Paladino's Critics Use Obscure Loophole to Have Him Removed: Democracy Mourns

The Buffalo School Board holds elections every four years where the residents of specific districts can choose the candidate they believe in. The winner gets a four year term, unless the President of the Teacher's Union and other members of the Board don't like him or his ideas. Then, they can look for a loophole and have him removed without any input from his constituents. Welcome to George Orwell's 1984, better known as the 2017 Buffalo Public School System. 

What Carl Paladino said to Artvoice regarding Michelle Obama was disgusting and reprehensible. The saddest part to me was that it wasn't even funny. As vile as his comments were, they were protected by the 1st Amendment. His critics knew this, so they found a loophole and contrived a scheme to rid themselves of the thorn in their side. In an actual democracy, the decision to remove Paladino would have been left up to the voters come election time.

Before Paladino became involved, the Board members would meet, talk about how great the Buffalo Schools were, suck as much public money as they could off the system, pad their own political careers, and do whatever Phil Rumore told them to do. The last thing these career criminals cared about were the students. If they did, they would have talked about the violence and disruption that occurs in many Buffalo schools on a daily basis. It was this anarchy in the Buffalo Schools that caused thousands to flee the city for a better education for their children. This was not the fault of the teachers. They do great work under oftentimes horrific working conditions. How many times have you heard someone say they moved to the suburbs for "better schools"?

Now, the Park (South Buffalo) School Board member will be handpicked by the corrupt Sisterhood and Union President Phil Rumore. Hardly democratic. Like him or hate him, Carl Paladino was elected by his neighbors and provided an opposing viewpoint to the status quo members of the Board. The reason they removed him is laughable and those responsible for doing so should be embarrassed with themselves today. Supporters and critics of Paladino should be alarmed. If a vocal minority doesn't like your representative, they can find some obscure loophole, go to Albany, and have him removed. Scary stuff for a supposed Democracy.

Kearns Record on Women's Issues will be Scrutinized in Clerks race

When Donald Trump won the Presidency in 2016, I heard and read from people that this was going to be the impetus to initiate activism from the Left. Many of these people were Democrats and many of them were women. Kathy Griffin and Chelsea Handler are two famous ones that come to mind. But I also heard it from many friends locally on social media. They pledged to become active and outspoken on issues important to them.

The women of Erie County will be given that opportunity in the unlikeliest of  forums; the race for Erie County Clerk. Democrat Steve Cichon will be going up against Mickey Kearns. Kearns, a registered Democrat will be running on the Republican and Conservative (possibly) lines. This makes sense, since Kearns has received more financial support from Carl Paladino than any other local politician in recent years.

Remember last election when Mickey said he was heading to Albany to fight the New York State politicians? Well, that was before the Clerks' race came about.  The Clerk position is viewed by many as a stepping stone to higher office. Kathy Hochul and Chris Jacobs have both used the position to move on to bigger and better things in recent years. Always looking out for number one, Mickey decided to do what he does best, campaign and make a whole new set of promises. 

In my eyes, Kearns is the favorite to win the Clerk position. He has name recognition and people in Erie County can be highly apathetic and uninformed on the issues. A candidate can vote against his constituents' interests and yet get their vote because he says hello to them at the local lawn fete. Former WBEN reporter Steve Cichon seems like a nice guy, but when I tell people he's running against Kearns, they always ask, who is he? 

Despite a huge advantage in name recognition, don't underestimate Mickey's ability to hurt his own cause. 

His debt to Paladino has come at a huge cost to Erie County women. If Erie County Democratic Chairman Jeremy Zellner can reach the female voters of Erie County and inform them that Kearns voted against the Women's Equality Act as an Assemblyman and remains anti-choice on the issue of abortion, perhaps the impending female outrage can benefit Cichon.

Can you imagine a female candidate running and telling her male constituents that she should be the one making decisions regarding their bodies and not them? Male voters would never tolerate this. Why do female voters tolerate this from Kearns? The only reason Kearns votes this way is to gain the support of the Erie County Conservatives. He's assuming that the women of Erie County will not organize and unite against him and his voting record.

Zellner sums up Mickey pretty well in the attached article in which he aptly labels Kearns as a "serial opportunist".

  “Tricky Mickey will say anything and do anything necessary to get elected,” he said. “Once in office, he disregards the promises he’s made to constituents along the way and works on crafting new alliances to get him to his next political office.”

When you see Mickey on the campaign trail, be sure to ask him why he voted against the Women's Equality Act and why he thinks he is better suited to make decisions about your body than you are. Also, remind him about how excited he was to head to Albany to fight for you as your state representative. 
(Oh, about that. Please read the following article documenting how Tricky Mickey skipped a vote in Albany that if passed, could have given Erie County tax payers a double digit tax increase. He was marked absent.) Must have been out campaigning for his next political office.
https://wnymedia.net/2017/06/kearns-skips-critical-vote-putting-erie-county-taxpayers-risk/


And here is the link to the original article from the Democratic Chairman...

ECDC Chair questions Kearns' loyalty

Limited Base Hindering Schroeder's efforts

About a month to go before the September Primaries and three before the general election. Three Countywide elections up for grab as well as the Buffalo Mayoral race. 

The mayor's race seems like a yawner. And that's not to take anything away from South Buffalo's Mark Schroeder. Trying to defeat a well funded, party-backed incumbent would be a daunting task for anyone. At a time when people view the city in a renaissance, even more challenging. 

I read Susan Schulman's financial report on the two candidates (spoiler Betty Jean Grant's candidacy is irrelevant) and was not surprised at this fact:

Almost $53,000 of the $115,600 Schroeder raised in the past six months comes from outside of Buffalo, with big chunks from Hamburg and Orchard Park, according to a Buffalo News analysis of the campaign reports.
http://buffalonews.com/2017/07/21/full-story-mayor-brown-raising-4-every-1-schroeder-gets/

I've been around long enough to know that people who donate to political campaigns do not do so out of the kindness of their hearts. They expect favors, and in this case, that means jobs for their children. Including certain jobs in which the job candidate is supposed to be a city resident. I've witnessed firsthand, several of these jobs go to children from political families. Former South Buffalo families who moved to the suburbs yet have no problem "buying" city jobs for their children. Nothing like having your cake and eating it too. 

Mark Schroeder is a great guy, but his tent is very small. His support within the city  appears to be limited to a few neighborhoods . Many work in government jobs and are content with the South Buffalo politicians. 

Nothing wrong with that. But the rest of the city (including large parts of South Buffalo) are not in this club and will be disinterested on Primary Day or voting for Brown. And despite dancing the Wobble, districts like Masten and Ellicott will be 80/20 for Brown. And that's an unscientific fact.

After a summer of campaigning against Brian Higgins for NY State Assembly and having everyone tell him they loved him only to vote for Higgins, it was the late Jimmy Griffin who remarked, "I've never met so many wonderful liars in my life."

As long as the tent remains small, those not in the South Buffalo` clique, will seek and find other tents elsewhere...