When Press Releases Attack!
Received yesterday:
Iannello Calls On State Authorities to Investigate Golisano PAC
Calls violation of law just more politics as usual
(Buffalo) – Michele M. Iannello, candidate for the 61st State Senate district, denounced the political committee formed by Tom Golisano, saying the contributions violate New York Election Law. Iannello called on the New York State Board of Elections and, the Office of the Attorney General to begin immediate investigations.
Golisano stated that he was depositing a check for $5 million dollars into his political committee, and press reports have said that Golisano would spend up to $1 million on behalf of candidate Joe Mesi. Iannello said that both would be in violation of campaign finance law.
“Just because Mr. Golisano and Mr. Mesi call it reform, doesn’t make it so. In fact, it is just the opposite, it is nothing more than politics as usual and Mr. Mesi looks like just another politician with a with a price tag on him,” said Iannello.
New York limits the amount of money that an individual can contribute in total in one year to all political committees to $150,000. New York law also limits the amount a political committee can spend on behalf of a candidate, if the candidate and the committee have coordinated, to $6,000 in a State Senate primary. Former Erie County Democratic Chair Steve Pigeon has active roles in both Joe Mesi’s campaign and Tom Golisano’s committee.
“I am calling on my opponent, Mr. Mesi, to reject and refuse any spending on his behalf by Mr. Golisano. Mr. Mesi has to decide whether he wishes to serve the voters of Western New York or a Republican billionaire,” challenged Iannello.
Iannello is in her second term in the Erie County Legislature. Before entering public service, she was a real estate paralegal and small business owner. The 61st State Senate district is made up of the Towns of Amherst, Clarence, Newstead, Tonawanda, and part of the City of Tonawanda in Erie County and all of Genesee County. The incumbent, Senator Mary Lou Rath has decided to retire at the end of her term.
Received today:
STATEMENT FROM [Mesi for State Senate] CAMPAIGN MANAGER MIKE MARCY:
I think it’s hard to talk about reform when you’re a part of the system that needs to be reformed. Michele Iannello’s campaign is putting out statements filled with very technical language that seem like they could have been written by a Board of Elections Commissioner, which her husband happens to be. She’s a member of a legislature that authorizes her husband’s $115,000 per year salary for his ‘part-time’ job. Because the job is part time, he runs his election law practice full time – apparently to the benefit of select state senate candidates. It is also interesting to note that the legislature provides funding for the commissioner’s staff – many of whom happen to be Iannello campaign ‘volunteers’.
You can’t just talk reform talk. You have to actually walk the walk. We welcome Michele back to the campaign trail, and urge her to engage in a serious discussion of the challenges facing our district. Joe Mesi is going to continue his issue-based campaign to bring strong leadership, an independent voice and working class values back to Albany.
Um, a recitation of the maximum allowable donations in a political campaign represents “very technical language”? That must make the text of actual legislation equivalent to reading the original Magna Carta, in Latin, upside down, while on a roller coaster, in a blizzard, while wearing very dark glacier sunglasses.
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Michelle Ianello’s righteous indignation has a lot to do with not being the recipient of Golisano’s reform largesse. Also, Mesi has brain damage.
joe mesi, tom golisano and steve pigeon are among the finest individuals western new york has to offer. where chris smith snipes and bitches from the comfort of his expensive office building, these men have actually gone out and invested their own time, money and hard work into making the niagara frontier a better place in which to live.
of course, smith’s cowardly “brian damage” remark would not have been made had baby joe been anywhere within earshot.
They are both hacks. If that is the best we can do, God help us.
Hudson, I would hope that baby Joe has more class than to beat up some pencil neck for making that remark. So please don’t drag people down to your gutter existence.
Mesi’s expose of Ianello as a complete political hack is brilliant!
Mike in WNY,
Whose more of a hack:
A career private sector employee in only her third year in office who ranks 11th of 12 among Democrats in loyalty to the Chair (by votes) or a man selling his soul for a million dollars?
Geez, if Joe Mesi has such a problem with the system Iannello is part of, the County Leg, why did he call all the tv cameras he could when the Chair and second longest serving member of the County Leg, Lynn Marinelli endorsed him?
Sorry Hudson,
I agree with a lot you say but you lost me at Mesi. While he was a fine boxer but outside of his name recognition, I do not see anything that would make him a good leader.
Has he even had a job? I know there is some toughness from training and I respect that but….. What qualifies this guy as a leader? What qualifies him as a strong enough mind to solve the complex challenges that face WNY?
I think what is needed is one smart MF. Someone who has done something complex and with great success.
It could be a business owner. Does not have to be a millionaire but rather someone who has dealt with payroll and knows the cost to payroll and who has lived the challenges.
It could be a sales person. Someone with great success in getting other people to see things their way.
Just not a boxer. Not someone who is just living off his name because he can not box anymore and really has little options otherwise. Not saying he is a bad guy. The only thing I know about him is I used to work with his girlfriend 10 years ago before he did anything. Seemed like a nice enough guy back then…
Yeah, as people at Dwyers learned, don’t say something in earshot of Mesi cuz he’ll beat the crap out of you. True class.
Adam K,
My previous comment was not any reflection on whether or not Mesi is a worthy political candidate, I was simply pointing out the obvious about Ianello.
Joe Mesi does have brain damage, that’s a fact as indicated by several medical experts on state athletic commissions around the country. It’s not an insult.
As for Golisano, I’m glad he’s putting his money where his mouth is. Since money still rules the roost and we don’t have publicly financed elections, I have no problem with a guy funding politicians who will work towards a common goal. As I said, Iannello is demonstrating sour grapes.
Mesi is a business owner with a college degree. Articilate, caring, and smart. Will he be a good legislatire? Not sure. But you can’t give him shit just cuz he’s an athlete.
Tom..
Are you serious. He has an assoc degree from ECC and some time at D’Youville College but no degree. And his business is Baby Joe LLC. Which I doubt was run by him and not what I would consider a “regular” business.
I can give him shit BECAUSE he is to date, nothing more then an athlete.
Tom:
I have a Bachelors degree and I’m articulate, caring and smart. By your logic, I am OVERqualified.
However, I am not qualified to be a state legislator because I don’t know enough today about the laws and regulations at stake.
That’s what’s important, and that’s why Michele Iannello or even no-chance Dan Ward is a better choice than Joe Mesi – Michele know a LOT about whats at stake and has a proven reform record.
Mesi has “ideas” but won’t tell anyone what they are – which, by the way, is what W said to win in 2000
if ANYONE in WNY had a “reform record”, they got it somewhere else and brought it with them.
Ianello is part of the Democrat Machine that has tended the 50 year decline of the WNY. What the hell has she ever “Reformed”.
Take a look around—the place is degenerating into a shit-hole–where’s the fucking reform?
Anyone who tries to change the status quo of WNY Politics is doomed to the dustbin. Just the fact that Ianello has been elected recently is proof she’s just another cog in that machine.
Just because Mesi didn’t finish college, or didn’t finish at some fancy-pants college, doesn’t make him unqualified. All of our politicians are littered with law degrees and so called business experience, but guess what. They still give the public the shaft.
I did not graduate from college due to the fact that I became a father at 19 and from that point forward, I worked full time to support my son. I worked hard and eventually was promoted to a position reserved almost exclusively for college graduates.
Point is, one does not need a college degree to excel at their job. Including the job of political officeholder.
Hank-
Your problem isn’t with Michele Iannello. It’s with Lynn Marinelli, who won’t let Iannello’s reform legislation out of committee.
and as for Machine, she primaried machine Democrat Chuck Swanik for her seat. Machine people don’t challenge each other.