Apr 23
2021
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.
Apr 21
2021
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[...]
Apr 14
2021
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 —[...]
Apr 12
2021
Mar 25
2021
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[...]
Feb 15
2021
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.
Feb 4
2021
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 NewsRadio 930WBEN.
Jan 23
2021
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 continues to violate state law governing how donations from limited liability corporations are disclosed. The mayor’s campaign committee, Brown for Buffalo, recently filed its latest campaign finance disclosure with the state Board of Elections, covering donations and expenses from July 11, 2020, to January 11[...]