Apr 29
2024
Applying a heavy hand in Lockport – and elsewhere
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Lockport Mayor John Lombardi III generated headlines last week when he ordered all city employees to refrain from speaking with reporters. The Lockport Union-Sun & Journal properly chastised Lombardi for the gag order.
Unfortunately, Lombardi is far from the only politician employing such heavy handed tactics.
Whether it’s a written policy or not, no one in the sprawling bureaucracy controlled by Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is permitted to speak with reporters unless authorized to do so. Rather, all press inquiries are funneled through Mike DeGeorge, the mayor’s spokesman, who frequently fails to return phone calls, much less answer questions. Stonewalling is the norm.
Elsewhere, it’s gotten tougher to speak to people in Erie County government under Mark Poloncarz. And state government? Forget about it.
I’ve been in this business a long time and it’s become more and more difficult for reporters to get answers to their questions. I wrote about it shortly after launching Investigative Post in 2012 and things have gotten worse since.
Here’s the history: Over the past several decades, government operations big and small have hired “public information officers” to field inquiries from the press. Some are contentious, but a growing number take their cues from bosses who want to thwart, not facilitate the release of information to the press and public.
Likewise, government officials have become increasingly reluctant to release public records. Many use the Freedom of Information Law to slow the process of turning over documents.
There’s also brazen attempts to violate the state’s Open Meetings Law.
Just last week, the Genesee County Economic Development Center tried to bar our J. Dale Shoemaker and I’Jaz Ja’ciel from attending its annual meeting. IDA officials complained that our coverage of their STAMP industrial park has been too negative. Dale and I’Jaz stood their ground and attended the meeting. During a break, they approached IDA President Steven Hyde and Vice President Mark Masse in an attempt to interview them. Both uttered no comment and scurried away.
And while not technically a violation of the Open Meetings Law, the Jamestown Post-Journal reported last week that Fredonia Mayor Michael Ferguson declared he’s banning citizens from discussing water issues – apparently a hot topic – at board meetings in the foreseeable future.
Bills stadium coverage of note: The sky-high cost of personal seat licenses are going to be bad for the local economy. Public officials are complicit in the pricing of the PSLs. Gov. Kathy Hochul gave the Bills another sweetheart deal unbeknownst to the public.
Meanwhile, out in Chicago, the Bears are seeking several billion dollars in subsidies for a new stadium. Neil deMause of Field of Schemes has the analysis.
The move to police the police through citizen review boards is running into opposition from police unions across the nation. The Police Benevolent Association here in Buffalo need not worry. The city lacks a review panel with teeth and the Common Council’s Police Oversight Committee rarely tackles issues of substance. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports a growing number of people are dying after being injected by police with sedatives.
New York Focus offers an analysis of the state’s new $237 billion budget and the plan to address housing affordability issues. Most everyone is unhappy with the latter. Meanwhile, an Empire Center analysis documents the state’s runaway spending on education. New York is spending close to $30,000 per student, more than any state in the nation and double the national average. For that kind of money, you’d think more than 46 percent of our early grade students should be able to read at grade level.
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Margaret Sullivan, now working at Columbia University in addition to writing for The Guardian, penned a thoughtful piece on Substack about the demonstrations there that have spawned a protest movement that’s spread to campuses across the county.
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