In the winter of 2012, my dear departed pal, Dan McParlane, and I pulled a stunt to hand Tina Bove the Assembly seat in District 145 (now redistricted to 142).   It all started when Mark Schroeder vacated the seat on being elected City of Buffalo Comptroller.   Governor Cuomo called for a special election to fill the vacancy and the Democratic Party machine lurched into motion, planning to hand the plum seat to Congressman Higgin's staffer, Chris Fahey.   There was no time for a Primary Election, so under New York's despised Election Law, the party bosses got to pick (nominate) who was on their line, following their own party rules.

McP called me and asked what I thought about the situation.    I told him that popular South District Councilmember, Mickey Kearns, clearly had the hearts of the voters, but no Democratic committeemen, so Fahey would be nominated and likely hold the seat for the rest of his natural life.   McP disagreed, asserting that his strong West Seneca Democratic Committee had enough votes to hand the seat to former County Legislator, Tina Bove.   This was somewhat surprising, as I had the impression that Dan and Tina were somewhat estranged and he was attempting to hand her a gift.

Enter Democratic Party treachery.   The rules of the Erie County Democratic Committee were essentially written by Judge Dennis Ward who was both Election Commissioner and Party Secretary in 2012.   The rules clearly provide that endorsements, designations and nominations are made by the Committeemen of the affected district for offices ranging from Assemblyman on down.    For State Senate seats and higher offices, the power is in the hands of the party's dreaded Executive Committee.   In the immortal words of Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi, "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.  We must be careful."   An illegal meeting of the same Executive Committee was promptly called by the Chairman Len Lenihan, for the sole purpose of "Nominating for the 145th Assembly District Special Election scheduled for March 20th, 2012."   Springing into action at a speed appropriate to my then 68 year old body, I gathered up my litigating partner, Tea Party Jim Ostrowski, and set off to sue Lenihan and force him to follow his own rules and let the committeemen of the 145th District make the nomination.

​When you bring a lawsuit, you need a petitioner.   Like the corpse at an Irish wake, not much is expected of the petitioner, but he or she is necessary to have the party.    McP pressed his old pal, Bob Krautsack, into service and I met him for the first time when he signed the Verified Petition initiating the action.   

On January 17, 2012, the morning of the scheduled Executive Committee meeting, we did battle in the courtroom of newly minted Judge Tracey Bannister.   She offered to recuse because she had previously worked for Ward's wife, Michele Iannello, as a legislative aid.   I didn't think recusal was needed, because the case was so clear.   Bad mistake.   Dennis Ward appeared for the County Committee and, as is his way, lied about the meaning of the rules.   To our astonishment, Bannister ruled that the Executive Committee could make the nomination and we promptly prepared to appeal.

The County Committee knew they were at risk of losing the suit, thus forfeiting the line entirely, so they had previously also scheduled a meeting of the AD-145 committeemen for two days later.
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At the time, I had the misfortune of being a Zone Chairman and member of the Executive Committee , so I attended and warned of the impending crisis should the committeemen pick someone other than the anointed one, Chris Fahey.    We had been in communication with sweet Tina all afternoon and had even prepared a press release for her:

Then, with no notice to her campaign team, treacherous Tina showed up at the Executive Committee meeting, profusely licking Lenihan's boots and derriere, proclaiming that she was dropping out because she didn't have the votes to get the nomination.   The rest was predetermined.   Fellow Zone Chairmen John Fracos (the actual Rock of Black Rock/Riverside) and Joe Mascia voted for Kearns.   I abstained in deference to the committeemen meeting two days hence, and the rest of the sheeple voted for Fahey.

After the meeting, I called McParlane who was working at the jail and unable to attend the Executive Committee meeting.   Dan couldn't stop yelling, "I had the f**king votes."

Kearns promptly picked up the Republican nomination and clobbered Fahey in the Special Election, with Democrats being forced to vote for their Democrat on the Republican line.    Bob McCarthy and precious Tom Precious of the BNews wrote a nice story about the debacle, naming Lenihan, County Executive  Mark Poloncarz, Congressman Brian Higgins, Senator Tim Kennedy, Comptroller Mark Schroeder, Conservative Chairman Ralph Lorigo, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver as "losers."

