Albany Dysfunction

Here's how the Niagara Falls Reporter's David Staba characterizes the bullshit and back-patting out of Albany

"'As a member of this house for 11 years, I am more proud than ever,' said Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo, a Democrat from the Bronx. Arroyo and others in the Assembly and Senate then actually applauded each other managing to sort of get their jobs done on time, as required by the state Constitution, for the first time in two decades. It's a bit like the entire crew at your local fast-food outlet spontaneously applauding after getting your Triple Mega-Cheeseburger from microwave to counter without it getting dropped in a bucket of old mop water or being spat upon by a disgruntled fry guy. So what if your soda was flat, and the cashier forgot to give you your change? "

Vaca

The pundit family is going on a well-deserved and long-overdue vacation. Therefore, posting will be sporadic if not downright non-existent for a short while. To that end, if anyone's interested in guest blogging, let me know asap at buffalopundit -at- gmail.com I'd be much obliged.

Make your own South Park character

Make your own South Park character. Here's me:

Switch on Buffalo

This deserves a plug. Back in January, a Buffalonian wrote this letter to the Buffalo News:

I would like to see Buffalonians focus on the positive aspects of our city, rather than whining about all that we have lost in the past few decades. In that spirit, I would like to suggest that we celebrate the Pan-American Exposition every year. One of the biggest attractions was the Electric Tower, which was first lit on May 5, 1901. It celebrated our region's generation of hydroelectric power and was emblazoned in tinted lights of blue, green, ivory and gold. The tower, of course, is long gone. But the city still has neighborhoods full of fabulous turn-of-the-century residences - everything from simple Victorian farmhouses to Delaware Avenue mansions. For the month of May, why don't we neighbors in Allentown, Elmwood Village, Parkside, Delaware Park, etc., trim our homes with lights every night to celebrate our architecture as well as this heritage? Will tourists come in droves to see our new version of the "City of Light"? Perhaps. Regardless, wouldn't this be a way to instill pride, celebrate Buffalo and herald the start of our fabulous Buffalo summers? Cynthia Hammond Buffalo

From that sprung "Switch on Buffalo". Here's their press release [pdf]. So, if you live in the city, help turn Buffalo into the "City of Light" this May and every May and celebrate our rich architectural heritage.

St. Rudolph of Giuliani

Democracy in Albany reports that Giuliani is apparently too busy making money to run for governor. That might sound biased, but I can't imagine he's petrified by the prospect of taking on Pataki in a primary. (alliterative!) Also: Giuliani earned a $100,000 speaking fee at a Tsunami relief fundraiser in South Carolina. He donated $20,000 of that to Tsunami relief, and pocketed the rest. Whaddaguy! That's not a donation, that's a tip.

Nostalgia

I grew up calling it the Pan Am building, and it'll always be the Pan Am building to me, even if it's now got "MetLife" emblazoned on it. MetLife sold the Pan Am building to Tishman Speyer Properties, LP. Try fitting that on the building. They say they'll keep the MetLife sign on. If they had any guts, they'd replace it with the Pan Am sign and return to New York a bit of its past. And by the way - there's still a Pan Am in existence, but it's a parody of its former self.

Spring?

It snowed like a bastard yesterday. I was up around St. Cats and Niagara Falls, and it was a white-out on the QEW. Nasty, nasty stuff. Even though the ice is melting, you can see the snow in the pictures. I hear that Mayville in Chautauqua County got 37 inches. The I-90 between the NYS border and Erie, PA was closed. Even Boston and Colden got over a foot yesterday.

BuffaloPundit recommends

Seriously, I love Beck. This new album blends his more serious songwriting with his inventive, wacky "two turntables and a microphone" stuff. And if you buy it through this link, I'll see a few pennies.

Off Main Street

Today's edition is a doozy. First up: Nancy Naples refused to pay a $250 bill to Casa-di-Pizza. The food was ordered by Giambra's office for a luncheon celebrating Bruce Fisher's promotion to sole-deputy-CE. Naples said: "this is an unacceptable expenditure of taxpayer dollars...to be quite frank, processing of this request by your office is quite offensive to the clerical staff reviewing this that [sic] are losing their jobs." Next up: Because Joel Giambra has no class, and less tact, he's persona non grata up in Albany. Lobbying does not equal pissing people off, Joel. But apparently, that's all he can do. His pleas will fall on deaf ears. Finally, former Milwaukee mayor John Nordquist was in town a few weeks ago, and this exchange occurred:

Asked how Milwaukee avoided the sort of budget crisis that's crushing the county, Nordquist revealed his remedy. "You just steadily cut the budget, a little every year, no matter what," Nordquist said. "That way, you never hit the wall. You stop cutting, you get a crisis."

