Mayoral, Common Council and County Legislature & Sherriff Primaries and Races 2013

 

Hey everyone, it’s getting close to Primary Day when we go and select who we want to be our nominee. Democrats in my city will pick between these 2 guys, Byron Brown and Bernie Tolbert. Byron Brown is the incumbent and Tolbert has an uphill battle on his hands. Buffalo News had an article that Bernie would get trounced 2-1 if the primary were held that day so I hope that maybe there will be a bit better news come the morning September 11^th (12 year anniversary) So in this primary I will be backing Bernie Tolbert and see if that helps. If not, I will be voting for Sergio as I don’t really know what to think of Tolbert but then again some of the things Sergio advocates for alarms me like Mayoral control of education. Chicago Rahm Emmanuel close many schools and build a stadium, I guess they can go there to get their education now that those I believe 50 schools are closing. So that is a bit of a snafu for me. He did talk about Mayor Bloomberg of NYC and his success with reforming the educational system there. But Sergio Rodriguez is a bit of a wildcard for me because of the simple fact that he’s been revealed to be more liberal than I’m used to hearing Republicans act, like in NC or WI. He’s been very supportive of gay rights and he has always been willing to go out and talk to people, regardless of their misgivings. He has been willing to come to even partisan Democrat events just to talk with everyone and even a group that only endorses Democrats so that he could just talk about what he wants to do for the city.  I’ve seen him more than I have seen Byron and when I heard that he Republican Party grudgingly supported him but didn’t fund him –because they like Byron so much—I thought, okay so he’s not the sleezeball and slime head that I thought he was. I also saw while researching for this video that the Conservative Party is smearing Sergio over the SAFE Act which is not the purview of the city government to enforce but the state government. Also another claim was that he has unpaid tuition but according to Art Voice those bills have been paid. So when all of these are taken together I wonder why Lorigo is wasting time on this one candidate. It must be because of the fact that he upsets the establishment of the radical conservatives that want to make this country a privatized one. Lorigo should be drawing on the side of Sergio instead of against them, he would be what the party needs, but of course with their dogged opposition to immigration reform and anything he people support I can just about bet you dollars to doughnuts that they will fight all the way to Election Day. Hell of a way to show your patriotism by slandering a veteran (like Joe Walsh and Tammy Duckworth thankfully despite having lost both her legs, she kicked the hell out of Walsh last year for IL-8 House seat)

Bernie however, I don’t have much to say about him since I don’t know much about him, he hardly talks about his positions or things he would do and he seems to me to speak in generalities and hardly any kinds of specifics other than getting rid of the guard on the 2^nd floor. If it’s this close to Primary Day and I’m only voting for him because he’s not Byron that doesn’t bode well for him. However, if there are enough anti-Byron votes to make him the nominee I want to hear more specifics before I decide that I’ll support him for Mayor. Currently I am leaning on the side of Sergio for Mayor

Regarding Brown I found out Governor Cuomo endorsed him and that was another nail in the coffin for me. Governor Cuomo while passing marriage concerns me regarding hydrofracking and educational cuts he’s pursued and not renewing the millionaire’s tax. His whole standoff with the Power Authority embarrasses me and I hope the Canadians don’t think WNYkers are assholes over this. The flier I got saying that Cuomo endorses Byron I wouldn’t even wipe my ass with. Also a bit of interesting news I hear that the only reason that Byron supported Poloncarz for Erie County Executive is because Cuomo may have muscled up on him (he had a non-aggression pact with Collins when he was CE and Poloncarz was running against his buddy) now I see that Byron got his endorsement and I’m about ready to puke. I wonder if a more Progressive Democrat will run for Governor in 2014, that could be an interesting matchup if he has a primary to fight.

