If you want to watch a funny news story, you have to watch this clip. Mark Poloncarz and former County Executive Chris Collins are publicly bickering over some emergency radios in Collins' car. Poloncarz even had Collins' paycheck withheld until the matter was resolved. Don't these guys have anything more important to do?
Collins said he refused to have Emergency Service Crews touch his car because that department is now run by Dan Neaverth, Jr. (He implies that the son of the famous local D.J. might tamper with his car.) You might remember Collins unceremoniously tossed Danny out on his fanny at the end of his administration. About the only thing I learned from this story is that Chris Collins has a nice car. Hey Ritchie Rich: Bill Cosby called. He wants his sweater back...
Some people are calling Chris Collins a sore loser for not making a congratulatory phone call to Mark Poloncarz. It was a hard fought race, which got a little testy at the end.
I think you have to take your hats off to the Democrats. They did what they had to do to get out the vote yesterday. With times being what they are, I think Collins' wealth might have hurt him. I have to admit I was very surprised at the outcome. I thought it would be 60-40 in favor of Collins. We often hear about the "anti-incumbent sentiment" people supposedly have. However, unless there is a scandal or a fiscal disaster, the incumbent usually prevails around these parts. Especially one as well financed as Collins.
I do think Erie County Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy is in way over his head. The Republicans seem to be losing all the close races. (Jane Corwin, Jack Quinn, Chris Collins). Democratic Chairman Len Lenihan took Langworthy to school during the course of this election season in my opinion...
It turns out the suspect who sent out the already marked absentee ballots is likely an "old guard" Democrat, according to channel 4. They were sent out marked for Chris Collins, apparently in an effort to make Collins look like a little cheater. The only question that remains after watching this channel 4 clip, is whether Democratic Elections Commissioner Dennis Ward wears a rug?
Nobody fools me three times and gets away with it. The folks at Siena have come out with a poll saying the race for County Executive is a statistical dead heat. This was the same group whose numbers had Rick Lazio trouncing Carl Paladino a few days before the reverse happened. They also had the mayoral race between Mickey Kearns and Steve Casey as being "too close to call" a week before the election. We all know how that one turned out.
What their polling does not measure is city vs. suburban voter turnout. Being politically correct, they assume it is going to be the same in both areas. That's like assuming parents of Williamsville North students and parents of Burgard students are both as likely to show up to a parent/teacher conference at their child's school...
Siena pollsters estimated that one-quarter of the turnout in the race Nov. 8 will come from the city, a percentage the county executive's supporters believe is too high and should discredit the poll that showed Collins leading Poloncarz by a slim 49 to 46 percent tally. The poll has a margin for error of plus or minus 3.4 percent.
"We made no assumptions on what turnout will be in the City of Buffalo, nor can they," said Siena spokesman Steven A. Greenberg. "Nobody can factually make that assumption."
That's mighty white of him to say, but I can. City voters are less likely to show up and vote in a race when there is no minority candidate. The opposite happened in the mayoral race. That poll assumed whites and minorities would show up in equal numbers, but minorities came out in droves to support Brown. And that was a rarity, considering both candidates in that race were white. Collins 62% Poloncarz 37% The Rooster 1% Collins campaign denounces recent poll
The circus is in town down at County Hall. It's hardball season as the County Executive and County Legislature begin their annual debate over the budget and taxes. From this clip, I can tell you Lynn Marinelli has been in office way too long. It will be interesting to see who wins this tug of war. My bet is that it is going to get very ugly, very fast...
It might not be the popular thing to say, but I think County Executive Chris Collins is making some tough choices. The easy way out would be to fund the culturals and raise property taxes. He campaigned as a guy who was going to trim the fat in Erie County spending and I think he's trying to do that.
I like the Arts as much as the next person. However, during a recession, I don't know if government should be responsible for funding these groups. I'd love to sit down with Collins or one of his staffers and talk about what a County Legislator's workday consists of. These are the people whose jobs need to be eliminated. They do nothing. Please give us less "representation."
What if you called a press conference on serious reform and nobody showed up? County Executive Chris Collins and Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino did just that. They are trying to push for an end to the loophole allowing public service employees to pad their pensions through overtime the last three years before retirement.
Promoting the concept of sanity,these two think the pensions should be based on the base salary and not the artificially inflated numbers. Who ends up footing the bill? You and I do through the highest taxes in the country? But what's a few hundred million dollars between friends?
“Counties and municipalities are getting buried under escalating pension costs, and the situation is growing worse each year, yet the State Legislature is virtually ignoring the issue,” Astorino said. “The State Legislature must begin defusing this time bomb now to avert massive service cuts and tax increases in the next few years.”
It will be interesting to see what Andrew Cuomo says about this issue. He relies heavily on the unions for support.I predict he will offer up some fluff statements about the need for reform without actually carrying it out. He needs to keep things exactly the way they are in New York to keep his family's pyramid scheme going. I know Carl Paladino would never run one of his businesses like New York state is run. This "pension padding" loophole reminds me of another famous loophole in American history...
