West Seneca leaders try to "upsize"

 

I'm starting to think West Seneca is one of the most corrupt town governments in Western New York. In 2009, the voters overwhelmingly voted to downsize the town board. The people have had enough of unnecessary politicians and government. Now, in typically underhanded fashion, the town leaders are trying to schedule a vote to "upsize" itself...

“Sadly, ever since voters demanded downsizing, your behavior has reflected, at best, a disdain for the wishes of town voters,” Gaughan said Monday in a letter to Supervisor Sheila M. Meegan and Councilmen Eugene P. Hart and John M. Rusinski. “You’ve whined, bickered and made endless excuses for purposeful failure.

“Worse,” the letter continued, “you’ve made no effort to adapt to three-member board governance, a system which exists in tens of thousands of towns throughout our nation.”

I have to blame the residents of West Seneca themselves. They elected Meegan, the daughter of one of Western New York's most all-time corrupt political hacks, Chris Walsh. Walsh is the right hand man to Steve Pigeon, THE most corrupt political figure in modern Western New York history. Everyone and their brother knows these two guys are crooked. Did they really think the daughter was going to somehow fall far from the tree? 

A citizen, who probably is dependent on town government (Dan Warren), couldn't even gather the required number of signatures to put the referendum on the ballot. (Probably because most residents want LESS representation.) I really wish I lived in West Seneca, so I could attend a meeting and publicly make fun of the man who thinks the town needs more politicians. Fortunately, there is no doubt in my mind Gaughan's forces will reeducate the residents and explain to them exactly what these government-reliant crooks are trying to pull down there. Meanwhile, the site of the former Seneca Mall continues to sit vacant. I still remember seeing The Karate Kid II there.
Gaughan blasts W. Seneca board on ‘up-sizing vote’ - The Buffalo News

Letters to the editor: downsizing

I agree with this letter writer from West Seneca about the need for Western New York to have significantly less politicians "representing" us...

Too many politicians for falling population
Reading The News coverage of the recent census figures has been frustrating in more ways than one. Not only have local leaders failed to stop Erie County’s population loss, they have failed while someone like Kevin Gaughan has been offering ways to reverse our decline. We’ve all become familiar with Gaughan’s research that shows Western New York has a bloated number of elected officials. His statistics would be eye-opening even if we were a growing area. But in the last decade, Erie County lost more people than any other county in New York State. Yet we still have an overload of politicians. Gaughan’s solution of streamlining local governments and the State Legislature is right. His downsizing successes have saved local taxpayers money, and if he can do the same thing with the Legislature, we’ll all benefit. There are areas all over America that face the same difficulties of climate and geography that we do. But they’re growing while we’re dying. The only difference is that those successful areas don’t bear the cost of multiple governments, and the large number of politicians that come with them. Karen Ryan West Seneca

When you hear these political types talking about the potential to lose "representation" it is laughable. In fact, the only people speaking out for more of these clowns are the clowns themselves, their staff members, and the respective family members. Why would they want to get rid of the golden goose? The rest of us aren't served by them at all.

Do you think people like Tim "Hortons" Kennedy or Tim "Einstein" Whalen significantly affect your life in any way, shape, or form? Believe me, you and I would do just fine without them. They bring less than nothing to the table. If it means getting rid of political hacks like these two, please, do us all a favor and give us less representation.

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Don't forget the back of the ballot tomorrow

Please remember to tell your friends and neighbors to vote Yes tomorrow to reduce the size of the Erie County Legislature. The politicians want you to vote No so they and their staff can keep their no-show, do-nothing jobs. Barbara Miller-Williams says you will lose your "representation." What representation do you have now?

This lady was able to do this job in addition to being a full time Buffalo Police officer. She also had the nerve to rack up tons of overtime. To hear her tell it, she worked around the clock for 24 hours straight each day.This is the ultimate no-show job and needs to be eliminated entirely. Vote Yes, so we can go from 15 clowns who do nothing to 11 clowns who do nothing. Remember, it's on the back of the ballot. They put it there because they are hoping you and your elderly neighbors won't see it tomorrow.

Ugh, idiot! sound clip  Jon Heder sound clips

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Vote Yes on downsizing

I love when they say we need more elected officials so we don't "lose our representation". Give us a break. Please give us less representation. The County Legislature is an absolutely irrelevant body. We would be better served without it and the paid staff that comes with it. Please do us all a favor and let us lose our representative in the 2nd district (Tim Kennedy). These people don't represent anyone but themselves and the political hacks that gravitate towards them like head lice. Vote Yes and downsize and remember to tell your elderly neighbors that the referendum was sneakily placed on the back side of the paper ballot (because the politicians don't want them to see it). Nice try, thieves.

