I guess in some cases, you can judge people by the friends they keep. A source tells me that New York State Assemblyman Mickey Kearns is involved in a boxing promotion with former boxer James Ralston. Ralston is the Buffalo man with 21 prior felony convictions. He was convicted of scamming hundreds of thousands of dollars out of elderly victims through unneeded home improvement repair scams. His son, Les Ralston, was recently arrested, accused of stealing $18,000 from an 85 year old Amherst resident by charging her money for repairs she did not need. I guess the leaf does not fall far from the tree. I'm not sure if any state money is involved in Kearns' latest venture and I don't want to jump to any conclusions. However, if so, this needs to be investigated and scrutinized very closely. I don't run any youth groups anymore. However, I wonder how the people at Cazenovia Hockey or South Buffalo Football would feel, if they knew a 21 time convicted felon were receiving public help from Kearns? These are law abiding parents, lucky enough to get a return phone call from a politician like Kearns. If any New York state funds are involved, I'd publicly have to question Kearns' motives. I don't usually encourage people to watch news clips. However, I do encourage you to look at this channel 2 clip and ask yourself, Is this the type of person we want our elected officials doing business with?
*Update: I spoke to Assemblyman Kearns by phone. He assured me that no public money was given to Ralston. He said he was unaware of the extent of Ralston's past scams targeting the elderly, despite the fact they've been well documented on every news station in WNY over the last 20 years. (???)
Governor Cuomo's gun control legislation comes as a surprise to me. With his Presidential aspirations, I would have expected him to start leaning towards the right on the political spectrum. This Bill is sure to generate controversy, especially in the gun-loving South. Assemblyman Mickey Paladino voted against it, which is no surprise. He is bought and paid for by the ultra Conservative Carl Paladino. Senator Tim "Hortons" Kennedy voted in favor of it, which is also no surprise. He does whatever he is told to by liberals Brian Higgins and Governor Cuomo. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I have a feeling the gun rights advocates will have their sights (no pun intended) set on the round mound of legislation when he's up for reelection in a few years. Trust me when I tell you neither Kearns nor Kennedy vote their conscience on anything. They simply go along with the people pulling their strings.
Imagine making $80,000/yr for part time work. That's what members of the New York State Assembly and Senate delegations pull in. And yet, many have the audacity to campaign for a pay raise. These people need to come down to reality and see how the rest of us live. It is unbelievable how detached they are from mainstream citizens. From WGRZ... The Senate will be in session just 57 days this year; the Assembly regular session will last 59 days.
Neither body will be in session for a single Friday, and the session only lasts through June. The Assembly actually has 2 weeks in which members will only be in session for a single day.
The base pay for lawmakers is $79,500, although most make more for committee and leadership positions; all get extra in per diem pay.That's one of the highest salaries among any legislative body in the country.
It hasn't taken Mickey Kearns too long to pick up the Albany habit of lying through one's teeth, either. From the same article...
"I think it's a part-time job," Kearns said. "Even though I work full time, I think that if we were in session for the whole year, it would be a full-time job."
Bahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhaahahahahahahahahahhaha! Come on, Mickey Paladino! Did you really think the Blogger was going to let you get away with this outright whopper? Stop it.Assemblyman Paladino went on to say that New York might need to conduct a $5.7 million study on this issue.
Kearns needs to stop lying to the people of South Buffalo who elected him. He sounds like Chris Fahey when he said he knocked on 11,000 doors during the campaign. If you think Mickey works 40 hours a week (not counting campaigning), you probably had 10 Grand on Notre Dame last night.
Watch this short clip from WGRZ and open your eyes to these crooks. While on the campaign trail, Mickey said he would betaking on Sheldon Silver. I will be holding him accountable on this and reporting to you, the readers. So far, all I see is more of the same nonsense. If we wanted nonsense, we would have voted for Higgins' lackey. Trust me. You aint going to get the truth from Keith Radford and Joanna Pasceri. There's only one source of truth in this town... http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=194786
