis Colarusso, removing her from office. 

 

On the bright side, although unsuccessful, Republican Jen Stergion ran an energetic and – more importantly – honorable race against Lynn Marinelli.  I hope to see more from her in the future. 

Mark Manna was unsuccessful in his effort to unseat Dr. Barry Weinstein as Amherst town supervisor, but we haven’t heard the last from him, either. 

The Pigeonistas stayed home after helping to sabotage the primaries in September. It’s not about good government or a strong Democratic party with them – it’s about subterfuge and helping Republicans. 

Barbara Miller-Williams was elected to the county legislature again, and it will be interesting to watch and see with whom she decides to caucus. They might want to hire Cash Cunningham to help with this free-for-all. 

And now that the Republicans control the legislature, the patronage gravy train is going to have a brand-new terminal station. 

Oh, Byron Brown won re-election to a third term. Our caretaker mayor will take care of ribbon cuttings and patronage hires for another 4 years. 

Sergio Rodriguez, for his part, ran an honorable race and talked about the issues that the big money and elites in Buffalo would prefer to ignore. After all, we have some Wrights, sunsets over water, a suburban office park near downtown, and the best street grid, ever. Sergio, thank you for your efforts and for talking about the real issues that aren’t being addressed meaningfully in city hall. 

Thanks anyway, voters! 

I’ll be joining Mike Caputo on WBEN 930-AM at 10am Wednesday to talk about all of this nonsense.  Here’s audio of me with Mike Caputo on WBEN from this morning: 

http://audio.wben.com/audio-embed/83538187/embed.htm?width=500&height=350“