Kearns Needs Money

Today was an important day in the “race” to be the next Mayor of Buffalo.  It’s the day the July 2009 Periodic Campaign Finance Disclosure Reports are published by the New York State Board of Elections.  As a campaign junkie, report filings get me as excited as Navin Johnson on phone book delivery day.

Aside from miraculous upsets, the guy with the most money in the bank is usually a stone cold leadpipe lock to win an election.  So, with Mickey Kearns’ chances already in doubt, I was interested to see if he could shake loose some sheckels from the Buffalo hoi polloi for his Mayoral campaign.  After reviewing his finances, I think the answer is a resounding “no”.

His July Periodic summary shows that Kearns was able to raise $82,919.17 in cash and “in-kind donations”.  Of that $82,919.17, Kearns spent $66,925.23 which leaves him with $15,993.94 to fight the remainder of the primary against Mayor Byron Brown.  Of course, he’ll raise more money in the months ahead, but his poor showing thus far and the general perception that he’s in over his head will not help future fundraising efforts.

Kearns raised about $31K in individual donations, $2,750 in corporate donations, $2,900 in union money, roughly $35K of in-kind donations and a transfer of $11,500 from his Common Council warchest which is now in the red to the tune of $2500.

The money is tight because no one wants to throw money at a candidate who lacks a serious chance of winning nor do they want to get on the bad side of Mayor Brown’s steamroller political machine.  Byron Brown’s filing has not yet made public on the NY Board of Elections site, but it is estimated he has in excess of $1,000,000 on hand.  Brown’s January 2009 periodic report showed a balance of over $750K and he has been holding frequent, big ticket fundraisers ever since.

If I’m Mickey Kearns, I’m praying that Jim Heaney at The Buffalo News finds a meatier Byron Brown scandal than the One Sunset story.  Mickey’s only chance at victory comes from a total implosion by the Brown campaign.

Mickey Kearns Can’t Win

He can’t win and he’s wasting his time.

There, I said it.

I’m not the only one who is saying it as several local Democratic operatives, journalists, legislative staff members and politicos have shared the same feeling with me.  Kearns hasn’t been able to drum up support from much of anyone in the elected ranks.  The other politicians who overlap his district (Schroeder, Higgins, Stachowski, etc.) have all pledged support to Byron Brown.  Kearns was able to wrangle a tepid endorsement from Assemblyman Sam Hoyt earlier this week, but Hoyt and the Mayor have been locked in mortal combat for years.  It’s not like Hoyt had any other options.

We’re just going through the motions with a primary challenge to Mayor Brown that will precede an inevitable 70%-30% general election trouncing of whatever Republican decides to take a bullet for the team.  Which is a shame, because we have a petty, small minded autocrat running this city without a vision for success.

In every single interview I have seen or heard with Kearns, he comes across as completely unserious.  He lacks the soberness, gravitas or political will to run a city as troubled as our fair Queen City.  His “platform“, such as it is, is woefully lacking any bright shiny initiative that differentiates himself from the incumbent.  Mickey’s “issues” page is  filled with schlock about neighborhood quality of life centers, improving failed processes and “streamlining” red tape.  It’s the agenda for a councilman, not a serious candidate for Mayor of the second largest city in New York State.

Take, for example, his interview with Elena Buscarino at Buffalo Rising, it’s total and utter crap…no offense.

He’s sitting face-to-face with a person who isn’t going to ask him a tough question and he comes across as a kid running for Student Council Vice President promising Coke Machines in the lunchroom.  She lobbed more softballs than the drunk guy from accounting at the corporate picnic and the best he could come up with was some vague process improvements and a promise to do something the Mayor has already pledged to work on (Smart Code).

There is a hard truth in this campaign.  For many citizens of Buffalo, Mayor Brown is a pretty solid guy.  His administration has reduced crime in some of the city’s most distressed neighborhoods and he always appears to be “doing something“.  In Buffalo, that goes a long way.

Those of us who pay attention to the inside baseball stuff, the corruption, the half-assed machiavellian tendencies, the political machinations, overpaid staff,  and the general lack of a vision…we all know Brown is as useless as tits on a bull.  For those schooled in public policy, Citistat is bullshit.  It’s a garbage in-garbage out data collection system which simply allows for the Mayor to look very serious dozens of hours each week on public access television.  For those of us who care about ethics, this administration is an embarassment.

