The weather is beginning to look like fall. The Bills: 4 wins and 2 losses is not bad. The other good news: just three weeks until Election Day.
Here are some facts, observations, and heard-on-the-streets:
- I am not impartial about such things, but my years of experience with politics make me think that while some Republican politicos built a Donald Trump for President campaign that looks good on paper, the reality is that the candidate himself is unraveling badly. He just cannot escape rehashing his grievances from the past and throwing insults instead of talking about issues. He has dodged another debate and an interview on 60 Minutes because he and/or his handlers realize that he will make a fool of himself. His rambling incoherence in hours-long speeches are signs of declining cognitive abilities.
- Even though he is running for president of the United States Trump has had time for his money-making schemes: among them, golden sneakers, Truth Social stock, crypto, trading cards, and the Trump version of the Bible. How ironic that a candidate who is so committed to a trade war with China had his “American” Bibles printed in China; cost $3, sales price $60.
- Kamala Harris is not the perfect candidate. I have, however, never seen any such person. Her calm confidence has moved her along very well. Granted the polling shows that everything is very close, but mostly she has been ahead in the national polls and ahead or within the margin of error in the battleground states. Turnout will decide the election.
- It’s going to be hard for Dems to hold the Senate with the lost West Virginia seat a foregone conclusion and very tough races in Montana and Ohio.
- The fight for control of the House of Representatives is amazingly tight considering all the gerrymandered districts that Republicans in red states have created. Nancy Pelosi has bemoaned the loss of seats in New York in 2022, but what about the Biden districts in California that went to the Republicans two years ago? Democrats need to pick up a net of just four seats nationwide to retake control. Two or three of those seats may come from New York, leaving the remainder of the country to come up the other two or three other seats that are needed.
- You may have seen a TV commercial running dozens of times a few weeks ago with Congressman Nick Langworthy explaining the services provided by his office. You might think it was a political ad, but there was this disclaimer in small print at the bottom of the last frames of the ad: “Paid for by official funds authorized by the House of Representatives.” I assume “official funds” means taxpayers’ money. I contacted the Congressman’s office a week ago to ask what the “official funds” source was; what TV markets the ad ran in; and how much it cost in total. Langworthy’s office referred me to some House administrative person. As of the close of business on October 14th I haven’t received a reply.
- Democratic candidates in Erie County should benefit from the likely large turnout of voters on November 5. As noted in a previous post, state money has been pouring in for several state legislative candidates. The big question is whether state money is really making state legislative races more competitive.
- Hopefully there will be a thorough review of the use of that state money. Tens of millions are being disbursed among approximately 200 candidates. Former Republican Assemblyman Brian Kolb, who is co-chair of the Public Campaign Finance Board, recently told Politico the state-level system “has enough ‘spot checks’ like phone calls to donors to verify their identities. “I haven’t seen anything glaring that jumps out and says, Oh my goodness, we have a major problem here. We’re going to have to really wait and get a final opinion about the first year of implementation because there are things you learn or things that could be tightened up.” The program is being run in conjunction with the state Board of Elections, so how could anything possibly go wrong?
- The race for Erie County District Attorney is getting very expensive. As of their September 30th campaign financial filings Mike Keane has raised a total of $496,800 so far; he loaned his committee $50,000. Republican James Gardner has raised $53,126; has contributed $75,000 to the committee; and has loaned his committee $210,000 thus far. Gardner is part of the Butler family, the very wealthy original founders of the Buffalo Evening (sic) News.
- Gardner is using Big Dog Strategies, headed by former local resident Chris Grant, as his media consultant. In 2022 Grant as the campaign media consultant gave Long Island and the entire country the king of all congressional liars, George Santos. Gardner is letting Grant speak for him about the questionable issues raised in a WGRZ story about the campaign; Gardner declined an interview request. Why?
- There’s a new look for the Elma Republican Committee following their recent reorganization. The Committee elected former Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychijliw as their Secretary.
- While he continues to live in Erie County, Mychajliw is now the news director of a Long Island weekly (The South Shore Press) which, according to a recent story in the Investigative Post, leans far right on the political spectrum. Among the columnists appearing in the paper is none other than George Santos, who has been evidently looking for things to do after his brief tenure in the House while he awaits sentencing for his guilty plea in a federal corruption case.
- As if the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo didn’t need more news that might deter parishioners from donating to their churches and the Diocese, the lawyer for the Diocese in a recent appearance in Bankruptcy Court admitted that the potential value of certain parish property was a consideration in deciding which parishes to close. The Diocese’s attorney told Judge Carl Bucki “I think that was a factor, but not a driving factor.” “Driving factor,” I suppose, being a matter of interpretation depending upon how someone views the entire mess.
- Apropos of the Diocese’s problems, enter singer-songwriter Paul Anka, who gave a great concert in Niagara Falls this past Friday. In a brief monologue between songs he said that he is confused about some things in the world. He went to confession recently to confess his sins. In the confessional as the priest turned to him, Anka told the priest, “you go first.”
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