So there we have it.  Tina Bove is the type of person who will stab you in the back if you try to hand her a gift seat on the New York State legislature.   Wanna vote for her as West Seneca Town Supervisor?   I wouldn't.

​This is the audio recording of the Laborers Local #91 endorsement of Paul Dyster on Monday night, October 12, 2015.   The motion is read by Recording Secretary William Grace.   I voted "NO" and identified myself.  Business Manager Dick Paladino then says that I have no voice according to the union constitution and orders that my vote be disregarded.   Great display of union democracy in action.    While this was going on, all members sat on their hands and said nothing while my rights were being illegally shredded.   

I have been led to believe that Local #91 member, Glen Choolokian, was never informed of the action of Local #91 until tonight and the endorsement of Dyster seems to have been kept secret so far.

These guys love to show up in your driveway unannounced first thing in the morning.    That tactic, in and of itself,  is fantastically intimidating to 99.999% of people.   I guess the government no longer has telephones which they can use to schedule their visits.    But now it seems that Congressman Chris Collins has decided to blow them back a bit:

 “There’s nothing there and there never was anything there and it should be an embarrassment to the U.S. Attorney that this even happened.”    -and-

“It was a tragedy to put them through it, the other two individuals as well as their families, but I think it’s very telling those six months after the fact there’s not a peep or anything coming forth to suggest any wrong doing.”   -and-

“Call it the political witch-hunt of the Attorney General, calling the press to watch folks show up at someone’s house to take away electronic information and trying to suggest that somehow work wasn’t done when the Buffalo News themselves did all the printing of the direct mail, makes it laughable on its face.”    -and-

“I knew all along there was nothing there and it’s not the way law enforcement should conduct themselves, but in New York State we’ve seen overzealous folks trying to get the press (there) before and it happened again and I hope at some point they stand up and admit that everything they did was politically based and inappropriate and apologize to Mr. Grant,” Collins said.

Wow,  bet our intrepid FBI, AG, and Trooper Keystone Cops are feeling the heat now!   Sure  hope they don't panic and make a lot of errors. I will be calling Congressman Collins ASAP.  I've got to see if a Congressional investigation is in order.   8-)

Another point that needs some sunshine is how Hochul can recuse himself and still keep his subordinates, who serve at his pleasure, in the case.    My bet is he cannot.   If the boss of the office is conflicted, the only way to resolve the conflict is to move the case to another office.

This was a tough thing to do.   Children should not die so young.

Responding brief is due on Monday.   ​   Hope it sucks.

Amanda's legal team filed their memorandum of law today.   I am glad that I will never have to respond to a brief which ends with the words, "This case cries out for justice for a grieving mother.  If ever there was a time for the Court to fashion such an appropriate and creative remedy, this case is that time."

There is an old legal trick to deal with an opponent who is acting like a scoundrel.   You flip him a quarter and tell him to, "Call your mother and ask her if she is proud of what you are doing."    It won't do any good to flip me a quarter, my mother has been in Heaven since September, 1988.    But I know she is smiling down on her favorite son today.

This is a good brief.   Hell it's a damn good brief.   It might even be a God damn good brief.   Thanks to all who had a hand in it:  Jim Ostrowski, Mike Kuzma, Daire Irwin, and other good people whose names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Law professor and author Zephyr Teachout was in Buffalo the other night (9/17/15) as the guest of the League of Women Voters of Buffalo Niagara (http://www.lwvbn.org/).    Her Topic was Money in Politics and she signed her book, Corruption in America.

Here at the Field of Dreams, we have been very busy saving the world and we apologize for the delay in posting the video.   The sound fades a bit as Teachout wanders about the stage, so turn up your volume.   Don't blame the audio on me; she was wearing a mobile fanny pack, but WNED needs a better way for big time media photogs like me to hook into their house audio system.   The video is pretty complete and is presented in three segments below.
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While I disagree with Teachout on the problem posed by the free speech rationing concepts presented by the US Supreme Court decision in Buckley v Valeo (1976)  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckley_v._Valeo), I'm still happy that we supported her against Emperor Andrew Cuomo in  2014.

