Investigative Post

Updated on March 26, 9:27am. India Walton, the long-shot challenger to incumbent Byron Brown in the Democratic primary for Buffalo mayor, passed three milestones in the past month: She won the endorsement of the Working Families Party, providing her a ballot line in the general election, should she fail to beat Brown in the June […]

Elected officials, aside from judges, are allowed to keep what’s left in their campaign treasuries when they retire. For some, it’s a lot of cash. For example, State Senator Michael Ranzenhofer left office in January with $824,083 in his campaign account. Assembly Member Robin Schimminger retired with $410,665. Our Money in Politics researched the campaign […]

By law, most elected officials are entitled to keep the money in their campaign treasuries when they retire. Investigative Post, in our latest Money In Politics, tracked the funds retained by 10 retired lawmakers who, between them, have more than $2 million in the bank. Geoff Kelly discussed our findings in an interview Thursday on […]

As he prepares to seek a fifth term, Mayor Byron Brown’s latest campaign finance report illustrates three things: Brown has never been so financially under-equipped entering a reelection year. His donations the past six months overwhelmingly came from folks who owe him their jobs and firms seeking city contracts and project approvals. The mayor’s campaign […]

Since 2005, Mayor Byron Brown has raised and spent more than $5 million to win and hold the mayor’s office.  He spent $1.4 million to fend off Bernie Tolbert, his Democratic primary challenger in 2013. Four years later, he spent another $1 million in his primary race against then Comptroller Mark Schroeder. As of July, […]

Since the spring, Geoff Kelly has been reporting on HarpData, the troubled tech firm awarded a contract to provide wi-fi access to thousands of Buffalo school students. On Thursday, he reported the company is going out of business, the wi-fi project unfinished. He discussed the saga Friday on NewsRadio 930WBEN.  

After nearly two years of doubts and delays, Buffalo Public Schools is canceling a contract to provide free wireless internet to some of the district’s neediest students.  The reason: HarpData, the company the district hired to do the job, is going out of business. An attorney for HarpData, Joseph Makowski, confirmed that CEO Ivory Robinson […]