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Holding out for a hero

There's an interesting story in the Buffalo News today about the County Legislature downsizing debacle. Clerk Robert Graber (notice how the last names never change?) alleges that Dennis Ward has acted to prevent the measure from going before the public...

According to Graber, Ward assured him not to worry about the public backlash.

"It will blow over," said Ward, according to Graber. Ward told him that "the county attorney will wear it," meaning the county attorney would face the public's scorn, Graber said.

"We'll be heroes," Ward continued, according to Graber.

This is really blowing up in Ward's face. The measure will be going before the voters and he is looking like an upholder of the dysfunctional status quo. The Erie County Legislature is an irrevelant do-nothing body. They and their staff should be reduced from 15 to 0. Years ago, the all-volunteer Board of Managers did their job at no cost. It's time to return to that format and force this talentless bunch to the private sector...

Clerk cites effort to thwart Legislature downsizing - Erie County - The Buffalo News

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Graber Leaves West Seneca Residents With a November Surprise

When West Seneca was discussing it's downsizing vote, all indications were that the vote was going to be close. It was hysterical listening to Town Councilman Vince Graber, who stood to lose his seat on the pension gravy train, tell people why the town needed to keep their current number of councilmembers so they wouldn't lose their "representation". What a joke. Good thing the voters saw right through his status quo nonsense. Graber lost. On his way out the door, Vince the Prince created a resolution that regardless of need, the buildings and grounds department will always have 14 full time workers and two foreman. What a coincidence! From today's letters to the editor, it looks like Graber's resolution will ensure that at least two of his relatives keep their government appointed jobs. Vincent Graber and the three other councilmembers supporting his resolution: working for themselves in direct opposition to the taxpayers.

From today's Buffalo News:

West Seneca contract preserves the status quo

Little words mean a lot. Who ever thought the word “endeavor” would be costly to the taxpayers of West Seneca? Thanks to Councilman Vince Graber’s resolution at the Nov. 16 board meeting, that word was removed from a union contract. That contract now ensures that, regardless of need, the buildings and grounds department will always have 14 full-time workers and two foremen.

At a time when every municipality is trying to eliminate positions through attrition, Graber wants to ensure positions at all cost to the taxpayers. He offered no explanation for his resolution, nor did any of the council members voting with him. Supervisor Wallace Piotrowski voted against the resolution with full explanation. Kudos to him.

I would hope that union contracts would require more thought than someone’s whim to ensure jobs for relatives and friends. How can this action be valid? Don’t contracts involve both parties? Obviously, Graber and the three other council members have forgotten who they are working for. I hope that taxpayers will remember this at future elections.

Karen Lucachik

West Seneca

Dirty Tricks in the Downsizing Battle

I give local activist Kevin Gaughan and his team of volunteers great credit. Gaughan has pushed to downsize local town boards and continues to win in every town so far. On the surface, you might ask yourself what the big deal is. The reason the politicians and their "friends and families" are fighting so hard against downsizing is not because they don't want you to lose "representation". It is because they don't want to lose the pensions they receive for being on these boards. This is not what George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had in mind when they created the Constitution. Did you know New York state has more governments than the nation of Japan?

It's always funny when they tell you you will lose your representation if you vote in favor of downsizing. You mean we have representation now? That's news to me. Remember when they first talked about getting rid of the at-large common councilmembers in Buffalo in the 1990s? Local leaders said we would have less representation and be greatly affected by this change. What a joke! Has it even affected one person besides the politicians themselves? I doubt it.

In the downsizing battle, here are some of the tactics the local "leaders" have used to try and suppress the vote so only they and their friends (aka local political bottom feeders) show up to vote. please remember, these are professional crooks we are talking about:
1. Opening only a few polling places. The less polling places, the less voters. Less voters translates to less opposition.
2. Limiting voting hours. You work. They don't. These people can leave work to vote, as their jobs literally depend on it. Many use elections as sick days or personal days. We have to save these days for when we are actually sick or have something important to do. Again, this translates to less voters.
3. Using technicalities to prevent these elections from taking place on Primary Day or General Election Day. They don't want that. People will show up in decent numbers on those days. They want to have these elections on some random day so again, less people show up.
4. Using fear tactics. The article says in Orchard Park, the downsizing opponents passed out anonymous fliers that said downsizing was going to lead to regional schools. They'll try anything to avoid losing these pensions! Regional schools? Could you imagine the outrage in the city if our city kids were forced to go to school alongside delinquent kids from Orchard Park? Don't worry.Nobody would want to expose anyone to that under any circumstance.

So keep reading my blog. Not doing so, could result in a loss of your "representation."
Donn Esmonde: Downsizing trumps voter suppression*