Interview with Fruitbelt resident Denise Barr

Tim Wu is a biochemist, lawyer, scholar, professor and Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York.   He is a very charming man who really believes in democracy and the traditional values of the Democratic Party.    Remember when Democrats were concerned about people, education, housing, jobs, the environment, civil liberties and all that old fashioned stuff?    Listen to his presentation at lunch yesterday.

When  Danielle Coogan, her sister and girl friends had a birthday meal at a restaurant on Tonawanda Island recently,  they got more than they bargained for and it wasn't at all pleasant.     The service, food  and environment were fine except for one thing, cats.   Too many free roaming cats, and especially too many kittens.   Now, Danielle and her husband Richard don't mind cats.    They have four rescued felines of their own at home.     In fact, Danielle, a North Tonawanda homemaker and mother of three kids who  hopes to become a nurse, has volunteered with Ten Lives Club, a local rescue group, caring for young kittens until they are adopted by their forever owners.    But on Tonawanda Island there were just too many cats, and the presence of kittens meant that they were breeding and would increase their population until food and space resources were exhausted.    At that point, kitten mortality, animal fighting and disease would level their population in a decidedly violent and inhumane manner.

The Coogan's experience was somewhat reminiscent of the scene which greeted customers who dined in the seafood restaurants lining Newburyport Massachusetts' Merrimack River in the early 1990s.    There were so many stray and hungry cats staring in the windows that diners couldn't bear to eat in front of them.     In 1992, Newbury port became the first municipality to conduct a successful trap, neuter and return (TNR or TNVR since the cats are also vaccinated) program.    With TNR, cats are humanely trapped, sterilized, vaccinated against common feline diseases and rabies, left ear tipped, and returned where they were found.   A left ear tip has become an international signal that the cat has been TNRed, is being cared for and should be left alone by animal control authorities.   In Newburyport, TNR solved the troublesome cat problem and, as the well fed, happy, healthy and non-breeding animals began to get older, adoption of all the old codgers was considered and rejected.    They seemed happy on the street and the last of the original animals, a cat named Zorro, lasted until 2009.    The Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society, which was responsible for this first program, is still active and has subsequently assisted more than 100 communities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire to implement TNR programs.

A year earlier in 1991, a young Nathan Winograd, an aspiring law student at Stanford, was appalled when the university proposed to summarily trap and exterminate hundreds of free roaming campus cats.   Winograd sought the assistance of national animal welfare groups like the Humane Society of the United State (HSUS) who shocked him by concurring in the wholesale slaughter approach proposed by Stanford.    Nathan went on to be a distinguished and impassioned leader of the international No Kill movement which seeks to end shelter killing of animals.   A shelter is considered to be No Kill if 90% or more of its animal intakes are released alive to a permanent home.   Winograd is the author of several books, including Redemption: The Myth of Pet Overpopulation and the No Kill Revolution in America, which many consider to be the bible of No Kill and the director of the No Kill Advocacy Center.    Winograd's No Kill Equation, a formula for taking a shelter No Kill, features TNR as one of its necessary components.  His documentary movie, Redemption: The No Kill Revolution in America , is currently on national tour and will be shown by Winograd at the Amherst Theater in Buffalo on September 27.   He has been a powerful and frequent critic of national organizations like the HSUS, ASPCA and PETA.   He has probably written more animal welfare laws than anyone alive, and he writes a monthly feature article in the Huffington Post.   Maybe the HSUS should have helped him in 1991.

But it's not the Twentieth Century anymore.   In a stunning and welcome turn around, the HSUS  partnered with the International City/County Management Association (ICMA, see ICMA.org) to endorse TNR as the best practice for dealing with free roaming, un-owned (community) cats.   They jointly published Managing Community Cats, A Guide for Municipal Leaders, which may be downloaded at the hot link provided.  This joint endorsement by two well known organizations represents a sea change in "establishment" attitudes towards TNR.   The ICMA is a relatively conservative group whose "mission is to create excellence in local governance by developing and fostering professional management to build better communities."    These guys are not given to taking flyers on radical new ideas.   When the ICMA calls something a "best practice," municipal leaders ignore their advice at their own peril.  It also doesn't hurt that it costs more than $100 to catch and kill a cat and less than $60 to TNR one.  Humane, effective and cost beneficial is hard to argue with.

