The heat is on, local politics seem to be on vacation at the moment, and the Bills training camp opens this week.
Here are some facts, observations, and heard-on-the-streets concerning federal, state and local government and politics:
- The mega-maga legislation is in the books. Donald Trump and the congressional Republicans are sure clever, having loaded the tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires up front for an almost immediate payoff while reserving the painful cuts in health care, nutrition assistance, education, and other real-life help until after the November 2026 elections. If only there was some way to let people know about the impending disaster. Oh wait, there is this social media thing that so many people use for their communications these days.
- I am old enough to remember when the Republican Party stood for fiscal responsibility. The mega-maga bill puts that selling point to rest. Increasing the deficit by three to four trillion dollars while raising the debt ceiling by five trillion dollars tells us Republicans are now the borrow-and-spend party. The wacky tariff policies of Trump will begin to have a pretty negative effect on people’s pocketbooks come fall and winter. Even Elon Musk, of all people, doesn’t like it.
- Those questions, of course, roll into 2026. The two Republican front-runners for governor next year, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik and Congressman Mike Lawler have totally wrapped themselves in everything mega-maga. Lawler’s recent congressional fundraising haul seems to indicate that he has in actuality already decided to run for re-election.
- State Budget Director Blake Washington last week, in reporting from City & State, announced that the first review of mega-maga by his office shows that there would be a $750 million cut in the current fiscal year, followed by a $3 billion deficit in the next fiscal year for reductions in Medicaid alone. That doesn’t include other federal grant programs that were on the chopping block.
- On the subject of government spending the Empire Center reports that “[t]wenty-three New York State employees collected over $200,000 each in overtime [in the past year]… Nineteen of the 23 were employed by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision… Throughout the state payroll, the number of six-figure overtime earners rose to 610, up nearly 40 percent from 439 in 2023.”
- Another Empire Center study reported that “Five hundred twenty-two local government employees in New York (excluding New York City) were paid more than $300,000 during the 2023-24 fiscal year, a sharp increase from the 208 employees recorded the previous year. Notably, the majority were employed by local governments in Long Island’s Suffolk County (291) and Nassau County (91).” The salary of the governor is $250,000.
- Politico reported that “[a]t least 23 members of the state Legislature will be forced to retire from either their public or private jobs if a Republican lawsuit challenging new outside income rules is unsuccessful.” The 2022 law that is at issue caps permitted outside income at $35,000 annually and was part of a bill that provided pay raises for state legislators. Hmm, decisions, decisions!
- Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado is sending out nearly daily requests for money for his planned primary against Governor Kathy Hochul next year. Recent polling shows him trailing far behind the Governor in a potential primary.
- Locally, as is the norm in politics, speculation has already begun about who may replace State Senator Sean Ryan if he wins election as mayor of Buffalo. Some useful information: 80 percent of the Senate District is in the northern suburbs of Erie County and includes the Towns of Amherst, Grand Island, and Tonawanda plus the City of Tonawanda.
- Republican and Conservative candidate for mayor of Buffalo, James Gardner, has mostly been silent about any proposals he may have for addressing the city’s tens of millions of dollars budget hole as well the what he would do about some basic issues such as public safety, education, and “the damn potholes.”
- In more than 50 years of observation of local politics I cannot recall any other candidate for a major office such as mayor or county executive (well, okay, there was the Chrissy Casilio campaign for county executive a couple years ago) that has let months of a campaign go by without presenting some major detailed statements about government finances or operations.
- Gardner did tell WGRZ-TV recently that “[w]hat people want is common sense.” That is surely an agreeable sentiment but one lacking in just what common sense he was referring to.
- The Bills training camp opens later this week, so the 2025 season sort of begins. I’m looking forward to it. They are well positioned to go all the way. The team news should now dominate local sports reporting.
- Unless you are a died-in-the-wool, into the weeds Sabres fan, then the endless reporting we have seen about draft prospects, draft choices, and activity in development camp has been over-the-top boring. The thing is that, unlike the NFL, almost never does a hockey draft pick immediately start playing in the NHL.
- At this time of the year it would be nice to see some reporting about what is going on in baseball – reporting on the home run sluggers like Raleigh, Judge, and Ohtani, or the pitching of Skenes, Skubal, and Wheeler. Maybe even more than an occasional story about the Bisons and how players move up and down to Toronto; or even a box score of a Bisons game and league standings that you don’t need to search a page of small print to find.
Campaign financials
All elected officials and candidates are required to file campaign financial reports today, July 15th. Look for another blog post tomorrow with some information of interest.
Bluesky @kenkruly
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