The County Legislature race is going to be gearing up once again. In November 2011 we voted Tim Hogues into office for the 1^st District I personally was a little skeptical of him because he spoke of a referendum on marriage equality but he has done a great job so far. He is always willing to listen to people and their concerns and learn about it so he can make an informed decision and I respect him for that. He wrested the seat from Barbara “Babs” Miller-Williams whose interests sent out these fliers with permit 1278 on them. A 2 on Your Side reporter was connected to the fliers as well, and that still doesn’t give me any waver on who I’m supporting. I’m drawing on the side of Hogues, who caught the Democratic Nomination from Miller-Williams in part because of her redistricting map called Local Law #3 at the time which protected her district and diluted a lot of local minority communities. The map was drawn by Adam Perry who is a local lawyer that has ties to the Byron Brown administration. She drew that map to give Republicans in the Erie County Legislature the majority. She is now up for a re match and the Democratic Party is backing Hogues, a real Democrat. My thought is that when she and Tim Kennedy and another rogue Democrat gave Collins pictured here she was wooed into it by Byron and the Steve Pigeon faction (conservative Democrats or Conservocrats) so that she could get the Speaker’s Chair should they get the majority. Along with Miller-Williams, Tim Kennedy went rogue and gave Collins control to do whatever we wanted and that’s why I supported Betty Jean Grant. Many of the places that were closed were in her district and the area that Hogues then represented by Barbara Miller-Williams (whose lines Adam Perry drew to protect her) so now we get to some mailers. Here is one. It accuses Hogues of the same things that Barbara Miller-Williams did and I have another flier here. The same what is Tim Hogues Hiding and another pro-Hogues flier that shows exactly what Miller-Williams did like conspiring with Republicans to slash library funding, health services (like 1500 Broadway which the County is opening up in Jan 2014) cut child care subsidies which forced women to scramble for babysitters and or quit their jobs and slashed funding for community groups. ALL far away from where Collins lived. Collins, Miller-Williams got voted out. Tim Kennedy ran for State Senate and won in 2010 but got the scare of a lifetime from Betty Jean Grant who ran the campaign not on a shoe string but as she said on “Dental Floss”. The Turncoat Democrats and the crazy Republican Collins got a spot in Congress (Collins who I believe is a sociopath or something) previously represented by Kathy Hochul. Should Betty Jean Grant run again for State Senate I will support her as I am not a Conservative anymore (long story) it was an operation to scare the bejeebers out of them which was successful, but I will toss my support behind her because of the fact that when Kennedy decided to put Collins in charge, he put my neighborhood which he didn’t give a damn about in harm’s way to get the Conservative line. This is a local thing that REALLY roused my ire when I asked Betty Jean about why she was so pissed about Kennedy and why she was venomous when she was in the debate. Now I know and even though I wonder about her support over LGBT issues at least I can say she’s been a champion for us. THIS is why I was so surprised when I saw this mailer pictured here. Another 1278 permit number that is supporting “Babs”. She would have to pry my vote for Hogues from my cold dead hand.

 

Sherriff race is going on and I am perturbed by both candidates. Dobson has the support of the Law and Order Party which I feel is a bunch of white men who don’t have to deal with discrimination and possibly along with the Security Guards unions so they can get more prisoners in their jails (Soylent Green comes to mind, they take our people to feed their families) and while Dobson is rightly concerned about the guards being overworked a glaring neglect for prisoners gives me the heebie jeebies. After all, the County is fighting lawsuit after lawsuit over prisoner treatment. Dobson would be walking into that and this Law and Order Party thing makes me wonder if they know anything of the Prison Industrial Complex and the School to Prison Pipeline in our communities. I don’t think that they grasp the spherical nature of the system since they’re only seeing one part of it. I also have to think about the fact that many police officers aren’t trained to deal with persons with developmental disabilities like Robert Ethan Saylor. He was killed in a movie theater when he sat there wanting to see the movie again, they had to leave but as a 36 year old man with the mind of a 9 year old he was cuffed with 3 pairs of cuffs and his last words were ”Mommy this hurts” the police didn’t listen to her when she was explaining that all he wanted to do was see the movie again. This is just one of them

