We live in troubled times. The President of the United States seems to see himself as some sort of messianic figure, with his social media postings becoming crazier by the day. The war he started under Bibi Netanyahu’s leadership has no focus or end in sight.
Here are some facts, observations, and heard-on-the-streets:
Clearly Donald Trump was envisioning himself as Jesus in the controversial meme where he is laying his hand on the head of someone who looks a lot like comedian/commentator Jon Stewart. That raises some questions. If he sees himself as Jesus, does that make his cabinet members apostles? If so, which one is Judas?
If Trump were Jesus, would his Sermon on the Mount include: “blessed are the poor in spirit, for they are losers. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be attacked and deported. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit nothing…”
Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV have boomeranged on him. A recent poll shows Trump at 52 percent negative while only 8 percent of the respondents are negative about the Pope. Hmm. The Pope may be living in Rome now, but he is still an American citizen. Prevost for President in 2028!
Three members of Trump’s cabinet have left office in the past month or so. Reports about the activities of all three are pretty bad. Who’s next?
Mike Johnson is technically the Speaker of the House of Representatives but for all intents and purposes the de facto Speaker is Donald Trump. The number of loyal Trumpsters in the House seems to be shrinking by the day/issue.
Republican candidate for Governor, Bruce Blakeman, is a very loyal disciple of Trump (carrying on with the religious theme for a moment). Trump’s friendly comments about Blakeman are like TV and social media ads in the making.
Even Republican media types seem to be unimpressed with the New York gubernatorial candidate. Here are some comments from Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo: “I’m not seeing a lot of you. Where have you been, Bruce? It looks like Kathy Hochul is gonna beat you. What are you gonna do about it?”
Then Blakeman’s hometown newspaper, Newsday, had some things to say about his management of Nassau County finances: “The county’s budget may appear to be fiscally sound. But appearances can be deceiving. The reality is that Nassau County’s finances are stable only thanks to a few budgetary magic tricks.”
Trump’s politics and Blakeman’s ineptitude must be making Republican candidates around the state nervous. And with the shift to even-numbered elections for most local offices the chaos can filter down pretty far this year.
In the Democratic primary for state comptroller three candidates have received state matching funds thus far: incumbent Tom DiNapoli – $1,393,852; Raj Goyle – $1,303,956; Drew Warshaw – $618,870. A fourth candidate has received no public money.
The race for the Democratic nomination for state Senate in the 61st District is going to be very expensive. As of the March 15th, campaign financials that were filed by candidates who are participating in the state’s Public Campaign Financing Program showed incumbent Jeremy Zellner with $152,091 in his treasury, while Assemblyman Jon Rivera had $86,043. Rivera transferred $30,000 from the campaign account he used for his Assembly elections.
On April 15th the Public Campaign Financing Board approved a $149,152 disbursement to Rivera. Zellner, who has not yet been approved for public matching funds in the Senate race, received $375,000 in public funds for the special election. The maximum of matching funds in the primary race is $375,000.
There is no Republican candidate in the 61st Senate District this year.
All three candidates for the Democratic nomination in the 149th Assembly District have received public matching funds. The numbers: Karen Hoak – $105,678; Kevin Deese – $84,037; Adam Bojak – $61,931. Assembly candidates can receive a maximum of $175,000 in public matching funds in an election.
In the 143rd Assembly District Cheektowaga Town Supervisor Brian Nowak is now the presumptive new member of the state Democratic Committee. The endorsed candidate, Matthew Greenberg, declined to run, perhaps in the interest of party unity.
Party committee members, elected two per election district, are the base of all parties. Overall, there is not much competition for the positions. There are just 40 Democratic committee races in all of Erie County, half of them being in the publicized contests in Buffalo’s Niagara District. Republicans only have 36 county committee positions filled in all of Buffalo. In Grand Island 11 of the 13 election districts have Conservative Party races for committee spots.
Sheriff John Garcia and Undersheriff Bill Cooley seem to have a serious problem. Investigative Post is reporting that neither have Oaths of Office on file with the County Clerk as required by state law. Possible consequences include their offices being vacated and loss of pay.
You may hear from time-to-time about audits of municipalities. You probably did not hear about the one that the Office of the State Comptroller recently published that relates to poor fiscal management in one municipality in Erie County. No, it’s not the City Buffalo, it’s the Town of Brant, population 1,900. Here is the first paragraph of the audit summary which refers to the town supervisor and town board:
“The Board did not conduct or provide for an annual audit of the Supervisor’s financial records and reports for fiscal year 2024 in accordance with New York State (NYS) Town Law (Town Law).In addition, the Supervisor did not prepare and file the 2022 through 2024 AFRs with OSC, as required by NYS General Municipal Law (GML) Section 30.Furthermore, the Supervisor did not provide the Board with complete, accurate and reliable monthly financial reports.”
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