Categories for Outrages & Insights

Feb 27

2012

High pricetag of City Hall politics

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I couldn’t help but be reminded of Joel Giambra’s relationship with Jim Spano when I got through reading the profile of Adam Perry and his law firm’s dealings with Bryon Brown’s administration in Sunday’s Buffalo News. Spano, if you recall, was Giambra’s chief campaign fund-raiser when the Democrat turned Republican ran successfully for county executive in 2000. Once in office, Giambra’s administration rewarded Spano’s firm with 85 percent of the county’s office furniture business, worth $2.5 million. Spano’s company, not content with the lion’s share of business, overbilled the county by an estimated $550,000 according to an investigation I did[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Feb 23

2012

Cuomo’s welcome break with the past

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A fair number of folks I’m talking to in economic development circles aren’t entirely sold on Andrew Cuomo’s plan to spend $1 billion to jump start the Buffalo economy. For starters, a lot of the details have yet to be worked out. There’s skepticism over the governor’s motives. And there’s his apparent intent to throw a lot of money at companies willing to relocate to the region, which has the makings of  good photo ops but a poor return on investment. But Cuomo is showing a willingness – indeed, an eagerness – to abandon the mindset behind the failed policies[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Feb 22

2012

The journalistic DNA of Investigative Post

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I’ve had a quote from Carl Bernstein taped to the front of my computer terminal for the better part of 20 years that reads, “Reporting is not stenography. It is the best obtainable version of the truth.” They were words I worked by as I toiled at The Buffalo News and a mantra of sorts for my new venture, Investigative Post, non-profit investigative reporting center focused on issues of importance to Buffalo and Western New York. I’ve never been a fan of the “he said, she said” brand of journalism practiced by many reporters and taken to its lowest form[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Feb 20

2012

About this blog

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There’s straight reporting, which I’ll do a lot of for Investigative Post. Witness my analysis of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $1 billion plan to revitalize the regional economy. Then there’s blogging. I loved blogging for The Buffalo News. Blogging allows reporters to write in their natural voice. Most editors pride themselves in beating the voice out of their reporters in news stories. Blogging gives reporters their voice back. I got my voice back with a vengeance, and with it, a fair number of news tips from readers. During the two years I wrote Outrages & Insights my posts generated nearly 1[...]

Posted 12 years ago
Investigative Post

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