From Pete Cutler allegedly drunkenly hiding under a car after allegedly hitting a motorcyclist, to Brown’s son joyriding around the east side and destroying property, allegedly confiscating Syaed Ali’s underpants and deodorant, to the epic FAIL of One Sunset, to slamming crappy hotels for cronies into plum waterfront development sites, to the staffers pulling multiple salaries from multiple departments and all the other bullshit…this administration makes the Masiello crew look like choir girls.

Sadly, most people in the third poorest city in the nation don’t give a rat’s ass about any of that.  They know they have cameras on their corners, lower crime rates, the taxes have gone down a couple of bucks and shitty houses on their blocks are being demolished.  And everywhere they turn, Mayor Brown’s smiling visage is seen on billboards and the TV screen.  He’s everywhere, the king of press conferences and studies to plan studies that will assemble committees to fix problems.

What does Mickey have to counter that?  Not much.  He needs a message, an idea, a vision.  In the Buffalo Rising article I referenced above, Mickey claims to be a “big picture” kind of guy.  Sadly, everything he says makes him look like he hasn’t the slightest idea of what he’s gotten himself into.

And we’re all going to be the worse for it…guaranteed another four years of incompetent and misguided leadership from the Brown Administration.

Volunteers Needed for Project Homeless Connect

In fall of 2008, the United States Census Bureau released a special report naming Buffalo as the third poorest large city in the United States, with approximately one-third of its adult population living below the poverty line, and 42% of its children living in poverty. Approximately 2,000 people (including people in families) are homeless on any given night, a number that has not changed dramatically in recent years.

On July 17th, the WNY Coalition for the Homeless in partnership with the Homeless Alliance of WNY, Neighborhood Legal Services and the City of Buffalo will be bringing Project Homeless Connect to Buffalo for the first time.

Project Homeless Connect is a national best practice model that was pioneered in San Francisco in 2004 and has since spread to over 200 communities around the world. The event brings all sorts of service providers and resources to one place, on one day, to connect with the community’s homeless and near-homeless population. Homeless individuals will receive onsite services as well as information and referrals.

Buffalo’s Project Homeless Connect will take place at the:

Buffalo Convention Center
July 17th 10am-6pm

For more information visit our website at:

http://projecthomelessconnectbuffalo.org/

We are still in need of about a 100 volunteers to help with the activities of the day. We are asking volunteers to sign up for either a morning shift (that will begin with set up at 8am and will end at 2pm) or an afternoon shift (that will begin at 2pm and end with tear down at 8pm). If you can only commit to parts of either of the shifts, that is also fine.

If you’re interested in volunteering please email Joyelle Tedeschi at wnyhomeless@gmail.com and visit the Volunteer Opportunities section of our website.

The goal of the event is to bring the entire community together to reach out to some of the most marginalized and neglected folks in the area and directly provide them with important services they are not able to afford. While not a solution in itself to the root economic and social causes of poverty and homeless, Project Homeless Connect is a vital step towards building a broad based public-private movement to end homelessness and poverty in Buffalo.

We need your help to make this event a success.

Spotlight Buffalo

As we ramp up content on the new site, Marc Odien and I are planning a new feature and we’re going to need help from our readers/commenters in order to implement it.

We know that it takes a lot of effort to create a blog, maintain it and nurture an audience, it’s not for everyone.  We also know that many of you would like to contribute your thoughts, experiences and opinions, but don’t have the time to manage your own blog.  We’d like to offer an opportunity for you to make small, meaningful contributions to the local scene by asking you to tell us about things you care about.

It’s called Spotlight Buffalo, an ongoing series about the people/places/things that make Western New York a great place to live.  Your contribution can be a review of a local restaurant, a profile of someone who is making a difference in your neighborhood or community, a piece of local history, interview with a local business owner, or an issue/event/group that needs a little coverage.  Generally speaking, if you’re interested in it, we’re interested in it.

The idea came from a series of videos we produced for this year’s Buffalo Homecoming Citybration in which we profiled those who are making a difference in our community.  Here are a few samples:

We’ve already signed up a few interested writers and we’ve got them out working on stories now.  We’ll start publishing articles soon, but I wanted to find others who might want to contribute.  There will be compensation for your efforts, but the compensation will be based on the number of page views your article generates.  We think this is an excellent way for you to become an advocate for your writing/video, helps the subjects of your work market themselves and spreads the word about the good stuff happening in the region.

