Articles for Geoff Kelly

Jun 12

2021

Brown’s non-campaign campaign for mayor

Mayor Byron Brown seems determined to act as though there’s no primary election next week.  No opponents, no contest, no question that he will cruise to an unprecedented fifth term. He’s barely bothering to raise money, nor is he spending much. There were no television or radio ad buys through the end of May, though some are coming soon, according to the mayor’s campaign finance filings. There have been few mailers and a paucity of lawn signs. Brown barely mentions the June 22 Democratic primary in public, unless compelled by reporters. He has flat-out refused to debate India Walton, his[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Apr 23

2021

Kelly talks police referendum on WBEN

Geoff Kelly reported earlier this week about a petition effort to place a referendum on the city’s November ballot to establish an independent police review panel. He spoke Friday morning with Susan Rose and Brian Mazurowski on NewsRadio 930WBEN.  

Posted 3 years ago

Apr 21

2021

Reformers pushing for police referendum

They’ve lost hope that Buffalo’s elected officials will make the police reforms activists have advocated since last summer. So a coalition of groups and individuals is seeking to bypass City Hall entirely and take one of those reforms directly to voters.  The coalition seeks to put a referendum on this November’s general election ballot. The referendum would create a new police review commission with the power to investigate complaints against officers, mete out discipline and review departmental policies and budgets. It’s a recommendation put forth last June by the Buffalo Police Advisory Board, one of three police oversight bodies in[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Apr 14

2021

Paltry donations to Cuomo from WNY

 Governor Andrew Cuomo has invested a lot of political capital — to say nothing of state tax dollars, starting with the Buffalo Billion — in Western New York. But an analysis by Investigative Post has found he’s not getting much love in return from local campaign donors. As first reported in our Money in Politics, and reported Wednesday on WGRZ, Cuomo’s campaign committee has raised $38.4 million statewide since 2017, which includes his last run for governor. Only $576,945 came from donors in Western New York. That’s only 1.5 percent of total donations. Investigative Post found one donor —[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 25

2021

Buffalo mayor’s race is on

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 22 primary. She picked up the endorsement of People’s Action, a national coalition of progressive activists and politicians, which comes with access to phone banks and fundraising. Most importantly, from a pragmatic standpoint, today Walton filed a nominating petition at the Erie County Board of[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 15

2021

Politicians pocketing their campaign cash

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 accounts of 10 retired politicians; details, and a podcast, can be found here. Geoff Kelly expanded on the research for WGRZ.

Posted 3 years ago
Investigative Post

Get our newsletters delivered to your inbox * indicates required

Newsletters *