That sort of thinking is news to the politicians around here, and is a declaration of war to the unions. But it's just the sort of thinking New York needs.

The dumbing-down of America

I'm quite sick of catch-phrases like "the dumbing down of America" or the "culture of life" vs. the "culture of death". But this letter in today's Buffalo News is evidence of the former. Apparently, birth control started the "culture of death." That also, apparently, sparked "thousands of acts of physical and sexual abuses and horrific murders." I didn't realize everything was peace, peaches, roses and tweeting birds before 1960.

Earth to Albany: You Suck (pt 2)

Daddy, I want to lobby, too! From the Times-Union:

ALBANY -- Kenneth Bruno, the son of state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, said Thursday he has left New York's top-grossing lobbying firm to start his own company. The younger Bruno said he expected to have some gold-chip clients. "This is an exciting opportunity and I'm looking forward to continuing to represent my clients effectively," he said.

Thank you, daddy, for my last name.

Bruno's father is the most powerful Republican in the state Legislature.

What good is it having a republican governor and senate if taxes and fees keep going up in massive giveaways to unions and lobbies?

The new firm will be called Albany Strategies, and Bruno said he expects to represent Cablevision, Magna Entertainment, Yonkers Raceway and the New York Ambulette Coalition, among others. Cablevision owns Madison Square Garden and Magna is one of North America's most powerful companies in the horse racing industry. "It's highly unusual for someone to break out on their own and have that kind of client list, so he must be providing some service his clients really like," Horner said.

I'm sure it's all legal. But why? Where's the outrage?

Kevin Hardwick has a Posse

Kevin Hardwick has a radio show on Saturdays on WBEN. Too bad for him no one really listens to am radio on Saturdays, but I respect him, wish him well, and hope they move him to weekdays and stick Limbaugh someplace else. Yesterday, Giambra was on and he called for the resignations of Tokasz and Volker. Not gonna happen, but he's making some points: Point #1: I'm not the villain any more; love me. Point #2: I get it. Well, as to point #1, he can eff off. His bumbling and his ego turned a fiscal mess into a genuine, full-blown crisis. That's not leadership; that's idiocy. As to point #2, it's about fricking time. He claims now to want to join up with FixAlbany's Tom Suozzi to help get rid of all NYS legislature incumbents. Since FixAlbany has existed since last year, I question why Giambra is so very late catching that available bus.

WBEN listener services

First of all, Tom is NOT unbiased and was never presented to be so. He is a talk show host with opinions. He also, by the way, is a conservative but has his OWN ideas and opinions.

That's all he has - opinions. It's facts of which he could use more.

As for the "poor family" on the air with Tom when Terri Schiavo passed away? They called to thank us for handling it in such a compassionate manner. I'm more concerned with their reaction to how it was handled. We had no control of how the timing worked out. Thanks for listening and for taking time to comment.

He's right. They were probably THRILLED to be Tom Bauerle's little exclusive du jour. After all, the entire extended Schindler family was only too eager to whore themselves out to any and all media outlets that would have them. Tim Wenger Operations Manager/Program Director WBEN/WGR/WWKB 716 843 0611 716 843 0250(fax) twenger@entercom.com

Spring!

How do you know it's April in Buffalo? When you're shoveling 3 inches of slushy snow off your front walk. I love the snow, but it's enough already.

April Fools

The folks at the Corner are in rare form. Michelle Maklin's gone off the deep end.

Bauerle's gaffe

I heard about this, and then heard WBEN play it a mess of times yesterday: Bauerle was interviewing Terri Schiavo's aunt and uncle yesterday morning. I'll let Christopher Bird from WNY Media Net take it from here:

About an hour or so into TB's show, the news came out the Terri Schiavo had died. WBEN & Tom Bauerle took it upon themselves to be the first to tell the Blakes that their niece had died. Instead of going to a break, telling them off air and letting them go, Tom Bauerle told them live on the radio. When I heard this, I was outraged. I couldn't believe that even TB would sink this low. Tom had just got through a rant blasting people who were attempting to profit from this whole debacle and then there he goes creating the sound bite of a lifetime. Talk about an opportunist! If the above wasn't bad enough, I made my way over to WBEN's website. The lead article on their site was about the death and A LINK TO THE AUDIO TO LISTEN TO TERRI'S AUNT & UNCLES REACTION TO HER DEATH when they found out. I've been searching for the right words to describe this. The only two that keep coming to mind are SICK & DISGUSTING.

Bauerle's such a tool.

