Categories for PoliticalPost

Jan 7

2026

Special election set for Ryan’s Senate seat

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The special election to fill the 61st District state Senate seat — vacated last week by Sean Ryan before he was sworn in as Buffalo’s mayor — is coming as quickly as state law allows. Gov. Kathy Hochul last Friday set the date for Feb. 3. She could have picked a date as late as the first Tuesday in March, but instead chose the first possible Tuesday allowed under the law — just over a month after Ryan resigned the seat.  The move favors the four political parties with automatic ballot access in a special election process that already privileges[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Nov 21

2025

Lawyer puts up $800k to deny party boss a Senate seat

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Attorney Peter Reese, a relentless pot-stirrer in Western New York politics for decades, is hell-bent on preventing Erie County Democratic Chair Jeremy Zellner from becoming a state senator. On Tuesday Reese filed paperwork with the state elections board to create an independent expenditure committee dedicated to derailing Zellner’s efforts to succeed Sean Ryan, Buffalo’s mayor-elect, in representing the 61st State Senate District.  He’s seeding the committee’s bank account with $800,000 of his own money.  “I figured a million would be too gaudy,” Reese told Investigative Post.  The committee is called ATAT, short for “Ainsi toujours aux tyrans,” Reese said. That’s[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Nov 5

2025

Ryan wins, Democrats sweep Cheektowaga

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Erie County Democrats had plenty to celebrate Tuesday night. It was no surprise that the party’s nominee for Buffalo mayor, Sean Ryan prevailed, beating two opponents with more than 70 percent of the vote. Nor was it a surprise that incumbent Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick won reelection, beating Republican and Conservative nominee Christine Czarnik by nearly 18 percentage points. The real wins for Democrats were outside the city. Tonight: Our event on ICE and immigration in WNY In Cheektowaga, the party’s candidates swept every race, winning back the majority on the town council by unseating two Republican and Conservative[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Oct 29

2025

Voters have limited choices in next week’s elections

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There are 150 elected offices on the ballot in Erie County next week. Fewer than half of those races are contested. Little wonder voter engagement is so low. In countywide elections, there are 21 jobs up for grabs: all 11 seats on the legislature, eight judgeships, the office of comptroller and sheriff. (Two of those judgeships are on the state Supreme Court, Eighth Judicial District, which includes eight counties, including Erie.)  Voters have a choice between candidates in only six races — for comptroller and five legislative seats. The candidates for judge are all cross-endorsed by multiple parties, and there[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Oct 9

2025

Ryan leads the money race

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With less than a month to go in the race, State Sen. Sean Ryan, the Democratic nominee for Buffalo mayor, has more money left in his campaign account than his two rivals — James Gardner, running on the Republican and Conservative Party lines, and Michael Gainer, running on the independent Restore Buffalo line. The most recent campaign finance disclosure forms, due to the state elections board last Friday, paint a picture of a race whose energy and donors’ dollars are largely spent. Meanwhile, Gardner and Gainer have turned to other platforms — particularly social media — to remind voters the[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Sep 25

2025

Overtime straining Buffalo’s budget

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Two-and-a-half months into the city’s current fiscal year, overtime for Buffalo’s police and fire departments is on track to run $10 million over budget, threatening once again to push the city into deficit. That’s a smaller cost overrun than the city has seen in previous years, but nonetheless a problem for a city whose growing costs, stagnant revenues, and lack of reserve funds leave officials no room for error as they implement this year’s $622 million spending plan. Police and fire headquarters in downtown Buffalo. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. Fillmore District Council Member Mitch Nowakowski, who chairs the Council’s Finance[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Sep 18

2025

Zellner, Rivera jockey for state Senate seat

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Assembly Member Jonathan Rivera and Erie County Democratic Committee Chair Jeremy Zellner are longtime allies. In recent months they’ve also become rivals. Both are positioning themselves to succeed Sean Ryan in the 61st district state Senate seat in the likely event that Ryan is elected mayor of Buffalo in November. Neither has publicly declared their candidacy, but both are canvassing party leaders, committee members and other Democratic stalwarts for pledges of support.  Rivera recently received letters of endorsement from a handful of building trades unions. As if in reply, Town of Amherst Democratic Chair Chuck Eaton used a meeting of[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Sep 3

2025

Evans town board settles lawsuit in secret

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The Town of Evans in July settled a defamation lawsuit brought against the town and two current town board members by former Town Supervisor Mary Hosler. But you wouldn’t know it from looking through the town board’s agendas, meeting minutes and recordings.  There is no record of the town board voting to approve a settlement in any meeting held between June and the end of August. There’s no record of the settlement being discussed in an executive session, which excludes the public from discussions of sensitive matters. There’s not even a record of an executive session being called at the[...]

Posted 5 months ago
Investigative Post