Meanwhile, back at the restaurant, enter the Coogan's.    Rick and Danielle aren't old enough to remember the companion animal welfare battles of the early 1990s, but they knew about TNR and they felt they had to do something.    Danielle said “I was just kind of astonished by the amount of cats and I just felt like something needed to be done and I’m here to do it.”    And do something she did, setting up a crowdfunding GoFundMe account seeking funds to help her ".... to humanely trap as many adults as I can, they will then be transported to Operation Pets, where they will be vaccinated, sterilized, have one of their ears "tipped" (to show they've been sterilized) & re-released back on to the island.”    Danielle has already raised more than $10,000 to accomplish her task.    Now the Island Cat story as gone international and is being reported by the UPI.

 So what could possibly go wrong?    Plenty.    It seems that TNR is illegal in many municipalities of Erie and Niagara Counties, except the City of Buffalo, which only passed a nation leading TNR approval ordinance last June 10!    Furthermore, the inappropriately named Tonawanda Island is actually located in North Tonawanda which has some of the most feline hostile laws in Western New York.   In NT, it's against the law to feed, give aid or comfort, or in any other way help out a stray cat who is down on his luck.   Seems that way back in the Twentieth Century (1999) the City passed some very restrictive cat laws in response to a messy hoarding situation.   Well, Dorothy, we're not in Kansas and it's 2014.   Times change and new ideas and leaders emerge.   The intrepid scholars of the SUNY Buffalo Law School Pro Bono Law Project, led by Vice Dean Kim Diana Connolly who wrote Buffalo's new ordinance, have embarked upon a program to change laws in all other cities, towns and villages to make Western New York TNR friendly.   The Law Project reached out to Danielle and they are now working to change North Tonawanda's laws in conjunction with today's city officials.    If you would like to help, drop the electeds a line and tell them to give the Island Cats a break.   Their names and addresses are available here.

Danielle has also joined the stalwart volunteers of Buffalo Humane (soon to be Pets Alive of Western New York) a local No Kill animal advocacy, rescue and sheltering group which will assist in carrying out the necessary TNR activity.    Following early media publicity about the Island Cats,  Danielle was contacted by the Niagara County SPCA which holds the animal control contract with North Tonawanda.   If they provided TNR assistance, it would certainly be helpful.   But they won't.   Instead, NC SPCA Executive Director Amy Lewis has indicated that she will concentrate on changing NT's "archaic town law", stating “It’s become kind of an epidemic over the years.  We can’t let it spiral out of control.”    But it may already be out of control, and it's difficult to understand how Lewis, a high school graduate, will be able to augment the efforts of a veteran UB Law School vice dean with years of experience in promoting pro bono legislation who is backed by bright and eager young students and experienced community attorneys.   

Stay tuned, this story will continue.

 

 

As primary election politics have made the Republican Party an extreme right wing enclave, Democratic Party candidates have come to assume that they only need to be a degree to the left of their opponents.   They assume that the traditional Democratic base of a more liberal bent will have no choice but to vote for them as the lesser of two evils.   The New York gubernatorial race is a good example, where incumbent Andrew Cuomo openly espouses economic policies that are only moderate by Tea Party standards.   Professor Teachout wants to attack Cuomo from the left.   The outcome could be enlightening if she can survive attempts to knock her off the ballot and prevent a Democratic Primary for Governor and Lt. Governor.   She spoke to a BTF group yesterday:

Yesterday the City of Buffalo took a great step forward in becoming a true No Kill community with the passage of an ordinance which recognizes the right of free roaming cats to exist and be properly cared for.     The City has also  budgeted $50,000 for Trap Neuter Vaccinate and Release activity in the coming fiscal year.     This is a feel good moment for a City which too often displays an inferiority complex.     Today, Buffalo leads the country.

The full text of the ordinance follows:

And here's the movie.......