Bert Dunn I really am a bit hinkley on after seeing him say “I’m not an Obama or Cuomo fan. Ronny Reagan is my favorite President…I’m hoping many Republicans look at me and see a guy who shares their values on justice….” His favorite President was a President that started the War on Drugs, which was code for war on black people and drugs they commonly use like crack and marijuana, who supported apartheid and the Senate overruled him on a resolution or law 78-21, a man who called Social Security a Ponzi Scheme and a union buster, the same one who cut mental health funding and made sure that he kept raising taxes on the poor and cut them on the rich. Any man who admires Ronald Reagan and cites his views on justice is like asking Paul Ryan to debate with facts. Reagan WAS the great communicator but his policies were shit. Republican Justice has led to silencing of dissent in statehouses where in Texas a woman was carried out by troopers and not able to finish her testimony. Republican justice was seen in Raleigh NC where Moral Monday protestors are arrested every week for protesting their government and where you can get arrested in Madison, WI for singing or putting your hands over your mouth in protest of being silenced. Those are not the values I want to see in the Sherriff’s office. That race for me is a toss up but I think I lean on Dobson for this one after having previously thought to vote for Dunn, not really sure if that’s a race I’ll vote in

There was one County Legislature race that I didn’t exactly speak of and I hope she forgives me. This is the race with Lynn Dearmeyer. She came by Stonewall Democrats and I gotta say I loved her right away. I have heard so much about her all good I assure you (since I’ll post this video to her and hopefully I can put this on her page for the race) but she is running for District 7 of the Erie County Legislature. That’s shown here. Some of the other things she brags is

• Endorsed by outgoing Democratic Majority Legislator Tom Mazur
• Lifelong Democrat & Cheektowaga resident
• Maryvale High School K-12 – Class of 1994
• Villa Maria College Graduate 1996
•  Honored Business Professional
•  Community Advocate
• Cheektowaga Democratic Committee Person
• Lifelong camper

And being a part of many professional organizations that focus on Buffalo-Niagara Falls area of Upstate New York. I am sure that these partnerships will yield wonderful fruit for the County should she be elected. She’s running to fill the seat of the Retiring Incumbent Thomas Mazur and carries his endorsement

When I talked to her I thought immediately of another Democrat who had run for higher office and she is pictured here. Cynthia Marie Delores Appleton. She is a wonderful woman who run for District 59 and was routed by Patrick Gallivan but she ran a great campaign and did a wonderful job. I think that she would’ve been an amazing legislator but that district I’m sure has a Republican advantage though it’s not always party advantage that wins the day all the time, she gave it her best and I’m glad to count her as my colleague and friend as we worked together on marriage equality and is an ardent ally for LGBT human rights.

Another County Legislator she reminds me of is Maria Whyte, she ran for County Clerk but lost to Chris Jacobs, thankfully I haven’t heard much about him but will probably hear more about him in 2015 when he is up for re election. Maria is a wonderful woman who was always standing up for equality and justice and even had a playful story about presenting a book to then County Executive Chris Collins about sharing and fairness saying and I paraphrase: Just want to show you this, to remind you what you learned in Kindergarten. Herself and Betty Jean Grant were also helpful in passing the Erie County SONDA and GENDA that went into the circular file aka garb age

I am sure that Dearmyer will be an ardent supporter of the County GENDA/SONDA and will champion it. I am hoping that the District that encompasses The district includes much of the town of Cheektowaga and portions of the South Buffalo and Kaisertown neighborhoods. I am watching and waiting to see the outcome of the primary against Zydel. Don’t know much about Zydel but I am confident they will have an able, independent legislator who will make great decisions for the county and the District she represents. It will be 2 days before we cast our ballots and find out who the candidate will be for the respective parties. A lot of publications are counting her out, but I’m sure she’ll make a strong showing for the position even though she ran and lost in 2009—Reagan ran 4 times for President before finally earning the nomination and winning, so did Harvey Milk—5 times…so my money’s on Lynn and we will see what cards are dealt when we wake the next morning