Leave a comment or send me an email to chris @ wnymedia . net and we’ll get you the details and set you up to start publishing!

Green Team

Yesterday, Byron Brown announced the formation of the “Green Team”, a group of volunteers dedicated to getting Buffalonians to recycle more of their stuff.

“Increasing our rate of recycling is an important way to reduce our carbon footprint,” Brown said at a press conference in Niagara Square. “Our implementation of the Green Team will serve as an effective way to educate all residents, both young and old, on the importance of recycling.”

The Brown administration set a goal on Earth Day to increase the city’s recycling rate, currently at 6 percent citywide. The mayor’s goal, he said, is to raise the rate 3 percent by April 22, 2010.

This is the first announcement in months out of the Brown administration that didn’t focus on the formation of a planning committee to form a sub-committee tasked with drawing up a blueprint for planning,

I wonder if Brown will be bringing in some outside “Green Team” consultants to help out the locals?  I’ll bet Arnold Darkshner is available.

The New WNYMedia.net

So, how do you like the new site?  We’ve cleaned it up a bit, added some new partners and moved to a speedy new server.  It’s been a busy weekend for all of us, especially for the designer, Chris Van Patten.

This version of the site moves us one step closer to the site we imagined three years ago.  We’ve made some missteps along the way, but we’re now firmly back on the right track.  We’ve seen online media grow in exciting new ways locally in that time and we’re excited to now have Artvoice and WECK 1230 onboard as content partners.  We’re slowly building a “converged” media outlet with multiple channels, sites and platforms.  The partnership begins with sharing content and we’ll move forward with some more integrated offerings in the near term.

We’re excited to unveil step one in what should be a fun process.  This site reflects what many of you have asked for in surveys and comments in the past year, you helped design it!

If you have constructive criticism or suggestions about the content or design of the new site, please leave it in comments or send an email to chris@wnymedia.net

We’d love to hear your feedback.

Kevin Hardwick For County Legislator

In the fall of 1992, I was an idealistic freshman at Canisius College.  As an active volunteer for the Clinton/Gore campaign, I was excited to cast my first vote for President in November.  I was certain that voting Republican was pretty close to killing kittens on the ethical scale and I wasn’t really open to hearing any different.  You remember how you knew it all back in college?  Yeah, me too.

And then I met a professor who changed the way I thought about politics and government.  His name was Dr. Kevin Hardwick.  After some introductory chatter between the Professor and the students, it was clear that Dr. Hardwick was of a Republican political bent and very interested in how we each came to our particular spot on the electoral spectrum.

Over the course of two semesters, he spoke reverently about American government and politics.  His respect for the country was impressive and his knowledge obvious.  Slowly, I came to adopt some newly found critical thinking muscles about politics that I hadn’t really exercised to that point.  Kevin never advocated a particular ideology, he simply encouraged us to look at things from uncomfortable angles and new viewpoints.

While I still voted for Clinton in 1992, I have always tried to keep an open mind and to never be a reactionary party ideologue.  My politics is a mix of principles from across the spectrum and I try to always look at each candidate and issue from as many angles as possible.  I like to feel that I’m of no party and evaluate each candidate on their merits.  I’d like to think that has a lot to do with spending two semesters under the tutelage of Dr. Hardwick who has had hundreds, if not thousands, of students pass through his doors over the years.

When he informed me that he was running for County Legislature this year, I was excited to support him.  I’ve never been a particular fan of his opponent and I think Dr. Hardwick brings a level of experience, knowledge and maturity to a governing body which has lacked many of those qualities in recent memory.

There are those who might disregard him due to party affiliation, but Kevin is exactly the kind of guy we need in the legislature if we hope to build a better community.  He has a record of cutting costs, consolidating government and realizing efficiencies in his previous elected positions and he’s currently recommending several ways to cut costs and make government less partisan and more efficient.

I hope you’ll give consideration to Dr. Hardwick as he ramps us his campaign.  He is posting videos to YouTube, charming as they are in their lack of production quality, it’s pretty straight forward stuff.