While attending the No Kill Workshop presented by Animal Ark in Minneapolis, WNY Politics got a chance to interview US Marine, Mitch Schneider, who appears in the new documentary movie, Redemption, The No Kill Revolution in America.   (For the uninitiated, there is no such thing as an ex-Marine.   It is a perpetual sentence, and once you are a Marine, you are still a Marine, even if you die.)    Mitch claims he scored a zero (0) on the Myers-Briggs Thinking/Feeling indicator and thus has no feelings, but prefers to act solely on the basis of logic.    He is so uncaring that he says he it doesn't even bother him that he has no feelings.    A business major in college, Mitch took the Washoe County (Reno, Nevada) animal shelter No Kill, even though he didn't think it was possible.    This was no mean feat, as Reno was devastated by the Great Recession and is beset with abandoned animals and homes and a staggering unemployment rate.    At the onset of this venture, he was heard to remark, "If this fails, it won't be because of me."    I'm not sure what lesson we can learn from the Schneider experience.    Do we need all shelters to be led by Marines, or do we just need shelter directors to shut the hell up and do their jobs?    Listen to Mitch and you decide.....   

Ellen and I are in Minneapolis for the world premier of Redemption, The No Kill Revolution in America.    Last night we were on the red carpet with Nathan and many of the stars.   We had a great time.    A mix of confusion, happy and sad, zany and deadly serious. You MUST see the whole movie! This is raw, unedited footage, so excuse the mixups, but it really does give the feel of the event.

This just in from the South Buffalo News:


County Ethics Board Punts on Use of County Seal

By Darryl McPherson

It was reported back in March that Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz was using the County Seal on his political website. Local attorney Peter Reese believed such a use was a violation of the County Charter and sought an official inquiry by County Comptroller Stefan I. Mychajliw. Mychajliw felt his office did not have legal jurisdiction and referred the matter to the County Board of Ethics.

Shortly after the matter was reported in the newspaper, the seal was removed from the website. The Comptroller’s spokesperson, Peter Anderson said the seal was removed along with other changes being made to the website. He maintained that the use of the seal was not improper.

At the April 16 meeting of the Ethics Board, the use of the seal was addressed. In a brief letter to Comptroller Mychajliw, Board Chair Steven Schwartz reported, “our opinion is that the proper use of the Seal of the County of Erie is limited to official Erie County business.” Without offering any definition of what is (or is not) “official Erie County business”, the Ethics Board closed the matter.

The response to the issue, or lack thereof, outraged the initial complainant Reese. “This is absurd! How can there be no one to oversee what is going on in County Hall? If someone is misusing or misappropriating County property, what are we supposed to do, sue them?’ Reese mused. He suggested that an Inspector General position should be created for Erie County, or that the State Inspector General be empowered to look into the misuse of assets and property of local governments.

On behalf of the County Executive’s office, Anderson said, “No, this would just be creating a new position that would be taxpayer-funded, and that's not necessary. There are offices already in place to handle issues such as this, like the Ethics Board, so there's not a need to create an entirely new office.”  

The Comptroller had a slightly different take. He felt the Board’s opinion was “an important first step.” He believes fraud, waste, and abuse fall within the Comptroller’s jurisdiction and does not see the need for another official. “This should be taken up by the Legislature and they can determine what constitutes County business,” Mychajliw said. “They can put the issue to bed immediately and pass a proactive resolution.”

In the meantime, in light of the Ethics Board’s extremely narrow response to the issue raised by Reese, there seems to be a gap in the oversight role. While no one definitively says what constitutes what is right or wrong, “Poloncarz’s fundraisers are not official County business,” noted Reese. “Although a more forceful and definitive statement would have been appreciated, I still feel like a hunter driving back from the woods with a dead deer on the fender of my pickup.” 

The Pride of ArtVoice, Alan Bedenko, has been mercilessly attacking Republican Congressional candidate in CD-26 (incumbent Brian Higgins) Kathy Weppner on the AV blog.   It is difficult to count the number of poison posts, but most are at least a little unhinged.    I met Kathy the other day and asked if she would do an interview.    We met for coffee this morning at the Lake Effect Diner on Main Street in Buffalo.     I was fascinated to learn that, like many of Bedenko's other victims, she has never met the Pride or even spoken to him.     You decide whether this is the worst, most vicious and contempable person you have ever encountered.