MUST-READ

Democracy in Albany hits it out of the park today with a truly hilarious commentary on Albany, the idiots running things there, and the state of our state government generally. Some choice quotes:

The Times Union ran a cover story about the first Albany tulip blossoming. 17 angry letters to the editor were received claiming that the TU is biased because the tulip that blossomed was in front of a “liberal tax raising surrender monkey so gay he wants to get married to Saddam, that is how gay he is” person’s house and that in reality the first tulip was in front of the of the Republican State Headquarters. State Republican Chairman Stephen Minarik declared the Democratic Party the “Party of Death” after someone picked the tulip in front of the republican headquarters. Minarik then sent the media photos of several prominent democrats holding flowers. Hillary Clinton claimed that, while her husband had deflowered many, she never killed a flower in her life and quotes the bible to prove it (“As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth”). Chuck Schumer was seen making a phone call and promptly received $1 million from FTD and the sweet smelling floral lobbyists and, in general, flourishethed.

...and...

The latest Quinnipiac poll reported that in a head-to-head match up, Governor Pataki would lose to That Guy on The Corner Who Pushes the Crosswalk Button All Day. One respondent quoted that, “TGOTCWPTCBAD (T-bad) really knows what he wants and sticks to his plan. He’s like Reagan that way. T-bad has my vote.” Eliot Spitzer filed a lawsuit against all NY Republicans. Stephen Minarik promptly responded by calling Spitzer a “republican killer” and then cited Spitzer’s rather impressive approval ratings with Democrats, Independents and some “crazy-assed Republicans” as evidence.

Some watchdog.

Nancy Naples: some watchdog. Not only is she the "I didn't do it" kid, but she's also a liar.

When Erie County Comptroller Nancy A. Naples parceled blame to her husband for their late property tax payments over the years, she insisted she always has met the tax deadline on property she owned alone. Naples explained that she has been a homeowner since 1973 and owns a rental property in the Town of Tonawanda. 'I was never, ever late on any of my taxes,' she said. 'Not true,' Town of Tonawanda Clerk Cal Champlin said. The Buffalo News asked him to retrieve data on the townhouse, on Queens Guard Walk, that Naples rents out. Town records show Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District taxes arrived six weeks late in November 2001, incurring a penalty of $109.60. And the school tax arrived three weeks late in 1994 - her first year as county comptroller - requiring an extra $55.69.

Some watchdog.

Earth to Albany: You suck.

Hooray for us! We passed a budget on-time! We're reformed! We're not dysfunctional! It's reminiscent of a Chris Rock sketch about people wanting credit for stuff they're supposed to do: I take care of my kids! Whaddaya want, a cookie? Well, they did indeed pass an on-time budget for the first time in 20 years. But at what cost?

The Legislature on Thursday tossed aside two decades of partisan battling and public ridicule to enact an on-time budget that raises spending at twice the rate of inflation, sharply increases aid for schools, caps future Medicaid costs for counties and raises taxes and fees by more than $1.3 billion.

Sweet Jesus, we're the most highly-taxed state in the Union, and our legislature is INCREASING taxes and fees by a billion-plus dollars? Spending is raised at twice the rate of inflation? Are they KIDDING ME? Albany had better get its head out of its ass and look around. Look around at the rot. Look around and see the exodus; the brain drain. Look at cities and counties at or near insolvency; at or near the imposition of control boards. More taxes, more fees, more unfunded mandates, more reason for people and business to move or stay away. But they "cap" the counties' share of Medicaid, but only because that's been making headlines. Upstate is withering. Albany's quite evidently part of the problem. The slash & burn cutting of Erie County's budget because it was an emergency should serve as a wake-up call to Albany, but won't. Now is the time for Albany and other NY governments to review their entire operations with a critical eye, and start cutting the fat with a scalpel, before they have to cut meat & bone with an axe. But since only four entities run the show: Milquetoast Pataki, Spendthrift Silver, "What crisis?" Bruno, and the Gimme Lobbies, there won't be any real reform, there won't be any thoughtful analysis. Instead, they'll keep taxing and spending until there's no one left to tax.

Front Park

Earlier this week, the New Millenium Group announced its proposal to re-locate the US duty free/gateway plaza for the Peace Bridge, and completely re-construct Olmsted's Front Park. A "Grand Gateway" consisting of two rotaries would enable traffic to move freely onto Niagara Street, helping to revitalize that corridor. A direct link onto the I-190 would also be moved & improved. Since they finally agreed on Shared Border Management, it really is high time that Buffalo took full advantage of that. Kudos to the NMG for a great idea. I hope it happens.