Sarah Palin, Hypocrite

On Friday, Sarah Palin provided us with one of the oddest political moments since the Richard Nixon “Checkers” speech when she hurriedly announced her resignation as Governor of Alaska.  In a blizzard of disconnected thoughts, incomplete clauses and stuttering repetition, Palin essentially told us that she’s running for higher office.  Or not.  The core reason for her resignation seems to be that the national media has been critical of her every move and have examined her odd lies, mistruths and seeming lack of understanding about national politics.  Also, don’t get her started on those pesky bloggers!  Somehow, resigning from office halfway through her term is a solution to that problem.

However, back in March of 2008 Palin spoke at a Newsweek Women & Leadership Event in Los Angeles at which she had some pretty forceful criticism of Hillary Clinton and her constant complaining about the way the media treated her.  Let’s go to the tape.

Here’s the transcript from that discussion.

NEWSWEEK: Sarah Palin, you are a Republican and a conservative one at that. It’s unlikely that you and Hillary would agree on too many issues. But, yet, as a woman, chief executive—someone who’s been through the grinder—when you look at the coverage and you listen to the conversations, what do you see?

Sarah Palin: Fair or unfair—and I do think that it’s a more concentrated criticism that Hillary gets on so many fronts; I think that’s unfortunate. But fair or unfair, I think she does herself a disservice to even mention it, really. You have to plow through that and know what you’re getting into. I say this with all due respect to Hillary Clinton and to her experience and to her passion for changing the status quo. But when I hear a statement like that coming from a women candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or a sharper microscope put on her, I think, man, that doesn’t do us any good. Women in politics, women in general wanting to progress this country, I don’t think it bodes well for her, a statement like that. Because, again, fair or not fair it is there. I think it’s reality and it’s a given, people just accept that she’s going to be under a sharper microscope. So be it. Work harder, prove to yourself to an even greater degree that you’re capable, that you’re going to be the best candidate. That’s what she wants us to believe at this point. So it bothers me a little bit to hear her bring that attention to herself on that level.

I wonder if it bothers her to hear herself whining about the critical eye of the media?  Probably not.  As I said a few months ago, Sarah Palin is the leading public example of the Dunning-Kruger effect.

Medicalization and Everything That's Wrong With America

During the Bush era, it was de rigueur to say that terrorists, muslims and other assorted brown people around the world “hated us for our freedom”.  And by “freedom”, the right wing meant love of Jesus, guns and the parts of the constitution they liked…in that order.

Do you know why “they” really hate us?  It’s because of shit like this.

And when I say “they”, I don’t just mean terrorists, I mean the entire fucking world.  Seriously, can we create some more “diseases” or “illnesses” that we can treat with bullshit prescription drugs?  Is it even possible?  Each time that I think we’ve hit the limit of what Americans will believe is an actual disorder or disease, a pharmaceutical company takes it to another level.  Welcome to the world of medicalization, spoon fed to the mouthbreathing American populace as they watch Survivor.

Medicalization is not the easiest word to understand, he said, but it is the best one to explain so far “a juggernaut which no one seems able to stop.”

Behind that juggernaut is a culture-accelerating blend of medicine, marketing, and perceived need that Allan Brandt called “inexorable” and culturally pervasive. (Brandt, who helped introduce the event, is Amalie Moses Kass Professor of the History of Medicine and dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.)

“Before you sell a drug,” said Lane — skeptical of a well-oiled U.S. medicalization machine, “you have to sell an illness.”

Now, I’m not gonna go all Penn Jillette on you here, but come on folks, wake up.  Don’t ask your Doctor about your chronic eyelash undergrowth or your Restess Legs.  Stop being an automaton.  This is a microcosm of how we have handed over control to corporate interests and how we generally swallow marketing content as serious consultative advice.  We are slaves to things we own and want.  How do we fix it?

A step in the right direction would be a ban on direct to consumer advertising for drugs…However, I don’t think we’ll see any elected official try and fuck with the pharmaceutical lobby on this.  Example #1,431 as to why your Government no longer belongs to you.  Maybe we should take it back.

Bill Maher Sums Up What I've Been Thinking

On the June 19th episode of “Real Time“, Bill Maher took four minutes to sum up everything I have been thinking about the political paradigm that has developed since Barack Obama became President in January.

Fast Forward to about two minutes into the clip to get to the monologue.  The Democrats have been corporate centrists for quite some time, it’s just never been so obviously on display as it has been these past six months.