Happy New Year!
So what better way to kick off the new year than with a special election! The race is on in state Senate District 61.
Mayor Sean Ryan’s resignation from the seat on December 31st led to Governor Kathy Hochul’s January 2nd announcement that the special election will be held in just four weeks, February 3rd. Early voting begins on January 24th. The four political parties will chose their candidates this week.
Erie County Legislature Chairman Tim Meyers will convene the County Democratic Executive Committee. The Committee will select Jeremy Zellner.
The Republicans under Chairman Michael Kracker’s leadership will select Dan Gagliardo to carry the party banner. The Conservative Party will endorse Gagliardo. What the Working Families Party plans to do is unknown at this moment.
There are more than 93,000 registered Democrats in the district while the Republican number is about 51,000. Voter turnout in the middle of winter will be light, with both parties pushing hard to get out the most consistent voting members of their parties. There are more than 204,000 total voters in the district, but a total voter turnout of about 20,000-25,000 is likely.
Look for a campaign driven mostly by paid media and mailers. Door to door will be a challenge unless the parties can round up some snow shovelers to accompany the canvassers intending to ring doorbells.
Zellner is the odds-on favorite to win the election with solid support of the local party organizations in the mostly northern suburban district. Gagliardo says he is running off the momentum from his just completed race for Amherst Town Supervisor, an election he lost.
The special election only chooses a senator for the remainder of 2026. There will be primary and general elections later this year for a full two-year term for the seat.
Blakeman’s management of Nassau County finances will raise questions
Bruce Blakeman, recently reelected as Nassau County Executive, is now the presumptive candidate of the Republican Party for governor of New York. His voter recognition outside of Nassau County is light, so what voters learn about him will be important. He is going to need to do a great deal of explaining.
Nassau County government has been under the supervision of the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority (NIFA) for about 25 years; in all but three of those years the Authority has been in a “hard board” control status.
In October 2025 the Nassau control board issued a report on Blakeman’s proposed 2026 county budget and four-year financial plan. A reader of the document might thing that he or she was reading about the City of Buffalo’s financial mess.
Here is the NIFA summary of Nassau County budgeting and financial planning (emphasis mine):
The County’s fiscal outlook continues to show signs of stress in the near and long term. During FY 2026, the County relies substantially on one-shot uses of various reserves to provide relief in the Major Funds, as it has done in recent years. Although the purpose of reserves should be to smooth the impact of unanticipated revenue shortfalls and expenditure overruns, their now-routine use at the beginning of the year demonstrates the absence of lasting improvement in the County’s fiscal strength and risk management. The weak fiscal outlook in the Out-Years results from many factors, notably: overestimated sales tax revenue, fees from fines, departmental revenue, and underestimated expenditures for salaries and fringe benefits, Early Intervention/Pre-School Special Education and social services programs. The County has also failed to account for the expected rise in its labor costs after the next round of collective bargaining is completed.
Langworthy again using taxpayers money to tell taxpayers he is working for the taxpayers
Congressman Nick Langworthy is once again running TV ads paid for by the taxpayers. He is doing this to tell taxpayers he is working on their behalf.
Two versions of the ads have been run recently. One promotes the availability of his office’s services in dealing with various federal agencies. The other ad criticizes Governor Hochul about the use of natural gas hookups into homes.
The ads include a quick frame that says: “Paid for by official funds authorized by the House of Representatives.” In other words, you, the taxpayer.
The Granville story is still news
While Sheriff Department’s Narcotics Chief, D.J. Granville’s personal legal troubles have come to an end, the manner in which the whole event played out concerning his damage to a series of vehicles on two westside Buffalo streets while driving an Erie County-owned vehicle continues to be a public issue. The recent Police Department personnel actions involving officers at the scene of the crashes included the demotion of Granville’s sister-in-law who wrote the department’s report on the incident.
Mayor Ryan has questioned the timing of the personnel actions. He told WGRZ-TV’s Nate Benson that city attorneys will look into the possible public release of the Department’s investigative report on the Granville matter.
Niagara District Councilman David Rivera is planning to hold a Council Committee hearing on the subject in the near future.
A reader passed on to me a recent article from the New York Post which reported a case involving two members of the New York City Police Department. That Department seems to take a different view about how disciplinary matters should be handled. Here is the lead from the Post’s story:
“A highly decorated NYPD lieutenant and his patrol-cop wife have been fired by the department’s top cop after refusing to answer questions about a suspicious blaze at their Long Island home, records show. Veteran Officer Javier Rodriguez and his NYPD spouse, Tanya Rodriguez, were booted by Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in October after stonewalling the probe into a Sept. 19 fire that torched their East Meadow home and prompted Tanya to report her husband missing, according to newly released department disciplinary records.”
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